Report on

Consumers’ Perception towards Buying

Eco-Friendly Jute Products

 Report on

Consumers’ Perception towards Buying

Eco-Friendly Jute Products

Submitted To

Dr. Rafiuddin Ahmed

Associate Professor

Department of Marketing

University of Dhaka.

Submitted By

Your name: ……..

Your ID:…………

Department of Marketing

University of Dhaka.

Date of Submission:
 LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL

January 12, 2020

Dr. Rafiuddin Ahmed

Associate Professor

Department of Marketing, University of Dhaka.

Subject: Submission of Thesis Report.

Dear Sir,

It is a great pleasure and privilege to present the report titled Consumers’ Perception towards
Buying Eco-Friendly Jute Products, which was assigned to me as a partial requirement for the
completion of Bachelor of Business Administration degree. It is my great pleasure to work to
understand the consumer perception towards our golden fiber Jute made products. It also helped
me to gain depth knowledge about the subject. I tried my best to make this report as much
informative as possible.

I am grateful to you for your guidance and kind co-operation at every step of my endeavor on this
research. I shall remain deeply grateful if you kindly go through the paper and evaluate my
performance.

Sincerely Yours,

………………………….

Your name and ID

Department of Marketing, University of Dhaka.

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 CERTIFICATION LETTER

This is to certify that the research paper on “Customers’ Perception towards Buying Eco-
Friendly Jute Products” as a part to fulfill the requirement of Bachelor of Business
Administration (BBA) degree from the Department of Marketing, Faculty of Business Studies,
University of Dhaka. ……….(Your name) has carried it out; Batch BBA-22nd; Class Roll: 147,
under my supervision. No part of this paper has been submitted for any other publication purpose
before to anywhere.

………………………………..

Dr. Rafiuddin Ahmed

Associate Professor

Department of Marketing

Faculty of Business Studies

University of Dhaka.

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 STUDENT’S DECLARATION

I do hereby declare that the report on “Customers’ Perception towards Buying Eco-Friendly
Jute Products” has prepared by me under the guidance of, Dr. Rafiuddin Ahmed; Associate
Professor; Department of Marketing; Faculty of Business Studies; University of Dhaka.

I further affirm that the work is original and the report has not been submitted by me before for
any degree, diploma, title or recognition.

Thanks and Regards.

Yours sincerely,

………………………….

Your name

Your id

Department of Marketing

Faculty of Business Studies

University of Dhaka.

Date of submission: 12 January 2020.

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First, I would like to express my gratitude to Almighty Allah for giving me the strength to
complete the research project within the stipulated time.

This research paper is an accumulation of many people’s endeavor. For this, I am indebted to a
number of people who helped me to prepare it and for their kind advice, suggestions, directions,
and cooperation and proper guidelines.

I am deeply indebted to my thesis instructor Dr. Rafiuddin Ahmed, Associate Professor,

Department of Marketing, University of Dhaka for his valuable suggestions, comments,
criticisms that worked as a spirit to make the report a good one.

I am also grateful to 140+ respondents for giving their time and showing their patients while filling
up survey questionnaires. I am very grateful to Thowin Nu Aung Chak Keny, Shoebur Rahman
Shanto, Maisha Nawar and Nayan Barua for their continuous support and directions to go ahead
with the project paper.

In the end, I like to give my special thanks and inexpressible greets to my inmates, both seniors
and fellow BBA students who gave me good advice, suggestions, inspiration and support.

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Table of Contents
List of Figures ........................................................................................................................................ 9
ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................................................... 10
Chapter One ........................................................................................................................................ 11
Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 11
1.1 Jute and Bangladesh .................................................................................................................. 12
1.2 Research background ................................................................................................................ 13
1.3 Origin of the report .................................................................................................................... 15
1.4 Research Objective .................................................................................................................... 15
1.5 Scope of the study ...................................................................................................................... 15
1.6 Limitations of this study ............................................................................................................ 16
Chapter Two ........................................................................................................................................ 17
Literature review ................................................................................................................................. 17
2.1 Literature Review ...................................................................................................................... 18
Chapter Three ..................................................................................................................................... 21
Methodology ........................................................................................................................................ 21
3.1 Type of research design ............................................................................................................. 22
3.2 Type of information ................................................................................................................... 23
3.3 Data collection ............................................................................................................................ 23
3.4 Sampling Size and Technique .................................................................................................... 23
3.5 Target Population ...................................................................................................................... 23
3.6 Data Preparation and Analysis .................................................................................................. 23
3.7 Questionnaire Design ................................................................................................................. 24
Chapter Four ....................................................................................................................................... 25
Data analysis and findings................................................................................................................... 25
4.1 Data analysis......................................................................................................................... 26
4.1.1 Demographic view:.............................................................................................................. 26
4.1.2 Knowledge on Eco-friendly jute: ........................................................................................ 30
4.1.3 Perception about jute-made products: ............................................................................... 33
4.2 Findings from literature review................................................................................................. 41
Chapter Five ........................................................................................................................................ 42
Recommendations ............................................................................................................................... 42
& Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................... 42

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 5.1 Recommendations ...................................................................................................................... 43
5.2 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 44
5.3 References .................................................................................................................................. 45
5.4 Appendix .................................................................................................................................... 46

