An Analysis of Consumer Behavior and Marketing Strategies

Submitted To-

Md. Farhan Faruqui

Senior lecturer& course instructor

Dept. of Business Administration

Submitted by-

Name IDMd. Asibul Islam 2009-2-10-319Shafket Ahmed Chowdhury

2009-2-10-205

Ahsan Habib 2009-1-13-011Jubair Rahman 2009-2-10-155Quazi shamsul Islam 2009-2-10-154

Date of submission: 7th December 2011

ContentsAn Analysis of Consumer Behavior and Marketing Strategies...............................................................3

Dell laptop: An Analysis of Consumer Behavior and Marketing Strategies............................................5

Page 1 of 35

Executive summary...............................................................................................................................6

1. Introduction...................................................................................................................................7

1.1 Origins.........................................................................................................................................7

1.2 Objectives....................................................................................................................................7

1.3 Scope...........................................................................................................................................7

1.4 Limitation....................................................................................................................................7

1.5 Methodology................................................................................................................................8

2. Background of Dell-laptop.................................................................................................................9

2.1Company Profile...........................................................................................................................9

2.2. Company Mission:...............................................................................................................10

2.3.1. Products:............................................................................................................................10

3. Analysis of Consumer Behavior:.....................................................................................................11

3.1. Profile of the Target Market:....................................................................................................11

3.1.1. Demographic Factors:........................................................................................................11

3.1.2. Social Factors:...................................................................................................................16

3.1.3. Other Findings:..................................................................................................................17

3.1.4. Self-Concept:......................................................................................................................21

3.1.5. Psychological Factors:........................................................................................................22

3.2. Memory....................................................................................................................................24

Short-Term Memory:...................................................................................................................24

Long-Term Memory.....................................................................................................................24

3.3 Attitude:.....................................................................................................................................28

3.3.1 Attitude component:..........................................................................................................28

4.0 Recommendation:.....................................................................................................................36

5.0 Conclusion:................................................................................................................................37

6.0 BIBLIOGRAPHY...........................................................................................................................37

Books:..........................................................................................................................................37

Website:......................................................................................................................................37

Page 2 of 35

Dell laptop: An Analysis of Consumer Behavior and Marketing Strategies

Page 3 of 35

Executive summary

A successful marketer must understand consumer’s psychology and behavior to successfully

grip the target market. To fully understand consumer need, demand, marketers need to

accomplish marketer research. In this report, we have analyzed consumer’s psychology,

opinion, perception, and behavior towards Dell-laptop. Dell, Inc. is an American

multinational information technology corporation based in 1 Dell Way, Round Rock, Texas,

United States that develops, sells and supports computers and related products and services.

Bearing the name of its founder, Michael Dell, the company is one of the largest

technological corporations in the world, employing more than 103,300 people worldwide.

Dell is listed at number 41 in the Fortune 500 list. We have focused on brand equity, image,

external and internal factors etc.

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1. Introduction

1.1 OriginsEast West University is a foundation that upholds eastern cultures and values, and

evocatively fusions eastern and western thought and innovation. To do this it offers

undergraduate degree on different major subjects like Marketing, Finance, HRM, Economics

etc. Consumer behavior (MKT 410) is one of the courses of Marketing major. Precisely it

teaches us how individuals feel, think and act in the market place.

While doing the course we have learned the factors of persuading a buyer’s decisions,

learning, attitude, memory, self-concept and so many other vital things. To implement all of

those or in other way to practically experience those issues Mr. Farhan Faruqui, course

teacher of Consumer Behavior has given us this term paper on “Dell Laptop”.

1.2 ObjectivesBy doing the report, we will be able to know the target market’s profile of Dell Laptop, their

buying purposes and preference. We will also be able to know the current market situation of

the laptop products. We will be exploring the facts how individuals get influenced towards

laptops, what they feel about different laptops and what are the comparisons.

This report will also let us know the possible commendations for Dell Laptop.

1.3 ScopeThe report is prepared concentrating on Dell Laptop. The area of the survey was only in

Dhaka city. So, all the estimations have been made based on the city area. It is a

comprehensive report based on structured questionnaire survey, data calculation, people’s

opinion, our perception and knowledge, and books of Consumer Behavior.

1.4 LimitationWhile preparing the report we had to face some problems.

1. For the sake of official secrecy, the concerned officials did not provide enough

information.

2. Time shortage was one of the major problems.

3. Then lacking of information among customer were another major problems. In many

case we found some people who do not have any idea about Dell Laptop. Many

people did not cooperate because they were not interested.

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4. As because the questionnaire was in English many people could not understand the

questions and thus could not answer well.

1.5 Methodology

Nature of the study: Exploratory

Source of information: Both primary and secondary.

Primary Source: Primary source were random entities. The following factors were

considered to collect information:

Sampling method : Convenient Sampling

Information Collection instrument : Structured questionnaire for the respondents.

Sample Size : 60 individuals.

Secondary Sources: Secondary information was collected from the internet.

Analysis of information: Statistical technique through MS Excel was used to analyze the

collected data. Sum, Countif, Average, weighted average were used here.

