Marketing Research on

Factors affecting the purchasing behavior of consumer for laptops.

Submitted to :Prof. Sunanda Sangwan. Jindal Global Business School (For the partial fulfillment of Research Project work for MBA course)

Submitted by : Group 4 Rajkumar Singhania (JGU ID 20110316) Priyanka Brar (JGU ID 20110035) Jenish Saroha (JGU ID 20110019) Sunny(JGU ID 20110051) Saurabh Malik(JGU ID 20110046) Dushyant Singh(JGU ID 20110013)

Date of Submission: October 5, 2011

Introduction: The Indian laptop industry has been witnessing a boom in recent times. The sales are increasing and the falling prices and new technologies have also affected the growth of the industry. Ultraslick laptops, notepad, tablets and other version of products are available nowadays. The development of wireless network and the growing importance of internet have given a further boost. At the time when Indian PC market is experiencing slowdown, market players are focusing on new growth drive through low price laptops 'notebooks'. While the average price of a PC is Rs 20,000, the price of an entry level notebook starts from Rs 35,000. Note book vendors like Lenovo, HP, LG, Acer, HCL, Dell and Toshiba have launched new models with value added features. Lenovo has introduced N100 in the notebook segment. It gives a better impression with its processing power (Intel's core duo processor). Apple computers made a dynamic entry into the notebooks' market with Intel processors. Hewlett-Packard (HP), Fujitsu, Lenovo and even Sony have launched notebooks in the sub-Rs 70,000 bracket. HP India has launched the HP Pavilion notebook, decked up with HP's Imprint Finish technology. The real opportunity is now to exploit the market to its fullest potential. Companies are trying hard to differentiate their products, despite various standardizations like Centrino. Security features like biometric technologies are being built into laptops. The products are even customized on user profile. For instance, corporate professionals typically prefer features like wireless connectivity, long battery life, low weight and flexible configurations, whereas students prefer enhanced sound and video capabilities, higher storage space.

Objective of the research: The objective of the study is to find out the factors affecting the psychology of the consumers i.e. their tastes and preferences, their attitude, their spending patterns etc. and how do they adapt themselves towards the changing trends in the market and what a marketer should do in order to improve the strategies, adapt to the new changes. The study is narrowed down to the consumer behavior pattern for laptops purchasing.

Literature Review: Consumer behavior study is of immense importance and a topic of interest for various groups for a long time. There are a lot of ambiguities related to the factors which affect consumer behavior for any purchase decision. So many researchers have tried to develop various models of consumer behavior. The literature review on the consumer behavior pattern of seafood products (Nashwa et al, 2001) reveals the logit model showing the purchase choice is a function of two explanatory variables classified as form of purchase (whole fish, fillets, and slices) and place of purchase ( On-shore market, fisheries company, supermarket, fish shop and retailer) which are affected by various independent variables like household size, education, age, family income, product attributes like price, odor, moistness, flavor, overall attractiveness etc. The research paper on the purchase behavior of fashionable ethnic wear in India (Somnath, 2010) shows five factors explaining 62% of the variance. Moore and Goldsmith (1998) highlight twelve attributes which are important in the purchase of clothes and include good fit, good price, comfort, quality, attractiveness, fashionableness, brand name, appropriateness for occasion and choice of style among others.

Research Design: Based on the various literature reviews and experts opinion and general survey, the factors affecting the consumer purchasing behavior of laptops can be explained by three categories of explanatory variables. The purchase behavior are likely to be affected by the demographic factors of the consumer like income of the individual or his/her family (if not earning member), age of the person, education level, gender, and occupation. The consumer purchase behavior may be affected by his/her perception of the products like the product knowledge and brand loyalty. The third category of independent variables are the product attributes of the laptops/notebooks which are product features, country of origin, availability of products, price etc.

Research Model: Purchasing behavior of laptop = f (explanatory variables)

Demographic factors of consumer PURCHASING BEHAVIOUR FOR LAPTOP

Production perception of consumer Product attributes of laptop

Independent Variables Demographic factors of consumer Age Gender Education Occupation Income Product Perception by consumer Brand loyalty Product knowledge Product involvement Product attributes Product features Product quality Country of origin Availability of product Price of the product After sales service

Hypothesis: H1: The purchase behavior of a consumer for laptop is likely to be affected by the demographic factors of the consumer.

H2: The purchase behavior of a consumer for laptop is likely to be affected by the product perception of the consumer. H3: The purchase behavior of a consumer for laptop is likely to be affected by the product attributes of the consumer.

Research Methodology: Based on the above hypothesis as listed earlier, a questionnaire has been prepared. The target population for the research study consists of the students from the Jindal Global University, employees of a company, friends, and the general public. The sample size would be from 300500. The sample would be selected based on the random sampling and convenience sampling. The data would be collected by one-to-one interview, and by mails. There is the limitation of having the lesser number of female members in the sample and there is more chances of the number of male candidates, so the chances of biasing based on gender is possible. Also it would not be practical to cover all the factors equally on our sample. The laptops are normally used by the educated population, so the sample would be more concentrated to the educated people and the professionals.

Questionnaire:

QUESTIONNAIRE: We are students of JGBS and currently conducting a survey about the factors affecting the consumer purchase behavior for laptops. We will appreciate if you could spend a few minutes to complete this survey questionnaire. Your identity remains anonymous. Note: The laptops have been successful in replacing the desktop computers because of the ease of use and its portability. With the technology improvement, nowadays other similar utility products are available like tablet PC, smart phones etc. Instructions: 1. 2. 3. 4. Please fill up the questionnaire as you read the questions. We wish to capture your first response. Please do not revisit the questions once they are filled up. There are no right or wrong answers. Pls. complete all the questions below. When unclear, you may write something for researchers

1.

Do you have a laptop / notebook / tablet? Laptop None Notebook Tablet PC

2.

If yes, about how long have you been using? Less than 1 year None 1-3 years 3-5 years Greater than 5 years

3.

Which brand of laptop do you have? Apple Dell HP/Compaq Lenovo

Others (please specify) ______________ 4. If given choice which brand of laptop would you prefer? Apple Dell HP/Compaq Lenovo

Others (please specify) ______________ 5. What price range of laptop you are comfortable to buy? Less than 25000 More than 55000 6. Who influences the purchase decision in your family for buying laptop? Husband Wife Children Peer group 25000-40000 41000-55000

Others (please specify) ______________ 7. Rate attributes of laptop that you look for in a laptop. (Give more number to those which you prefer more)

Less Important 1 2 3 4

More Important 5

Brand:

Quality:

Price:

Usage:

Configuration:

8.

Design:

Color:

Age: Under 25 25-35 36-45 46-55 Over 55

9.

Gender Male Female

10. Education Secondary School/High School Undergraduate Graduate Post Graduate and Above

11. Current Occupation (you may click two if applicable) Full-Time student 12. Monthly disposable income. Less than 10000 10000-30000 30000-50000 Greater than 50000 Professional Managerial Self-Employed

Thank you for taking your time to complete this survey! -

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