A Project report On

A study on Students Buying Behaviour towards laptops

In partial fulfillment for the requirements of project study course in two year full-time masters of business administration Submitted to: Prof. Parnika Jha

Submitted by: Shashank Tripathi (112) Batch 2011-2013

S. K. Patel Institute of Management & Computer Studies Gandhinagar April, 2013

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Mr. Shashank Tripathi, student of S.K Patel Institute of Management and Computer Studies, have successfully completed his Grand Project on A study on Students Buying Behaviour towards laptops in partial fulfillment of curriculum requirements for the award of MBA degree under Kadi Sarva VishwaVidhyalaya University. This is their original work and has not been submitted elsewhere.

____________________

____________________

Prof. Bhavin Pandya Director

Prof.Sandhya Harkawat Comprehensive Project Incharge

Prof. Parnika Jha Internal Project Guide

Date: _________________ Place: Ahmedabad

DECLARATION
I, Shashank Tripathi (112) student of Semester IV in S.K Patel Institute of Management and Computer Studies, hereby declare that I had successfully completed this project on A study on Students Buying Behaviour towards laptops in the academic year 2011-2013. I declare that this submitted work is done by me and to the best of my knowledge; no such work has been submitted by any other person for the award of degree or diploma. I also declare that all the information collected from various secondary and primary sources has been duly acknowledged in this project report.

Shashank Tripathi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I hereby convey my deep acknowledgement to all those who made it possible for me to complete this project, by extending their support and continuous co-operation.

I would like to acknowledge the consistent encouragement extended by Dr. Bhavin Pandya, Director of S.K.Patel Institute of Management & Computer Studies.

My sincere gratitude to Professor Parnika Jha whose constant guidance, efforts, heartfelt support, suggestions and consideration helped me in the successful completion of this project.

Finally, I would like to thank my friends and SKPIMCS batch mates without whom this dissertation work would not have been successfully completed.

ABSTRACT

A customer is anyone makes regular purchases from a company or a store, while a consumer is one who makes any transactional decisions of economic nature including buying of goods and services. Consumer can be both personal consumer who buy for his or her own person and family consumption and organizational consumer which could include nongovernmental organization, political groups, companies and governments. Consumer behavior is the study of how individuals, group, and organizations select, buy, use, and dispose of goods, services, ideas, or experiences to satisfy their needs and wants. Buying Behavior refers to the buying behavior of the ultimate consumer. Buying Behavior is the decision processes and acts of people involved in buying and using products which includes social and mental processes. This study was undertaken in order to find out the factors influencing consumers purchase decision of laptop. And the findings of this first objective will provide the basis for the second research objective in the study. Secondly, it is intended to find out whether there are differences among consumer groups of a laptop company with respect to the importance given to the factors influencing consumers laptop purchases. The customer base of a company consists of three groups of consumers stayers (those who had never switched from a previous brand), satisfied switchers (those who switched for reasons other than dissatisfaction) and dissatisfied switchers (those who switched because they were dissatisfied from their previous brand).This study, thus looks into the understanding of the attitudes of these three different groups of customers which plays an important role when implementing effective and feasible retention and loyalty strategies. Furthermore, it is also crucial to understand whether there are differences among these groups in terms of the factors affecting their future laptop purchases when they are upgrading their laptops.

Executive Summary
Laptops are an integral part of todays students study kit. And with a plethora of brands inundating the market, each trying to differentiate itself from the other in terms of features, style, etc and trying to entice the buyer with attractive offers, the decision of zeroing on the laptop has become a gruesome exercise for the student. The very nature of the product encourages the prospective buyer to go through all the stages of a typical buying process. That is the reason that i have taken up to study the consumer buying behaviour for laptop buying. The primary objective of the project can be satisfied progressively by satisfying the secondary research objectives which are determining the factors, mapping the customer profile & perceptual mapping. A primary research based on questionnaires and analytical processing of the response will be conducted to fulfill the research objectives wherever the secondary data is not available.

Table of Content
Particulars Page No. 8 8 8 9 9 9 10 10 11 12 14 15 16 18 19

CHAPTER 1
1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.4.1 1.4.2 1.4.3 1.4.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 1.10

INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION THE IMPORTANCE OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR THE REASON FOR INTRODUCING A MODEL OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR THE MAJOR INFLUENCE FACTORS ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR CULTURAL FACTORS SOCIAL FACTORS PERSONAL FACTORS PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS THE BUYING DECISION PROCESS THE IMPORTANCE OF BUYING BRAND AWARENESS AND ITS EFFECT ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR PERCEIVED QUALITY AND ITS EFFECT ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR BRAND ASSOCIATION AND ITS EFFECT ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR BRAND LOYALTY AND ITS EFFECT ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

CHAPTER 2 CHAPTER 3
3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5

LITERATURE REVIEW RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE SCOPE OF STUDY RESEARCH DESIGN SAMPLE DESIGN LIMITATIONS

21 23 23 23 23 24 24 25 55 56 57 58 59 62

CHAPTER 4 CHAPTER 5 CHAPTER 6 CHAPTER 7 CHAPTER 8 CHAPTER 9 CHAPTER 10

DATA ANALYSIS & DATA INTERPRETATION CONCLUSION FINDINGS LIMITATIONS RECOMMENDATIONS ANNEXURE BIBLIOGRAPHY

CHAPTER-1 INTRODUCTION
1.1.Introduction
This provides a context for the research topic. It begins with the demonstrate of the definition of consumer behaviour as well as a model of consumer behaviour. Then it will illustrate the different factors that influence the consumer behaviour as well as the buying decision process in order to understand the essence of consumer behaviour. After that, the emphasis will be on brand field. The effect of brand on consumer behaviour will be discussed based on its four components in order to analyze how brand is very important in the consumer decisionmaking process therefore influencing the consumer behaviour.

1.2.The importance of consumer behaviour

The definition of consumer behaviour
There is no doubt that the customer is essential for the firm in the marketing field. Wllkie (1994, P.14) stated that consumer behaviour is the mental, emotional, and physical activities that people engage in when selecting, purchasing, using, and disposing of products and services so as to satisfy needs and desires. He further explained that there are seven keys to consumer behaviour, which are: 1) Consumer behaviour is motivated; 2) Consumer behaviour includes many activities; 3) Consumer behaviour is a process; 4) Consumer behaviour varies in timing and complexity; 5) Consumer behaviour involves different roles; 6) Consumer behaviour is influenced by external factors; 7) Consumer behaviour differs for different people. Moreover, Blackwell, Miniard, and Engel (2001, p6) defines consumer behaviour as those acts of individuals directly involved in obtaining and using economic goods and services including the decision processes that precede and determine these acts. That is to say, consumers behaviour involve with the mental procedure and physical acts towards the multiply goods and services. In addition, in Arnould, Price and Zinkhans (2004, p23) point of view, consumer behaviour is people acquiring, using, and disposing of products, services, ideas, or experiences. In other words, consumer behaviour includes several physical and mental activities stages refer to the products or services.
8

1.3.The reason for introducing a model of consumer behaviour

According to these definitions, we can say that consumer response is often the ultimate test of whether or not a marketing strategy will succeed. As Kotler (2000) said the most important thing is to forecast where customers are moving, and to be in front of them. Thus, the more understanding of the consumer behaviour, the more successful marketing strategies will be made (Solomon et al, 2002). In earlier times, marketers could understand consumers well through the daily experience of selling to them. However, as firms and markets have grown in size, many marketing decision makers have lost direct contact with their customers and must now turn to consumer research. In order to study consumers we need to learn more about consumer buying behaviour, such as who buys? How do they buy? When do they buy? Why do they buy? Therefore, the research of customers behaviour is necessary and significant. A model of consumer buying behaviour is a representation of the phenomena it is intended to designate-that is, it specifies the elements and represents the nature of the relationships between them (Blackwell, Miniard, and Engel, 2001). It is a frame of reference that guides market researchers through marketing problems and its explanations can gain in ability to predict outcomes under varying sets of circumstances (Kollat et al,1970, p4). Apparently consumers could be affected by marketing stimuli such as price, place, promotion and environmental stimuli when they move on step by step in the decision process towards a final buying decision, and the fact is consumers always may say one thing but do another because a variety of influences are the cause of certain actions undertaken by consumers. Thus, this study has to focus on Kotlers Model since it is most relevant to the purpose of this study. Moreover, some of the references here appear to be dated, but they are used here because they are very influential in development of consumer behaviour theory and knowledge.

