Brand Loyalty towards Smartphones A Descriptive Study

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1 Available online at International Journal of Advanced Scientific Research & Development Vol. 02, Spl. Iss. 02, Ver. II, Aug 2015, pp e-issn: p-issn: Brand Loyalty towards Smartphones A Descriptive Study Dr. J. SUNDARARAJ Assistant Professor in Commerce, Directorate of Distance Education, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar Tamil Nadu, India. ARTICLE INFO Article History: Received: 21 Jul 2015; Accepted: 22 Jul 2015; Published online: 10 Aug Key words: Smartphone, Brand Loyalty, Consumer Typology. ABSTRACT Smartphones are revolutionary and magical product that is literally five years ahead of any other mobile phone. Rapid technological development and short product life have been the characteristics of the industry. The Times of India predicts that the Indian smartphones market is expected to consolidate its position and will emerge as the world's second biggest market in Reuters in its survey found that just 25 percent of smartphone owners planned to stay loyal to the operating system running their phone. However, loyalty with a handset is a lot more complicated these days. Dick and Basu give attention to the appropriate measure of attitude. The present article classify smartphone customers according to Dick and Basu s typology using attitude and behaviour loyalty. Copyright 2015 IJASRD. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Common Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. INTRODUCTION Smartphones are revolutionary and magical product that is literally five years ahead of any other mobile phone. Rapid technological development and short product life have been the characteristics of the industry (Xun Li, 2010). Mobile manufacturing and operating developing companies are pushing Smartphone technology so hard, the new Smartphone with higher speed and more features are coming out every year. Short product life forced the Smartphone owners to upgrade their phones on an average 18 months to keep with the news generation Smartphone.56 percent of smartphone owners in key global markets were keeping their options open about which phone they would buy next (Reuters, 2010). According to worldwide survey of smartphone users, certain brands enjoy higher levels of brand loyalty compared to other major devices which rate at less than 40% (Wood 2014). In general, most Smartphone customers are young and middle age groups according to Nielsen (2011). Hedonism, visibility, and open mindedness are the main characteristics of the groups and they often consider Smartphone as a means of leisure, simplicity in life, social connectives and information How to cite this article: Sundararaj, J., (2015). Brand Loyalty towards Smartphones A Descriptive Study. International Journal of Advanced Scientific Research & Development (IJASRD), 02 (02/II), [Special Issue Aug 2015], pp

2 Brand Loyalty towards Smartphones A Descriptive Study access. In this backdrop, the current paper attempt to describe the nature of brand loyalty exhibited by the smartphone customer i.e., typology of smartphone customers. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK 2.1 Indian Smartphone Market Smartphone is not just a simple mobile phone; rather it has an extensive data storage capacity and processing power. The Smartphone has moved the data processing power to in the hands of mobile users, who can use the mobile device irrespective of time and space (Leyland, et al., 2010). According to Euromonitor 2010, Smartphone contains functions such as instant messaging, downloading applications, and the use of information services such as Wi-Fi and global positioning system (GPS) and entertainment. The market demand for Smartphone in worldwide is high.in the 2015, the Indian smartphones market is expected to further consolidate its position, before emerging as the world's second biggest market in (The Times of India, 2014). As per research firm emarketer, India will exceed 200 million smartphone users, topping the US as the world's second largest smartphone market by 2016, largely on the back of growing penetration of affordable smart mobile devices. (The Times of India, 2014) 2.2 Brand Loyalty Brand loyalty has been the center of attention among academicians and practitioners for many decades. Oliver defined comprehensively loyalty as "a deep held commitment to rebuy or re-patronize a preferred product/service consistently in the future, thereby causing repetitive same-brand or same brand-set purchasing, despite situational influences and marketing efforts that have the potential to cause switching behavior"(oliver, 1999). Brand loyalty can be operationalized either based on behavioral, attitudinal or composite approach (Jacoby, J., & Chestnut, R, 1978). Behavioral loyalty has been considered as repeat purchases frequency or proportion of purchase, while attitudinal brand loyalty referred to "stated preferences, commitment or purchase intentions of the customers. In addition, few academicians suggested that using the composite approach (attitudinal and behavioral approach) will provide a more powerful definition of brand loyalty. Dick and Basu (1994, p. 100) also state that the behavioral definition is, consequently, insufficient to explain how and why brand loyalty developed and modified up."(dick & Basu, 1994). Loyalty has both attitudinal and behavioral elements, and it is determined by the strength of the relationship between relative attitude and repeat patronage. In this article, smartphone customers classified according to Dick and Basu s model. 2.3 Dick and Basu s Typology of Loyalty Dick and Basu (1994) have offered an attitude-behaviour typology of loyalty. This divides consumers into four segments using two levels of behavioural loyalty and two levels of attitude toward the brand. Dick and Basu state that customer loyalty is viewed Volume 02, Special Issue 02, Version II 10 th & 11 th August

