Consumer switching

behaviour on mobile
phones

INTRODUCTION:It is evident that Telecom Industry are flooded by number of brands, customers
have hundreds of choice to switch from one brand to another. But for a marketer it
is very important to know, why consumers switch? What are the possible reasons
for switching from particular brand? Why consumers are not loyal to a particular.
The objective of this study is to know the factors which are responsible to switch
or to choose a particular brand.
The consumer behaviour is identifying, searching, selecting and consuming
products and services for satisfying their needs and wants. Consumer behaviour
determines how consumers decide to buy our product and what the various factors
responsible for this area.
The companies are always trying to build mutual relationships with their
customers through delivering better value and fulfilling their commitments, but
due to competitive business environment, its becoming difficult for marketers to
do so. The consumer switching behaviour is there in between both, companies and
customers, because the consumer switching behaviour restricts both parties to
make long term relationships and even it breaks the pre-developed long term
relationships.
Generally, there are four categories of factors, which highly affect the consumer
behaviour and also play an important role in switching consumer behaviour. (1)
Cultural Factors are the major influencing factors, which related to the culture, in
which the customer is living and their needs and wants are highly affected by
culture, which includes the culture, sub-culture and social class. (2) Social factors
are societal norms, values and sagas are also affecting the buying behaviour of
consumers like reference groups, family members and role & status of each
member in society. (3) Personal factors are the persons consumer behaviour is
dependent on personal factors like age, life cycle, occupation, income, lifestyle
and personality. (4) Psychological factors are the persons motivation, perception,

learning, beliefs, attitudes and thinking also affects the buying decisions of
consumers.

LITERATURE REVIEW:1. The psychology of how consumers think feels reason and select between
different alternatives like brands, products and retailers. (Perner , 2006).
2. The consumer switching behaviour is basically the behaviour of
consumers in shifting their attitude from one brand (product) to another
brand (product) (Zikiene and Bakanauskas, 2006).
3. . Information society, which influences social, economic, scientific and
political thought processes as well as life styles, is considered to be
revolutionary due to the fact that it not only modifies the production
methods but also all aspects of life (Kumar 2005: 40).
4. The consumer behaviour is identifying, searching, selecting and
consuming products and services for satisfying their needs and wants
(Solomon et al., 2006).
5. The marketers believe that ensuring loyalty and reducing churn are two
options, which not only develops good relationships with customers but
also reduce the switching behaviour of customers (Marshal et al., 2011,
p871).
6. Compared with other US industries selling goods and services, mobile
phone services rank well below the average in customer satisfaction
(Hamblen, 2010).
7. The marketing efforts, like sales promotions, advertising and brand
loyalty are also other influencing factors, which de-motivate the
consumer switching behaviour (Nagar, 2009, p35).
8. The more experience a customer has with a service, the less likely he/she
is to switch (Keavene and Parthasarathy, 2001).

OBJECTIVES:1. To know which brand people are using by age and gender wise.

2. To know the price range of the mobile phone they are using.
3. To know how frequently people change their mobile phone.

METHODOLOGY:This research study is limited to the study of consumer switching

behaviour, with the perspective of mobile customers in Visakhapatnam. The
target customer includes the broad range of the population, because almost
every person is having a mobile phone. Further, the research study involves the
impact assessment towards influencing the consumer switching behaviour.

Sample Area: - 80% of data from Visakhapatnam

Sample Size: - 100
Sampling Technique: - Random sampling

TABLES AND INTEPRETATION:Table 1.1:Age * present brand Cross tabulation

Count
present brand

age

Total

others
specify
27

56

15-20

Samsung
14

apple
10

21-25

14

25-30

12

above 30

18

25

20

12

43

100

Total

nokia

Table 1.2:Gender * present brand Cross tabulation

Count
present brand
Samsung
gender

Total

apple

nokia

others specify

Total

male

12

26

55

female

13

11

17

45

25

20

12

43

100

The above two cross-tables shows the info about the people using at present mobile phone
brand and its relation with both age and gender wise. It shows that 15-20 age groups mostly
use other brands than Samsung, apple and nokia 48.21%. Samsung, apple and nokia are used
by 25%, 17.86% and 8.93 % respectively. 20-25 age groups mostly use other brands than
Samsung, apple and nokia 42.86%. Samsung, apple and nokia are used by 21.43%, 28.57%
and 7.14% respectively. 26-30 age groups mostly use other brands than Samsung, apple and
nokia 41.67%. Samsung, apple and nokia

are used by 25%, 8.33% and 25%respectively.

Above 30 groups mostly use nokia 16.67%. Samsung, apple and other brands

are used by

227.78%.
When it compare to gender wise ,47.27%males are using other brands and
21.82%,16.36%,14.55% are using

Samsung, apple and nokia

respective .and

31.11%females are using other brands and 28.895%,24.44%,8.89% are using

Samsung ,apple ,nokia respectively.

