“Study on Retailer Perception on

Nokia Mobiles Project”

A PROJECT REPORT SUBMITTED TO THE KHALLIKOTE
CLUSTER UNIVERSITY COLLEGE IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE
REQUIREMENT FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF
COMMERCE.

SUBMITED BY,
SANTANU KUMAR SOREN

(011704CM040)

UNDER THE SUPERVISION AND GUIDANCE OF

Dr. Yajnya Dutta Nayak

POST GRADUATE DEPT. OF COMMERCE

KHLLIKOTE CLUSTER UNIVERSITY COLLEGE,

BERHAMPUR, 2019

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 DECLARATION

I am SANTANU KUMAR SOREN hereby declare

that the project report titled

“Study on retailer perception on Nokia mobiles

project”

Is done by me and is submitted to the khallikote

cluster university college in partial fulfilment of
the requirements for the award of the degree of
Master of commerce. I also declare that the
report has not been submitted by me for the
award Master of degree, diploma or other
similar title of any university.

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 KHALLIKOTE CLUSTER UNIVERSITY COLLEGE

POST GRADUATE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

CERTIFICATE

Work carried out by SANTANU KUMAR SOREN is submitted to the Khallikote

CLUSTER UNIVERSITY College in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the
award of the degree of Master of Commerce.

Place: Signature

Date: Name and designation of

Supervising teacher

Counter signed by

Place: Signature of the

Date : Head of the Department

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 POST GRADUATE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
KHALLIKOTE CLUSTER UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, BERHAMPUR-1, 760004

(AFFILIATED TO BERHAMPUR UNIVERSITY)

CERTIFICATE

Certified that SANTANU KUMAR SOREN 4thsemester M.COM student in

this department has worked

On the project titled “Study

on retailer perception on
Nokia mobiles project”

For a period of 21 days from the 2nd week of JANUARY 2019

under my supervision and guidance. This has not been previously

submitted for the award of any degree, diploma or other similar title.
This project is with submitting for the Degree of Master of Commerce.

Place: Signature

Date: Name& Designation of Supervising

Teacher

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Every study is a learn more. It is essentially a pursuit in

solitude. However, there cannot be any action yielding results
without help of others. There are many I thank in the
successful completion of this project.
First and foremost, I thank almighty God for his blessings in
the successful completion of this project.

I acknowledge my sincere and profound gratitude to our

Smt.Dr.Annapurna Sahoo, Head of department of commerce,
Khallikote Cluster University College, and other teachers of
the department for the advice and inspiration given.
I am extremely grateful to my supervising teacher Dr. Yajnya
Dutta Nayak, Asst. Prof. of department of commerce, Khallikote
Cluster University College for the valuable guidance;
supervision and encouragement with enabled me to complete
this project.
I express my deepest sense of gratitude to Dr. Yajnya Dutta
Nayak, Lecture of department of commerce, Khallikote Cluster
University College for his enormous help, invaluable ideas and
knowledge, advice, encouragement for the successfully
completion of my research work.

I would like to express my great thanks to all the respondents

for their invaluable support in the field work.
I convey my sincere thanks to my family and my friends for all
their helps, support and encouragement for this study.
This list is almost incomplete and I am grateful to all those
who have helped me directly and indirectly in my research
work.

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 CHAPTER-1
 Introduction
 History of Telephone
 History of mobile
 About Nokia
 Nokia Vision

 CHAPTER-2
o Characteristics
 Importance for India
 Selection of the study
 Objective
 Scope of study

 CHAPTER-3
 Research Design
 Research Methodology
 Nature of Research
 Descriptive Research

 CHAPTER-4
 AWOT Analysis
 Marketing Strategy
 Product lifecycle of NOKIA
 Customer Loyalty of NOKIA
 Perception about NOKIA

 CHAPTER-5
 Area Survey
 Questioner
 Conclusion
 Reference
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 CONTENT
2 Declaration By the student
3 CERTIFICATE

5 Acknowledgement
10 Introduction
11 History of Telephone
12 Early generation
17 Characteristics

20 External Influence on Consumer Behaviour

23 About Nokia
24 Objective
25 Scope of study
28 Research Methodology

RESEARCH DESIGN

NATURE OF RESEARCH
DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH

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29 DATA TYPE
30 Hypothesis

31 SWAT Analysis
33 Marketing Strategy
Product
Pricing
Promotion
45 PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE OF NOKIA PRODUCTS

49 PERCEPTION

CONSUMER PERCEPTION

51 Brand Loyalty

56 General Buying Behaviour cell phones

Trend of cell phone market in Kanyakumari District

63 Questionnaire

67 Conclusion

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  Executive Summery

o Now, Finnish start-up HMD Global, which

have the Nokia brand licence. However, the
company plans to use the model as a
strategic move to re-build the buzz around
the brand with limited supplies to the trade
since want to push seals of the
Smartphone’s.

