STUDY OF STUDENTS BEHAVIOUR WHILE BUYING MOBILE PHONES.

RESEARCH REPORT

ON

“STUDY OF STUDENTS BEHAVIOUR WHILE PURCHASING MOBILE

PHONES”

BY

SAMIKSHA PETHE

2010- 2011

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION DEGREE

DISHA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT AND TECHNOLOGY, RAIPUR

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DISHA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT AND TECHNOLOGY

Satya Vihar, Vidhansabha-Chandrakhuri Marg, Gram – Pacheda, Tehsil – Arang,

District - Raipur (C.G) 492101. Ph: 0771- 4200200- 09. Fax: 4200110

Website: www.dimatindia.com , Email: info@dimatindia.com

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Mr. /Miss ________________________________________Of

DIMAT/DSME MBA Semester –II has successfully completed the research report in
partial fulfillment of requirement for the award of MBA Degree prescribed by the
Chattisgarh Swami Vivekanand Technical University, Bhilai.

This report is the record of authentic work carried out by the student during the
academic year 2010-11.

Prof. Shailaja Triwedi Prof. (Dr.) R. Satish Benadict

Internal Guide Academic Head

(Faculty of Management)

DECLARATION
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STUDY OF STUDENTS BEHAVIOUR WHILE BUYING MOBILE PHONES.

I, Mr. /Ms _____________________________________________ hereby declare that

this research report is the record of authentic work carried out by me during the
academic year 2010-2011.

( )

Signature of the student

( )

Name of the student

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
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I hearty thanks to Prof. Shailaja triwedi, research supervisor, for giving me opportunity
to do this assignment and for her support and guidance, without which this would not
have been possible.

I would also like to thanks to Prof. Suresh Pattanayak, Faculty of Management who
stood behind me as a constant source of inspiration and helped me in bringing the
project the day of success.

Last but not least I am highly thankful to all my friends and family members for constant
support and helped in overcoming all the critical situation with attitude of always keeping
moral high.

Date: 14/04/2010

Table of content

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SL NO: PARTICULARS PG NO:

1) Certificate 2
2) Declaration 3
3) Acknowledgement 4
CHAPTER 1 Introduction 6-13
 Literature review
 Expected features
 Indian mobile industry
CHAPTER 2 Research methodology 14-15
 Research design
 Research instrument
 Data analysis method
 Data collection
CHAPTER 3 Analysis and interpretation of data 16-27
 Data analysis
 Limitation of study
 Finding
4) Recommendation 29
5) Conclusion 30
6) Questionnaire 31-32

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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

Introduction:

The prime objective of the study was to understand the variation in the importance given
by different under graduate and post graduate students to the selected factors while
buying mobile handsets. The study concludes that under graduate mobile handset
users are less price sensitive than consumers of other groups; rather they consider
‘physical appearance’, ‘brand’, ‘value added features’, and ‘core technical features’
more important than post gradute students. On the contrary, the consumers of post
graduate have given greater importance to ‘price’ than under graduate students. There

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were significant differences between different students as regards to the importance

given to all the factors except ‘post - purchase services’. The difference was highest for
the ‘brand’ closely followed by ‘core technical features’ of the handset. Gender
differences have also existed for these factors

Mobile telecommunication industry has shown a tremendous growth over the last few
years and at present there are about twenty crore (1 crore = 10 million) subscribers of
the mobile telecom services in the country. The market for the mobile handset is also
growing with the growing demand for mobile telecom services. This demand will
continue to grow in future also. India at present is the second largest market for mobile
handsets (Indian Brand Equity Foundation, 2005). The growth in this sector has been
improved due to liberalization of telecommunication laws and policies.

The consumers of both rural and urban areas,from college - going students to mature
elders, of almost all income groups have started using mobile telecom services. The

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growth is fastest in mobile services as compared to fixed lines where it is modest (The
World Factbook, 2008). Some of the consumers particularly college - going students
have to rely on their parents for the buying of products like mobile handset and
automobile. This is so because large majority of such people are not economically
independent till the age of 22-24 years. Therefore, they have to satisfy themselves with
what their parents buy for them. But now-a-days, these people have become more able
to influence their parents in buying the products of their choice. This is probably due to
small family size of one or two children these days, where parents comply more with the
requests of their children as compared to the past.

