"TO STUDY THE CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR IN BUYING DOMESTIC AIR CONDITIONERS IN PUNE CITY"
India is one of fast growingemerging economy in the world therefore per capita income is also increasing. India's climate is consider as hot tropical thus the buying of air conditioner is common in our country. So the main aim is to study the consumer behaviour and perception in buying domestic air conditioners in pune city. So I am conducting research in order to find out what factors are influencing the purchase decision of customers.The aim of the study is to know about the factors influencing consumer behaviour of purchase of Air Conditioners.230 responses are taken through questionnaire throughout the pune city. Research shows that under the significance level (i.e. p=0.05) whether the following factors influences the consumer buying behaviour of Air Conditioners in a household in pune city:(1) types of air conditioners, (2) Price of AC, (3) promotional offers (4) the preferred brands of AC, (5) ISEER rating (6) star rating, (7) energy efficiency.The following research will be based on convenience Sampling and would be descriptive in nature. KeywordsConsumer Buying Behaviour, ISEER rating, star rating, INTRODUCTION India is one of the fastest growing economy in the world having the GDP growth rate above 7% It is also having hot tropical climate where the temperature easily rises up to 45 degree Celsius in summer. So people manage these weather condition by 2 optionsair conditioners and air coolers. Constantly rising temperature along with the increasing purchasing power all households is helping to increase the growth of air conditioner market. The pre liberalization era of Indian economy have major Indian companies like Godrej, Videocon, Voltas have the major market share but after liberalization, many foreign players such as LG, whirlpool, Samsung, IFB, Daikin, Mitsubishi, Hitachi entered into the Indian market and create a dramatic change in the Indian market. Now the Indian AC market is highly competitive with the coming of domestic, international and unorganized market participant. Anticipated GDP growth of Indian economy and rising infrastructure development help the Indian air conditioner market to boost upcoming year. Moreover constantly rising temperature along with the increasing purchasing power also helping in fueling the growth of countries air conditioner market. According to Daikin India MD and CEO kanwaljeetJawa Indian air conditioner market penetration is 7 8 and can easily be explode over 10% in near future. already the developed nation like Japan us Australia China have 90% penetration so the India has a huge potential and it is predicted that the industry may be grow at 14 15% during the financial year 2019 to 20. And due to the Higher rural electrification and rising disposable income the sales of AC would ramp up in near future. In 2017, India's demand for air conditioners stood at over $4.3 billion and is expected to rise at a CAG R of more than 17 percent to reach $11 billion by 2023. And it is estimated as Indian air conditioner market revenues are projected to grow at a CAGR of 12.2% during 2018 2024.The companies are adopting higher superior technology such as inverter technology, smart air conditioners in order to capture the unexplored air conditioner market. They are also facing some challenges in India due to some factors such as changing lifestyle, introduction of nuclear families, easy financing scheme, and entry of multinational companies with global network, technological advancement, higher disposable incomeand excise duty. Journal of University of Shanghai for Science and Technology ISSN: 1007 6735 Volume 22, Issue 12, December 2020 Page 160 Today more than 25 brands of air conditioner available in the Indian market providing the different types of air conditioners (window air conditioner, split air conditioners, ceiling air conditioners,centralised air conditioner, portable air conditioners) They are also providing different types of technology with different features involved in the air conditioners and they are also providing any discount offers to increase their sales, so a lot of competition is already there in the Indian air conditioner market. For hot climate of India, air conditioners have become the need of the modern day life in contrast to the earlier perception is a luxury product. Buyers search a lot of information on the available brands in the market during their purchase. During selection of any brand and purchase a lot of factors are influenced by the consumer in this activity. As due to technology available, searching and gathering any information is very easy and helping them to selectany product which meets the requirement for the consumer. Therefore the purchase of these household bytecodes need high involvement and a great influence on buying behaviour and their way of living. this study also help marketers to understand their decision making at the choice of buyers and develop their marketing program in order to tailor their demand. At the buying process, type of air conditioner, brand power consuming level, physical size, colour, after sales service, dealer reputation, installation cost, buying place etc. are some of the factors which are considered by the buyers during any purchase, so in this study we want to find out what are the factors influences the consumer buying behaviour during the purchase of air conditioner in the pune city. LITERATURE REVIEW Acc to C. VELAUDHAM Dr. P. BASKAR [1] Has studied about the factors influencing consumer buying behaviour towards air conditioner in Chennai city. They have demographic variables such as education occupation income and product information variable such as feature people, price, offers, brand, place, advertisement, product are used to find whether the influences the consumer buying behaviour towards air conditioner.The study was carried out with the sample size of 730 and they were selected with interview schedule technique with structured questionnaire using quota sampling technique. Statistical analysis tools such as dependency analysis, percentage analysis and multiple regression analysis are used in this study. After analysis, they get to know that 88 factors such as features, people, price, offers, brand, place, advertisement, product,have influenced and motivated the consumers during the purchase of air conditioner. while the various demographic factors also influences to use air conditioner in Chennai. The study also recommends did manufacturers of air conditioners have identified various demographic factors and expected product features from the uses of air conditioner to tailor their brands in step market conditions. Fatimah Furaiji1, Malgorzata Latuszynska2, Agata Wawrzyniak2 (2012) [2] has done an empirical study of the factor influencing consumer behaviour in electrical appliances market it. Their study helps in finding deeper understanding of impact of various factors on consumer buying behaviour and theyanalyse the relationship between several independent variable such as personal, social coma psychological, cultural and marketing mix factor and consumer behaviour(as a dependent variable) in the electrical appliances market. Their study also help in determining the factorsaffecting consumer preferences and behaviour in electrical appliances market in Iraq. They collected data through questionnaire to analyse the factors influencing Journal of University of Shanghai for Science and Technology ISSN: 1007 6735 Volume 22, Issue 12, December 2020 Page 161 consumers purchase decision process which was conducted in December 2011 in the city of Basra in southern Iraq. The significant findings of the study indicates that, the independent variables were associated with dependent variable. However they do deep analysis and found that social factors of physical factors coma and marketing mix elements are strongly associated with consumer buying behaviour and these analysis help in discovering consumer making rules. The result it would help producers and retailers in understanding consumer behaviour and improving consumer satisfaction. Dr. V. AslihanNasir, SemaYoruker, FigenGunes and YelizOzdemir (2006) [3] Has done the study on factors influencing consumer laptop purchase. They take 327 samples in order to study and uses statistical analysis tools such as factor analysis comma and over, frequency analysis during their study. Their study shows that ko technical features post purchase services, price and payment condition periferal specification physical appearance, value added features, and connectivity and mobility are the seven factors that are usually help in influencing consumer laptop purchase. Further, they find that price and payment conditions factor show significant difference among the three consumer group of a company's customer base. Goswami (2011) [4] Has done an exploratory study on important parameters of refrigerators considered during their purchase in guwahati city of India. Which study was basically conducted in the guwahati city of North Eastern India. He take the sample size of of thousand respondent and selected through convenience and judgement sampling during his study. He uses statistical analysis of one way anova in his study and he take 13 parameters such as price, cooling capability, anti germ capability, storage capacity korma modern features, absence of bad odour, overall quality, user friendliness, warranty, after sales service, stomach care, free home delivery, and ease of maintenance (for users) He finds energy studied at the parameter with the exception of storage capacity, overall quality, warranty, and after sales service and ease of maintenance have influence on the consumer perception regarding overall importance of refrigerators and apart from this he also noticed that age group, marital status, education qualification, monthly income and occupation of consumer have influence on their opinion regarding overall importance of refrigerators. Selvar