15

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 INTRODUCTION

In this Chapter the extant literature is reviewed by the researcher in

order to explore the Factors influencing the purchase decision of the children
toys in organized retail outlet‟s of Chennai city, the researcher has collected
the literature before the identification of the problem in the area of research.
Therefore, for the current chapter researcher has allocated sufficient time
which has helped in a sound understanding of the present research problem.
Henceforth the research gap was identified by the researcher through revising
different articles published in national, international journals and theoretical
works which were carried out in a similar area of research study by different
researchers. The present chapter summarizes the earlier researches conducted in
assessing the Factors the influencing purchase decision of the children toys in
organized retails outlets of Chennai city which includes researches from India
and abroad. The researcher has presented the reviews in the chronological order
from the latest to the oldest based on the year of publication.

2.2 LITERATURE REVIEWS

2.2.1 Demographic Influence on the Purchase Decision

Demography is the statistical study of a population-based on

various factors such as age. Demographic analysis can be done on the whole
gender, race, ethnicity, geographic area and income level societies or may be
 16

defined groups. Demographics are the statistical data relating to a defined

group or population that are collected and analyzes. Demographics help to
understand how customers search for information and purchases product and
services. John Graunt is known as father of demography. Demography study
is used to understand various aspects and characteristics of the population.
Change in demographic can influence the underlying growth rate of the
economy, consumption, rates of savings, the standard of living, structural
productivity growth and investment. It can also influence long term
unemployment rate and equilibrium interest rate, housing market trends and
the demand for financial assets.

Kollat & Willett (1967) found that the characteristics of consumers

and their demographics influence the impulse purchasing. Forces like local
market condition and various cultural also have an impact on purchasing
decision. Kotler & Armstrong (2007) states that the demographic, behaviour
and psychographic factors help to understand consumers and their needs..
Gender affects buying (Dittmar et al. 1995) mainly men tend to involve in
impulse buying of instrumental and leisure items and women tend to buy the
symbolic and self expressive goods which are mainly associated with their
appearance and emotional aspects of self. Vasumathi & Banudevi (2018)
expresses that the advertisement plays an important role in parents buying
behaviour of children products. It is observed that the R-square value shows
49.9% variance in buying behaviour of parents explained by the impact of
advertisement on buying behaviour based on Product Information,
desirability, Pleasure Motives, Celebrity Endorsement and Attitude. It is
concluded that though advertisements are exciting and entertaining, some of
the parents were not convinced with the information provided or influenced
by the celebrity endorsement which can be improved by effective
advertisement measures. Jyoti & Pavleen (2016) states that Marketers may
 17

highlight packaging attributes in food advertisements as they can help

accelerate food purchase requests of children in retail stores.

Bardeen (2017) expresses that the parent toy purchase decision is

derived by a set of factors which are purposes of using-related factors, such as
cost-related factors, emotional-related factors, informational-related factors,
children demographical-related factors and parental demographical-related
factors. In recent years, the spending pattern of Indian consumers among
various items has changed. The diffusion of the internet and social media has
greater than before, as a result, the purchasing behaviour of Indian consumers
has changed dramatically. Urbanization is a constant phenomena in India and
is influencing the lifestyle and buying behaviour of the consumers. The study
is based on the perceptions, buying behaviour and satisfaction of the
consumers in the Indian market (Subrato 2017). Consumer makes various
efforts while deciding on the purchase of various products. The least effort is
invested in purchase of food products because purchasing is done
automatically and without much thinking. When it comes to purchase of
technical equipment, the purchase is preceded by a long deciding and
consideration of various options to make the final purchasing decision
(Markovina 2004).

Jhamb & Kiran (2012) undergone a study to understand the

relationship between the choice of retail formats, based on consumers‟
demography, products attributes, store attributes and retail marketing
strategies. The outcome of the study reveals that consumers‟ choice for
modern retail formats varies as their income level increases. Young
consumers‟ are more inclined to shop from modern retail formats as
compared to older ones. The study has formulated a framework for the choice
of modern retail formats from consumer‟s and retailer‟s perspectives Gupta
(2004) revealed the change in Indian consumer behaviour. Availability of
 18

large assortment of major products and its impact on the consumer shopping
decision. The consumer is no longer shopping only from the local market
rather the place of shopping has shifted to the stores in malls. Malls are
catering to the need of younger population segments.

Tam & Tai (1998) states that the Behavioural factors refer as a way
how the consumer behaves, how they accept certain products, why they
accept it and psychological factors are used for determining and evaluating
the lifestyle of consumers, the ways they use their activities, interests and
opinion. The family constitutes a bundle of consumers which consist of
different needs and wants regarding purchasing. Consequently buying
decisions are also made on considering theses diversities found among the
family members. Among these consumers, some little consumers make feel
their presence in buying decisions. Children impose their demands on parents
while purchasing because they have greater exposure and many sources of
information. Somewhat they succeed to pressurize their parents for desired
products because parent approves their choice and incubate their self-
expression and value their views but on the other hand, some demographic
factors which minimize this influence. The factors included in this study are
age, gender, income and occupation of parents and family type. Results show
that among these factors only income of the parents has a significant impact
on a child‟s influence. (Neetu & Ashish 2015). consumer needs, interests and
attitudes vary with age, and the youngest consumers have the most positive
attitude toward innovation (Darian 1987). Iqbal, Ghafoor & Shahbaz (2013)
states that in the marketing surveys, demographic factors such as age, number
of household members, sex, income level and social class are used
extensively and are considered as good indicators for the study of consumer
behaviour Decisions that require a strategic approach are very specific and
they are characterized by high involvement in decision making, long term
 19

resources acquiring budget available for the purchase of other goods and
services. ( Kos Koklie& Vida 2009)

