Article consumer behavior

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Abstract : Communication in real sense means transfer of information between two points and telecommunication has emerged as a very popular way of communication. From the time when keeping a mobile phone was a luxury now is the time when mobile phone companies are providing cheap handsets and lifetime prepaid connections to the hundreds and millions of consumers in India in a bid to expand market share and maintain their growth. India has emerged as the second fastest growing market in telecommunication sector after China. There is a cutthroat competition between service providers. Everybody is trying to lure the customers with lucrative offers, schemes and various marketing strategies. This study is an effort to understand what are the features that a consumer looks for in a service provider and what are the basic needs of a mobile user. The research has been carried out with primary as well as secondary sources of information. For primary data respondents were personally contacted and administered structured, undisguised and unbiased questionnaire. Secondary data was collected from various magazines, newspapers and Internet. About 100 respondents were surveyed. The data thus collected has been systematically analyzed and presented in a justifiable manner for the better presentation and good understanding of the viewer. Introduction

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consumer behavior

Transcript of Article consumer behavior

Page 1: Article consumer behavior

Abstract:

Communication in real sense means transfer of information between two points and

telecommunication has emerged as a very popular way of communication. From the time when

keeping a mobile phone was a luxury now is the time when mobile phone companies are

providing cheap handsets and lifetime prepaid connections to the hundreds and millions of

consumers in India in a bid to expand market share and maintain their growth. India has emerged

as the second fastest growing market in telecommunication sector after China. There is a

cutthroat competition between service providers. Everybody is trying to lure the customers with

lucrative offers, schemes and various marketing strategies. This study is an effort to understand

what are the features that a consumer looks for in a service provider and what are the basic needs

of a mobile user. The research has been carried out with primary as well as secondary sources of

information. For primary data respondents were personally contacted and administered

structured, undisguised and unbiased questionnaire. Secondary data was collected from various

magazines, newspapers and Internet. About 100 respondents were surveyed. The data thus

collected has been systematically analyzed and presented in a justifiable manner for the better

presentation and good understanding of the viewer.

Introduction

The aim of marketing is to meet and satisfy target consumers’ needs and wants. The field of

consumer behaviour studies how individuals, groups and organizations select, buy and dispose of

goods, services, ideas or experiences to satisfy their needs and desires.

Understanding consumer behaviour and “knowing consumers” is never simple. Customers may

say one thing but do another. They may not be in touch with their deeper motivations. They may

respond influences the change their minds at the last movement. Small companies stand to profit

from understanding how and why their customers buy.

Studying customers provide clues for developing new products; product features, prices,

channels, messages and other marketing mix elements. This research explores individual

consumers buying dynamics.

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Consumer Behavior

Consumer behavior involves the psychological processes that consumers go through in

recognizing needs, finding ways to solve these needs, making purchase decisions (e.g., whether

or not to purchase a product and, if so, which brand and where), interpret information, make

plans, and implement these plans (e.g., by engaging in comparison shopping or actually

purchasing a product).(Marketing Management, Philip Kotler)

Factors influencing Consumer Behaviour

A consumer’s buying behaviour is influenced by cultural, social, personal and psychological

factors.

Cultural Factors

Culture is the fundamental determinant of a person’s wants and behaviour. The growing child

acquires set of values, perception, preferences and behaviours through his or her family and other

key institutions. Each culture consists of smaller sub cultures that provide more scientific

identification and socialization for their members when subculture grows large and affluent

enough, companies often design specialized marketing programs to serve them. (Consumer

Behaviour http://www.consumerpsychologist.com/)

Social Factors

In addition to cultural factors, consumer’s behaviour is influenced by such social factors as

reference groups, family and social roles and statuses.

Reference Group: A persons’ reference group consists of all the groups that have a direct or

indirect influence on the person’s attitude or behaviour. The groups having a direct influence on

a person are called Membership groups. Membership groups may be primary (family, friends) or

secondary (religious, professional groups). Reference groups expose an individual to new

behaviours and lifestyles and influence attitudes and self-concept.

