A Study of Consumer Perception of “Ready to Eat” Products Among Working Class Women

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION  – Introduction
Ready to eat food items has already gained wide scope in western world and in recent years it gaining popularity in India. A busy lifestyle has made Indian women very hectic to cook and eat thus “ready to eat food” items are gaining wide interest. On account of this many firms are seeing this, a golden opportunity. Companies like Haldiram, Nestle, and ITC are already working in this area.
In today’s scenario, first came canned foods, frozen foods, and ready to cook and now the era of ready to eat food . Considering the time value for the working women and also looking towards market needs firms started manufacturing it. There are peoples, who are migrating to cities for job and education and these people have find the Ready-to-eat products are comfortable to eat rather than depending on restaurants. Most of the dual income (both husband and wife are office goers) families want to spend much less time on cooking because of less availability of time.

During weekends they want to spend time with their kids and outing, whereas in weekdays the office duration is large and these factors forced them to go for buying such products. Other factors influences this products is availability of different flavors and dishes. Consumers who are looking for different dishes and flavors now depend on these products. This products brings variety to their eating’s and palatable too. There is no conclusion which one precedes-whether the availability or taste or time constraint, all these factors complement each other in driving these products.
Ready to eat items are providing a boon for working women. Literature Review Here are some facts drawn out by different survey carried out by different agencies. The CFA commissioned a consumer survey to better understand consumers’ attitudes and perceptions of ready to eat foods to help inform those efforts. According to the survey, more than half of Indians disagree that ready to eat food is as nutritious a fresh and more than one-third disagree that ready to eat food is as nutritious as frozen.
Ready to eat foods and Lower Sodium Are Compatible – Only half of those surveyed know that ready to eat foods can be low in sodium, despite the multitude of no salt, low sodium and reduced sodium options available on grocery shelves. Thus conclusion can be drawn out from this that many people are with ready to cook food but some people are not so supportive. To find out where is real market for ready to cook food. A survey conducted by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) secretary general D. S. Rawat said the consumer spending rate on processed food has increased at an average rate of. per cent annually from 2008 to 2010. And this is expected to rise at an average of around. 6 per cent until 2012.
In any commercial context, such as new product development, positioning and marketing, to understand consumer perceptions and their needs is a fundamental activity for food producers (Van Kleef et al. , 2005, Oude Ophuis and Van Trijp, 1995). The study of consumer behaviour focuses on how individuals make decisions to spend their available resources (time, money, effort) on consumption-related items (Schiffman ; Kanuk,1997). Statement of Research A study of consumer perception of ready to eat products.
Objective
The research paper was under taken with the following objectives. i. To study the effective use of time by the use of RTE products. ii. The awareness of consumers towards ready-to-eat food iii. The factors responsible for buying RTE products by working women. Research Methodology: Research methodology is the procedures used in systematic observations or otherwise obtaining data, evidence, and information as a part of research project or study. Data collection: The process used to collect information and data for the purpose of making business decisions. 1. Primary: Primary data is the first hand collection of data.
In this study we have used Questionnaire as our instrument for primary data collection. 2. Secondary: Secondary data is the data which is already available and published somewhere. For this study we have used journals, Magazines, related websites. Type of research: Descriptive: Descriptive research includes surveys and fact-finding enquiries of different kinds. The major purpose of descriptive research is description of the state of affairs as it exists at present. So we are using this method as there is no control over the variables; we can only report what has happened or what is happening.
Sampling: It is the statistical method of representative data or observations in a group(lot, batch, population, etc. )

Technique : Simple Random Sampling
Sample Size : 50
Total population : 50,000

Scope of research:
The study was based on primary data collected from sample consumers by survey method. The research is done in Erandwane area. The target is for working women in this area. Research location is in Pune city.
Limitations:
The sample may not totally represent the whole section of the population because of different backgrounds. . The reluctancy of the responses from the population. Invalid information . Being college student, we faced time constraint for data collection Significance: Awareness about “Ready-to-eat” products. Acceptability of Ready-To-Eat products. Openness of the market for new “Ready-to-eat” products. Marketing strategies for RTE products. Influence of media in promoting RTE. New growing industry. Analysis : Age Fig 1. Age Percentage Above fig shows that the maximum number of women are from 30-40 age group and they prefer RTE.
Occupation
Fig 2. Occupation Percentage From the above graph, it is cleared that the maximum i. e. 52% women are salaried. Income Fig 3. Income Percentage Maximum of the women are having income in between 20000-30000. Awareness Fig. 4 Awareness about the RTE From the analysis it shows that, out of total population, 52% prefer RTE for meals, which is highest. Time Constraint Fig. 3 Time constraints The above pie chart reveals that, the maximum number of women prefer RTE as they face time constraints in the kitchen. Buying perception Fig. 3 Buying Perception
From the analysis, it concludes that more number of working women go for RTE because it is convenience. Following data interpretations were obtained:- 52. 27% women are salaried. 80%women have income above 10,000-20,000. Almost 100% women have working hour more than 9-10 hours. 60% didn’t get time to cook food themselves. 80% people are aware of the Ready To Eat products. 25% or more, knows about the ready To Eat products. 36. 36% people prefer Ready To Eat items more than once. 34. 09% people prefer because it is very convenient to use. 20. 45% prefer because of the availability of products. ) 77. 27% think that ready To Eat products are not healthy. As it has preservatives, sometimes bad packaging, comes with expiry date, it is not fresh and also we get less variety. 36% consumes on daily basis. 55% of population thinks it makes life easy. Conclusion: As per our findings, Ready To Eat are on growing stage. Ready To Eat companies should change their marketing strategies as people have the typical mindset that the Ready To Eat products are not healthy to consume. In the aspect of Time, Taste and Easy to make the Ready To Eat are proving to be good. . The analysis shows that most of the working women prefer Ready to Eat rather than cooking as it reduces their efforts.
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Consumer behaviour towards instant food products.
The present investigation made an attempt to study the perception of consumers towards ready-to-eat food products by the working class women in Erandwane area in Pune city. A total sample of 50 respondents was selected for the study. Majority of the respondents were aware of RTE products. Also television works as major source for getting information about such products. The purpose of the study is to find out what are the responsible factors for consumption of such products in working class women. Their income level, time variable, product awareness are taken into consideration to arrive at the conclusion.
The main aim for this study is to explore consumer perception for ready-to-eat products and the major forces determining such segment to grow and the future potential of the same. This research will give us potential information about the working women preference for such products. There is a tremendous change in the last ten years in our country of people consuming habits, working style. Other than convenience there are many hidden forces and upcoming forces. Rather than availability of western eatables products, our own products are come into packaged items for sales in this market. This study will throw some light on