1.4.The Major Influence Factors on Consumer Behaviour

According to Kotlers (2003) model, consumer purchases are influenced strongly by cultural, social, personal and psychological characteristics. Generally speaking, marketers cannot control such factors, but they must take them into account because these factors affect how individual consumers react to the different stimuli that firms send out through their communication. The marketers task is to understand what happens in the buyers consciousness and the buyers decision making process. Thereby, this section will focus on demonstrating the factors affecting buying behaviour according to Kotler (2003).

1.4.1.Cultural Factors
Cultural factors exert deep influence on consumer behaviour. Culture is the basis for a persons wants and behaviour (Kotler, 2003). Culture refers to a set of values, ideas, artefacts and other meaning symbols that help individuals communicate, interpret and evaluate as members of society (Blackwell, Miniard, and Engel, 2001, p362). It affects the consumers shaping the attitudes, feelings, biases, and opinions, which enable marketers to
9

interpret or even predict the reaction of consumers to specific marketing strategies. Thus, it is vital for firms to be aware of culture, even its trends and changes. (Baker,2000) and gives rise to new marketing opportunities and threats ( Lancaster and Massingham, 1993).

1.4.2.Social Factors
A consumers behaviour is also influenced by social factors, such as reference group, family, and social roles and status (Kotler, 2003). Because these social factors can strongly affect consumer response, firms must take them into account when designing their marketing strategies. For one thing, reference group has significant influences on the individuals product and brand purchases. Reference group are groups that serve as direct or indirect points of comparison or reference in forming a persons attitudes or behaviour (Kolter 2003, p196). Indirect or direct reference groups include family, friends and neighbours. Bearden and Rose (1990) pointed out that reference group not only lead an individual to new behaviours but also have effect on individuals attitude and self-concept, which in turn influence actual brand preference and choice. Therefore, in other words, references lead the market trends (Kotler, 2000). For another thing, family members can strongly influence buyer behaviour. Kotler (2003, p179) pointed out that family influences ones orientations toward politics and economics and a sense of personal ambition, self-worth and love. Even if the buyer no longer interacts very much with his or her parents, the family can still significantly influence the buyers behaviour. Walters and Paul (1970) suggested that the importance of the family arises for two reasons: many products are purchased by multiple consumers acting as a family unit; even when an individual makes purchases, other members of the family may heavily influence the buying decision of the individual. What is more, the persons position in each group can be defined in terms of both role and status. A role consists of the activities that people are expected to perform according to the persons around them, which influence the persons buying behaviour (Kotler,2000). Each role carries a status reflecting the general esteem given to it by society. People often choose products that show their status in society. For example, the role of a manager has more statues than the role of student, as a manager, the person will buy the kind of product that reflects her of his role and status.

1.4.3. Personal Factors

A buyers decision is also influenced by personal characteristics such as the buyers age, occupation, economic situation, lifestyle and personality and self-concept (Rowley, 1997). The age of the buyer is one of the major factors influencing individuals purchases(Cole and Siva, 1993). People in the different ages have different needs. A brand must be
10

understandable to the age group to which the product or service is targeted and should be delivered through a medium used by members of that group (Wells et al, 1992). On the other hand, a persons occupation can affect the goods and services bought. Occupational groups usually have above average interest in the products and services, which are related to their occupation (Kotler, 2003). Therefore, the marketers need to consider the right occupational groups as the production and marketing target. A company can even specialise in making products needed by a given occupational group. For example, computer software firms will design different products for brand managers, accountants, engineers, lawyers and doctors. Moreover, lifestyle is a persons pattern of living as expressed in his or her activities, interests and opinions (Kotler, 2003, p183). People coming from the same subculture, social class and occupation may have quite different lifestyles and it can vary significantly in different countries. By knowing the target consumers lifestyle will help in product development and advertising. Equally important, economic circumstances greatly affect product choice. Since the income is not only the consideration factor for the consumption demand, but also the determinants factor for the preference, companies need to continuously track the trends of the personal income over the target potential consumers towards the designed product (Baker, 1996). Therefore, income level is a useful variable to explore the consumer buying behaviour and brand decision while buying a product. Different people have distinct personalities that influence their buying behaviours and certain brand choices (Kolter, 2003). Personality refers to the unique psychological characteristics that lead to relatively consistent and lasting responses to ones own environment (Kolter, 2003). It is described in terms of such traits as self-confidence, dominance, autonomy, deference, sociability, defensiveness, and adaptability (Kassarjian, 1981,p410). However, Chisnall (2001) proposed that personality may influence the decision to buy a certain product type, but not the final brand choice. Finally, self-concept is the way a person views himself/herself (Kotler, 2003). In other words, it is the perceptions that contribute to and reflect their identities: that is, we are what we are. Marketers can predict the response of the customer towards the brand image by analyzing the target consumers self concept thereby helping the marketing mix.

1.4.4.Psychological Factors
A number of complex behaviour factors lie in psychological factors including perception, motivations, attitudes and learning (Kotler, 2003). Firstly, a motive is a learned need that is sufficiently pressing to direct the person to seek satisfaction (Kotler & Keller, 2006,p184). In other words, it leads consumers to pursue
11

particular goals because they are socially valued (Buchanan & Hucaynski, 1997). Therefore, motivation is the condition of being motivated (Walter & Paul, 1970). Thus, Marketers need to identify what needs the consumer is trying to satisfy. Here we introduce one motivation theory in order to understand human motivation, which is often used by marketers. Maslows theory: Maslow (1970) illustrated that people are driven by particular needs at particular times. The key point is that human needs are arranged in a hierarchy. He classified the humans needs to five levels, which are psychological needs, safety needs, social needs, self-esteem needs and self-actualization. Maslow argues that the lower down the needs lie, the more basic they are and the basic physical needs have to be satisfied, at least to minimum level, before the next level of needs becomes important. This theory helps marketers understand how various products and brands fit into the plans, goals and lives of potential consumers. Secondly, a motivated person is ready to act. How the person acts is influenced by his or her perception of the situation. Perception is the process by which an individual selects, organises and interprets inputs to create a meaningful picture of the world. (Bereson and Steiner, 1964, p67). Two people with the same motivation and in the same situation may act quite differently because they perceive the situation differently. Thirdly, learning describes changes in an individuals behaviour arising from experience (Kotler, 2003). Learning occurs through the interplay of drives, stimuli, cues, responses and reinforcement. It tells marketers to build up demand for a brand associating it with strong drives, using motivation cues, and providing positive reinforcement (Coupey and Nakamoto, 1988). In addition, belief is a descriptive thought that a person holds about something (Kotler, 2003). People tend to act and response to the product according to their belief towards the image of target products (Kotler). Therefore, marketers need to do the effort to communicate a positive belief of a product or brand for the costumers.