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Family: The family is the most important consumer-buying organization society; it creates the

most influential primary reference group. Even if the buyer no longer interacts with his parents,

their influence on the buyers’ behaviour can be significant..

Roles and Statuses: A person participates in many groups such as family, clubs, and

organizations. The Persons’ position in each group can be defined in terms of role and status. A

role consists of activities a person is expected to perform. Each role carries status. (Consumer

Behaviour http://www.consumerpsychologist.com/)

Personal Factors

Buyer’s decisions are also influenced by personal characteristics. These include the buyers’ age

and stage in life cycle, occupations, economic circumstances, lifestyle and personality and self-

concept.

Age and Stage in Life cycle: People buy different goods and services over lifetime. The good

bought or services used in one stage of life differ from the goods and services bought in the other

stage of life.

Occupation and Economic circumstances: Occupation also influences consumption pattern. A

blue-collar worker will buy work clothes, work shoes and lunch boxes, while the company

president will buy executive suits, air travel and country club membership. A company should

design its product in such a manner that all classes of consumer could use it.

Life Style: Life style is a persons’ pattern of living in the world as expressed in activities,

interests and opinions. Peoples belonging to different social classes lead different life styles and

this life style impact on the buying behaviour.

Personality and Self Concept: Each person has personality characteristics that influence his or

her buying behaviour. Personality can be useful in analyzing consumer brand choices as a

consumer buys the product, which matches his or her personality. (Marketing Management,

Philip Kotler)

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Psychological Factors

A personal buying choice is influenced by four major psychological factors, which are

Motivation, Perception, Learning and Beliefs and attitudes.

Motivation: Motive is the need that is sufficiently pressing to drive the person to act. Motivation

is led by need and a consumer’s buying behaviour is also derived by the need. Thus marketers

should understand the motivation behind a consumer’s buying decision.

Perception: Perception is the process by which an individual selects, organizes and interprets

information, input to create a meaningful meaning of the world. It is very important to

understand the consumer’s perception towards a product.

Learning: Learning involves changes in an individual’s behaviour arising from experience.

Most human behavior is learned. A new company could enter the market by appealing the same

drives that competitors use and by providing similar key configurations because buyers are more

likely to transfer to similar brands.

Beliefs and Attitudes: Belief is a descriptive thought that a person holds about something.

People believe about a product or brand influence their buying decision. People’s belief towards

a product leads to their decision of either buying or not buying it. (Brian Mullen & Craig

Johnson , The Psychology of Consumer Behaviour,)

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Consumer Choices and Decision Making

Generally, the purchaser passes through five distinct stages in taking a decision for purchasing a

particular commodity. These stages are: (i) Need recognition, (ii) Information search, (iii)

Evaluation of alternative, (iv) Purchase decision, and (v) Post purchase feelings.

Consumer Choice and Decision Making Process

NEED RECOGNITION

INFORMATION SEARCH

EVALUATION OF ALETRNATIVE

PURCHASE DECISION

POST PURCHASE FELLINGS

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Research Methodology

Research Design

This study is an effort to understand what are the features that a consumer looks for in

a service provider and what are the basic needs of a mobile user. The research has been

carried out with primary as well as secondary sources of information. The data thus

collected has been systematically analyzed and presented in a justifiable manner for the

better presentation and good understanding of the viewer.

Collection of Data

Primary Data

For primary data respondents were personally contacted and administered structured,

undisguised and unbiased questionnaire. People from different age groups and different

socio-economic backgrounds are included.

Secondary Data

The secondary data is the data which already exists and is collected from various sources

including Magazines, News Papers and Internet and other sources.

Scope of the study

The scope of the study include various Telicom Service Providers including Airtel,

BSNL, Vodafone, Tata Indicom, MTS and Reliance.

Sampling Area

The area of research includes Jodhpur district, Rajasthan.

