02-06-2012, 01:43 PM
CONSUMERS’ buying BEHAVIOUR IN PURCHASE OF laptop
CONSUMERS’ buying BEHAVIOUR.doc (Size: 303 KB / Downloads: 95)
INTRODUCTION
Laptop sales in India have risen drastically, which accounts for over 25% of the total personal computer market. Laptop sales only accounted for a 3% of the total personal computer till 2003. The sales of the laptops has reached a mark of 0.68 million unit in fiscal year 2006-2007 which accounts for a growth of 59% over the same period in fiscal year 2005-2006. Sale of desktop computers and laptops has touched the mark of 8.5 million units in the fiscal year 2007-2008. There are various main players in the Indian notebook market. The objectives of the study are to understand the brand position in the minds of the laptop owners and to map their perception. It also focuses on mapping the dealer perception about the top performing brands in the laptop sales. From the study it was found that customers prefer a particular brand compared to others. This particular brand is preferred mainly by the youths because of the good configuration available and its brand image. The company being studied seems to be lacking in considered attributes. Businessmen however use a combination of all the brands; this could be probably because of the various applications of theirs. The customers find cash discount and free accessories most attractive while making a purchase. A reasonable percentage of people also have a mind to accept new offers also. The success rate in achieving good market share by the highly preferred company by customers proves that the advertising media plays a crucial part in promoting their products. The dealers find the incentives by this particular company most attractive compared to other IT and technology companies.
BACKGROUND
The literature on purchase decision in this part has been limited to IT related purchase decisions due to the product category which will be examined in this current study. Consumers can prefer certain products, brands or companies over others, and to understand the reason behind these choices is exceptionally essential in order to market existing products more effectively than rivals. Consumers’ demographic profile, purchase perceptions, and their attitudes towards products or brands influence their purchase decisions. Jarvenpaa and Tedd (1996/1997) identify many factors that affect a consumer’s electronic shopping purchase decision: product understanding, shopping experience, customer service, and consumer risk. Geisler and Hoang (1992) identify five steps in the decision process to purchase IT:
1. Establish or articulate the need for IT.
What is the Consumer Behavior Report?
The Consumer Behavior Report is designed to give merchants, media and industry analysts insight into shopping trends, pricing and market share. Each month, a different topic will be the focus of the report.
What is the Portable Laptop Trends Report?
The portable laptop is the topic of PriceGrabber.com March 2008 Consumer Behavior Report.
Portable laptops trends and data were collected from a survey of 1,868 online consumers conducted in February 2008. Additional data is sourced from Market Reporter, a statistical database that tracks consumer shopping behavior on PriceGrabber.com. The Notes from the Green section is compiled by Olivia Zaleski, an eco friendly blogger for PriceGrabber.com Shop Green section. The focus of the Shop Green section is to provide more than 20,000 products to help consumers live a greener lifestyle. PriceGrabber.com is a major shopping comparison engine, with more than 26 million unique users per month and up-to-date daily pricing of products supplied more than 12,000 sellers.
Future Laptop Trends
What does this mean for the future of laptops? As laptops become smaller, will traditional sized laptops become obsolete? In a recent PriceGrabber.com survey, 44 percent of online consumers say they would travel more often with their laptop if it was a portable-style. Smaller laptops and devices are certainly more attractive to consumers, as long as the price and performance are comparable.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Data Collection
In line with the research purposes of this study, a questionnaire was prepared and then it was spread in the city Hyderabad. With the help of my friends I could spread this questionnaire and collect the data of consumer buying behavior on purchase of laptop. Since this research was focused on the factors influencing laptop purchase decisions of consumers, it was seen appropriate to perform a traditional survey. In addition, a cover letter, which had explained the purpose of the study, with the questionnaire was sent to the customers.
Questionnaire Design and Measures of Constructs
In the first part of the questionnaire, the consumers were asked whether they had a laptop or not, and those who had a laptop were only considered in the survey. The brand name of their laptop was also asked to the consumers. As stated earlier, this course of independent study has classified the consumer base of a company into three groups: stayers, satisfied switchers, and dissatisfied switchers. Therefore, the consumers in this study replied to the question about whether the current brand that they were using was their first laptop brand or whether they had switched from a previous laptop brand.