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A STUDY ON CONSUMER PERCEPTION TOWARDS KHADI

TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN THRISSUR DISTRICT

N.KATHIRVEL 1 SALINI B NAIR

2

1 Assistant Professor, Department of Commerce, Government Arts College, Udumaipet,Tiruppur

2 Research Scholar, Part-Time External Phd, Course- Bharathiyar University.

ABSTRACT

Khadi has its own unique features, which will influence their overall brand image. Historic

background, Gandhian concept, eco-friendliness etc creates great brand value for Khadi textile

industry. But above all salesmanship & hospitality has its own role in influencing the customer from

marketing point of view. Taking this aspect as base, a survey has conducted among Khadi textile

consumers to know about their perception towards Khadi textile industry in Thrissur district. This

study focus on various factors contributing to the creation of positive perception among Khadi textile

consumers such as level of Khadi textile consumer satisfaction and attitude , marketing attributes such

as price, quality, quality , availability, consumer services, and so on. This study has been conducted in

major Khadi bhavans in Thrissur district.

INTRODUCTION

The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) or Small and Medium enterprises (SMEs) or also

known as small scale industries (SSIs) are defined on the basis of their investment in plant and

machinery (for manufacturing enterprise) as well as in equipments for service enterprises.MSME-

Development Institute,Thrissur, Kerala (MSME-DI,Thrissur), is the state level of Development

Commissioner(MSME) under the Ministry of MSME, Government of India to take care of the needs

of MSME sector in the State of Kerala and the Union Territory of Lakshadweep in the area of

Techno-economic and managerial consultancy services. Khadi work began in the state early in

1920‘s. On 15th January 1955,Kerala Khadi and Village Industries Association was registered. The

Khadi and Village industries association are engaged in providing livelihood to millions of spinners,

weavers and artisans in the rural areas. To survive these institutions need active Government support,

by way of provision of credit, access to technology and market support. The major Khadi products are

Honey, Fiber Products, Processed Fruits and Vegetarian Product, Handmade Paper ,Leather Products

,Village Oil,Pottery,Agarbathi and Khadi textile products (Cotton Khadi,Silk Khadi,Woolen

Khadi,Muslin Khadi).

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

Primary objective

To understand the consumer perception towards Khadi textile industry in Thrissur

district

Secondary objectives

To know about the various existing marketing strategies adopted by Khadi and

Village Industries Association, in Thrissur.

To identify customer satisfaction level of Khadi textile customers

in Thrissur.

INTERCONTINENTAL JOURNAL OF MARKETING RESEARCH REVIEWISSN:2321-0346 - ONLINE ISSN:2347-1670 - PRINT -IMPACT FACTOR :0.882VOLUME 3, ISSUE 3, MARCH 2015

www.icmrr.org 47 [email protected]

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To know about the factors contributing to the satisfaction level of Khadi textile

customers.

To identify the customer attitude & awareness towards Khadi textile industry.

To give suggestions and recommendations to Khadi and Village Industries for

improving their Khadi textile industries.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Hye Jeong Kim and Elena Karpova 2009 has conducted a study which examines consumer

motivations that can explain attitudes towards purchasing fashion counter feit goods and tests the

underlying mechanism of intent to purchase fashion counterfeits based on the theory of planned

behaviour. A random sample of female college students( N=336) participate in this study. Product

apperarance, past purchase behaviour, value consciousness, and normative susceptibility are

significant predictors of attitude towards buying fashion counterfeit goods. Attitude, subjective norm

and perceived behavioural control are significantly related to intent to purchase fashion counterfeit

goods. This research extends the theory of planned behaviour and tests two additional paths that

significantly improve explanatory power of the theory and prediction of consumer intent to buy

fashion counterfeit goods.

Devaraja T S 2011 wrote an article titled ― Indian textiel and garment industry- An overview‖. In this

article he mentioned that India is having the third possition after China and USA in the global textile

and garment industry and the second largest cotton consumer after China. The fundamental strength

of this industry flows from its strong productionbase of wide range of fibers/yarns from national fibers

like cotton, jute, silk and wool to synthetic/ man – made fibers like polyster, viscose, nylon and

acrylic. The growth pattern of the Indian textile industry in the last decade has been considerably

more than the previous decades, primarily on account of liberalization of trade and economic policies

intiated by the government in 1990. The growth in the production of textile fibers has facilitated the

growth of the spinning sector which results in the improvement in the production of siver in Khadi

industry. The total production of cloth by knitting and Khadi sector is 19%. In this article it is

mentioned that Tirupur is one of the important garment clusters in India providing employment to

more than 3,00,000 people directly and indirectly and is earning a considerable amount of feoreign

exchange by contributing more than 50% cotton knitwear exports from India.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Field of study: Marketing