Sample Design

The sampling design includes the following-

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a) Sampling Unit

In this study sampling unit include the data collection of customers of Airtel, BSNL,

Vodafone, Tata Indicom, MTS and Reliance.

b) Sample Size

The sample population of the study is 100

c) Sampling Technique

Convenience sampling technique is used in the following study.

Objective of Study:

The objective of the study are as follows-

1. To study the perception of mobile users towards a service provider in Jodhpur.

2. To study the factors influencing the decision of mobile users while selecting a service

provider.

3. To study the satisfaction level of the mobile users and reasons for their satisfaction and

dissatisfaction.

Limitations:

The study has the following limitations-

1. One district survey cannot represent the view of whole Indian Market

2. Some respondents show their unwillingness in sharing information with researcher.

3. The conclusions drawn were purely based on the information provided by the

respondents.

Analyses and Interpretations:

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Table 1 Showing the ratio of respondents on the Gender basis.

This table shows the ratio of respondents on the gender basis. Where 40% respondents are

female and 60% respondent are male.

Table 2 Showing the ratio of respondent on the basis of Service Provider they are using.

This table shows no. of respondents on the basis of service provider they are using where 40% using airtel, 10% using reliance, 20% using bsnl, 5% using tata, 15% using Vodafone and 10% using idea.

Gender No. Of Respondents

Share In Sample

Male 60 60%

Female 40 40%

Total 100 100%

Service Provider No. of

Respondents

Share In Sample

Airtel 40 40%

Reliance 10 10%

BSNL 20 20%

Tata 5 5%

Vodafone 15 15%

Idea 10 10%

Total 100 100%

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Table 3 Showing no. of respondent on the basis of type of connection they are using.

Type of Connection No. of Respondent Share in Sample

Prepaid 80 80%

Postpaid 20 20%

Total 100 100%

This table shows that 80% users using prepaid connection and 20% users using postpaid

connection.

Table 4 Showing the factors that affect the buying decision of Mobile Users in Jodhpur.

Option No. of Respondent Share in

percentage

Offers & Scheme 75 75%

Friends & Family 15 15%

Advertisement 10 10%

Total 100 100%

This table shows factors affecting buying decision of mobile users in Jodhpur where 75% says it is offers

& schemes, 15% says it is friends & family and 10% says it is the advertisements.

Table 5 Showing preferences of mobile users while selecting a service provider

Options Strongly Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly Mean

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agree disagree ScoreNetwork

connectivity84 16 0 0 0 1.84

Call charges & tariffs

plans

76 18 6 0 0 1.70

Value added services & customer

care

36 34 14 8 8 .90

Applying F-testNull Hypothesis- H0:µ1=µ2=µ3 Alternate Hypothesis- Hα: µ1≠µ2≠µ3N=15n=3Table 1

X1 X2 X3 X4 X5 Total 1Network Connectivity

84 16 0 0 0 100

Call Charges & Tariffs

76 18 6 0 0 100

VAS & Customer Care

36 34 14 8 8 100

Total 196 68 20 8 8 300

Table 2

X12 X22 X32 X42 X52 Total 2New feature

7056 256 0 0 0 7312

Call Charges & Tariffs

5776 324 36 0 0 6136

VAS & Customer Care

1296 1156 196 64 64 2776

Total 14128 1736 232 64 64 16224

Correction Factor= C.F. = (Total 1)2/N= ( 300 )2/15= 6000

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SST= Total 2 - C.F.= 16224 – 6000 = 10224 SSC= (∑X1)2/n +(∑X2)2/n + (∑X3)2/n - C.F.= 14523 – 6000 = 8523 SSR= SST- SSC= 1701

ANNOVA TABLE

Source of variation

Sum of squares

Degree of freedom

Mean Square

F calculated

F tabulated

Between sample

8523 4 2130.75

Within sample

1701 10 170.1

Total 12.52 3.49

Therefore, calculated value of F is greater than table value of F i.e. with degree of freedom

being v1=4 and v2=10. Thus, null hypothesis of no difference is rejected and alternate

hypothesis is accepted.

