Study of Consumer Buying Behavior regarding the different Brands of Mobile Handsets

A Synopsis

Submitted to: Management Department Malout Institute of Mangement & Technology.

Submitted By: Sukhpal Singh Roll No. 1174497 MBA, MIMIT, Malout

INTRODUCTION
Mobile phones have gained a lot of popularity and are the considered to be great multimedia tools. Mobile phones are being used for entertainment purposes due the introduction of new features everyday. They have become more than just call making and receiving devices. Mobile phone handsets now have more business-friendly applications that can enhance anybodys business. With emerging technology, mobile phones have become more than communication devices; they are the tools to stay ahead of competitors and peers in the present times. Soon mobile phones will evolve from communication tools to integrated communication devices, media terminals, credit cards, and remote controls. Worldwide sales of mobile phones to end users reached almost 428 million units in the third quarter of 2012, a 3.1 percent decline from the third quarter of 2011, according to Gartner, Inc. Smartphone sales accounted for 39.6 percent of total mobile phone sales, as Smartphone sales increased 46.9 percent from the third quarter of 2011. While the mobile phone market declined year-on-year, Gartner analysts said there were positive signs for the industry during the third quarter. "After two consecutive quarter of decline in mobile phone sales, demand has improved in both mature and emerging markets as sales increased sequentially," said Anshul Gupta, principal research analyst at Gartner. In China, sales of mobile phones grew driven by sales of smart phones, while demand of feature phones remained weak. In mature markets, we finally saw replacement sales pick up with the launch of new devices in the quarter. Smart phones continued to fuel sales of mobile phones worldwide with sales rising to 169.2 million units in the third quarter of 2012. The smart phone market was dominated by Apple and Samsung. Both vendors together controlled 46.5 percent of smart phone market leaving a handful of vendors fighting over a distant third spot, said Mr. Gupta. Nokia slipped from No. 3 in the second quarter of 2012 to No. 7 in smart phone sales in the third quarter of 2012. RIM moved to the No. 3 spot with HTC not far behind, at No. 4. Both HTC and RIM have seen their sales declining in past few quarters, and the challenges might

prevent them from holding on to their current rankings in coming quarters, added Mr. Gupta. While seasonality in the fourth quarter of 2012 will help end-of-year mobile phone sales to end users, Gartner analysts said that there will be a lower-than-usual boost from the holiday season. Consumers are either cautious with their spending or finding new gadgets like tablets, as more attractive presents. Samsungs mobile phones sales continued to accelerate, totaling almost 98 million units in the third quarter of 2012 up 18.6 percent year-on-year. Samsung saw strong demand for Galaxy smart phones across different price points, and it further widened the gap with Apple in the smart phone market, selling 55 million smart phones in the third quarter of 2012. It commanded 32.5 percent of the global smart phone market in the third quarter of 2012.

Objectives of the study

The clear purpose or objective of the research enables the researcher to collect necessary relevant information. The objective of the research is to know the Study of Consumer Buying Behavior regarding the different Brands of Mobile Handsets. 1. To examine the factors those influence the customer choice while purchasing a mobile hand set. 2. To know which features in a particular brand are preferred by the mobile phone users. 3. To find out what additional features are demanded by consumers. 4. To study the satisfaction level of mobile phone users.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research Methodology is a way to systematically solve the research problem, which is a science of study how research is done scientifically. Thus research methodology encompasses the research methods or techniques; the research is capable of being evaluated either by the researcher himself or by others.

 SAMPLING
Sampling may be defined as the selection of some parts of an agreement or totality for the purpose of study. All the items in any field of inquiry constitute a universe or population, a complete enumeration of all the items in the population is known as Census inquiry. But when the field of inquiry is large this method becomes difficult to adopt because of the limited no. of resources involved in the case sample survey method is chosen under which units are selected in such a way that they represent the entire universe. SAMPLING DESIGN CENSUS METHOD: - All the items in any field of inquiry constitute a Universe or Population. A complete enumeration of all the items in the Population is known as a Census inquiry. It can be presumed that in such an inquiry, when all items are covered, no element of chance is left and highest accuracy is obtained. But in practical it is not true in all cases. This type of inquiry involves a great deal of time, money and energy. Therefore, when the field of inquiry is large, this method becomes difficult to adopt because of the resources involved. SAMPLING METHOD:- When field studies are undertaken in practical

life, consideration of time and cost almost invariably lead to a selection of respondents i.e. selection of only few items. The respondent selected should be as representative of total population. These respondents constitute what is technically called a Sample and the selection process is called Sampling Technique. The survey so conducted is known as Sample Survey. Implementation of Sample Design: - A sample design is a definite plan for obtaining a sample from a given population. It refers to the technique or the procedure the researcher would adopt in selecting items for the sample. Sampling design may as well lay down the number of items to be included in the sample i.e. the size of sample. Sample design is determined before the data are colleted. Steps In Sampling Design :- While developing a research design following items are taken into consideration:

I. Type of universe: - First and the foremost step is to clearly define the universe to be studied. As I will take the area of Fazilka City (Punjab), so for me here the universe is Fazilka City area. No doubt it is a finite universe but the area is very big and cant be covered easily due to shortage of time. II. Sampling unit: - A decision has to be taken concerning a sampling unit before selecting sample. Here my sample unit will includes college going students. III. Size of sample: - This refers to the number of items to be selected from the universe to constitute a sample. Here I will take the sample of 50 College going students. IV. Parameters of interest: - In determining the sample design, one must consider the question of the specific population parameters which are of interest. Here I had taken only college going students. V. Sampling procedure: - Finally the technique of selecting the sample is to be dealt with. That means through which method the sample has been collected. There are various types of selecting the sample. This includes probability sampling, random sampling, stratified sampling, cluster sampling, convenience sampling. Here I will use the convenience technique based on the non probability method of sampling for data collection, in Fazilka City area.

Type of Data
The researcher will collect the primary data in the Fazilka city, because the data does not exist in the records of Company. The researcher will go directly to the respondents and fill the questionnaires.