Presentation of Information: Collected and calculated information are presented in graphical

forms.

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2. Background of Dell-laptop

Dell, Inc. is an American multinational information technology corporation based in 1 Dell

Way, Round Rock, Texas, United States that develops, sells and supports computers and

related products and services. Bearing the name of its founder, Michael Dell, the company is

one of the largest technological corporations in the world, employing more than 103,300

people worldwide. Dell is listed at number 41 in the Fortune 500 list.

Dell has grown by both increasing its customer base and through acquisitions since its

inception; notable mergers and acquisitions including Alienware (2006) and Perot Systems

(2009). As of 2009, the company sold personal computers, servers, data storage devices,

network switches, software, and computer peripherals. Dell also sells HDTVs, cameras,

printers, MP3 players and other electronics built by other manufacturers. The company is

well known for its innovations in supply chain management and electronic commerce.

Fortune Magazine listed Dell as the sixth largest company in Texas by total revenue. It is the

second largest non-oil company in Texas – behind AT&T – and the largest company in the

Austin, Texas area.[

2.1Company ProfileBasic Information

Company Name: Dell Laptop

Business Type: Information Technology Corporation.

Business Line: Different type of Laptops.

Product/Service: Dell Inspiron, XPS, Adamo and Studio.

Company Website: www.dell.com

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2.2. Company Mission: Mission is to be the most successful computer company in the world at delivering the best customer experience in markets we serve.

2.3.1. Products:

2.3.1.1 Dell Inspiron:

Dell Inspiron 14R Dell Inspiron 1525 laptop

Dell Inspiron 14R i14RN Dell Inspiron 15R-N5050

Dell XPS M1330 The XPS M1210

Page 8 of 35

Dell Adamo Adamo endgame

Dell Studio Dell Studio

3. Analysis of Consumer Behavior:

3.1. Profile of the Target Market: In this part of the report, we have discussed the demographic, psychographic and socioeconomic factors about the target market of Laptop. From this part it is easy to find out all potential consumers age, sex, income, education, source of information, influential factors, personality. This information have been found out by conducting an extensive survey based on 60 samples and analyzed by several statistical tools.

3.1.1. Demographic Factors:

Demography is the study of human population in terms of size, density, location, age, gender, race, occupation and other statistics. The demographic environment is of major interest to marketers because it involves people and people who make up market and it also give them a clear description of them.

From the survey we found the result of demographic factors which are described below:

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Gender:

Usually marketers target their products towards a specific portion of the market based on

several analyses. Here we tried to find out the sensitivity and the variation between the male

and female respondents. For that we have divided our total sample in two groups- male and

female.

We conducted our survey based on 60 people’s opinion. Among these people, 60% were male and 40% were female.

60%

40%

Overall GenderMale Female

68%

32%

DELL Consumer (Gender)

Male Female

Figure: Gender of overall laptop market& Dell laptop

From the survey result we found that among these 60% of male, 68% are the customers of “DELL Laptop” and among the 40% of female, 32% are the users of “DELL Laptop”.

According to our findings it is very clear that the majority customers of “DELL Laptop “are male.

Probable Strategy:

They should focus more on female customers, because most of the consumers of “DELL Laptop” are male.

“DELL Laptop” should associate its product more with female consumers by using renowned female personalities in its marketing activities.

“DELL Laptop” should advertise its product more to their target market. They can make Television Commercials or Radio advertisements and play it in between the programs which are made for young people specially females.

They should introduce more vibrant colors. Example- Orange, green and purple. They can use Iconic Rote. For example, they can us e key-board by proposing female

ergonomic key-board.

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They can also use Vicarious Learning by showing in the ads – corporate women are using “DELL Laptop”, for targeting corporate women.

Age:

Age is one of the most important factors to identify the consumers’ behavior towards “DELL Laptop”. Age carries with it culturally defined behavioral and attitudinal norms. It affects our self-concepts and lifestyles. To find out the responsiveness about the “DELL Laptop”, we asked questions to different age group of our sample to find out the variation of consumer behavior in different age.

We have surveyed people of different age groups. Among our surveyed people, 55% of people are within the 16-25 age groups. It is clear that 16-25 age group people are majority in number.

7%

55%

23%

10%3% 2%

Overall People AgeUnder 16 16-25 26-3536-45 46-55 Above 55

4%

48%

28%

16%4%

DELL Laptop Consumers Age

Under 16 16-25 26-3536-45 46-55 Above 55

Figure: Age of overall laptop market & Dell laptop

From our survey we also found that 48% of people who are the consumers of “DELL

Laptop” are within the age group of 16-25. The age group of both 26-35 and 36-45 age

groups should also be considerable in number as the pie chart shows 28% and 16% of these

groups’ people use “DELL Laptop”. From this survey we can say that most of the consumers

of “DELL Laptop” are young teenagers, university students and young professionals.

Probable Strategy

They should focus on consumers who are under 16 years old. They can associate “DELL Laptop” with child celebrities like Justin Bieber, Henna

Montana.

