BROAD PROBLEM AREA
The consumer decision-making, regarding purchase and utilization of different products and services, is influenced by many internal as well as external factors. Among the external factors, the most important and significant are the attributes of the product itself, the brand and the package in which it is incased. Attributes are those descriptive features that characterize a product or service- what a consumer thinks the product or service is or has and what is involved with its purchase or consumption. Product-related attributes are the functions of the product or service. Non-product-related attributes are the external aspects of the product or service that relate to its purchase or consumption, like the price information, packaging or product appearance, user imagery (i.e. what type of person uses the product or service) and usage imagery (i.e. where and in what types of situations the product or service is used) (Keller, 1993).
Consumer buying behavior is affected by many socio-cultural factors like social class, demographics, personality, and beliefs etc. However, besides these, the product itself also makes their decision for them because of the message it transmits, the visual impact it makes, the significant colors and logo of the brand, the brand image and awareness, and the price. Price is a particularly important attribute association because consumers often have strong beliefs about the price and value of the brand and may organize their product category knowledge in terms of the price tiers of different brands, (Blattberg and Wisniewski, 1989).
In this research project our emphasis will be on the non-product related attributes of a product, that affect the consumer buying behavior and the decisions they make whi ...