Table 6 Showing level of satisfaction in mobile users

Option No of Respondent Share in Percentage

Highly Satisfied 15 15%

Satisfied 41 41%

Neutral 0 0%

Dissatisfied 30 30%

Highly Dissatisfied 14 14%

Total 100 100%

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This table shows level of satisfaction among mobile users in jodhpur where 15% says they are highly

satisfied, 41% satisfied, o% neutral, 30% dissatisfied and 14% are highly dissatisfied with their service

provider.

Table 7 Showing reason for satisfaction among mobile users

Options Strongly agree (2)

Agree (1)

Undecided (0)

Disagree (-1)

Strongly disagree (-2)

Mean Score

Network Connectivity

40 8 2 6 0 1.46

Call Charges & Tariffs

24 22 6 4 0 1.17

VAS & Customer Care

22 24 0 6 4 0.96

Applying F-testNull Hypothesis- H0:µ1=µ2=µ3 Alternate Hypothesis- Hα: µ1≠µ2≠µ3N=15n=3Table 1

X1 X2 X3 X4 X5 Total 1Network Connectivity

40 8 2 6 0 56

Call Charges & Tariffs

24 22 6 4 0 56

VAS & Customer Care

22 24 0 6 4 56

Total 86 54 8 16 4 168

Table 2

X12 X22 X32 X42 X52 Total 2Network Connectivity

1600 64 4 36 0 1704

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Call Charges & Tariffs

576 484 36 16 0 1112

VAS & Customer Care

484 576 0 36 16 1112

Total 3928

Correction Factor= C.F. = (Total 1)2/N= ( 168)2/15= 1882 SST= Total 2 - C.F.= 3928 – 1882 = 2046 SSC= (∑X1)2/n +(∑X2)2/n + (∑X3)2/n +(∑X4)2/n +(∑X5)2/n - C.F.= 3549 –

1882 = 1667 SSR= SST- SSC= 379

ANNOVA TABLE

Source of variation

Sum of squares

Degree of freedom

Mean Square

F calculated

F tabulated

Between sample

1667 4 416.75

Within sample

379 10 37.9

Total 10.99 3.49

Therefore, calculated value of F is greater than table value of F i.e. with degree of freedom

being v1=4 and v2=10. Thus, null hypothesis of no difference is rejected and alternate

hypothesis is accepted.

Table 8 Showing reason for dissatisfaction among mobile users

Options Strongly agree (2)

Agree (1)

Undecided (0)

Disagree (-1)

Strongly disagree (-2)

Mean Score

Network Connectivity

28 14 2 0 0 1.59

Call Charges & Tariffs

16 16 4 6 2 0.86

VAS & Customer

8 12 6 6 12 -.04

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Care

Applying F-testNull Hypothesis- H0:µ1=µ2=µ3 Alternate Hypothesis- Hα: µ1≠µ2≠µ3N=15n=3

Table 1

X1 X2 X3 X4 X5 Total 1Network Connectivity

28 14 2 0 0 44

Call Charges & Tariffs

16 16 4 6 2 44

VAS & Customer Care

8 12 6 6 12 44

Total 52 42 12 12 12 132

Table 2

X12 X22 X32 X42 X52 Total 2Network Connectivity

784 196 4 0 0 98

Call Charges & Tariffs

256 256 16 36 4 568

VAS & Customer Care

64 144 36 36 144 424

Total 1976

Correction Factor= C.F. = (Total 1)2/N= ( 132)2/15= 1162 SST= Total 2 - C.F.= 1976 – 1162 = 814 SSC= (∑X1)2/n +(∑X2)2/n + (∑X3)2/n +(∑X4)2/n +(∑X5)2/n - C.F.=

1651 – 1162 = 489 SSR= SST- SSC= 325

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ANNOVA TABLE

Source of variation

Sum of squares

Degree of freedom

Mean Square

F calculated

F tabulated

Between sample

489 4 122.25

Within sample

325 10 32.5

Total 3.76 3.49

Therefore, calculated value of F is greater than table value of F i.e. with degree of freedom

being v1= 4 and v2= 10. Thus, null hypothesis of no difference is rejected and alternate

hypothesis is accepted.