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They can introduce special featured Laptop by using cartoon characters image on the case of Laptop.

They can arrange quiz competition on information of “DELL Laptop” in schools for creating depth and awareness of “DELL Laptop” with a view to persuading to buy “DELL Laptop”.

They can offer discounts to whoever can show valid student ID Card. They can offer preloaded games in the Laptop. They can also provide free school bag with “DELL Laptop”. They can arrange special fairs in schools. They can make special school packages with schools who like to offer “DELL

Laptops” to their students for educational purposes. They should also extensively focus on their big market that is 16-25 age group

because a large portion of this market hasn’t captured. They can offer a special type of Laptop for different type of target customer in the age

group of 16-25 like gaming laptop for who like to play game, studio laptop with high multimedia feature for who like to listen music.

High configuration laptop for who are studying engineering section like CSC, EEE, ETE.

Education:

Education has a strong influence on one’s tastes and preferences. It also influences how one thinks, makes decisions, and relates to others. However, education seldom provides a complete explanation for consumption patterns. Those with a limited education are generally at disadvantage not only in earning money but in spending it wisely.

According to our survey results, most of our surveyed people (49%) are Masters/MBA.

48%

35%

3%8% 2%3%

Overall People Educa-tion

Masters/MBA UnderGraduateHSC/A-Level SSC/O-LevelDiploma Others

56%32%

8% 4%

DELL Laptop Con-sumers Education

Masters/MBA UnderGraduate

HSC/A-Level SSC/O-Level

Diploma Others

Figure: Education of overall laptop market& Dell laptop

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From the pie chart above, we can see that 56% of “DELL Laptop” customers’ level of education is Masters/MBA and 32% customer’s level of education is UnderGraduate. So we can say that educated people mostly prefer “DELL Laptops”.

Probable Strategy:

As most of the customers are educated so “DELL Laptops” should use green materials to manufacture its products.

They should safely dispose off laptop batteries so that is causes least harm to the environment for the well aware and environmentally concerned consumers of “DELL Laptops”.

Advertisement should be more informative and should focus on the features and the configurations of “DELL Laptops”

They should offer licensed version anti-virus and essential office tools software They should practice social marketing which is the most preferable criteria for

educated people.

Occupation:

Most of the occupation predetermines the individual’s income level. One’s occupation provides status and income. In addition, the type of work one does and the types of individual’s one works with over time also directly influence one’s values, lifestyle, and all aspects of the consumption process. In our questionnaire we have asked question to identify which professions respondents are appropriate target customer of “DELL Laptops”.

Among our surveyed people, the largest portions (54%) of participants are students.

10%

28%

5%

53%

3%

Overall People(Occupation)

Govt. Employee Private EmployeeBusinessman StudentOthers

16%

32%8%

40%

4%

DELL Laptop Consumer

(Occupation)Govt. Employee Private EmployeeBusinessman StudentOthers

Page 13 of 35

Figure: occupation of overall laptop market& Dell laptop

From our survey result we found that 40% of people who uses“DELL Laptops” are students, 32% are private employees, and 16% are Government employees in occupation. So, the company should focus on students more as they are biggest market and has biggest portion that has been not covered.

Strategy:

As most of the customers are students, “DELL Laptops” should increase the number of laptop models with different design and casing and should offer student discount.

Have to focus on offering special packages for schools, colleges and universities. Colorful advertisement and association with young generation celebrities will help to

attract the students and increase the sales. They can sponsor events in schools, colleges and universities like talent competition

and game tournaments to attract the attention of the students who are the largest segment.

For private employees and business people they can emphasize more on the quality and high features and configured “DELL Laptops” as they can afford high price laptops also.

3.1.2. Social Factors:

Social factors denote the social status of the target market by considering social class and other factors.

Social Class:Income is highly influential in determining social class. To identify the respondent’s social class we asked them about their individual income to find their actual position in the society. The survey represents that most of the participants are in the family income range of 40,001-50,000 or 30,001-40,000.

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7%17%

23%35%

18%

Overall Population(Income)

10,000 or less 10,001-20,00020,001-30,000 30,001-40,00040,001-50,000 50,001-above

4%16%

40%20%

20%

DELL Laptop Consumer(Income)

10,000 or less 10,001-20,000

20,001-30,000 30,001-40,000

40,001-50,000 50,001-above

Figure: Income of overall laptop market& Dell laptop

From our survey we found out that 40% of people who purchase and use“DELL Laptops”, their family income are in between TK.30,001-40,000 and 20% users of “DELL Laptops” their family income are in betweenTK.40,001-50,000. So we can see that the consumers of “DELL Laptops” are middle class and upper middle class.

Probable Strategy:

Primarily they should focus more on middle class and upper middle class people as they prefer “DELL Laptops”.

They can use price skimming pricing strategy to capture all layer of middle class. They can go to the cost leadership strategyby reducing augmented features as the

country’s economic factors are little bit vulnerable. Can offer installment method to grab lower middle class customer. Secondarily, upper class of the society is the big portion of the laptop market.

