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Consumer Preferences for Various Dairy Products in Chennai Metro City,

Tamil Nadu

Article  in  Advances in Life Sciences · December 2016

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Advances in Life Sciences 5(23), Print : ISSN 2278-3849, 11016-11019, 2016

Consumer Preferences for Various Dairy Products in Chennai Metro City, Tamil
Nadu
SHILPA SHREE, J., A. SERMA SARAVANA PANDIAN, K. N. SELVAKUMAR AND N. KUMARAVELU
Department of Animal Husbandry Economics
Madras Veterinary College, Vepery,
Chennai, Tamil Nadu

ABSTRACT Statistics, 2013). The value of output from dairy sector

(Rs.3,05,484 crores during 2011-12) was found to be the
The study was under taken to assess the consumer
highest among the various subsectors of livestock. The
preferences for various dairy products in Chennai city. A
output of milk and milk products has increased faster than
total sample size of 450 household consumers were selected
the output of crops since the 1970s because of the wide-
randomly from fifteen zones of Chennai city i.e. 30 ranging initiatives taken by the organized sector and the
consumers from each zone. To analyse the consumer escalating demand for milk and milk products. Urbanization
preference towards various dairy products, tabular and is positively correlated with the production and
percentage analysis was used and to find the major reasons consumption of dairy products. The population of Chennai
for preference of dairy products, Garrett ranking city was 14.16 lakhs in 1951 which has increased to 46.81
technique was used. The results revealed that almost all lakhs in 2011 as per the census of India (Vinayakam and
the sample households, irrespective of income level, Sekar, 2013). The most observable fact in Chennai city was
preferred fluid milk and curd. Ice cream is second most its massive urbanization. Due to this, consumers of Chennai
preferred dairy product followed by khoa, ghee, butter, city were highly skewed towards value added livestock
paneer and cheese. For all the dairy products, majority of products in which dairy products occupy a major space.
households are belonging to middle income group when Keeping all these factors into mind, the present study was
compared to high income and low income groups. Among conducted on consumer preferences towards dairy
the dairy products, butter, paneer and cheese are not products in Chennai city.
preferred by low income households. The results of Garrett MATERIALS AND METHODS
ranking technique found that taste was the most important
For the present study, Chennai metro city, the capital
reason for dairy product preference by household of Tamil Nadu was purposively selected. The Chennai city
consumers in Chennai city except fluid milk, for which its has three regions viz., North, Central and South and each
nutritious value was the foremost important reason for region has five zones and thus the city is composed of
preference. Satisfaction was the second important reason fifteen zones. From each zone, 30 household consumers
for preferring curd, ghee, paneer and cheese. In the case were selected by a simple random sampling procedure thus
of butter, khoa and ice cream, quality was placed as second yielding a total sample size of 450 household consumers
important reason, followed by satisfaction, availability, for the study.The selected households were classified based
nutritious value, low price and bulkiness. As income on monthly income of the household, religion and
increases, preference of consumers city were highly educational level of the head of the household. The class
skewed towards different varieties of dairy products. Hence, interval of the income group was estimated by Sturge and
the future demand for various dairy products can be Yule’s rules.
predicted to be high especially in developing countries
like India, where per capita income is on the rise constantly.

Key words Consumer Preferences, Dairy Products, Based on this, income group classified into low (below
Chennai City. Rs. 20,000), medium (Rs. 20,001 – Rs. 40,000) and high
(above Rs. 40,000). Tabular and percentage analysis was
Dairying in India has come forth as an important sub- used to assess the consumer preference for dairy products
sector with an encouraging growth rate of five per cent in Chennai city.
over the years. It also plays a significant role in changing Garret’s Ranking Technique:
the social and economic status of people in India by
Garret’s ranking technique was adopted to analyse
providing a subsidiary source of income. At present, the
the reasons for the preference of the dairy products by
leading light of dairy world is India, which occupies the
household consumers in the study area. A list of reasons
first position in milk production with a production level of
was given to the consumers to rank it (1 to 7). The reasons
127.90 million tones of milk in 2011-12 (Basic Animal
are taste, satisfaction, bulkiness, quality, availability,
Husbandry Statistics, 2013). The per capita availability of
nutrition value and low market price. The order of merit
milk increased from 130 grams per day in 1950-51 to 290
given by the respondents was converted into the ranks by
grams per day in 2011-12 (Basic Animal Husbandry
using the following formula
 SHREE et al., Consumer Preferences for Various Dairy Products in Chennai Metro City, Tamil Nadu 11017