1.5.The Buying Decision Process

As introduced above, the consumers choice results from the complex interplay of cultural, social, personal and psychological factors. Although the marketer cannot influence many of these factors, they still can be useful in identifying interested buyers and in shaping products and appeals to serve their needs better. Therefore, it is necessary to introduce consumer buying decision process, by which marketers can monitor the process to develop the effective marketing mix by utilizing stimuli and factors to guide consumers to certain products.

12

In a buying decision process, a consumer will pass through five stages as shown below.

Problem Recognitin

Information Search

Evaluation alternatives

ofPurchase Decision

Post Behaviour

purchase

Figure: Buyer decision process As shown in the figure above, the buying process starts when consumer recognises a problem or need, which is triggered by internal or external stimuli (Kotler, 2003). In other words, the particular consumer recognizes she or he needs to buy something to solve problems she or he faces. This will drive the potential buyer to search and gather information about the products that will solve the particular problems. According to Kotler(2003), This stage can be divided into two levels, which are milder level and active level. At the former level, consumers simply receipt the information about the product; at the second level, consumers are more likely looking for the product information actively, such as online searching, visiting stores, reading materials and phoningfriends. Kolter(2003) also points out that the information source could be fell into four groups: personal(family, friends, neighbours, acquaintances); commercial(advertising, web sites, sales persons, dealers, packaging, displays); public(mass media, consumer-rating organizations) and experiential(handling, examining, using the product). As a result of that, the potential buyer becomes acquainted with some of the brands in the market and their features. As Jobber (2004) points out that the objective of information search is to build up the awareness set- that is, the array of brands that may provide a solution to the problem. After that, consumers move into third stage-evaluation of alternative. In this stage, Preferences among the brands in the choice set will be formed. The evaluation is based on the product or service whose attributes are perceived to best satisfy the need. Namely, it is a brand evaluation stage. According to Assael (1992), in this stage, consumers will use information to associate brands they are aware of with their desired benefits and they will prefer the brand that they expect will give the most satisfaction based on the benefits they seek. The outcome of brand evaluation is the awareness brands set narrow down to the small range of consideration brands then into smaller range of choice set (Blackwell, et.al,2001). Kotler (2003) further points out that in this stage, the customers beliefs and attitudes towards the attributes and benefits of a brand has a positive impact on the brand choice. After the brands evaluation stage, the intention to buy a specific brand will be made, in this stage, five sub-decisions will be made: brand, dealer, quantity, timing and payment method (Kotler,2003). Then, the consumer will execute a purchase intention to buy the most preferred brand or product which they believe may satisfy them.
13

After purchasing the product, the consumer will experience some level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction. In post-consumption evaluation. In this stage, the satisfaction of the consumption will result in the storing evaluation in memory and refer to them in future decisions. On the contrary, when experiences and performance fall short of expectations, dissatisfaction occurs (Blackwell, Miniard, and Engel p.80, 2001). This model of buying decision process emphasizes that the buying process starts long before the actual purchase and has consequences long after the purchase. This is as Francesco (1966) said it encourages the marketer to focus on the buying process rather than on the purchase decision. Although buyers may skip or reverse some stages of the model, the model captures the full range of considerations that arise when a consumer faces making a new purchase.

1.6.The Importance of Branding

A successful brand is one which creates and sustains a strong, positive and lasting impression in the mind of a buyer (Kotler,2003). As Doyle (1998.p.77) claims a successful brand is a name, symbol, design or some combination, which identifies the product of a particular organization as having a sustainable differential advantage. That is to say a successful brand is a substantial asset to the companies. Emperical report shows that Microsoft estimate value is $57 billion and that of IBM is $44 billion and estimate the brand value of Coca-Cola is $84 billion, (Morris, 1996). There is no doubt that those companies are benefited from its branding strategies. In fact, branding is defined as the enterprise of creating added value in the minds of consumers, which is to build perceived values beyond the observable physical value of the product, and thus differentiating the product in a highly competitive environment (Aaker, 1995). The aim of branding is to help customers to identify products that are relevant for them, and so take much of the anxiety out of decision making (Harris, 2002). As the business environment is teemed with competition and more sophisticated customers, superior products with only physical attributes is not enough to maintain and attract consumers. Thus, firms must build effective branding strategies to help consumers organize their knowledge about certain products and service, and convince the customers what are firms meaningful advantages among the different brands. As Hankinson and Cowking (1996) argued to build up a strong brand is one of the ways in which a company can develop and sustain advantage over its competitors, and thereby maintain or increase its sales or market share. In other words, the stronger the consumer identification of the brand, the stronger the relationship firms have with consumers and therefore the brand effect on purchase. In fact, branding can be seen as a process of building and developing corresponding marketing strategies based on firms resource and capability aiming to communicate certain brand to targets effectively an consistently thereby influencing the consumer behaviour (Jones, 1986).
14

Thus, in a competitive market environment, firms need to strengthen the relationship between the consumer and the brand as that reflects the fit between the consumers own physical and psychological needs and the brands functional attributes and symbolic values as perceived by the consumer. Hence, firms need to create customer-based brand equity (a topic explored in the next section) by branding to obtain the competitive advantages. Consequently, a high degree of brand equity among the consumers is an important goal of marketing strategy. Thus, it is necessary to discuss how brand equity affects consumers buying behaviour.

1.7.Brand awareness and its effect on consumer behaviour

1.7.1.What is brand awareness?
According to Aaker (1991, p61), brand awareness is the ability of a potential buyer to recognize or recall that a brand is a member of a certain product category. That is to say, brand awareness is the capability of knowledge and identification of certain brand retrieved under some situations. Aaker further points out that Awareness is measured according to the different ways in which consumers remember a brand, ranging from recognition to recall to top of mind to dominant (Aaker, 2002). As Chernatony and McDonald (2003,p444) said brand recognition refers to the consumers ability to recall previous exposure or experience with the brand, brand recall refers to the consumers ability to retrieve the brand from memory when given the product category as a cue. In the agreement, Baker (2000) states that brand awareness refers to the strength of presence of a brand in the consumers mind and the extent to which they are able to recognize or recall a brand name. In other words, the brand awareness is how much consumers familiar with the brand. Moreover, Hoeffler and Keller (2002) argues that brand awareness is more than just customers knowing the brand name, it may to some extent refers to the customers knowledge about the certain brand such as name, logo as well as its association. As Kotler and Keller (2006) said it is consumers ability to identify the brand under different conditions, as reflected by their brand recognition or recall performance.

