INTRODUCTION:

Although mobile phones have become a fundamental part of personal communication

across the globe during the past ten years, consumer research has devoted little specific
attention to motives and choice underlying the mobile phone buying decision process. This
report deals with the consumers choice criteria in mobile phone markets by studying factors
that influence intention to purchase a new mobile phone, and also factors that influence on
changing a mobile phone. It is of growing concern to look at the consumer buying decision
process and throw light on the factors that determine final consumer choices between
various mobile phone operators. There are numerous complex factors that need to be taken
into account when exploring mobile phone buying decision process that affect the evolution
of mobile phone market in general and individual consumer's motives and decision making
in particular.

Need recognition:

Need recognition arises when the buyer becomes aware of a difference between a desired
state and an actual condition. That is when the buyer realises that he needs or wants this
product. So when a person has to buy a mobile phone contract then the basic need which
comes forth is what he/she wants to buy a new contract or change from an existing one for.
It might be only to make calls or texts or internet or all. So if the person is not happy with the
current contract or the services provided then the thought or need to think about a new
contract arises.

For example the person might be using a t-mobile contract which doesn’t provide as
many goodies and good services as o2. So the person might feel the need to change to o2
not only because o2 has a good network but also for the fact that it’s after sales services are
brilliant with good benefits.
Information search:

Once the need has been recognised or isolated to an extent that the customer has strongly
decided on getting a different contract which is much better and offers more, then starts the
search for finding a contract which will satisfy his needs. So the person will start looking for
information and find out which contract best suits him. The person will find out the call rates
and also the strength of different networks to check which will amount cheaper to him while
getting the most benefits. There are various ways in which he can find out information of
which the most widely followed ways are

1. Personal sources : friends, family, neighbours etc

2. Commercial sources : advertising, salespeople, retailers, dealers, packaging,
point-of-sale displays etc
3. Public sources : newspapers, radio, television, consumer organisations; specialist
magazines etc
4. Experiential sources : previous use of a contract, handling, examining etc

Evaluation of alternatives:

Describes the buyer, considering the possible products found from the information search.
To evaluate the several alternatives available, the buyer will draw upon his evaluative
criteria, which represent both the objective and subjective attributes of a brand. The criteria
he values more will establish the models that belong to his consideration set, from which he
will make his final decision.

The objective attributes that the buyer might include in his evaluative criteria would be:

1) Monthly rental

The type of call rate and data plan the buyer chooses.

2) Call rates and prices of other value added services

Like messaging, multimedia, GPRS, etc

3) Free quota

Some contracts offer free talk time minutes, free text, and free data usage in their monthly
plans which might be very advantageous.

4) After sales service

After gathering all the information needed the buyer weighs the pro’s and con’s of each
network. For example, T-mobile might be offering a very low monthly rental, but when it
comes to services, O2 is way advanced with a good network too. O2 has free messages and
calls within O2 network and also other networks which attracts many a buyer. And also the
brand name matters a lot which makes the buyer conscious about what they are buying.
Purchase decision:

This is the stage where the buyer has chosen a particular product from the evaluation stage,
and chooses a brand based upon style, price, reputation etc. In finalizing the purchase
decision, the buyer already has an idea of the mobile contract he wants, and only has to
choose who to buy from, and when to make the purchase. The who could be anywhere from
a neighbourhood mobile store, a shopping mall, or even online. Factors that will affect his
decision are:

1) Past Purchase Experience

2) Service Quality

3) Store Atmosphere

4) Store Policies

The when is whether the buyer will decide to make his purchase immediately, in a few days,
or perhaps put it off indefinitely, and it is affected by:

1) Time Pressure

2) Promotions / Sales

3) Salesperson's Persuasiveness

Post purchase behaviour:

Having purchased the mobile contract of his choice, the buyer would now proceed to enjoy
the supposed benefits of his newly bought contract. Considering that mobile contracts are
high involvement purchases with its abundant usage features and numerous brands and
sellers in the market, the buyer is likely to go through the fifth stage of the consumer
purchase decision process called the post-purchase behaviour.