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 List of Figures

Figure 3.1 Conceptual model…………….……………………………………………………....22

Figure 4.1 Gender count of respondents……….…………………………………………...........26

Figure 4 1 Age count of respondents…….…………………………………………………........27

Figure 4.2 Count of occupation of the respondents………………………………….………......28

Figure 4.4: Count of monthly income of the respondents………………………………………..29

Figure 4.5: Bangladesh produces good quality jute in the world………………………………...30

Figure 4.6: Jute goods has impact to make environment safe for future generations……………31

Figure 4.7: Are jute products beneficial for our health or not………………………………........32

Figure 4.8: Jute is the safety of environment……………………………………………………..33

Figure 4.9: Jute is Disposable…………………………………………………………………….34

Figure 4.10: Jute is reusable………………………………………………………………………35

Figure 4.11: Jute products’ designs are attractive…………………………………………...........36

Figure 4.12: Jute products are fashionable……………………………………………………….37

Figure 4.13: Price influences while buying a jute product………………………………………..38

Figure 4.14: Low and reasonable price will be preferred for jute-made products………………...39

Figure 4.15: Quality of a jute product matters……………………………………………….......40

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 ABSTRACT

The research has been conducted by taking some of the insight of the people who have purchased
jute products and to measure their perception towards those jute-made products. Data have been
collected from 140+ people through a closed-ended questionnaire survey, which has been made
through online sharing of a Google survey form. The ratio of male and female participants is 55%
and 45% percent. The respondents are educated people, mostly the undergraduate students, who
have purchased and used diversified jute-made products. This segment usually know the
importance of jute and have real perception towards this eco-friendly jute. People of young
generation are so much aware of the importance of jute. They use jute product frequently. Even
22nd batch of Department of Marketing had arranged “Sales Fair 2019” where one of the teams
brought jute-made handicrafts and accessories. Therefore, it can be realized that still in our
country, people love jute products. If we can make the proper use of this opportunity, jute can
easily beat any other products. This paper tries to find out the perception of the consumers towards
jute products. The survey follows quantitative method to collect data. After collecting data, it has
been analyzed by descriptive statistics. The collected data yield results and findings are shown the
data analysis and findings section of this paper. Based on the findings conclusion is made and after
conclusion research implication is analyzed to find out the future scope of the research.

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 Chapter One

Introduction

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1.1 Jute and Bangladesh
Jute was once known as the golden fiber of Bangladesh, since it was the most important cash crop
for the country (En.banglapedia.org, 2020). Jute fiber is produced mainly from two commercially
important species, namely White Jute and Tossa Jute. The center of origin of white jute is said to
be Indo-Burma including South China, and that of tussah Africa. The word jute is probably coined
from the word jhuta or jota, an Odishan word. Jute grows under wide variation of climatic
conditions and stress of tropic and subtropics. Jute fibers are used in hessians and gunnies, carpet
and rugs, paper, canvas, tarpaulin, handicrafts, etc. Dundy (UK) purchases high-class jute of all
grades, particularly white and tussah. Belgium, Italy, USA, South America are the buyers of
superior quality jute. Jute was cultivated from ancient times in Bengal .At that time, it was more
or less a garden plant and its leaves were used as a vegetable and for medicinal purposes. Although
jute is grown in almost all the districts of Bangladesh, Faridpur, Tangail, Jessore, Dhaka, Sirajganj,
Bogra, and Jamalpur are considered the better growing areas. Total area under the crop is estimated
to be 559,838 ha and the total production about 5310,500 bales. Bangladesh jute research institute
(BJRI) so far has developed about 27 high-yielding and good quality jute cultivars.

Growing international interest for diversified and lifestyle jute products have prompted
Bangladeshi jute manufacturers and exporters to develop value-added jute products like jute gunny
bag or sack bags, jute yarn and twine, handicrafts, shopping bags, beach bags, sports and travel
bags, wine bags and other jute textiles. Jute is one of the most valuable natural resources of
Bangladesh and is truly ruled the world market. Bangladeshi Jute bags are available in neutral and
earthy colors like olive green and different shades of white. These quality jute bags made their
way into almost every nature lovers home (Bestjute.com, 2020).

Jute products Jute and jute-based products are put to a wide range of uses. Since antiquity, it has
been used as a raw material for packaging. Before being used as a commercial commodity, it was
used in different parts of the world to make household and farm implements such as ropes,
handmade clothes, wall hangings, etc. In Bengal, sacks and saris made of jute were commonly
used in the Middle Age. Export of sacks started in the 18th century. Traditionally, use of jute
products are limited to packaging materials like twine, hessian, gunny bag, twill, carpet backing,
wool pack, tarpaulin, mats, canvas, wall cover, upholstery, and as furnishing fabrics of different
types and natures (Bestjute.com, 2020).

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1.2 Research background
The business opportunities explored by the harnessing and processing of natural fibers hold the
commitment of huge growth, especially consumers are increasingly interested in choosing
‘environmentally friendly’ products. Consensus is that “green” refers to, in some ways, to
environmentally preferable attributes of a product, service, and technology. Beyond the
assumption that the term “green” indicates environmentally preferable attributes. It does not
preserve highly toxic compounds and no contribution to highly toxic by-products during the
manufacturing process. The features should be contained including durability, recycled content,
reusable, using natural or renewable resources, used local resources. The producers also employ
“sustainable harvesting” practices, be easily reused, and be biodegradable.