Population : Infinite

Sample size : 420

Variables under study:

Dependent variable

Consumer perception towards Khadi Textile Industry in Thrissur

Independent variable

Consumer buying behavior

Awareness about product



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Price

Reputation of the organization

Competitors

Political and legal

Consumer satisfaction

Consumer attitude & awareness

Research design

Descriptive research design is used for the study

Data needed for study

Primary data & Secondary data

Data collection tool

Primary data tools

Questionnaire

Secondary data tools

Company prospectus, Company websites, Reports, Magazines, Books

Analytical tool : Frequency analysis, chi-square test, Friedman test, Mann-whitney test,

Kruskalwallis test

Data Analysis

DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE

Table 1. Area wise Classification Of Khadi Textile Consumers Based On Occupation

Occupation

Total

place of

residen

ce

priva

te

Govern

ment

self

emplo

yed

Retire

d

Homema

ker others

55

Urban

Count 16 26 16 10 58 64 2 192

% within

place of

residence

8.30

% 13.50% 8.30% 5.20% 30.20%

33.30

% 1.00%

100.00

%

semi-

urban

Count 42 36 14 6 14 26 0 138

% within

place of

residence

30.4

0% 26.10%

10.10

% 4.30% 10.10%

18.80

% 0.00%

100.00

%

Rural

Count 34 30 6 4 6 10 0 90

% within

place of

residence

37.8

0% 33.30% 6.70% 4.40% 6.70%

11.10

% 0.00%

100.00

%

Total

Count 92 92 36 20 78 100 2 420

% within

place of

residence

21.9

0% 21.90% 8.60% 4.80% 18.60%

23.80

% 0.50%

100.00

%



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As per table 1 it is clear that 23.8%of the selected customers have no fixed job, 21.9 per cent each of the

customers are private and government employees. Therefore it is concluded that majority of the

consumers are employees.

Table 2. Area wise Classification Of Khadi Textile Consumers Based On Gender

Gender

Total Male female 3

place of

residence

Urban

Count 74 118 0 192

% within place of

residence 38.50% 61.50% 0.00% 100.00%

semi-

urban

Count 84 53 1 138

% within place of

residence 60.90% 38.40% 0.70% 100.00%

Rural

Count 40 50 0 90

% within place of

residence 44.40% 55.60% 0.00% 100.00%

Total

Count 198 221 1 420

% within place of

residence 47.10% 52.60% 0.20% 100.00%

From the above table it is clear that majority of the Khadi textile consumers are females. They form

52.6 per cent of the total respondents. This shows the dominance of women over men in the

purchasing of Khadi textile products. Majority of the women consumers are from the urban side. The

above table also shows that the women consumers from rural areas are more interested in the Khadi

textile products compared to the semi-urban respondents.

Table 3. Area wise Classification Of Khadi Textile Consumers Based On Monthly Average

Income ( In Thousands)

monthly average income of consumer (in thousands)

Total below 10

10-

below20

20-

below30

30-

below40

40 and

above

Place of

residence

urban

Count 42 56 28 10 0 136

% within

place of

residence

30.90% 41.20% 20.60% 7.40% 0.00% 100.00%

semi-

urban

Count 38 65 20 8 0 131

% within

place of

residence

29.00% 49.60% 15.30% 6.10% 0.00% 100.00%

rural

Count 12 12 24 20 16 84

% within

place of

residence

14.30% 14.30% 26.70% 23.80% 19.00% 100.00%

Total

Count 92 133 72 38 16 351

% within

place of

residence

26.20% 37.90% 20.50% 10.80% 4.60% 100.00%



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The above table 3 indicates that 26.2 per cent of Khadi consumers are having the monthly income of

below 10,000, 37.9 per cent are having between 10,000 and 20,000 monthly earnings, 20.5 between

20,000 and 30,000 monthly earnings on an average basis. This clearly indicates that majority of Khadi

consumers are from low- medium income group and they represent urban-semi urban areas.

