A JOURNAL OF COMPOSITION THEORY ISSN : 0731-6755

CUSTOMER PREFERANCE TOWARDS LATEST MODEL OF SMART PHONES IN CHENNAI CITY

Dr. M. Rajesh, Associate Professor, Department of Commerce, Dhanraj Baid Jain College, Thoraipakkam, Chennai, Tamilnadu, India

ABSTRACT

Today is the most sought after device required by every one for communication and for many other usages. The growth of subscription of mobile phone is very high in India; Particularly Smart phones are in huge demand. Mobile hand set is of different kind’s particularly Smart phone and . People prefer smart phones because of its facility of and social media features while they prefer feature phone because of its cost effectiveness. The mobile phone market is creating substantial impact on Indian Economy today. This study focuses on the views and perception of consumers of Chennai city towards mobile hand set. For this, primary data is collected through the circulation of pre structured questionnaire designed in a way to collect information for satisfying objectives of the study. The collected data with different variables is analyzed on various aspects to come to conclusion of significance.

Keywords: , usage, consumer, Income level, Brand.

INTRODUCTION

Today Mobile phone is the most sought after device required by every one for communication and for many other usages. The growth of subscription of mobile phone is very high in India; Particularly Smart phones are in huge demand. Mobile hand set is of different kind’s particularly Smart phone and feature phone. People prefer smart phones because of its facility of internet and social media features while they prefer feature phone because of its cost effectiveness. A mobile phone that performs many of the functions of a computer especially it has touch screen, interface, internet access, and an capable of running downloaded apps. These days mobile handsets are sold predominantly for their browsing, mailing, storage capabilities, and several other classy attributes such as and MP3 players. Smart phones these days have become an integral part of our lives. We use them for communication, taking pictures, saving

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documents on the cloud, internet browsing and even as a power bank to charge other smart phones. The mobile phone market is creating substantial impact on Indian Economy today. There are more than one billion people in India who have subscribed to mobile phones. The market cap of only India for mobile handset has crossed more than 1 lac crore where market share of smart phone is more than 85 thousands crores and is predicted to cross one lac crore market cap on 2016. This has made grounds for conducting study in this area to know its present and future aspects relating to it.

Customer satisfaction is a term frequently used in marketing. It is a measure of how products and services supplied by a company meet or surpass the customer expectation. Customer satisfaction is defined as "the number of customers, or the percentage of total customers, who reported their experience with a firm, its products, or its services (ratings) exceeds specified satisfaction goals. Consumer satisfaction or dissatisfaction is the feeling derived by the consumer when he compares the product's actual performance with the performance that he expects out of it. Consumers make their expectations from the service quality, service, delivery, communications, past experiences and references. These all are to be judged correctly by the management so that their perceptions match with consumer expectations. If any of these factors are wrongly interpreted then the expected level of consumer satisfaction cannot be reached.

Present marketing strategies are dynamic in comparison with the earlier marketing strategies, which attract the profit oriented customers. The new marketing strategies are being more customers oriented and paying much attention towards newer as well as existing customers. This is perhaps due to the cost cutting measure acquired to lure new and existing customers. It is believed that the average business investments six time more to attract new customers than to retain old customers. It is more profitable to retain old customers which helps to recommend and sale the new as well as existing products. Therefore, Customer retention is basically a product of customer loyalty and value which in turn is a function of the level of customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction.

In earlier period, Companies were not responsive about the customers because of less competition in market. But as the time has passed out, the marketing scenario has been changed. Now new products, bundle of package, schemes etc. have been offered to the customers. So the decision has become more complicated for the customers to select the best one. It has also become

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tricky to select the companies because due to the growing demand for cell phone services. So the question of customer satisfaction is very important and crucial in current scenario.

CUSTOMER’S PREFERENCE BASED ON MOBILE PHONE FEATURES

Build Quality: Build is all about durability of a smart phone. The entire handset market is largely divided in two types of builds -- metal and plastic. There are some that even have glass-coated panels, but those are very limited. If we are one of those prone to dropping were smart phone, it's advisable to go for a metal or a plastic built handset . Display: The size and resolution of display depends on how we use were smart phone. If we often stream videos, edit photos or videos, or download and view movies, then a smart phone display ranging from 5.5-inch to 6-inch, full-HD or QHD resolution should be good enough for we. Anything larger than a 6-inch display not just makes the handset extra bulky, but also difficult to carry around. If we are a regular user and largely use the smart phone for checking , chatting and browsing social media apps, then anything from 5-inch to 5.5-inch HD or full-HD display handsets is perfect.

Processor: The processing power of a smart phone varies from one device to another depending on several factors such as OS version, UI, bloat ware and more. If we are a heavy user need to edit images/videos/documents online, play heavy games, stream videos or often use apps in split screen mode, then smart phones with Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 or Snapdragon 820/821 should make multitasking fluid for us. Light users will be happy with handsets that come with MediaTek processors.

