Consumer Behaviour Towards Apple
Table of Contents Purpose of the Project 3 Objective of the Project 3 Justification of the Project 4 Significance of the Project 5 Outline of the Project 5 SWOT Analysis 7 Strengths 7 Weaknesses 8 Opportunities 8 Threats 9 Literature Review 9 Range and Pricing of the iPod 9 Marketing Strategy 10 Utility as Product 11 iPod’s Utility is highly improved by Apps 11 Social Status 12 Bandwagon Effect 12 Hypothesis Development 13 Research Methodology 13 Constraints 13 Identifying the Variables 14 Developing a Research Instrument 14 Methodology 14 Selecting a Sample 14 Actual Collection of Data 14 Hypothesis Testing, Result & Conclusion 15 For Owners of the iPod 15 For Non-Owners of the iPod 17 Implications 19 Limitations 20 Future Research 20 References 22 Appendices 25 A. Questionnaire 25 Survey : 1 For Sample of Population who have an iPod 25 Survey : 2 For Sample of Population who don’t have an iPod 27 B. Survey Analysis 28 Survey : 1 For Sample of Population who have an iPod 28 Survey : 2 For Sample of Population who don’t have an iPod 32
-------------------------------------------------
Purpose of the Project
Apple launched iPod, the world’s first portable hard disk media player in 2001. The launch of the iPod has brought about a revolution in the music industry with preferences of the consumers having changed from physical sales to digital sales. We would study the iPod phenomenon and the factors that have led to its tremendous consumer response.
Currently, Apple iPod is the leader in portable music player devices all over the world. With sales of more than 45 million iPods in the period from July 2010 to June 2011, iPods have a major chunk in the share of Apple’s revenues apart from the iPad and the iPhone. We therefore plan to analyse the factors impacting the sustainability of the iPod, since 11 years of its launching.
Through this project we aim to understand the
-------------------------------------------------
Purpose of the Project
Apple launched iPod, the world’s first portable hard disk media player in 2001. The launch of the iPod has brought about a revolution in the music industry with preferences of the consumers having changed from physical sales to digital sales. We would study the iPod phenomenon and the factors that have led to its tremendous consumer response.
Currently, Apple iPod is the leader in portable music player devices all over the world. With sales of more than 45 million iPods in the period from July 2010 to June 2011, iPods have a major chunk in the share of Apple’s revenues apart from the iPad and the iPhone. We therefore plan to analyse the factors impacting the sustainability of the iPod, since 11 years of its launching.
Through this project we aim to understand the
References: 1. J. D. Biersdorfer, iPod: The Missing Manual (5th ed.): O’Reilly Media, Inc. 2007. 2. Belk, R.W. and Tumbat, G. (2005), “The cult of Macintosh”, Consumption, Markets and Culture, Vol. 8 No. 3, pp. 205-17. 3. S. A. Taylor, and T. L. Baker, “An assessment of the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction in the formation of consumers’ purchase intentions,” Journal of Retailing, Vol. 70, No. 2, pp.163-178, 1994. 4. Malester, J. (2005), “iPod at core of Apple’s shiny sales”, TWICE: This Week in Consumer Electronics., Vol. 20, 25 July, pp. 6-50. 5. Mello, J.P. (2005), “Accessories for iPod: To the tune of $300m”, The Boston Globe Online, available at: www.boston.com/business/personaltech/articles/2005/12/12/accessories_for_iPod_to_the_tune_of_300m/ (accessed 15 December 2005). 6. A. Parasuraman, V. A. Zeithaml, and L. L. Berry, “SERVQUAL: A multiple-item scale for measuring consumer perceptions of service quality,” Journal of Retailing, Vol. 64, No. 1, pp. 12-40, 1988. 