 Initially developed by Android Inc., which Google

bought in 2005,

 Android was unveiled in 2007, along with the

founding of the Open Handset Alliance – a
consortium of hardware, software, and
telecommunication companies devoted to
advancing open standards for mobile devices.

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Introduction

Day by day, mobile phones are turning into more of

necessity then a luxury. The benefits of the mobile
phone are far too many. Ease of communication, the
anywhere, anytime contact - with friends, relations,
colleagues and in theory at least the efficiency
brought to busy lives. Nokia’s growth in India has
been substantial. They have led the market with 70%
share for long time now. What is interesting is that
there is further scope of improvement in sales. It is a
high technology market and India being developing
country, will see more and more subscribers to this
technology in the future.

This research aims at studying the strategies applied

by Nokia in India, the product life cycle of Nokia
products and the conclusions drawn therein.

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Background of Mobile Phone:

1. History of Telephone:-

This history of the telephone chronicles the

development of the electrical telephone, and includes a
brief review of its predecessors. Before the invention of
electromagnetic telephones,

Mechanical acoustic devices existed for transmitting

speech and music over a distance greater than that of
normal direct speech. The earliest mechanical telephones
were based on sound transmission through pipes or other
physical media.

For a short period of time, acoustic

telephones were marketed commercially as a niche
competitor to the electrical telephone. When Alexander
Graham Bell's telephone patent expired and many new
telephone manufacturers began competing, acoustic
telephone makers quickly went out of business.

2. History of Mobile Phone:

The history of mobile phones covers mobile

communication devices which connect wirelessly to the
public switched telephone network.

While the transmission of speech by radio has a long

history, the first models that were wireless, mobile, and
also capable of connecting to the standard telephone
network are much more recent. The first such devices

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were barely portable compared to today's compact hand-
held devices, and their use was clumsy.

Along with the process of developing more portable

technology, and better interconnections system, drastic
changes have taken place in both the networking of
wireless communication and the prevalence of its use,
with smartphones becoming common globally and a
growing proportion of Internet access now done via
mobile broadband.

The Early Generation:

I. 1G – Analogue cellular: First automatic analogue cellular

systems deployed were NTT's system first used in Tokyo in
1979, later spreading to the whole of Japan, and NMT in
the Nordic countries in 1981.

The first analogue cellular system widely deployed in North

America was

The Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS) it was

commercially introduced in the Americas in 13 October
1983, Israel in 1986, and Australia in 1987. AMPS were a
pioneering technology that helped drive mass market usage
of cellular technology, but it had several serious issues by
modern standards. It was unencrypted and easily
vulnerable to eavesdropping via a scanner; it was
susceptible to cell phone "cloning" and it used a Frequency-
division multiple access (FDMA) scheme and required
significant amounts of wireless spectrum to support.

II.2G (2.5 and 2.75) – Digital cellular: In the 1990s, the

'second generation' mobile phone systems emerged. Two
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systems competed for supremacy in the global market: the
European developed GSM standard and the U.S. developed
CDMA standard. These differed from the previous
generation by using digital instead of analogy
transmission, and also fast out-of-band phone-to-network
signalling. The rise in mobile phone usage as a result of 2G
was explosive and this era also saw the advent of prepaid
mobile phones.

In 1993, IBM Simon was introduced. This was possibly the

world's first smartphone. It was a mobile phone, pager, fax
machine, and PDA all rolled into one. It included a
calendar, address book, clock, calculator, notepad, email,
and a touchscreen with a QWERTY keyboard. The IBM
Simon had a stylus you used to tap the touch screen with. It
featured predictive typing that would guess the next
characters as you tapped. It had applications, or at least a
way to deliver more features by plugging a PCMCIA 1.8 MB
memory card into the phone.

III. 3G – Mobile broadband: As the use of 2G phones

became more widespread and people began to use mobile
phones in their daily lives, it became clear that demand
for data (such as access to browse the internet) was
growing. Further, experience from fixed broadband
services showed there would also be an ever-increasing
demand for greater data speeds. The 2G technology was
nowhere near up to the job, so the industry began to work
on the next generation of technology known as 3G. The
main technological difference that distinguishes 3G
technology from 2G technology is the use of packet
switching rather than circuit switching for data
transmission. In addition, the standardization process
focused on requirements more than technology (2 Mbit/s

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 maximum data rate indoors, 384 Kbit/s outdoors, for
example).