Camera: Just having higher number of megapixels does not mean that the smart phone camera is better. Several specifications such as camera aperture, ISO levels, size, and more are essential as well. A 16MP rear camera does not necessarily be better than a 12MP camera. Same theory goes for the front-facing camera. Higher number of mean that the size of the image is bigger, which becomes more sharper when seen on a small screen. A photographer enthusiast might want a camera with 12 or 16MP sensor under f/2.0 or lower aperture for speedy shots even in low lights. A casual shooter can go by even with an 8MP 0r 12MP camera with f/2.0- f/2.2 aperture.

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Battery: The battery usage differs from user to user depending on the way he/she uses the smart phone. If we are a heavy user and work on apps, play games, stream videos and more then go for a smart phone with at least 3500mAh battery or above the battery storage available in the market for more than 5000mAh. If we are an average or light user, a handset with 3000mAh battery would be good enough to run for a full day.

Use Interface/OS Version: User interface and the OS version too are key factors to consider while choosing a smart phone. These are the interfaces that one would have to interact with each time to access anything, so it should be easy and simple. For the most basic and pure Android experience we can buy Motorola handsets, Nexus/Pixel smart phones or even Android One devices. However different interfaces like ZenUI, Xperia UI, Samsung Touch Wiz, EMUI and others offer more nifty features to sort applications and more options in styles the company thinks users would find more friendly. However, smart phones by OEMs also come with bloat ware and certain apps that we probably won’t use ever. So, we recommend to try the handset before we pick one.

Storage: A large part of the smart phone’s storage is taken away from the OS and the apps the device comes pre-installed with. A 16GB/32GB/64GB or more don’t really come with exact mentioned space. If we like to keep less number of apps on wer devices, we can go for 32GB storage. Users who like to keep larger number of apps can go for 64GB or 128GB variants. We can also buy a 16GB model that supports micro SD card as well.

Extra Features: Most smart phones these days have started coming with extra security features such as fingerprint sensor or even iris sensors. These are not just to lock/unlock a handset but as a to access certain files, documents or apps. While a fingerprint sensor can be found in even a Rs 5,000 smart phone, devices with iris scanners are still few. It's preferable to buy a smart phone with these extra security features since most of us have personal information on our handsets these days.

Audio/Speaker: Speakers and the quality of audio coming out of it can be an important parameter for those who rely on heavy video streaming or video conferences. If we like entertainment-on- the-go, buy a handset that has front-facing speakers. This gives clear sound even while holding the smart phone in landscape mode. If we don’t indulge in video streaming or video conferencing much, then a regular handset with bottom-firing speakers should be just fine. Those with speakers placed at the back are also fine.

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Table 1: TOP 5 MOBILE PHONES IN RECENT DAYS

S.No. Model Performance Display Camera Battery Price Apple iPhone 11 Hexa Core (2.65 6.5 inches (16.51 12 MP + 12 MP + 12 MP 3969 mAh Pro Max GHz, Dual Core + cm) Triple Primary Fast Charging Rs.109,900 1 iOS v13.0 1.8 GHz, Quad core) 1242x2688 px, Quad LED True Tone Flash Non-Removable 4 GB RAM 456 PPI OLED 12 MP Front Camera Samsung Galaxy Octa core (2.73 GHz, 6.8 inches (17.27 12 MP + 12 MP + 16 MP Note 10 Plus Dual Core + 2.4 4300 mAh cm) Triple Primary Cameras (Galaxy Note 10 GHz, Dual core + 1.9 Fast Charging Rs.75,999 2 1440x3040 px, LED Flash GHz, Quad core) USB Type-C Pro) 495 PPI Dynamic 10 MP Front Camera 12 GB RAM port Android v9.0 (Pie) AMOLED

Octa core (2.6 GHz, 6.47 inches 4200 mAh 40 MP + 20 MP + 8 MP Triple Dual Core + 1.92 (16.43 cm) Super Charging Huawei P30 Pro Primary Cameras 3 GHz, Dual core + 1.8 1080x2340 px, USB Type-C Rs.63,990 Dual-color LED Flash Android v9.0 (Pie GHz, Quad core) 398 PPI port 32 MP Front Camera 8 GB RAM OLED Hexa Core (2.49 6.1 inches (15.49 GHz, Dual Core + Primary Camera 2942 mAh Apple iPhone XR cm) 4 1.52 GHz, Quad Quad LED True Tone Flash Fast Charging Rs.44,324 828x1792 px, iOS v12.0 core) 7 MP Front Camera Non-Removable 324 PPI LCD 3 GB RAM Octa core (2.73 GHz, 6.4 inches (16.26 12 MP + 12 MP + 16 MP Dual Core + 2.31 cm) 4100 mAh Triple Primary Cameras GHz, Dual core + 1440x3040 px, Fast Charging Samsung Galaxy LED Flash 5 1.95 GHz, Quad 526 PPI USB Type-C Rs.69,500 10 MP + 8 MP Dual Front S10 Plus core) Dynamic port Cameras Android v9.0 (Pie 8 GB RAM AMOLED