Marketer can also attract upper class of the society by proposing high quality and numbers of feature by charging extra price.

They can charge high price compare to competitors by proposing same features to provide message towards the upper class customers that purchasing DELL is part of status.

3.1.3. Other Findings:

We have found some other information like source of information, influential factors, and ranks based on consumer perceptions which are described below:

Page 15 of 35

Most influencing factor at the time of purchase Laptop

From our survey we found out that most of our participants are influenced by friends (32%) at the time of purchasing Laptops.

24%

13%

32%

4%

15%

11%1%

Influence FactorsSelf Family Friends CelebritySales People Advertisement Others

Figure: Influencing factors of laptop market

The pie chart above has shown that 32% of our participants are influenced by their friends to purchase the laptop products and 24% people are influenced by themself and 15% by marketing activities.

Probable Strategy:

DELL should maintain the level of quality to satisfy their existing customers as they are the reference people for them to the new potential consumers.

DELL can launch special package in the Friends Day. For example, if two friends buy two laptops they will be provided PENDRIVE and SPECIAL SOFTWARE.

They can arrange case competition whereby the participant will be provided special gifts if they suggest their friends.

For creating loyal customers “DELL Laptops” should focus on after sales service as they can work as reference people if they become satisfied.

As most customers are spontaneously involved in purchasing “DELL Laptops”, marketer can use classical conditioning by using the image of expertise personality like Mostofa Jobbar associating “DELL Laptops” in advertisement.

They can also use Iconic Rote by proposing that, “We offer high processing ram”.

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Dell can provide special training program to sales personals for selling DELL Laptops.

The highest seller of the month will get a trip.

Source of knowing about “DELL Laptop”

From our survey result, we came to know that 33% of people heard about “DELL Laptops” from their Friends/ Relatives and Associate, 20% of the people got information from Websites and 17% from Magazines.

11%

16%

9%20%

33%

9%1%

Source of Information

TV commercials Magazines Billboards Websites

Friends/Relatives/Associates In-store advertising Others

Figure: Source of laptop market

Probable Strategy:

DELL should maintain the level of quality to satisfy their existing customers as they are the source of information for new potential consumers which will work as the word of mouth.

DELL can offer special discount for siblings. They should target different social networking sites and blog for their online

advertisement to grab online customer. DELL can develop their own website which will be improved, informative and easily

understandable. They should regularly update their website. DELL should target life style and technology related magazine for their

advertisement. They can buy full page magazine to isolate their print ad.

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Their ad should contain more color as color is more important than size. TV commercials can transmit very clear information to people due to its movement

and exposure. Baskin-Robbins has to apply its classical conditioning ads more on different TV channels.

Rank based on Consumers Perception

Column1

Column2

Column3

Column4

Column5

2.5 7.5 12.5 17.5 22.5 27.5Column1 Column2 Column3 Column4 Column5

Brand 0 0 0 0 0

Dell 28 12 7 1 0

HP/Compaq 17 22 6 3 0

Fujitsu 7 17 11 5 8

Toshiba 2 4 13 17 12

Acer 2 1 10 15 20

Rank your favorite Laptop

Figure: Rank of favorite laptop

This chart has been developed based on consumers’ perception about DELL Laptop. In developing this chart we have used a 5 Space Ranking Tool. According to this chart, DELL has the highest probability of being ranked no.1 which is strongly supported by the consumers who favored it as their second choice.

Probable Strategy:

As HP/Compaq is close to be Rank-1 according to consumers’ perception, DELL should do SWOT analysis of HP/Compaq.

DELL should increase the life time of battery and after sales service in which HP/Compaq is stronger than DELL.

DELL should arrange seminar where they will ask for advice about customization of DELL by providing gift to the respondent.

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3.1.4. Self-Concept:

Personality

Personality is the totality of the individual’s thought having reference to him as an object.

This analysis shows that the personal characteristics of those people who have taken part in

this survey.

Rugged-Deli-cate

Excitable-Calm

Dominating-Submissive

Youthful-Adult

Formal-In-formal

Series1 3.41666666666667

2.56666666666667

2.7 2.43333333333333

2.78333333333333

0.250.751.251.752.252.753.25

Personality

Figure: personality of respondent.

From the table we can see that people who stand on average. They tend to be more delicate,

excitable, dominating, youthful and formal. First, DELL has to give persuasive

advertisement by highlighting all the features.

This graph has been developed based on consumers’ perception about themselves. We used

a 5 space ranking tool o measure those perception. In this graph, the more close the rankings

are towards rank 5 the more the surveyors are tend to be Delicate, Calm, Submissive, Adult,

and Informal. On the other hand, the more close the ranks toward rank 1 states that the

people are tend to be more Rugged, Excitable, Dominating, Youthful, and Formal. The

ranks show the extremism of individual attributes.

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Probable Strategy:

As most of the customers of laptops are Delicate, DELL can introduce

persuasive ad in the Magazine as well as Newspaper which is considered

important media source for delicate people.

In the same time, delicate people are looking for source reliability of

advertisement. DELL can use reliable and expertise celebrity endorsement

for their advertisement like Saied Akbar.

