Influence of Patriotism in Buying Behavior of Consumers towards Fast Moving Consumer Goods with Special Reference to Kozhikode District

INTRODUCTION

Fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) are those categories of products which are used for daily consumption and basically have a high return on investment. FMCG goods are consumed by rich and poor alike. i.e. these goods are frequently consumed by population belonging to bottom of pyramid and high income people indifferently. FMCG goods are also termed as consumer-packaged goods (CPG). These goods category include all consumables (except grocery and pulses) which are used frequently or on a daily basis. The most common in the list are Shampoo, bathing soaps, cleansing agent, Shampoo, shaving products, Tooth pastes, shoes polish, Ayurveda products, ready to eat foods and house hold accessories and extends to certain electronic goods. Fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) is the 4th largest sector in the Indian economy. There are three main segments in the sector – food and beverages which accounts for 19 per cent of the sector, healthcare which accounts for 31 per cent and household and personal care which accounts for the remaining 50 per cent. (https://www.ibef.org/industry/fmcg-presentation, n.d.)

• Patanjali Ayurveda • Asian Paints Ltd

• ITC FMCG

• Amul • Eastern Condiments • Zydus Wellness • Britannia • Pidilite Industries • Marico • Future Consumer Enterprises Ltd. • CavinKare • Parle Agro • Jyothy Laboratories • Haldiram's • Nirma • Himalaya Healthcare Ltd. • Bikanervala • Manpasand Beverages Limited • Hindustan Unilever • Balaji Wafers • Nestle • PepsiCo • Coca-Cola India Oxford defines patriotism as ―The quality of being patriotic, devotion and vigorous support for one‘s own country‖. Patriotism is the ideology of attachment to a homeland, commitment to a country, nation, or political community. Patriotism and nationalism are often used synonymously. Ramachandra Guha termed these as mothers having different kinds of children. Patriotism is termed as ―love of country‖ and Nationalism as ―loyalty to one‘s nation‖. Patriotism has its origin some 2,000 years prior to the rise of nationalism in 19th century. (www.britannica.com, n.d.) Mahathma Gandhi in 1930, said that, ―Every true patriot feels ashamed of the failure of the nation and the state and desire to correct them‖. He was referring to the caste and gender discriminations, a true patriot should be ashamed of such things happening in his/her country. Patriotic advertisements are aggressively used by some of the Indian companies. Source: Google images In the early 1990,s HUL and Maruthi Suzuki India held around 40% of the MNC share while in 2014, the top two MNC S Maruthi Suzuki and Samsung were having less than 4 % of the total shares. Over these 20 years (in which number of MNC s in India quadrupled), total MNC revenue grew at a compound annual rate of 18% - faster than the overall economy. Patriotism is latest trends as a brand positioning strategy for Indian consumers. It is something to be profiting and today Indian brands know it too well. Consumers may give their preference to those brands reflecting Indianism, patriotism or the brands adding nationalistic colors to their products. Patanjali, taken as an example, we could see how openly they used to take up on foreign competitors by using the patriotic ideology. Hindustan Unilever LTD (HUL), Subsidiary of Unilevr Ltd, which is a British-Dutch company changed their name of Ayurvedic products to take up on Patanjali.

Presently, Patriotism and nationalism are one of the seriously debated political topics in India. Obviously, Market also would have influenced over this topic. Companies altering their marketing strategies accordingly to influence consumers buying behavior could be seen. Buy Domestic campaigns, which were in aggressive forms during the time of independence have returned with lesser intensity. Anti-Globalization trends are being raising

Patriotism is being used as a brand positioning strategy for Indian consumers. Indianism is being termed as a brand factor especially with the coming up of ―MAKE IN INDIA‘ etc. While, referring to advertisements, it can be seen that companies which are also largely foreign owned are also adopting such brand positioning strategies. In the FMCG sector, Patanjali could be termed as a highly successful company with its growth rate and profits, which uses aggressive advertisements against MNC S. MNC s are directly or indirectly accused for looting India s wealth.

Many FMCG companies has adopted patriotism, nationalism and ethnocentrism for promoting their products and building brand images. Even companies whose stakeholder‘s largely lies outside India had adopted Indian nationalism for marketing purposes. Those adopted include both successful and unsuccessful. This study focus on different attributes that contribute towards the buying behavior of consumers while mainly focusing on Patriotism. This study aims to reveal whether patriotic feelings of a person influence his buying behavior or not. i.e., whether a person would be indifferent towards an Indian and Foreign product. On this basis, a study on ―Influence of patriotism in buying behavior of consumers towards fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) with special reference to Kozhikode district‖ has been attempted.

Following are the objectives of the study, 1. To study the influence of patriotism in buying behavior. 2. To study the effect of patriotism in buying behavior of rural and urban customers.

H0: There is no significant relationship between patriotic buying behavior and place of residence of respondents. H1: There is significant relationship between patriotic buying behavior and place of residence of respondents. H0: There is no significant relationship between patriotic buying behavior and income level of respondents.

The research design used for this study was descriptive research. The population of the study was the Customers who are purchasing Fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) of Kozhikode district. The study makes use of primary data collected through the questionnaire and secondary data. Primary data for the study is collected among various people of Kozhikode through questionnaire. Secondary data are collected through Journals, magazines, websites etc. Convenience sampling was used as method of sampling. The tools and techniques used for the study is Descriptive Analysis & Inferential Analysis. Descriptive analysis includes Mean, standard deviation, percentage And inferential analysis include T test and ANOVA.

• Period of the study is limited • Data concentrated on 18-24 age group • Respondent may not deliberately report their true perception • The study is restricted to Kozhikode District only and the findings and suggestions may not be applied to other areas. • Very small portion of population taken as sample

Patriotism or national pride is the ideology of love and devotion to a homeland, and a sense of alliance with other citizens who share the same values. Source: Primary data Table & Chart shows that percent of respondents considered themselves to be highly patriotic while 12 percent of respondents considered themselves to be least patriotic. Majority of respondents responded themselves to be patriotic in between highly patriotic and least patriotic

Instinct has a major role in decision making of buyers especially with the raising number of super markets and middle class in India. Such a phenomenon where instinct makes major roads to purchase is termed as Impulse buying. Marketers compete to place their products in a such a way as to use the full potential of impulse attitudes. Only 2.2 percent of respondents impulsively would select Patanjali, Who used to adopt strong nationalistic views in their branding and 3.3 percent of respondents selected P&G which is a foreign company and do have a least patriotic branding in FMCG sector. Majority preferred (79.3percent) HUL & ITC, which do have a large stakeholders outsides

Source: Primary data Table shows that the P value is above .05, the null hypothesis is accepted. The value .833 depicts that there is no significant difference between place of residence and patriotic buying behavior of the selected respondents

Source of data: Primary data Table shows that the significant value is above .05, the null hypothesis is accepted. The value .781 depicts that there is no significant difference between income level and patriotic buying behavior of the selected respondents.

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Guest Lecturer, Department of Commerce, CKGM Government College, Perambra, Kozhikode, Kerala