The use of natural fiber is more sustainable than synthetic fiber or artificial fiber because natural
fibers use natural resources compare to synthetic and fiber extracted from plants, which are
annually cultivatable. Annual replacements make these renewable resources. For this reason,
natural fiber is biodegradable, disposable and use these creates nontoxic environment. Therefore,
natural fiber ensures sustainability and eco-compatibility. Moreover, 2009 has been declared the
“International Year for Natural Fibers” by FAO to bring a spotlight on this issue. Jute is one of the
cash crops and natural fiber after cotton. Jute fiber is comparatively second ranked natural
cellulosic fiber in the global marketplace and it is raising attraction to people than petroleum based
fiber. Last couple of decades, Bangladesh dominated and earned foreign exchange by producing
jute goods such as hessian cloth and bags/ sacks, twine, yarn and carpet backing cloth. When
synthetic and plastic came to the market, jute traditional products lost their market position.

However, lack of proper initiatives in both policy and research jute cannot be revived its position.
Some scholars have tried to use jute in different ways with their own initiatives, besides
Bangladesh Jute Research Institute (BJRI) and Jute Diversification Promotion Centre (JDPC) are
working on jute diversification. “Jute and jute goods constitute 39% of Bangladesh agricultural
exports and in 2012/13 it was 3.8 percent of all export. Within the overall jute sector, low value
added and traditional products account for more than 99 % exports; thus diversified jute products
currently represent less than 1% percent of jute sector export.” In order to overcome the declining
market of conventional products, new technologies and products has been evolved by using jute
in the production of value added products and diversified products. By this way, new industry has

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emerged and it is called jute-diversified industry. This industry focuses innovative jute products.
Jute diversified industry is emerging and rising industry in Bangladesh. There is no universal
definition on jute-diversified products. Eco-jute diversified products means products are made
from natural jute fiber, yarn or fabrics. It is recycled materials, reusable, designed for longtime
use, causing little or no environmental impact and produced by eco-consciousness enterprises. Jute
can be used for different purposes. Broadly, eco-friendly jute diversified products means these
products are manufactured by using jute fiber, yarn, or fabrics partly or wholly.

Basically jute products are aesthetic and very exceptional. “The use of jute in new, alternative and
non traditional ways that add value to final product are generally termed jute diversified products
(JDPs)” We mean simply products that claim to offer an environmental benefit.” According to Jute
Diversification Promotion Centre (JDPC) “All fiber, yearn and fabrics-based jute products of high
value addition excepting traditional hessian, sacking, carpet backing cloth and yarn of six count
and above yearn will be termed as jute diversified products.” Jute products uses multipurpose. For
sustainable and revive the jute sector, everyday several products have been developing and adding
in jute products family. The range of Jute products including ladies bag, summer/beach bag, fancy
bag, executive bag. Stationary products like school bags, purse, pouch, wallet, file. Decorative
products like sataranji, wall/floor mats, table mats, runner, place mat, sikka, wall hanging, toys,
grocery bags /souvenir, seminar bags, notebook, pen stand, paper & pulp ( jute paper, jute –silk
blended paper, jute board, garments tag, visiting card, greetings card & note book), jewellery and
jewellery box and office items etc.

Almost jute products are manufactured by Micro, small and medium enterprises in Bangladesh.
Moreover, Bangladesh produces best quality raw jute in the world and she has core competency
in raw jute production due to agro-ecological comparative advantages. World Bank study
observed, Bangladesh has the huge potential and broadens scope in producing diversified jute
products in world jute sector. On the other side of coin, India the first mover advantage in
producing jute fashion products compared to Bangladesh. However, India collects raw jute from
Bangladesh. Jute industry can be revived and regain the lost the golden fiber. Entrepreneurs need
to understand the buying behavior of diversified jute products and formulating effective green
marketing strategies and practices according to their purchase behavioral factors. Finally, it is true
that green business and green marketing can play significant role for curbing climate change

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impacts around the world. Consumer preferences are going green, presenting new opportunities
for Bangladeshi jute enterprises to sell sustainable products in local and overseas market. The
numbers of consumers are growing to buy eco-friendly jute products. Still the market size is very
limited though 160 million populations are living in Bangladesh. In spite of important and
prospective industry, number of customers and market size are not satisfactory. The researchers is
not much aware this type of research on this products. Therefore, for formulating effective
marketing policies and strategies, the understanding of buying behavior and standards toward eco-
friendly diversified jute products is essential.

1.3 Origin of the report

This research project is generated under the supervision of, Associate Professor, Dr. Rafiuddin
Ahmed, Department of Marketing, University of Dhaka. This is prepared for partial fulfilment of
my BBA degree from Department of Marketing, University of Dhaka. The topic of the research
project is “Consumers’ perception towards buying eco-friendly jute products”.

1.4 Research Objective

Jute is our golden fiber. Now-a-days, synthetic fibers are grabbing the opportunities of jute. So the
main objection of this research is to know the consumers’ perception towards the buying jute
products. Other objectives are:

 To identify the demographic factors of eco-friendly diversified jute products consumers

 To investigate knowledge and awareness of customers on eco-friendly jute.
 To explore the perception of customers towards buying eco-friendly jute products.
 To recommend guidelines for formulating marketing strategies to enhance sales and
customers satisfaction of eco-friendly diversified jute products.

1.5 Scope of the study

This paper is prepared with the response of 140+ respondents. All of these respondents are from

University of Dhaka and there age range is 15 to 28 years.