Table 4. Area wise Estimation Of Awareness About Khadi Textile Industry

are you aware of Khadi textile

industry Total

Yes no

place of

residence

Urban

Count 192 0 192

% within place

of residence 100.00% 0.00% 100.00%

semi-urban

Count 134 4 138

% within place

of residence 97.10% 2.90% 100.00%

Rural

Count 90 0 90

% within place

of residence 100.00% 0.00% 100.00%

Total

Count 416 4 420

% within place

of residence 99.00% 1.00% 100.00%

From the above table 4 it is clear that 99 per cent of samples selected for the study are aware about

Khadi textile industry. Therefore it is interpreted that Khadi industry is having good popularity and

social influence in the society, ie in urban, semi-urban and in rural areas.

Table 5. Area wise Classification Of Khadi Textile Consumers Based On The Sources Of

Information

how did you come to know of Khadi textile industry

Total radio

news

paper TV magazines friends/relatives

place of

residence

urban

Count 59 28 46 15 44 192

% within

place of

residence

30.70% 14.60% 24.00% 7.80% 22.90% 100.00%

semi-

urban

Count 31 27 22 11 47 138

% within

place of

residence

22.50% 19.60% 15.90% 8.00% 34.10% 100.00%

rural

Count 30 6 10 4 40 90

% within

place of

residence

33.30% 6.70% 11.10% 4.40% 44.40% 100.00%

Total

Count 120 61 78 30 131 420

% within

place of

residence

28.60% 14.50% 18.60% 7.10% 31.20% 100.00%

The table 5 shows that 31.2 per cent of respondents come to know about Khadi textile industry

through friends/relatives. From this it can be interpreted that Khadi consumers are more influenced by



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word of mouth, ie the opinions and comments of their friends/relatives compared to other sources of

information.

Table 5.1 Chi-Square Test

Ho- There is close relationship between the source of information about Khadi products and area of

residence.

Futher the Chi-square test shows that there is close association between the source of information

about Khadi products and the area of residence of the customers as the value of Chi-square is

satistically significnat at 5 per cent level of siginificance( Value of Chi-square=35.860 with P=.000)

Table 6. Area wise Estimation Of The Most Influential Khadi Textile Advertisement Media

Among Khadi Textile Consumers

if yes in which media

Total

Radio TV news

paper Magazines Others

place of

residence

urban

Count 95 50 18 12 17 192

% within

place of

residence 49.50% 26.00% 9.40% 6.30% 8.90% 100.00%

semi-

urban

Count 45 36 28 9 20 138

% within

place of

residence 32.60% 26.10% 20.30% 6.50% 14.50% 100.00%

rural

Count 31 36 11 6 6 90

% within

place of

residence 34.40% 40.00% 12.20% 6.70% 6.70% 100.00%

Total

Count 171 122 57 27 43 420

% within

place of

residence 40.70% 29.00% 13.60% 6.40% 10.20% 100.00%

The table 6 represents that 40.7 per cent of Khadi textile consumers agree that they have heard Khadi

textile products‘ advertisements in radio. This highlights that Khadi textile industry is having more

audience , especially from urban areas for radio advertising compared to other medias of advertising.

This is one of the special features of Khadi industry.

Value df Asymp. Sig. (2-

sided)

Pearson Chi-Square 35.860a 12 .000

N of Valid Cases 420



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Table 7. Area wise Estimation Of Attractive Feature Of Khadi Textile Industry

what attracted you to khadi textile industry

Total Dignit

y

Ideolo

gy

Simpli

city purity

eco-

friendl

iness

rural

empl

oyme

nt

plac

e of

resid

ence

urban

Count 3 90 69 21 7 2 192

% within

place of

residenc

e

1.60% 46.90

%

35.90

%

10.90

% 3.60%

1.00

% 100.00%

semi-

urban

Count 12 18 68 35 5 0 138

% within

place of

residenc

e

8.70% 13.00

%

49.30

%

25.40

% 3.60%

0.00

% 100.00%

rural

Count 10 26 22 17 9 6 90

% within

place of

residenc

e

11.40

%

28.90

%

24.40

%

18.90

%

10.00

%

6.70

% 100.00%

Total

Count 25 134 159 73 21 8 420

% within

place of

residenc

e

6.00% 31.90

%

37.90

%

17.40

% 5.00%

1.90

% 100.00%

The above table 7 shows that 37.9 per cent Khadi consumers were attracted by the simplicity of Khadi

cloths and 31.9 per cent commented that they were attracted by the ideology of Khadi industry. From

this it is clear that majority were attracted by the simple design and look of Khadi cloths and also by

the ideological strength of Khadi industry

Table 7.1 Chi-Square Test

For Testing Area wise Influential Level Of Variables Under Study On Khadi Textile