1.7.2.Brand awareness effect on consumer behaviour

According to Aaker (1991), brand awareness has significant impact on the consumer buying behaviour. Firstly, a high level of awareness of a brand that consumers have, the high level the brand will be considered when they choose to buy (Aaker,1991). It is because in relation to the consumer buying process, brand awareness plays an important role when have intention to buy something for needs. Pitta and Katsanis (1995) point out that in the classic consumer behaviour model, consumers who recognize a problem needed to be served always engage in routine product choice when they have high level of that product categorys brand awareness; in more specific it is related to the brand recall, or at least considering that brand as alternative product choice. That is to say, on the one hand, consumers always are passive recipient of product information and are reluctant to spend much time and effort for choosing
15

brand (Hoyer 1984). Therefore, the brand awareness will lead them to choose most familiar brand that they have knowledge of; on the other hand, in fact, in the consumer decision making process, consumers always have many alternatives to be considered. Because recall determines which alternatives are generated, those not recalled cannot be part of the consideration set of products, thus, the recalled brand will have the advantage to be the opportunity last choice. Thus, brand awareness is crucial to getting into this consideration set as the brand lacks of the awareness may not has the opportunity to be considered for buying. For example, if a consumer wants to buy a laptop, the first brands that come up to the consumers mind will have an advantage, which will be considered to buy. The same point is also presented by Kotler and Keller (2006) that is a high level of brand awareness might affect consumer choices among brands in the consideration set and the product category, even if there are no other associations linked to those brands. That is to say, brand awareness is sufficient to result in more favourable consumer response, for example, consumers are more likely to base their choices merely on familiar brands. Second, brand awareness provides a brand with a sense of familiarity, which is brand recognition and people like the familiar (Keller,1998). In other words, the consumers will be stimulated by the familiarity of such brand when they want to purchase something. Moreover, brand awareness can serve to brand extension (Hoyer and brown, 1990). That is to say when firm develop sub-brand for products, the more awareness of host-brand will lead to the acceptance of this sub-brand. This will result in the increase of the sales. Diet Coke is a good example, which sales benefits from the Coke brand. Therefore, the more the consumer is aware of the product, the greater the possibility that the consumer will purchase the product (Grover and Sinvasan, 1992). Briefly, brand awareness offers the effectively competitive difference among the products that have the similar features.

1.8.Perceived quality and its effect on consumer behaviour

1.8.1.What is perceived quality?
Perceived quality can be defined as the customers perception of the overall quality or superiority of a product or service with respect to its intended purpose, relative to alternatives (Aaker, 1991 p7). It is a higher-level abstraction rather than a specific attribute of a product. Various attributes and relevant benefits create a perception of quality in consumers mind. In other words, perceived quality is the consumers judgement about a products overall excellence or superiority. It is a significant factor in building brand equity (Keller, 1998).

16

1.8.2.Perceived quality effect on consumer behaviour

According to Aaker (1991), first of all, a brands perceived quality provides the value for consumers to buy such brands products. It is because consumers always make buying decisions rely on the feeling of the basic characteristics of the product to which the brand is attached such as the reliability of the product since they always cannot experience the product before they buy it. Namely, perceived quality is related to the consumer purchasing decision making process. In other words, consumer always prefer to donate less time and effort for gaining the information which can assess the products quality, as a result, the observation of the certain brand might be a determination of the final decision making (Aaker,1996). Occasionally, consumers may not be able to possess the access or not be able to judge the information about the products quality. Thus, perceived quality becomes the important factor affecting the final brand choice. On the other hand, through the buying decision making process, the perceived quality can contribute to the evaluation stage (Keller, 1998). The consideration sets of the brands will be narrow down when the above conditions occurs. In the agreement, Sethuraman and Cole (1997) assert that perceived quality is central to the theory that a strong perceived quality adds value to consumers purchase evaluations and willing to pay for a brand. Secondly, a perceived quality may result in a willingness of consumer for buying a brand for a price premium. That is to say, if a brands perceived quality is good in mind of customers, then the customer may be more willing to buy such brand even the brands price is higher then others. Therefore, it will create a premium profits for the firm compared to other firms, which can indeed provide resources with which to reinvest in the brand, such as R&D activities, brand enhancing activities. As Sethuraman and Cole (1997) state that perceived quality explains a considerable portion of the variance in the price premium consumers are willing to pay for well-known brands. Moreover, perceived quality can also be meaningful to retailers, distributors, and other channel members (Aaker,1996). Obviously, the channel members are motivated to carry brands that are well-regarded, which customers want. Therefore, well perceived quality will gain greater trade cooperation and support (Keller, 1998) and in turn adds the customer base. In addition, perceived quality can be exploited by introducing brand extensions, using the brand name to enter new product categories (Aaker,1996). In other words, well brand with respect to perceived quality will have higher success probability than a weaker brand in terms of brand extension as the consumer would appreciate that brands product, which in turn elicits more purchasing behaviour.
17

Briefly, perceived quality is usually at the heart of what consumers are buying, enhanced perceived quality adds a convincible reason for consumers to make final purchase decision.

1.9. Brand association and its effect on consumer behaviour

1.9.1.What is brand association?
Aaker (1991, p109) claims that brand association is the category of a brands implications which include anything linked in memory to a brand. Keller (1998) defines brand associations as informational nodes linked to the brand in consumers mind, which will transfer the meaning to consumer for that brand. Aaker (1996) further argues that a set of brand associations compose the brand image, which is organized in some meaningful way. Moreover, Keller (1998) states that brand association can be classified into three major scopes including attributes, benefits, and attitudes. According to Keller (1998), attributes refer to descriptive characteristics that consumers think of in the mind towards certain brands product, which is formed by product-related attributes, non-product-related attributes, feeling and experiences, and brand personality; benefits is related how consumers value the offer of a brands products, namely, it is the perception of consumers about what the products can do for them; attitudes are defined as the overall evaluation of a brand, which is most important in consumers brand choice decision making. Lamb Jr and Low (2000) further argues that brand association can be measured by the brand image, brand attitude and perceived quality. The brand image is defined by the Dobni and Zinkhan (1990) is the reasoned or emotional perceptions consumers attach to specific brands. In line with the Dohni and Zinkhan, Keller (1998, p93) suggest that brand image is the perceptions about a brand as reflected by the brand associations held in consumer memory. Up to the present, we can find that the brand association is related to the consumers concept and feeling about the belief that attributable to the brand. It can also see as brand identity, which can be divided in three perspectives in the brand: value, brand personality and organisational associations (Aaker, 1996). Aaker (1996) argued that the first one is linked to the functional benefits of the brand, which are the performance capabilities of the product. The second one can enable people to express their own self, or dimensions of the self through using the brand because consumers have multiple roles, which result in a consumer feeling that the brand is relevant to my kind of product (Keller, 1998). The third one can reflect something about the producers value or represent a certain culture, and is oft en the base for differentiation and consumer preferences (Aaker,1996).

18

1.9.2.Brand association effect on consumer behaviour

According to Aaker (1991), brand association can help customer process information. In the reality, consumers may not have process and access to perceive or obtain some facts about the brands, and to communicate such things may high cost for the companies. Therefore, the brand with high level of association will contribute to facilitate consumer for gaining the meaning of the brand. For example, the Volvo brand always is associated with safety, however, such meanings is difficult for customers to perceive before they have experience. Therefore, Volvo is benefited from such brand association for retrieving the information in mind of consumers. However, it depends on the past marketing investment towards that brand. On the other hand, brand association can help consumers retrieve the information about certain brand (Aaker,1991). That is to say, if a brand associates with something, the consumer will easily reflect such things in the mind when they confront the brand in some situations. Brand association also involve product attributes or customer benefits that provide a specific reason to buy and use the brand (Aaker,1991). They also represent a basis for purchase decisions and brand loyalty. For example, Colgate provides clean, white teeth. Some associations influence purchase decisions by providing credibility and confidence in the brand. That is to say, customers regard the brand association to some extent as references, which making them feel more comfortable for purchasing that brand. As Kolter (2003) further argued that the brand associations convey not only the concept but also the meaning of the product in terms of how it fulfils a customers needs. What is more, brand association create positive attitudes and feelings, which can lead consumers to specific brand (Aaker,1991). Namely, not only the recognition of the fulfilment of needs of the certain product can trigger the consumer buying behaviour but also the abstract needs for express consumers emotion from the brand. (Dobni and Zinkhan 1990).

