Should I buy.. or should I not buy?!?!

There are some key psychological processes that influence a customer while purchasing the product. If you wonder "how does the thinking and the deliberation go in the head?" Then have a look at the Consumer Behaviour model for Ambi Pur car freshener product.

The first block emphasizes on the product and its benefits- its price, the availability and the addressability under the distribution and communication. Also the Economic and technological aspects of the diffuser system being innovative & affordable are the other stimulating factors. Thus the answer to the question- “Which product attributes are important and why?” have references in this and the previous section of the blog.

Collectively, they give rise to the 4 parameters of consumer psychology:

Motivation: The motivation for buying Ambi Pur car freshener would arise from a basic motive of the physiological need of breathing clean and fresh air. Referring to Maslow’s Theory, satisfying ones esteem needs also brings about this motivation.

Perception: Consumers perceive Ambi Pur car freshener as a trusted reasonably priced product. Marketers strive to achieve high customer attention and retention as far as Ambi Pur car freshener is concerned through a reinforcement of the consumer’s beliefs regarding the product i.e. it guarantees freshness and completely eliminates foul smell.

Learning: A change in behaviour arising from experiences. Changing behaviour patterns (towards an era of smell conscious India) are tapped by marketers in order to influence purchasing Ambi Pur car freshener, which is promoted as an essential freshener in every car.



Memory: Ambi Pur car freshener has been a category creator and a dominant market leader ever since its launch in India. It enjoys a distinctive place in the mind space of the Indian consumer. Thus, marketers capitalize on this existing presence of Ambi Pur car freshener in the consumer memory. It makes the most of the beliefs and attitudes regarding the brand by reinforcing and echoing the core values for which P&G is known and respected- ‘Touching lives; Improving life.’




The consumer characteristics too shall not be neglected. They are the highly volatile in nature.

Cultural, Social and Personal factors: Culture, subculture, social class, reference groups (such as family) and personal factors (such as personality, family life cycle, and lifestyle) exhibit significant influence on consumer buying behaviour. The trend to follow the product that everybody observes is widely seen. Since Ambi Pur car freshener has been one of its kind category product, its popularity and loyalty is a class apart for the new entrants.

In a country like India, which is a family and value oriented society; family continues to be the primary reference group. Thus the loyalty of the family towards a typical product is not easily defied. For personal factors, the new ads appeal to the target groups (car owners, car users, chauffeurs, kids etc) by aiming to create a “must have” need than a “might have” option. The question of “who buys the product?” is resolved here. It warrants a need for a reliable car freshener that delivers optimum performance. Further, the celebrity or claimed- ‘real life people’ endorsing the product also casts a personal impact. And thus a consumer is motivated to prefer buying Ambi Pur car freshener.



The above contributes to the vibrant consumer behaviour. However, the buying decision process is not completely influenced by the behaviour pattern. The first time decision making is manifested here. It largely depends on the following:

Problem recognition: Odour in the car, moist upholstery, food spillage stench, wet mats in rainy season, pungent smelling leather interiors, trucks carrying debris in the way, polluted surrounding or any foul smell causing agent.

Information search: Ways to get rid of the above by finding about Ambi Pur car freshener through TVC, print ads, posters, word of mouth, digital mediums, internet, etc

Evaluation of alternatives: Incense sticks, deodorants, aerosols, aromatic candles/oils, scented flowers/ garlands, perfume bottles, fragrant wax/ gels, other liquid diffuser competitors.

Purchase decision: Based on attributes influencing factors like quality, trust, brand loyalty, awareness, reliability, ease of accessibility, varied variety to choose from and competitive pricing truly governs the purchase decision.

Not just this, but the category, brand and product choice, along with the purchase amount & timing and the payment method plays an important role in making the purchase decision.

Post purchase behaviour: Customer might be delighted, disappointed or satisfied depending on his choice, liking for fragrance and expectations. However, Ambi Pur car freshener has been taking care of all the factors that leave the consumer with content!

If in the case of a repetitive decision making, the price, accessibility and the competitor factors can be overlooked and critically taken into consideration. For instance a frequent Ambi Pur car freshener user will not necessarily check the price before buying, will be concerned about the ease of convenience to get it. The brand loyalty will only help do away the competitor botheration.