4G Native IP Network: By 2009, it had become clear that,

at some point, 3G networks would be overwhelmed by the
growth of bandwidth-intensive applications like streaming
media. Consequently, the industry began looking to data-
optimized 4th-generation technologies, with the promise of
speed improvements up to 10-fold over existing 3G
technologies. The first two commercially available
technologies billed as 4G were the WiMAX standard
(offered in the U.S. by Sprint) and the LTE (Long Term
Evaluation) standard, first offered in Scandinavia by Telia
Sonera.

One of the main ways in which 4G differed technologically

from 3G was in its elimination of circuit switching, instead
employing an all-IP network. Thus, 4G ushered in a
treatment of voice calls just like any other type of streaming
audio media, utilizing packet switching over Internet, LAN
or WAN networks.

About Nokia

Nokia Corporation (NYSE: NOK) is one of the world's largest

telecommunications equipment manufacturers. With
headquarters in Keilaniemi of Espoo, Finland, this Finnish
telecommunications company is best known today for its leading
range of mobile phones. Nokia also produces mobile phone
infrastructure and other telecommunications equipment for
applications such as traditional voice telephony, ISDN, broadband

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access, professional mobile radio, voice over IP, wireless LAN and
a line of satellite receivers.

Nokia provides mobile communication equipment for every major

market and protocol, including GSM, CDMA, and WCDMA. Nokia
was established in 1865 as a wood-pulp mill by Fredrik Ides tam
on the banks of Nokia rapids. Finnish Rubber Works established
its factories in the beginning of 20th century nearby and began
using Nokia as its brand. Shortly after World War I Finnish
Rubber Works acquired Nokia wood mills as well as Finnish Cable
Works, a producer of telephone and telegraph cables. All three
companies were merged as Nokia Corporation in 1967. The name
Nokia originated from the river which flowed through the town of
the same name (Nokia).

In the 1970s Nokia became more involved in the

telecommunications industry by developing the Nokia DX 200, a
digital switch for telephone exchanges. In the 1980s, Nokia
offered a series of personal computers called MikroMikko [1],
however, these operations were sold to International
Computers, Ltd. (ICL), which was later merged with Fujitsu-
Siemens AG.

Nokia also began developing mobile phones for the NMT

network; unfortunately, the company ran afoul of serious
financial problems in the 1990s and streamlined its
manufacturing of mobile phones, mobile phone infrastructure,
and other telecommunications areas, divesting itself of other
items, such as televisions and personal computers. In 2004,
Nokia resorted to similar streamlining practices with layoffs
and organizational restructuring, although on a significantly

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smaller scale. Recently, Nokia joined other mobile phone
manufacturers to embrace Taiwanese Original Device
Manufacturers.

Nokia’s Vision:
Their ‘Connecting People’ tagline states their vision to create
a world where everybody is connected every
moment, everywhere and at any time. Their goal is to build
great mobile products that enable billions of people
worldwide to enjoy more of what life has to offer. Their
challenge is to achieve this in an increasingly dynamic and
competitive environment.

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Characteristics

Within the mobile phone category, there is a sub-class of

phones known as smartphones. A smartphone is a mobile
phone that integrates a feature phone and a mobile
computing platform, and the models today even combine
functions such as digital cameras, media players, high-speed
data access via Wi-Fi, GPS navigation, and other
applications with option to download application through
application market. Typically, smartphones also comprise
web browsers and high-resolution touchscreens, which
provide people better viewing and browsing experience.

In its simplest form, a smartphone is a mobile phone with

built-in, add-on applications and Internet (3G network)
access. However, because of its capability to handle a great
amount of applications and functions at the same time - the
concept of a smartphone slowly transitioned into definitions
of a handheld computer. The great differences between the
available brands and models on the market today are the
operating systems platform. The smartphone becomes more
than a device for sending and receiving text messages and
calls as it consists of various ways to interact with other

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users in a more personalized manner, compared to the
traditional mobile phones.

