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4740800594
CHAPTER 1
Executive Summary
This research is conducted to find out the different consumer behavior of
different people in the Laptop market and its relation and how it is
influenced by the Marketing mix enforced by the laptop companies.
The project describes about the different types of consumer behavior and
how it is influenced by different internal and external factors.
The research brings out the fact that people do buy laptops taking into
consideration different things such as price, feature and profitability.
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Statement of the Problem
In the present competitive environment consumers usually face a broad array
of product and services that might satisfy a given need. How do they choose
among these market offerings? Customers form expectations about the value
and satisfaction that various market offerings will deliver and buy
accordingly. Satisfied customers buy again and tell others about their good
experiences. Dissatisfied customers often switch to competitors and
disparage the products to others. So customer value and customer
satisfaction are key building blocks for developing and managing customer
relationship. So there should be a better understanding about the
expectations of the customers and the satisfaction level of the customers.
Here Marketing mix plays an important role as marketing mix is used to
reinforce the advantages of product (Laptop) carefully, reflecting its core
value and positioning. It confirms how and why it will be to interest to
various segments of Laptop buying public.
It is also found that there are certain difficulties in the understanding of
various factors that influence consumer buying behavior in the Laptop
sector. Considering that consumer needs, wants, taste and preference varies
from one another many companies carries out different market research on
consumer buying decision in great detail to answer questions about what
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consumers buy, how consumers buy, where consumers buy, when
consumers buy and why Consumers buy to identify these needs and wants.
The results of these researches are sometimes biased, inaccurate, inadequate
and misleading. So in this present competitive environment it is very crucial
for every business firm to ensure satisfaction to its customer. As customer
satisfaction is one of the single strongest predictors of customer retention.
So in order to expand our knowledge base and to come up with a reasonable
solution to the above discussed problem the project has been undertaken.
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Objective of the Project
To study consumer trends in Laptop sector.
To study consumer decision-making and preferences.
To study the market potentials.
To study the consumer purchase decision behavior.
To understand the needs and wants of different customer segments.
To Study the level of customer satisfaction in Laptop sector.
To know the consumer expectation on product offered by the different
Laptop companies.
Comparative study of the different Laptop companies.
To know the features and the additional benefits offered by the
different laptop companies to its customer.
To identify how the brand building helps in meeting the customers
expectation to meet the consumer needs and wants.
To determine the impact of employee motivation on customer
satisfaction.
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Review of Literature
A project report on “ The Laptop Industry in India”
A project on “consumer behavior”.
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Research Methodology
A descriptive approach will be adopted in the study. The data will be
generated through extensive study method. Sufficient time will be give to
the respondents for the extraction of the desired data.
DATA COLLECTION METHOD
1. PRIMARY DATA
Questionnaires- The questionnaires will be compiled
personally using qualitative and quantitative method and
consist of closed-end and open-end questions, designed
accordingly administered to target group of customers.
Sampling- It will be done randomly. Sampling size will be 100.
Data analysis.
Conclusion
Analysis Tool
Statistical Data
Non-statistical Data- Charts, graphs.
2. SECONDARY DATA
Books
Magazines
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Internet
News papers.
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Limitations of the study
Every project has some limitation and here are some limitation faced during
the research:
The sample size was only restricted to 100.
The research was restricted in kolkata only.
There was a bias on the part of respondent.
Time constrain serves as the main limitation for the study. As the
project study is vast in nature and respondent have less time to give
answer.
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CHAPTER 2
Understanding Consumer Behavior
The study of consumers helps firms and organizations improve their
marketing strategies by understanding issues such as how
The psychology of how consumers think, feel, reason, and select
between different alternatives (e.g., brands, products);
The psychology of how the consumer is influenced by his or her
environment (e.g., culture, family, signs, media);
The behavior of consumers while shopping or making other marketing
decisions;
Limitations in consumer knowledge or information processing
abilities influence decisions and marketing outcome;
How consumer motivation and decision strategies differ between
products that differ in their level of importance or interest that they
entail for the consumer; and
How marketers can adapt and improve their marketing campaigns and
marketing strategies to more effectively reach the consumer.
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One "official" definition of consumer behavior is "The study of
individuals, groups, or organizations and the processes they use to select,
secure, use, and dispose of products, services, experiences, or ideas to satisfy
needs and the impacts that these processes have on the consumer and
society." Although it is not necessary to memorize this definition, it brings
up some useful points:
Behavior occurs either for the individual, or in the context of a group
(e.g., friends influence what kinds of clothes a person wears) or an
organization (people on the job make decisions as to which products
the firm should use).
Consumer behavior involves the use and disposal of products as well
as the study of how they are purchased. Product use is often of great
interest to the marketer, because this may influence how a product is
best positioned or how we can encourage increased consumption.
Since many environmental problems result from product disposal
(e.g., motor oil being sent into sewage systems to save the recycling
fee, or garbage piling up at landfills) this is also an area of interest.
Consumer behavior involves services and ideas as well as tangible
products.
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The impact of consumer behavior on society is also of relevance. For
example, aggressive marketing of high fat foods, or aggressive
marketing of easy credit, may have serious repercussions for the
national health and economy.
There are four main applications of consumer behavior:
The most obvious is for marketing strategy—i.e., for making better
marketing campaigns. For example, by understanding that consumers
are more receptive to food advertising when they are hungry, we learn
to schedule snack advertisements late in the afternoon. By
understanding that new products are usually initially adopted by a few
consumers and only spread later, and then only gradually, to the rest
of the population, we learn that (1) companies that introduce new
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products must be well financed so that they can stay afloat until their
products become a commercial success and (2) it is important to
please initial customers, since they will in turn influence many
subsequent customers’ brand choices.
A second application is public policy. In the 1980s, Accutane, a near
miracle cure for acne, was introduced. Unfortunately, Accutane
resulted in severe birth defects if taken by pregnant women. Although
physicians were instructed to warn their female patients of this, a
number still became pregnant while taking the drug. To get
consumers’ attention, the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) took
the step of requiring that very graphic pictures of deformed babies be
shown on the medicine containers.
Social marketing involves getting ideas across to consumers rather
than selling something. Marty Fishbein, a marketing professor, went
on sabbatical to work for the Centers for Disease Control trying to
reduce the incidence of transmission of diseases through illegal drug
use. The best solution, obviously, would be if we could get illegal
drug users to stop. This, however, was deemed to be infeasible. It was
also determined that the practice of sharing needles was too ingrained
in the drug culture to be stopped. As a result, using knowledge of
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consumer attitudes, Dr. Fishbein created a campaign that encouraged
the cleaning of needles in bleach before sharing them, a goal that was
believed to be more realistic.
As a final benefit, studying consumer behavior should make us better
consumers. Common sense suggests, for example, that if you buy a 64
liquid ounce bottle of laundry detergent, you should pay less per
ounce than if you bought two 32 ounce bottles. In practice, however,
you often pay a size premium by buying the larger quantity. In other
words, in this case, knowing this fact will sensitize you to the need to
check the unit cost labels to determine if you are really getting a
bargain.
There are several units in the market that can be analyzed. Our main thrust in
this course is the consumer. However, we will also need to analyze our own
firm’s strengths and weaknesses and those of competing firms. Suppose, for
example, that we make a product aimed at older consumers, a growing
segment. A competing firm that targets babies, a shrinking market, is likely
to consider repositioning toward our market. To assess a competing firm’s
potential threat, we need to examine its assets (e.g., technology, patents,
market knowledge, awareness of its brands) against pressures it faces from
the market. Finally, we need to assess conditions (the marketing
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environment). For example, although we may have developed a product that
offers great appeal for consumers, a recession may cut demand dramatically.
So my conclusion about the measurement of consumer behavior is the
impact of consumer behavior on society is also of important. For example,
aggressive marketing of high fat foods, or aggressive marketing of easy
credit, may have serious effect for the national health and economy.
The influences on buyer behavior
The behavior of buyers is the product of two broad categories of influence;
these are endogenous factors (i.e. those internal to the individual) and
exogenous factors (i.e. those external to the individual). The most important
of these two categories of factors are depicted in figure 5.1 and elaborated
upon in the following sections of this chapter.
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Endogenous and exogenous factors impinging upon buyer behaviour
Whilst these are variables that are largely outside the direct control of
marketing managers, an understanding of them can be harnessed to great
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effect. The discussion that follows goes beyond merely describing the nature
of the principal factors which shape behaviour to explain the relevance of
each factor to marketing strategy.
Exogenous influences on buyer behaviour
Factors which are external to the individual but have a substantial impact
upon his/her behaviour are social and cultural in nature. These include
culture, social class or status, reference groups and family membership.
Culture
Culture is perhaps the most fundamental and most pervasive external
influence on an individual's behaviour, including his/her buying behaviour.
Culture has been defined as:
“…the complex of values, ideas, attitudes and other meaningful symbols
created by people to shape human behaviour and the artifacts of that
behaviour as they are transmitted from one generation to the next.”
