What Lures to Buying Mobile Phones

Sanjay Maheshwary
Business Head, MC
LG India

The emerging usage patterns of mobile phones clearly indicate that there is a large addressable set of consumers looking beyond the basic functions of voice calling or messaging. This is where smartphone plays an important role as it can offer many more services such as online searches, social networking, chatting, webmail, video streaming, maps and navigation, banking, finance, travel and shopping and last but not the least mobile television. The devices are getting more popular and powerful and as time goes by, consumers will forgo alternatives like the PCs or laptops completely or use them less and less. We are looking at what influences a consumer’s decision while buying a mobile phone.  

Understanding the Consumer Pulse…

Gathering consumer insights is of absolute importance not just before introducing a new product but also after introducing one. Social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook are also excellent platforms to understand what are the present trends. Vendors across the mobile phone segment put in efforts to understand what are the absolute musts to attract the consumers.

 

Sushmita Das Country Manager - India Kobian Pte Ltd.

Sanjay Maheshwary, Business Head, MC, LG India, informs, "LG organizes campaigns to have a more intimate, personal connect with its consumers. LG’s recent consumer-connect initiative, LG Smartphone Idea Camp, invited consumers to submit their unique app, feature design or ideas on LG’s corporate website. The camp not only received an overwhelming response from the consumers but also gave us a window-view into the consumer’s mind. It helped us understand what apps are desirable and what screen size is considered ideal by the majority."

Emphasizing on the consumer’s buying behaviour, Amit Mathur, Director - Channel Sales, India, Research In Motion, says that careful attention has to be given to the needs and expectations of users to feel the consumer pulse while coming up with new mobile phones. He adds, "We are very cautious and observant regarding the separate geographical locations and their respective market demands. We globally launched the Curve 9220 model of BlackBerry in India, keeping in view the basic local needs of the Indian user which include features such as dedicated BBM key, FM radio and a powerful battery to provide longer talk-time. At RIM, we constantly work towards offering relevant services and solutions to enrich user experience and to continuously delight our customers. We designed products with new features, relevant service plans and pricing to suit the Indian market needs. This helped us to reach out to a larger target audience, thus providing impetus to our expansion plans."

 

Amit Mathur   Director - Channel Sales, India Research In Motion	Shashin Devsare Executive Director Karbonn Mobiles	Rajesh Agarwal Managing Director & Co-Founder, Micromax	Bipin Narang Head - Marketing, Videocon Mobile Handest Division

Top Considerations Consumer banks on while buying Mobile Phones…

The Indian mobile market being very vast and diverse is made up of different constituents which actively affect buying patterns in the market. In varied market sectors, consumers’ perception differs which makes the market mix more dynamic. While the consumers' perception is more centred towards technology and looks in the tier-I cities, cost-effectiveness and durability is the pre-eminent requisite for mid-tier cities. 

“Consumers in the tier-I cities prefer better and latest technologies under the ecosystem of latest Operating System, useful applications, user interface, looks, etc. They basically prefer a multi-feature device and choose the device understanding the key features which could fulfil their personal and official requirements. On the other hand, in the tier-II cities, the consumers’ perception is toward durability, smart features, cost-effectiveness, etc. which are in consideration of their normal needs,” opines Shashin Devsare, Executive Director, Karbonn Mobiles.

A lot of things influence a consumer’s buying decision. With a bewildering variety of choices available in the market today, the consumers can afford to be picky about what they spend their money on. Generally, the top 5 influencers of their purchase decision, when it comes to smartphones, are: design, software, camera, apps available and, of course, the price bracket.

Sanjay of LG is of the view that the lines between the needs of consumers in different tier cities have started to blur, with the increasing purchasing power and technological awareness of the consumers. He further adds, “However, smartphones are mostly used in the tier-I cities, like Delhi and Mumbai, where the majority of the population belongs to the corporate world and are technologically updated. Apps, design and connectivity options are extremely important for tier-I cities. While smartphones are popular in the tier-II cities too, entry-level smartphones are more prevalent there. Tier-III cities are mostly dominated by entry-level smartphones and feature phones, where the build quality, audio and video qualities as well as the price bracket are major influencers of a consumer’s purchasing decision.”

When it comes to go-to-market strategies for urban and the rural market, Rajesh Agarwal, Managing Director & Co-Founder, Micromax, opines that as far as distribution network is concerned, it is the same for both the urban and rural market. However, in the urban market Large Retail chains play a big role. He adds, “We have different strategies for Large Retail Chains.” 

Vendor's Opinion on the Top Influencers of Mobile Phone Purchase Decision:< /span> 

Blackberry: • Price • Operating System • Applications • Service packages and schemes • Maintenance & Repairs	LG: • Design • Software  • Camera • Apps  • Pricebracket
Karbonn: • Convenient Features & Apps • User Interface  • Latest Technologies • Operating System  • All at a Comfortable Price Point.	Kobian: • SIM: Dual SIM / Quad SIM -support of GSM & CDMA • Multimedia functions: support social networking sites, ease of web surfing , FM • Inbuilt Storage & expandable memory slot • OS & Applications - inbuilt and downloadable • Look and Price

 

Videocon:
•The Consumer seeks advice - from friends, peers, and internet and industry experts before deciding his mobile choice wherein the brand name plays a very important part in his decision making ability.
•Price is also a very important decision point in terms of mobile buying.
•Technology is another important decision for mobile consumers. He seeks better mobile technology and understands that the newness of technology will help him better in the technologically advanced mobile ecosystem of today.
•Features such as screen size and battery performance are other important aspects in determining the buying decision. 
•Consumer offer / gifts / deals also play an important role.



The Youth Factor…

The youth of today wants the best of everything. They don’t want to carry  multiple device at a time. Instead, they want a single device that serves all the functions. The urge for instant access to information and being connected round the clock through social media and instant messaging has propelled the uptake of more advanced mobile devices and technologies among the Gen Y.

Bipin Narang, Head – Marketing, Videocon Mobile Handest Division, shares, “Videocon is a very youth-oriented brand wherein the impetus is on creating a product line which is very vibrant, jazzy and in sync with today’s time. We believe in innovating with the times and bringing in technologies which appease the consumers (youth in particular), and equip them with a mobile device which is technologically innovative yet cost-effective at the same time. Our endeavour is to create a pertinent connect with the youth of today and fulfil their expectations while adding value in the package.” 

Sushmita Das, Country Manager – India, Kobian Pte Ltd., quips, “Change is the only constant thing and we have believed in the same for years of product development. We have a group of dynamic and enthusiastic team in product development that spends hours on studying the latest gadgets and gizmos. And more importantly we rely a lot on the direct end-customer’s feedbacks which are studied by the product head at regular intervals which help us in improving the current models and launching new ones.” 

 

Finally…

As far as the mobile phone is concerned, it is going through a sea change. The smartphone market is expected to take over the feature phone market in the future. Consumers are looking beyond the basic functions of voice calling or messaging. This is where smartphone plays a significant role as it serves innumerable services such as online searches, social networking, chatting, webmail, video streaming, maps and navigation, banking, finance, travel and shopping etc. This is what consumers look at as their desired mobile device and of course vendors are ever engaged to bring up the best-of-the-breed technology to satisfy the consumer’s appetite. n