The manufacturers are introducing newer and newer models in quick succession of
time. They are motivated to do so because Indian mobile subscribers are prepared to
pay for upgrades, value-based services, and advanced models. The cut throat
competition between manufacturers has forced manufacturers to reduce their costs and
therefore, they are thinking of manufacturing handsets in India. The low wage rates will
help manufacturers to reduce their costs (Indian Brand Equity Foundation, 2005).
Besides this, the service providers and manufacturers are offering value added services
to make up losses in revenues, which have resulted due to decrease in tariff rates. Thus
mobile value added services has become an important element in the growth of mobile
telephony in India.

Mobile phones today have moved beyond their fundamental role of communications
and have graduated to become an extension of the personality of the user. In spite of
breeding of offers for content-rich mobile data services other than text messaging, the
adoption of advanced services such as mobile phone payment, online mobile gaming
and mobile email have yet to reach the noteworthy levels of usage in India. There is a
discernible preference for mobile phones with color screens over those with black and
white displays. Short Message Service (SMS) is very much popular and its importance
is increasing further as the subscribers can now participate in large number of
contests/polls etc. Consumers are also making wide use of handsets for clicking
photographs, playing games, downloading icons/screensavers/logo/ring tones, sending

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camera-phone taken photos, and playing offline games with their mobile phones. And
yet the consumers are expecting much more from their mobile phones.

The debate that was started on cost benefits has turned into a commercially viable
option for service providers. Mobile service providers, who were once competing fiercely
with fixed-line operators, are now facing stiff competition from alternative technologies

Literature review:

There are three different consumer types of three generations in India. Traditional
students of pre-liberalization phase (1960-70s) were, stable, inward looking and had
limited choices. They kept their family needs on the top and their own personal needs
were subordinate to their family needs. They avoided risk. In the transient phase (1980-
90s), the students were more risk taking than their predecessors. They had
experiencedmulti-choices and had a tendency to be better off than their parents.
Economically, they had no fears or concerns. The new millennium students tends to
enjoy life. He has greater self-control, and looks for personal style and pleasure.

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Exposures to variety of products and enhancement of economic status have changed

the attitudes of the upper middle – class consumers towards brands.

Indian society being hierarchical in nature is therefore, status conscious. Indians give
very high value to brands. In India, a brand is a cue to quality because the quality of the
unbranded products varies widely. According to study conducted in 2001 on testing of
homogeneity versus heterogeneity of global consumption in a cross-cultural price/brand
effect model; Indian consumers in comparison to Americans are tougher for the
marketers to sell their products. However he found Indian consumers more price and
less brand conscious

Technological innovations such as cellular phones and digital televisions have attracted
the attention of marketing researchers as regards to their adoption process.
Researchers has provided a classification of adopters in terms of innovators, early
adopters, early majority, late majority and laggards. But now consumers are also
looking into the compatibility of the new products to their self-image and life style
observed a considerable association between color and the choice of an automobile.
The study further identifies the gender moderation on the relationship between different
color dimensions and the product choice. Younger consumers are greater fond of
fashionable/stylish products than older ones. Young consumers are normally more
willing to try new products and they are interested in asking more information than older
ones. It makes them self-confident and that is why they are more likely to be opinion
leaders and less hesitant in brand switching. But one should not ignore the older
consumers also. The studies have revealed that the older consumers are wealthy,
innovative and they also have a tendency to be the part of a typical consumption system
They can be a prime market for the luxury products. However they give more
preference to comfort or convenience than any other feature of the product. It also
needs to be recognized that most older people accept and enjoy their life stage, and are
as willing to spend their money as any other generation, but only if the product and the
message are relevant. On the other hand, the youth, which is more informed, pragmatic,
opportunistic, demanding and restless, will always seek excitement in products and

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services. It is normally perceived that young buyers try new products, seek greater
information and are more self-confident in decision-making. Elderly consumers are
selectively innovative and they accept only those innovations that provide exclusive
benefits. Therefore, age and life cycle can be the delicate variables in the consumer
behavior process.

Expected Features:
Text message
Voice calls including call registers
GPS Navigation
Music (MP3) & Video (MP4) playback
RDS Radio Receiver, alarms
Memo and document recording
Personal organizer and personal digital assistant functions
Ability to watch streaming video or download video

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Video cutting
Build-in camera and camcorders with autofocus & flash
Ringtones, games
PTT memory card reader(SD), USB, Infrared, Bluetooth,
WiFi connectivity, instant messages
Internet e-mail and browsing
Serving as wireless modem for a PC.