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Table 2: TOP 5 MOBILES (Below Rs.10000) IN RECENT DAYS

S.No. Model Performance Display Camera Battery Price

Qualcomm 6.30-inch, Rear Camera: 48-megapixel Xiaomi Redmi Rs.8956 1 Snapdragon 660 1080x2340 + 5-megapixel, Front 4000mAh Note 7S 3GB RAM pixels Camera: 13-megapixel

Snapdragon 660 6.30-inch, 12-megapixel + 2- Xiaomi Redmi Rs.8900 2 AIE 1080x2340 megapixel: front: 13- 4000mAh Note 7 4GB RAM pixels megapixel Samsung Exynos 6.30-inch, 13-megapixel + 5- Samsung Galaxy 3 7904 1080x2340 megapixel : Front -8- 5000mAh Rs.9900 M20 3 GB RAM pixels megapixel Qualcomm 6.26-inch, 12-megapixel + 5- Asus ZenFone 4 Snapdragon 660 1080x2280 megapixel: front: 13- 5000mAh Rs.9999 Max Pro M2 4GB RAM pixels megapixel

Qualcomm 6.30-inch, 12-megapixel + 2- 5 Realme U1 Snapdragon 660 1080x2340 megapixel: front: 25- 5000mAh Rs.7999 4GB RAM pixels megapixel

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OBJECTIVES:

 To identify consumer’s perception towards mobile hand set.  To identify and analyzing top most preference among product features of mobile handset by the consumers.  To identify the brand preference offered by different companies for mobile handset among different income level consumers.

Methodology

In securing the most effective results from the present study, a methodology has been framed in relation to the area of the study, products covered in the study, data collection, sampling, hypotheses and statistical tools.

The primary data is collected from the respondents on the basis of their perceptions to different thought provoking insights relating to the concepts of brand preference and awareness contained in the well defined questionnaire. The sources of secondary data comprises of books, journals, periodicals, reports, theses and .

The selected sample size of 500 respondents to make the sample more balanced relating to life styles occupation, gender, cultural and socio-economic status of Chennai residents viz., Government employees, private employees, Business, Self-employed, Housewives

Analysis

Null hypothesis: There is no association between various ‘age group and source of information’.

Table3: Chi square test for the association between various age group and sources

Age (in Source of information Chi square Total P value years) Personal Commercial Public value Less than 212 (66.0) 59 (18.4) 50 (15.6) 321 35 36-50 105 (82.2) 5 (4.2) 9 (7.6) 119 23.74** .000 More than 47 (78.3) 6 (10.0) 7 (11.7) 60 50 ** Significant at 1% level

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Since P value is less than 0.01, the null hypothesis is rejected at 5% level of significant. Hence, there is an association between age group and source of information for purchasing the product. ‘Most of the age group gets their information for purchasing the handset through personal’.

Null hypothesis: There is no association between various ‘age group and preferred brand

Table 4: Chi square test for the association between various age group and preferred brand

Age Brand of Handset Chi P (in Total square Vivo Redmi Samsung Apple Asus Oppo value years) value Less 145 64 19 51 than 36 (11.2) 6 (1.9) 321 (45.2) (19.9) (5.9) (15.9) 35 55 12 5 10 36-50 28 (23.5) 9 (7.6) 119 39.71** .000 (46.2) (10.1) (4.2) (8.4) More 33 8 3 13 than - 3 (5.0) 60 (5.0) (13.3) (5.0) (21.7) 50 ** Significant at 1% level

Since P value is less 0.01, the null hypothesis is rejected at 5% level of significant. Hence, there is an association between age group and preferred brand of handset for purchasing the product. From the table most of the people prefer Vivo brand followed by Redmi and Oppo.

CONCLUSION

The inference is that brand preference is highly associated with income level. The preference of the brand depends on the income level. Consumers in different income group prefer different brands. Specifically, consumers who cater to upper middle income level and upper income level group prefer premium brands while consumers in lower income and middle income category prefer economy brands.

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References:

1) Kumar Sandeep, Chaubey DS (2015). Customers Preferences of Product Attribute of Mobile Phone Handsets: A Descriptive Study. International Journal of Emerging Research in Management &Technology. 4(7):246-250. 2) Mesay Sata (2013). Factors Affecting Consumer Buying Behavior of Mobile Phone Devices. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences. 4(12):103-112. 3) Uddin Md Reaz, Lopa Zahan Nusrat, Oheduzzaman Md.(2014). Factors Affecting Customers’ Buying Decisions of Mobile Phone: A Study on Khulna City, Bangladesh. International Journal of Managing Value and Supply Chains. 5(2):21-28. 4) Wilska T-A. (2003). Mobile phone use as part of young people’s consumption styles. Journal of Consumer Policy. 26(4):441-463. 5) Ingavale, Deepa & Suryavanshi, Anil & Marulkar, Kedar. (2012). An Empirical Study of Brand Preference for Mobile Phones. International Marketing conference 2012 on ‘Envisage 2020: Emerging Business Practices’, At Mumbai

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