Value addition in coconut: Consumer profile, awareness and consumption pattern of Desiccated Coconut

Abstract

The consumer profile, awareness on and consumption pattern of Desiccated Coconut (DC) was studied in three districts of Kerala selected by purposive sampling viz., Trivandrum, Ernakulam and Kozhikode. In Gross Value Output (GVO) of Kerala, coconut crop holds first position in Kozhikode and second position in both Ernakulam and Trivandrum. The respondents were selected by snowball sampling from elite class falling in the ‘upper middle class’ of the social classification proposed by Kotler and Armstrong. Out of 376 persons totally interacted in the three centres (132 from Thiruvanathapuram, 116 from Ernakulam, 128 from Kozhikode), 63 per cent were found to be aware of DC and 54 per cent were purchasing it. Among those aware, 86 per cent were purchasing it, which revealed high market potential for the product. Subsequently 60 consumers purchasing DC were selected from each urban centre by random sampling, bringing the total number of respondents to 180 for the purpose of further analysis. Ninety five per cent of the respondents were graduates and postgraduates, 37 per cent were professionals and 30 per cent were government and private employees. Monthly income of 69 per cent of the respondents ranged from Rs. 0.75 to 1.5 lakhs. Ninety- eight per cent of the consumers preferred package size of 250 g or less. Sixty per cent of the consumers preferred to purchase DC only from supermarkets and the rest from both supermarkets and retailers. The monthly expenditure on DC in food was estimated to be 3.1 per cent. Since DC had everyday use and almost half of the consumers had no specific interval between two purchases, the stock of the product had to be regulated for continuous supply. Considering DC as an upcoming product in the market irrespective of rural and urban areas, appropriate awareness and promotional activities are to be undertaken by the marketers.