Consumer Behavior Project Work

Submitted To: Mr.Jones Mathews Submitted By: Manjurika Hazarika

 Acknowledgement
The entire body of work as it stands today is largely due to the rich contribution, through
discussions and practical exposure.
It is my pleasure to gratefully acknowledge the help and advice rendered by a number of
people, who in their ways tried to realize my hope of completing the project. It is impossible to
grade or classify the assistance provided by them, howeversmall, for it is the thought that
counts, not the extent to which they have helped. So I am pleased to thank everyone who has
helped me in bringing the project to reality.
I am thankful to Mr. Jones Matthews (Associate Professor & Area Chair (Marketing),for
helping me on each and every step of the project work and guiding us towards the right path,
so that, I was able to understand the topic and thereby complete the project more efficiently.
I am are also very thankful to all the respondents who contributed their precious time to fill the
questionnaire and complete my survey.
 Executive Summary
DELL is one of the world's largest PC makers with 2010 revenue of $15 billion, headquartered
in Round Rock, Texas, USA. It is the flagship subsidiary of the Dell.

Dell traces its origins to 1984, when Michael Dell created PCs Limited while a student at the
University of Texas at Austin. The dorm-room headquartered company sold IBM PC-compatible
computers built from stock components. Michael Dell started trading in the belief that by selling
personal computer systems directly to customers, PCs Limited could better understand
customers' needs and provide the most effective computing solutions to meet those needs.
Michael Dell dropped out of school in order to focus full-time on his fledgling business, after
getting about $300,000 in expansion-capital from his family.

In 1985, the company produced the first computer of its own design—the "Turbo PC", sold for
US$795. PCs Limited advertised its systems in national computer magazines for sale directly to
consumers and custom assembled each ordered unit according to a selection of options. The
company grossed more than $73 million in its first year of trading.

The company changed its name to "Dell Computer Corporation" in 1988 and began expanding
globally—first in Ireland. In June 1988, Dell's market capitalization grew by $30 million to $80
million from its June 22 initial public offering of 3.5 million shares at $8.50 a share. In 1992,
Fortune magazine included Dell Computer Corporation in its list of the world's 500 largest
companies, making Michael Dell the youngest CEO of a Fortune 500 company ever.

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).
A major part of this project dwells with the research done by filling up a questionnaire from a
relevant group of respondents.One can define research as a scientific andsystematic search for
pertinent information on a specifictopic. In fact, research is an art of scientific
investigation. Redman and Morydefine research as a “systematized effort to gain
newknowledge.” Some people consider research as a movementfrom the known to the unknown.

The group of respondents are employees of ENCORE CAPITAL, Gurgaon who are using Dell
Inspiron model for the past one and half years.

Major attributes of customer satisfaction that are being observed by the survey results are:

 Product Quality
 Product Packaging
 Keeping delivery commitments
 Price
 Responsiveness and ability to resolve complaints
 Project Report Stage 1
Need for Uniqueness

Consumers acquire and display material possessions for the purpose of feeling differentiated
from other people and, thus, are targeted with a variety of marketing stimuli that attempt to
enhance self-perceptions of uniqueness. The uniqueness quotient for electronic products is
presumed to be high as each new entrant in the electronic market is competing with highly
established players like Samsung, HCL, SONY, etc. From the customers point of view owing a
product is just not about comforting one’s lifestyle but establishing oneself as a individual who is
known for owning gadgets and gizmos that differentiate and make them unique and someone to
reckon with a high social acceptability. Also the need to be technologically ahead in recent
times, uniqueness is a concern, because if we look at the demographic specification (age,location
etc.) of the respondents they are referred as the “youth” who are much concerned about the
looks, style, user friendliness and technological advancement of products such as laptops,
mobiles, ipods etc.

Problem Definition

Research Methodology

 45 item Questionnaire

 Sample Size 30

 The research was conducted by intercepting employees of ENCORE CAPITAL, Gurgaon

and a few respondents from malls such as DT Mega Mall, Sahara Mall particularly
customers visiting or about to electronic stores.

Project Report Stage 2

Customer Satisfaction Index

Customer Satisfaction is the measure of how products and services supplied by a company meet
or exceed the customer expectations. Satisfaction is simple, if the customer gets what he/she
wanted, if the requirements are meant, the customer is satisfied. It is one of the key performance
indicators for any organization. It is simply an average of all attributes that are believed to
contribute to customer satisfaction. Since different attributes can contribute differently to the
overall customer satisfaction, the individual attributes are weighted to reflect this reality. This is
the essence of a customer satisfaction index. Everything else is detail. The Customer Satisfaction
Index represents the overall satisfaction level of that customer as one number, usually as a
percentage. Plotting this Satisfaction Index of the customer against a time scale shows exactly
how well the supplier is accomplishing the task of customer satisfaction over a period of time.