Table 1. Preferences of sample households towards various dairy products (No. of households)

Milk products
Income
sRegions Milk Total number
groups Curd Ghee Butter Paneer Cheese Khoa Ice cream
of households
45 45 33 40 44
45
Low (30.00)a (30.00)a (26.40)a …… …… …… (29.41)a (29.53)a
(100.00)b
(100.00)b (100.00)b (73.33)b (88.89)b (97.78)b
59 59 54 35 24 13 54 59
59
Middle (39.33)a (39.33)a (43.20)a (52.24)a (53.33)a (46.43)a (39.71)a (39.60)a
(100.00)b
North (100.00)b (100.00)b (91.53)b (59.32)b (40.68)b (22.03)b (91.53)b (100.00)b
region 46 46 38 32 21 15 42 46
46
High (30.67)a (30.67)a (30.40)a (47.76)a (46.67)a (53.57)a (30.88)a (30.87)a
(100.00)b
(100.00)b (100.00)b (82.61)b (69.57)b (45.65)b (32.61)b (91.30)b (100.00)b
150 150 125 67 45 28 136 149
150
Overall (100.00)a (100.00)a (100.00)a (100.00)a (100.00)a (100.00)a (100.00)a (100.00)a
(100.00)b
(100.00)b (100.00)b (83.33)b (44.67)b (30.00)b (18.67)b (90.67)b (100.00)b
43 43 34 37 41
43
Low (28.67)a (28.67)a (27.20)a ……. …… …… (27.61)a (27.89)a
(100.00)b
(100.00)b (100.00)b (79.07)b (86.05)b (95.35)b
70 70 59 44 32 16 62 69
70
Middle (46.66)a (46.66)a (47.20)a (62.86)a (62.75)a (55.17)a (46.27)a (46.94)a
(100.00)b
Central (100.00)b (100.00)b (84.29)b (62.86)b (45.71)b (22.86)b (88.57)b (98.57)b
region 37 37 32 26 19 13 35 37
37
High (24.67)a (24.67)a (25.60)a (37.14)a (37.25)a (44.83)a (26.12)a (25.17)a
(100.00)b
(100.00)b (100.00)b (86.49)b (70.27)b (51.35)b (35.14)b (94.59)b (100.00)b
150 150 125 70 51 29 134 147
150
Overall (100.00)a (100.00)a (100.00)a (100.00)a (100.00)a (100.00)a (100.00)a (100.00)a
(100.00)b
(100.00)b (100.00)b (83.33)b (46.67)b (34.00)b (19.33)b (89.33)b (98.00)b
36 36 24 30 36
36
Low (24.00)a (24.00)a (18.90)a …… ……. …… (22.22)a (24.16)a
(100.00)b
(100.00)b (100.00)b (66.67)b (83.33)b (100.00)b
71 71 63 40 26 19 65 70
71
Middle (47.33)a (47.33)a (49.60)a (62.50)a (52.00)a (52.78)a (48.15)a (46.98)a
(100.00)b
South (100.00)b (100.00)b (88.73)b (56.34)b (36.62)b (26.76)b (91.55)b (98.59)b
region 43 43 40 24 24 17 40 43
43
High (28.67)a (28.67)a (31.50)a (37.50)a (48.00)a (47.22)a (29.63)a (28.86)a
(100.00)b
(100.00)b (100.00)b (93.02)b (55.81)b (55.81)b (39.53)b (93.02)b (100.00)b
150 150 127 64 50 36 135 149
150
Overall (100.00)a (100.00)a (100.00)a (100.00)a (100.00)a (100.00)a (100.00)a (100.00)a
(100.00)b
(100.00)b (100.00)b (84.67)b (42.67)b (33.33)b (24.00)b (90.00)b (99.33)b
124 124 91 107 121
124
Low (27.56)a (27.56)a (24.14)a …… …… …… (26.42)a (27.19)a
(100.00)b
(100.00)b (100.00)b (73.39)b (86.29)b (97.58)b
200 200 176 119 82 48 181 198
200
Middle (44.44)a (44.44)a (46.68)a (59.20)a (56.16)a (51.61)a (44.69)a (44.49)a
(100.00)b
(100.00)b (100.00)b (88.00)b (59.50)b (41.00)b (24.00)b (90.50)b (99.00)b
Overall
126 126 110 82 64 45 117 126
126
High (28.00)a (28.00)a (29.18)a (40.80)a (43.84)a (48.39)a (28.89)a (28.32)a
(100.00)b
(100.00)b (100.00)b (87.30)b (65.08)b (50.79)b (35.71)b (92.86)b (100.00)b
450 450 377 201 146 93 405 445 450
Overall (100.00)a (100.00)a (100.00)a (100.00)a (100.00)a (100.00)a (100.00)a (100.00)a (100.00)b
(100.00)b (100.00)b (83.78)b (44.67)b (32.44)b (20.67)b (90.00)b (98.89)b