1.10.Brand loyalty & its effect on consumer behaviour 1.10.1.What is brand loyalty?
Brand loyalty has been defined as the inclination of a customer to keep on purchasing the same brand (Collin et al, 1991). Dick and Basu (1994) stated that brand loyalty is the strength of the relationship between an individuals attitude towards a brand and repeat purchasing. Schiffman and Kanuk (1997) described a consistent preference and purchase of the same brand in a specific service or product category as brand loyalty. Gilbert (2003) defined it as consumers purchasing the same brand of product on most occasions or on a regular basis. Therefore, as the definitions above-mentioned, brand loyalty exist when a customer buy one brand of product or service again and again. Aaker (1991) argued that brand loyalty of the
19

consumer base is the core of a brands equity, which is critical to maintain brand equity.

1.10.2.Brand loyalty effect on consumer behaviour

On the one hand, brand loyalty will lead consumers to purchase the same brands products (Aaker, 1991), which will in turn reduces the marketing costs of doing business. Kolter et al (2000) argued that it costs the average company six times more to attract a new customer than to hold a current one. It is because potential new customers usually lack motivation to change from current brands as change a brand often has risks from them. Reichheld (1996) argued that a successful brand introduces stability into the business, once customers have made a decision about a brand and its associations, they are often loyal to that brand, continue to buy it in the future, recommend it to friends, and choose the products over others, even those with better features or lower prices. Consequently, it will increase the profitability for the firm. On the other hand, brand loyalty can contribute to the maintaining of the market share as other companies enter the market. It is because the loyal consumer will insist to the brand they previously choose as they are risk aversion and want to avoid swishing cost. As Raj (1985) said the more loyal customers the firms have, the more stable the brands market share and the less vulnerable it will be to competitive. Moreover, brand loyalty can help firms attracting new customers. Keller (1998) states that a customer base with segments that are satisfied and others that like the brand can provide assurance to a prospective customer, especially when the purchase is somewhat risky. It is because the acceptance of the brand by a group of existing customers can be an effective message through world of mouth effect. It can also create brand awareness from the customer base, which in turn path a way for attracting new customers (Punj, 2004). Finally, brand loyalty provides a firm with time to respond to competitive moves (Aaker,1991). For example, if a competitor develops a superior product, a loyal following will allow the firm time needed for the product improvements to be matched or neutralized as loyal, satisfied customers will not be looking for new products, and thus may not learn of advancement. Briefly, brand loyalty will result in consumers continue to buy the brand in the future, recommend it to friends, and choose the products over others, even those with better features or lower prices.

20

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

Laptop & PC Industry is expected to grow fast in developing countries like India & china because of changes in government policies. In 2005, Indian government removed the import duties on Laptops, which resulted in growth of 94% in 2005. (Physorg.com, 2006) Cyber Media Research (2011) study states that nearly 10 million desktop & notebook personal computers have been installed in 2010 and thus India has estimated to cross 52 million till Dec 2010 for total installation of both. IDC is Indias quarterly PC sales marker, for the quarter ending in Oct -Dec 2010, it suggested that Indian PC market had found recovery from the effect of global recession. Compared to last quarter of 2009, Laptop market has seen the growth of 49%, while with compare to 3rd quarter it has decreased by 7% because of High inflation & low industrial growth. (Shinde J.) According to Vadlamani S.(2011), Desktop & laptop market has achieved the growth of 6% (2.6 million units) in India in first quarter of 2011. the growth was driven by laptop vendor by 23%. Top five brands are Dell, HP, Acer, Lenovo and HCL with combined market share of 57.5%. IDC(2011) wrote that, in the second quarter of 2011, the sales of laptop & desktops has decreased by 4.2% at 2.44 million units, compared to Q1 2011; Dell has again leaded the market share by 17.4%, while top 5 companies cumulating 60% market share; companies are targeting tier-3 & tier-4 cities now through large-format retails. According to Pinki Sharma, The entire study shows that Laptop usage is very much popular in between the students whether their residential status is urban and rural. Its the present day demand to run hand with the latest technology. This technology not only simplify students task but it also seem to morale boost up of the students. Students found themselves connected with the entire world with the help of Laptops. According to Dr. Nilesh B. Gajjar, The study of Consumer Behaviour is quite complex, because of many variables involved and their tendency to interact with & influence each other. These are the factors controlled by external environments like the following form the basis of external influences over the mind of a customer (outer circle). Culture, and Sub-culture, Social Class, and Social Group, Family, and Inter-Personal Influences,

21

 Other Influences (which are not categorised by any of the above six, like geographical, political, economical, religious environment, etc.). According to Rinal B.Shah, The research was aimed to examine the applicability of Aakers conceptual framework of customer-based brand equity for laptop brands in Indian market. Here the findings dont support completely to the entire brand equity dimensions of Aakers model, it was found that perceived quality and brand loyalty had a significant positive direct effect on brand equity. It had the strongest impact which indicated the essential role of development of perceived quality and brand loyalty in minds of customers to build brand equity for laptop brands. Wahida Farzana said, The purpose of the study is to explore how consumers psychological factors (Motivation, perception, and attitude) are associated with brand equity (brand loyalty, brand association, perceived quality, and brand awareness) of laptop. The result revealed that, consumers motivation to use laptop and brand association criteria work separately . Like other products, consumers perception for choosing laptop relies upon different sources of information. In this particular case, they choose newspaper and websites to build up their perception. Though newspaper and websites play the vital role for organizing, evaluating information, they rarely help them to choose the brand. According to Vijay R. Kulkarni, Brand & Features, Price, Visibility & Service Center, Reliability & Responsiveness, Warranty, Guarantee & After Sales Service, are the factors which impact the buying behavior of the post graduates students. According to Adrijit Basu, There is cut throat competitions in the market on price front and so they have to find out better quality and low cost product. The characteristic of this specific industry is that the marketing defines, creates and forms the goods and their target groups. Ability to meet changing technology, customers needs and styling and shortening product life cycle are the challenges that laptop manufacturing companies will have to face.

22

CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1. Research Objective
3.1.1. Primary objective
A study on Students Buying Behavior towards laptops.

3.1.2. Secondary objective

To know the preference of students while purchasing of laptops. To know the perception of students towards laptops. To study the buying pattern of students while purchasing of laptops.

3.2. Scope of the study

This report is limited to survey area in kadi sarva vishwavidyalaya, Gandhinagar.

3.3. Research Design

The research design is Descriptive studies. Descriptive studies are well structured, they tend to be rigid and its approach cannot be changed every now and then.

Descriptive studies are undertaken in many circumstances. When the researcher is interested in knowing the characteristics of certain groups such as age, profession. When the researcher is interested in knowing the proportion of people in given population who have behaved in a particular manner, making projection of certain things.

23

The objective of this kind of study is to answer the why, who, what, when and how of the subject under consideration. I have taken descriptive because my research includes the knowing the behavior of customer towards Laptop. I have analyzed how people of various age groups respond towards laptop or their perception towards laptop.