Much of the research on parent toy choice was made on children‟s

toy preferences, which was related to the gender-typing of toys and gender
differences in toy selection. According to Goldberg & Lewis (1963), there
was a significant gender difference in how much time children of different
genders spend with their toys and the ways toys were manipulated by young
children. Additionally, the effects of the gender of children have on their
parents upon toy selection been investigated. The contents of children‟s
rooms as a symbol of parent behaviour were taken into consideration for both
genders (Rheingold & Cook 1975). In a study by Rheingold & Cook (1975),
it was discovered that male infants were provided with more vehicles,
educational and art materials, sports equipment, machines and military toys,
while female infants were provided with more dolls, dollhouses and domestic
items. Within the same stream, O‟Brien & Huston (1985) noted that more
domestic same-gender-type toys that had cross-gender-type toys were
possessed by both girls and boys. Children versus parental income are
another factor to be researched to investigate if children affect parent toy-
purchasing behaviour and vice versa. “A large number of studies have
examined individual values, personal attitudes, ethnicity, normative pressure
and cognitive bases, including functional background and educational
qualifications, as well as their impact on purchase. Based on this, demographic
characteristics, social and individual values and personal attitudes affect
individual in their purchasing decisions” (Mansi & Pandey 2016).

The studies Tifferet & Herstein (2012) have shown that women are
prone to impulsive shopping and are more loyal to brands Multidisciplinary
research works concluded that there are gender differences in purchasing
behaviour and socially responsible behaviour (Homburg & Giering 2001),
 20

Female sample is more likely to adopt environmentally friendly purchasing

practices in some studies (Mainieri et al. 1997).Loyalty of purchaser plays a
minor role in private brands, out of two factors like price and quality, price
tended to be more important (Joseph Brown 1972). Brand awareness is more
among male as compare to women (Dhanna 1984). Smith & Whitlark (2001)
expresses that Men and women differ in terms of the way they look at the
internet usage. Men tend to click on web site because they are information
hungry whereas a woman depends on communication media to entertain and
educate. According to Stanton (1994) Teenage market is large and free
spending but it has proved difficult for advertisers to reach. Garland et al.
identified that (1991) Early middle age consumers are very conscious of
saving time and it is reflected in the growth of catalogue sales, home repair
and town care services, and ready to eat foods.

According to Campbell (1991), the manufacturers and retailers

alike are beginning to recognize that people at the older end of the age
spectrum are logical prospects for small housing units, cruising and foreign
tours, and health products, cosmetics developed especially for older people
and toys for the grandchildren Younger investors decision based long term
gain and consider current income and intermediate gain less important,
whereas elder investors are more cautious and place more importance on the
intermediate gain and current income of a potential investment (Morton 2000)
consumer with lower incomes, lower education, and blue-collar occupation
tend to spend more time online at home than those with higher income, higher
education and white-collar occupations. One possible reason for this
difference is that those in blue-collar jobs often do not have access to the
internet during the course of the workday (Nielson 2000). Labich (1991)
found that the tastes of social classes could change with the years. Forrester
(2001) that Affluent customers have an affinity for technology especially
when it comes to managing their finances. Patrick Dalton (1999) states that
 21

Financial needs tend to shift as they progress through the various stages of
life. According to Chisnall (1994) Joint decisions making by husband and
wife has implications for marketing strategies. Personality factors of both
parties may be significant influence in the choice of the particular brand of the
product. David (1876) feels that Women still do most of the actual buying but
they usually have other family members in mine when they do so.

2.2.2 Shoppers’Perception Towards Various Factors Influencing the

Purchase Decision and Satisfaction of Children Toys.

Perception is the process by which an individual selects, organizes

and interprets stimuli into a meaningful and coherent picture of the world.
Each individual interprets the meaning of stimulus in a manner consistent
with their own unique biases, needs and expectations. Three stages of
perception are exposure, attention and interpretation. There are various factors
which influence consumer perception like family, roles and status, disposable
income, consumer credit, value, beliefs, arts, age, lifestyle, personality, basic
needs, attitudes, motives, interests, experience, expectation, time, work
setting, social setting, novelty, motion, sound, size, background, proximity
etc. Process of perception includes perceptual inputs like sensations, next
comes perceptual process which includes selecting, organizing and
interpreting and final stage is perceptual outputs like values, attitudes,
behaviour. By reviewing various studied related to shoppers perception,
factors that influence the purchasing decision, toys selection it is found that
there are different reasons for it.

