Abstract

*Motilal Kamil Narayana, Mammmohan Sarabhai and Vikram Kumar Khan

Consumers around the world vary greatly in age, income, education level, and tastes and understanding
how these differences affect consumer buying decision is never easy. However, marketing success largely
depends on the ability to anticipate what buyers will do and what they prefer from available products.
Today, the highly fragmented Indian edible oil industry with large number of players both from the
organized and unorganized sectors has resulted in severe competition and as a result, edible oil
businesses in India have shifted their focus to understand consumer choices better on one side and
increasingly moving away from products to embracing a structured brand management to achieve
competitiveness and profitability in the market place. The present study explores the consumers’
preference for oil brand, oil variants, and factors influencing the purchasing decision. The study highlights
that, brand image, price, health consciousness, and quality of a particular brand are the most important
factors influencing consumers’ decision making for edible oil purchases.