1.2 NEED OF THE STUDY

This is an attempt to bring out the significant factors influencing the customer to prefer the

particular brand laptop. This study is to compare different brands of laptops on the basis of their

brand component and how different component of brand equity and identify influence students is

choosing a particular brand of laptop. A good knowledge of students brand preference n laptop would

help in understanding how brand shape students buying decision and preferences.

1.1 INTRODUCTION

A laptop is a portable personal computer with a clamshell form factor, suitable for mobile

use. They are also sometimes called notebook computers or notebooks. Laptops are commonly used

in a variety of settings, including work, education, and personal multimedia.

A laptop combines the components and inputs as a desktop computer;

including display, speakers, keyboard, and pointing device (such as a touchpad), into a single device.

Most modern-day laptop computers also have a webcam and a mice(microphone) pre-installed A

laptop can be powered either from a rechargeable battery, or by mains electricity via an AC adapter.

Laptops are a diverse category of devices, and other more specific terms, such as ultra books or net

books, refer to specialist types of laptop which have been optimized for certain uses. Hardware

specifications change vastly between these classifications, forgoing greater and greater degrees of

processing power to reduce heat emissions.

Portable computers, originally monochrome CRT-based and developed into the modern

laptops, were originally considered to be a small niche market, mostly for specialized field

applications such as the military, accountants and sales representatives. As portable computers

became smaller, lighter, cheaper, and more powerful and as screens became smaller and of better

quality, laptops became very widely used for a variety of purposes.

Whether it is a growing craze or the emergence of a new breed of technology-conscious

Laptop market is going to flourish in India. The need for anytime-anywhere access to information is

pushing laptop demand in the market due to their convenience in terms of portability, flexibility and

adaptability. In every field of life like, hospitality, railways, metro trains, corporate houses,

academics, professionals etc. we found the use of laptop/computers for different purposes. Laptops

are current day demand that simplify work and life as well. It contributes towards the upliftment of

performance, work easiness by introducing the home office concept and provide a creative insight

for the work.

India’ developing economy notifies positive impact of this technology and continuously

moving towards growth. Initially laptop market started functioning as a niche market but now it has

various market segmentations as per their market demand. India is considered as the third fastest

growing laptop market with a compound annual growth rate of 21.9 % in the Asia- Pacific region

from last few years. In 2005 Laptop sale was accounted as 2% in India as compare to world laptop

market. Near about 1.2bn computers were in use worldwide at the end of 2008 .However, it has been

expected that the global laptop market will be double by 2013.Increasing laptop demands also set a

target to manufacturers to work as per consumer’s expectations.

Laptop market is a highly competitive market in the present scenario. Due to rapid

changes in the field of technology day by day new laptop brands comes in to existence. Also, the

consumer desires and expectations are moving on. It becomes difficult to survive for laptop

manufacturers if they don’t move fast with growing needs of consumers. This study presents a

brief overview of Indian Laptop industry. The present paper highlights the laptop usage in study

from student’s point of view .The research paper further makes an attempt to identify and

evaluate various factors which influence purchase indent of management and engineering

students. Finally present paper comes with some simple and practical suggestions to improve

laptop features and that will help laptop manufacturers to develop brand management strategies

and to make proper positioning of their brands.

There are seminal studies on consumer purchase decision models in the literature, however,

consumer purchase decisions vary greatly depending on the product to be purchased. Therefore,

sectoral studies are needed to delineate the factors affecting consumer purchase decisions in various

product markets. The International Data Corporation (IDC, 2006) report mentioned that in 2005

consumers continued to respond very positively to very attractive price points, but portable demand in

the business space remained very strong too. According to What Laptop (2005), Dell was the number

one choice in worldwide with 7.9 million sales. It was followed respectively by HP (7.4 million),

Toshiba (5.8 million), IBM (4.3 million), and Acer (3.9 million) in year 2004. Furthermore, revenue

generated from notebooks has long surpassed desktops, thanks to higher average selling prices for

notebooks. According to CRN (2006) in June 2005, notebook sales accounted for $216.1 million, or

$1,442.66 per notebook whereas desktops accounted for $113.9 million, or $762.98 per unit. The

average notebook price fell 11.8 percent from $1,635.07 in the year-ago month and in the same

period, desktop prices fell 5 percent from $803.38 (CRN, 2006). In addition, new product launches to

the market, acquisitions and mergers in the sector, rapid developments in the nano-technology,

integrated wireless networking, and decreased prices make it extremely vital for the companies to

understand the factors underlying consumers’ laptop purchase decisions.