Three key aspects of culture are brought out by this definition. First, culture
is created by people. The behavioural patterns, ideas, economic and social
activities and artifacts of a people's forebears shapes the culture of today.
Second, culture is enduring. It evolves over time but is stable in the short to
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medium term and is in fact passed, largely intact, fròm generation to
generation. In particular, the values of the society tend to be enduring. Third,
cultural influences have both tangible and intangible results. For instance,
language and patterns of speech are products of culture and are observable.
Basic beliefs and values are also the outcome of the cultural environment
within which a person lives but these mental phenomena are intangible
outcomes. Culture is the mechanism by which each society evolves its
distinctive behavioural patterns and values and transmits these to subsequent
generations.
Without a knowledge of the culture into which a product is being marketed
mistakes can be made and opportunities missed. Nestlé's launch of Nescafé
instant coffee, mentioned elsewhere in this chapter, is a case in point. The
cultural norms of the day were rather different. The prevailing values
dictated that good coffee took time to prepare and that shortcuts in the
preparation of foods and beverages reflected laziness on the part of the user
and carelessness with the household budget since convenience foods
invariably cost more than ‘natural’ foods. With a better understanding of the
culture of the day it is possible that Nestlé could have avoided the initial
rejection of the product by a significant proportion of the target market.
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Creative marketers who do have a knowledge of cultural norms and values
can profit by aligning product benefits and characteristics with these social
standards. Over the past ten to fifteen years people in Western Europe and
North America have become increasingly concerned about the amount of fat
in their diet and the adverse health effects resulting from high cholesterol
levels. The message to reduce the fat content of meals has been widely
accepted. It is no longer culturally acceptable to maintain a high fat diet. An
individual's family doctor will disapprove, employers who provide health
schemes disapprove, ‘good mothers’ don't allow their children to consume
high fat foods in more than modest amounts. A person's friends, neighbours,
colleagues and other personal acquaintances are likely to communicate their
disapproval, in one way or another, if that individual is known to continue
with a high fat diet. This has created a marketing opportunity for producers
of low fat meats. The official grading systems for meats in Western Europe
and North America financially penalise meat with a high fat content and low
fat meat fetches a premium price in retail stores. This cultural change has
also opened up market opportunities for ostrich producers in Australia,
Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe. Ostrich meat is almost fat
free and so enables those who are fond of meat in their diet to continue
consuming meat without increasing their cholesterol levels. Such is the
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increase in demand for this type of meat that ostrich farming in the USA,
where previously it was barely known, and in the United Kingdom, where it
was not previously known at all, is growing fast.
Within any particular society the culture will comprise of a number of
subcultures. That is, there will be various racial, ethnic and religious groups.
Each, to some degree, will have distinct beliefs and values. Subcultures are
of interest to marketers not least because it is a useful variable to be used in
segmenting a market.
Social status
Social class or social status is a powerful tool for segmenting markets.
Empirical research suggests that people from the same social group tend to
have similar opportunities, live in similar types of housing, in the same
areas, by similar products from the same types of outlets and generally
conform to similar styles of living. At the same time, whilst people within
the same social category exhibit close similarities to one another, there are
usually considerable differences in consumption behaviour between social
groups. The variables used to stratify a population into social classes or
groups normally include income, occupation, education and lifestyle.
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The importance of status, to marketers, is not confined to its potential as a
basis for market segmentation. Bennett2 says that:
“Every status has its roles - a set of proper behaviors specified by culturally
defined rules….. A group influences its members primarily through the roles
and behavioral norms expected of them.”
Thus, the behaviour of an individual, on a given occasion, will relate to the
social role which he/she is acting out. For instance, rural peoples sometimes
defer to the judgment of the biggest landowner in the area and thereby
ascribe a role of leadership to that person. This landowner will act and
behave in accordance with the status of community leader when the occasion
so requires. On other occasions the same individual will pursue his own
interests and behave as a landowner. Moreover, each of the roles assumed by
the landowner will be played in accordance with the norms established by
the group which confers and sustains his leadership office. That is, the
landowner will mould his behaviour to fit the expectations the local
community (i.e. group) has of him as a community leader.
The marketer needs to know what role a person of a given status is playing
and what is expected of that individual by the group which has conferred the
status upon him/her. Such an understanding can significantly affect the
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marketing strategy employed with respect to that category of customer.
Abdulsalami's3 experience of marketing herbicides to Nigerian maize
growers is a case in point. The Ilorin Agricultural Development Project's
(ADP) attempts to encourage farmers in its region to adopt herbicides only
became successful when it targeted promotional efforts on tribal chiefs. The
ADP appealed to the paternalistic role of the chiefs who were expected to
discern what was in the best interests of their people. The promotional
material sensitively reminded the chief of his paternalistic role and subtly
connected this with the benefits to his people of herbicide application. No
attempt was made to appeal to the chiefs in their own right as owners of
substantial areas of land since the objective was to achieve widespread
adoption of herbicides rather than to exploit the profit opportunities arising
from successfully penetrating this wealthy market niche.
Reference groups
People are social animals who tend to live in groups. The group(s) to which
a person belongs exerts an influence upon the behaviour, beliefs and
attitudes of its members by communicating norms and expectations about
the roles they are to assume. Thus, an individual will refer to others with
respect to: ‘correct’ modes of dress and speech; the legitimacy of values,
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beliefs and attitudes; the appropriateness of certain forms of behaviour, and
also on the social acceptability of the consumption of given products and
services. These “others' constitute reference groups. Reference groups
provide a standard of comparison against which an individual can judge
his/her own attitudes, beliefs and behaviour.
An individual need not belong to a given group in order for that group to
exert an influence upon his/her behaviour. Shibutani4 has identified three
distinct reference groups:
a group to which an individual belongs (also known as a peer group)
a group to which an individual aspires, and
a group whose perspective has been adopted by the individual
A small scale miller will identify with other millers whose operations are
similar in size and technology and will feel that he/she belongs to this group.
He/she may have ambitions to become a larger scale operation employing
more sophisticated milling technology and so aspires to membership of a
group recognised as industrial millers. At the same time, the small scale
miller may adopt the views and opinions of a grain trader's association since
he/she believes that when this group voices an opinion about trends or
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proposed changes to the grain trade their arguments are well articulated,
forceful and normally in the best interests of small scale millers as well as
grain traders. The common factor between these three groups is that they
each provide a frame of reference for the individual. As the example of the
small scale miller illustrates, an individual can have several reference
groups.
Reference groups can have a significant influence on patterns of product use
and consumption. In China, the practice of purchasing fish whilst it is still
alive is so deeply ingrained that the marketing of frozen fish has barely been
established. Certain norms and values run so deep in a reference group that it
is usually counter-productive to challenge them. In other instances, reference
groups have only the weakest influence on buying behaviour. The key
difference appears to be the extent to which a product is used or consumed
publicly. That is, if the product or brand is evident to those within the
reference group then that group's influence is likely to stronger with regard
to purchasing behaviour.
Families as reference groups
The family is another group which influences the behaviour of individuals
including buying behaviour. Two types of family may be distinguished from
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one another, the nuclear family and the extended family. The nuclear family
is the basic family unit and describes the parents and immediate off-spring
and/or their adopted children. The extended family includes all living
relatives in addition to the parents and their children - grandparents, aunts,
uncles, cousins, step-relatives and in-laws (i.e. relatives through marriage).
Families often form a Decision-Making Unit (DMU) with respect to
household purchases, with each member performing a different role. For
instance, the children may initiate the purchase by requesting a breakfast
cereal in place of maize porridge, the male head of the household may
decide whether a certain category of purchase may be made such as this
more expensive type of breakfast food and the female head of the household
may contribute to the decision to buy a processed breakfast food and decide
which brand and from which retail outlet it is to be bought. Where the
extended family becomes involved in a purchasing decision the DMU
becomes larger and the roles of family members more diverse.
When marketing to families it is essential to know which members play a
role in certain types of decision and what role they play. Thus, for instance,
the cereals manufacturer may target mass media advertising at children since
they trigger a purchase whilst in-store merchandising and promotion is
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designed to appeal to the housewives or other female heads of household
because they make the brand choice.
Endogenous influences on buyer behaviour
Endogenous influences are those which are internal to the individual. These
are psychological in nature and include needs and motives, perceptions,
learning processes, attitudes, personality type and self-image.
Needs and motives
The terms needs and motivations are often viewed to be interchangeable.
However, there is a difference between them. When an individual recognises
that he/she has a need, this acts to trigger a motivated state. Need recognition
occurs when the individual becomes aware of a discrepancy between his/her
actual state and some perceived desired state. The housewife who buys
polished rice, or roller milled maize meal (actual state), who is made aware
of the vitamin deficiencies in these products and is anxious to be, and to be
seen to be, a wife and/or mother who looks after the health of her family
(desired state) could be motivated to purchase less highly refined rice or
maize meal. More formally, a need is a perceived difference between an
ideal state and some desired state which is sufficiently large and important to
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stimulate a behavioural reaction. Figure 5.2 provides additional examples of
differences between an ideal and an actual state which could motivate
behaviour intended to reduce or remove differences between the two states.