An early study of Gips (1950) states that on various toy types found
that children admitted to hospital played most frequently with yank toys,
fantasy play- type toys, and toys that had parts for handling. Children‟s age is
one of the factors that affect the toy purchase decision of mothers; older
children make less direct attempts to influence the decision of their parents
 22

McNeal 1969). It is also noted that parents consider the opinion of their
children towards the purchase of products, as age increases girls take their
own decision towards product purchasing that are both family oriented and
for personal use but boys ten to only purchase products for their own personal
agenda (Mehrotra & Torges 1977). Overall influence mothers have on their
daughters in a traditional female role as mothers are the ones who do most of
the shopping for their children.

The effects of the gender of children have on their parents upon toy
selection been investigated. The contents of children‟s rooms as a symbol of
parents behaviour was taken into consideration for both genders. The female
infants were provided with more dollhouses and domestic items, while male
infants were provided with more vehicles, educational and art materials, sport
equipment, machines and military toys. (Rheingold & Cook,1975). According
to Goldberg & Lewis (1963) there was a significant gender difference in how
much time children of different genders spend with their toys and the ways
toys were manipulated by young children. More domestic same-gender type
toys that had cross-gender type toys were possessed by both girls and boys
(O‟Brien and Huston 1985) Children frequently play with toys purchased by
their parents, yet little is known about the how these toys are selected by
parents. Mothers with children from 0 to 12 years of age filled out a survey
about their toy purchasing habits. Results revealed that the most common
place mothers sought out information about toys was online, and mothers
most frequently found the manufacturers‟ suggested age only somewhat
accurate. Further analyses demonstrated that mothers who bought their toys
from different sources (i.e., online, stores, second hand) considered dissimilar
items before purchasing a toy for their child and obtained information in
distinct ways. Melissa et al. (2020) examined parental toy selection patterns,
providing useful knowledge for understanding how to reach parents and
 23

provide them the information they desire when selecting toys for their
children.

Parents‟ active mediation was positively associated with purchase

requests by children. In addition, mental state communication was negatively
associated with active mediation. Thus, although the directions of associations
were different from expectations, there was a negative and indirect effect of
mental state communication on purchase requests through active mediation.
Moreover, children‟s toy skills were not associated with either parents‟
mental state communication or children‟s purchase requests, and there was no
indirect effect of mental state communication on purchase requests through
Toy skills. Interestingly, parents‟ mental state communication had a direct and
negative effect on children‟s purchase requests. This is the first study that
introduced and revealed mental state communication as one type of parental
communication pattern that could decrease advertising effects in children
(Eunjoo Choi 2020). Food/beverage is one particular item where children go
ahead and buy these items themselves even without discussing with their
parents. Arab countries, especially with parents of different social status, has
their shopping behaviour is expected to differ. Also, as this analysis is based
on a child‟s perception, parents‟ views must also be analyzed for better
results. This research is the first-of-its-kind in the Gulf region (Monica et al..
2018). Families were observed using the fast-food restaurant as a “third
place” (home away from home) for many activities other than eating food. In-
restaurant family behaviour included frequent use of technology, use of the
indoor play area, and child engagement with a toy (Julie et al. (2018). Peer
pressure is one of those unique pushes that a realistic consumer considers
before an actual or potential purchase of any good or service. Shruti Gulati
(2017) points out thtat Peer pressure rightly puts pressure of the peer or the
persons surrounding for any action.
 24

The Income of the family matters the most while

purchasing/spending/ expenditure decision for their kids. Motivational factors
that go-ahead to their purchase behaviour and the impact of being working or
non-working (Sanchayita 2017). A semiotic analysis of nearly 50 books
published. These books reveal a broad diversity in the images of shops given
to children, ranging from the traditional shop, a source of pleasure and creator
of social ties, to the hypermarket/megastore, a symbol of stress and
overconsumption, and the wealth of information that is given to children to
help them describe the process of a shopping transaction. (Olivier Badot et
al.2016). The influence of children found to be highest for non-durable
products at all the three stages of the buying decision process followed by
child-related products and was lowest for the durable products. Also, it was
found that different product categories had variable influence over different
stages of the buying decision process (Vijita & Shefali 2016). “Price and
Quality are the factors influencing the shoppers to buy and the shoppers think,
feel, reason and select from different categories of toys” (Subrahmanian et
al.2015).

Family-buying decisions in contemporary times are more of an

outcome of a joint effort in which children play significant and multiple roles
in relation to a wide variety of products needed by their families, not just to
the items that directly relate to their needs. It was also found that there exists a
nexus between the perceived level of children involvement in buying decision
making and some selected demographic, socio-cultural and economic factors.
The study suggested that parents should adopt a democratic approach in
arriving at family purchase decisions in order to avoid family conflict
(Omodafe 2015). Anishet al.(2015) states that the kids were influenced by the
surprise toy on purchasing chocolates again and help marketers in designing
their endorsement strategy to effectively target kids. Simona (2012) points out
that Children‟s lived experience of commercial spaces enables retailers to
 25

