05-03-2013, 11:13 AM
Mobile Handset Buying Behavior of Different Age and Gender Groups
Mobile Handset Buying.pdf (Size: 113.49 KB / Downloads: 101)
Abstract
The prime objective of the study was to understand the variation in the importance given by different age and gender
groups to the select factors while buying mobile handsets in India. The study concludes that the mobile handset users of
age group of 18-30 years are less price sensitive than consumers of other groups; rather they consider ‘physical
appearance’, ‘brand’, ‘value added features’, and ‘core technical features’ more important than users of any other age
groups. On the contrary, the consumers of age group 50 years and above have given greater importance to ‘price’ than
consumers of other age groups. There were significant differences between different age groups as regards to the
importance given to all the factors except ‘post - purchase services’. The difference was highest for the ‘brand’ closely
followed by ‘core technical features’ of the handset. Gender differences have also existed for these factors.
Introduction
India is the world’s 12th largest consumer market. It is projected that by 2025, it will be ahead of Germany and will
become the fifth largest economy of the world. There is an explosive growth in almost all the areas of consumer goods
and services. Communication that accounts for 2 percent of consumer’s spending today will be one of the fastest
expanding categories with growth of about 13 percent (McKinsey, 2007). Mobile telecommunication industry has
shown a tremendous growth over the last few years and at present there are about twenty crore (1 crore = 10 million)
subscribers of the mobile telecom services in the country. The market for the mobile handset is also growing with the
growing demand for mobile telecom services. This demand will continue to grow in future also. India at present is the
second largest market for mobile handsets (Indian Brand Equity Foundation, 2005). The growth in this sector has been
improved due to liberalization of telecommunication laws and policies.
Methodology
The study has been carried out by interviewing 240 consumers based on convenience sampling during November 2007,
to April, 2008 with the help of a questionnaire in Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Amritsar cities of Punjab state (Province) of
India. The cities were chosen for the reason that even though the mobile telecom services are expanding across the
country, yet these are concentrated in urban areas (The World Factbook, 2008). The respondents who were using GSM
mobile handsets were asked to rate the select factors on a five point scale (1 for lowest consideration and 5 for highest
consideration) that they considered most while buying their latest mobile handsets. These factors were selected from the
study conducted by Nasir et al, (2006) on laptop purchases. Five of the seven factors evolved through principal
component analysis of the study were selected keeping in view of their relevance to the mobile handsets. This is so
because mobile phones technologically in India are perceived as recently innovative as laptops. The sixth factor-‘brand’
was selected for the reason that it is being considered as the proxy for the quality determination in the absence of any
other intrinsic quality determinant in case of mobile handsets. Indians give very high value to brands. In India, a brand
is a cue to quality because the quality of their unbranded products varies widely (Johansson, 1997).
Data Analysis and Results
The distribution of respondents of different age and gender groups has been summarized in Table 1.
The frequency distribution of mobiles handsets being used by the respondents at the time of study has been summarized
in Table 2.
Table 2 reveals that Nokia was being used the most (45%) by both male and female respondents followed by Motorola
(19%), Sony Ericsson (15%), Samsung (12%), LG (6%), and others (3%).
The overall importance of factors influencing mobile handset buying has been summarized in Table 3. It can be inferred
that overall, ‘physical appearance’ of the handset got the highest importance (4.01) and ‘core technical features’ got the
least importance (3.30). ‘Brand’ (3.78) was considered the second most important factor (3.78) followed by ‘post -
purchase services’ (3.73). ‘Value added features’ (3.65) got greater importance than both price (3.47) and core technical
features.
Discussion and Conclusions
The mobile telecom services are now being widely consumed by the Indian society. Rather these have become an
essential part of their lives. Besides communication, people now seek entertainment and other features that are
compatible to their self-image and lifestyle. The self-image and lifestyle may vary among genders and different age
groups. Therefore, the study was carried out among consumers of different age and gender groups to understand the
importance of factors that influence their mobile handset buying. The intense competition between manufacturers has
forced them to expand their market base. The study concludes that the users of age group of 18-30 years are less price
sensitive than consumers of other groups; rather they consider ‘physical appearance’, ‘brand’, ‘value added features’,
and ‘core technical features’ more important than users of any other age groups. This may be due to the reason that
majority of Indian youth seeks excitement in the products and also they are more exposed (Sabnavis, 2002) to new
technological developments than other age groups particularly mature ones. The mature consumers on the other hand
may have priorities for other products due to other obligations. That is why they are more price-sensitive. Also they
have less knowledge about new technological developments and therefore, consider ‘value added features’, ‘brand’ and
‘core technical features’ less important.