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1.6 Limitations of this study
There are some limitations of this study. These are:

 All of the respondents are from the University of Dhaka. A particular university’s student
does represent all the consumers of eco-friendly jute products.
 More quantitative data should be gathered and analyzed to understand the depth of
consumers’ perception about a jute-made product as well as buying it.
 Respondents are not always conscious while filling-up the survey form.
 Statistical tables and equations cannot be applied in this report, to make it easily
understandable for a reader.
 Because of time shortage, focus group discussion or individual interview cannot be
performed to collect data.

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 Chapter Two

Literature review

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2.1 Literature Review
Jute is a potential sector in Bangladesh, which plays a pivotal role in the sense of agricultural,
economical, industrial and commercial. In the prior, in Bangladesh, jute was called the “Golden
Fiber” but afterwards, because of some problems and facing loss every year, the present condition
and future prosperity of jute is in a vulnerable condition. There might be possibilities if we promote
our jute products in various ways. It means diversification in jute sector might bring back the fame
of calling jute the “Golden Fiber” again.

Jute is coarse products and it has chemical characteristics to be degraded in the environment. Also,
at present people are very conscious about the eco-friendliness issue, which can add a positive
value to jute sector. To improve the present condition of jute sector a good number of researches
are must. It is known that, jute is a natural savior. It is environment friendly as well as health
friendly for human being. It has no side effect of using jute products, rather is provides an aesthetic
look as well as traditional vibe to the user’s environment. Several researchers agreed that
environment-friendly, green, or eco-friendly products become popular at the global marketplace.
In the inception of the twenty-first century is marked by an exponential growth of consumer’s
ecological awareness due to the association of consumer’s negative impacts by several
environmental problems such as global warming and pollution. It has been agreed that, marketing
managers has emphasized consumer’s criteria and introducing products, which are environment-
friendly, or green (Follows,S.B. and Jobber, D. (2000) Environmentally Responsible Purchase
Behaviour: a test of a consumer model, European Journal of Marketing, 34(5), pp.723-746, 2010).

For understanding the buying behavior are required that demographic factors, perception towards
price, quality, environmental effect, design, information and availability of the products. Attitudes
and willingness of buying eco-friendly products are greatly influenced different factors such as
Eco literacy, interpersonal influence and value perceived (Murphy, R., Graber, M., & Stewart.,A.
(2010) Green Marketing: A Study of Green Marketing on Consumer Behavior in a Period of
Recession, The Business Review, 16(1), pp. 134-140, 2010). Another researcher also showed that
buying behavior of green consumer depends on environmental values and beliefs, environmental
regulations and knowledge. Consumers also impressed by green marketing practice like eco-label,
eco-brand, and environmental advertisement. Another research found that, attitude is explained by

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consumers’ environmental concern, quality of green products, green advertising and green
labeling.

It was found that pro-environmental concerns and consumer’s awareness affect green purchase
decision but higher price are discouraged to customers preferences. Until recently, the literature
provided that most studies are lack of product category specificity and failure to address
environmentally friendly jute diversified products. It has been studied on Ecological and
Environmental Sustainability of Jute Production Systems in Bangladesh: Life Cycle Assessment.
Two important studies on jute production systems were conducted through field experimentations
for the two consecutive jute-growing seasons in 2006 and 2007 to enumerate the ecological
sustainability and the environmental consistency indicators of the system. Life Cycle Assessment
(LCA) is one of the methods to assess the environmental consistency and ecological health
indicators affected by the production systems. LCA of jute production system presents the
emissions and extractions of nutrients to and from the soil and water as well as some important
biogases to the air considering inputs and outputs to and from the production system boundary to
the environment (Rahman, M.M. & Bala, B.K. (2007). Energy analysis for jute production in
Bangladesh., 2007).

Green purchasing is most often measured as green purchase intention and behaviour. Green
purchase intention refers to consumers‟ willingness to purchase green products. Intentions capture
the motivational factors that influence green purchase behaviour of consumers (T. Ramayah,
J.W.C. Lee, O. Mohamad (2010) Green product purchase intention: Some insights from a
developing country, Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 54 (12) (2010), pp. 1419-1427,
2010).

Moreover, the aim of this paper is to highlight the scenario of what a consumer know about jute-
made products, think about jute and bear perception about jute-made products. In the research
paper by Molla. M. M. U8 (2014), he illustrated that based on the primary data from the consumers
of jute industry, highlighted the scenario of consumers’ buying perception. The public sector is the
sufferer and faces loss during the study period, found out by this research. In his paper he showed
the statistics of present scenario of jute sector and the foreign currency value earning by exporting.
It has pointed many problems facing by the public and private jute industry. Economically jute can
play an important role if our government would come forward for saving this sector for the long

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run. Side-by-side it is a natural savior. Lastly, he said that there is a huge possibility to be
successful only if everyone will be concerned enough to make a green environment from buying
jute and various jute goods (Molla, M. M. U., Akhtar, S., Alam, M.K, Huq, A.S.M.A (2014)
Diversified jute products Marketing System in Bangladesh, International Journal of Business,
Social and Scientific Research, 1(3) pp.219-229, 2014).

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 Chapter Three

Methodology

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3.1 Type of research design
According to Malhotra and Dash, A Research Design is a framework or blueprint for conducting
the marketing research project based on objectives of the research paper. Actually, a research paper
provides solutions of the real field problems (K and Dash, 2015).