adjust the stores‟ environment to children‟s need and demands, recognizing

their role as active meaning creators. Negative impacts of advertising lead to
major social and behavioural problems in children such as physical and verbal
violence, materialism and other “values issues” identified by parents, and
health problems such as low nutrition and obesity. The results also indicate
that although many forms of advertisement affect children negatively, the
effects of television commercials are particularly noticeable. (Mohamed, et al.
2012). Manufacturers can and should continue to develop toys, which
encourage relatively unstructured play; such toys are both appreciated by
parents and valued by an expert (Meryl et al. (2012). Ike& Rebecca (2010)
investigated the effect of packaging on children‟s product preferences and its
ability to influence parents‟ buyer decision in‐store. The study was
approached from the parents‟ rather than the children‟s perspective. A
quantitative approach was adopted in data collection, using a 28 item Likert
scaled questionnaire administered to 150 parents, with over 95 percent
response rate. The study revealed that packaging does affect the product
preferences of children

Packaging and brand have a positive effect on parents. Children

were only influenced by packaging and not brand, children influenced their
parents during store visits and, children‟s pester power plays moderating role
in the relationship between children‟s purchasing decision and that of their
parents (Mahsa & Alireza 2015). Stephen Ntuara Kiriinya (2014) states that
Children‟s influence on family purchase decisions varies across different
product types, whether the product is for a child‟s own use or whether the
product is used by the whole family. Bahar & Sanem (2011)expresses that
Mother‟s employment status, child‟s gender and the number of children in the
family are the determining factors for the children‟s influence on the decision
of the family to purchase certain product types. It is interesting to know the
fact that children tend to pay more attention to nutrition, hygienic conditions
 26

and food safety, which shows that children seem to be mature early at this
stage and start to behave in a more adult-like fashion when making purchase
comparisons (Rachana&Saroj 2011). Pre-schoolers increased dramatically in
playing adaptive toys during the intervention phase. The toy effects
demonstrate that when using adaptive toys, children with developmental
disabilities may respond better during toy play sessions (Hsieh 2008). “The
majority of the customers purchased toys according to traditional toy
categories” (Donna 1993). “On parental socialization of young children‟s toys
revealed that parents chose more neutral toys than masculine or demining toys
for their daughters” (Eisenberget al. 1985). Boys liked to play more with
masculine toys a less with feminine toys. Unlike boys, girls mostly liked to
play with blocks, a pegboard, a toy dog and a toy cat, while the boys were
more active in their play than were the girls (Cameron et.al 1985). O‟Brine
and Huston (1985) found that both boys and girls were considerably more
active when playing with stereotyped masculine toys. The most important
consideration when purchasing toys was safety then suitability to avoid
unexpected accidents. Parents, teachers and other professionals should teach
children the best way to use specific toy types. Teaching new skills, like quality,
is very important, when selecting and buying toys. Toys should be accompanied
with some information and knowledge. Toys should be used to teach self-
awareness, language, communication, Knowledge, cognitive ability and social
skills (Zimmerman & Calonini, 1971). “Information and pictures on toy
packages were the least important factors to consider” (Fallon & Harris 2001).

Although there have not been many studies on toy selection, the
majority of the studies focused on gender and age effect on toy selection.
Without gender labels on toys, children can differentiate between boy and girl
toys (Lam & Leman 2003). “Children build an understating of gender during
preschools years and they can accurately apply gender stereotypes on toys”
(Freeman 2007). Based on previous studies there are various factors that
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influence purchasing toy decision like gender, safety, teaching skills and
creativity, durability and longevity of use, parents age, patents educational
qualification, flexibility and different play uses, gender of the child, age of the
child, child requested toys, information on toys package, temporal cost, cost,
effort cost, physical attractiveness to a child, length of time the child plays
attention, recommendations from another, ethnicity, I like it, novelty, physical
attractiveness, picture or advertisement, type of toy etc.

2.2.3 To Explore the Relationship Among the Factors Influencing

Purchase Decision and Satisfaction of Children Toys

The Interrelationship is a relationship between multiple things. The

consumer feels about the satisfaction or dissatisfaction of the purchase. There
was a large the gap between expectation, performance and greater
dissatisfaction. Satisfaction might be defined as the fulfilment of a need or
want. Satisfaction is defined as the buyer cognitive state of being adequate or
inadequately rewarded in a buying situation for the sacrifice he has
undergone. The adequacy is a consequence of matching actual past and
purchase experience with the reward that was expected from the brand.

