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920 Tan Yi Ting & Dr Adaviah (2022)
other product price display in store will not be the reference price to it. Hence, store environment will
not influence customer purchase intention significantly.

Table 4.7.4: Summary of Hypothesis Testing - Store Environment
Independent Variable Hypothesis Result
Store Environment H4: Store environment will p-value = 0.406 > 0.05
positively and significantly Rejected
influence customer purchase
intention.

4.6.3 PRODUCT CATEGORY

According to Hirschman and Holbrook (1982), products bring either utilitarian, hedonic benefits or
both. Thus, consumers will match his/her needs (benefits pursued by consumers) with the product price
before making a purchase decision. In this study, the result illustrates the positive relationship between
product category and customer purchase intention as p-value 0.000 < 0.05 (as shown at Table
4.7.5). Besides, inexperienced buyers are likely to use price information from other brands or product
categories to form price expectations for a particular product as mentioned by Jacobson and Obermiller
(1990). Consumers can make comparisons between brands/products on ingredients, price, taste,
freshness and come out with a good decision which could maximize their needs and wants as well as
happiness. Moreover, consumers with a lot of prior buying experience in a particular product category
tend to act differently with inexperienced consumers. Therefore, product category in significantly
influence customer purchase intention.

Table 4.7.5: Summary of Hypothesis Testing - Product Category
Independent Variable Hypothesis Result
Product Category H5: Product category will p-value = 0.000 < 0.05
positively and significantly Accepted
influence customer purchase
intention.

 5.0 RESEARCH IMPLICATIONS, LIMITATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 RESEARCH IMPLICATIONS

The purpose of the study highlighted the effect of reference price on frozen food toward customer
purchase intention through the development of the frozen food industry. Increasing the use of frozen
food trends supported by the dietary consumption which has transformed from home-cooked to the use
of frozen food brings to the growth of the frozen food industry over time. Thus, the findings of this
study will provide the information to the existing business owner, marketers, entrepreneurs as well as
future researchers. Researcher identified that the effect of reference price includes price history, store
visit history, customer characteristics and product category are the most important elements which will
influence customer purchase intention on frozen foods. Therefore, it is significant for existing business
owner to understand and learn about how these effects influence customer purchase intention and make
improvements in the future. Marketers should develop a new marketing plan by taking into account
variables suggested in this study in order to make the comparison between current business and how
it would be in the future. In addition, existing business owner should cooperate with marketers in
building customer relationships as well as improving public awareness towards the products through
advertising and promotion. On the other

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