While an old-style feature phone includes some basic

software such as an address book and games, a smartphone
has the ability of further performance. One of the significant
differences between a feature phone and a smartphone is
that a smartphone can install third-party applications from
applications store. Users are able to download and install
application on their operating systems, such as time
schedule, navigators, personal finance managers and games.
Generally, a smartphone is based on a certain operating
system that allows phone users to install applications on it.
Systems include Apple’s iOS, Google’s Android, Microsoft’s
Windows Phone etc. The core applications of smartphones
consist of cellular voice, data, and PIM (personal information
management) applications such as calendars, contact
managers,

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External Influence on Consumer Behaviour
Culture:-

Culture is the accumulation of shared meaning, rituals,

norms and traditions among the members of an organisation
or society. A consumer’s culture determines the overall
priorities he/she attaches to different activities and product.
It also determines the success or failure of specific products
and services in the market. A product that provide benefit
consistent with those desired by members of a culture at any
point in time has much better chance of attaining
acceptance in the marketplace. Culture can be considered as
a lifestyle which is then passed on from one generation to
the other generation. Culture is not static. It is continually
evolving, synthesizing old ideas with new ones. As of the
historic factor that Iranian plateau, Central Asia, Arabia,
Afghanistan and the West have invaded India thousands of
years ago as a result Indian people and culture have been
influenced extremely and produced a remarkable ethnic and
cultural fusion. 4 main languages are spoken in the country.
English is the most vital language for national, politics and
commercial communication. Although 81% of the people are
of Hindu religion, India is the home of Muslims (1% of
people) one of the world’s largest Muslim populations. The

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population also includes Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Sikhs
and Paris.

Demographic

An age cohort consists of people of similar ages who have

undergone similar experience. They share many common
memories about culture heroes, importance of historic event
and so on. Marketers often target products or services to one
or more specific age cohorts. They recognize that the same
offering will probably not appeal to people of different ages,
nor will the language and image they use to reach them.
Important age cohort includes teenager, 18-29 year olds,
baby boomers and the elderly. Teenagers are making
transaction from childhood to adulthood, and their self-
concept tends to be unstable. They are receptive that help
them to be accepted and enable to assert their
independence. Baby boomers are the most powerful age
segment because of their size and economic clout. As this
group has aged their interests have changed and marketing
priorities have changed as well.

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SELECTION OF THE STUDY AREA

Kanyakumari district in the state of Tamil nadu is

purposely selected for the present study since, the district, is
familiar to the researchers. This district takes its name from
the town of Kanyakumari at the southern tip of India. The
district included four taluks of Vilavancode, Kalkulam,
Thovalai and Agasteeswaram with a total area of 1684
square kilometers. As of 2011 census the district had a
population of 1,863,174 and 83% of the district is urbanized.
Nagercoil is the administrative headquarters of this district.
It ranks first in literacy among other districts in Tamil
Nadu.

Nokia phones are generally sold at all established mobile

phone dealers, although they are also sold at other retailers
and other electrical suppliers. The products are only sold in
the electrical suppliers and store other than dedicated phone
dealerships after the introductory period so the phones can
remain limited edition, as this will encourage younger
consumers to buy them.

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Nokia in India

Nokia has been the pioneer of mobile telephony in India, the

existence here is from 1994. As noted above, the first ever
GSM call in India was made on a Nokia 2110 on its own
network. Although the conditions in Indian telecom industry
were not very conducive, Nokia maintained an aggressive
strategy. Import of mobile phones was not easy and the
tariff applied on them was as high as 27%. Consumers too
were not interested in purchasing mobile phones as call
rates were as high as Rs16 per minute.
Another problem faced by Nokia was highly competitive
environment in the industry. Powerful global players like
Motorola, Siemens, Sony and
Ericsson already had their presence in India in consumer
durables, electronics and engineering sectors, and hence
were aware conditions.

The industry got a new life in 1999, when the

Government of India announced a new telecom policy. The
plan was to provide telephones on demand by 2002. A major
point of the policy was to allow unrestricted private entry
into almost all mobile service sectors. The mobile service
providers were allowed to share their infrastructures with
other operators. It also helped the private operators to break
even faster by allowing them to migrate from fixed license to
one-time entry fee with revenue sharing.

However, by 2001, there was steady increase in the demand

for mobile services. The private companies concentrated on

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providing basic telephonic services to consumers. By 2002,
the industry was on a high, and with the popularity of
mobile phones the customers started demanding better
services and lower prices. This led to new innovations and
come out with better products.