Marking (1977) states that a cognitive theory of consumer

motivation and behaviour attends to phenomena such as knowing,
understanding, perception and information processing. “Children with a richer
variety of concrete experience with the object world will be equipped with a
more complex repertoire of exploratory behaviour to apply to their object
interactions” (Jean Piaget 1952). “Toy makers and privacy regulations are not
yet ready regarding children‟s privacy for a more active smart toys market”
(Otavio et al. 2020). “Five factors of product characteristic and marketing mix
gorgeousness, durability, country of origin, personal selling, and advertising
were also rated as very important for toy purchase decision” (Kanokkan 2017).
“Style and colour, design and appeal, ICT and digital features are the
 28

attractive factors of toys. The parents consider price, material quality, safety,
while making a purchase decision” (Lavanya & Jayasan 2017). A study
intended to understand young children‟s influence on family consumer
behaviour by examining children‟s and parents‟ opinion in the Brazilian
context. Specifically, to extract children‟s perceptions, two focus groups were
conducted, and to capture the perspective of the parents, 8 families, via 12
participants, were interviewed. Children‟s use of information provided by the
media in their attempts to influence family decisions is perceived positively
by parents because such behaviour helps parents to fulfil their parental duties.
The findings extended the discussions regarding the adulthood of children and
the infatuation of adults, revealing positive aspects of such a trend in
association with consumer behaviour. (Katia et al2017). (Matthew 2016)
explored how children‟s developing ability to effectively regulate their
emotions influences their consumer behaviour. Working with 80 children and
one of their parents, this study used direct observations of child behaviour in a
task where they needed to regulate their emotions and a survey of parents
about their child‟s emotional development and consumer behaviour. The
research used quantitative methods to test whether children‟s emotion
regulation predicted parent-reported consumer behaviour (e.g. purchase
requests, parent–child purchase-related conflict) via multiple regression
analyses. After controlling for children‟s age and linguistic competence, the
study found that children‟s ability to control positively valence emotions
predicted consumer behaviour. The results of the study explored that the
children who had more difficulty suppressing joy/happiness were more likely
to ask their parents for consumer goods and were more likely to argue with
parents about these kinds of purchases.

Attention among infants as it related to differences in what was

termed the play tampo provides a useful precedent for measuring levels of
cognitive functioning during infants‟ play with toys. The difference in play
 29

tempo could be distinguished as reflective or impulsive based upon the

measures of the time spent with a toy and the number of acts performed.
Impulsive children used fewer acts per time unit and spent less time in each
toy contact, while reflective children had opposite play styles. These
differences were stable over time and directly related to later cognitive
performance. Kagan (1971) points out that the satisfaction that a child derives
from certain levels of toy quantity and toy qualitative categories should be
measurable by behavioural variables of acts and contact time. School children
aged 8 to 10 years answered a questionnaire about their behaviour at the POS
and perceived demands during the purchasing process as well as their
understanding of purchase-relevant concepts. Only a small number of children
behaved purposefully, whereas the vast majority was distracted by the great
amount of stimuli in the mock supermarket. The results reveal factors that
helped children cope with the shopping task and shielded them against
purchase impulses from the stimuli at the POS. (Gunnar et al.2016). Store
atmospherics may lead to positive outcomes in the form of children‟s
exploration of the store, desire to stay longer and intention to revisit.
However, store atmosphere can also become the source of conflicts between
parents and children, and therefore have a negative impact on children‟s
behaviour in-store. (Kafia & Lanlan 2016). Very young children would like to
actively participate in the shopping process no matter where they live. When
describing their shopping experiences French kids focus on the products they
buy, while Hungarian children talk about how they take part in the purchase
process. The finding explained that children have great knowledge about
technical devices and while French kids would be happy to replace offline
shopping by online shopping, Hungarian kids find it as a bad idea. (Zsuzsaet
al. 2016).

According to Bertil (2015) the Auditory sensory cues affect

children‟s and parent‟s shopping behaviour in a significant way. Auditory
 30

sensory cues through human voice have a positive effect on children‟s and
parent‟s shopping behaviour. Jyoti & Pavleen (2015) states that the shopping
behaviour of children in retail stores significantly depends upon food
promotions in retail stores, the frequency with which children accompany
mothers on shopping trips and demographic variables such as the age of
mother and father and education status of the mother. Parent‟s perceptions of
children‟s influence on purchase decisions and determine whether there were
differences based on product type, age of the child, gender of the parent,
location (rural versus urban), and communication style of the parent.
Differences in the opinion of parents regarding children‟s influence based on
product type and age of the child. No difference in perceptions of parents
regarding children‟s influence based on gender and parental style was
observed. Parent‟s opinion for children‟s influence was highest for older
children in the family regarding the purchase of personal-use products.
Dharminder & Akhter (2015). Retail store managers rarely provide any
entertainment for children and involve them in the shopping experience and
even when they do, they fail to do it in the right way. Also, store personnel do
not have the right mentality towards children. Children do not wish to have
sophisticated or luxurious games during the purchase process but instead
would like to be actively involved in the shopping experience by completing
little missions or challenges (Zsuzsaet al.2014).

A study analyzed various factors like the effort of the child to

persuade chopping, children‟s preferences in package design, preference of
unhealthy foods and buying healthy foods with children and the result revealed
that a strong dependence relating to techniques of pester power, accommodating
their requests and transact the purchase (Balcarovaet al. 2014). Economic
resources and peer relationships among two age groups of Swedish teens
compared and investigated. The children were asked if and how children can
attract friends through the use of money. Most children did perceive economic
 31

resources as a means to attract friends. However, both the kind of items that
were found in the drawings and the children‟s perceptions of how to use the
items, were relatively different between children aged nine and children aged
12(Erika Lundby 2013). In the conflict between the needs of children and the
trust of guardians, both agree on the aspect of attractiveness, safety, value and
taste. A number of contradictions of preferences between children and parents
which needs design rethinking (Wichanat & Nopadon 2012).