Excitable people love colorful ads, excitable offering, exciting events like

sports. So DELL can introduce colorful ad, exciting offering like buy one

laptop get one Speaker free. DELL can also sponsor the T20 game.

As youth people love to follow opinion leader, DELL can use the image of

opinion leader like Dr. Muhammad Zafar Iqbal.

As youth people fond of stylish and fashionable case, DELL can offer stylish

and fashionable case by conducting research and development.

As youth people are interested in buying gaming and studio laptop, so DELL

can offer those.

DELL can also arrange laptop fare by targeting youth people.

Dell can arrange seminar on IT revolution which can promote DELL.

As formal people are quality concerned rather than price, DELL can offer

quality features like durability, high configuration, and friendly licensed

operating system.

3.1.5. Psychological Factors:

Conditioning:Conditioning refers to learning based on association of a stimulus (information) and response (behavior or feeling). There are two basic forms of conditioned learning-classical and operant.

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DELL Laptop(special discount)

Desired Response(Consumption)

Reinforcement(augmented features)

Increases Probability of Response to Stimulus

Classical Conditioning: The process of using an established relationship between a stimulus and response to bring about learning of the same response to a different stimulus is called classical conditioning.

UCS= Unconditional Stimulus UCR= Unconditional ResponseCS= Conditional stimulus CR= Conditioned ResponseFigure: Classical Conditioning of “DELL Laptop”

Operant Conditioning: A response that is given reinforcement is more likely to be repeated when the same situation arises in the future. Reinforcement plays a much larger role in operant conditioning than it does in classical conditioning. Since no automatic stimulus-response relationship is involved, the subject must first be induced to engage in the desired behavior. Then this behavior must be reinforced. Operant conditioning often involves the actual usage of the product.

Figure: Operant Conditioning of “DELL Laptop”

Through operant condition “DELL Laptop” can grab more customers. For example, they can introduce special discount program in special occasions. After purchasing “DELL Laptop” at

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UCS(Image of Dr. Muhammad Zafar Iqbal)

UCR (Positive response/Emotion)

CS (DELL)CR (Conditioned Response)

special discount consumer start liking for its augmented features. Then consumer tend to buy “DELL Laptop” at full price whenever they demand for laptop.

3.2. MemoryMemory is the total accumulation of prior learning experiences. It consists of two inter related components:

Short-Term Memory Long-Term Memory

Short-Term Memory:Short term memory is that portion of total memory that is currently activated or in use. It is often referred to as working memory. It is an active, dynamic process not a static structure.

Maintenance Rehearsal:This is the application of short term memory. Maintenance Rehearsal is the continual repetition of a piece of information in order to hold it in current memory for use in problem solving or transferable to long term memory.

Strategy DELL can launch TV commercial specially before IT related program and they can hire space in front of IDB building, Manik Mia Avenue, Mohakhali Flyover, in front of Ruposi Bangla to create repeated rehearsal in their memory which will help to increase the likings of “DELL Laptop”.

Long-Term MemoryLong-Term Memory is viewed as an unlimited, permanent storage. Long-Term Memory carries numerous types of information such as concepts, decision, rules, process, affective states and so forth. In case of long term memory product stays for a long term and consumer can recall after a certain period of time.

Semantic Memory:Semantic Memory is the basic knowledge or feelings about a concept. It represents the person’s understanding of an object or event at its simplest level.

After hearing “DELL Laptop”, the attributes come in the mind of the people are High Status, Durability, High Price, High Memory. These attributes work as semantic memory to the people’s mind. (According to our survey we found 29% people said High Status, 21% said Durability, 15% said High Price, and 13% said High Memory come in their mind after hearing the name “DELL Laptop”).

Semantic Memory/ Schema:It is what a consumer thinks and feels when the brand name is mentioned. It is the source of personal experiences and opinions through which customers can differentiate “DELL Laptop” differently. “DELL Laptop” contains several characteristics, usage situations, episodes and affective reactions.

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While surveying the customers, we found several memory events about “DELL Laptop” which are given below:

Figure: Schema for “DELL Laptop”.

Positioning of “DELL Laptop”:Brand image is nothing but the schematic memory of the human beings. It is the combination of attributes, benefits, usage situations, users and manufacturer/marketer characteristics that people applies while interpreting “DELL Laptop”. It is often used interchangeably with brand image. Product positioning has a major impact of long term success of brand. It is the place that marketers want to have in the mind of target customer. To capture a good share in a market one can offer consumers greater value, either through lower prices or by providing more benefits that justify higher prices.

We tried to find out the position of “DELL Laptop” in the market by asking a question-

What comes in your mind when you hear the word “DELL Laptop”? Like High Status, Durability, High Price, High Memory, Portability, Availability, High Battery Life, Convenient to use.