In his experience of using the product, the buyer begins to come to certain conclusions as to
whether he had made the right choice in purchasing this particular scheme of monthly rental
and brand of mobile contract. Such conclusions are based on whether the product has met
his expectations. If the product has met his expectations, the buyer is likely to feel satisfied
and be proud of his new purchase.

The buyer’s level of involvement in purchasing the product influences his own expectations
about the newly purchased product. If he were highly committed and involved in information
research and evaluation of the product alternatives, he would have higher expectations of
his new mobile contract. If the mobile contract does not satisfy his expectations, the buyer
would be disappointed, and would be likely to reduce his brand loyalty towards the
associated brand name of the mobile contract. In the future, he may reject the idea of buying
products from this particular brand or discourage his friends from doing so.
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Market segmentation:

The purpose for segmenting a market is to allow the marketing/sales program to focus on
the subset of prospects that are most likely to purchase the offering. Segmentation allows
the companies to enhance their sales by matching needs. The companies cannot compete
effectively in all segments, so they can expand their product line and examine their growth
opportunities.

The basic segmentation process is show below graphically.

When taking an Iphone as a base example we can see that its numerous benefits and
features makes it a current favourite of many segments in the market. The Iphone is known
for its sleek style and many various colours and graphics it comes with. Also advantageous
is the fact that the Iphone can be customized according to the buyer’s choice or taste. Not to
forget the performance aspect, Iphone comes with the ability to sync with both windows and
mac software making it a very user friendly phone. It comes with the Android application
software which is the latest in the industry and is being followed by all the major brands of
phone makers now. Its bright and high resolution display make it a very good source to view
videos which is supported by a very large storage capacity which can also be upgradable,
and if the buyer wants to browse internet on the go then Iphone will be his best companion.
With its built-in 3G facility, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS support, the buyer can access internet
from anywhere.
Another best feature of the Iphone is the high quality pre installed applications such as
Google maps and a web browser and also the capability to attach files and send e-mails.
The buyer can also download and install thousands of third-party software applications
which are compatible with Iphone. All this is supported by an excellent power back up, which
gives 7 hours of talk time on 3G and a massive 14 hours talk time on 2G with a standby time
of 300 hours. And it is also pretty reasonable for internet usage because it gives up to 6
hours on 3G and 10 hours on Wi-Fi. Not to forget the multimedia functions, with the
improved camera the buyer can take numerous pictures and videos and store them without
any problem in the huge storage capacity it is laden with. The camera also boasts of
autofocus, macro and a white balance support with a special “ tap to focus “ feature which
makes clicking pictures all the more easy and fun.

Iphone would make a perfect gift. Whether it is for yourself or for anyone else. Any person
would fall in love with the Iphone at the first instance. It is a great source of entertainment
and communication also maintaining the status of the buyer at the same time. Whether the
buyer is an intense user or a very nominal user of a mobile phone, Iphone would be a really
good choice because it is more than a phone. It acts as a mini computer on the go with its
wide and vast features. It comes equipped with a touch screen fully functional QWERTY
keyboard with the latest Android application which lets the user read texts in a conversation
view rather than single texts.

So whether it is a first time user or an existing user or a prospective user Iphone will make a
good choice with its features and uses. The first time user will want to upgrade from a
normal phone to an Iphone because of the various new features. An existing user would
want to upgrade from a lower model in Iphone to a more newer version.

Demographic conditions:

Diversity relates to gender, age, language, ethnicity, cultural background, disability, sexual
orientation or religious belief, including that people are different in other respects such as
educational level, job function, socio-economic background, personality profile, marital status
and whether or not one has family. When we take Iphone as an example to discuss about
the demographic conditions then when can say that it is mostly used by the younger age
group who are more conscious of style, brand and also latest technology and gadgets not to
forget the age factor. The male gender uses the Iphone for its various software applications
while the female gender uses it for the various colours and graphics it comes with and also
to take pictures which is more of the feminine side. So we can say that it is used equally by
both the genders.
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Chapter 4: Diversity and Individual Differences [Electronic version] Ninth edition.

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(FAC), August 14, 2006