7. N. P. Archer, and G. O. Wesolowsky, “Consumer response to service and product quality: a study of motor vehicle owners,” Journal of Operations Management, Vol. 14, No. 2, pp. 103- 118, 1996. 8. J. J. Cronin, Jr., M. K. Brady, and G. T. M. Hult, “Assessing the effects of quality, value, and customer satisfaction on consumer behavioral intentions in service environments,” Journal of Retailing, Vol. 76, No. 2, pp. 193-218, 2000. 9. L. C. Harris, and M. M. H. Goode, “The four levels of loyalty and the pivotal role of trust: a study of online service dynamics,” Journal of Retailing, Vol.8, No.2, pp. 139-158, 2004. 10. B. G. Tabachnick, and L. S. Fidell, Using Multivariate Statistics, 2nd ed. Harper and Row, New York, 1989, pp. 129. 11. Bakken, D.G. (2001), “The quest for emerging customer needs”, Marketing Research, Vol. 13 No. 4, pp. 30-4. 14. Creswell, J.W. (2003), Research Design – Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches, 2nd ed., Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA. 15. Dwek, R. (2002), “Apple pushes design to core of marketing”, Marketing Week (UK), Vol. 25 No. 4, p. 20. 16. Flores Letelier, M.F., Spinosa, C. and Calder, B.J. (2000), “Taking an expanded view of customers’ needs: qualitative research for aiding innovation”, Marketing Research, Vol. 12, No. 4, pp. 4-11. 17. Peter, J.P., Olson, J.C. and Grunert, K.G. (1999), Consumer Behaviour and Marketing Strategy, European ed., McGraw-Hill Publishing, London. 18. Arbuthnot, J. (1977), “The roles of attitudinal and personality variables in the prediction of environmental behavior and knowledge”, Environment and Behavior, Vol. 9 No. 2, pp. 217-32. 19. Bearden, W.O. and Etzel, M.J. (1982), “Reference group influence on product and brand purchase decisions”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 9 No. 2, pp. 183-94. 20. Berger, I.E. and Corbin, R.M. (1992), “Perceived consumer effectiveness and faith in others as moderators of environmentally responsible behaviors”, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, Vol. 11 No. 2, pp. 79-89. 22. Hahn, J. (2009), “On the remediation of Wikipedia to the iPod”, Reference Services Review, Vol. 37 No. 3, pp. 272-85. 23. Parson, V., Reddy, P., Wood, J. and Senior, C. (2009), “Educating an ‘iPod’ generation: undergraduate attitudes, experiences and understanding of Vodcast and Podcast use”, Learning, Media and Technology, Vol. 34 No. 3, pp. 215-28. 24. Sharkey, j. (2010), Illinois State Milner Library iTour, available at: www.library.ilstu.edu/page/31 (accessed 30 June). 25. Todaro, J.B. (2005), “The iPod . . . no shiny metal object here”, Community & Junior College Libraries, Vol. 13 No. 4, pp. 107-11. 26. Williams, T.G. (2002), “Social class influences on purchase evaluation criteria”, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 19 No. 3, pp. 249-76. 27. Brassington, F. and Petitt, S. (2003), Principles of Marketing, 3rd ed., Pearson Education, Harlow. 28. (The) Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) (2005), This Way to Future, CIM, Maidenhead, 14 May. 29. d’Astous, A. and Ahmed, S.A. (1999), “The importance of country images of consumer product perceptions”, International Marketing Review, Vol. 16 No. 2, pp. 108-25. 30. (The) Economist (2005), “Leaders: brand new, consumer electronics”, Vol. 374 No. 8409, 15 January, p. 10. 31. Hill, D. (2003), “Why they buy: what really goes on in the mind of the consumer”, Across the Board, Vol. 40 No. 6, November/December, p. 27. 32. Riquelme, H. (2001), “Do consumers know what they want?”, The Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 18 Nos 4/5, pp. 437-48. 33. Romanuik, J. and Sharp, B. (2003), “Measuring brand perceptions: testing quantity and quality”, Journal of Targeting, Measurement and Analysis for Marketing, Vol. 11 No. 3, p. 218. 34. Saunders, M., Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A. (2003), Research Methods for Business Students, 3rd ed., Prentice-Hall, Harlow.