Desired and actual states
It will be seen from this diagram that a range of factors can be responsible
for activating needs awareness. These may be emotional, physiological or
sociological in nature. Once the need is recognised then the individual
concerned will form a motive. A motive may be defined as an impulse to act
in such a way as to bring about the meeting of a specific need.
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Perceptions
Whereas motivation is a stimulus to action, how an individual perceives
situations, products, promotional messages, and even the source of such
messages, largely determines how an individual acts. A basic definition of
perception would be ‘how people see things’. Berelson and Steiner5 have
defined perception more formally as:
“…the process by which an individual selects, organizes, and interprets
information inputs to create a meaningful picture of the world.”
Individuals can have vastly differing interpretations of the same situation.
Whilst all human beings receive information through the same five senses-
vision, hearing, smell, taste and touch the extent to which they attend to a
piece of information, how they organise that information and how
information is interpreted tends to differ. It differs because perceptions are a
product of three variables: the physical stimuli (e.g. the product), the
relationship between the stimuli and the immediate environment (e.g. a
gradually increasing disposable income) and the psychology of the
individual (e.g. a desire to be seen as someone who had graduated from
humble economic origins to a person of economic stature). Moreover,
individuals can hold widely differing perceptions, or interpretations, of the
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same stimulus due to three perceptual processes, i.e. selective attention,
selective distortion and selective retention.
Selective attention: All people are daily bombarded by stimuli, both
commercial and non-commercial. People simply cannot pay attention to all
these messages and therefore they develop mechanisms to reduce the
amount of information that they actually process.
People pay attention to stimuli which meet an immediate need. Thus a
farmer within whose district poultry have been reported as suffering from
Newcastle disease will be especially attentive to messages relating to the
prevention of this affliction in his/her ostrich flock.
Selective distortion: Incoming information is often distorted to fit existing
beliefs, opinions and expectations. Thus a wine connoisseur finds it easy to
believe that French growers can produce a high quality Chardonnay but find
it difficult to believe that Tanzanian growers can supply a Chardonnay
comparable in its characteristics. Such beliefs are based on perceptions
rather than experiences.
Selective retention: People forget all too easily. The information retained is
generally that which supports the decision maker's existing attitudes and
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beliefs. Thus a consumer who is strongly loyal to a particular brand of maize
meal will easily recall the benefits claimed for that product in advertising
campaigns but will forget the claims made for a competing product.
Learning
Much of human behaviour is learned. The evidence of learning is a change
in a person's behaviour as a result of experience. Theory suggests that
learning is the product of interactions between drives, stimuli, cues,
responses and reinforcement. For instance, a farmer may have a strong drive
towards increasing his/her productivity. A drive is a strong internal stimulus
impelling action. Drive turns to motive when it focuses upon a particular
drive-reducing stimulus object. A farmer may see the adoption of a newly
available two-wheeled tractor as a way of increasing his/her productivity to
the extent required. The farmer's response to the notion of buying a two-
wheeled tractor is influenced by the surrounding cues. A cue is a lesser
stimulus that can determine whether an individual responds and, if so, how
he/she responds. The encouragement of the farmer's neighbours, and perhaps
his/her village headman, seeing the same type of tractor operating
successfully on a neighbouring farm, receiving visits from salesmen and
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reading promotion literature are all cues that can impinge upon the farmer's
impulse to invest in a two-wheeled tractor.
If the farmer buys the two-wheeled tractor and if he/she finds that it works
well and improves his/her productivity to the level required, then learning is
positively reinforced. If the buyer's experience does not match expectations
then he/she is likely to suffer cognitive dissonance. Cognitive consistency
theories hold that individuals strive to maintain a consistent set of attitudes
and beliefs. When attitudes and beliefs about a product or service are
challenged, due to its performance falling short of expectations, then the
buyer experiences an uncomfortable psychological state and becomes
motivated to redress the balance between expectations and experience.
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Psychological Influences on the Buying Decision Process
Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs
The five levels of needs that humans are motivated to seek and satisfy.
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Cognitive dissonance
The more major the purchase the greater the degree of dissonance
experienced and the greater the ramifications for the supplier of the product
or service. Referring to the hypothetical example of ‘Pukka Pasta’ in figure
5.3, the purchase is not major with respect to the cost of the purchase but
may be considered ‘major’ from the buyer's perspective if he/she perceived
the occasion to have been an important social event.
Market oriented organisations have policies which seek to deal with
cognitive dissonance. No matter how much care an organisations takes in the
manufacture and distribution of its products it is unlikely to achieve ‘zero
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defects’ all of the time. Consequently, some buyers will be dissatisfied at
some point in time. The fact that this happens is less important than how the
company deals with dissatisfaction. Many companies operate a policy of
giving buyers a choice of having their money back or accepting a
replacement product. The company does not look closely at each and every
case where a product is returned but operates a blanket policy of assuming
that the customer is always right. Some organisations are nervous of
operating such policies because they feel it might be abused and result in a
high number of returns and high costs to the enterprise. Others reason that
their marketing task is not to sell a product but to create a customer. They
are willing to bear the costs of a liberal customer complaints policy in the
belief that long term profitability comes from establishing long term
relationships with buyers.
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Attitudes
Fishbein and Ajzen put forward a definition of attitudes which has become
widely accepted. Their definition is:
“…a learned predisposition to respond in a consistently favourable or
unfavourable manner with respect to a given object.”
This definition draws attention to four fundamental characteristics of
attitudes. First it suggests that attitudes are enduring. They may change over
time but they tend to be reasonably stable in the short to medium term.
Second, the definition stresses that attitudes are learned from the individual's
own experience and/or from what they read or hear from others. Third, that
attitudes precede and impact upon behaviour. Attitudes reflect an
individual's predispositions towards another person, an event, product or
other object. A person may be either favourably or unfavourably predisposed
towards an object; or they may be indifferent towards that object and
therefore fail to display any behavioural pattern with respect to the object.
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Fourth, the chief function of attitudes is to facilitate the evaluation of
objects. Attitudes are a generalisation and therefore the individual does not
have to go through a process of evaluation tailored to each and every object.
A consumer may be unfavourably predisposed towards locally manufactured
dairy products because of dissatisfaction in the past with the quality of a
specific type of cheese and with the shelf-life of fresh milk from the
country's Dairy Produce Board. The negative experience of the consumer,
which relates to very specific products, is readily transferred to all other
dairy products marketed by the Board and the consumer exhibits a
preference for imported dairy products. A common marketing tactic of
enterprises that find themselves operating in an environment hostile to
locally manufactured merchandise is to promote certain products as “Export
Quality”, and thereby infer that a level of quality control, above that applied
to products for the local market, has been exercised.
Marketers have to work hard at creating positive attitudes towards the
organisation, its products or services and any intermediaries it may channel
these products/services through. Changing negative attitudes requires even
more effort. In the 1980s, the Kano Tomato Grower's Association, in
Northern Nigeria, carefully established a reputation for supplying superior
produce. However, the reputation of the product was destroyed by the
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practice of unscrupulous members who intentionally concealed damaged
tomatoes beneath top quality produce. The Association was never able to
fully restore the reputation of its product to previous levels. It is generally
more difficult, and expensive, to change a negative attitude than to cultivate
a positive attitude at the outset. Indeed, it is usually more productive to make
changes to the product's characteristics and/or image, to fit the existing
attitudes of buyers, than to seek to change firmly entrenched attitudes.
Personality and self-concept
Individuals tend to perceive other human beings as ‘types of persons’. There
are, for example, people perceived to be nervous types, ambitious types,
self-confident types, introverts, extroverts, the timid, the bold, the self-
deprecating, and so on. These are personality traits. Like attitudes,
personality traits serve to bring about a consistency in the behaviour of an
individual with respect to his/her environment. Thus, for example, a
personality characterised by a high degree of self-confidence will
consistently be outspoken with respect to his/her views on new ideas,
products, processes and practices. Moreover, where there is an element of
risk in adopting an innovative product the self-confident personality will be
more often among the risk-takers than the risk-averse.
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Although great hopes have been expressed by theorists that it would
eventually be possible to equate buying and consumption patterns with
personality types, this has yet to become a reality. Personality types have
proven to overlap and whilst personality traits may serve to bring about a
consistency in the behaviour of an individual with respect to his/her
environment, there is no firm evidence that there is a similar level of
consistency in respect of consumption patterns.
In practice, to marketing management, perhaps the most rewarding aspect of
personality studies to date has been the concept of self-image. An
individual's self-image is how he/she sees him/herself. Self-image is a fusion
of how a person would ideally like to be, the way a person believes others
see him/her and how a person actually is. The resulting self-image can be
wholly inaccurate. People tend to exaggerate the extent to which they are in
proximity to the ideal self and underestimate the extent to which others are
aware of weaknesses in their character, and their real self can be quite
different from either of the other two.
