CHAPTER - 7 MARKETING IMPLICATIONS, LIMITATIONS AND My powers are ordinary. Only my application brings me success. - Isaac Newton In the previous chapter, there was the discussion regarding major findings of the study. It was organized on the basis of different stages of buying decision process of mobile phone. Present chapter discusses the marketing implications on the basis of findings. It will discuss marketing implications on the basis of different stages of buying decision process of mobile phone. This chapter also discusses limitations of the present study and scope for future research. 7.1. Marketing Implications: 7.1.1. Stage 1: Need Recognition Need recognition is the first stage of buying decision process. It is very essential for the marketers to understand why consumers buy mobile phone, which different needs motivate them to purchase a mobile phone. Present study attempted to understand different needs of rural consumers for mobile phone and compare them with the needs of urban consumers. Following are marketing implications out of the findings of the study. 394
1) Marketer should give more importance to communication need and business need for the promotion of the mobile phones to rural consumers compared to urban consumers. 2) While for urban consumers information need (internet), value added services need and privacy need should be given more importance compared to rural consumers for the promotion of mobile phones. 3) Overall both rural and urban consumers give importance to communication need, security need and information need (internet) for the purchase of mobile phone. Other than these needs urban consumers also give importance to value added services need for the purchase of mobile phone. 4) Both rural and urban consumers give minimum importance to status need for the purchase of mobile phone. 5) Rural male consumers give more importance to business need for the purchase of mobile phone compared to rural female consumers. 6) While rural female consumers give more importance to security need and information need (internet) for the purchase of mobile phone compared to rural male consumers. 7) Overall both rural male and rural female consumers give importance to communication need, security need and information need (internet) for the purchase of mobile phone. 8) Urban male consumers give more importance to business need and economy need for the purchase of mobile phone compared to urban female consumers. 9) While urban female consumers give more importance to security need for the purchase of mobile phone compared to urban male consumers. 10) Overall both urban male and urban female consumers give importance to communication need, security need, information need (internet), and value added services need for the purchase of mobile phone. 395
11) Rural consumers with the age of 21 to 40 years give more importance to economy need and comfort and convenience need for the purchase of mobile phone compared to under 21 years of age. 12) Urban consumers with the age of 21 to 40 years give more importance to economy need and comfort and convenience need for the purchase of mobile phone compared to under 21 years of age. 13) Urban consumers with the age of 21 to 40 years give more importance to status need for the purchase of mobile phone compared to any other age groups. 14) Urban consumers with the age of more than 41 years give minimum importance to entertainment need for the purchase of mobile phone compared to any other age groups. Marketer should take into consideration above factors while framing marketing strategies for mobile phones with reference to rural consumers and urban consumers. 7.1.2. Stage 2: Sources of Information Present study attempted to understand different sources of information of rural consumers for mobile phone and compare them with urban consumers. Following are marketing implications out of the findings of the study. 1) Rural consumers give more importance to direct experience with the product as a sources of information for the purchase of mobile phone compared to urban consumers. 2) While urban consumers give more importance to television, radio and internet as sources of information for the purchase of mobile phone compared to rural consumers. 396
3) Overall both rural and urban consumers give importance to family and friends, internet and direct experience with the product as sources of information for the purchase of mobile phone. 4) Both rural and urban consumers give minimum importance to radio as a source of information for the purchase of mobile phone. 5) Rural male consumers give more importance to mobile phone retailer and direct experience with the product as sources of information for the purchase of mobile phone compared to rural female consumers. 6) While rural female consumers give more importance to family and friends, television, newspaper and magazine as sources of information for the purchase of mobile phone compared to rural male consumers. 7) Overall both rural male and rural female consumers give importance to family and friends, internet and direct experience with the product as sources of information for the purchase of mobile phone. 8) Urban male consumers give more importance to mobile phone retailer and direct experience with the product as sources of information for the purchase of mobile phone compared to urban female consumers. 9) Overall urban male and urban female consumers give importance to family and friends, internet and direct experience with the product as sources of information for the purchase of mobile phone. Marketer should take into consideration above factors while framing the marketing communication strategies for mobile phones with reference to rural consumers and urban consumers. 397