In this research, I have selected two major variables- one is independent variable and another one
is dependent variable. In this research, dependent variable is the “Consumers’ Perception” and
independent variables are Design of jute products, Price of a jute-made product, Environmental
influences of eco-friendly jute products and finally the Quality of jute products. All these variables
are here below in conceptual model.

Figure 3. 2 Conceptual model

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Here in this research, Descriptive Research has been adopted because it covers quantitative
researches, which are imperative for the study (Anon, n.d.). Here quantitative research has been
used to show the information in quantitative form. Features are classified and counted, and
statistical models are constructed to analyze and explain the information that has been gathered.
Survey questionnaire has been formed for a perfect online survey. Instead of numbers, in this
research information will be provided in the form of words or visual representations. The result of
the survey has been prepared through visual representation of pie chart (K and Dash, 2015).

3.2 Type of information

This report is prepared by analyzing both primary and secondary data. Consumer perception is a
known concept. There are many researches on the topic- “Consumers’ perception towards Eco-
friendly jute products”.

3.3 Data collection

To collect primary data related to this topic quantitative research method is used to collect data.
Secondary data are collected from various journals, books, review of various articles. On the other
hand, primary data are collected by a survey. A questionnaire is prepared with close-ended
questions. These questionnaires provide the necessary primary data.

3.4 Sampling Size and Technique

For this study, from 140+ respondents responses have been collected. These respondents have been
selected with non-probability sampling technique, where all the individuals of the population have
the equal chances to be selected (Anon, n.d.). These respondents were from University of Dhaka.
The students of University of Dhaka are huge.

3.5 Target Population

The target population is the students of Dhaka University who have been graduated or still studying
in the University.

3.6 Data Preparation and Analysis

Data have been analyzed and prepared with pie chart. Then that data have been described with
explanations. Because a pie chart is easy to explain as well as comfortable to understand for the
reader.

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3.7 Questionnaire Design
A questionnaire is prepared to take the survey (Anon, n.d.). The questionnaire is consisting of
close-ended equations. On the other hand, close-ended questions have left the responded to answer
anything expect the answer shown in the list. It can be Yes/No question or likert scale question.

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 Chapter Four

Data analysis and findings

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4.1 Data analysis
This following section presents analysis made on the data collected from the survey questionnaire.
The set of questions were sent to the students of different department of University of Dhaka. The
responded from different department because it will provide a clear understanding on the
recreation habit of the students of Dhaka University as a consumer. This whole survey has been
designed into three different section-

i. Demographics of the consumers.

ii. Knowledge about eco-friendly jute.
iii. Perception about jute-made products.

4.1.1 Demographic view:

As for any study, the demographic view of the respondents must be analyzed. Some of the
following illustrations describe demographic view of the respondents of this study. It includes
gender, age, education, and income level of the respondents.

a) Gender: Both male and female are included for this study as both the groups belong to the
young generation of the country and are affected by various factors of buying jute products.

Figure 4. 3 Gender count of respondents

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Among the 140+ respondents, 43.6% respondents were female and 56.4% were male respondents.
The questionnaire was sent to the students of University of Dhaka without discriminating the male
or female. As here the numbers of male and female respondents very close, the result will not be
biased.

b) Age:

Figure 4. 4 Age count of respondents

In this survey, the respondents were divided into four different age ranges to understand, which
type of aged people use jute-made products most. However, as the respondents are form University
of Dhaka, there are no people in the age range bellow 15. According to target population, there are
also no respondents over the age of 28, because undergraduate or graduate university students are
aged between 18 years to 28 years. This numbers tells that these aged groups does not represent
all the consumers of jute-made products in Bangladeshi market. So here, the bar chart of the age
range says that, among 140+ respondents 88.6% of the students are 20-24 years old who use jute
products, 5.7% are aged between 24-28 years, and very little amount of them, only 5% are aged

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between 15-19 years. So here, the largest age group of 20-24 years can be relied as the potential
users of jute products. This age group will dominate further analysis of the survey.

c) Occupation:

Figure 4. 5 Count of occupation of the respondents.

As all the respondents are from University of Dhaka and 88.6% of them are aged from 20-24 years,
they are obviously undergraduate. Among 140+ respondents, more than 120 people are
undergraduate who use jute products most. Almost 18-19 of them are graduate, but a very little
amount of them, not more than five people are both employed and unemployed.

Therefore, it can be said that, the target population for this survey of jute product is the students
of University of Dhaka, where most of them are aged from 20-24 years and that is why they all are
undergraduate who buy most of the jute products according to the survey result.

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Still, this is only a survey on the students of a particular university; we cannot say that the result
is always right. However, the respondents who have been selected for the survey are reliable
enough. Therefore, the result that have been achieved is quite accurate.

d) Monthly income: As all the respondents of this survey on consumers’ perception towards
using eco-friendly jute products are existing university students or fresh graduates, their
income level might not be so high. Here is the income level of 140+ respondents.

Figure 4.4: Count of monthly income of the respondents.

Here the figure shows that, most of the respondents have income below five thousand and the
number is 86-90% of 140+ respondents. Among rest of the respondents almost 41% of them have
income between 5000-15000 taka, 5% of them have income between 15000-25000 taka and very
little amount respondents have income above 25000taka.