3 International Conference on Innovation in Commerce and Management (ICONICM 2015) Organized by Department of Commerce, A.V.C. College (Autonomous), Mannampandal, Mayiladuthurai , Tamil Nadu, India. as the strength of the relationship between an individual s relative attitude and their repeat patronage. Dick and Basu s approach implies that, normally, the most loyal behaviour will be observed in the True loyalty segment and the least loyal behaviour in the No loyalty segment. If the customers in the cells are not differentiated in this way on related variables, we may question the value of the typology. 2.4 Problem Statement In most the researches, customers are classified either on behavioural aspects or attitudinal aspect. Most previous research on customer loyalty has been carried out in static market and mature environment. The new actors are dominate because smartphone market environment is dynamic and thus smartphone markets possess: - (1) short product life; (2) fast technology and design change/ development; (3) constant new product introduction; (4) the established market actors are struggling to maintain the competitiveness. Furthermore, despite wide citation in textbooks, Dick and Basu s loyalty segmentation does not appear to be used in research. Our study sets out to remedy this omission. We classify customers according to Dick and Basu s typology using attitude and share loyalty and then find out whether other loyalty behaviours occur in the frequencies that would be expected according to the model. Therefore, it is imperative to study the brand loyalty towards smartphone consumers on the bases Dick and Basu s Typology model. 2.5 Objective of the Paper Based on the above, we aim to describe whether smartphone consumers possesses loyalty towards their brand or not and what kind of brand loyalty they exhibit. Thus, the objective of this paper is: To describe the smartphone consumers brand loyalty typology. Accordingly, the study will focus on classifying smartphone consumers on the basis of Dick and Basu s brand loyalty. 2.6 Hypothesis There is no relationship between type of brand and smartphone consumers typology. 2.7 Purpose The purpose of this study is describing the smartphone customers on the basis of their brand loyalty typology. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Empirical and descriptive research design is adopted for the present study. The study has adopted survey research method to validate the research model. The data relevant for the study is collected through structured questionnaire in a real field 479 Volume 02, Special Issue 02, Version II 10 th & 11 th August 2015

4 setting. The period of study is during May-June Brand Loyalty towards Smartphones A Descriptive Study 3.1 Sampling Design The study adopted non-probabilistic convenience sampling technique. The sample size is limited to 100 smartphone respondents in Coimbatore city. The Four leading brands namely, Nokia/Windows, Samsung, Micromax and Lava are considered for the study. From each brand 25 respondents are selected on the basis of convenience. 3.2 Framework of Analysis Measuring Instruments The smartphone brand loyalty is measured with two dimensions, namely, Behavioural loyalty and attitudinal loyalty. The Behavioural loyalty is measured under three [3] dimensions and the attitudinal loyalty is also measured in three (3) dimensions. A total of 19 questions on brand (Behavioural and attitudinal) loyalty are asked and the respondents answered the questions by indicating their level of agreement/ disagreement to the statement stated, using the scale from 1 for "strongly disagree" to 5 for "strongly agree". 3.3 Tools for Analysis In order describe the smartphone consumers brand loyalty and to test the hypotheses framed, the following statistical tools are used. Descriptive Statistics - percentage analysis and inferential statistics, chi-square analysis and Analysis of variance are used. ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION The smartphone consumers are classified according Dick and Basu s typology model. According to that, consumers are classified into two [Low level and High level] Behavioural loyalty and Attitudinal Loyalty. The smartphone consumer are classified further that, the respondents who has low level of Behavioural and Attitudinal loyalty are termed as No Loyalty customers; the respondents who has high level of Behavioural and Attitudinal loyalty are termed as True Loyalty customers; the respondents who has low level of Behavioural and high level Attitudinal loyalty are termed as Latent Loyalty customers and the respondents who has high level of Behavioural and low level Attitudinal loyalty are termed as spurious Loyalty customers. Table 1 describes the smartphone consumers on the basis of their brand wise typology and framed the following hypothesis. H0: There is no relationship between smartphone brand type and their typology. Volume 02, Special Issue 02, Version II 10 th & 11 th August

