FACTOR ANALYSIS: FIAMA DI WILLS BATHING BAR

Objective: The following study factors out four types of attributes so that the marketer of the brand can market Fiama Di Wills bathing bar accordingly. Sample: The study was conducted on a group of respondents who are regular buyers of bathing bars. Procedure: The respondents were given a questionnaire, consisting of eight statements as follows: X1: Fiama Di Wills bathing bar forms rich creamy lather. X2: It can be a replacement of a face wash. X3: Fiama Di Wills bathing bar contains the goodness of natural exotic extracts like peaches, avocadoes, sea weed and lemongrass. X4: It is favourable for sensitive and oily skin. X5: It has got long lasting fragrance. X6: It is reasonably priced. X7: Fiama Di Wills bathing bar has a unique character as it is 1st of its kind a transparent liquid gel solidified into bathing bar. X8: It wears away quickly and thus the expenses ascend. X1, X2, X3, X4, X5, X6, X7 & X8 are the important attributes of Fiama Di Wills bathing bar. Factor analysis: A statistical approach that can be used to analyze interrelationships among a large number of variables and to explain these variables in terms of their common underlying dimensions (factors). The statistical approach involving finding a way of condensing the information contained in a number of original variables into a smaller set of dimensions (factors) with a minimum loss of information. SPSS, a computer package for data analyses; provide an overview of the program and basic statistical concepts; and cover descriptive statistics, comparing means, ANOVA, correlation analysis, multiple and logistics

regression, factor analysis and testing scale reliability, and advanced data handling. Likert Scale: A Likert scale is a psychometric scale commonly used in questionnaires, and is the most widely used scale in survey research. It is a one-dimensional scaling method. Often five ordered response levels are used, although many psychometricians advocate using seven or nine levels. The format of a typical five-level Likert item is: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Strongly disagree Disagree Neither agree nor disagree Agree Strongly agree

The data is collected with the help of a survey on Fiama Di Wills bathing bar. The above 8 attributes are asked to 30 customers (ie. sample size=30). Their response is measured on a 5 point Likert scale. The response sheet of SPSS is given as under: TABLE 1: Communalities indicate the amount of variance in each variable that is accounted for. INITIAL Communalities are estimates of the variance in each variable accounted for by all components or factors. For principle components analysis, this is always equal to 1.00 (for co-relation analysis) or the variance of the variable (for covariance analysis). EXTRACTION Communalities are estimates of the variance in each variable accounted for by the factors (or components) in the factor solution. For example, the extracted value of X1 is 0.646. That is, only 0.354 of the variable remains unexplained. The same can be said for all the rest of the variables TABLE 2: This table gives Eigen values, variance explained & cumulative variance explained for your factor solution. The first panel gives values based on initial Eigen values. For the initial solution, there are as many components or factors as there are variables. X, X2, X3, X4, X5, X6, X7 & X8. The TOTAL column gives the amount of variance in the observed variables accounted for by each component or factor.

The % OF VARIANCE column gives the % of variance accounted for by each specific factor or component, relative to the total variance in all the variables. The CUMULATIVE % column gives the % of variance accounted for by all factors or components upon & including the current one. In a good factor analysis, there are a few factors that explain a lot of the variance. Here the first 4 components explain 71.072%. TABLE 3: This table reports the factor loadings for each variable on the unrotated components or factors. Each number represents the correlation between the item & the unrotated factor. It gives the correlation between the variables and the extracted factors. Factor 1 has high correlation with variables X1, X5, X7, factor 2 has high correlation with variables X3 and X8, factor 3 has high correlation with variable X4 and factor 4 has high correlation with variables X2 and X6. Hence the 8 variables can be represented by 4 factors. Discussion: The objective of the study was to identify the variables on which to group customers. The analysis of the variables revealed that the given variables can be reduced and summarised into 4 factors only, which are: NAME OF THE FACTORS 1
AESTHETICS BEAUTIFICATION REPLACEMENT OF FACE WASH AFFORDABILITY X1, X5, X7 X3, X8 X4 X2, X6

COMPONENTS 2 3 4

Attributes X1 (.662), X5 (.690), X7 (.736) are highest in 1st component which indicates the AESTHETICS factor of Fiama Di Wills bathing bar. Attributes X3 (.768), X8 (.709) are highest in the 2nd component which indicates the BEAUTIFICATION factor of Fiama Di Wills bathing bar. Attribute X4 (.627) is highest in 3rd component which indicates the REPLACEMENT OF FACE WASH factor of the Fiama Di Wills bathing bar.

Attribute X2(.677), X6 (.661) is highest in the 4th component indicating the AFFORDABILITY factor of the Fiama Di Wills bathing bar. Managerial implications: From the point of view of the brand manager of the product, this analysis helps to identify the attributes consumers look for before buying a bathing bar. Instead of a number of attributes to be concerned about, factor analysis helps to reduce it to a few factors, which in this study could be reduced to 4. Also, the 4 factors represent all the necessary attributes, so there is little chance of any relevant attribute not being considered.