For the marketer the importance of self-images rests in the opportunities to
relate product characteristics to these images. For instance, it may be
possible to persuade those who see themselves as being in the emerging
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middle class of a developing country to trade up from coarsely ground maize
meal, which the consumer has to collect in his/her own container, to more
expensive roller milled maize meal, highly refined and sold in sophisticated
packaging. The promotional campaign would focus on the congruence
between the self-image and the product image, i.e. a sophisticated, more
refined product for a sophisticated, more refined consumer.
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The consumer buying decision process
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Buying decisions may be made by individuals or a group such as a family or
a committee within a commercial or industrial organisation. Where a group
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is involved, the term Decision-Making Unit (DMU) is commonly used.
Marketers are interested in identifying all of the parties involved in the
decision making process and are careful to distinguish between buyers and
users. The farmer may make the final decision as to whether a given piece of
agricultural equipment is purchased but his/her decision could well be
influenced by the views, attitudes and amptitudes of the farm worker who
will operate the machine. Moreover, the subsequent experience of the
operator will play a major role in determining whether or not the decision to
buy is positively reinforced. Similarly, the mother in the family may be the
chief buyer of household foods but children may have a major influence on
the purchase of those food items of which they are the main consumers.
Behaviouralists have used empirical evidence to develop models of the
buying process. These models usually portray the buying decision as having
several discrete stages. It should be emphasised that these models have been
developed in the context of buying decisions in which there is a high level of
involvement on the part of the potential buyer, that is, where the item under
consideration is expensive and purchased infrequently. Typically, the buying
decision models comprised five stages: problem recognition, information
search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision and post-purchase
behaviour. Such models underline the fact that the actual decision to
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purchase is but a single event in a process which begins sometime
beforehand and continues after the item is bought. The marketer is
encouraged to think about influencing a buying process rather than a buying
decision.
A five-stage model of the buying process
Problem recognition: The buying process begins with a recognition on the
part of an individual or organisation that they have a problem or need. The
farmer recognises that he/she is approaching a new cultivation season and
requires seed; a grain trading company realises that stocks are depleted but
demand is rising and therefore wheat, rice and maize must be procured; a
rural family is expecting an important guest who must be honoured by the
slaughter and preparation of a goat for a feast.
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Problems and needs can be triggered by either internal or external stimuli. A
poor peasant family may purchase a goat, which they can ill-afford, either
because they have an innate sense of hospitality (internal stimulus) or
because social convention dictates that a goat be procured and prepared for
special visitors (external stimulus).
Marketing research needs to identify the stimuli that trigger the recognition
of particular problems and needs. Research should be directed towards
establishing the needs/problems that arose, how these were brought about
and how buyers arrived at the decision that a particular product was likely to
meet their need or solve their problem. By so doing marketers can design
products/services capable of meeting those needs/problems and develop
marketing strategies that can trigger customer interest in those products or
services.
Information search: Information gathering may be passive or active.
Passive information gathering occurs when an individual or group simply
becomes more attentive to a recognised solution to a given need. That is,
he/she exhibits heightened attention. The potential buyer becomes more
aware of advertisements or other messages concerning the product in
question. In other circumstances the individual is proactive rather than
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reactive with respect to information. A trader who sees potential in a new
vegetable which is being imported into the country will actively search out
information about the product, sources of supply, prices and import
regulations. He/she is likely to converse with other traders, request literature
from potential suppliers, etc.
Marketers will be interested to establish what information sources tend to
seek out. Kotler states that the information sources used will fall into four
categories:
personal sources (family, friends, work colleagues, neighbours,
acquaintances)
commercial sources (promotional materials, press releases, technical
journals or consumer magazines, distributors, packaging)
public sources (mass media)
experiential (handling, using the product).
Kotler suggests that, in the case of consumers, these sources of information
will play different roles. It is generally held that communications from
commercial and other non-personal sources provide information whilst
personal sources, such as family or friends, help in evaluating a product or in
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making choices between alternatives. The extent of information seeking will
vary with the intensity of the drive to ‘solve’ the problem and the amount of
information that the individual already possesses.
As an individual engages in information gathering he/she becomes more
knowledgeable about the range of alternative products or brands available.
In highly competitive markets where there is a large number of competing
products or brands the customer rarely makes a choice from the entire set of
alternatives available. Rather, the customer selects from a subset of the
alternative products or brands that are actually available, termed ‘the evoked
set’. Figure 5.5 illustrates the process involved in arriving at the evoked set,
i.e. the set of products/brands from which the customer actually chooses.
The Buying Decision cycle.
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The concept of an evoked set
Since a customer's information is likely to be imperfect he/she will be
ignorant of the existence of a number of products/brands that are actually
available on the market. This happens for a variety of reasons. The customer
may only engage in limited information gathering, some products/brands
may not be strongly promoted or some may be heavily promoted in
distribution channels that a particular customer does not frequent. Thus, the
customer is seldom in a position to choose products/brands from the total
set. Rather, the customer is only aware of a subset of the total set. Some of
these will fail to meet the customer's initial screening criteria. Some will lie
outside the customer's price range (they may be either too expensive or too
cheap), some will have too high or too low a specification, others might not
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have the basic level of technical service support in the country. Therefore,
the set of products/brands of which the customer is aware is then reduced to
a further subset of products/brands to which the customer gives serious
consideration. However, as the prospective customer gathers more
information the set of alternatives is further reduced until he/she arrives at an
evoked set. This is the set of alternative products or brands from which a
customer's actual choice is made.
The important implication of the evoked set theory for marketing managers
is that they must know when their products are failing to get into the evoked
set and should determine what criteria potential customers are using as a
basis for including and excluding products/brands from their evoked sets. It
is equally important, although not always easy, to establish what information
sources customers are using and the roles and relative importance of
alternative sources.
Evaluation of alternatives: The process of evaluating alternatives not only
differs from customer to customer prospective customer but the individual
will also adopt different processes in accordance with the situation. It is
likely that when making judgments customers will focus on those product
attributes and features that are most relevant to their needs at a given point in
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time. Here, the marketer can differentiate between those characteristics
which a product must have before it is allowed to enter the customer's
evoked set. Consider for instance a manufacturer of pasta products sourcing
durum wheat. The manufacturer may have criteria he/she uses in deciding
whether or not a prospective supplier's wheat ‘qualifies’ for entry to the
evoked set, e.g. a maximum of 14% moisture content, a guarantee of a
maximum of 1.5% material other than grain (MOG), and price within a
given range. A quite different set of criteria might be used in deciding
between alternative products and suppliers within the evoked set e.g. the
period of credit given by the supplier, the ability of the supplier to deliver
the total order in periodic batches and the reliability of the supplier in the
past.
Purchase decision: At the evaluation stage the prospective customer will
have arrived at a judgement about his/her preference among the evoked set
and have formed a purchase intention. However, two factors can intervene
between the intention and the purchase decision: the attitude of others and
unanticipated events. If the attitude of other individuals or organisations who
influence the prospective customer is strongly negative then the intention
may not be converted to a firm commitment or decision. The case of the
Swiss-Pakistan Agricultural Light Engineering Programme, which is
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outlined below, illustrates a situation where the attitudes of peers and
reference groups frequently determine whether intentions ever become
decisions. Unanticipated events can also intervene between intention and
action. Whenever human beings form judgements or seek to make decisions
they invariably make assumptions. These assumptions are often implicit
rather than explicit. A farmer may state an intention to purchase a
mechanical thresher within the next twelve months but when his/her implicit
assumption of ‘a good harvest’ is not realised, due to drought, the purchase
of the machine is postponed.
Purchase Decision Process
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Factors intervening between intention and purchase
Postpurchase behaviour: The process of marketing is not concluded when
a sale is made. Marketing continues into the postpurchase period. The aim of
marketing is not to make a sale but to create a long term relationship with a
customer. Organisations maintain profitability and growth through repeat
purchases of their products and services by loyal customers.
Having procured the product the customer will experience either satisfaction
or dissatisfaction with his/her purchase. The level of satisfaction or
dissatisfaction is largely a function of the congruence between the buyer's
expectations of the product and the product's perceived performance. Buyer
expectations of a product are usually based upon promotional messages from
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the product's supplier, family, friends, work colleagues and, perhaps,
professional advisors. In addition, the buyer's own perceptual processes
influence expectations. If the product's perceived performance either
matches or exceeds its expected performance then the buyer is likely to feel
highly satisfied. It is in the best long term interests of commercial
organisations not to oversell their products. That is, the claims made for
products should faithfully reflect the product's actual performance
capabilities. Even then, this will not prevent some buyers from holding
unreasonable expectations of the product.
Another aspect of postpurchase behaviour that is of interest to marketers is
how the buyer actually uses the product. It is common to find buyers using a
product in a different way from that for which it was either designed or
intended. Such deviations can present problems or opportunities to the
product supplier. For instance, whilst maize meal is chiefly used as a
foodstuff, consumers discovered that it makes an excellent cleansing agent
for suede shoes and other items of clothing when these have become badly
stained. This new use for the product could represent a marketing
opportunity for a repackaged and repositioned product.
