A study of Consumer preference of Smartphone brands in Kalyan

City.
(Indian Smartphone brands Vs. Foreign Smartphone brands)
Submitted By:

Faculty In-

Charge:
Prashant V. Khedekar
(CKP-14106A1061)

Dr. Ankush Sharma

I.

Introduction

A smartphone is a mobile phone built on mobile operating system with

enhanced and more advanced computing capability and connectivity than a normal
mobile phone. The first smartphone combine function of a personal digital assistant
(PDA) with mobile phone. Later models added the functionality of media players, digital
cameras, video cameras & GPS navigation system to form one multitasking device.
Many modern smartphone also include high resolution camera with touch screen pad
and web browser that display standard web pages. For high speed data accesses the
smartphone include Wi-Fi function and mobile broadband. In recent years the rapid
development of mobile applications & of mobile commerce has been drivers of
smartphone adaption.
In this Research project we discussed the importance of analyzing the
consumer perception towards durable brands with the help of smartphone. Local &
foreign brand choice affected by various factors such as brand image, country origin,
brand awareness, brand quality and so on. In this era of globalization consumer have
become much more aware and the perceptions regarding durable brands are changing
at a rapid pace. It has been seen that price & quality of durable goods are considered
to be major factors of making their brand choice. Consumer prefer low brand product
because of lower price, similarly in case of smartphone's the increasing demand of low
brand smartphone are of because consumers affordable prices in India. As Indian
consumer are more price sensitive. But consumers who want better quality and
durability and for status enhancement reasons prefer foreign brands, like in case of
smartphone's the consumer who wants better quality and durability and consider status
will prefer Apple smartphone.

II.

Problem Definition

A lot of brands of smartphones are available in the market. But consumers

prefer a particular brand of smartphone. In the modern business world, due to the
development of Science & Technology, many new brands have been introduced in the
market every year. This study mainly focuses on the leading brand preference for
smartphone in Kalyan City.

Objectives of the Study

The primary objective was to study the perception & buying behavior of people
towards various smartphone brands.
The secondary objectives of the study were to identify:
To know the preference level associated with different smartphones.
To find out satisfaction levels towards the various mobile phones.
Major features, which a customer looks for in a smartphone before making
a purchase.
Factors that influence decision-making in purchasing a smartphone.
To know whether advertisement media puts more impact on the buying
decision.
Factors, which help in increasing the sales of smartphone.

III.

Literature Review
In this project we are going to discuss about the perceptions of consumer
towards smartphone brands, how the consumer perceive and what are the
factors which affect the consumer perception regarding a particular smartphone
brand. Basically the research paper with respect to Indian and foreign
smartphone brands was not conducted a large scale but the survey of
smartphone user was done.
The survey was conducted by company CompuWare.
Report by CompuWare:
Market share of Smartphone devices,
Android- 59%
Apple-21%
Blackberry-7%
Windows-9%
Others-4%
According to our survey the major determinants of smartphone include
branding, price, feature, appearance & lifestyle. Therefore in this study
branding, price, feature, appearance lifestyle & accessories are subassumed into the independent variable.

IV.

Research Methodology:

Research Design

Sampling Selection

Data Collection

Visited the people across Kalyan & gathered information required as per the
questionnaire.
The research design is probability research design and is descriptive research.

Sampling Size: 40 respondents

Sampling Area: Kalyan.
Sampling Technique: Random Sampling Technique.

Primary data has been used by me in the form of questionnaire & observation,
which are the two basic methods of collecting primary data, which suffices all
research objectives.
Secondary data sources like various internet sites, online shopping portals have
been used.

V.

Data Analysis & Interpretation

Analysis Based on the questionnaire:

Which smartphone brand do you have?

Interpretation:
The above chart shows percentage of Indian smartphone brands & foreign
smartphone brands used by consumers in Kalyan city.