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High Memory

Durability High PriceHigh Status

Expensive High Storage Capacity

High Quality

Quality Parts

PoshGood

PerformanceAristocrat Customer

Corporate Use

DELL Laptop

29%

21%

7%

10%

10%

10%15%

Position of DELL Laptop on Peoples Mind

High Status Durability Portability Availability

High Battery Life Convenient to use High Price High Memory

Others

Figure: positioning of the “DELL Laptop” on the people’s mind

According to our survey, we found that, majority of people (29%) said High Status comes in their mind, 21% of total people said Durability, 15% of people said High Price, 10% of people said Availability, 9% of people said High Battery Life and 9% Convenient to use.

“DELL Laptop” has to focus on its High Status and Durability of the laptop because according to people’s opinion their positioning depends mostly on Status and Durability of the laptop. Their High Price of laptops also plays a vital role here as 15% people gave their opinion towards it.

Perceptual Mapping:Perceptual mapping offers marketing managers a useful technique for measuring and developing a product position. It takes consumer’s perceptions of how similar various brands or products are to each other and relates this perceptions to product attributes.

Through perceptual mapping we tried to show “DELL Laptops” position compared with other brands in the market:

Perceptual Mapping Column1 Column2 Column3 Column4DELL HP/Compaq Fujitsu TOSHIBA

3.898305085

3.491525424

2.915254237

2.37288135

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4.254237288

3.644067797

2.593220339

2.44067796

Figure: Perceptual Mapping of Laptops

Based on our survey, we have completed our measurement and found some difference between “DELL Laptop” and other brands. The measurement is shown in perpetual mapping.

From the above perpetual mapping, we can see that “DELL Laptop” has the best quality and is more expensive than other brands. After “DELL Laptop”, “HP/Compaq” takes place in the second best position from both the Price & Quality. Then “Fujitsu”, “ACER” and “TOSHIBA” are in the third, fourth and fifth position respectively.

So, now we can say that “HP/Compaq” and “Fujitsu” are the main competitors of “DELL

Laptop”. “DELL Laptop” falls in the portion of Good Quality and High Price. “DELL

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Low Price

High Price

High Quality

Low Quality

ACER

DELL

HP/Compaq

Fujitsu

TOSHIBA

Laptop” is not that much available around Dhaka. Only two authorized dealers are serving in

the whole country. so it is very inconvenient for people to visit dealer’s stores. So people are

quite unhappy for it. Moreover, people face difficulty at getting after sales service whenever

they needed.

Probable Strategy:

“DELL Laptop” should emphasize on word of mouth by using Iconic-Rote that “we offer the best laptop”.

So DELL should increase price by proposing augmented features.

DELL should increase the use of quality materials for increasing Durability.

DELL should increase the number of dealers.

3.3 Attitude: An attitude is an enduring organization of motivational, emotional, perceptual, and cognitive

process with respect to some aspect of our environment.

3.3.1 Attitude component:

Measurement of cognitive component:

The component consists of the belief that the people have towards different laptops. To measure the cognitive component towards “DELL Laptop” we asked consumer to place belief about the best attributes of “DELL Laptop” and their “Ideal Laptop” in a semantic scale. To fully evaluate it, we also asked them to place their beliefs about “HP/Compaq”, as they are very popular and have a position in the market from the very beginning. We constructed the cognitive component measure like the following way:

High Status ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ Low Status

High Durability ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ Low Durability

High Price ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ Low Price

High Configuration ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ Low Configuration

High Picture Quality ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ Low Picture Quality

Portability ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ LessPortability

BetterAfterSales Service ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ Low After Sales Service

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The belief of customers towards ideal laptop:

Column1 Column2Attributes Weight

(%)Status 0.3

Durability 0.1Price 0.2

Configuration 0.1Picture Quality 0.1

Portability 0.1After Sales

Service0.1

Figure: Measuring weight

Based on our survey, people’s opinion and our perception, for the “Ideal Laptop”, we gave 30% weight to Status and 20% weight to Price. We gave equal weight for Durability, Configuration, Picture Quality, Portability, and After Sales Service that is 10%. We gave 30% weight for Status because whenever people think of “DELL Laptop” they think about status and because of status of their laptops they are referred by people’s friends, family and associates. We gave 20 % to price because one of the criteria of maintaining quality and status is to maintain its price as no one would think a laptop as High Status if it is not High Priced. We gave 10 % weight to other attributes as those come after Status and Price as they are the pre-determinants for the list of probable buying options.

DELL LAPTOP ( Cognitive Component - Measuring Beliefs about Specific Attribute)

Column1 Column2

Column3

Column4

Column5 Column6 Column7 Column8

Attributes Status Durability

Price Configuration

Picture Quality

Portability

After Sales Service

Total 255 237 232 243 243 229 229

Average 4.25 3.95 3.867 4.05 4.05 3.8166667

3.816666667

I 4.717 4.7667 4.717 4.73333 4.7 4.6166667

4.866666667

A-I -0.467 -0.817 -0.85 -0.6833 -0.65 -0.8 -1.05|A-I| 0.467 0.8167 0.85 0.68333 0.65 0.8 1.05

5.317Weight 0.3 0.1 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1

Weighted Average

0.14 0.0817 0.17 0.06833 0.065 0.08 0.105

0.71Figure: “DELL Laptops” Measurement of Cognitive Component.