Indian Mobile Industry

India has around 1 billion GSM users as per Cellular Operators Association of
India’s (COAI) latest statistics and 39 million CDMA users as per Association of
Unified Telecom Service Providers of India’s (AUSPI) statistics.
Cellular network provider

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In India mobile handset market is flooded with local and branded handsets from
different companies. Major players are Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, LG and
Motorola.

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CHAPTER 2
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY:

Research design is the basic framework which provides guidelines for the rest of
research process. It specifies the methods for data collection and data analysis .In this
research project the survey method of data collection is used, to be more specific
questionnaire method. The size is 250 Respondents in the sample size were asked to
fill the questionnaires to gather the data

Research Instrument:

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Contacting the customer personally and studying the response from the questionnaire
filled.

Data Analysis Method:

The data analysis of this research was represented on qualitative as well as quantitative
manner. Application packages like Office XP (Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel) were
used.

DATA COLLECTION /SAMPLE SIZE

Data Collection:

a. Primary Data;
Questionnaires for in-depth discussions with various respondents to be
interviewed during primary survey were designed during this phase. List of
contacts were also prepared during this phase. This involved in-depth face-to-
face discussions using semi-structured questionnaires with various respondents.

b . Secondary Data:

Taken data from various magazines, Newspaper and other prominent source of
information collected from different websites and search engines

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CHAPTER 3

DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

DATA ANALYSIS:

No. of UG & PG Student’s responses

PG
47% UG
UG PG
53%

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Q1. Do you own a cell phone?

A. Yes B. No C. I don’t own, but use frequently

UG & PG
5%
4%

A B

C
91%

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A
UG
B C
7%
7%

86%

PG
A B C

100%

Interpretation: It is found that undergraduate students own mobile phones

in rarely as compared to postgraduate students.
Q2. Which brand of mobile you use?

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reliance
tata docomo 5%
5%

virgin
15%
nokia nokia
45% samsung
virgin
tata docomo
reliance

samsung
30%

Q3. What
features attracts
you while buying a cell phone?
A. It’s features B. Model & Appearance C.Brand D. Cost or Economy

UG & PG
A B C D

16%
37%
10%

37%

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UG
A B C D
9%
5%

48%

39%

PG
A B C D
17%
29%

INTERPRETATIO
N: Undergraduate
students give more
33%
preference to its
21% features whereas
postgraduate
students are more
brand concious and
Q4. For which purpose do you use the cell phone?
give equal
preference to its
A. SMS/MMS C. e-browsing & Downloads appearance and

B. Calling D. Getting updates of latest

happenings

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UG & PG
A B C D
3%
4%

31%

62%

PG
UG A B C D
A B C D
2% 4%
7% 17%

39%

52%
79%

INTERPRETATION: It is found that undergraduate students use their cell phones

mostly for sending sms’s and to chat with their friends but postgraduate students use
their mobile phones mostly for making important calls.

Q5. Which mode of connection do you prefer?

A. CDMA Prepaid C. GSM Prepaid

B. CDMA postpaid D. GSM Postpaid

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UG & PG
A B C D

10%
22%

3%

65%

UG PG 4%
A B C D 17%
A B C D
14% 4%
25%

2%

75%
59%

Interpretation: students mostly use GSM prepaid connection.

Q6. What do you prefer most when going for a particular connection?
A. Connectivity or signal C. Tariffs

B.Offers (group calling/ night time free) D. Brand

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UG & PG
A B C D

13%

27%
60%

UG PG
A B C D
A B C D 12%
12%
1%

23% 54%
34%
64%

Interpretation: Undergraduate students mostly look for signal or connectivity while

going for a particular connection, whereas postgraduate students go for connectivity as
well as for the offers that are being provided.

Q7. What is the cost of cell phone you are using now?
A. Rs. 2000-5000 B. Rs.5000-10000
C.Rs. 10000-15000 D. above Rs. 15000

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UG & PG
A B C D
5%
22%

38%

34%

PG UG
A B C D
A B C D
8% 14% 16%

46%

39%

39% 38%

INTERPRETATION: Undergraduate students own mobile rs. 2000-10000 in range &

postgraduate own mobile phones in range of rs. 5000-15000.

Q8. When did you buy your first mobile?

A. 1-2 year ago B. 2-3 year ago
B. Rs. 3-4 year ago D.more than 4 years ago

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UG & PG
A B C D

12%
34%
20%

34%

UG PG
A B C D13%
A B C D 25%
5%

18%

45%

37%

25%
32%

Interpretation: Out of Number of students surveyd, undergraduate students are having

their own mobile from last 1-2yrs wheras postgraduate students are having mobile from
more than 4yrs.