From this scenario, it can be easily measured that, most of the people who study undergraduate
have a little income to buy jute-made product. In this context, price of the jute products can be one
of the vital influencer of buying perception of the consumers. Because all these low-income

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customers will definitely find low priced as well as fashionable jute products. Therefore,
manufacturer of a jute product must have to be concerned about the price of each product.

4.1.2 Knowledge on Eco-friendly jute:

Here in the second section of the survey questionnaire, some general perceived knowledge about jute
have been examined. Three questions about jute and jute-made products have been designed to know
about consumers; knowledge.

Q.1 Bangladesh produces good quality jute in the world- what do you think?

Figure 4.5: Bangladesh produces good quality jute in the world.

Here from the pie chart, it can be easily understood that, our country Bangladesh produces the high
quality jute in the whole world. Jute was once the cash crop of Bangladesh, but still it is the golden
fiber of our country. However, people of our country now use synthetic fiber products, more than
jute, but in everyone’s mind jute is still an emotion, aristocracy and sometimes luxury. Here 97.9%

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of total 140+ respondents believe that Bangladesh produces good quality jute. The previous market
of Bangladesh was monopolistically led by jute industry. Adamji Jute Mil was the pioneer of this
whole market. That is why, people of our country still consider jute as one of the identities of
Bangladesh.

Q.2 Jute goods has impact to make environment safe for future generations- what is your
opinion?

Figure 4.6: Jute goods has impact to make environment safe for future generations.

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As it is known that, jute is a natural savior most of the consumers are getting aware of this day-by-
day. Jute plays a vital role in the environment. Every part of a jute plant is so useful for us. Above
98% of 140+ respondents opinioned, that jute is really a nature protector. When a jute plant is
planted in the soil is brings blessings for both normal consumer and country economy. The leaves
of jute plate is eaten as vegetable and it is so much healthy food for regular diet. The stem of the
plant is the core ingredient for any kind of jute product.

Q.3 Are jute products beneficial for our health or not?

Figure 4.7: Are jute products beneficial for our health or not.

Jute does not harm human health also obviously nature. The process of fermenting raw jute and
making jute product is also good and health-friendly. In this survey, total respondent were 140+.
Among this large amount more than 100 people, approximately 110 respondents believe that jute
is so much beneficial for health. It is almost 90% of the whole target population. As jute is a natural

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fiber, it has no harmful chemical reaction on human body. Again, no harmful preservative or
processor is needed to process jute or store it. Again, as it is obtained from natural plants, no animal
got harm by this process.

4.1.3 Perception about jute-made products:

In this section of the survey questionnaire, the perception of the consumers about a jute-made
product have been examined. This section of the questionnaire consists of eight basic questions.
The result of the survey has given below:

Q.1 Jute is the safety of the environment- do you agree?

Figure 4.8: Jute is the safety of environment

Here the figure shows that more than 44% of the respondents believe that jute is the safety for
environment. As it is the natural golden fiber of Bangladesh, people of our country still believe
that jute is the savior of environment as well as useful for human being. But among 140+
respondents, only 39.6% of them strongly agreed that jute is a safety for environment, because

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customers are now relying on synthetic fibers more than this golden fiber. So if the jute production
deteriorate, it will be harmful for the nature. Believe on this practical issue, without being
emotional 7.9% of total respondents strongly disagreed and 0.7% of them disagreed that jute is a
safety for environment, because if jute is not be produced, how it could be a natural savior? And
yes, it’s true. But there are 7.2% neutral respondents who believe both the facts.

Q.2 Do you agree that- "Jute is disposable''?

Figure 4.9: Jute is Disposable

Here in this figure, the count of disposability of jute has been presented. It can be easily understood
that almost 50% of the total target population that means 48.9% believe that jute is disposable.

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They use jute products frequently and know that it does not harm our environment or even human
health. Again 30.2% of the respondents strongly believe that yes, jute is disposable. But here are
some other people who less believe about the disposability of jute. Among them 12.9% are neutral
about this fact, 3.6% disagree about this fact and rest of 4.3% strongly disagree that jute is
disposable. Most probably they never used jute or jute-made products consciously, and that is why
they have less knowledge about jute.

Q.3 "Jute is reusable"- do you agree?

Figure 4.10: Jute is reusable.

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Jute is a natural fiber. That is why jute is reusable as well as safe for the nature. Among 140+
respondents selected for this survey, more than 51.1% agreed that jute is reusable. Jute sacks and
other materials can be converted into another product or can be reused. But a little amount of
respondents strongly believe that jute is actually reusable. That the percentage is 11.5%. Again
23.7% of the respondents showed neutral attitude against this question. Maybe they had a less
knowledge about jute. But here 7.9% of the total respondents disagreed that jute is not reusable
and 5.8% of the respondents strongly agreed that jute is really not reusable.

Q.4 Jute products' designs are attractive- do you agree?

Figure 4.11: Jute products’ designs are attractive.

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Jute products are diversified. That is why the designs of jute products are also attractive to the
customers. From this survey of 140+ respondents of University of Dhaka’s students, a clear view
about the attractiveness of jute products have been gotten. Here among the total population more
than 70% agreed that jute products are attractive. So it can be assumed that, people who use jute
products as a regular basis, got good results from the diversified characteristics of it. Besides these
almost 30% of the respondents strongly agreed about the fact of attractiveness.

Q.5 Jute products are fashionable- do you agree or not?