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As we know that the closer an attitude index calculated in this manner is to zero, the better is the result. The total weighted average of “DELL Laptop” is 0.71. The weighted average of “DELL Laptops” Status and After Sales Service are very high 0.14 and 0.105 respectively which represents bad situation.

From measuring the cognitive components, we found that the difference between the “Ideal Laptop” and “DELL Laptop” Status is 0.467, Durability difference is 0.8167, Price difference is 0.85, Configuration difference 0.6833, Picture Quality is 0.65, Portability is 0.8, and After Sales Service difference is 1.05. If we compare it to the “Ideal Laptop”, we find all are in bad situation but the Price and After Sales Service are in worst situation.

HP/Compaq ( Cognitive Component - Measuring Beliefs about Specific Attribute)

Column1 Column2 Column3 Column4

Column5 Column6

Column7 Column8

Attributes Status Durability Price Configuration

Picture Quality

Portability After Sales Service

Total 237 239 210 232 243 237 244Average 3.95 3.98333 3.5 3.866667 4.05 3.95 4.066667

I 4.717 4.76667 4.7167 4.733333 4.7 4.6167 4.866667A-I -0.77 -0.7833 -1.2167 -0.86667 -0.65 -0.667 -0.8

|A-I| 0.767 0.78333 1.2167 0.866667 0.65 0.6667 0.85.75

Weight 0.3 0.1 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1Weighted Average

0.23 0.07833 0.2433 0.086667 0.065 0.0667 0.08

0.85Figure: “HP/Compaq’s” Measurement of Cognitive Component.

If we compare “DELL Laptops” with “HP/Compaq”, we can see that the total weighted average of “HP/Compaq” is higher than “DELL Laptops” that is 0.85. We can say that the situation of “HP/Compaq” is much worse than “DELL Laptops” in the market.

Changing Cognitive Component:A common and effective approach to changing attitudes is to focus on the cognitive component. “DELL Laptops” can change the consumer’s belief towards their product by changing beliefs, shifts Importance and add beliefs.

Change Belief:From the surveyed result, we can see that “DELL Laptop” has less efficiency in After Sales Service. They have to change this belief. By establishing more service centers, DELL can change consumer’s belief about their After Sales Service and can especially mention their efficiency on After Sales Service in their advertisement. Through giving repetitive advertisement on After Sales Service, people will start to change their belief towards “DELL Laptop” and will start to believe that they have efficiency on After Sales Service.

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Shift Importance:According to surveyed result, people think that although “DELL Laptop” has High Status but it has less efficiency in After Sales Service. So if “DELL Laptop” focuses more on High Status by proposing that “Owning DELL Laptop is a part of status”. Through this concept “DELL Laptop” may be able to grab more consumers by shifting their importance in Status.

Add Beliefs:According to our surveyed result we found that, 13% people believe that DELL Laptop has High Memory. So DELL can promote that “if one wants to do corporate work they need high memory which DELL has”. By this way DELL can add a new belief.

1. Measure of affective component:

It is emotion and feeling of the customer to a particular service. They showed their likings about “DELL Laptop” in the survey that is given below:

Measurement of affective component

StatementsStrongly Agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

I like the configuration of Dell Laptops. 21 27 6 5 1I am satisfied with the durability of "Dell" Laptops 20 24 8 5 3Dell Laptops are affordable 17 24 13 13 2I like DELL Laptops 17 5 8 5 5

Table: Measurement of affective component

From the above table we can see that 27 people out of 60 people surveyed “Agree” with the statement “I like the configuration of Dell Laptops”, 24 people also ‘Agree’ with the statement “I am satisfied with the durability of “Dell” Laptops”; 24 people said they are “Agree” with the statement “Dell Laptops are affordable”; 17% people ‘Strongly Agree’ with the statement “I like DELL Laptops”.The most noticeable thing is 13 of our surveyed people ‘disagree’ with the statement “Dell Laptops are affordable”; 13 people is a big number. So “DELL Laptop” has to focus on their affordability.

Probable Strategy:

According to surveyed result, people think that although “DELL Laptop” has High Status but it has less efficiency in After Sales Service. So if “DELL Laptop” focuses more on High Status by proposing that “Owning DELL Laptop is a part of status”. Through this concept “DELL Laptop” may be able to grab more consumers by shifting their importance in Status.

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Changing Affective Components:

It is increasingly common for a firm to attempt to influence consumers liking of its brand without directly influencing either belief or behavior. If the firm is successful, increased liking will lead to a tendency to purchase the brand should a need arise. Marketers use three basic approaches to directly increase affect: classical conditioning, affect toward the ad itself and mere exposure.

Classical conditioning:

One way to directly influencing the affective component is through classical conditioning. To change the affection of the customers we need to use classical conditioning. “DELL Laptop” can use celebrity on their advertisement. When people will see their favorite celebrity is using “DELL Laptop”, they will be convinced by the advertisement. As they like the celebrity, they will like the advertisement and through this way they may change their concept.