Nokia’s manufacturing facility in Chennai; Tamil Nadu

(South India) exports half its production to more than 59
countries. Nokia has invested $250 million since its launch
in 2006. However, overcoming all odds, Nokia India came
out as the market leader with 49.3% share in 2010 and still
continues to lead with 39%in 2011 (Indus P., 2005) . Asia is
the fastest growing market for Nokia. Competitors such as
Samsung, Motorola and Sony Ericsson have captured huge
market shares. The consumer is going for high technology at
reasonable prices. They respect any provider who gives the
best combination of both. Nokia has retained the top spot for
quite some time in India

Nokia's key strategy has always been to lead

the market on the basis of technology as it has always held.
The difference it holds is the capability to be more sensitive
to the people with lower purchasing power which hold the
major share of these growing and developing countries
market.

Objective:--

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE:-

To audit a project on improve brand Perception of NOKIA.

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SECONDARY OBJECTIVE:-

The following are considered to be the secondary objectives

of this research study:

To measure / determine the brand image, perceptions,

attitudes and behaviour of the target audience with
regard to the Nokia Android.

To interpret the results of the measurements based on

statistical analysis.

Scope of Study:--

This study helps to find the impact of the brand names

among customers with reference to.

To find how far people are aware and attracted towards

the brand name of particular product.

The satisfaction level of the customers in different

ways towards the branded products can be studied
through this project.

To find the relationship between the quality of the

product and its brand name.

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Limitations of the Study:--

The survey was limited to Kolkata city due to the

limitation of time.

The study was conducted under of assumption that the

information given by the respondents is authentic.
The respondents were reluctant to answer due to their
busy schedule.

Many respondents were biased in their responses.

Research Methodology:--

INTRODUCTION:-

Research refers to search of knowledge. The pattern in

which a research is carried out to arrive at a conclusion or to
final new relationship within a particular framework is
called research methodology. Research methodology also
refers to the various sequences, steps to be adopted by a
researcher to study a problem with certain objectives in
view.

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RESEARCH DESIGN:-

Research design is the framework or plan for a study that

guides the collection and analysis of the data. It is a map or
blue print according to which research is to be conducted.

A) NATURE OF RESEARCH:

The research design followed for this study is

descriptive research for analysing the collected data, an
in-depth research analysis was framed and various
statistical tools and techniques were also used for the
purpose.

B) DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH:

Descriptive research includes surveys and fact-findings

enquiries of different kinds. The Major purpose of
descriptive research is description of the state of affairs as
it exists at present. The methods of research utilized in
descriptive research are survey methods of all kinds,
including comparative and correlation methods.

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DATA TYPE:--

The two main types of data for present study have

been primary data and secondary data.

A) PRIMARY DATA:-

Primary data is collected in the form of questionnaire.

Through the questionnaire which consists of a number of
questions printed in a definite order on a set of forms, the
respondents were expected to read and understand the
questions itself. The respondents need to answer the
questions on their own and according to their perception.

B) SECONDARY DATA:-

Secondary data consists of information that already exists.

Somewhere having been collected for specific purpose in the
study .The secondary data for this study was collected from
various books, internet etc.

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 Research Methodology

The present descriptive study aims to understand

customer perception of Nokia mobile phone at Salem City.
Primary data for the study was collected by means of
questionnaire survey conducted in Salem City. A total of
75 questionnaires were delivered to prospective
respondents of which 50 questionnaires were returned
with a response rate of 90 per cent. Convenience and
judgment sampling techniques were adopted to form the
sample. The statistical techniques used to interpret the
collected data were percentages, Chi – square test,
weighted average and rank for analysis of data. The
results help to understand the general perception on
Nokia Mobile phones in Salem City and comparative
position of Nokia and other brands.
Finding:
Table 1: Gender wise Classification of the Respondents

SL.NO SEX NO OF Percentages

RESPONDENT
1 male 29 58
2 female 21 42
Total 50 100
Source Primary data

The above table shows that the gender wise classification

of the respondents. It is clearly observed from the table,
58% of the respondents are male and 42% of the
respondents are female. It is concluded that majority
(58%) of the respondents are male.

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 Table 2: The Educational Status of the Respondents

SL.NO Education NO. of Percentage

Respondents
1 Illiterate 3 6%
2 Up to +2 5 10%
3 UG 19 38%
4 PG 18 36%
5 Professional 5 10%
Degree
Total: 50 100%

The above table shows that the Educational status of the

respondents. From the above table, it is inferred that38% of
the respondents are Under Graduates, 36% of the
respondents are Post Graduates, 10% of the respondents are
Professional Degree and 10% of the respondents are
illiterate and Up to Plus Two. It has been observed from the
table that majority of the respondents (38%) are Under
Graduates.