5 International Conference on Innovation in Commerce and Management (ICONICM 2015) Organized by Department of Commerce, A.V.C. College (Autonomous), Mannampandal, Mayiladuthurai , Tamil Nadu, India. Table 1: Smartphone Brand Loyalty Typology Smartphone Brand Nokia/Windows Samsung Micromax Lava Total True Loyalty Brand Loyalty Typology Latent Loyalty Spurious Loyalty No Loyalty Total No % 16.1% 34.8% 26.3% 25.9% 25.0% No % 45.2% 21.7% 5.3% 18.5% 25.0% No % 25.8% 30.4% 21.1% 22.2% 25.0% No % 12.9% 13.0% 47.4% 33.3% 25.0% No % 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% Source: Primary Data * Level of Significance = 5 % Pearson Chi-Square - Value d.f = 9 p value = 0.029* The Table 1 exhibits that out of 31 True Loyalty smartphone customers, 45.2 per cent [14] respondents are of Samsung customers, five [16.1%] are of Nokia/Windows customers and 8 [25.8%] and 4 [12.9%] respondents respectively from Micromax and Lava brand customers. The number of Latent Loyalty smartphone customers are 23, out of which eight (8) are of Nokia/Windows phone respondents and seven [21.7 %] respondents belongs to Samsung smartphone customers and 30.4 % and 13.0 % respondents of Micromax and Lava smartphone customers. There are 19 Spurious Loyalty smartphone customers, out of which 26.3 %, 5.3 %, 21.1 % and 47.4 % respondents are of Nokia/Windows, Samsung, Micromax and Lava smartphone brand customers respectively. 27 smartphone customers are in the category of No Loyalty respondents, out of which 7, 5 6 and 9 customers belongs to Nokia/Windows, Samsung, Micromax and Lava smartphone brands respectively. Therefore, majority of 45.2 % True Loyalty customers are from Samsung brand smartphone customers % of Latent Loyalty customers belong to Nokia/Windows brand respondents. Lava smartphone customers [47.4 %] have highest Spurious Loyalty and 33.3 % respondents have No Loyalty. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS In conformation with the previous researchers, Samsung brand customers have high level of True Brand Loyalty. Nokia/Windows customers possess high degree of Latent Loyalty. It shows that, if the Nokia/Windows brand fulfills the needs and expectations of their customers, they can create True Brand Loyalty, as their attitudinal loyalty is higher. Indian brands Micromax and Lava has high degree of Spurious and No loyalty. It indicates that their Behavioural loyalty is high but the attitudinal level of 481 Volume 02, Special Issue 02, Version II 10 th & 11 th August 2015

6 Brand Loyalty towards Smartphones A Descriptive Study loyalty is low. Therefore, both Indian smartphone brands need to create positive attitude towards their brands. However, innovation in the fields of smartphone market is dynamic and therefore all the brands have to be on their toes in order to meet their competition. REFERENCE [1] Atkinson, Z. (2010). Smartphone Brand Loyalty. YouGov s Technology and Telecoms Consulting Team. [2] Bansal, H.,& Shirley, F. (1999). The Service Proider Switching Model (SPSM): A Model of Consumer Switching Behaviour in the Services Industry. Journal of Service Research, 2 (2), [3] Butcher, K., Sparkes, B., & Callaghan, F. (2001). Evaluative and relational influences on service loyalty. International Journal of Service Industry Management, 12 (4), [4] Consumerbehaviourau.wordpress.com. (2014). Brand Loyalty and the Smartphone. [5] Dick, A., & Basu, K. (1994). Customer Loyalty: Toward an Integrated Conceptual Framework. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, [6] International Data Corporation (IDC). (2014). India Continues As One Of The Fastest Growing Smartphone Markets In Asia Pacific In 1Q 2014, Says. Banglore: International Data Corporation (IDC). [7] Jacoby, J.,, & Chestnut, R. (1978). Brand loyalty: Measurement and management. New York: Wiley. [8] Jones, M. A., David, L., & Sharon E.Beatty. (2000). Switching Barriers and Repurchasing Intentions in Services. Journal of Retailing, 76 (2), [9] Mattila, A. (2001). The impact of relationship type on customer loyalty in a context of service failures,". Journal of Service Research, 4 (2), [10] Mellens, M., Dekimpe, M., & Steenkamp, J. (1996). A Review of Brand Loyalty Measures in Marketing. Tijdschrift Voor Economie en Management, Vol.XLI (4), [11] Oliver, L. R. (1999). Whence Consumer Loyalty? Journal of Marketing, 63 (Special Issue), [12] Price, L., Lawrence, F., & Guskey, A. (1995). Everyday market helping behavior. Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, 14 (2), [13] Pritchard, M., Havutz, M., & Howard, D. (1999). Analyzing the commitment-loyalty link in service contexts. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 27 (3), [14] Reuters. (2010). Few smarphone owners are loyal to their brand: Survey. London: Reuters. [15] Reynolds, K., & Mark, J. (2000). Customer Loyalty to the Salesperson and the Store: Examining Relationship Customers in an Upscale Retail Context. Journal of Personal [16] The Times of India. (2015, June 28). Samsung loses 3.3% smartphone market share in India. Times of India. [17] Zeithaml, V., Leonard, L., & A. Parasuraman. (1996). The Behavioral Consequences of Service Quality. Journal of Marketing, 20 (2), 31. Volume 02, Special Issue 02, Version II 10 th & 11 th August