Affect toward advertisement:

Liking the advertisement can increase the tendency to like the product. “DELL Laptop” can give their advertisement on billboard by using more bright color that can easily attract more attention of consumers.

2. Measurement of behavior component:

A series of decision to purchase or not to purchase a product or to recommend it or other brands to friends reflect the behavioral component.The behavioral component tries to predict the actual behavior of consumers that in this case whether they are using “DELL Laptop” or not. This was measured by asking two questions:

1. Last time I used _________________ Laptop.

The result of the survey below:

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42%

30%

7%

13% 8%

Laptop Used Last TimeDELL HP/Compaq Fujitsu TOSHIBA ACER

Figure: Laptop used last Time

Here, we can see that 42% of consumers’ last time consumed “DELL Laptop”, 30% of consumers last time used “HP/Compaq” and another 13% last time used “TOSHIBA”, 8% of consumers last time used “ACER”, and 7% of consumers last time used “Fujitsu”.

2. Usually, I recommend ______________ Laptop.

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48%

22%

8%

10% 12%

Laptop Suggested By PeopleDELL HP/Compaq Fujitsu TOSHIBA ACER

Figure: Laptop will be recommended by people

From our survey findings we can see that 48% people usually suggest “DELL Laptop”, 22% people suggest “HP/Compaq”, 12% suggest “ACER”, 10% suggest “TOSHIBA”, and 8% people usually suggest “Fujitsu”.

We can say that “HP/Compaq” is the main competitor of “DELL Laptop”.

3. What is the likelihood that you will buy “Dell” Laptops the next time when you purchase Laptops?

Definitely will buy. Probably will buy May or may not buy Probably will not buy Definitely will not buy

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The result of the survey is given below:

22%

24%29%

12%12%

What is the likelihood that you will buy "Dell" Laptops the next time

when you purchase Laptops?

Definitely will buy Probably will buy May or may not buy

Probably will not buy Definitely will not buy

Figure: Likelihood of buying “DELL Laptop”.

According to our survey result, 29% customers’ opinion was “May or may not buy”, 24% “Probably will buy”, 23% people said they “Definitely will buy” the DELL and equally 12% people said they “Probably will not buy” and “Definitely will not buy”.

Changing behavioral components:Behavioral component cannot change directly. With the change of cognitive and affective component, behavioral component may change.

Changing behavioral prior to changing affect or cognition is based primarily on operant conditioning.

Operant conditioning:

It is the main source to change the behavior of the customers. The behavior component can be changed based on operant conditioning. If “DELL Laptop” gives discount to the people and after discount people may like it due to its augmented features. Finally people will purchase the product with full price. Through this way “DELL Laptop” can change the behavioral component.

Component Consistency:A change in one attitude components tends to produce related change in other components. Marketing managers are ultimately concern with the influencing behavior. Nevertheless it is often difficult to influence directly.

Consumer will often listen to sales personnel, attend advertisement, or examine package. Marketers can therefore, indirectly influence behavior by providing information, music or other stimuli that influence a belief or feelings.

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Figure: Component Consistency

4.0 Recommendation:Dell, Inc. is an American multinational information technology corporation based in 1 Dell

Way, Round Rock, Texas, United States that develops, sells and supports computers and

related products and services. A lot of people of Dhaka City like the Dell-laptop for it high

status, durability, high price and high memory. But Dell-laptop has some limitations which

should be fixed to attract more consumers, to increase market share, and to build loyal

customers. Dell-laptop has to do the following marketing strategies.

Advertising:

Dell laptop should increase advertisement. Dell should introduce informative adds in

the technology related magazine and daily newspaper. Dell should also focus on

Billboard advertisement. Sometimes Dell can launch TV commercial.

Improvement of Features: According to customer’s opinion, it should improve its features. Otherwise it will not survive in the competitive market and lose the young customer segment.

Should be affordable: “DELL Laptop” price should be more affordable. Many people cannot purchase their laptop because of high price.

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Cognitive Component (DELL Laptop is

Durable)

Affective component (Yes, DELL is Durable)

Behavioral Component (Purchasing DELL

Laptop)

Increase in product line: They should introduce laptops in its store. They have to expand their product line, have to bring new products.

Convenience:

Baskin-Robbins is not available to the customers. It has only two authorized delear in Dhaka which is located at IDB Vhabon. It has to contract with more delear in Dhaka city for the convenience of customers. As its target market is Upper middle class and Middle class people, it can launch delearship in Gulshan, Uttara, Baridharaetc to catch the target market.

5.0 Conclusion:Dell, Inc. is an American multinational information technology corporation. Though

it has lots of limitations, it is liked by many customers due to high status and

durability.

6.0 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books:

“Consumer Behavior”, Del I Hawkins, Rojer J. Best, Kenneth A. Coney,

Ninth Edition.

“Principles of Marketing”, Philip Kotler, Gray Armstrong, Eleventh Edition.

“Marketing Management”, Philip Kotler, Millennium Edition.

Website:1. www.dell.com

2. http://www.naaptol.com

3. www.aponalo.com

4. www.wikipedia.org

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