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 Table 3: The Respondents on The Basis of Satisfaction Level on Nokia
Mobile, Weighted Average and Rank

S. Satisfaction Highly Satisfied( Average( Dissatisfi Highly Weighte Ra

Level 4) 3) ed d nk
No satisfied(5) (2) dissatisfied(1) Average

1. Audio output 15 21 10 1 3 12.9334 3

75 84 30 2 3
2. Built in memory 10 24 13 1 2 12.6 5
50 96 39 2 2
3. Camera/video 10 20 14 4 2 12.1334 6
quality 50 80 42 8 2
4. Accessories 15 10 16 8 1 12 7
75 40 48 16 1
5. Battery backup 20 19 6 4 1 13.5334 1
100 76 18 8 1
6. Brand image 20 12 11 5 2 12.8667 4
100 48 33 10 2
7. Price 16 20 10 2 2 13.0667 2
80 80 30 4 2
8. Advertisements 10 20 10 9 1 11.9334 8
50 80 30 18 1
9. Special Features 5 22 12 10 1 11.3334 9
25 88 36 20 1
Services provided 4 20 13 10 3
10. by Nokia service 20 80 39 20 3 10.8 10
centre

SI. Using the No. of Percentage

No NOKIA
Mobile Respondents

1 Less than 1 11 22%

Year
2 1 Year to 2 13 26%
Years
3 3 Years 10 20%
to4Years
4 More than 4 16 32%
Years
Total 50 100%

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 The above table shows the NOKIA Mobile Phone is better
than the other mobiles. It is clearly observed from the
table 78% of the respondents are Yes and 22% of the
respondents are No. It is concluded the majority 78% of
the respondents are yes.
Chi – square test result
Hypothesis
H1: There is significant relationship between Gender and
Using the NOKIA mobile phone. The calculated value of
chi – square test is (13.6789) more than (7.81) the table
value. The null hypothesis is rejected. Hence, there is a
significant difference between Gender and Using the
NOKIA mobile phone.

Hypothesis
H2: There is significant relationship between Audio
output and satisfaction level.

The calculated value of chi – square test is (27.4) more

than (9.49) the table value. The alternative hypothesis is
accepted. Hence, there is a significant difference between
Audio output and Satisfaction level of NOKIA mobile
phone.

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  SWOT Analysis

 Strengths:
 Experience – 142 years of History
 Strong Financial Support for R&D
 Largest Network of Selling and Distribution
 Strong Customer Relation
 Wide Range of Product for all class
 High Resale Value compared to other competitors
 Durability
 Long Battery Life
 User Friendly
 Global Expansion

 Weakness:
 Engage is a flop
 Low Voice Quality
 Less Stylish in low priced products.
 Heavy Sets
 Market Skimming Prices of High Sets
 Unlike I-Phone, N97 is complex, tough and not user
friendly.

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Opportunities:
 Increase their presence in the CDMA market, is still
dominated by LG, also concentrate on 3G and Edge
 New growth markets where cell phone adoption still
has room to go, including India and other countries.
 Other Hand Held Devices
 Improvise on Quality of Camera
 Mini Notebooks

Threats:
 China Mobiles – it has made exact copy of Nokia N96
 Cheap and Wide Range Models from Motorola
I-phone Apple – A fierce competitor for Nokia N97.

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Marketing Strategy

Marketing strategy of a company in a new country plays a

vital role in determining its future in that country. Knowing
that Indian market is very different from other markets it
was already operating in, Nokia came up with an India–
specific strategy or a global strategy. It adapted to the
Indian conditions by launching new products and enhancing
the products with features designed specifically for local
customers, as well as promotional campaigns targeted at
Indian audience to gain a foothold in the market. To capture
the widespread Indian market, it developed an extensive
distribution network which also helped it take its products
to rural markets in India. Here, to discuss the strategy, we
consider the simple concept of 4 P’s, namely; product
(customization), price, place (distribution) and promotion.