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Buyers do not invariably pass through all five stages described here. Much
depends upon the circumstances surrounding the purchase decision. In the
case of less expensive and/or frequently purchased items there would
probably be far less searching for information. If the prospective buyer is
loyal to a particular brand then the evaluation of alternatives may not figure
at all. The fact that some of the stages depicted in figure 5.4 may be skipped,
in certain circumstances, does not invalidate the model. The five-stage
model outlined here shows the complete sequence of possible events in the
buying process. It can be modified to fit the particular circumstances
surrounding a given buying decision.
Influences on the Consumer Purchase Decision Process
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Marketing Mix Influences
The Marketing Mix Influences - Marketing mix is used to reinforce the
advantages of the Laptop carefully reflecting its core values and positioning.
It confirms how and why it will be of interest to various segments of the
Laptop-buying public.
Product – Reflecting the Brand
In branding and market positioning, brand wishes to communicate a number
of key attributes of the Laptop. The brands positioning statement is designed
to convey the product advantages and the ‘character’ of the model in a way
that will best attract the target market.
Place’ – Getting the Product o the Customer
In order to succeed at getting the product to the consumer, the companies’
employs national or International network of ‘agents’ or dealers who carry
Laptop. This means that support should be given to the dealers around
to promote the model in a way that generates demand for the Laptop.
‘Price’ – Reflecting the Positioning Strategy
The company should have a clear understanding of its key target market for
e.g.
The comfort level of consumers in Kolkata starts from 30,000 Rs.
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Starting range of laptops:
1. HP – Rs 35000
2. Sony – Rs 38000
3. Dell – Rs 32000
4. Acer – Rs 24000
DELL
Dell Laptops for Home Users:
Dell Inspiron 14 Price – 39,500/- to Dell Inspiron 15 Price – 36,900/-
Dell Studio 15 Price – 40,900/- to Dell Studio XPS 16 Price – 67,900/-
Dell Laptops For Small Businesses:
Dell Vostro A840 – 31,500/- to Dell Vostro A840 – 29,000/-
Dell laptops for performance demanding applications:
Dell Latitude 2100 – 26,750/- to Dell Latitude E5400 – 63,800/-
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ACER
For Home users:
Acer Aspire 5315 – 22999/- to Acer Aspire 8920G – 80999/-
For Travelers:
Acer TravelMate 4720 – 45999/- to Acer TravelMate 5720 – 50999/-
For niche users:
Acer Ferrari 1100 – 80399/-
HCL:
For personal users:
HCL ME G3843 Laptop price - Rs.23700 to HCL ME Z3935 Laptop price
- Rs.43928
For niche users:
HCL ME P3859 LEAPTOP price – Rs.30480
For small businesses:
HCL Netbook MH04 price - Rs.15,999
For young users:
HCL ME G3843 Laptop price - Rs.23892 to HCL ME Z3935 Laptop price
- Rs.43928
HP:
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For professionals:
HP Pavilion DV9502AU Price – 39,000/- to HP Pavilion DV9731TX Price
– 67,500/-
For businesses:
HP 530 Business Laptop Price – 27500/- to HP 520 Business Laptop Price –
28500/-
Sony Viao:
The pricing for Vaio notebooks including the X series featuring Kareena
Kapoor as its brand ambassadors starts from Rs 64,990, Sony W series Net
books are priced at Rs 27,490 and the pricing of Vaio CW series ranges from
Rs 52,490 to 57,990.
‘Promotion’ – Communicating
The primary above the line medium used to promote and communicate a
new Laptop is through advertising. The choice of TV and outdoor
advertising makes perfect marketing sense.
Marketing Strategies
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HP Campaign
Last year, HP unveiled a versatile notebook PC featuring a unique and
award-winning design that takes individual style and entertainment
performance to new limits. HP and MTV held a contest for young people
around the world to help design a special edition HP notebook. The theme
was the cause that is most personal to you. It all starts with your personal
view. Imagine that your design is a positive thought, a belief, a message you
want to tell the world.
Hewlett-Packard is running a campaign, titled Greenovation, to urge
consumers to take a pledge that they will dispose electronic goods such as
printers, scanners and personal computers in a responsible manner. The
company has created a website, Greenovation.in, where users can reach and
provide their email address as consent to pledge. The website also offers
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users to opt for the HP Product Take Back Program. It will enable
consumers to handover HP products to the company, which will dispose the
products in a responsible way. HP is promoting the portal through online
banner ads across various websites such as Yahoo!, Rediff.com and In.com.
This campaign is mainly for brand building and consumers will now see HP
as a responsible environment-friendly company.
‘The Computer is Personal Again': A Global Integrated Marketing
Communications Campaign
HP wanted to step away from selling computers as a commodity to telling a
story in an autobiographical way. The campaign has resonated very well
with business customers and consumers around the world. Additionally, it
has established HP as the company on the forefront of delivering new
technologies to enable today's digital lifestyle.
The objective of the campaign was "to grow a more profitable worldwide
business through the introduction, support, and marketing of innovative
products, services, and solutions that will deliver the absolute best customer
experience in personal technology."
The campaign was targeted at PC users aged between 18 and 34 and small to
mid-sized companies. The campaign takes off from the basis that a personal
computer is an extension and expression of oneself, containing as it does the
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entire user's information, personal and work-related. The campaign also
seeks to go beyond the technological aspects and convey the message that
HP's personal computers are a more powerful personal tool, and user-
friendly, secure and reliable ones.
HCL Marketing Strategies:
The HCL Global branding initiatives was conceptualized in Jan 05 with an
objective to unify the global enterprise and connect with all stakeholders.
Done in three phases, the brand communication took a single thread (that of
HCL being in the leading edge of technology), while expressed it in different
ways.
The Fearless Campaign:
The 'Fearless' was a print-led TV campaign, which brought out the core
HCL values of Guts, Courage and Passion. The campaign also spoke about
the size and width of the enterprise, while introducing the HCL Heritage and
stature.
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'The Numbers do the talking' Campaign:
0 and 1, the binary digits were taken as HCL's brand ambassadors. The story
they weave around the different areas of expertise that HCL has is the crux
of the campaign.
The campaign, initiated in Jan 05 went on till March 06 and explained the
multifaceted technology width of HCL. The campaign helped in sustaining
and continuing the brand stature of the company.
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Touch Technology Campaign:
This was a Television advertisement. The idea was to see the world from the
eyes of a common man, someone who isn’t completely aware of our
presence. But as the film unfolds, he finds out that we are almost
everywhere, and that many of the things that he took for granted are in fact
powered by our technology. In order to initiate this process and give the
brand a face, a protagonist was introduced - the HCL employee.
And thus the ad becomes a chance encounter of two people from different
ends of the same spectrum. It’s the story of - The Hitchhiker. And the
campaign became the "Technology that touches lives."
More recently, in 2009 HCL Infosystems has re-branded its range of laptop
products as ‘ME’, and it aims to raise its market share in the segment to 20
per cent from the existing 7.34 per cent in two-three years. Over the next
two-three years, the company would spend Rs 40-50 crore around the re-
branding exercise.
The new HCL ME campaign has been made keeping in mind the
requirements of today’s customers who are on the move and seek seamless
connectivity to the virtual world. A survey carried out by research firm
IMRB on key youth trends has revealed that there is an increasing need for
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mobility among the target segment but the nuances of mobility varied in
different age brackets.
For teenagers, laptops are a means to belong to their community, while the
jobseeker’s biggest motivation is career growth and technology and the
laptop is an enabling tool. For the mid-level executive, the laptop offered
mobility and the ability to work at his own pace.
The new marketing campaign for ‘ME’ is aimed at establishing a youthful
and vibrant image of the brand and ensure a stronger connect with ‘NextGen
consumers’. All HCL Digilife stores and retail outlets would be re-branded
as part of the strategy.
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The win-win situation:
All the Dell's programmes are based on flat incentive or margin structure.
The sales-affiliates need not even directly handle the products. Dell is letting
them focus on what they do the best - sales. They just need to advise
customers on the right products, and simply place the order online. This
system also brings huge benefit to the customers. They get the freshest
technology, pay less for lower supply chain cost, get tax benefit and deal
directly with the manufacturer.
Acer marketing strategy
Acer had been aggressive in building its brand image in India. It signed up
Hrithik Roshan, a popular Hindi film star, as its brand ambassador to
promote its products. The advantage of having a brand ambassador like
Hrithik Roshan was that he helped in brand recall and in associating Acer
with high quality.
To have greater brand visibility, Acer began focusing on the retail outlets.
As of May 2006, Acer had 225 retail outlets and 179 retail partners. Analysts
felt that the retail network was a prime channel for the movement of
premium products like notebooks, consumer desktops, and home theater
solutions.