Figures in parentheses indicate; a – Per cent to total across rows within columns; b – Per cent to total across columns within rows.
11018 Advances in Life Sciences 5(23), 2016

Reasons for preference of dairy products by sample

Percent position = households
In order to find out the major reasons for preference
Where, for dairy products, garrett ranking technique was used. The
Rij = Rank given for ith factor by jth individual scores for the reasons were collected from the sample
household consumers and were compared for their order of
Nj = Number of factors ranked by jth individual.
importance. Based on the total scores obtained for each
The percent position of each rank thus obtained was reason they were ranked and the results are presented in
converted into scores by referring to the table given by Table 2. The results found that taste was the most important
Garret and Woodworth (1969). For each reason, the scores reason for dairy product preference by household
of the individual respondents were added together and consumers in Chennai city. Similar result was reported by
divided by the total number of respondents for whom scores Grunert et al. (2000). In case of whole milk, nutritious value
were given and thus based on the mean scores, the ranks of milk was the first important reason for the household
were given. These mean scores for all the reasons were consumers, as it is rich in calcium level that satisfy the
arranged in descending order and the most important reason nutritious requirement of households. Other reasons for
for the preference of dairy products was ranked first and preferring whole milk were given in the order of taste,
the least important reason was ranked as the last. satisfaction, quality, availability, low price and bulkiness.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Among the reasons, satisfaction was the second important
reason for preferring curd, as it reduces the heat in the
Consumer preference for various dairy products by
body and it is very important dairy product in hot climate
sample households like Chennai city. Nutritious value was considered as third
In order to assess the consumer preferences for dairy reason for preferring the curd followed by quality,
products, tabular and percentage analysis was used. The availability, low price and bulkiness.Satisfaction was
preference of sample households on various dairy products considered as second important reason for preferring ghee,
is given in Table 1. It could be seen from the table that paneer and cheese followed by quality, availability,
almost all the sample households, irrespective of income nutritious value, low price and bulkiness whereas in the
level, preferred fluid milk. Among the dairy products, curd case of butter, khoa and ice cream, quality was placed as
is preferred by all the sample households in Chennai city second important reason, as the consumers of Chennai seem
because of its hot and humid climate. Ice cream (445 to prefer high quality dairy products. Similar result was
household consumers) is second most preferred dairy observed by Fawi and Abdalla (2013). Other reasons for
product followed by khoa, ghee, butter, paneer and cheese. preferring butter, khoa and ice cream are in the order of
In case of ice cream, majority of households are belonging satisfaction, availability, nutritious value, low price and
to middle income group (44.49 per cent) when compared to bulkiness.
high income (28.32 per cent) and low income (27.19 per The overall results revealed that the major reason in
cent) groups. In all other dairy products, majority of preferring the dairy products by household consumers was
households are belonging to middle income group when taste followed by satisfaction, quality, availability, nutritious
compared to high income and low income groups. Butter, value, low price and bulkiness.
Paneer and cheese are not preferred by low income
households.

