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The players continue to introduce new models and variants, the competition may intensify further. The ability of the players to contain costs and focus on exports will be critical for the performance of their respective companies.

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  Indian two wheeler markets liberalized.
  
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  Major Japanese two wheeler manufacturers make an entry into Indian market through joint ventures/technical collaboration with Indian players. The major joint venture is HERO HONDA, TVS SUZUKI, BAJAJ KAWASAKI, ESCORTS YAMAHA and KINETIC HONDA.
  
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  Motorcycle merges as area for growth. Change in consumer perception for motorcycles.
  

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  Scooters and mopeds loose sheen against motorcycles thus adding more fuel to growth of motorcycles.
  
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  Four – stroke motorcycles registering highest growth in the market.
  
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  Hero Honda grew by leap and bounds and emerges as the country leader in two wheeler markets.
  

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  Bajaj forays into four – stroke motorcycle market.
  
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  Emission norms came into force.
  
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  Breaking – up of joint ventures.
  
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  Declining growth in motorcycle segment.
  
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  Entry of Kinetic Motors and LML into four strokes segments.
  
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  Chinese motorcycles making an entry into the market.
  
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  Consumer preference reaching a balance between fuel – efficiency and power.
  

Prices tend to be high, there is little advertising, service levels tend to be low and barriers to entry often exist.

Differentiation is difficult to achieve and prices are set at the going rate. The only way in which to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage is by means of cost reduction.

Differentiation is achieved by pursuing a strategy of quality, adding feature or styling. The extent to which leadership or premium pricing can be achieved is the measure of the measure of the success of the strategy.

Companies typically or particular market segments where scope exists either for minimizing the degree of direct competition or in which scope for premium pricing exist.

At this most extreme, there is no scope for differentiation and prices are at the same level. Advertising is only worthwhile if it can create a degree of psychological differentiation (where this feasible, the market should be correctly labeled as monopolistically competitive).

Relative profit levels are directly determined by each company’s ability to manage cost.
SEGEMENTS:

According to the buying pattern of customers, the market can be segmented into three categories:

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  ECONOMY (Rs.25, 000-40,000)
  
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  COMMUTERS (Rs.40, 000-50,000)
  
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  LUXURY/LIFESYTLYE (Rs.50, 000 and above)
  

The spurt in growth in motorcycle was by commuters segment, which accounts for majority share of the market and is also the most competitive. This can be inferred by number of models, which are launched by different players in this segment.

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  ECONOMY
  
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  COMMUTERS
  
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  LUXURY
  
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  SUPERLUXURY
  

Determining the attributes, which influence and drive consumers’ preference towards a particular second hand motorcycle, is a key factor in their purchase decision.

Based on the above problem-statement, the following specific objectives have been crystallized:

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  To determine the attributes that influence and drive the consumers purchase decisions and preferences second hand towards motorbikes.
  
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  To determine which second hand motorbike the consumers prefer for transportation in the category of fuel-efficient, four stroke and in the range of 95 – 115 cubic capacity motorbikes.
  
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  To determine which the best among the top selling second motorbikes of different motorcycle companies which include; Hero Honda Splendor, TVS Victor, Kawasaki Bajaj Caliber, Yamaha Crux and Kinetic Boss, regarding the attributes that have been mentioned earlier.
  
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  To determine the purpose for which consumers purchase these motorbikes, which include for the purpose of this study; daily commuting, basic use, critical in work profile, gifting purpose, etc.,
  
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  To determine whether the motorbike owned by the consumer meets his/her expectations and whether or not it suits their lifestyle.
  
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  To determine which advertising media influences consumers purchase decision of second hand motor-bikes.
  
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  To determine whether, the showroom or service station location also influences consumers purchase decision.
  

1. Null : The proportion of population intending to buy second hand bikes is independent of the income group.

Alternate: The proportion of population intending to buy second hand bikes is dependent of the income group.

2. Null : preference for buying second hand bikes independent of advertising media.

Alternative : it is dependent

2.2 METHODOLOGY
RESARCH DESIGN

Research design is the arrangement of conditions for collection and analysis of data in a manner that aims to combine relevant to the research purpose with economy in procedure. In fact, the researcher design is the conceptual structure within which research is conducted; it constitutes the blue print for the collection, measurement and analysis of data.

The main aim of the study is to measure the awareness, preferences, attitude and perception of people toward second-hand motorbike (95-115cc, fuel efficient and four strokes) and to find out what attributes attract the most to the consumer in a motorbike.

Marketing research studies can be broadly classified into three basic types namely, exploratory, descriptive and casual, depending on the objectives and prior knowledge on the issues being examined. The study conducted is Exploratory in nature. The major emphasis of exploratory research is on the discovery of ideas.

The researcher decided the type of sampling technique used in this study is Convenience Sampling Method. In fact, this technique or procedure stands for the sample design itself. There are several sample designs out of which the researcher must choose one for his study. In this survey the sampling procedure consists of all people who own and are aware about motorbikes. It could a student, an employee, a business man, etc.

The task of data collected after a research problem has been defined and research design. While deciding about the method of data collection to be used for the study, the researcher should keep in mind two types of data viz, Primary and Secondary. The primary data are those which are collected freshly and for the first time, and thus happen to be original in character. The secondary data, on the other hand, are those, which have already, been passed through the statistical process. The sources of data for this research are both from primary and secondary.

Primary data was collected by means of a structured questionnaire administered personally.

Secondary data include appropriate materials from Magazines, internet and by means of discussion with the guide.

The sampling size was 100 and all the samples were collected within the time of three Weeks during the month of April 2008.

Basically, these methods can be divided into two types, called probability based sampling scheme and non-probability based schemes. A Non-Probability Convenience Sampling Method has been used in this research. The customers who had purchased and are aware of the motorbike were approached and interviewed who had come to get their bikes serviced.

The Questionnaire method of data collection is quite popular, particularly in case of big enquiries. The instrument used for the data collection was very simple and easy to understand. The respondents were easily available at the service point. The respondents had sample of time to answer all the questions in the questionnaire. A questionnaire consists of a number of questions printed or typed in a definite order on a form or set of forms. The questionnaire is given to respondents who are expected to read and understand the questions and answer them. The researcher uses the questionnaire in this research. Questions related to objectives of the study, form major portion of the questionnaire. It mainly consists of multiple choice questions or the checklist types questions, so that respondent can check or mark one of the several choices of answers.

The researcher covers 100 respondents and all of them filled up the questionnaire. Some of the respondents had no patience but on the other hand there were some of them who were truly interested into the survey.

Average time taken by the respondent to fill up the questionnaire was 10 minutes. Some of them thought they were making commitments on their part even though the researcher told them that it was not so.

The data after collection has to be processed and analyzed in accordance with the outline laid down for the purpose at the time of developing the research plan. This is essential for a scientific study and for ensuring that we have all relevant data for making contemplated comparison and analysis.

The above table shows the age of the respondents. Most of the respondents belong to the age group of 28-38. In the survey it was found 36% of the respondents belong to the age group of 28 –38.32% of them belong to the age group of 18-28.23% belong to the age group of 38-48 and the lowest age group was 48 and above who were only 9%.

The above table shows the approximate monthly income of the respondents. In the survey it was found that 31% of the respondents got an income of Rs. 5000 – 10000 per month. 28% of them got an income of 15000 and above. 19% of them have an income less than 5000 per month. 14% of them have an income of 13000-15000 per month and 8% of respondents have an income of 1000 – 13000.