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Acer's retail strategy was such that each retail outlet was allocated a
geographical area in the city so that the individual retailers could grow their
business without infringing on another Acer partner's customer base. The
channel partners were provided training and emphasis was placed on
channel communication and relationship management.
Acer's focus in India is on education, youth, and retail. For the education
segment, it built solutions which fit the needs and budget of the students. On
the retail front, it tied up with large format retail stores such as Croma,
Home Solutions, Next, and Metro.
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Buyer behaviour and market segmentation
One of the principal applications of buyer behaviour theory, in marketing, is
market segmentation. Whether the customer is an individual consumer or
commercial/industrial organisation, each differs in their particular needs,
motivations, decision processes and buying behaviour. However, no
enterprise can provide a different product or service for each and every
customer. At the same time, if an enterprise attempts to provide a single
standardised product then only a proportion of the target customer group is
likely to be wholly satisfied and the remainder will suffer varying degrees of
dissatisfaction and will actively seek alternatives. The needs of the
dissatisfied are likely to be met by an existing or emerging competing
organisation.
The technique of segmenting a market helps an enterprise decide how far it
can go in tailoring its product or service to the needs of distinct groups of
customers. Mumby defines market segmentation as:
“…the process of identifying and then separating a total market into parts so
that different marketing strategies can be used for each part. This involves
collecting information about the different segments that the company has
identified.”
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To clarify these points, consider the position of suppliers of agricultural
inputs to arable farming enterprises (e.g. seed companies, fertilizer
manufacturers, equipment manufacturers, etc.). Figure 5.7. illustrates some
of the bases that might be used in segmenting the market.
Segmenting markets for agricultural inputs -an illustration
The variables used to segment markets may be demographic (e.g. age, sex,
geographic location, occupation, education, race), psychographic (e.g.
activities, interests, opinions, personality, lifestyle) or behavioural (e.g.
product usage rate, degree of brand loyalty, occasions of product usage).
According to Engel et al. 10, the objective of market segmentation is to:“…
identify groups within the broader market that are sufficiently similar in
characteristics and responses to warrant separate treatment.”
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68
Concentrated marketing
The enterprise concentrates on serving a single
market segment. This is also known as niche
marketing. This can be a high risk strategy since
the organisation is vulnerable without some degree
of diversification as niche markets can quickly
disappear.
Differentiated marketing
Here the organisation elects to serve two or more
of the market segments identified. A distinct
marketing mix is employed for each market
segment which the organisation is seeking to
penetrate.
Undifferentiated marketing
This is the antithesis of market segmentation in
that the enterprise seeks to attract as many buyers
as possible with a single marketing mix. Some
organisations have been very successful with this
simple formula but it becomes increasingly
difficult to sustain market position and share as the
level of competition becomes more intense.
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Thus, within a defined market segment customers should be very similar to
one another whilst between distinct market segments the groups of
customers should be very different from one another. As suggested by
Mumby's definition of market segmentation, each market segment might
require a quite different marketing mix. This would include having a quite
distinct marketing mix for each market segment. Once the market has been
segmented the enterprise must decide which of these segments it can
profitably serve. The main strategic approaches which may be adopted in
this regard are:
Markets may be segmented a priori, where the basis of segmentation is
chosen in advance, or post hoc, where segments are formed after the product
has been developed, or even after it has been launched, on the basis of
customer response to the product. When the Zimbabwean company Quality
Dairies launched its drinking yoghurt it decided a priori that it would target
the 4 – 10 year olds. Intuitively, the management felt that this segment
represented a marketing opportunity. The pack size (250 ml), the pack
design (bright colours and a cartoon character named “Slurpy”) and the
flavours (chocolate and strawberry) were all predetermined and designed to
appeal to this age group. Quality Dairies could equally well have taken a
post hoc approach to market segment by placing samples in households and
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then through follow-up interviews determines who used the product, on what
occasions, how it was used and with what result (liked it/did not like it). On
the basis of this information the market for drinking yoghurt could have
been segmented.
The process of segmenting a market is likely to produce a number of
different possible customer groups. The enterprise then has to evaluate the
relative attractiveness of the market segment identified and select the target
segments(s) that it will seek to serve.
Of course, whilst some market segments may be attractive in terms of
potential profitability, the enterprise will only be able to serve these if its
resources match the needs of those segments. Thus, for instance, a small
company marketing fungicides might see great opportunities in targeting
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grain traders but not having the necessary number of salesmen to adequately
serve this segment.
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Chapter 3
Major Competing Brands In the Market
Dell Computers
Dell Computer Corporation started in 1984 by Michael Dell with this very
simple premise as its basic foundation: that personal computers could be
built and sold directly to customers and by doing this, Dell could address
their specific needs and provide the best computing solutions that meet those
needs.
Dell’s Direct Method provides two distinct advantages:
1. reducing marketing and sales cost by eliminating
markups of distributors and r etailers
2. building to order reduced inventory costs and risks of
retaining inventories
Dell’s Direct Model is the main reason why it has achieved its stellar status
in business today. This strategic model enables Dell to interact with
customers directly providing them with fast, reasonably-pr iced and friendly
means of production and distribution.
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Strengths
Dell's Direct Model approach of enables the company to offer direct
relationships with customers such as corporate and institutional customers.
Their strategic method also provides other forms of products and services
such as internet and telephone purchasing, customized computer systems;
phone and online technical support and next-day, on-site product service.
This extensive range of products and services is definitely one of Dell’s
strengths. Dell Computer's award-winning customer ser vice, industry-
leading growth and consistently strong financial performance differentiate
the company from competitors for the following reasons.
Price for Performance – Dell boasts a very efficient procurement,
manufacturing and distribution process allowing it to offer customers
powerful systems at competitive prices.
Customization - Each Dell system is built to order to meet each customer’s
specifications.
Reliability, Service and Support – Dell’s direct customer allows it to provide
top-notch customer service before and after the sale.
Latest Technology – Dell is able to introduce the latest relevant technology
compared to companies using the indirect distribution channels. Dell turns
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over inventory for an average of every six days, keeping inventory costs
low.
Weaknesses
Dell’s biggest weakness is attracting the college student segment of the
market. Dell’s sales revenue from educational institutions such as colleges
only accounts for a measly 5% of the total. Dell’s focus on the corporate and
government institutional customers somehow affected its ability to form
relationships with educational institutions. Since many students purchase
their PCs through their schools, Dell is obviously not popular among the
college market yet.
For home users, Dell’s direct method and customization approach posed
problems. For one, customers cannot go to retailers because Dell does not
use distribution channels. Customers just can’t buy Dell as simply as other
brands because each product is custom-built according to their specifications
and this might take days to finish.
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Acer Incorporated
Acer Incorporated is a Taiwan-based multinational electronics manufacturer.
Its product lineup includes desktops and laptops, as well as personal digital
assistants (PDAs), servers and storage, displays, peripherals, and e-business
services for business, government, education, and home users. Acer's
subsidiary in India is Acer India (Pvt) Limited, and was incorporated as a
wholly owned subsidiary of Acer Computer International, Ltd. in 1999. It is
a notable vendor in key segments such as education, desktop computers and
low profile notebooks for education purposes. Its headquarters are
in Bangalore, India.
Travelmate series: Travel mate laptops/notebook offered by Acer in
India are lightweight and slim, appropriate for traveling people.
Integrated with latest technology and features travelmate series is the
best for people who are always on tour.
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Tablet Pc series: complementing mobile technology Acer tablet pc
series of laptops/computers offers exceptional mobility giving you
high performance, flexibility and great dependability. It has option of
pen-input functionality. The configuration is best suited for high
performance.
Aspire series: Aspire series of Acer laptops/notebook in India are
here to increase your productivity adding more value to mobile
computing. These Acer laptops/computer offers you great flexibility
and support to your needs.
Ferrari series: The Ferrari series are as fast as Ferrari with the latest
technology implemented these Acer laptops/computer in India. Giving
you innovative design and flexibility these laptops are competing with
the best market standards.
Acer Support:
On Acer’s Indian website, www.acer.co.in, Acer has clearly mentioned their
support and service policies. It lists various Toll free numbers for customer
care. There is the facility to download drivers according to the model owned.
But the biggest drawback is that it does not offer any technical help online. It
does not even have a ‘getting started’ guide or a list of Frequently Asked
Questions and their answers. Common software related problems can be
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easily resolved by the user if they follow a step-by-step detailed procedure.
But Acer does not seem to realise this
Strengths
Operational Efficiency — Tight Control on Overhead Costs.
Improved Economies of Scale.
Fast Reactions to Market Changes After Cautious ROI Evaluation.
Strong Global Logistics.
Aggressive Pr ice Strategy — Particularly Suitable to a Time of
Economic Recession.
Strong Relationships with Suppliers.
Simple and Effective Channel Program.
Weaknesses
Low Profit Margins.
Multiple Brands, Which Increase Costs and Dilute Resources.
Brand Perception as Low-Cost PC Provider.