Jute products have made a good image of being fashionable. Bangladeshi producers now export
great quality jute products to the whole world. Many small and medium enterprises are working
for the betterment of jute-diversified products, so that it can achieve the lost charm of jute. Here
in this question, respondents expressed their perception about jute is fashionable or not. More than
50% respondents agreed that jute-made products are fashionable, where 15% of the total
population even strongly agreed to this fact. 20.7% of them has less idea about jute products, so
they remained neutral about their opinion. On the other hand, 3.6% and 9.3% of the respondents
strongly disagreed and disagreed the fact that jute is fashionable, maybe they have no idea about
jute or jute-made products.

Figure 4.12: Jute products are fashionable.

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Q.6 Price influences you while buying jute products- do you agree?

Figure 4.13: Price influences while buying a jute product.

Price is a vital factor for any kind of products. Usually every consumer considers the price while
buying a product. Low price with good quality of product attracts the consumers a lot. That is why
manufacturers’ main motto is to minimize the price as low as possible and provide good quality
product. Here in the survey of consumers’ perception, the sixth question was about the influence
of price about choosing to buy jute products. The result so much favorable. Among 140+
respondents, 90% of the agreed that, price highly influences them to buy a jute product. Here 30%
of them kept their answers neutral and 10% of the respondents strongly agreed that price influences
them while buying a jute product. As all the respondents are selected from students of University

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of Dhaka and they are in a lower income range, price will be the main factor for them while buying
any kind of product, not only jute.

Q.7 Low and reasonable price will be preferred for jute-made products- do you agree?

Figure 4.14: Low and reasonable price will be preferred for jute-made products.

Here the seventh question in third section of the questionnaire was about low and reasonable price
of jute products. From the previous question it has been proved that price is one the main
influencers of buying behavior. Here almost 26% of the total 140+ respondents strongly agreed
that they would buy a jute-made product if they found it low-priced or reasonable. Again, most of
the respondents simple agreed that low price influence then, because they are the customers of
mid-range, who actually can by products, which are priced between low to medium. This type of
customers mainly represents the whole market of jute products. Other 8.7% of the respondents
kept their answers neutral about low price products. Lastly, 5.1% of the respondents disagreed and
2.2% of total population strongly disagreed that low price influence them. These last two types of
consumers are mainly quality concerned, not price.

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Q.8 Above all "Quality" of a jute product matters for you- agree or not?

Figure 4.15: Quality of a jute product matters.

The last and final question that the respondents of this survey faced is about quality. Jute materials
have different types of quality. Some are harsh in texture, some are soft kind of materials and
others are normal basic raw materials. Different type of consumers prefer different type textured
jute, but every consumer considered one single thing while buying a jute product that is its good
quality. Here in the survey, the respondents were asked that if above all quality matters for them
or not. Almost 35% of the respondents strongly agreed that quality matters a lot and these type of
customers are very niche, they could pay a lot but they need the best quality. On the other hand,
85% of rest of the customers simple agreed that quality matters for them, because they will think
twice to buy a high quality product with a very high price rather they would buy a medium quality
product. Other 10% of the respondents kept neutral while answering about quality because they
do not bother about quality, they just need a minimum good quality product at a lower price.

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4.2 Findings from literature review
Findings from literature review is that four core concepts influences a consumers’ perception towards
buying eco-friendly jute products, these are- design of the jute-diversified products, price of individual
product, environment consciousness of the consumers and lastly above all the good quality of a jute
product. From the survey of the research, it has been found that, these four factors equally influences a
consumer when she/he will think of buying a jute product.

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 Chapter Five

Recommendations

& Conclusion

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5.1 Recommendations
From the above analysis and discussion, the following suggestions are:

 The marketers of jute-diversified industry should formulate effective marketing strategies for
enhancing customer’s knowledge and awareness on jute eco status.
 Entrepreneurs or producers should identify the target market by psychographic segmentation
and taking right strategies and implementing those at right time. Particularly, producers should
focus environmental compliance as well as charges lower price for jute-diversified products.
 Entrepreneurs can practice online shopping through website, social media: face-book, We chat,
QQ etc.
 Government could help to entrepreneurs to make a linkage with potential customers or future
generation. For this purpose, they can arrange exhibition at school, college and university and
seminar/workshop on environmental benefits of jute-diversified products. Sometimes
government can make documentary or short film on eco-jute products and it’s environmental
benefits. Finally, they can broadcast these records through electronic and print media.
 Particularly, government should encourage all government, semi-government, autonomous
organizations and institutions to be corporate customer of diversified jute products. It is large
market in the domestic market. Every offices use seminar bags, gift items, executive’s bags
and several bags, decorative and stationary items, so they can easily buy and use green products
in replace of artificial or plastic bags or gifts. Recently, many government and corporate are
using jute made green products.
 Government should take favorable jute diversification products policy and establish jute
diversification products development design institute.
 Government should arrange more trade fairs, exhibitions, road shows, and establish permanent
showroom at tourist spots or massive gathering places in the country. Besides, government can
use foreign missions for promoting those products in abroad.
 Academicians, researchers, and policy makers should come forward to researching and finding
the way out of the sustainable development of potential jute industry. More research is required
to find out the customer expectations and issues.
 Accreditation council should be developed to certify the quality and compliance issue .It would
be very much effective to build up the trust and faith of customers toward jute-diversified

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 products. Customers are very much conscious about the materials, design and quality.
Ultimately, it will be also helpful to entrepreneurs to develop their competence and
competitiveness, which is very essential to compete with other substitute products. It also
creates an opportunities to make customer loyalty home and abroad.
 Government and NGOs should focus to promote and develop market of this green industry and
products home and abroad. Particularly, SMEs are involved in producing these green product
and they are creating economic and social value. They are creating shared value throughout
the value chain by producing green products. Therefore, government and NGOs have the scope
to promote and facilitate them.

