Role of Marketing Intelligence in Brand Positioning of Select Consumer Durables

Abstract

In India, the market for consumer durables is huge and is operating in a highly competitive, complex and rapidly changing business environment. The importance of this research in consumer durable industry is significant as consumers get vast variety of products in this sector and decision making is required to choose at the consumer end. The objectives of this research are 1) To identify the key factors of brand positioning of select consumer durables. 2) To identify the factor(s) of brand positioning those are most significantly influenced by marketing intelligence and 3) To propose a conceptual framework depicting the impact of marketing intelligence (MI) on factors of brand positioning (BP). Extensive literature review helped in identification of the constructs of BP and MI and on the role of MI in BP. The research instruments were prepared based on the valuable feedback from the industry and academia. This process helped to ensure comprehensiveness, clarity, face validity and readability of the scales of the survey instruments. Reliability analysis confirmed that the scale is reliable as all the constructs Cronbach alpha values were above 0.7 and is acceptable as per literature (Cronbach, 1951; Nunnally, 1978). Purposive sampling for IT and Marketing Professionals of consumer durable companies and convenience sampling methodology was used to collect data from consumers of consumer durable organizations on a 5 point Likert Scale (Strongly Disagree- Strongly Agree). The products selected in consumer durable sector in this research, namely; Air Conditioners, Washing Machines, Refrigerators in White Goods; LCDs/ LEDs, Laptops, Mobile Phones, Consumer Electronics and Microwave/Ovens, Mixers/ Grinders/ Food-Processors and Electric Fans in Brown Goods. 72 consumer durable companies have been selected for the data collection.