Insufficient Attention to the Chinese Market — the Second-Largest in
the World and Growing.
Limited Product Portfolio for Midsize business.
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Hewlett-Packard Company
Hewlett-Packard Company commonly referred to as HP, is a technology
corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, United States; with
offices at the old Compaq Campus in Houston, Texas. HP is the largest
technology company in the world and operates in nearly every country. HP
specializes in developing and manufacturing computing, storage, and
networking hardware, software and services. Major product lines include
personal computing devices, enterprise servers, related storage devices, as
well as a diverse range of printers and other imaging products. Today HP
serves more than one billion customers in more than 170 countries on six
continents. When HP merged with Compaq in 2002, it took over Compaq's
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existing naming rights agreement. As a result, HP sells both HP and
Compaq-branded machines. Today, HP is considered to be the top-selling
brand of personal computers in the World.
Segments of HP:
Students
Travelers
Home and Family
Entertainment
Technology and Style
Models of HP:
Mini: To help schools offer affordable computing to every student, HP
introduced a full-function, mini-notebook PC priced starting under
$500.Designed for the education market, the HP 2133 Mini-Note PC is
flexible enough for students to use from the classroom to the family room.
The HP Mini provides mobile professionals a sleek, lightweight device that
provides access to information and the ability to collaborate with others as
well as to communicate via email, instant messaging or even bloging.
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Compaq Presario: Compaq Presario range of laptop computers in India are
used for daily computing works. Having great range of selection these
Compaq laptops are perfect for your daily use. Keeping in mind your entire
requirement HP Compaq in India has developed these laptops, more
technology oriented.
HP Pavillion: HP pavillion range of laptops is more powerful and trendier
serving more in big businesses and traveling personnel. Supporting all kinds
of multimedia these laptops/notebook in Indian market are appropriate fro
multimedia. These are very powerful and easy to use laptops. The various
series that HP pavilion is available are dv8000 series, dv5000 series, dv2000
series and dv1000.
Special edition: Special edition for Hp pavilion laptops are mainly designed
to give you entertainment in secure environment. More technology sound
with higher power and speed these special edition laptops/notebook are here
to make your dreams come true.
HP support:
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HP has a support section on its website, www.welcome.hp.com. The site
offers solutions to FAQs. However, the site is not ever user-friendly and
navigation can be a bit difficult for the uninitiated. The site offers consumer
and business support forums. It also offers an online support call and
diagnostic. There is an option to automatically check if the drivers are in
need of an update. The site offers help categorically apart from some tips
and tricks posted by users on a forum.
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Strengths:
HP laptops in India are beating technology to drive a great force of power
and core competency in the market. Technological advancement is the
market demand nowadays, but HP Compaq India is going beyond the
market demand. Taking care of consumer need, HP Compaq is offering
trendier and more technologically advanced laptop computers in India.
Realizing the potential of Indian market, HP Compaq laptops\notebook are
flooded in Indian market with all great features and functionality.
Considering the needs of Indian consumer HP Compaq India has
researched the market and knows how to advertise their laptop computer
in Indian market.
HP offers great dependability. They have captured the market running
successfully all over globe. HP India a brand you can rely upon. Making
their mark in information technology world Compaq India is offering wide
range of stylish and awesome laptops, which are more trendy and jazzy.
Making their laptops computer lightweight, powerful and user friendly HP
Compaq has made easy for travelers to carry their laptops. Providing
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services to large business houses to personal use HP laptops/notebook in
India are one of the best brands to look for.
Hp laptops are known to have high efficiency and performance. These
have high durability features. With its popularity spread in innumerable
countries, HP laptops are known to be highly affordable as well. There are
many models of the Hp laptops meant for varied uses. Great designs along
with the right technology provide the best entertainment and productivity to
the user. The Hp laptops are also considered great in terms of mobility.
Weaknesses:
HP does not diversify its products. The range of models is not very
exhaustive. This is an area where other companies score over HP.
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HCL Enterprise Limited
HCL Enterprise Limited (formally known as HCL Computers Limited) is
one of India's largest electronics, computing and information
technology company. Based in Noida, near Delhi, the company comprises
two publicly listed Indian companies, HCL Technologies and HCL
Infosystems.
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A formidable name in the Indian IT Market is HC which spans for more than
three decades. HCL is known for constant innovations which are visible in
their new ranges of laptops from time to time. Some of the popular models
of HCL laptops include HCL Laptop Z22- Z2201, HCL Notebook P21-
P2110, HCL Notebook K21- K2101, HCL Laptop X9912- AX9015, HCL
Laptop Z24- Z2403 and so on HCL laptops are known for their portability as
they are one of the slimmest in the Indian market. HCL laptops in India are
customized according to the Indian customers, keeping in mind their needs,
look and feel.
The three basic funda which HCL implements in their laptops or you can say
three basic points which is implemented in all the laptops in India are:
SLIM: HCL India is among companies making the slimmest
laptops/notebook in India.
LIGHT: Lightweight is one of the main features, adding color to the
laptops/notebook.
POWER: And the most important part is the power of this HCL
laptops/notebook. They are up to date and highly technology oriented.
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All three features integrated together gives HCL laptops in Indian market,
over the edge advantage. Being designed for all the generation, HCL laptops
in India makes a rage among the people. With attractive color and design,
ravishing looks and best suited technology HCL India knows how to market
their products.
HCL Support:
On HCL’s special support website, http://hclsupportservice.in/, HCL only
gives details about its warranty program. It does not offer drivers for
download purpose, nor does it have any other feature. It does not even list
the phone numbers for technical help.
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Major Achievements of HCL
Developed the first indigenous micro-computer in 1978.
Indigenously developed an RDBMS, a Networking OS and Client
Server architecture in 1983.
In 1986, HCL becomes the largest IT Company in India
HCL introduced fine grained multi-processor Unix-3 year s ahead of
"Sun" and "HP".
Lenovo Group
Limited
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Lenovo Group Limited is a multinational computer technology
corporation that develops, manufactures and
desktops and notebook PCs, workstations, servers, storage
drives, IT management software, and related services.
3000 family notebooks: 3000 lenovo laptops/notebook in India offers
innovative notebooks for your worry free access. Compiled with latest
technology these laptops/notebooks are suitable for small
business houses and usage at home. All the features you need are
integrated in the laptop and the best services and support is provided
by lenovo India. Three series are available in 3000 family of lenovo
laptops/notebook in India. C, V and N series of laptops to give you the
best option according to your needs.
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ThinkPad notebooks: These are the more technology oriented and
true value for your money. Design wise these are perfect. Security is
the added advantage of these lenovo laptops/notebook. Built to serve
more speed and functionalities these can be used for everyday
computing, premium performance, thinnest and lightest and
convertible tablets. All these are most reliable notebooks/laptops to
server your daily needs.
Suggestions
Lenovo would like to carve out a lucrative niche. Interestingly, India was the
first country where Lenovo launched consumer PCs and notebooks.
However, despite some aggressive TV campaigns featuring sibling duo Saif
and Soha Ali Khan, it hasn’t managed to connect with Indian consumers in a
big way.
Lenovo would be best served in the consumer market by focusing on brands
like its IdeaPad brand rather than on the 3000 value line. Time and again, we
have seen that Indian consumers deviate from the usual price consciousness
when it comes to laptops. In other product categories, price is the most
important factor but when it comes to notebooks, buyers want a full-fledged
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model with loads of styling. Laptops priced below Rs 30,000 have never
done as well as those priced in the Rs 35,000 to 50,000 band. The relative
failure of netbooks to take off in the Indian market is another pointer to this
preference for value (features/price) rather than raw price.
Moreover, Lenovo’s 3000 line up starts with a bunch of DOS laptops
(although some of the higher end models do come with Vista Basic, not all
of them do). Laptops with an Operating System usually cost maybe 10%
more than laptops without and consumers have realized that it’s better to
have a legit copy of Windows.
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Toshiba Corporation
Toshiba Corporation is a
Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation, headquartered
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in Tokyo, Japan. The company's main business is in infrastructure,
consumer products, electronic devices and components.
Basic Laptops: Basic laptops offered by Toshiba India are designed
to meet your general needs. These can be used at home, office or any
other business purpose. Basic laptops/notebook in India offered by
Toshiba is powerful and configuration wise its appropriate to serve
your needs. Toshiba India takes care of the basic configuration of this
laptops/notebook to make it appropriate for all generations. Satellite
and tecra are the two laptop/notebook family offered by Toshiba
which belongs to Basic laptop.
Thin and Light Laptops: Thin and light laptops offered by Toshiba
India are best suited for the traveling personnels. The lightweight and
thin Toshibalaptops in India makes you feel proud by their sound
features. Easy to carry and available in wonderful colors. Satellite and
tecra are the two laptop/notebook offered by Toshiba India which can
solve your weight problem.
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High Performance Laptops: High performance laptops in
India offered by Toshiba India are best suited for gamers and
engineers who need more processing speed to perform their daily
work. These Toshiba laptops/notebook are very powerful and high
speed. Portege, Satellite and tecra are the three laptop/notebook
offered by Toshiba India which are high performance
laptops/notebook.