Data collection
Primary data collected: Secondary data collected: Research instruments: Online Questionnaires Internet Questionnaire

3.4. Sample design

Sample size: Sampling type: 100 For this purpose of research Convenient/ non probability sampling approach has been used. Non probability sampling is arbitrary and subjectiv

3.5. Limitations
Respondents were reluctant to share their experience accurately. Few Customers are hesitate to deliver some information due to the time wasted in the providing the same. Due to time constraints it is not possible to cover vast area. So that survey has limited to Kadi Sarva Vishwavidyalaya, Gandhinagar.

24

Chapter 4 Data Analysis And Data Interpretation

4.1. Section-1: Consumer profile

Q.1 : Gender: Male Female

Female 22%

Male 78%

As per the graph above, the 78% of the population are Males and 22% are the females.

25

Q.2 : Age: 1. 16-20 2. 21-25 3. Over 25

100 90 80

70
60 50 40 30 20 94

10
0 3 16-20 21-25 3 Above 25

As per the graph above, the 3% of the population fall in 16-20 age group, 94% of the population is falling in 21-25 age group and 3% of the population is falling in 25 & above age group.

26

Q.3 : Please indicate the course you are in? 1. M.B.A 2. M.C.A 3. B.C.A 4. B.B.A 5. B.Pharm 6. B.Tech 7. Others
B.Pharm 1% B.Tech 11% MCA 3% BCA 12% BBA 18% Others 7%

MBA 48%

As per the graph above, 48% of students are from MBA, 3% from MCA,12% from BCA, 18% from BBA, 11% from B.Tech, 1% from B.Pharm and 7% are from other courses.

27

Q.4 : Do you own a laptop now? 1. Yes 2. No

yes no

22%

78%

As per the graph above, 78% students have laptop and rest 22% are not having a laptop.

28

4.2. Section-2:
Please select the answer that most corresponds to your opinion in each question. 1. Strongly disagree 2. Disagree 3. Neutral 4. Agree 5. Strongly agree

Q.5 : Do you recognize most of the famous laptop brand in the market?
Strongly Disagree 1% neutral 8% Stongly agree 22% Disagree 1%

agree 68%

As per the graph above, 90% respondents are agreed with the question, that they recognize the famous brands in the market and 10% are not sure about it.

29

Q.6 : In the case that there are many laptop brands in the market, you would prefer the one is well-known?
Disagree 8% neutral 6% Strongly Disagree Stongly agree 5% 1%

agree 80%

As per the graph above, 85% of respondents are agreed with the question, that they prefer the famous brands in the market and 15% are not sure about it or disagreed with it.

30

Q.7 : You will choose a well-known brand when the other brands offer similar feature or price?
Strongly Disagree 0% Disagree 12% Stongly agree 11%

neutral 22%

agree 55%

As per the graph above, 66% of the respondents are agreed with the question that they will choose the famous brand inspite the other brands offer the same features and 22% of the respondents are neutral and the rest 12% of the respondents says that they disagree with the question.

31

Q.8 : Do you agree well-known brands present advance in innovation?

Strongly Disagree 1% Disagree 8% Stongly agree 9%

neutral 35% agree 47%

As per the graph above, 56% of the respondents are agreed with the question that well known brands presents advance in innovation whereas 35% of the respondents remains neutral and 9% of the respondents disagree with the question.

32

Q.9 : Do you agree well-known brands represent better quality?

Disagree Strongly Disagree 4% 1%

neutral 24%

Stongly agree 17%

agree 54%

As per the graph above, 71% of the respondents are agreed that well known brands represents the better quality whereas 24% of respondents remain neutral and the rest 5% disagree with the question.

33

Q.10 : You will purchase a well-known brand because well-known brands represent better quality and service even you need to pay a price premium?
Strongly Disagree Disagree 0% 10% Stongly agree 14%

neutral 35%

agree 41%

As per the graph above, 55% of the respondents are agreed with the question that they will purchase a well known brand even they need to pay the price premium whereas 35% of the respondents remains neutral and 10% of the respondents are disagreed with this.

34

Q.11: Do you agree a well-known laptop brand can match your lifestyle?
Strongly Disagree 0%
Disagree 14% Stongly agree 12%

neutral 32%

agree 42%

As per the graph above, 54% of the respondents are agreed that branded laptops can match their lifestyle where 32% of the respondents remains neutral and 14% of the respondents showed their disagreeness.

35

Q.12 : Do you agree the well-known brands present better value (such as attributes, services) for money over competitors?
Strongly Disagree Disagree 0% 13% Stongly agree 9%

neutral 36%

agree 42%

As per the graph above, 51% of the respondents are agreed with the question whereas the 36% of the respondents remains neutral and 13% of the respondents disagreed to it.

36

Q.13 : Do you agree the well-known brands image can somewhat reflect your own selfimage and personality?
Disagree 12% neutral 18% agree 60% Strongly Disagree 1% Stongly agree 9%

As per the graph above, 69% of the respondents are agreed that the well known brands reflect their self image and personality whereas 18% stayed neutral and the rest 13% of the respondents are disagree with this question.

37

Q.14 : You will rely on the laptops brand image than its actual attributes in decision making?
Strongly Disagree Stongly agree 0% 4%

agree 15% Disagree 36%

neutral 45%

As per the graph above, 19% of the respondents are agree that they will rely on the brands image in doing their decisions whereas 45% of the respondents remains neutral and 36% are disagreed.

38

Q.15 : You prefer to buy the laptop on special occasions?

Stongly agree 9% agree 22%

Strongly Disagree 18%

Disagree 31% neutral 20%

As per the graph above, 31% of the respondents are agreed that they buy laptops on the special occasions whereas 20% of the respondents are neutral and 49% of the respondents are disagreed with it.

39

Q.16 : Do you mind buying online without seeing the laptop in person?
Stongly agree 3%

agree 17% Strongly Disagree 27%

neutral 20%

Disagree 33%

As per the graph above, 20% of the respondents are agreed that they buy the laptop online without seeing in person whereas 20% of the respondents remains neutral and 60% of the respondents says that they will not buy laptop without seeing in person.

40

Q.17 : The laptop's looks and stylishness important to you?

Strongly Disagree 8%

Disagree 21%

Stongly agree 20%

neutral 23%

agree 28%

As per the graph above, 48% of the respondents are agreed to that laptops looks & stylishness are important to them whereas 23% of the respondents remains neutral and 29% of the respondents disagreed.

41

Q.18 : Before purchasing, you search for various factors of laptop like attributes, price etc from various sources like internet, friends etc?
Strongly Disagree 0% Disagree 8% neutral 12% Stongly agree 29%

agree 51%

As per the graph above, 80% of the respondents are agreed with the question that they search the various factors before buying whereas 12% of the respondents are neutral and 8% of the respondents are disagree.

42

Q.19 : You are satisfied with your past purchase for a laptop?
Disagree Strongly Disagree 5% 0%

neutral 21%

Stongly agree 18%

agree 56%

As per the graph above, 74% of the respondents are agreed that they are satisfied with their past purchase where as 21% remains neutral and 5% are disagreed with the question.

43

Q.20 : You will recommend your friends with your favourite laptop brand when they consider purchasing a laptop?
Disagree 6% Strongly Disagree 1%

Stongly agree 14%

neutral 26%

agree 53%

As per the graph above, 67% of the respondents are agreed with the question whereas 26% remains neutral and 7% are disagreed with it.

