Research methods for Businesses

Research Methods for Business Individual Report
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Acknowledgement
The success and final outcome of this report required a lot of guidance and assistance from
many people and I am extremely privileged to have got this all along the completion of my
report. All that I have done is only due to such supervision and assistance and I would not
forget to thank them.
I would like to express my deepest appreciation to all those who provided me the possibility
to complete this report. A special gratitude I give to my lecturer, Mr. Perera, whose
contribution in stimulating suggestions and encouragement, helped me to coordinate my
report, especially in writing this report.
Abstract

Research Methods for Business Individual Report
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The present research paper is focusing on the impact of advertising on consumer’s buying
behaviors in food and beverage industry. Brand image, entertainment, persuasiveness and celebrity
endorsement in the advertising are the key factors, which raise the consumers’ intentions towards
the product and buying behaviors. The primary data of the study is collected through as
selfdeveloped structured questionnaire and secondary data was collected through previous studies,
text books, internet, journals and business magazines. This study was conducted based on a leading
food and beverage manufacturer in Sri Lanka namely, Ceylon Cold Stores PLC. A sample of 80
respondents was taken, out of 150 of the population. Data were obtained by distributing
questionnaires through online platforms to consumers from different demographic factors. The
study explores that a creative and well executed advertisement has always a great impact on the
buying trends or purchasing behaviors of the consumers. Further, the study concludes that the
positive impact of all the above-mentioned factors, on the buying behavior of the consumer.
Key words: Advertising, Consumer behavior, Brand image, Entertainment, Persuasiveness,
Celebrity endorsement.
Table of Contents

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CHAPTER ONE-INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................................................................4
1.0 Introduction.......................................................................................................................................................4
1.1 Background of the study...................................................................................................................................4
1.2 Problem identification ......................................................................................................................................5
1.3 Research questions............................................................................................................................................5
1.4 Research objectives ..........................................................................................................................................6
1.5 Significance of the study ..................................................................................................................................6
1.6 Limitations.........................................................................................................................................................7
CHAPTER TWO-LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................................................8
2.0 Introduction.......................................................................................................................................................8
2.1 Advertising ........................................................................................................................................................8
2.2 Consumer behavior...........................................................................................................................................8
2.3 Impact of advertising on consumer behavior in food and beverage industry..............................................8
2.3.1 Brand image ...............................................................................................................................................9
2.3.2 Entertainment ............................................................................................................................................9
2.3.3 Persuasiveness............................................................................................................................................9
2.3.4 Celebrity endorsement ............................................................................................................................10
CHAPTER THREE-METHODOLOGY ...............................................................................................................................11
3.0 Introduction.....................................................................................................................................................11
3.1 Research approach..........................................................................................................................................11
3.2 Population and sample....................................................................................................................................11
3.2.2 Sample ......................................................................................................................................................11
3.3 Sampling method ............................................................................................................................................12
3.5 Analysis methods.............................................................................................................................................13
3.6 Conceptual framework ...................................................................................................................................14
3.7 Hypotheses .......................................................................................................................................................14
3.8 Questionnaire design.......................................................................................................................................15
References...................................................................................................................................................................15
List of Tables
Table 3.1 Methods of Data Collection.....................................................................22

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List of Figures
Figure 1: Conceptual framework........................................................................ .24
CHAPTER ONE-INTRODUCTION
1.0 Introduction
Modern advertising is developed with the development of mass production in the late 19th and
early 20th centuries. After the success of print advertising, the idea of radio advertising prevailed
this was then followed by the television advertising and social media advertising (Purdy, 2012).
The buying behavior is strongly influenced by image of the product which is built by the
advertisers. Not only that, a creative and well executed advertisement has always a great impact
on the buying trends or purchasing behaviors of the consumers. At the same time quality of the
product and price are also included with their strong impact on buying behavior of consumer. Also,
it proves that the loyalty created through advertising to attract consumer towards brand which helps
in promotion of the advertised product and changes the buying behavior towards buying intentions.
Therefore, the following study is carried out to examine the impact of advertising on consumer
behavior in the food and beverage industry, with a special reference to Ceylon Cold Stores PLC.
1.1 Background of the study
Advertising is a form of communication which is used to persuade a specific group of people to
take some new action. Furthermore, the developments and technological advancements have
turned advertising to a more pervasive and powerful in its impact and affect (Leiss et al., 1986).
Ceylon Cold Stores PLC is a leader in Sri Lanka’s carbonated soft drinks and frozen confectionery
markets, offering an exciting array of products to discerning customers, through its heritage brand
‘Elephant House’ and several emerging brands (Ceylon Cold Stores PLC, 2019). Deep industry
insights gained over 15 decades of market strength have sharpened the Company’s understanding
of evolving customer preferences, enabling it to consistently deliver great products through
convenient and accessible channels (Daily FT, 2019). They have designed various creative and
innovative advertisements to attract different age groups of consumers and by catering consumer
demand effectively to gain the compeititve advantage over rivals. Today, unprecedented adoption
of technology and connectivity is transforming customer expectations and they interact with
retailers. The entire retail experience of Ceylon Cold Stores has been digitalized, from product
research, advertising and ordering online to home deliveries. Meanwhile, social media has become