Table 9 Showing no of respondent who are willing to change their service provider

Option No of Respondent Share in Percentage

Yes 44 44%

No 56 56%

Total 100 100%

This table shows that 44% of the respondents are willimg to change their service provider, while 56% of

respondents are not willing to change their service provider.

Table 10 Showing reason for changing service provider

Options Strongly agree (2)

Agree (1)

Undecided (0)

Disagree (-1)

Strongly disagree (-2)

Mean Score

Network Connectivity

26 12 0 4 2 1.27

Call Charges 10 20 6 8 0 0.72

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& TariffsVAS & Customer Care

14 18 0 8 4 0.68

Applying F-testNull Hypothesis- H0:µ1=µ2=µ3 Alternate Hypothesis- Hα: µ1≠µ2≠µ3N=15n=3

Table 1

X1 X2 X3 X4 X5 Total 1Network Connectivity

26 12 0 4 2 44

Call Charges & Tariffs

10 20 6 8 0 44

VAS & Customer Care

14 18 0 8 4 44

Total 50 50 6 20 6 132

Table 2

X12 X22 X32 X42 X52 Total 2Network Connectivity

676 144 0 16 4 840

Call Charges & Tariffs

100 400 36 64 0 600

VAS & Customer Care

196 324 0 64 16 600

Total 2040

Correction Factor= C.F. = (Total 1)2/N= (132)2/15= 1162 SST= Total 2 - C.F.= 2040 – 1162 = 878

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SSC= (∑X1)2/n +(∑X2)2/n + (∑X3)2/n +(∑X4)2/n +(∑X5)2/n - C.F. = 1824 – 1162 = 662 SSR= SST- SSC= 216

ANNOVA TABLE

Source of variation

Sum of squares

Degree of freedom

Mean Square

F calculated

F tabulated

Between sample

662 4 165.5

Within sample

216 10 21.6

Total 7.66 3.49

Therefore, calculated value of F is greater than table value of F i.e. with degree of freedom

being v1=4 and v2=10. Thus, null hypothesis of no difference is rejected and alternate

hypothesis is accepted.

Table 11 Showing reason for not changing service provider

Options Strongly agree (2)

Agree (1)

Undecided (0)

Disagree (-1)

Strongly disagree (-2)

Mean Score

Network Connectivity

44 6 0 6 0 1.57

Call Charges & Tariffs

22 16 10 8 0 0.92

VAS & Customer Care

20 20 8 6 2 0.89

Applying F-testNull Hypothesis- H0:µ1=µ2=µ3 Alternate Hypothesis- Hα: µ1≠µ2≠µ3N=15n=3

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Table 1

X1 X2 X3 X4 X5 Total 1Network Connectivity

44 6 0 6 0 56

Call Charges & Tariffs

22 16 10 8 0 56

VAS & Customer Care

20 20 8 6 2 56

Total 86 42 18 20 2 168

Table 2

X12 X22 X32 X42 X52 Total 2Network Connectivity

1936 36 0 36 0 2008

Call Charges & Tariffs

484 256 100 64 0 1204

VAS & Customer Care

400 400 64 36 4 904

Total 4116

Correction Factor= C.F. = (Total 1)2/N= ( 168 )2/15= 1882 SST= Total 2 - C.F.= 4116 – 1882 = 2234 SSC= (∑X1)2/n +(∑X2)2/n + (∑X3)2/n +(∑X4)2/n +(∑X5)2/n - C.F.=

3296 – 1882 = 1414 SSR= SST- SSC= 820

ANNOVA TABLE

Source of variation

Sum of squares

Degree of freedom

Mean Square

F calculated

F tabulated

Between 1414 4 353.5

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sampleWithin sample

820 10 82

Total 4.31 3.49

Therefore, calculated value of F is greater than table value of F i.e. with degree of freedom being v1= 4 and v2= 10. Thus, null hypothesis of no difference is rejected and alternate hypothesis is accepted.