Qosimo is the newer brand of Toshiba laptops/notebook in India. Integrated
with alllatest technology it provides you all the functionalities and features
to serve your purpose. In addition these Toshiba India laptops are ultra
portable, lightweight, supporting gaming and multimedia features to the
fullest.
Sony Vaio
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Even an uninitiated person can identify smart Sony VAIO laptops in India.
Reason? Its attractivelooks have made it a status symbol for some top
travelling executives. The colour choices repletewith upgraded technology
and features have made it viable for the company to even sell their
premium range of laptops at morethan Rs. 1,00,000/-.Sony has been a very
in-your-face brand for many years in India. Withother electronic products
this Japanese giant has garnered more customer base for their new
laptop division in the country.
The VAIO CR series have a colour palette of red, blue, soft white, powder
pink and classic black. Young India has certainly noticed this and covets it
more than the highly rated mobiles. It has arange of in-built multimedia,
entertainment, Av mode, bright LCD lights, built in webcam, and
simple interface for blogging. Prices for Sony laptop India are equally eye
catching!
It starts with Rs. 55, 000/- with additional features at extra costs. Since they
know that there is enough competition in the country from America and
local computers they have reasonable prices. The end models for one lakh
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and above are unique and can be found with select dealers. Buoyed by the
response form all customers Sony is now going to pump in more money to
introduce more sleeker models. Laptops shipment into the city harbours
increased from 25 % to 40 %. While rivals like HP is still dominant Sony is
proving to be a tough competitor. No doubt the attractive looks will fetch
more cool customers for the brand.
Chapter 4
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Data Analysis & Interpretation
Q1. Gender
Male Female
Analysis
From the above pie chart it can be interpret that out of the total respondent
71% are Male and 29% are female.
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Q2. Indicate the age group you fall into
< 20 years 20-29 years
30-39 years 40-49 years
50-59 years >59 years
Analysis
From the above pie chart we can see that majority of the respondent are of
age group 20-29 years in the research, 38% are of age group 30-39 years,
9% are of 40-49 years of age group, 6% are of age group below 20 years and
3% are within 50-59 years of age group.
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Q3. Do you own a Laptop?
Yes No
Analysis
From the pie chart it is interpreted that 9% of the respondent do not have
Laptop.
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Q4. If yes, which brand of Laptop you are currently using?
Acer Dell HP
HCL Lenovo Sony Vaio
Toshiba Others(please specify)………………………..
Analysis
From the pie chart it is clear that out of the total respondent who owns
laptop majority uses of HCL laptops (26%), followed by Acer (24%), HP
(19%), Dell (15%). Thus HCL is found to be the leader in consolidated
market share of Laptops in Kolkata.
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Q5. Where do you gather information about laptop while Purchasing?
Websites TV Ads
Newspaper/Magazine ads Friends/Family
By looking at the actual products in store
From consumer review websites
Others(please specify)…………………………………
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Analysis
As it is evident from the chart that majority of the respondent gets
information from Newspapers and Magazines, followed by friends and
family and TV ads. This gives an insight that the media that can be effective
n conveying sales promotion offers is print media (newspapers &
magazines). This can be concluded from the fact that 37% of the respondents
seek information from newspapers & magazines while purchasing laptop.
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Q6. What are the various attributes that you look at while purchasing a
Laptop?
Reasonable price Style
Reliable Brand/High quality Features configuration
Durability Profitability
Promotion/Product on sale Extended Warranty
Good After sales service Latest Technology
Security Easy movability
Others(please specify)…………………………………
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Analysis
From the chart it can be interpreted that most of the respondents considers
price as the most important attribute while purchasing Laptop, followed by
Feature configuration, promotional offers and After sales service. It can be
concluded that price plays a major role in the minds of purchaser as 39% of
the respondent has opted price as the most important attribute.
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Q7. What is the purpose of your purchasing a Laptop?
Entertainment Study
Security Office Work
Business Personal
Others…………………….
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Analysis
From the above chart it can be interpreted that out of the total respondent
who owns laptop the purpose of buying a laptop is mainly study, followed
by Business(25%) and Office work(24%). It can be concluded that majority
of the purpose of buying latop is studies(32%) and is concentrated mainly by
young crowed.
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Q8. How much would you spend on purchasing the Laptop of your
choice?
< 25000 25000-30000
30000-35000 35000-40000
40000-45000 45000-50000
50000-55000 >55000
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Analysis
From the above pie chart it can be interpreted that majority of the respondent
would be ready to spend between Rs.30000-35000 for Laptop, 21% of the
respondent are ready to spend Rs.25000-30000, 17% of the respondent are
ready to spend Rs.35000-40000. It can also be seen that none of the
respondent is ready to spend above Rs.50000 or more.
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Q9. Which of the following Laptop would you choose to buy?
Acer Dell HP
HCL Lenovo Sony Vaio
Toshiba Others(please specify)………………………..
Analysis
From the above pie chart it can interpreted that 29% of the respondent would
choose to buy Hp laptops, followed by Dell(25%), HCL(19%), Acer(17%).
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Q10. What are the various features that you would like to have in your
Laptop?
Style Features Security Features
Convenience Features Easy movability Features
Heavy usage Features Gaming Features
Others………………………………
Analysis
It is evident that majority of the respondent(39%) are wanting to have the
easy movability feature in their laptop, which means they want their laptop
to be small in size and light in weight.
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Q11. Family Income?
<2 Lacs 2-4 Lacs
4-6 Lacs >6 lacs
Analysis
From the chart we can interpret that 78% of the respondent’s family income
is within 2-4 lakh rupees, 16% of the respondent’s family income is within
4-6 lakh rupees, 6% of the respondents family income is less than 2 lakh.
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Q12. What is your occupation?
Service Business
Student Housewife
Professional Unemployed
Retiree Work from home
Refused Others……………………………..
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Analysis
From the chart we can see that 46% respondent are student, 27% of the
respondents are in Service, 13% respondent are in business.
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Findings & Recommendation
Majority of the Laptop owners are young, mainly students.
Majority of the respondents have considered Price as their purchase
decision.
Newspaper & Magazine are the major source of information for the
buyers.
Majority of the respondent are ready to spend Rs. 30000-35000 for
purchasing laptops.
There is a greater demand for small size and light weight laptops.
Family income has a significant impact on the selection of laptop
brands.
Recommendation
All the brands should make more frequent TV ads and Magazine ads.
All the laptop brands should give stress on the young consumer
market for brand development.
More Customer service center’s should be opened by all the Laptop
brands.
All the companies should increase their promotional activities.
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Bibliography
www.google.com
www.en.wikipedia.org
Kotler, Phillip and Gary Armstrong(2006), Principles of Marketing.
“The Telegraph” Newspaper in kolkata.
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Questionnaire
Sir/Madam,
I am a student of Annamalai University. As part of the requirements for
my MBA degree, I am required to do a research based project. Kindly
spend a few minutes of your valuable time and fill in this questionnaire.
Personal Details
Name- ……………………………………………………
Address-…………………………………………………………….
……………………………………………………………………..
Contact no-………………………………………………..
Q1. Gender
Male Female
Q2. Indicate the age group you fall into
< 20 years 20-29 years
30-39 years 40-49 years
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50-59 years >59 years
Q3. Do you own a Laptop?
Yes No
Q4. If yes, which brand of Laptop you are currently using?
Acer Dell HP
HCL Lenovo Sony Vaio
Toshiba Others(please specify)………………………..
Q5. Where do you gather information about laptop while Purchasing?
Websites TV Ads
Newspaper/Magazine ads Friends/Family
By looking at the actual products in store
From consumer review websites
Others(please specify)…………………………………
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Q6. What are the various attributes that you look at while purchasing a
Laptop?
Reasonable price Style
Reliable Brand/High quality Features configuration
Durability Profitability
Promotion/Product on sale Extended Warranty
Good After sales service Latest Technology
Security Easy movability
Others(please specify)…………………………………
Q7. What is the purpose of your purchasing a Laptop?
Entertainment Study
Security Office Work
Business Personal
Others…………………….
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Q8. How much would you spend on purchasing the Laptop of your
choice?
< 25000 25000-30000
30000-35000 35000-40000
40000-45000 45000-50000
50000-55000 >55000
Q9. Which of the following Laptop would you choose to buy?
Acer Dell HP
HCL Lenovo Sony Vaio
Toshiba Others(please specify)………………………..
Q10. What are the various features that you would like to have in your
Laptop?
Style Features Security Features
Convenience Features Easy movability Features
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Heavy usage Features Gaming Features
Others………………………………
Q11. Family Income?
<2 Lacs 2-4 Lacs
4-6 Lacs >6 lacs
Q12. What is your occupation?
Service Business
Student Housewife
Professional Unemployed
Retiree Work from home
Refused Others………………………………..
…………………………………...
Signature
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