Importance of Customer Satisfaction Index

Customer Satisfaction Index is a very important tool to measure Consumer Behavior. Customer
wants and needs drive competitive advantage, and statistics show that growth in market share is
strongly correlated with customer satisfaction.

The importance of CSI can summoned up into the following points:

 To assess if customers are happy with us.

 To be forewarned about problems.
 To compensate employees, departments and branch offices
 To tackle the ever-increasing competition

Problem Definition
Many of us have heard of the current trend for businesses to become 'customer-centric', that is, to
put the customer at the centre of our business in terms of our strategies, actions and processes.
For most of us, old truths still hold good, such as it's easier and more profitable to sell to existing
customers than to find new ones. In practice, organisations are increasingly setting themselves
strategies to measure and ensure customer retention, and charging their staff to be more
customer-focused and service-oriented. Many organisations now approach the 'lifetime value' of
customers (calculated as the typical number of purchases per year multiplied by the average
purchase value multiplied by the expected number of years of the customer relationship) and
seek to increase it. In the modern era building customer satisfaction and loyalty is a key we say
to profitable business - but do many of us really know why? And what we should really be doing
to achieve this goal?

Implication of CSI for Manufacturers

Following are some of the statistical findings that shows how important can be CSI for acquiring
and retaining customers (courtesy Customer Satisfaction Research Management: A
Comprehensive Guide by Derek R. Allen)

 It costs between five and six times more to attract a new customer than to keep an
existing one.
 Companies can boost profits anywhere from 25 to 125% by retaining merely 5% more
existing customers.
 Almost 80% of 25 dissatisfied customers will express dissatisfaction.
  Happy customers tell 4 to 5 others of their positive experience. Dissatisfied customers tell
9 to 12 how bad it was.
 Two-thirds of customers do not feel valued by those serving them.

Research Methodology:
The essential starting point for a CSM survey is to carry out exploratory research to access the
lens of the customer. A research must get customers to explain the main criteria on which they
base their satisfaction judgment (and supplier selection decision) in the market A survey is no
different to a product. If it is no designed well it wont work- in other words its all about asking
the right questions to the right people.

 7 Item Questionnaire keeping in mind the following factors:-

 Product Quality
 Product Packaging
 Keeping delivery commitments
 Price
 Responsiveness and ability to resolve complaints

 Sample Size 30 ( All respondents are from ENCORE CAPITAL, Gurgaon who are using
Dell Inspiron laptops for the past one and a half years)

 The survey was conducted by intercepting employees of ENCORE CAPITAL, Gurgaon

this group of respondents is assumed ideal for this survey as they have been using Dell
laptops and it was a much convenient group for us to get unbiased information.

 The inexpensive incentivizing part of this project was reduced by mere selection of a
group of respondents who are more then willing to help and also enough knowledgeable
to cross question the questionnaire and give highly appreciable inputs.
 Performance Matrix

W
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SCORE
 Research Findings

Parameter Weighting Score Weighting (avg of 1) Weightin (avg of

1)* Score
P1 2.3 3 0.90 2.699832309
p2 2.43 2 0.95 1.901621017
p3 3.03 0 1.19 0
p4 2.5 1 0.98 0.978200112
p5 2.87 2 1.12 2.245947457
p6 2.23 5 0.87 4.362772499
p7 2.53 3 1.17 3.521520402

2.555714 2.285714 CSI- 2.244270542

0
p1 p2 p3 p4 p5 p6 p7

The CSI is 2.24. Since the scale used was 1-5, CSI= 44.8% (in percentage terms).
 Recommendations
The customer satisfaction index was calculated to be 44.8% which according to the industry
standards will be considered a pretty lower one. After going through the responses on the
questionnaire we have come terms with the following recommendations for Dell laptops.

 Dell laptops should focus more on the technical aspects of computing and come out with
models of superior technology.

 Respondents seemed quite dissatisfied with the after sales services of Dell laptops; they
should emphasis more on customer service to ensure retention of customers.

 The style and look of a Dell laptop is not considered very slick or happening, thus they
should come up with certain color schemes and additional features to enhance the look of
a Dell laptop

 The quality and durability of certain components like Speakers; DVD/CD Drives etc.
need improvement.
 Conclusion
Consumer Behavior is always certain to change, the acceptance of a product friendly behavior
from the customer is possible only if the needs, wants and demands are either met or exceeded.
This project helped us to get a deep insight of management functions like Customer Satisfaction
Index.

After analyzing the questionnaire and calculating CSI we can conclude that Dell laptops have a
long way to cover to attract new and retain old customers. A CSI of 44.8% percent indicates that
a majority of its customers are not satisfied with the laptop they are using and are very much
susceptible to change.

The need of “better technology”, “slicker looks”, “effective customer care” and “more value
added services” are prominent for Dell laptops, if they want to hold a strong position in the
market.