PRODUCT:

1998 was 51st year of Indian independence, hence Nokia

provided the ring tone of National son “Saare Jahan se
Achha ye Hindustan Hamara” in 5110 model. The
introductory offer for this model also had inter-changeable
covers. The success of 5110 initiated Nokia to focus on
feature-specific localization. In1999, Hindi (national
language, and mother tongue of 43% Indians) user interface
was provided in Nokia 3210. Also, Nokia also tied up with
Sony music for top 20 hit songs as ring tones. Nokia 3210,
became an instant hit. The model 3610 was launched with
an enhancing Hindi text messaging facility in 2001.
The most successful customization came in 2003 when
Nokia came with 1100 and 1108 specifically designed for
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Indian market. It had features of anti-slip grip, dust
resistance and torchlight. Since, in India people don’t know
English in villages, Nokia came up with “Saral Mobile
Sandesh” (SMS in Hindi). Nokia sales increased from 58.2%
in July 2003 to 59.6% in July 2004.
Nokia was also the first handset manufacturer to
launch games download in India in 2003. It had
spearheaded the industry in online distribution of tones,
graphics and game downloads. These services did not just
increase their sale of mobile phones but were also fruitful as
they made huge profits by selling the games. In 2005, Nokia
also launched games based on Indian mythology namely
‘Makhan chor’ and

‘Swayamvar’. Both were arcade games involving two most of

the famous characters namely, Lord Krishna and Arjun.
Another feature that Nokia came up with attract
youth was one which enabled the customer to slide in his or
her photograph or for that matter the loved ones,' in the
picture frame behind the phone. This was a part of Nokia
2112 model (CDMA), wherein the message is clear-
personalize your phone. Earlier they had a similar feature in
GSM handset Nokia 2100. "We have made a personality
statement through the campaign. The feel of the campaign is
such that it would evoke a 'sense of being,'" said Sanjay
Behl, Head of Marketing, Nokia India. Menon, M. (2005)
Nokia also tied up with Bharti cellular in 2005 to
customize its handsets through which its users could access
multimedia services by using an additional key on the
mobile phone. Also since many FM channels were introduced

35 | P a g e
in India in early 2000’s, Nokia banked on the opportunity by
coming with FM phones attracting a lot of youth. Later on in
2005, Nokia came with SMS services in other Indian
languages including Marathi, Tamil, Bengali and Kannada.

In November 2007, Nokia came with Bollywood

classic movie ‘Sholay’ preloaded in N95 8GBand N81. This
gave opportunity to
Cinema buffs to now watch the movie Sholay on the go. The
N series is a multimedia sub-brand of Nokia. "It is one of the
biggest blockbusters

That the Hindi film industry has churned out. There could
have been no
Better option than this flick, which is liked by every age
group equally," said Vineet Taneja, business director of
multimedia, Nokia India.
In another attempt to give India handsets which will
enable them to use more features, Nokia is in process of
making cheap GPRS enabled handset. In this handset, the
users can surf the net at a very reasonable price. Again
targeting the low and middle income class, who are
interested in using the new facilities available? "We are
planning to bring internet access to all the masses in India
through our low-cost handsets... the company are working
diligently towards it," said Nokia's Senior Vice President -
Entry Business Unit (Mobile Phones Business Group)

36 | P a g e
PRICING:
Pricing of the phones was of prime importance for success in
India. Being a developing country, the purchasing power of
the people was not high as compared to other developed
countries. Research unveiled that phones of lower price
range (below Rs8000 or $200 approx.) amounted for 65% of
the total sales in India. Nokia depended majorly on rural
market, therefore, pricing was a major success factor for the
company. Nokia did achieve success in India, in spite of the
fact, that its handsets were not the cheapest in the market.
Nokia 1100, which was specially launched for India,
was priced at Rs. 4000. This price, although was at a
premium as compared to entry level phones, but was
enhanced with several special features which were not
available in other phones of the same price. The head of
marketing at Nokia India, “Sanjay Behl” said, “The phone is
a combination of product benefits and pricing” (Web 14).
This model further became the bestselling model ever in
India. It also increased the brand preference of Nokia from
66% to 77% within 9 months of its launch. This show how
nature of Indian consumer is value sensitive. The major
strategically move by Nokia in this regard was that it
charged a lower price in India than most of other countries
for the same model.

Nokia's current pricing strategy is based on 2 main theories:

1. Penetration pricing- although this strategy is usually
for
companies that are trying to gain instant market share
in a new market, companies who are already well
known in the market.

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2. Competitor based pricing- this is used when there is a lot
of competition in the market and a company is looking to
take another companies market share by offering the same
or similar products for a lower price, this happens a lot in
the communications market and this strategy is used by
every mobile phone producing company that is still in
business.
Nokia's pricing strategy has proven very effective, this is
down to the fact that they first sell their products for high
price sand have very limited sales but make big profits on
each sale, they then lower the price of their product and
have lots more sales but they make less profit, but they still
make a large profit due to the amount of sales, the other
reason that they are so successful is that they offer high
quality products.