Consumers

Value Df Asymp. Sig. (2-

sided)

Pearson Chi-Square 82.284a 15 .000

N of Valid Cases 420

Ho: There is close relationship between features of Khadi textile products and their area of residence



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Further the Chi-square test shows that there is close association between the Khadi textile products‘

features and the area of residence of the Khadi textile consumers as the value of Chi-square is

statistically significant at 5 per cent level of significance.( Value of Chi-square 82.284 with P=.000)

Marketing Attributes

Table 8 Tests of Between-Subjects Effects Based On Marketing Attributes

Source Type I Sum

of Squares

df Mean Square F Sig.

Place 1160.977 3 386.992 1.631 0.181

Timing 3292.067 2 1646.034 6.939 0.001

Centre of purchase 6450.429 3 2150.143 9.064 .000

Error 97499.089 411 237.224

Corrected Total 108402.562 419

Table 8.1 Area wise Estimated Marginal Means Based On Marketing Attributes

place of residence Mean Std.

Error

95% Confidence Interval

Lower Bound Upper Bound

Urban 137.522 2.922 131.778 143.266

semi-urban 137.88 3.153 131.683 144.077

Rural 139.998 3.285 133.541 146.456

Table 8.2 Estimated Marginal Means of Marketing Attributes Based On The Occasion Of

Purchase

when do you purchase khadi

products Mean

Std.

Error



festival seasons 142.101 4.086 134.068 150.134

rebate periods 142.05 4.153 133.886 150.214

on regular basis 135.41 4.129 127.293 143.527

Tabl e 8.3. Estimated Marginal Means Of Marketing Attributes Based On The Point Of

Purchase

from where do you buy khadi

cloths Mean Std. Error



khadi emporium 152.326 3.686 145.08 159.573

khadi gramodyog 153.284 2.819 147.742 158.825

Exhibitions 144.719 3.549 137.742 151.697

other sources 109.084 11.338 86.798 131.371

Ho: Khadi textile consumers were influenced by various marketing attributes of Khadi textile industy



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The mean scores of the responses of the samples selected for the study about various marketing

attributes of Khadi textile industry which influences Khadi consumers to buy Khadi cloths are

indicated in the above tables 8,8.1,8.2 and 8.3 respectively. It is shown that Khadi consumers from

rural area were more influenced by the marketing attributes ( mean score 139.998) and they make

purchases during festival seasons (142.101) and they make their purchases from Khadi gramodyog (

mean score 153.284) with the marketing attributes. The mean score variations except on place of

residence of customers are statistically significant at 5 per cent level of significance.(P<.05 in these

cases)

Khadi Textile Consumer Satisfaction

Table 9 Tests of Between-Subjects Effects Of Khadi Textile Consumer Satisfaction

Source Type I Sum of

Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

Place 10499.498 3 3499.833 16.716 .000

Timing 2387.256 2 1193.628 5.701 0.004

Centre of purchase 1817.524 3 605.841 2.894 0.035

Error 86052.684 411 209.374

Corrected Total 100756.962 419

Table 9.1 Area wise Estimated Marginal Means Of Khadi Textile Consumer Satisfaction

place of residence Mean Std.

Error


Lower

Bound Upper Bound

Urban 93.404 2.745 88.008 98.8

semi-urban 86.403 2.962 80.581 92.225

Rural 81.854 3.086 75.787 87.921

Table 9.2 Estimated Marginal Means For Khadi Textile Consumer Satisfaction Based On The

Occassion Of Purchase When do you purchase khadi products

when do you purchase khadi

products Mean

Std.

Error


Lower

Bound Upper Bound

festival seasons 86.806 3.839 79.259 94.352

rebate periods 88.784 3.902 81.114 96.454

on regular basis 92.544 3.879 84.918 100.17



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Table 9.3 Estimated Marginal Means For Khadi Textile Consumer Satisfaction Based On The

Point Of Purchase

from where do you buy khadi

cloths Mean

Std.