The customer base of a company consists of three groups of consumers: stairs (those who had

never switched from a previous brand), satisfied switchers (those who switched for reasons other than

dissatisfaction), and dissatisfied switchers (those who switched because they were dissatisfied from

their previous brand) (Garnish et al., 2000). Understanding the attitudes of these three different groups

of customers plays an important role when implementing effective and feasible retention and loyalty

strategies. Furthermore, it is also crucial to understand whether there are differences among these

groups in terms of the factors affecting their future laptop purchases when they are upgrading their

computers.

In today’s tough competitive world every thing can be easily done by means of computers.

Nowadays, this powerful tool can be properly utilized by the students. The future digital world is in

the hands of the student community. The use of computers in education started in the 1960s. With the

advent of the convenient micro computers in the 1970s, computer use in schools has become

widespread from primary education to the university level. Especially the post graduate students in

various disciplines like arts, science and professionals can make use of computers for doing their

research works, studies, searching information, sending as well as recording information, presentation

purpose and also for entertainment. For the purpose of fulfilling the basic needs and wants, students

are ready to purchase computers; based on their preference and taste, they purchase branded

computers.

Purchase decision making pattern is a complex amalgam of needs and desires, and is influenced by

factors such as consumer's, societal role, social and cultural environment and norms and aspiration

and inhibitions. Brand is a mark, name, logo or trademark that identifies a product or 46 Annamalai

Solayappan, Jothi Jayakrishnan.

service or organization and distinguishes it from its competitors. The art of creating and

maintaining a brand is called brand management. In computer market the various brands are: Acer,

Compaq, Dell, Hp, Sony, Toshiba, Lenovo, Asus, Philips, Apple, IBM, Samsung, HCL, Wipro, LG,

Hitachi, Gigabyte, Panasonic, Sharp, Averatec, Everex, Mac, Advent, Mesh, Parkard bell, Gateway,

The rest, MDG, Zepto, Trigem,G7 etc. Among these, the leading brands of computers in the markets

are: Sony, Hp and Compaq, Lenovo, Acer, Dell, Asus, Toshiba, HCL, IBM and LG.

The basic factors which influence the students to buy branded computers are as follows:

Good quality, Reasonable price, Specification / Configuration, Guarantee, Warrantee, Additional

Warrantee, Regular service, Originality, Components and Products availability, Experienced sales and

service person, Demos, On- line purchasing, Customer care centers, Attractive styles, Perfect

finishing, Different models, Website information, Genuine offers, Attractive advertisement,

Celebrities in advertisement, Credit facilities, Safety, Security, Supportiveness, Ranges of price,

Lesser risk, Door delivery, Updating of product, Brand image etc.

1.3 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The study attempt to evaluate the brand preference of the professional students among the laptop and

also evaluate the buying behaviour of the professional students. It is also analyse the satisfaction level

of the customer among each brand.

1.4 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

1. To analyze the laptop brands preferred by the professional students.

2. To compare the popularity of different companies providing branded laptop.

3. To identify and evaluate the factors affecting the choice of the laptop brand preference.

4. To study the satisfaction level of laptop brand purchase by the professional students.

1.5 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The laptop companies faces a stiff competition from different competitor. This study help to analyze

the popularity among each brand. To analyze which brand component will help to made purchase

decision among each brand. In this study tried to analyze the level of satisfaction of the customer.

1.6 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY.

As the study is conducted in INFOPARK COCHIN only, the results arrived at cannot

be applied to other centres of the State.

A large sample could not be taken due to limited time.

Many customers were unable to answer accurately due to ignorance of facts.

Time available at the disposal was not enough. Therefore it was not feasible to go in depth

and choose wide area.

1.2 NEED OF THE STUDY

This is an attempt to bring out the significant factors influencing the customer to

prefer the particular brand laptop. This study is to compare different brands of

laptops on the basis of their brand component and how different component of

brand equity and identify influence students is choosing a particular brand of

laptop. A good knowledge of students brand preference n laptop would help in

understanding how brand shape students buying decision and preferences.

1.2 NEED OF THE STUDY

This is an attempt to bring out the significant factors influencing the customer to prefer the

particular brand laptop. This study is to compare different brands of laptops on the basis of their

brand component and how different component of brand equity and identify influence students is

choosing a particular brand of laptop. A good knowledge of students brand preference n laptop would

help in understanding how brand shape students buying decision and preferences.

1.2 NEED OF THE STUDY

This is an attempt to bring out the significant factors influencing the customer to prefer the

particular brand laptop. This study is to compare different brands of laptops on the basis of their

brand component and how different component of brand equity and identify influence students is

choosing a particular brand of laptop. A good knowledge of students brand preference n laptop would

help in understanding how brand shape students buying decision and preferences.