7.1.3. Stage 3: Evaluation of Alternatives Present study attempted to understand different criteria for evaluation of alternatives for mobile phone by rural consumers and compare them with those of urban consumers. Following are marketing implications out of the findings of the study. 1) Urban consumers give more importance to features of mobile phone and functions of mobile phone as criteria on evaluation of alternatives for the purchase of mobile phone compared to rural consumers. 2) Overall both rural and urban consumers give importance to quality, brand name, post purchase services, functions, features, price and design of mobile phone as criteria of evaluation of alternatives for the purchase of mobile phone. 3) Both rural and urban consumers give minimum importance to credit / installment facilities as criterion of evaluation of alternatives for the purchase of mobile phone. 4) Rural male consumers give more importance to price of mobile phone as criterion of evaluation of alternatives for the purchase of mobile phone compared to rural female consumers. 5) Overall rural male and rural female consumers give importance to quality, brand name, post purchase services, functions, features, price of mobile phone and design of mobile phone as criteria of evaluation of alternatives for the purchase of mobile phone. 6) Overall urban male and urban female consumers give importance to quality, functions, brand name, features, post purchase services, price of mobile phone and design of mobile phone as criteria of evaluation of alternatives for the purchase of mobile phone. 398
7) Urban consumers with the age of 21 to 40 years give more importance to price of mobile phone as a criterion of evaluation of alternatives for the purchase of mobile phone compared to under 21 years of age. 8) Urban consumers with the age of more than 41 years give minimum importance to credit / installment facilities as a criterion of evaluation of alternatives for the purchase of mobile phone compared to any other age groups. 9) Both rural and urban consumers give importance to internet, music, camera and communication as one thing liked most in the mobile phone. Marketer should take into consideration above factors while framing marketing strategies for mobile phones with reference to rural consumers and urban consumers. 7.1.4. Stage 4: Purchase Decision The present study attempted to understand different elements of purchase decision of rural consumers for the mobile phone and compare them with urban consumers. Following are marketing implications out of the findings of the study. 1) It is found that Nokia is popular in rural consumers as 289 (40.60%) consumers are having this brand. Second is Samsung with 260 (39.50%) rural consumers are using it. 2) For urban consumers Samsung is most used brand as 284 (36.90%) consumers are using it. Second is Nokia as 254 (33.00%) urban consumers are using it. 3) Out of total rural consumers 64.70% have purchased their mobile phone from mobile retailer and 26.80% of rural consumers from company show room. 4) Similarly out of total urban consumers 55.50% have purchased their mobile phone from mobile retailer and 33.90% of urban consumers from company show room. 399
5) Cash payment is the most used method by both rural and urban consumers for the purchase of mobile phone. 93.10% of rural consumers and 90.20% of urban consumers used cash payment method. 6) Overall both rural and urban consumers are influenced by my-self (selfdecision), family members and friends for the purchase of mobile phone. 7) Both rural and urban consumers are least influenced by mobile phone retailer for the purchase of mobile phone. 8) Rural female consumers are more influenced (decision maker) by family members for the purchase of mobile phone compared to rural male consumers. 9) Overall both rural male and rural female consumers are influenced (decision maker) by my-self (self-decision), family members and friends for the purchase of mobile phone. 10) Urban male consumers are more influenced (decision maker) by my-self (selfdecision), friends and mobile phone retailer for the purchase of mobile phone compared to urban female consumers. 11) While urban female consumers are more influenced (decision maker) by family members for the purchase of mobile phone compared to urban male consumers. 12) Overall both urban male and urban female consumers are influenced (decision maker) by my-self (self-decision), family members and friends for the purchase of mobile phone. 13) It was found that there is no influence (role) of youth (age between 13 to 35 years) on rural and urban consumers in buying decision process of mobile phone. Marketer should take into consideration all above factors while framing marketing channels strategies, marketing communication strategies and mode of payment strategies for mobile phones with reference to rural consumers and urban consumers. 400
7.1.5. Stage 5: Post-purchase Behaviour Present study attempted to understand the post-purchase behaviour of rural consumers for the mobile phone and compare it with urban respondents. Following are marketing implications out of the findings of the study. 1) Study found that both rural and urban consumers are satisfied with their mobile phone. 2) It is found that both rural and urban consumers will recommend their mobile phone to others. 3) Rural consumers have high repurchase intension of their next mobile phone from the same company compared to urban consumers. 4) It is found that both rural male and rural female consumers are satisfied with their mobile phone. 5) Rural female consumers have high willingness for recommendation to others of their mobile phone compared to rural male consumers. 6) It is found that both rural male and rural female consumers have high probability for repurchase intension of their next mobile phone from the same company. 7) It is found that both urban male and urban female consumers are satisfied with their mobile phone. 8) Both urban male and urban female consumers will recommend their mobile phone to others. 9) Both urban male and urban female consumers have high probability for repurchase intension of their next mobile phone from the same company. 10) It was found that most preferred option of disposal of mobile phone for rural consumers is exchange in the shop (37.70%), while most preferred option of disposal of mobile phone for urban consumers is reselling (31.70%). 401
