A Study on Consumers Preference and Satisfaction towards Ready-to-eat Fish Products in West Bengal, India

Abstract

National average annual consumption of fish and
fish products in India is 2.85 kg/person and West
Bengal, one of the most fishery resourceful states of
India, ranks sixth in monthly per-capita fish
consumption in both rural and urban areas. The
concept of Ready-To-Eat fish products have been
getting popularisied globally as well as in Indian
states, especially in West Bengal. The West Bengal
State Fishermen’s Cooperative Federation Ltd.
(BENFISH) has been playing a crucial role in
producing and selling these products but the aspects
of consumers’ preference and satisfaction are least
known. For this, the present research was conducted
to study the consumers’ preference and satisfaction
towards such products. A total of 120 consumers
were randomly selected from outlets at Howrah
Railway Station, Sealdah Railway Station and
Kolkata International Book Fair. For measuring the
consumers’ perception of satisfaction, the qualitative
variables were rated on a five point Likert scale and
weighted average scores were calculated. It was
found that majority of the consumers were young
(48.34%), graduate (45.84%) and Hindus (97.50%). A
total of 60% of them had an annual income in the
range of Rs. 1-5 lakh and Lorenz curve revealed mild
distributional inequality in income of consumers.
Maximum numbers of consumers were extremely or
very satisfied with the ‘Speed of Delivery’, ‘Courtesy
of Sales person’, ‘Responsiveness of Enquiries’,
‘Reputation’ and ‘Redressal of Grievances’. They
expressed their lower level of satisfaction towards
‘Nutritional Value’ and ‘Healthiness’ of Ready-To-
Eat fish products. Average satisfaction score of frequently consumed Ready-To-Eat fish productswas 3.8±0.1, indicating moderate level of satisfaction.‘Fish Fry’ ranked first in terms of its preferenceand among the food categories, ‘Bengalese Cuisine’preferred most. An inventory of suggestive measures for improving the product quality and serviceswas prepared.