Concrete Terms:
Out of 40 respondents 16 respondents are using Indian Smartphone
Brands while 24 are using foreign smartphone brands. Mostly Samsung
&Micromax are the popular brands among the consumers.
How much you are willing to spend on a smartphone?
Interpretation:
The graphical representation shows that out of 40 respondents, 7
respondents are willing to pay Rs. 10000-15000, 6 respondents are willing
to pay 15000-above & Majority 26 respondents are willing to pay 500010000, whereas only single respondents choose 2000-5000.
Concrete Terms:
Respondents who are willing to pay more than 10000 Rs. Are preferably
going for foreign smartphones, whereas In remaining respondents who
choose up to 10000, most number of respondents preference is Indian
smartphones.

 Is this your smartphone?

Interpretation:
Out of 40 respondents 21 respondent using their first smartphone,
whereas remaining 19 respondents have already used smartphones
before.
Concrete Terms:
Mostly respondents using their first smartphone are using Indian
smartphones, within the pricing range Less than 10000 or up to 10000.
There is less percentage or less number of respondents found who are not
using their first smartphone & have Indian smartphone.
What would you consider important when choosing a smartphone?

Interpretation:
Out of 40 respondents 10 respondents considered Brand name as
important factor while choosing smartphone, 11 respondents considered
functionality important, Life of smartphone is considered important only by
2 people whereas 17 people considered pricing as a most deciding factor
while buying a smartphone.
Concrete Terms:
It is observed that pricing & Functionality are the most important factors
for Indian smartphone Consumers, Out of 28 respondents (Combining
respondents of Functionality & Pricing) 18 respondents are using Indian
smartphone brand.
Will you stick to the current smartphone brand you are using if their price
is increased?
Interpretation:
Out of 40 respondents 22 respondents accepted that they will stick to the
current smartphone brand they are using even if their price is increased,
while 18 respondents contradicted.

Concrete Terms:
Respondents who are using Indian smartphones occupied the most
percentage for not being loyal to their current smartphone brand even if
there is increase in price. While the respondents who wanted quality,
functionality & have good knowledge of technology decided to stick to
their same smartphone brand, most percentage is foreign smartphone
users.

VI.

Findings
The stats of the research show that a majority of Indian customers who are price
sensitive go for the Indian smartphone brands whereas the consumers who want
quality and durable smartphone & have knowledge about changing technology
goes for Foreign smartphone brands.
Mostly consumers who prefers foreign smartphone brands use their smartphone
for a time period of about one to two years.
The most desirable price range among the smartphone consumers in Rs. 500010000.

 The appearance of the smartphone, its price range and the advertisement are
the best possible ways to catching the eye of the consumers and the finest way
to advertise their new or existing product is through television and Internet,
Social media as it reaches to the bulk of the population.
People for whom Pricing is the main concern, consider Life of smartphone &
Brand name while purchasing smartphone.
Mostly people who are buying smartphone for the first time, preferably go for
Indian smartphone brands.

VII.

Final Recommendations
On the basis of the various findings many recommendations can be given for the
various companies in this sector.
As with the Indian smartphone brands the main problem faced by the
people is that poor functionality of smartphone and there after sales
service is not upto the mark, when compare to foreign smartphone brands.
So they must provide better service and try solving their poor functionality
problems.
Many people are still unaware of the facilities that are there in the
smartphone like NFC, 4G, etc. Companies should increase awareness
about all these unique features which their brand is offering.
Smartphone manufacturers must make better quality products with the
higher number of features & should be made available in the range of
10000 as that is the most preferred segment of people.
Motorola, HTC, Blackberry should try to increase the awareness through
the television, social media advertisement.
Brands like Apple and blackberry should employ better marketing
techniques to reach masses in accordance of Indian consumer psychology.
Indian smartphone companies must work on the strategy of Total Quality
Management.
Foreign smartphone manufacturers Like Apple, Sony Xperia, Blackberry
Samsung are brand in itself and none other Indian smartphone brands are
in position to compare with it in Quality, Reliability and Brand Image .

VIII.

Limitations of Study
A small sample size of 40 consumers was considered due to lack of time &
resource constraints.
The scope of the project is limited to the city of Kalyan so, we cannot say that
the same response will exist throughout India.
This study is based on the prevailing satisfaction of the respondents. But their
satisfaction may change according to time, technology, development, etc .