An Exploratory Study on Customer Preferences Towards Pathanjali Ayurvedic Products in Mysore

FMCG market in India is facing tight competition from the both domestic and international players. The awareness towards the health related issues have given way for the herbal and ayurvedic products in the same time. Ayurveda is making way a big move into the air tight area of FMCG and paving way towards success. A brand’s reputation is the most valuable asset. In this digital era, and cluttered market space where brands are jostling for visibility, their reputation and credibility is what will set them apart. Pathanjali the brand which is making big sales in the short span with claiming the products are chemical free and herbal and natural. Though Pathanjali, focus is on traditional food products, soaps and toiletries it has diversified into the other categories as well to grab the market. For example, Nestle’s withdrawal of Maggie from the market when the instant noodles had the harmful chemicals in the product, Pathanjali used this opportunity to enter into the non- traditional produce instant noodles though it mainly focus on the traditional soaps and toiletries and FMCG products. The FMCG market is so saturated and ruled by the giants , Market entry of new brand is so difficult, pathanjali is able to embrace the waves of swadeshi to sustain in the market being the market challenger. This paper attempts to explore how Pathanjali has been successful in this tight competition and what made customers to accept Pathanjali. The exploratory study is conducted to analyse the Customers preferences towards ayurvedic and herbal products especially the brand pathanjali.


I. INTRODUCTION
Fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) are the 4th largest sector in the Indian economy. There are three main segments in the sectorfood and beverages which accounts for 19 per cent of the sector, health care which accounts for 31 per cent and household and personal care which accounts for the remaining 50 per cent.Growing awareness, easier access, and changing lifestyles are the key growth drivers for the consumer market. The increase the disposable income in the hands of the common people, especially in the rural area,because of many initiatives by government of India has been beneficial for the FMCG sector.
Patanjali ayurved limited, a company registered under the Company's Act, 1956 having its registered office at New Delhi and manufacturing plant at Haridwar, Uttarakhand, India is one of the fastest growing FMCG Company in India. Pathanjali has wide range of products such as soaps, shampoo, face wash, toothpaste, cosmetics, honey, haldi, instant noodles, ghee, hair oil etc in different sizes and volume. The Table 1, 2, shows the best selling products products of pathanjali which contribute to the total sales. Ghee is the more selling product of pathanjali which contributes 13.9% to the total sales of Pathanjali.

III. METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY
The survey conducted in the mysore with the sample size of 43 respondents who are using pathanjali . The data collected though the structured questionnaire and analysed using suitable statistical tools through SPSS software.

IV. LITERATURE REVIEW
Dr. Moloy Ghoshal(2016), conducted swot analysis in the paper " phenomenal success of pathanjali". It is found that, The research result established the fact that people are accepting Patanjalis' products because of its herbal nature, good quality and reasonable price compare to its counterpart MNCs. Patanjalis' strategy of entering all the segments of FMCG sector, also unique in India and may be in the world, where a single infant domestic company is taking numbers of world giant MNCs on its horns. Both domestic and international big companies are afraid-off for the success of Patanjali Ayurved Ltd, a complete Indian company in FMCG sector.
Dr. Priyanka Rawal (2016) studied the success story of Baba Ramdev's Make in India brand and how an Indian yoga guru"s promising consumer goods empire is making multinationals in Asia"s third-largest economy sweat. The paper threw light up on the product strategy, promotional strategy and pricing and distribution strategy of pathanjali. It is found that, Baba Ramdev is a brand which influenced pathanjali to sell more through yoga and ayurveda movement.
Dr. Mridanish Jha(2016), in the paper " A voyage from niche to mass marketing: A case study of Patanjali Ayurveda " studied the marketing mix elements of pathanjali . it is found that Patanjali Ayurveda is planning to raise Rs 1,000 crore in project loans. It is in talks with banks including State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Uco Bank etc for project financing in order to expand its presence pan India by extending its product lines. This is necessary for setting up more plants across the country. The growth of Patanjali Ayurveda has given other several multinational as well as other Indian companies a tough challenge to protect their fort.
Vinod Kumar (2013), The study revealed that yoga and pranayam are very effective tools in marketing through spirituality and influence the consumption behavior of masses.
Dr. Shahnawaz Khan and Dr. Asmita Srivastav (2018), found that, Patanjali's core competencies are in pricing, except for exceptional product quality. The company's products are 15-30% cheaper than competitive prices, making it an attractive proposition for consumers. The respondents are the users of Pathanjali products from less than 6 months to more than 2years. 41.9% customers are using Pathanjali products from more than 2 years.

V. FACTORS INFLUENCED FOR THE PURCHASE OF PATHANJALI
The factor analysis is conducted to know the factors that influence the purchase or reason for the purchase of pathanjali products.

Source: Field Survey
From the factor analysis it is found that, the factor influenced the consumers to purchase Pathanajali products are it is herbal, natural product, and it is more of traditional and chemical free. The Pathanjali is more competitively priced and there is no adulterations are the reasons for the purchase of Pathanjali followed by swadeshi tag, availability, advertisements, ramdev, quality, discounts, healthy and retailers choice are the factors that influence the purchase of Pathanjali products from the retail shops. 23.3% customers continue to use Pathanjali even there is hike in the price of the Pathanjali products , where as majority of their which account for 37.2% customers have neutral opinion towards continuing the use of the Pathanjali products after the price rise.

VI. CONCLUSION
There is no doubt that, pathanjali is generating sales in saturated FMCG sector and food sector . From the study it is found that, people prefer more herbal products . Spiritual gurus entering into the business and creating awareness to consumers towards ayurveda and health. The brand pathanjali is recongnised by the found and brand baba ramdev. Ramdev, yoga, health, natural, chemical free, herbal, ayurveda, swadeshi, traditional products have an edge over the multinational and foreign players who are operating in Indian FMCG sector. Consumers today are more health conscious and leading a quality of life. The blue ocean strategy of Pathanjali has gained the market, made it inevitable for the HUL and P&G and other players to come up with herbal and ayurvedic products in their product line.