Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management, Delhi

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR ASSIGNMENT

Prepared by: Abhineet Sood PGDM 2011-13 Roll Number 84/2011

Consumer Interaction Task:

Product Cellular Phone I am sharing my experience (Male 27 years, Pursuing PGDM).I would try and highlight the psychological processes that I actually went through in recognizing the 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). I have elaborated the complete Process in Five Stages of Consumer Behavior as below:

1. Problem Recognition: Perceiving a Need First step was to actually identify the need. As I had recently joined a B-School a couple of months back I felt a need to have phone where I could easily access my mails and be regularly updated about class submissions and Important activities at Institute. Further in my peer circle all had Smart phones so communicating with them would also be easier through different chat mediums. 2. Information Search: Seeking Value Now this stage further involved 2 Steps: Internal Search:

As I had not used a Smartphone with Email and Inbuilt Chat applications earlier so I could not actually recollect or ponder upon any of my past experiences. Though 3 years back I had a Nokia N73 Model with somewhat high end apps but this time the need was primarily an Email and MS Office in built suite with few other applications. External Search:

This involved exploring the various options through external sources like Personal sources, such as friends and family, Public and online forums, feature descriptions, advertising, company websites, and salespeople.

3. Alternative Evaluation Now for me the alternatives were for within the same brand (Blackberry) and also explored Samsung and Nokia phones in the price range of Rs 8000 to Rs. 12000. But finally after reassessing the need and getting good reviews about Blackberry brand from already existing users it narrowed down to Blackberry Curve 5250. 4. Purchase Decision: Buying Value Here two parameters considered were: From whom to Buy: Now depending on past experience of buying from a seller my friend suggested me a place in South Delhi (East of Kailash) as they had good sale offer. When to Buy: We went to the store during afternoon that is an off peak timings and thus the sales guy entertained us well and highlighted the key features of the product. 5. Post purchase Behaviour As for my Blackberry Curve 8520 model I feel very satisfied and content with my purchase and would definitely go ahead of buying products in this brand in future as well.

Consumer Research Data:

I have summarized the Consumer Survey findings on the lines of above format so that it could prove beneficial when comparison is to Consumer 1: Female (52 years of Age) A Housewife 1. Problem Recognition: Perceiving a Need Being a Housewife here the primary need was to be connected to friends and family members when not at home (i.e Shopping, relatives, outstation trips etc.). Further a specific requirement was that the phone has an inbuilt FM Radio to listen to music while travelling. 2. Information Search: Seeking Value Internal Search: There was no experience of using a Cellular phone earlier so no internal or self evaluation of the perceived product purchase. External Search:

Further the Housewife was not very well versed with Online Searching techniques or analyzing technical specs so most of external research was done through general feedback and awareness about brands and models from family members and friends.

3. Alternative Evaluation The alternatives evaluated were for different brands like Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson. Finally based on the suggestions received from various sources, her own perceptions and feelings about the Brand Nokia the Model 5300 were chosen. 4. Purchase Decision: Buying Value Here two parameters considered were: From whom to buy: As the Females son had recently bought a phone at one of cheapest prices from HotSpot Mobile store so the same was suggested by him for her mother. When to Buy: This was decided based on availability of someone from the family and weekend was the preferred date of purchase. 5. Post purchase Behaviour The Consumer feels very satisfied with the purchase and would like to purchase similar products from Nokia in future. She seemed to have created a kind of brand loyalty with the company. Further she had this perception and a liking for possessing a Touch Screen phone as she had a little experience of using similar phones in the phone. Consumer 2: Male (18 years of Age) A 12th Pass Student about to join College 1. Problem Recognition: Perceiving a Need The basic need for the student interviewed was having a handset with good games; Music player and FM radio and chat applications to be connected with friends always. 2. Information Search: Seeking Value Internal Search:

The student had been using C4 Series phone during final 2years of the school, but now he was ready to make a shift to College life and wanted to possess a Smartphone which is not very expensive as well as satisfies all the needs mentioned above External Search:

The student wanted the best deal possible and went for an extensive external research visiting various websites and discussion forums. Further he enquired a lot of friends who were also planning to make similar purchase. The guy actually visited few nearby mobile stores as well to have a look and feel about the different models.

3. Alternative Evaluation The student evaluated a lot of alternatives. Firstly as he had an experience of a Nokia phone he explored the Nokia Lumia 610 phone and N8 series phone in the price range of Rs 10,000 to Rs. 15,000. Finally after evaluating the different parameters he found the features and price of Samsung Wave 2 series to be best suited. Nokia Lumia 610 did not have an expandable memory slot whereas Wave 2 had an expandable memory till 32GB. This was a key differentiation factor apart from the fact Student felt the Touch screen and gaming experience of Wave was better. 4. Purchase Decision: Buying Value Here two parameters considered were: From whom to buy: The student was not bothered to explore and visit various centres but at the same time wanted the best quality at affordable prices. He finally narrowed down to purchase the phone from Tata Chroma store in Pitampura. When to Buy: The student wanted to purchase the product before College starts in August from Delhi-NCR. 5. Post purchase Behaviour The student is really very satisfied but has few complaints regarding the phone getting hung up at times which does not create a feeling of being brand loyal and he may switch to some other brand if given a choice.Inspite of this the student plans to purchase a high end phone in same brand owing to the distinct features in Galaxy series

Comparison of Consumer Survey and Marketing Implications to Strategize

The Consumer Behaviour approach to analyze the different steps involved in the purchasing behaviour was a very exhaustive and an enriching experience. A conscious effort was made of the fact that the Consumers who were surveyed belonged to different age groups. This helped in understanding the needs and preferences of different Target groups. This activity actually will help in devising strategies for right Consumer segment and future plans could be based on these findings. The Marketing strategy decisions based on such a Market research and survey would give an in-depth understanding of Beliefs & attitudes, perceptions, cultural choices, occupation, education, roles in the society etc. Further buyers responses i.e their product and service selection, purchase timing, purchase amount, repurchase intervals and such insights.

Below given is the Summary of the 4P Strategy which could be implemented considering the findings of the survey.

We can collate the Survey findings and group them according to the different aspects of the marketing mix and the products could be placed under different heads accordingly. We know having a perfect Marketing mix of the these aspects helps a Marketing Manager and organization devise a comprehensive strategy which could be put in place and reap benefits for the company. Thus keeping this in mind the above points I believe the whole experience of Consumer Interaction did prove really helpful as the assignment helped me understand how different few things are as per general perceptions. Further the different attributes and features different consumers attach to particular products vary with demographics of an individual and they also base most of their purchase based on their own tastes and perceptions, which eventually at times leads to biasness and mostly influenced by peers and family.