Consumer Behavior Literature Review Essay

INTRODUCTIONProfile of students 2014 was the year, which saw an increasing number of students of XLRI batch, belonged to Generation Z. The current students are the ones who were born(p) into a digital world and they find it difficult remembering a time without the Internet, laptops and most importantly ready bids. Also, they are used to process capacious amounts of education using high speed Internet. Since this generation has spend an increasing amount of time interacting on social media than rest others, large amount of learning which they receive is through others, which at times is not without personal bias. Some of the other qualities attribut adapted to them are listed in the picture belowGiven the check income (owing to zero or 1-2 years of work experience), price is a key factor when students select their prospective alternatives of predicts. Therefore, mid-range handsets are more popular in this surgical incision instead of the high end ones.Mobile market and Brands in IndiaSome of the important headline facts ands figures related to expeditious phone market in India around 200 Million units of feature phones were sold in India during 2013 Smartphones registered the fastest retail volume growth of 172% during 2013, with sales hit 44 Million phones. Launch of cheap smartphones has decreased the increase in sales of feature phones. Mobile phones are expected to register retail volume growth of CAGR 9% with sales reaching 39 million units by 2018Growth in the category and market share and its variance in last five years is given in the table belowQUALITATIVE RESEARCHIndia is a booming market for mobile phone industry. As per the report from IPSOS Consulting, Mobile subscribers grew from 2 million in 2000 to 939 million in 2012. Due to plethora of options available in the market,customers get to choose the right product for them as per their needs. In order to understand the factors considered by a potential customer while make the buying fi nality in depth interview was conducted with batch who bought mobile phone recently and the people with prior work experience in mobile manufacturing companies as described in Annexure1 Variables IdentificationThe variable of our learn are reasons for purchasing, criteria of mobile secure, major teaching source, Demographic and Psychographic characteristic of mobile buyer across brands, satisfaction of the mobile purchase across brands, barriers to buying mobiles students face, awareness about mobile models, money fagged on mobile in a year by students. The following table presents the details of variables of our study.VariableParameterReason for purchasingCalling, feeling connected, comfort stationCriteria of mobile purchasePrice, sim slots, gaming ease, camera, screen size, warranty, graphic, processor, RAM, OS,storage Source of informationFriends, shopkeepers, blogs, e-commerce websitesfactors influencing the purchasediscount offers, EMI,exchange offers, festivals, gifts, s ales promotionsDemographic and psychographic characteristicsOf mobile buyers across brandsPrior work experience, gender, strengthSatisfaction of mobile across brandsBrand loyalty, recommendation to othersBarriers to buyingAvailability, time, inconvenienceAwareness about mobile modelsBased on gender, used source of informationMoney spent on mobile in a yearAverage expenditure, frequency of purchase, number of phones used at a timeAnnexure-A (Details of In-depth Interview) nonsubjective of In-depth InterviewIdentify the reasons for a new purchaseTo understand the factors affecting the buying decisionTo understand the role of WOM and other sources of information in making the final decisionIdentify the essential features in the mobile phone boughtIdentify the desired features in the mobile phoneScreening QuestionsPurchased a mobile phone after coming to XLRIOr worked for a mobile manufacturing firm before coming to XLRI Introduction of AwarenessName, Home townSources of information ma nnerInfluence of various source of informationRelevant Attitude and ValueActivityAspirational ValueConclusionWhat are the main reasons for buying a ill-tempered phone?Literature ReviewStudies on consumer behavior regard consumers as key determinants of organizational success and it has been found that the most successful organizations are those that are customer-centered (Blackwell, Miniard, & Engel, 2006). It is a study of decision-making process of buyers whether they are individuals or a group to understand their demand. For companies it is very important to understand consumer behavior so that they can make out their requirements and cater to their expectations from the product or service. It is only then they will be able to capture their target market and maintain their market share. Dorsch, Grove and Darden (2002) in their research on customer choice of mobile phone found that from the perspective of marketing consumers purchase process can be sort into a five stepproblem solving process such as need recognition, information search, given alternatives evaluation, purchase activity and post purchase evaluation When buying a product a lot of interpersonal and social factors are involved and so is the case for mobile phones.A study by Karjaluoto et al. (2005) on analyzing factors affecting decision making process for buying mobile phones in Finland, classified the factors into seven categories innovative services, multimedia, design, brand and basic properties, external influence, price and reliability. The authors also found from the two studies that while technical problems were the basic reason to change mobile phone among students price, brand, interface, and properties were the most influential factors affecting the substantial choice between brands. Liu (2002) conducted a similar study focused on decisions regarding brand for the mobile phones in Asia, found that the choice of a mobile phone is characterized by two attitudes towards brands attit udes towards the mobile phone brand and attitudes towards the network.Largely new features affect customers choice of mobile phone brand than its size. This trend of choosing is definitely towards phones with break away capacity and larger screens. It can also be seen that the current trend is seeing a shift in the mobile phone industry from second-generation mobile phones to third generation. Factors like Internet access and MMS services etc are also impacting consumer-buying behavior. In another study, Riquelme (2001) studied the amount of self-knowledge consumers have when choosing between mobile phone brands. It was built upon six key attributes (telephone features, connection fee, access cost, mobile to mobile phone commits, call rates and free rates). The research showed that consumers with prior knowledge were able to predict their choices relatively well but customers tended to overestimate the importance of features, call rates and underestimate the importance of monthly access fee, mobile to mobile phones rate and connection fee.References1. Blackwell, R. J., Miniard, P. W., & Engel, J. F. (2006). Consumer behavior (10th Ed.) Cincinnati, Orlando Harcourt College Publishers. South Western-Thomson Learning. 2. Karjaluoto, H., Karvonen, J., Kesti, M., Koivumaki, T., Manninen, M., Pakola, J., Ristola, A., & Salo, J. (2005). Factors Affecting Consumer Choice of Mobile Phones Two Studies from Finland. Journal of Euromarketing, 14(3), 5982. 3. Liu, CM (2002). Theeffects of promotional activities on brand decision in the cellular telephone industry, The Journal of Product & Brand Management, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 42-51. 4. Dorsch, MJ, Grove, SJ and Darden, WR (2000). Consumer intentions to use service category, Journal of Services Marketing, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 92-118. 5. Riquelme, H. (2001). Do consumers know what they indigence? Journal of Consumer marketing 18(5), 437-448