Abstract:
In recent years, in Sri Lanka, government pays its focus on promoting palmyrah industry
through developing appropriate marketing strategies. Before 1978, this agro-based palmyrah
industry was excluded from the Sri Lankan national economic development plans and programmes
compared to Coconut and Kithul based industries. Inherent limitations of the palmyrah industry
influence the under-development of the sector in relation to socio-economic and cultural nature of
the industry. With the establishment of Palmyrah Development Board (1978), improved
programmes and actions pertaining to the production and marketing of the palmyrah industry were
developed and contributed to develop as a sub-sector of the Sri Lankan agro-based industries. Due to
various uncontrollable situations and factors in relation to marketing, the development of palmyrah
industry failed to reach to an optimum level. In light of this trend, study on consumer behaviour and
motivation pertaining to palmyrah based products (PBP) is becoming crucial. The study explored
issues affect consumer motivation and decision. The stimulus-response model of buyer behaviour
was adopted in explaining the consumer behaviour of PBP. The research subjects were people who
know and are familiar with PBP in traditional marketplaces of North and East provinces, Sri Lanka.
Observation, Interviews and Questionnaire were used to collect the qualitative data. Findings of the
study showed environmental stimuli were stronger than marketing stimuli. Buyers' characteristics
strongly influence the decision process, meanwhile problem recognition, information search and
alternative evaluation were found to contribute minimal.