Marketer should take into consideration above factors to understand and to frame appropriate marketing strategies for the post purchase behavior of rural and urban consumers for mobile phones with reference to level of satisfaction, recommendation to others, repurchase intension from the same company and disposal of mobile phone. 7.2. Limitations of the Study Hardly there is any research work without limitations and one has to understand the outcome of any research with reference to these limitations to understand better implications. Present research is too not without limitations and the findings of the research should therefore understand with reference with these limitations. 1) Consumer behavior is dynamic in nature and influenced by many inter-related factors like consumer psychology (motivation, perception, learning and memory) and consumer characteristics (cultural, social and personal). Present research studied only buying decision making process of rural and urban consumers for mobile phone, other factors though important were not included in the study. 2) Factors (variables) for each stage of buying decision process were considered with the help of in-depth literature review, but still there might be number of other variables which may influence each stage of buying decision process for mobile phone. 3) Findings of the present research is relevant for Saurashtra region. It may not be relevant in other places or in different time. 4) Some respondents may not be truly representative. Sometimes respondents give ideal (what should be) answer instead of actual (what actually is) answer in the questionnaire. 5) Scale type questions were sometimes difficult to understand by some respondents especially rural. This may influence their response for these questions. 402
6) In planning stage it was decided to collect 200 sample (100 Rural and 100 Urban) from each seven district of Saurashtra Region, but due to practical limitations, it was not accomplished. Though overall plan of 1400 sample (700 Rural and 700 Urban) was successfully achieved. 7) The present research might have any other limitations which might be unnoticed by the researcher. 7.3. Scope of Future Research There is always possibilities for improvements and advancement in any work. The present research work also includes these possibilities for the future work. It has taken three areas for the research work namely rural marketing, consumer behavior and mobile phone. In each area there is possibilities for the future work, which are briefly mentioned below. 1) The present research work could be replicated in other parts of the India to understand regional differences in the behavior of rural consumers and urban consumers. 2) The present research could also be replicated to understand buying decision process of mobile phone with reference to consumers of different countries. 3) The present research has studied the buying decision process for mobile phone. This work could be replicated to understand the impact of other behavioral factors like consumer psychology (motivation, perception, learning and memory) or consumer characteristics (cultural, social and personal) for mobile phone. 4) In present research, each stage of buying decision process includes different factors. It may be possible to replicate the work with some other factors for each stage. 403
5) There may be replication of the present research with reference to only one or few stages of buying decision process of mobile phone with some more depth. 6) The present research work has used questionnaire as a tool for data collection. The work could be replicated with the help of some other methods also (like interview). 7) Present research has studied the buying decision process for mobile phone instrument and not of that service providers (like Vodafone, Airtel etc.). Present research work could be replicated to understand the buying decision process of rural and urban consumers with reference to service providers. 8) The main objective of present research work was to understand rural consumer behavior. It has taken mobile phone as a product for the base. There may be replication of the present work with reference to other goods or services. 9) One can do the research work to understand the impact of mobile phones on rural and urban consumers like psychological, social, economical, medical (on brain) or others aspects. 404
Conclusion Rural market is emerging market in India. It has huge opportunities and also many challenges. Therefore, for any marketer it is very important to understand the rural market carefully for developing the effective marketing strategies. Present research has made an attempt to understand rural consumers. It has studied the buying decision process of rural and urban consumers for mobile phone in Saurashtra region in Gujarat state in India. It has surveyed 1481 respondents (Rural 712 and Urban 769) with the help of questionnaire. It has done comparative analysis between rural and urban consumers for buying decision process for mobile phone. Further, it has also conducted gender based and age based analysis for the same. Present research found that there is a significant difference between rural and urban consumers for many variables in each stage of buying decision process for mobile phone except the purchase decision stage. One should use the findings of the research with reference to limitations of the study. Finally, like any other research work, in present research work also there is a scope of improvements and future research work. 405