A Marketing Research Proposal on

Consumer Evaluations of Beautification Products: Effects of Extrinsic Cues

For The Requirement of Course: Marketing Research Course Code : MKT 414 Section : 2

Prepared for Dr. Md. Humayun Kabir Chowdhury Professor Department of Business Administration East West University

Prepared by Quazi Shamsul Islam ID#2009-2-10-154

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Executive Summary
Submission Date 25.02.2013

Beautification products can be those which can clean and perfume the body, change appearance, correct body odor, protect skin, and keep it in good condition. These products are more important to women in general. It is clear that the consciousness of beauty and the use of beautification items have been increasing. The vastly used beautification products are: fairness cream, talcum powder, body lotion, lip liner, shampoo, lipstick, face wash, eyeliner, perfume and many more. In previous days natural items were used for beautification but recent days varied cosmetics are the result of scientific processing of natural items. Brand evaluation of beautification product depends on different types of cues. Cues that have been followed by customers to evaluate the product are intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic cues are physical characteristics of a product that serve to influence consumers' perceptions regarding a brand. Extrinsic cues are external characteristics of a product, such as price, brand image, or country of origin that serve to influence consumers' perceptions toward a brand. And the extrinsic cues have strong influencing capability to brand evaluation rather than the intrinsic cues.
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Background of the Study

The major part of the target customer of beautification product are women and the women of todays generation are very much concern about their beauty. Thats why they are solely depend on different sorts of cosmetics to enhance their beauty or protect their health. There are so many brands available in the market for a same genre product for i.e. Shampoo (Sunsilk, Dove, Loreal etc). So its been a hard job to find a suitable brand which can provide maximum benefit to the customers and how consumers evaluate each brand. On other hand Marketers need to aware about the reach of their brand to their target customers and sustain their competitive advantage. And thats why needed to identify the specific external cues which influencing most in case of beautification product. In this study we will find out which are the factors that influence the consumer for purchasing beautification product and among those factors, which has/have significant impact on purchasing.

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3.0 Objective of the Study

3.1 Broad Objective To identify the extrinsic cues that influence consumer to evaluating beautification product and then buy it. 3.2 Specific Objectives

To determine the impact of brand image on evaluating a beautification product. To determine the impact of perceived price on evaluating a beautification product. To determine the impact of perceived quality on evaluating a beautification product. To determine the impact of perceived country of origin on evaluating a beautification product.

4.0Approaches to the Problem

4.1 Theoretical Foundation Consumers evaluation regarding beautification product is highly influenced by some factors like brand image, perceived price, perceived quality and perceived country of origin. So the related factors are described below in short 4.1.1 Brand Image: Usually consumers buy not only a product but also the image associated with the Product. There are two possible ways for consumers to use brand image in their product evaluation. In the first, rational way, brand image is a construct that consumer use to simplify their product knowledge about a specific brand. In the second, emotional way, consumers are assumed to seek a match between their self-concept and brand image. When a brand can fulfill these expectations of a consumer, s/he holds positive impression toward that brand. Hereby, will try to find how brand image can play an influential role to evaluate beautification product.

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4.1.2 Perceived Price: Price perception is the process by which consumers translate price into meaningful cognitions. Consumers want to get highest utility from a brand, which they purchase by sacrificing money and benefit from other competitive brands. Perceived price is a good proxy variable for perceived quality. Price information is extensively used as an extrinsic cue to evaluate a brand along with price can play both role as an indicator of the amount of sacrifice needed to purchase a product and an indicator of the level of quality. 4.1.3 Perceived Quality: Perceived quality can be defined as the perception of a consumer about the overall excellence and superiority of a brand, which is directly related to his/her satisfaction. Quality is the best indicator of the product's durability, reliability, precision, and other valued attributes. The high quality perception often depends on consumers' distinct liking and beliefs toward the brand. Thus, a brand may contain quality attributes but it may not satisfy consumers' preference if it does not fit with their perceptions and beliefs of high quality. Consumers can form positive or negative perceptions about the quality of a specific brand. When consumers are convinced with quality of a brand, they evaluate a brand positively. Consumers also feel pride of owning quality product because they perceive better quality as an image of social status. 4.1.4 Perceived Country of Origin: To examine the impact of "image" on consumers' actual behavior, country image is major consideration when they have no familiarity or knowledge about the product or brand. Country image plays a significant and optimistic role in consumers' evaluation of a brand. Each country's product is not evaluated positively in the world. Consumers' perception on some country is better than other countries. There is a tendency that products from industrially developed countries are evaluated as being superior compared to those from less developed countries. Most of the consumers believe that the industrially developed countries produce superior quality products because they are financially strong as well as their production and marketing capability is advanced. 4.2 Analytical Model
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Mathematical model will be used for interpret findings regarding the issue. 4.3 Research Questions 4.3.1 Research Question based on Broad Component: What are the external cues that influence to evaluate Beautification Product? 4.3.2 Research Questions based on specific components:

Does brand image influence consumer to evaluate Beautification Product? Does perceived price influence consumer to evaluate Beautification Product? Does perceived quality influence consumer to evaluate Beautification Product? Does perceived country of origin influence consumer to evaluate Beautification Product? How do you will interpret Brand Evaluation?

4.4 Hypothesis H-1, Brand image influences consumer to evaluate Beautification Product. H-2, Perceived price influences consumer to evaluate Beautification Product. H-3, Perceived quality influences consumer to evaluate Beautification Product. H-4, Perceived country of origin influences consumer to evaluate Beautification Product.

5.0Specification of the information needed

5.1 Research Design

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This study examined how consumers evaluate a beautification product. The survey approach was used for this study. The research design will be a causal research and it will conduct by two steps. First Pretest will find out a list of Beautification Product and second pretest will find out preferable brand name for beautification product. Then finally take a sample of 212 female students who have usage experience. 5.2 Data Collection A sample of 60 students from a national university in Bangladesh will be used for pretest and 212 female students for sample test because female are the main target customer of the beautification product. 5.3 Data Analysis Mathematical model will be used for interpret findings regarding the issue. For the research purposes Regression Model of the 212 subjects and four external cues may be establish and conducting data analysis. 5.4 Preparing Report & Presentation After completion of data analysis report will prepare and present the outcome of the research in the report paper and finally the presentation of research paper. 5.5 Cost and Time
The total duration of the Research will be approximately 25 days and it will cost around 10000 BDT.

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