Table 2. Reasons for preference of dairy products by Garret’s ranking technique

Milk products
Whole milk
S.No Reasons Curd Ghee Butter Paneer Cheese Khoa Ice cream
Score Rank Score Rank Score Rank Score Rank Score Rank Score Rank Score Rank Score Rank
1 Taste 61.27 II 69.90 I 66.58 I 79.64 I 71.88 I 78.51 I 77.40 I 74.77 I

2 Satisfaction 53.07 III 55.63 II 58.70 II 67.87 III 63.45 II 62.43 II 55.62 III 55.56 III

3 Bulkiness 29.10 VII 37.24 VII 37.12 VI 50.85 VII 35.45 VI 33.26 VI 38.38 VII 31.33 VII

4 Quality 49.52 IV 47.86 IV 55.35 III 68.56 II 51.23 III 53.55 III 61.58 II 60.32 II

5 Availability 48.81 V 46.52 V 54.26 IV 62.58 IV 49.84 IV 50.72 IV 54.47 IV 53.27 IV

6 Nutritious
value 69.12 I 48.56 III 37.62 V 55.52 V 41.22 V 44.10 V 43.42 V 39.94 V

7 Low price 38.47 VI 46.39 VI 35.56 VII 51.26 VI 30.23 VII 30.98 VII 42.56 VI 37.24 VI
 SHREE et al., Consumer Preferences for Various Dairy Products in Chennai Metro City, Tamil Nadu 11019

CONCLUSION were highly skewed towards different varieties of dairy

The study of assessing the consumer preference for products. Hence, the future demand for various dairy
products can be predicted to be high especially in
dairy products in Chennai city revealed that almost all the
sample households, irrespective of income level, preferred developing countries like India, where per capita income is
fluid milk and curd. Ice cream is second most preferred dairy on the rise constantly. Periodical studies on preferences
product followed by khoa, ghee, butter, paneer and cheese. for dairy products in the study area should be undertaken
For all the dairy products, majority of households are to understand the changing patterns of taste and
preferences in the consumption of dairy products, so as to
belonging to middle income group when compared to high
bring in the needed changes in production system and also
income and low income groups. Among the dairy products,
in processing technologies. It is the motivating force for
butter, paneer and cheese are not preferred by low income
households. The results of Garrett ranking technique found the development of dairy sector.
that taste was the most important reason for dairy product LITERATURE CITED
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second important reason for preferring curd, ghee, paneer 2: 57 – 62.
and cheese. In the case of butter, khoa and ice cream, quality Garret, H.E. and R.S. Woodworth 1969. Statistics in Psychology and
was placed as second important reason, followed by Education. Vakils, Feffer and Simons Pvt. Ltd., Bombay. p-329.
satisfaction, availability, nutritious value, low price and Grunert, K.G., T. Bech-Larsen and L. Bredahl 2000. Three issues in
bulkiness. The production and marketing of dairy products consumer quality perception and acceptance of dairy products.
should take into account the various determinants of International Dairy Journal 10: 575 – 584.
consumer demand such as preferences, choices and Vinayakam, K. and S.P. Sekar 2013. Rural to urban migration in an
sentiments that influence the consumption behaviour of Indian Metropolis: case study Chennai city. IOSR Journal of
households. As income increases, preference of consumers Humanities and Social Science, 6(3): 32 – 35.

Received on 10-11-2016 Accepted on 15-11-2016

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