Error


Lower

Bound Upper Bound

khadi emporium 96.805 3.463 89.997 103.613

khadi gramodyog 97.361 2.648 92.155 102.567

Exhibitions 94.799 3.335 88.244 101.354

other sources 68.546 10.651 47.608 89.484

Ho: Khadi textile consumers were influenced by their satisfaction level while makking their buying

decision

Tables 9, 9.1, 4.2.8.2, and 9.3 indicate the mean score of the responses of the selected consumers

about the influence of their satisfaction level that forced them to buy Khadi textile products. It is

observed that the urban consumers were influenced by their satisfaction level (mean score 93.404) and

a purchase on regular basis (mean score 92.544) and also they purchase khadi textile products from

Khadi gramodyog Bhavans (mean score 97.361) with the level of satisfaction. This mean score

variation is statistically significant by observing all F values at 5 per cent level of significance. (P>.05

in all the cases)

Friedman Test

Table 10. Mean Rank Of The Khadi Products

Mean Rank

textile products 1.1

cosmetic items 2.64

gift articles 3.87

furniture items 3.75

leather products 3.64

Table 10.1 Friedman Test For Mean Rank Variation Of The Responses Of Khadi Consumers

With Respect To Khadi Products

N 420

Chi-Square 915.139

Df 4

Asymp. Sig. .000



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From the above table it is shown that the textile products are having the least mean score(1.10)

compared to other Khadi products such as cosmetic items, gift articles, furniture items and leather

products. This mean variation is statistically significance at 5 per cent level of significance(P<.05 in

all the cases)

Mann-Whitney Test

Table 11 Gender wise Mean Ranks Of Khadi Textile Products

Gender N

Mean

Rank

Sum of

Ranks

textile products

Male 198 207.21 41028

Female 221 212.5 46962

Total 419

Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed) 0.152

Table 11.1 Mann-Whitney Test For Genderwise Mean Rank Variation Of The Responses Of

Khadi Consumers With Respect To Khadi Textile Products

textile products

Mann-Whitney U 21327

Wilcoxon W 41028

Z -1.433

Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed) 0.152

The table above shows that majority of Khadi textile products are purchased by male consumers

(mean rank 207.21) than female consumers even if this mean variation is statistically not significant at

5 per cent level od significance(P>.05 in the above case).

Kruskal-Wallis Test

Table 12 Area wise Mean Ranks Of Khadi Textile Products

place of residence N Mean Rank

textile products

Urban 192 209

semi-urban 138 208.63

Rural 88 211.95

Total 418

Table 12.1 Kruskal-Wallis Test For Mean Rank Variation Of The

Responses Of Khadi Consumers With Respect To Khadi Textile

Products

textile products

Chi-Square 0.481

Df 2

Asymp. Sig. 0.786



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The above table indicates that the Khadi textile products are frequently purchased by the consumers

from rural area (mean rank 211.95) compared to consumers from urban (mean rank 209) and semi-

urban areas(mean rank 208.63). This mean variation is statistically insignificant at 5 per cent level of

significance (P>.05 in above cases)

FINDINGS

1.Majority of theKhadi textile consumers are employees.

2. Majority of the Khadi textile consumers are females. Majority of the women consumers are from

the urban side.

3. Majority of Khadi textile consumers are from low- medium income group and they represent urban

&semi urban areas.

4. Khadi industry is having good popularity and social influence in the society, ie in urban, semi-

urban and in rural areas

5 Khadi industry is having good popularity and social influence in the society, ie in urban, semi-urban

and in rural areas.

6. Majority of the Khadi textile consumers are mostly influenced by word of mouth, ie the opinions

and comments of their friends/relatives compared to other sources of information.

7. Khadi textile industry is having more audience , especially from urban areas for radio advertising

compared to other medias of advertising.

8. Majority of the Khadi textile consumers were attracted by the simple design and look of Khadi

cloths and also by the ideological strength of Khadi industry

9. Majority of the Khadi textile consumers(urban) prefer to buy Khadi textile products from Khadi

bhavans,

10. Most of the khadi textile consumers are regular users of Khadi textile products

Recommendations & conclusion

As a part of conclusion it is recommended that it will be always beneficial to Khadi textile industry to

adopt both traditional and modern marketing techniques like e-marketing, CRM etc to attract & create

possitive perception about the industry

References

1. Hyejeong Kim and Elena Karpova, ― Consumer attitudes towards fashion counterfeits:

Application of the theory of planned behaviour‖, Clothing and Textiles Research Journal, April

2010, pp 79-94

2. Dr Devaraja T S, ― Indian textile and garment industry- An overview‖, ICSSR journal , May

2011 , pp 1-27

3. www.kvic.com

4. www.kvic.co.in



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