Why People are Obsessed with Products? – A Case Study of Royal Enfield Motorcycle

Product is the most important and valuable benefit a marketer could offer to the consumers. Consumers’ passion for the product and its performance as per their expectations leads to obsession. The present study aims to: a) capture consumers’ expectations and perceived performance regarding automobile product with specific reference to Royal Enfield Motorcycle; b) to see if there is any significant difference between consumer expectation and perception; c) to develop regression-based model- regressing perceived performance of the product attributes on satisfaction regarding overall performance of the product. The existing consumers of the product were surveyed in Chennai city, India as to what did they expect from the product while buying how do they rate its performance. Using area sampling technique, a total of 370 target male respondents were reached out and complete responses were received from 121 persons. Descriptive and inferential statistical tools were used to analyse the data. Paired sample t-test shows that there is no significant difference between consumer expectation and perception regarding most of the product attributes such as mileage, appearance, resale value, maintenance, brand image, service and the like. Regression results show that safety, appearance, fuel tank and brand image explain about 80 percent of variance with adjusted R2value of .799. Analysis of qualitative data collected through open ended questions in the questionnaire suggest that the consumers are not only happy but are obsessed with the product. It may be concluded that the company was able to set the right expectations among the target consumers and is living up to their expectations. An obsessed customer not only patrons the product but becomes a strong advocate and evangelist.