5.2 Conclusion
Purchasing eco-friendly products are becoming an imperative to keep the earth alive and support
the people to sustain. Researchers found that diversified jute industry could help in reducing
climate change threats in the globe. Right now, customers are willing to pay more prices for the
products, which are environmental friendly like jute. However, they are not ready to compromise
the quality of the product where this product eco-products. Therefore, entrepreneurs or marketers
should consider the customers perception or attitude while making products and marketing, it will
create completive advantage and win-win situation for the entrepreneurs and customers. Finally,
it is realized that consumers have good trend to buy eco-friendly jute goods and in response of this
marketers need to address all issues regarding green marketing practices to enhance customers’
positive perception and satisfaction. Customers are always king and this is very much true for
green consumers and eco-friendly products.

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5.3 References
Anon, (n.d.). Research and Design Methods - Other bibliographies - Cite .... [online] Available at:
http://www.citethisforme.com/topic-ideas/other/Research%20and%20Design%20Methods-
57148810 [Accessed 2020].

Anon, (n.d.). Research Process - Research-Methodology. [online] Available at: https://research-

methodology.net/research-methodology/research-process/ [Accessed 2020].

Bestjute.com. (2020). JUTE and Bangladesh Jute Industry, Bangladeshi Jute Products
Manufacturer and Exporter - Source of Best Jute Deals. [online] Available at:
http://www.bestjute.com/ [Accessed 11 Jan. 2020].

En.banglapedia.org. (2020). Jute - Banglapedia. [online] Available at:

http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Jute [Accessed 11 Jan. 2020].

Follows,S.B. and Jobber, D. (2000) Environmentally Responsible Purchase Behaviour: a test of a

consumer model, European Journal of Marketing, 34(5), pp.723-746. (2010). .

K, M. and Dash, S. (2015). Marketing Research, An Applied Orientation, 7e. Pearson India.

Molla, M. M. U., Akhtar, S., Alam, M.K, Huq, A.S.M.A (2014) Diversified jute products
Marketing System in Bangladesh, International Journal of Business, Social and Scientific
Research, 1(3) pp.219-229. (2014). .

Murphy, R., Graber, M., & Stewart.,A. (2010) Green Marketing: A Study of Green Marketing on
Consumer Behavior in a Period of Recession, The Business Review, 16(1), pp. 134-140. (2010). .

Rahman, M.M. & Bala, B.K. (2007). Energy analysis for jute production in Bangladesh. (2007). .

T. Ramayah, J.W.C. Lee, O. Mohamad (2010) Green product purchase intention: Some insights
from a developing country, Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 54 (12) (2010), pp. 1419-
1427. (2010).

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5.4 Appendix

A survey on Customers' Perception towards Buying Eco-Friendly Jute Products

I am a student of BBA 4th year, Department of Marketing, University of Dhaka. I am doing my thesis
research paper on "Customers' Perception towards Buying Eco-Friendly Jute Products." Here is a survey
form below to know about your own perception towards buying a jute product. Your kind support will
help me to complete my research work.

Thank you for your participation.

1. Gender

o Female

o Male

2. Age

o 15-19

o 20-24

o 24-28

o Above 28

3. Occupation

o Undergraduate

o Graduate

o Employed

o Unemployed

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 4. Monthly income

o Below 5000

o 5000-15000

o 15000-25000

o Above 25000

Knowledge about eco-friendly jute

5. Bangladesh produces good quality jute in the world- what do you think?

o Yes

o No

6. Jute goods has impact to make environment safe for future generations- what is your opinion.

o Yes

o No

7. Are jute products beneficial for our health or not?

o Yes

o No

Perception about Jute-made products

Please give answer using the likert scale- strongly disagree, disagree, neutral, agree, and strongly agree.

8. Jute is the safety of the environment- do you agree?

o Strongly disagree

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 o Disagree

o Neutral

o Agree

o Strongly agree

9. Do you agree that- "Jute is disposable''?

o Strongly disagree

o Disagree

o Neutral

o Agree

o Strongly agree

10. "Jute is reusable"- do you agree?

o Strongly disagree

o Disagree

o Neutral

o Agree

o Strongly agree

11. Jute products' designs are attractive- do you agree?

o Strongly disagree

o Disagree

o Neutral

o Agree

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 o Strongly agree

12. Jute products are fashionable- do you agree or not?

o Strongly disagree

o Disagree

o Neutral

o Agree

o Strongly agree

13. Price influences you while buying jute products- do you agree.

o Strongly disagree

o Disagree

o Neutral

o Agree

o Strongly agree

14. Low and reasonable price will be preferred for jute-made products- do you agree.

o Strongly disagree

o Disagree

o Neutral

o Agree

o Strongly agree

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 15. Above all "Quality" of a jute product matters for you- agree or not?

o Strongly disagree

o Disagree

o Neutral

o Agree

o Strongly agree

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