Q9. How often do you change your mobile sets?

A. Once in a year C. . Not changed yet

B. Once in two years D. Depends

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UG & PG
A B C D

12%
34%
20%

34%

UG PG
A B C D 13%
A B C D 25%
5%

18%

45%

37%

25%
32%

Interpretation: Undergraduates students go for a change in mobile sets frequently,

whereas postgraduate students change their mobile sets oftenly.

Q 10. Is the model feasible for you?

A)YES B) NO C) DON’T KNOW

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UG & PG
yes no don’t know

5%

20%

75%

UG & PG UG & PG
yes no don’t know
yes no don’t know
5%
5%

20% 20%

75% 75%

Interpretation: For most students the mobile sets they own are feasible for them.

Limitations of the Study

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The study has been carried out with two variables - age and gender. However
consumer buying is a complex process in which number of factors like social status,
economic factors and psychographic factors influence the buying of the consumer.

FINDINGS
• Most of the students own their mobile phone.

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• Students use mobile phone for calling and sending SMS’s the most.
• Majority of students prefer GSM prepaid connection
• Students have opted for a mobile phone as It connects them to their friends &
family round the clock

• Features and model of cell phones are given top priority while buying a cell
phone.
• Students would prefer to a cell phone with basic features of calling, SMS,
camera, MP3 player, good memory and also with good battery backup for atleast
2 days.

• A majority of students are not much interested in downloading ringtones / wall

papers/ upgrading the software for their mobile phone.

• Students see good connectivity or signal when going for a particular connection.

• The cost range of their (UG & PG students) cell phone lies between Rs. 5000-
10000.

• On an average every student in the campus is using a cell phone from the past
2.5 years.

• Student’s expenditure on recharges, value added service etc per month on their
mobile phone would range between Rs. 200-500.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Mobile phone industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the world.

• There is a scope for a mobile with an eco friendly technology.

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• The cell phones in the cost range of Rs. 7500 – 10000 need to be built up with
some extra features as many of the students are opting a mobile in that range.

• Tariffs can even be lowered between 5 -9 P.M as there found to be a huge traffic
in that time period.

• There is a scope for CDMA prepaid service providers to enhance their market
share in this particular segment but proper advertisement is needed.

CONCLUSIONS

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In many number of cases, children are taken into confidence when a parent buys an
item like handset as a gift to be given to the other parent on special occasions like
anniversaries. This implies that these people may not only act as independent buyers,
but influence the buying of people of other age/gender groups. The marketers of
handsets can earn a lot of admiration from Indian female consumers by offering a wide
range (colors and designs) of models that are not only attractive in appearance but also
compatible to their physical looks and style.

The companies that wish to target Indian youth must strengthen their brand equity
besides improving ‘appearance’, ‘value added features’ and ‘core technical features’. It
will help them in increasing their revenues manifold in India due to the reason that
Indian market is youth rich with median age of 24 years (The World Factbook, 2008).
The companies with poor brand equity may find a niche in 50 years and above age
group, provided they reasonably improve ‘appearance’ and ‘post-purchase services’
and keeping the prices as low as possible. The gray-market products from countries like
China due to the lack of adequate ‘post-purchase services’; did not get much success
despite all other technical, value added features and low price.

QUESTIONAIRE

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Q1. Do you own a cell phone?

A. Yes B. No C. I don’t own, but use frequently

Q2. Which brand of mobile you use?

Q3. What features attracts you while buying a cell phone?

A. It’s features B. Model & Appearance

C.Brand D. Cost or Economy

Q4. For which purpose do you use the cell phone?

A. SMS/MMS C. e-browsing & Downloads
B. Calling D. Getting updates of latest happenings

Q5. Which mode of connection do you prefer?

A. CDMA Prepaid C. GSM Prepaid

B. CDMA postpaid D. GSM Postpaid

Q6. What do you prefer most when going for a particular connection?
A. Connectivity or signal C. Tariffs

B.Offers (group calling/ night time free) D. Brand

Q7. What is the cost of cell phone you are using now?
A. Rs. 2000-5000 B. Rs.5000-10000
C.Rs. 10000-15000 D. above Rs. 15000

Q8. When did you buy your first mobile?

B. 1-2 year ago B. 2-3 year ago
C. Rs. 3-4 year ago D.more than 4 years ago

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Q9. How often do you change your mobile sets?

A. Once in a year C. . Not changed yet

B. Once in two years D. Depends

Q 10. Is the model feasible for you?

A) YES B) NO C) DON’T KNOW

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