Index of Paper Presentations for the Parallel Sessions - Academy of ...

were selected by the consumers with low and high levels of PDI were drastically different as consumers with highlevels of PDI considered damage repair, hair fall control and dandruff control as the important parameters and theconsumers with low levels of PDI preferred fragrance, brand and conditioning as the crucial dimensions. It wasobserved that fragrance as a dimension performed considerably better than the other parameters as 72 out of 90respondents with low PDI scores gave it higher ranking.Regression analysis confirmed the hypothesis. The following basic regression equation was derived: Impact ofsmell on consumer PI = 4.965 – 0.598 (consumer PDI)The standard error or standard deviation of b was estimated as 0.048, and the value of the t statistic was - 12.446,with 198 (n-2) degrees of freedom. The critical value of t with 198 degrees of freedom and Level of Significance at5% is 1.9720 for a two-tailed test. The modulus of the calculated value of t was larger than the critical value andtherefore the null hypothesis was rejected. Hence there exists a significant linear relationship between consumer PDIand impact of smell on consumer PI. The negative sign of the slope (- 0.598) further established the accuracy of thealternative hypothesis. Therefore, consumers who have low levels of PDI while buying shampoos have a greaterimpact of the Fragrance of the shampoo on their PI as compared to consumers who have high levels of PDI whilebuying shampoos.The value of F statistic was 154.903 with 1 and 198 degrees of freedom. The calculated F statistic far exceeded thecritical value of 3.8889 determined at 5 % Level of Significance (LOS) with 1 and 198 degrees of freedom.Therefore, the relationship between consumer PDI and impact of smell on consumer PI was significant at 5% LOS,corroborating the results of the t test. Since the relationship between the two variables is significant, it can beconcluded that the values of impact of smell on consumer PI can be predicted on the basis of consumer PDI. In thiscase the R Square was 0.439. Adjusted R Square was 0.436. Thus, it can be concluded that almost 40% of thevariation in impact of smell on consumer PI can be explained by the variation in consumer PDI.Conclusion:Consumers with low levels of PDI showed higher impact of smell on their PI. It was also found that consumers withhigher levels of PDI had hair problems such as damage, dandruff and hair fall. Therefore, they desired a shampoothat would provide a solution for these problems and hence fragrance becomes secondary for them. However,consumers with low levels of PDI considered a shampoo mainly as a cleansing and conditioning agent. Fragrancewas found to be an important dimension for such respondents while purchasing shampoos.Implications:The findings of this empirical research contributed to the academia as well as practitioners. It was found thatconsumer PDI can serve as an important parameter for consumer segmentation. Based on the findings, there can betwo segments of consumers for shampoos: the Conscious Hair Segment that has sensitive hair and the Not-So-Conscious Hair Segment that has normal hair. Conscious Hair Segment consists of consumers who have higherlevels of PDI while buying shampoos where as the Not-So- Conscious Hair Segment has low PDI levels.Organizations can target both the segments and can position the product accordingly. The Hair conscious segmenthas sensitive hair and they are deeply involved while purchasing the shampoo. They have problems such as damagedhair, hair fall and dandruff. Hence they look at shampoo as a solution to tackle these problems. Thus positioning forthese consumers should be based on presenting various shampoos as a solution to solving various problemsassociated with this group of consumers. Not so Hair Conscious Consumers are involved at a low level while makingthe purchase decision. These set of consumers look at shampoos as merely cleansing and conditioning agents.Furthermore, the research concluded that fragrance is an important parameter for this segment of consumers and thusmust be included in the positioning strategy. Moreover, it was found that this segment is brand conscious and henceit is necessary to highlight the brand in the communication strategy along with fragrance (Refer Figure 1).