Question:
Discuss about Consumer Behavior Purchase of an IPhone 5s in India.
The purchase decision of a consumer is significantly influenced by a series of choices that a consumer makes which are related to the values, attitudes and their opinion regarding purchase before establishing a willingness to purchase (Rao, 2004).
India is one of the countries where the manufacturers of various products find ample of opportunities. As it is one of the fastest growing economies, the importance of smartphones has increased in the personal life of every individual thereby causing the smartphone industry to grow at a fast pace. Similar is the case with Apple’s iPhone. Though it is expensive than other smartphones, still its quality and reputation provides a reason to the customers to purchase it. Following points have been highlighted as the factors which influence the purchase decision of a consumer while buying Apple’s iPhone 5s in India.
Demographics can be defined as the quantifiable features of particular inhabitants (Murdock, et. al., 2015). It includes the study of size, structure and spreading of such population and deviations that arise among them due to aging, birth, migration and death (Kumar, 2009).
As far as age is concerned, Apple has targeted the market successfully for every age group. iPhone 5s provides personalized apps in order to suit the needs and wants of every individual and has become the desire of every individual. Among them, it is most popular between the young generation of 20- 35 years as this age group possess high disposable income with absolutely none or less responsibilities. Moreover, the buyer decides to purchase an iPhone 5s as it will serve the dual purpose of smartphone and mobile PC. As young people are considered to be goal oriented, they want each and every latest news on the go (Murdock, Kelley, Jordan, Pecotte & Luedke, 2015). The data even shows that the majority of the iPhone users are males and females still stand at a minority. This data is the result of two factors – preference and budget.
Apple can adopt a marketing campaign targeting the age groups beyond 35 years and must provide some new features and options in camera, some educational apps for both younger and older age groups such that it become the desire of every age group.
Apple must also adopt a strategy in India which focuses only on selling more phones. This does not mean that it emphasizes on selling new phones (Aulakh, 2016). India is a continuously growing economy and a producer of ample of opportunities for various companies (The Hindu Business Line, 2017). Nowadays young people are becoming more brand conscious and iPhone is undoubtedly one of the things that symbolize the status of a person (Salvendy, 2012). Therefore, it will enable them to increase its sale in India.
The members of the family powerfully influence the purchase decision of a buyer (Kumar, 2017). Every individual in a family including husband, wife and children have their own impact over others and play an important role in determining and influencing the choice of one another.
A buyer’s life is significantly affected by two families namely family of orientation and family of procreation. Family of orientation involves parents and their children and the influence of parents on their children with regard to various aspects like religion, personal ambition and self- worth. Similarly, family of procreation involves the spouse and children of an individual.
Nowadays, every member of a family has a mobile. Due to increased access to internet, children are becoming more brand conscious day by day thereby pushing their parents towards the purchase of the most expensive phone i.e. iPhone. Young generation purchase an iPhone for the purpose of fulfilling their self- actualization needs such as achieving personal growth and potential (Elgan, 2014).
Apple can also consider a marketing strategy which is formulated after deeper analysis of Indian household structure that focuses on attracting children through advertisements on television and internet picturizing artists of their age. This will because children influence their parents and elder siblings to purchase an iPhone.
Another strategy which can be taken into consideration by Apple is the introduction of household budget and expenditure calculator app in iPhone which will help people in allocating and managing budgets for the entire month. The advertisements of such strategy will work from the household perspective.
Social Classes is a part of cultural influences and can be defined as the group of individuals divided on the basis of similarities in income, education and occupation (Sarangapani, 2009). It has been identified that people who favor iPhone slightly differ in characteristics in terms of education, household income, occupation, etc. (Hixon, 2014).
As far as income is concerned, iPhone is favored in majority by the high income groups and then by the upper medium income groups (Jain & Sharma, 2013). Very few percentage of medium and lower medium income groups think of purchasing an iPhone 5s as it is much beyond their budget even after the decrease in prices after the launch of iPhone’s upgraded versions (Patel, 2014).
Furthermore, iPhone 5s is easy to use and understandable by non- graduates, graduates and post graduates of both categories either general or professionals as they are capable of understanding an iPhone’s setup (Mohd Suki, 2013).
Occupation plays an important role in deciding the budget for a smartphone for an individual. In India, self-employed people (superior level people) who are also known as business persons are on top of the list of people capable of affording an iPhone (Chakravorti, 2016). Moreover, iPhone 5s is also affordable for supervisory levels, middle and senior executives and junior executives.
Apple must launch marketing campaigns for the older versions like iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c, etc. as budget phones which are under reach for lower income groups also.
Apple must also launch marketing campaigns regarding its features like the voice of SIRI which seems to be difficult but actually makes the phone much easy to use even for less educated people who are not so familiar with technology as it enables the phone to function automatically.