44

Q.21 : You would buy the same brand of laptop when you consider purchasing a second laptop?
Strongly Disagree 0% Disagree 12% Stongly agree 10%

agree 32% neutral 46%

As per the graph above, 42% of the respondents are agreed that they will buy the same brand on their net purchase whereas 46% of the respondents remains neutral and 12% of the respondents said no.

45

FACTOR /VARIABLES Question1 Question2 Question3 Question4 Question5 Question6 Question7 Question8 Questio n9 Question10 Question11 Questio n12 Question13 Question14 Question15 Question16 Question17 /MISSING LISTWISE /ANALYSIS Question1 Question2 Question3 Question4 Question5 Question6 Question7 Question8 Question9 Question10 Question11 Question 12 Question13 Question14 Question15 Question16 Question17 /PRINT UNIVARIATE INITIAL CORRELATION KMO EXTRACTION ROTATION /FORMAT SORT BLANK(.5) /PLOT EIGEN /CRITERIA MINEIGEN(1) ITERATE(25) /EXTRACTION PC /CRITERIA ITERATE(25) /ROTATION VARIMAX /SAVE REG(ALL) /METHOD=CORRELATION.

------------------------ FACTOR ANALYSIS ------------------------

Factor Analysis
[DataSet0]

Descriptive Statistics

Mean

Std. Deviation

Analysis N

Do you recognize most of the famous laptop brand in the market. In the case that there are many laptop brands in the market, you would prefer the one is well-known.

4.0769

.67937

78

3.8846

.78923

78

46

You will choose a well-known brand when the other brands offer similar feature or price. Do you agree well-known brands present advance in innovation. Do you agree well-known brands represent better quality. You will purchase a well-known brand because well-known brands represent better quality and service even you need to pay a price premium. Do you agree a well-known laptop brand can match your lifestyle. Do you agree the well-known brands present better value (such as attributes, services) for money over competitors. Do you agree the well-known brands image can somewhat reflect your own self-image and personality. You will rely on the laptops brand image than its actual attributes in decision making. You prefer to buy the laptop on special occasions. Do you mind buying online without seeing the laptop in person. The laptops looks and stylishness important to you. Before purchasing, you search for various factors of laptop like attributes, price etc from various sources like internet, friends etc. You are satisfied with your past purchase for a laptop. 4.0256 .85241 78 3.6410 .85241 78 3.4744 .83315 78 3.5897 .85942 78 3.6667 .83225 78

3.5513

.81619

78

3.8077

.80675

78

3.5256

.87867

78

3.0256

.82138

78

2.6282

1.21793

78

2.3462

1.12616

78

3.3333

1.23443

78

3.8718

.76207

78

47

You will recommend your friends with your favourite laptop brand when they consider purchasing a laptop. You would buy the same brand of laptop when you consider purchasing a second laptop. 3.4103 .82864 78 3.7179 .83584 78

KMO and Bartlett's Test

Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy. Bartlett's Test of Sphericity Approx. Chi-Square df Sig.

.698 451.028 136 .000

Communalities

Initial

Extraction

Do you recognize most of the famous laptop brand in the market. In the case that there are many laptop brands in the market, you would prefer the one is well-known. You will choose a well-known brand when the other brands offer similar feature or price. Do you agree well-known brands present advance in innovation. Do you agree well-known brands represent better quality. You will purchase a well-known brand because well-known brands represent better quality and service even you need to pay a price premium.

1.000

.623

1.000

.700

1.000

.701

1.000

.676

1.000

.555

1.000

.589

48

Do you agree a well-known laptop brand can match your lifestyle. Do you agree the well-known brands present better value (such as attributes, services) for money over competitors. Do you agree the well-known brands image can somewhat reflect your own self-image and personality. You will rely on the laptops brand image than its actual attributes in decision making. You prefer to buy the laptop on special occasions. Do you mind buying online without seeing the laptop in person. The laptops looks and stylishness important to you. Before purchasing, you search for various factors of laptop like attributes, price etc from various sources like internet, friends etc. You are satisfied with your past purchase for a laptop. You will recommend your friends with your favourite laptop brand when they consider purchasing a laptop. You would buy the same brand of laptop when you consider purchasing a second laptop. Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

1.000

.601

1.000

.594

1.000

.749

1.000

.565

1.000

.485

1.000

.603

1.000

.725

1.000

.723

1.000

.769

1.000

.750

1.000

.611

49

Total Variance Explained

Extraction Sums of Squared Initial Eigenvalues Loadings Rotation Sums of Squared Loadings

% of Component Total Variance

Cumulative % Total

% of Variance

Cumulative % Total % of Variance

Cumulative %

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

4.385 2.208 1.894 1.474 1.058 .917 .835 .762 .667 .509 .488 .436 .361 .308 .261 .232 .205

25.796 12.986 11.141 8.669 6.222 5.392 4.914 4.480 3.925 2.995 2.873 2.564 2.123 1.815 1.533 1.365 1.207

25.796 38.782 49.923 58.592 64.814 70.206 75.121 79.601 83.526 86.520 89.393 91.958 94.080 95.895 97.428 98.793 100.000

4.385 2.208 1.894 1.474 1.058

25.796 12.986 11.141 8.669 6.222

25.796 38.782 49.923 58.592 64.814

2.728 2.587 2.496 1.683 1.525

16.048 15.215 14.682 9.901 8.968

16.048 31.263 45.945 55.846 64.814

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

50

Component Matrix

Component 1 2 3 4 5

You will purchase a well-known brand because well-known brands represent better quality and service even you need to pay a price premium. Do you agree well-known brands represent better quality. Do you agree well-known brands present advance in innovation. Do you agree a well-known laptop brand can match your lifestyle. .746

.666

.661

.615

51

You would buy the same brand of laptop when you consider purchasing a second laptop. Do you agree the well-known brands present better value (such as attributes, services) for money over competitors. Do you agree the well-known brands image can somewhat reflect your own self-image and personality. You will choose a well-known brand when the other brands offer similar feature or price. The laptops looks and stylishness important to you. Do you mind buying online without seeing the laptop in person. Before purchasing, you search for various factors of laptop like attributes, price etc from various sources like internet, friends etc. You will rely on the laptops brand image than its actual attributes in decision making. In the case that there are many laptop brands in the market, you would prefer the one is wellknown. You are satisfied with your past purchase for a laptop. You will recommend your friends with your favourite laptop brand when they consider purchasing a laptop. You prefer to buy the laptop on special occasions. Do you recognize most of the famous laptop brand in the market. Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

.594

.591

.563

.542

.525

.512

.709

-.632

.542

-.523

.723

.559

.561

.514

.505

52

a. 5 components extracted.

Rotated Component Matrix

Component 1 2 3 4 5

Do you agree well-known brands present advance in innovation. You will choose a well-known brand when the other brands offer similar feature or price. In the case that there are many laptop brands in the market, you would prefer the one is well-known. Do you agree well-known brands represent better quality. Do you agree the well-known brands image can somewhat reflect your own self-image and personality. Do you agree a well-known laptop brand can match your lifestyle. The laptops looks and stylishness important to you. You will purchase a well-known brand because well-known brands represent better quality and service even you need to pay a price premium. You are satisfied with your past purchase for a laptop. You will recommend your friends with your favourite laptop brand when they consider purchasing a laptop. You would buy the same brand of laptop when you consider purchasing a second laptop. You will rely on the laptops brand image than its actual attributes in decision making. Do you recognize most of the famous laptop brand in the market. You prefer to buy the laptop on special occasions.