According to White (1973), awareness of the importance of infancy

toward long term cognitive development has resulted in much attention being
placed on optimizing early environmental stimulation, especially during the
more critical period between 10 - 18 months. Stimulation within the home
environments during the first two years could have a significant impact on
later cognitive achievement. Toys were found to be significant variables
within these home environments (Yarrow 1975). Toy stimuli and toy
responsiveness had strong relationships with development outcomes (Yarrow
et al. 1975). Children self-selected those toys which matched their level of
development. As the age of the child increases, purchase involvement of
various products and services also increases. Moreover, discussion for various
products and services by the parents also increases as the age of the child
increases. This shows the involvement of children in various household
decisions (Ramanjeet & Vimal 2012). Younger children apply effective if less
sophisticated pestering techniques than older children and play a significant
role in determining family food consumption. They demonstrate a purposeful
and directed hunt of food brands and products, along with an awareness of the
purpose of promotion and a desire to use a number of persuasive techniques
in their dealings with parents. (Shaun Powell et al. 2011). The demand for the
advertised products is heavily influenced by the children‟s attitude towards
advertisements. Further, the cognitive changes among the different age groups
lead to the formation of varying attitudes towards the advertisements. Yet
 32

there are other influential factors apart from advertisements, which result in
the requests for a product or brand (Pankajet al. 2010). There is an important
relationship between a child‟s age and the characteristics of the toys
themselves. The actual progression of infant object interactions with toys
during the later three stages of the sensorimotor period (Sinclair 1970). Safety
needs are important for all children, they are especially critical for young
children, who typically lack the individual resources required to avoid
dangers (National Research Council and Institute of Medicine 2000).Rather,
young children rely on parents and other primary caregivers, inside and
outside the home, to act on their behalf to protect their safety and healthy
development (Institute of Medicine and National Research Council, 2015).
Provision of support by parents helps minimize the risk of internalizing
behaviour, such as those associated with anxiety and depression, which can
impair children‟s adjustment and ability to function well at home, at school,
and in the community (Osofsky & Fitzgerald, 2000). Children who possess
basic social competence are able to develop and maintain positive
relationships with peers and adults (Semrud-Clikeman, 2007). Social skills
such as empathy and concern for the feelings of others, cooperation, sharing,
and perspective-taking, all of which are positively associated with children‟s
success both in school and in non-academic settings and can be fostered by
parents and other caregivers (Durlak et al. 2011; Fantuzzo et al. 2007). These
skills are associated with children‟s future success across a wide range of
contexts in adulthood (Elias, 2006; Fantuzzo et al.2007).

2.2.4 Need Recognition

The buying process starts when the buyer recognizes or identifies

the consumption need or problem. Formally defined, problem or need
recognition is the perceived difference between an ideal (desired) state and an
actual state. (Kos Koklie & Vida 2009).The consumer is compelled to fill the
 33

gap between the actual state (deprivation) and the desired state (fulfilment)
when his or her threshold of problem awareness is reached. This disparity
creates tension and arouses a motivation to act. A number of external or
internal factors may elicit problem recognition. (Darian 1987). Children‟s
wants and tastes are formed during childhood. It has been shown that even
toddlers firmly express their preferences regarding what to eat, wear, watch or
play with. Children have the need recognition power to identify the various
types of toys. (Vijita & Shefali 2016).

Generally, the need recognition or willingness of toy purchase to

the children is initiated by the children themselves during the visit of
supermarket, malls, organized outlets, seeing the advertisements, another
child in the neighbourhood, etc. (Omodafe 2015).The parents or the
grandparents also recognize the need for toy purchase to their kids during special
occasions such as birthdays, festivals, or just to provide surprise gifts to see their
happiness, or to demonstrate their love/ affection to the kids, to entertain the kids,
to educate the kids through toys, etc. (Mehrotra & Torges, 1977).

2.2.5 Influential Factors

Once a need is recognized, consumers are more likely to search for

and process information relevant to that need. Information search is an
important aspect of consumer decision-making process. (Eunjoo Choi
2020).Once need recognition occurs, the next stage is searching for
information and solutions to satisfy their unmet needs. The Search may be
internal, retrieving knowledge from memory or perhaps genetic tendencies or
it may be external, collecting information from peers, family and the market
place. In general, it is identified that websites, promotions, and influencers are
critical elements which influence the purchase decision process of the parents
and children during toys purchase. . (Jyoti & Pavleen2016).
 34

2.2.5.1 Websites

Websites play a critical role in shaping mindset of the people

towards the specific objects. In particular, the information exchanged through
social media portals such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube etc induces the
purchase decision-making process towards the particular product or service.
Nielson Net Ratings (2000). Even there are channels in YouTube to provide
toys review, information related to children products, etc. Smartphone era
even enabled the children to come across the attractive advertisements
provided in the various social media websites, and they further explore more
information (i.e. toys variety, price, features, offers & discounts, availability,
etc) through concern toys company websites by clicking the link in the
advertisement. (Smith & Whitlark 2001).