Table 2.1:Gender * present mobile price range Cross tabulation

Count
present mobile price range
less than 10000
gender

male
female

Total

Table 2.2:-

10000-20000

Total

20000-30000

30000&above

12

23

12

55

20

14

45

19

43

16

22

100

Age * present mobile price range Cross tabulation

Count
present mobile price range
less than 10000
age

10000-20000

Total

20000-30000

30000&above

15-20

13

23

11

56

21-25

14

25-30

12

above 30

18

19

43

16

22

100

Total

The above two cross tables shows the info about the price range of the mobile phones and its
relation with both age and gender wise . it shows that percentage of price range of mobiles used
by 15-20 age group of people use less than 10000 is 23.21% and 10000-20000 is 41.07% and
20000-30000 is 16.07%And 30000 above is 19.64%. the percentage of price range of mobiles
used by 21-25 age group of people use less than 10000 is 14.28% and 10000-20000 is 28.57%
and 20000-30000 is 21.42% And 30000 above is 35.71%. the percentage of price range of
mobiles used by 25-30 age group of people use less than 10000 is 8.33% and 10000-20000 is
58.33% and 20000-30000 is 16.66% And 30000 above is 16.66%. the percentage of price range
of mobiles used by above 30 age group of people use less than 10000 is 16.66% and 1000020000 is 50% and 20000-30000 is 11.11% And 30000 above is 22.22%.
When it compare to gender wise males use 21.81% price range of mobile phones is less than
10000 and 10000-20000 is 41.81% and 20000-30000 is 21.81 and 30000 above is
14.54.females use 15.55% price range of mobile phones is less than 10000 and 10000-20000 is
44.44% and 20000-30000 is 8.89 and 30000 above is 31.11

Table 3.1:-

Age * how often do you change your mobile Cross tabulation

Count
how often do you change your mobile
6 months
age

1 year

2 years

more than 2 years

Total

15-20

17

16

14

56

21-25

14

25-30

12

above 30

18

12

32

29

27

100

Total

Table 3.2:Gender * how often do you change your mobile Cross tabulation
Count
how often do you change your mobile
6 months
gender

Total

1 year

2 years

Total

more than 2 years

male

24

14

55

female

15

18

45

12

32

29

27

100

The above two cross tables shows that info about how often people change their mobile phone
and its relation with both age and gender wise . it shows that 15-20 ,20-25,25-30 and 30 above
age group of people change their mobile phone for 6 month is 16.07%,14.28%,0%,5.55%
respectively. And 15-20 , 20-25,25-30 and 30 above age group of people change their mobile
phone for 1 year is 30.35%,42.85%,41.66%,22.22% respectively .and 15-20 ,20-25,25-30 and
30 above age group of people change their mobile phone for 2 years

is

28.57%,28.57%,25%,50% respectively. And 15-20 ,20-25,25-30 and 30 above age group of

people change their mobile phone for above

2 years is 14.28%,33.33%,38.88%,25.45%

respectively
When it compared to gender wise 14.54% male change mobile phones for 6 months, 43.13%,
25.45% and 25.45% change phones for 1 year, 2 year and above 2 years. 8.88% female change

mobile phones for 6 months, 53.33%, 33.3% and 40% change phones for 1 year, 2 year and
above 2 years.

CONCLUSION:From this report we can say that the people whose income is more than 100000 they change
their mobile phones for every 6 months.
From the survey we can say that consumers shift to a new brand because of its features. Now-adays people are attracted towards the new brands like Lenovo, One plus, Asus, etc, rejecting the
brands like Samsung, Nokia etc this is because they are getting the best features with a lower
cost.

REFERENCES:
1. Perner, L. (2006) CONSUMER BEHAVIOR: The psychology of Marketing, 1
August, [Online],March 2012].

2.

Zikiene, K. and Bakanauskas, A.P. (2006) Research of Factors influencing loyal

customer switching behaviour, 17 July, [Online],
Available:http://www.mediastudies.lt/sites/default/files/Bakanauskas
%20Zikiene.pdf [2 March 2012].

3.

Kumar, R. (2005), Research Methodology: A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners,

2nd ed., Pearson Education, Sydney.

4.

Hamblen, M. (2010), Subscribers more satisfied with cell-phone carriers:

Sprint jumps 11% in customer satisfactionsurvey, available
at:www.computerworld.com/s/article/9176935/Subscribers_more_satisfied_with
_cell_phone_carriers (accessed 20 December 2010).

5.

Solomon, M., Bamsossy, G., Askegaard, S. and Hogg, M.K. (2006)Consumer

Behavior-An European Perpective, 3rd edition, Essex: Pearson Education
Limited. Marshal, R., Huan, T.-C., Xu, Y. and Nam, I. (2011) 'Extending prospect
theory cross-culturally by examining switching behaviour in consumer and
business-to-business contexts', Journal of Business Research, vol. 64, no. 8,
August, pp. 871-878.

6.

Nagar, K. (2009, p35) 'evaluating the effect of consumer sales promotions on

brand loyalty and brand switching segments', The Journal of Business
Perspective, vol. 13, no. 4, October, pp. 35-48.

7.

Customer Switching Behaviour in service Industries: An Exploratory Study.

Journal of Marketing, 59(2), 71-82.