The Buying Behaviour of Below Poverty Line (BPL) Household for Essential Consumer Goods (ECG) : A Mixed Method Analysis in India

In spite of possessing the adequate buying potential for the essential consumer goods (ECGs), the BPL are not reckoned as a viable market by the ECG marketers and as a result, the buying preferences of BPL are largely unexplored for the concerned products. This paper linkages the gap subsisting in the pertinent literature by exploring the buying behaviour of BPL consumers in the realm of ECGs. In-home interviews of 300 below poverty line (BPL) households of Delhi, India unveils BPL as conscious of- price, quality, brand and loyality consumers. The consciousness of price, brand, quality, and brand loyalty for the ECGs do not vary across different age groups, household sizes, genders, and occupations of the BPL. BPL prefer to buy the ECGs from local retail shops and pay in cash. They buy well known national brands in ECGs and their main information sources of these brands are TV advertising and household members. As far as the post buying behaviour aspect is concerned, BPL not only re-buying the ECG brands they are satisfied with, but also revisit the store they purchased the ECG brand from