2.2.5.2 Promotion

We live in a marketing era, anything with good marketing could be

sold out easily. Promotion is one of the most important „P‟ in the marketing
mix, has a significant impact on toy purchase too. The toys companies
advertise their products through exhibitions at malls, showcases in
supermarkets, promotional offers & discounts, kids‟ contests, etc.

Rheingold & Cook (1975) points out that the children tend to
become attached to real-life heroes, such as sports heroes, movie stars, and
realistic action heroes. Some children in this age group develop a preference
for collecting objects, such as dolls or cards of their heroes. Children also start
to make connections between the promotion of television advertising and
products in the store when they accompany their parents and influencing
parents for purchasing the toys. (Vasumathi & Banudevi 2018)
 35

The amount of influence exerted by children varies by product

category and stage of the decision-making process. (Rheingold and Cook
1975) For certain products they are instrumental in initiating a purchase,
while for others, they make the final selections themselves. Children have
been reported to wield a lot of influence in purchase decisions for children
products such as toys. (Mahsa & Alireza 2015)

2.2.6 Influencer

According to Smith & Whitlark (2001) the term „influencer‟ refers

to someone who has the power to affect the purchasing decisions of others
because of his or her authority, knowledge, position, or relationship with his
or her audience. It is important to note that these individuals are not merely
marketing tools, but rather social relationship assets with which brands can
collaborate to achieve their marketing objectives.

Vasumathi & Banudevi (2018) states that the influencers in social

media are people who have built a reputation for their knowledge and
expertise on a specific topic. They make regular posts about that topic on their
preferred social media channels and generate large followings of enthusiastic,
engaged people who pay close attention to their views.

Rachana& Saroj (2011) points out that Children nowadays spend

many hours‟ online watching YouTube videos in which their favourite
loggers are playing games, unboxing toys, reviewing products, making jokes
or just going about their daily activities.. These vloggers regularly post
attractive and entertaining content in the hope of building a large follower
base. Although many of these vloggers are adults, the number of child
vloggers is flourishing. The famous child vlogger Ryan of Ryan‟s World, for
instance, has more than 19 million viewers and he is (at age seven) a social
media influencer. The popularity of these vloggers incited advertisers to
 36

include them as a new marketing communication tool, also referred to as

influencer marketing, in their marketing strategy. Accordingly, many
influential vloggers now receive free products from brands in return for a
mention in one of their videos and their other social media (e.g., TikTok or
Instagram) and some are even paid to create a sponsored post or video and
distribute it to their followers. This sponsored content appears to be highly
influential and may affect young children‟s brand preferences.

2.2.7 Purchase Decision

A purchase decision is the thought process that leads a consumer

from identifying a need, generating options, and choosing a specific product
and brand. The outcome of the evaluation develops likes and dislikes about
alternative products or brands in consumers. (Stephen NtuaraKiriinya 2014).
This attitude towards the brand influences a decision to buy or not to buy.
Thus the prospective buyer heads towards final selection. In addition to all the
above factors, situational factors like finance options, dealer terms, falling
prices etc., are also considered. (Bahar & Sanem 2011).

The next stage of the consumer decision process is the purchase. In

case of a toy purchase decision, after deciding whether or not to purchase,
consumers move through two phases namely outlet decision, and toy decision.
In the first phase, retail outlet selection in which the consumers choose one
retailer over another retailer. The second phase involves toy decision which is
related to in-store choices among the available toy categories, varieties,
models, influenced by salesperson and product displays in the outlets. (Mahsa
&Alireza2015), (Stephen NtuaraKiriinya 2014), (Rachana&Saroj 2011) &
(Hsieh 2008).
 37

2.2.7.1 Toy outlet decision

Toys are available in various categories, price ranges, materials,

and quality standards. Toys could be purchased in nearby by supermarkets,
shopping malls, organized retail outlets, toys branded stores, and through
online also. Hence, toy outlet decision (i.e. selection of toy outlet) is
influenced by many factors namely easy access, interior & exterior atmosphere,
offers & discounts, toys collection, reputed brands availability, fast & convenient
billing, etc. (Gupta 2004; Jhamb & Kiran 2012; Gunnar et al. 2016; Kafia &
Lanlan 2016).

2.2.7.2 Toy decision

Zimmerman & Calonini 1971, states that the parents of digital era
give utmost care while selecting the products for their kids, particularly toys
for infants or children. “After selecting the organized outlet for toy purchase,
they spend considerable time to select the toys for their kids based on the
following attributes such as pleasure (i.e. happiness)”(Hsieh 2008). & “pride
in possession, brand image & reputation, safety” (Rachana & Saroj 2011).
(National Research Council and Institute of Medicine 2000) features, the
attractiveness of the packaging & design, the material used, paint used,
fashion & trend, the suitability of the toy based on the gender, age group of
the children, preferred colour, the scope for learning & brain development,
etc. (Eisenberg et al‟s 1985; Donna 1993; National Research Council and
Institute of Medicine 2000; Freeman 2007)

2.2.8 Purchase Satisfaction

After purchase, satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the product will

influence a consumer‟s subsequent behaviour. Satisfaction occurs when
consumer expectations are met or exceeded and the purchase decision is
 38

reinforced Subrato (2017). Dissatisfaction results when consumer

expectations are not met. The satisfied customer will also tend to say good
things about the brand to others. Marketers say, “Our best advertisement is a
satisfied customer.” (Kafia & Lanlan 2016).