What's your 'Value'..??

Customers derive value and satisfaction from the product in their own perceived ways. Customer value is essentially what the product does for the customer so as to meet the customer's expectations and perceptions about the product.

The following image shows the values delivered to the 3 classes of consumers, customers and the retailers.

Customer Perceived Value (CPV) is the difference between the prospective customer's evaluation of all the benefits and all the costs of an offering and the perceived alternatives. Thus, it is the anticipated benefit from a consumer's perspective of a product or service keeping in mind the price that the customer had to incur.

Total customer benefit is the perceived value of the economic, functional and psychological benefits from the product, service, people and image.

Total customer cost is the perceived cost incurred by the customer in terms of a cumulative of the monetary and non-monetary costs(time and energy) components to evaluate, obtain, use and dispose of the given product.

The CPV model has 4 basic benefits and their corresponding costs. Out of those, the services and personnel are not applicable to this product. Reason being that the Ambi Pur car freshener does not come with any service of maintains, warranty, repair, delivery or training. Also, personnel or the employee benefits if any are applicable to the broader horizon of the P&G brand and not to the product per say. The other two product benefit and the image benefit along with their corresponding monetary and psychological costs are detailed below:

Applying value concepts to the customer:

The value is determined by the product attributes and the benefits and costs associated with it.
Ambi Pur car freshener has product benefit such as the long lasting fragrance up to 45 days. It delivers fresh and revitalizing smell. It helps to do away with any prevailing odour. It keeps the car atmosphere pleasant even during moist and damp weather conditions. It cheers the mood of the driver and the passengers as well. Thus, it answers the question- What problem will this product solve? The product MRP cost is affordable enough. The long lasting feature and the availability of the refill pack of the liquid diffuser system makes it further reasonable. Also, the P&G brand image associated with this product facilitates the customer to rely on it. Moreover, the brand loyalty helps in the image benefit too; and thus the psychological cost of the customer while buying significantly reduced.

Ambi Pur Car freshener- An Introduction.

The tradition of cleanliness and its association next to godliness is an integral part of the Indian life. This 'Indianness' that we carry is often to please others than the self- especially to the guests! Pleasant smelling environments are no more limited just to the houses. Everybody loves their cars to be as fresh as their homes. Odours that linger throughout, or a persistent stench that never leaves the car, not only adversely affects our mood, but also of our guests. Though we strive hard to keep the interiors neat, clean and odour free, the results are rarely satisfactory. With this in mind, P&G  experts have bottled the fragrance of freshness in the new Ambi Pur range of car fresheners!

The Ambi Pur Brand history:

The first Ambi Pur product was launched in 1958 in Spain, created by Javier Merelo de Barberá Sanroma under the umbrella of Cruz Verde brand.

Cruz Verde was acquired in 1970s by the US multinational- Syntex. Ambi-Pur differentiated from other Cruz Verde products and became a brand. In the late '70s and '80s the brand strengthening continued with new diverse products and target users.

In 1984, Sara Lee Corporation acquired Cruz Verde. It was the first brand launching a plug-in liquid air freshener, a toilet liquid rim block and a liquid air freshener for Cars. After West Europe, the brand expanded through East Europe, Asia, Japan and also in the US and Canada. Since 1990s to 2010, Ambi Pur has been among the top three leading air freshener brands in Western European countries.

Procter & Gamble now takes control of the Ambi Pur air care brand in India after the completion of a complicated three-way transaction involving the Godrej Group and Sara Lee. The world's largest maker of consumer goods completed the purchase of Ambi Pur in July 2010 for $468 million and the Indian leg of the deal is the logical outcome of this.

With this acquisition P&G became the #2 Air Care Company in the world. Ambi Pur also brings high-performance products and new technologies to our current Air Care portfolio, including car air fresheners, battery-powered air fresheners, toilet rim blocks and various non-energized air fresheners.

Product types:

Ambi Pur car freshener comes in 2 starter kit types. The new mini device costing around Rs.200 and the regular one at around Rs.250. Also the refill pack of 7 ml is about Rs.180. It is available in different fragrance variants viz. Sky Breeze, New Zealand Springs, Aqua, Lavender Spa, Vanilla bouquet and Pacific.