India's two-wheeler industry is set to record its fastest growth in at least five years in fiscal 2017, boosted by plentiful monsoon rains that invigorated the key rural market and higher spending expected in cities because of a salary hike to government staff. Industry players are predicting the market to grow at least in high single digit in current fiscal year through March 2017. If the monsoon rains continue to be plentiful, the rate may even break into double digits.

Motorcycles are usually a luxury good in the developed world, where they are used mostly for recreation, as a lifestyle accessory or a symbol of personal identity. In developing countries, motorcycles are overwhelmingly utilitarian due to lower prices and greater fuel economy. Of all the motorcycles in the world, 58% are in the Asia-Pacific and Southern and Eastern Asia regions, excluding car-centric Japan. India is the 2nd largest two wheeler market in the world. It stands next only to China and Japan in terms of the number of two-wheelers produced and the sales of two-wheelers respectively CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) (last three decade’s) is 10.03%. Average two-wheelers per 1000 people in India are 31. The urban market for two-wheelers is largely penetrated with nearly 57 of every 100 youths that earn an income to support the ownership of a two-wheeler. There are three major types of motorcycle: street, off-road, and dual purpose. More than 15 industry players in existence some of them are:

Bajaj, Honda, Hero, TVS, Yamaha, Royal Enfield, Suzuki etc.

Consumer:

Everybody in this world is a consumer of our life we are buying and consuming an incredible variety of goods and services. However, we all have different tastes, likes and dislikes and adopt different behavior patterns while making purchase decisions. Many factors affect how we, as individuals and as societies, live, buy, and consume. External influences such as culture, ethnicity, and social class influence how individual consumers buy and use products, and help explain how groups of consumers behave. Consumer behavior is comparatively a new field of study which evolved just after the Second World War. The seller’s market has disappeared and buyers market has come up. This led to paradigm shift of the manufacturer’s attention from product to consumer and specially focused on the consumer behavior. The evaluation of marketing concept from mere selling concept to consumer oriented marketing has resulted in buyer behaviour becoming an independent discipline. The growth of consumerism and consumer legislation emphasizes the importance that is given to the consumer.

The heterogeneity among people makes understanding consumer behaviour a challenging task to marketers. Hence marketers felt the need to obtain an in-depth knowledge of consumers buying behavior. There are three fundamental patterns which a consumer can follow and they could be:

Ø Brand first, retail outlet second.

Ø Retail outlet first, brand second.

Ø Brand and retail outlet simultaneously.

Consumer behavior is a relatively new field of study emerged in late 1960s with no history or body of research of its own unlike branches of economics. Many early theories concerning consumer behavior were based on economic theory on the notion that individuals act to maximize their benefits in the purchase of goods and services.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:

1. To understand product predilection among two wheelers

2. To examine the influence of Product features of the select two wheelers

HYPOTHESIS:

Ho= Product predilection do not influence the consumer

H1= Product predilection influence the consumer

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY:

The research design is primarily exploratory and analytical in nature. An effort is to be made to know whether the behavior of the two wheeler owners is influenced by Product features and brand. The study is mainly based on the data collected from both Primary and Secondary sources. The secondary data is collected from the company records available at the regional offices, websites and also at the dealers. An effort has also been made to present different studies in newspapers, journals, magazines and also from the doctoral works

Sampling Procedure:

Sample is selected on basis of convenient random sampling method.

Sampling Area and Sample size:

Prakasam District and 100 samples are used.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS:

GRAPH-1: Which company bike do you like?

Interpretation:

The above Graph shows that 40% of respondents have liked Honda bikes, 30% of respondents liked Hero bikes and the remaining respondents liked Bajaj and TVS bikes. Majority of respondents have shown interest towards Honda bikes.

GRAPH-2: Which type of bike do you like?

Interpretation:

The above Graph shows that 40% of respondents have given priority to more comfort, 30% of respondents given priority to more mileage and remaining respondents liked the speed and good looking bikes. Respondents given more importance to comfort while purchasing the bikes.

GRAPH-3: How much mileage are you expecting from your bike?

Interpretation:

The above Graph shows that 40% of respondents have been expecting 50-60 mileage, 35% of respondents expecting 70-80, 15% of respondents expecting 60-70 and remaining respondents expecting 40-50. Majority of respondents expecting 50-60 mileage from their bikes.

GRAPH-4: How much amount will spend for your bike per month?

Interpretation:

The above Graph shows 55% of respondents will likely to spend below Rs 2000, 30% of respondents likely to spend below Rs 3000, 10% of respondents will spend below Rs 4000, and remaining respondents will likely spend below Rs 5000. Respondents will likely to spend below Rs 2000 for maintenance of their bikes.

GRAPH-5: How do you buy your bike?

Interpretation:

The above Graph shows 80% of respondents have purchased their bikes by spot payment and remaining respondents purchased with assistance of finance by insurance organizations. Respondents are interested to purchase the bikes with the mode of spot payment.

GRAPH-6: Will you travel on bike for long distance?

Interpretation:

The above Graph shows 50% of respondents not interested to travel long distances on their bikes, 35% of respondents prefer sometimes and remaining respondents prefer to travel. Majority of respondents not prefer bikes for long distances to travel.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS:

We can apply for Chi-Square test for the present study, detail of the statistical analysis are given below

Table -1 Chi-Square test

Brand Name	Observed	Expected
Hero	40	40
Honda	30	40
Others	30	20
Total	100	100

Chi-Square Test Value is 7.5

Degree Of Freedom is 2

Tabulated Value is 5.9914

Since that the computed value of chi-square is 7.5 is falling with the acceptance region for 2 degree of freedom at 5% level of significance. We conclude that the there is a difference between the brands.

CONCLUSION:

The present study reveals that majority of the respondents opted Honda two wheelers, Most of the respondents are interested to purchase the bikes with spot payment basis and majority of the respondents have some identical features regarding their two wheelers like mileage, comfort and stylish. Respondents will likely to spend below two thousand rupees per month for maintenance of their bikes. Product predilection plays a crucial role for purchasing two wheelers.

REFERENCES:

1. "Traffic safety facts, 2008. Report no. DOT HS-811-159" (PDF). NHTSA's National Center for Statistics and Analysis. 2008. Retrieved 15 September 2010.

2. The Guinness book of motorcycling facts and feats. Guinness Superlatives. pp. 8–18. ISBN 978-0-85112-200-7.

3. Kresnak, Bill Motorcycling for Dummies. Hoboken, New Jersey: For Dummies, Wiley Publishing. ISBN 0-470-24587-5. (2008).

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Received on 22.03.2017 Modified on 28.03.2017

Asian J. Management; 2017; 8(3):781-784.

DOI: 10.5958/2321-5763.2017.00123.8