2.3 RESEARCH GAP

The extensive review of literature in the current chapter explored

the following research gap:

The careful investigation of the above-mentioned reviews and in-

depth literature survey explored that most of the earlier researches discussed
children‟s attraction towards sales promotion campaigns, the impact of
advertisement of parents‟ buying behaviour, child‟s role in family decision-
making, factors affecting young children consumer behaviour, in-restaurant
family behaviour, consumer buying behaviour in departmental store/
supermarkets, understand young children‟s influence on family consumer
behaviour, toy shopping behaviour of children in retail stores in various
geographical locations in India and abroad, but there were very few studies
related to the factors influencing toys purchase of children and their parents in
India and in other countries.

The studies related to research context attempted to explore

attributes of toys attracting children (Lavanya & Jayasan, 2017; Goldberg &
Lewis 1963; Rheingold & Cook 1975; O‟Brien & Huston 1985) gender
difference spending with their toys and preference, parent-toy purchase decision-
making (Barween 2017), parental toy selection patterns (Melissa et al. 2020), toy
packaging (Wichanat & Nopadon 2012), factors affecting sex-typed toy
selection (Donna,1993), children‟s privacy connected with smart toys (Otavio
et al.2020), and the selection and purchase of toys for preschool children
(Kanokkan 2017).
 39

The Indian parent buying patterns have a tremendous shift in recent

years, particularly the Gen Y parents take utmost care, but there was no
standard theoretical model, and research paper which integrates the various
factors influencing the selection of toy retail outlet, toys, and the role of
influential factors namely website, promotion, and influencer) in parent-toy
purchase decision process. Therefore, through the present research, the
researcher attempted to examine the factors influencing the purchase decision
of the children toys in organized retail outlets of Chennai city.

2.4 THEORETICAL MODEL

“Consumer behaviour describes how consumers make purchase

decisions and how they use and dispose of the purchase goods or services”
(Lamb 2009), therefore it is very important to understand the process by the
manufacturer, marketer, and retailer to attract the
consumers/customers/shoppers towards their products and services.
Nowadays children play a vital role in family purchase decision-making with
regards to eatables, packaged foods, food items in restaurants, apparel
purchase, toys selection, etc. (McNeal 1969).

Toys play a vital role as cultural ambassadors reflecting 5000 years

of Indian civilization. India has one of the leading young populations in the
world, due to which, the toy industry in the country has witnessed fast growth.
The market is overflowing with a wide array of both conventional and modern
toys (Rheingold & Cook 1975). Though, with developing trends, there has
been a shift from conservative toys towards innovative and hi-tech electronic
toys. Therefore, the current research framework aimed to explore the factors
influencing the purchase decision of the children toys in organized retail
outlets of Chennai city.
 40

Figure 2.1Proposed theoretical model

2.5 DEVELOPMENT OF HYPOTHESIS

In the theoretical model, each arrow represents a path, which

represents a hypothetical relationship. Therefore, the list of below-mentioned
hypothesis can be formulated based on the conceptual model and it was
verified through Structural Equation Modelling approach in the forthcoming
chapter.

H1: Need Recognition has a significant positive impact on

influential factors which affect children toys purchase in
organized retail stores.

H2: Influential factors have a significant positive influence on

children toys purchase decision in organized retail stores.

H3: Purchase decision has a significant positive impact on

purchase satisfaction of children toys in organized retail
stores.

Conclusion

Consumer behaviour describes how consumers make purchase

decisions and how they use and dispose of the purchase goods or services” as
 41

propounded by Lamb (2009). According to According to Lieberman (2009) et

al study also explored that well designed games can provide fun, interactive
experiences that can encourage young children's learning, cognitive
development, skill building, social interactions, physical activity, and healthy
behaviors. Barween Al Kurdi ( 2017) invested the factors influencing parent
Toy purchase decisions resulted with using related factors, emotional related
factors, informational related factors, cost related factors, children
demographical related factors and parental demographical-related factors.
Kollmayer (2018) et al study exhibit that parents‟ judgments about the
desirability of toys for their children do not accurately reflect their gender role
attitudes. B. Todd (2018) et al research resulted with girls played more with
female-typed toys in earlier studies than in later studies whereas boys played
more with male-typed toys in earlier studies than in more recent studies. This
chapter has presented a review of the literature related to shopper buying
behaviour and the various determinants in the model. Literature related to toys
purchases details and factors influencing the purchase decision of children,
how demographical factors are influencing on the purchase decision,
shoppers‟ perception towards various factors influencing the purchase
decision and satisfaction of children toys. Based upon the above-mentioned
reviews we have developed the model of need recognition, influential factors,
purchase decision and purchase satisfaction. Factors leading to shopper‟s
satisfaction have been explained through the theoretical model.