.794

.769

.693

.634

.859

.737 .647

.875

.826

.647

.636

-.599

53

Before purchasing, you search for various factors of laptop like attributes, price etc from various sources like internet, friends etc. Do you mind buying online without seeing the laptop in person. Do you agree the well-known brands present better value (such as attributes, services) for money over competitors. Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis. Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization. a. Rotation converged in 8 iterations.

.792

-.622

Component Transformation Matrix

Component

1 2 3 4 5

.633 -.144 -.419 -.633 -.050

.594 .279 -.260 .707 -.046

.483 -.276 .828 .003 -.067

.110 .674 .214 -.238 .656

.025 -.608 -.158 .209 .749

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis. Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization.

After performing the factor analysis, there are some points which are focused. They are as follows: As KMO value is 0.698 which is approximately equal to 7, we can say that the data is adequate. Through the rotated component matrix, the factors we can extract are: I. Brand Awareness II. Perceived Quality III. Brand Loyalty

54

CHAPTER-5 CONCLUSION
Here, in this study the respondents are the students. The respondents are 100 in which 78% are male and 22% are females. Most of the respondents fall in the 21-24 age category which is 94% and rest from 16-20 &25 above are having just 3-3%. Around 65% students are agreeing to their knowledge of brand awareness, in terms of perceived quality there is 50% respondents who are agreeing whereas around 45% of respondents are giving their vote to agree on brand association and on brand loyalty the number is upto 45%. The students prefer to buy the laptops when reach in the college or when there is a need for a laptop to them. From the study I can say that mostly management and engineering students are having the need of laptop and rest of them do have but not as compare to management students.

55

CHAPTER-6 FINDINGS
The consumer decision-making process and resulting preferences and buying behaviour are influenced by internal as well as external factors. The internal factors consist of factors such as needs and motivation. Students indicated that they have physical needs for food (groceries and fast food) as well as clothing. They also value friendship (social needs) and want to improve their education. These basic and more advanced needs are the driving force behind the shopping behaviour of students. Other factors like age, lifestyle, learning and personality also play a role. Emotions, like the experiencing of guilt after an unplanned purchase, also influence their behaviour. External factors consist of culture, social class, and family/household and reference groups. One of the important external factors is groups (friends & family).

I. II. III. IV. V. VI.

The majority of students like to shop with shopping companions. Their first choice is friends, followed by family members. The majority of students usually do not buy the same brands as their friends or family members. Students indicated that they usually play the roles of information searchers/gatherers and product users in their households. Students search for information to obtain a better price and when they plan to buy expensive products. The majority of students decision-making style is quality consciousness, followed by price sensitiveness and services orientation. Students make use of the brand first and outlet second sequence in their decisionmaking.

56

CHAPTER-7 LIMITATIONS
In this research, there are some limitations caused by the following reasons. Firstly, the main limitation of the research is generated from the small size of the sample. Under time and financial constraints, the study was performed only with a small portion of the population for the whole population. This may influence the generalizability of the samples and may get the incorrect results. Secondly, the selection of the survey location has limitation. Only KSV Ghandhinagar is selected for conducting the survey. Therefore, the result would be representative of the users of the specific area rather than of the target population as a whole because different cities may reflect different consumer behaviour. Moreover, the Likert scale adopted in the questionnaire might limit the range of options. Closed questions could cause bias by forcing respondents to choose between certain alternative corresponding to their personal views on a particular subject. In addition, in this study, only quantitative method is used to do the research and statistic analysis is used to examine the topics. Thus, the result may be not depth enough. This also caused the discussion of findings may not so accurate and in detail. Finally, as the survey was conducted in a laptop market and the respondents were random selected, thus, the respondents might, intentionally or unintentionally provide inaccurate answers to the questions. Thus the findings may not be accurate. However, care was taken throughout the study to reduce the negative impact of these Limitations essentially the need for further research is recognized.

57

CHAPTER-8 RECOMMENDATIONS
Retailers should make use of reference group influences by focusing on friends and family in their advertising strategies, and personal selling strategies. For example: Bring along a friend! Retailers should focus on the individuality of students, which is typical of this age group, and steer away from advertising campaign with themes like blending in or being like everyone else. For examples, slogans like Be your own person or For the individual. should appeal to students. Retailers need to supply the relevant price information for example, retailer price, discount or payment options, about their products, especially if they are selling expensive products. Retailers should make use of their knowledge of decision-making styles to segment the market, to do niche marketing and better understand the market. Retailers should ensure that their quality, price and services are better than the competition, in order to gain a bigger share of the student market. Retailers should use weekends for new product launches, competitions or promotional campaigns.

58

ANNEXURE
QUESTIONNAIRE

I am an M.B.A student of the S.K.Patel Institute of Management & Computer Studies in the Gandhinagar, and conducting a survey related to my dissertation that is about A study on Students Buying Behaviour towards laptops. I would appreciate it if you would fill out the questionnaire. Please read the following questions carefully and tick the most appropriate answers. Thank you. Section1: Consumer profile 1) Gender: 1. Male 2. Female 2) Age: 1. 16-20 2. 21-25 3. Over 25 3) Please indicate the course you are in? 1. M.B.A 2. M.C.A 3. B.C.A 4. B.B.A 5. B.Pharm 6. B.Tech 7. Others 4) Do you own a laptop now? 1. Yes 2. No

59

Section 2:
Please select the answer that most corresponds to your opinion in each question. 1. Strongly disagree 2. Disagree 3. Neutral 4. Agree 5. Strongly agree

Sr. no
5.

Questions Do you recognize most of the famous laptop brand in the market? In the case that there are many laptop brands in the market, you would prefer the one is wellknown? You will choose a well-known brand when the other brands offer similar feature or price? Do you agree well-known brands present advance in innovation? Do you agree well-known brands represent better quality? You will purchase a well-known brand because well-known brands represent better quality and service even you need to pay a price premium? Do you agree a well-known laptop brand can match your lifestyle? Do you agree the well-known brands present better value (such as attributes, services) for money over competitors? Do you agree the well-known brands image can somewhat reflect your own self-image and personality? You will rely on the laptops brand image than its actual attributes in decision making? You prefer to buy the laptop on special occasions? Do you mind buying online

Strongly disagree

Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree

6.

7.

8. 9. 10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

60

17. 18.

without seeing the laptop in person? The laptops looks and stylishness important to you? Before purchasing, you search for various factors of laptop like attributes, price etc from various sources like internet, friends etc?

For respondents who own laptop already

19. 20.

You are satisfied with your past purchase for a laptop? You will recommend your friends with your favourite laptop brand when they consider purchasing a laptop? You would buy the same brand of laptop when you consider purchasing a second laptop?

21.

22) When are you buying or did you buy the laptop and how long do you want it to last? Comment :

Thank you for your cooperation

61

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Websites:
www.google.com www.altavista.com en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_behaviour www.learnmarketing.net/consumer.htm www.theglobaljournals.com/ijar/file.php?val=MTAzNQ==

Research Papers:
I. II. III. IV. V. garph.co.uk/IJARMSS/Sep2012/4.pdf http://digitallibrary.srmuniv.ac.in/dspace/handle/123456789/8120 http://www.aims-international.org/aims10/AIMS10Proceedings/PDF/P701-done.pdf http://raijmr.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/2_10-15-Dr.-Nilesh-B.-Gajjar.pdf www.gcbe.us/.../...

62