Consumer behavior is affected to a great extent due to the cultural influences (Rao, 2004). Culture can be simply defined as the behavior, wants, society and personal values, opinions which are derived from the family and other important establishments (Bhasin, 2016). It can also be regarded as lifestyle which is further passed on from one generation to another (Sarma & Sarmistha, 2017).
A person buys an iPhone as it accomplishes the desire to be accredited for it by family, peers and other people associated with that person. It is often purchased as a result of peer pressure as everyone else in the group are purchasing it and talking about it.
Apple can launch a marketing campaign featuring iPhone as a status symbol in India showing how other brands are not capable of standing in the race. This will motivate all the brand conscious people to immediate purchase an iPhone.
iPhone is considered as a business-class phone. Therefore, strategies can be formulated to target the business class and their lifestyle. It must show that how the life of business persons is eased to a great extend with the use of an iPhone.
As the head of the procurement department of Intuit Inc., the decision making process will be directed in the following ways-
A problem which has the capability of influencing a substantial amount of persons within a society is a social or societal issue. Consumer protection is taken into consideration with the help of a social movement which is headed by consumer organizations and is also known as consumerism.
There are various societal issues which must be addressed on an immediate basis like degradation of environment and lack of technology and use of internet in rural India. Poor farmers in India suffer from lack of awareness regarding the prevailing prices for their produce and therefore suffer from huge losses which lead them to live a miserable life.
Apple can initiate a local consumerist movement which will benefit the company as well as the society they operate in. The name of such movement would be “Kisan ki Bachat” (Savings of a farmer). Apple would sponsor this movement in collaboration with the leading telecom networks in India and start a SMS service for continuous update on the prices of the produce on the registered numbers. It must also introduce campaigns in the rural India for creating awareness regarding the use of internet and technology in order to make the day to day life much easier. This will enable the farmers to search for places on the internet where they will get the maximum price for their produce. On the other hand, Apple can also address the major issues related to the environment and its degradation. It can provide proper education relating to creation of eco-friendly environment.
In order to become environmentally suitable Apple must aim at keeping the planet safe from all the harm caused from the stage of manufacturing till the point of disposal of the product. Apple must take proper steps for reducing the green house gases emission at the phase of product use. For this purpose, it must make effort in the field of improving the energy efficiency of products. These green house gases (GHG) must also be controlled at the manufacturing sites of Apple’s products.
Apple must also conduct a life cycle assessment (LCA) of all of its products with a view to analyze and measure the environmental impact of such products in ozone layer depletion, water use, global warming, acidification, etc. (Murphy & King, 2016) The results of such assessment must be used to take further steps to reduce such deathly impact.
Moreover, Apple must develop energy reduction technologies for its products since its products require more power consumption. Also, they can utilize the recycled plastic which is collected from the waste products in its earphone cases, charging adapter and inner packaging tray.
It may also conduct environmental activities in the world supporting the conservation of biodiversity, save trees and resources with the message of achieving zero environmental impact (Suckling & Lee, 2015). Furthermore, it must focus on producing energy efficient products ensuring that the raw materials utilized in its products are absolutely safe for the consumers. They must also undertake responsible recycling of its products and at the end provide all the related environmental planning and data to its customers for their knowledge.
References
Aulakh, G. (2016). How Apple iPhone sales in India defy an old stereotype. Retrieved October 31, 2017 from https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/hardware/how-apple-iphone-sales-in-india-defy-an-old-stereotype/articleshow/52115409.cms
Bhasin, H. (2016). Factors Affecting Consumer Buying Behavior. Retrieved November 2, 2017 from https://www.marketing91.com/factors-affecting-consumer-buying-behavior/.
Chakravorti, B. (2016). The Battle Over iPhones in India. Retrieved November 2, 2017 from https://hbr.org/2016/04/the-battle-over-iphones-in-india.
Elgan, M. (2014). Why Apple’s India Strategy is A Winner. Retrieved November 2, 2017 from https://www.cultofmac.com/262972/dont-look-now-comes-india/.
Sarma & Sarmistha. (2017). Global Observations of the Influence of Culture on Consumer Buying Behavior. IGI Global.
Suckling, J., & Lee, J. (2015). Redefining scope: the true environmental impact of smartphones?. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 20(8), 1181-1196.
The Hindu Business Line. (2017). I’m very bullish on India because of its people, culture and the leadership: Apple’s Tim Cook. Retrieved November 2, 2017 from https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/info-tech/im-very-bullish-on-india-because-of-its-people-culture-and-the-leadership-apple-tim-cook/article9807665.ece.
Wind, Y., Thomas, R. J., & Sheth, J. N. (2014). Organizational buying behavior. SAGE Publications.
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