PLACE:
Mobile phones in India are considered as to be consumer
durable, hence they are not just sold through exclusive
telecom retailers but also through general retailers. Nokia
designed modelled its distribution strategy on lines of FMCG
business.
An important reason for the success of mobile phones
in India was limited reach of the landline phones in several
parts of the country. By mid-2005 the mobile phone sales in
smaller towns and cities was higher than those of the
metropolitans. The sales in these urban markets were
beginning to saturate. The distribution in these small towns
called for non-traditional channels. Nokia strengthened

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their distribution network, and selected distributors from
FMCG line or experience holders for durables or
automobiles. In fact, about a fifth of the mobile phone sales
in India were consumer durables or service providers’ shops.
In 1995, Nokia tied up with HCL Infinite for
sales and distribution of its phones and appointed them as
Nokia distributor for GSM handsets in India. HCL Infinite
provided a complete range of Nokia’s GSM mobile phones,
data products and mobile services. The retail network they
developed was very strong and dedicated. They came up
with Nokia Professional Centres (NPCs), Nokia Priority
Dealers (NPDs) and redistribution stockiest all over India.
NPCs were one stop shops for the complete range of Nokia
mobile phones, batteries,

Chargers, accessories, covers, hands free kits and car kits

amongst
others. It also provided the after sales services for Nokia’s
handsets. NPCs were multi brand retails outlets with 60% of
their area dedicated to Nokia. While redistribution stockists
were for supplying handsets across India.
HCL also came with Nokia Care Centres (NCCs) for
providing solutions to mobile related problems. These were
spread all over the country and provided phone repairing
software up-gradation services. They also displayed
complete range mobile phones, data products and complete
mobile phones accessories.
Another effective concept that Nokia up with in
2005, was that of Nokia Concept Store in Bangalore in south
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India. It was located in the city centre, MG Road. “This
concept store is being set up with an objective to provide
Indian consumer with a truly enhanced mobility experience
through its cast and exciting range of Nokia products and
mobile accessories. We are keen to lead a unique mobile
retailing experience for consumers through these touch
points” Sanjay Behl, Head Marketing, Nokia India (Web 15).
Details as per Nokia website are given below.
Nokia Concept Store in Bangalore was the country's
first concept store in India to provide customers a complete
experiential mobile experience. The store measures
approximately 2,000 square feet and is

Designed to reflect the design ethic of the Nokia brand

Design of the store follows the same pattern as Nokia
Concept Stores around the world to guarantee an easy and
informative shopping experience. With a simple-to-navigate
setup, open doorways and low-glare lighting, the store
provides a relaxed and satisfying customer experience. The
high-tech display terminals and dedicated areas for Imaging,
Smart, Multimedia, Business and Entry phones make it
easy for the public to keep up to date on the latest
technologies and trends in the mobile industry.
Nokia today has eight Nokia 'Concept stores' in
Bangalore, Delhi, Jaipur, Hyderabad, Chandigarh,
Ludhiana, Chennai and Indore” (Web 12).
Nokia kept its promise of enhancing the mobile experience of
its customers. In October 2007, they launched the first
'global format' Nokia Concept Store in Western India at
Indore. The state-of-the-art Nokia Concept Store will provide

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mobile phone consumers in Indore a world class interactive
and informative shopping experience, allowing them to get a
first-hand experience before making a purchase decision.
Nokia’s vast distribution network covered almost every city
or town where mobile network was available.

PROMOTION:
Nokia entered India with one for mobile services to start,
and had to establish its non-popular brand. To build
credentials the company used both print and television
campaigns. In the early days, print media concentrated on
Nokia’s status, global R&D and international awards won to
establish brand awareness. Even after the market grew,
Nokia’s advertisements concentrated on product attributes.
Gaining acceptance of Indian consumer is not as simple
as other
countries. India is a multicultural country, where people
have strong believe in their mythology, nationality and
cultures and to add to it, their purchasing power was not as
high as other countries where Nokia was operating. Hence,
to achieve approval of the mobile consumers in India, Nokia
decided to localize its products heavily. For the purpose of
developing the products specifically for markets with high
population and low penetration, Nokia developed a team
called Mobile Entry Business Unit.
Until 2003, Nokia used all their international
advertisements with slight modifications in India. For

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instance, the advertisement for NGAGE showed two young
person’s getting bored stuck in traffic jam and then they
show them combat with super natural powers. It showed
how NGAGE could help them pass their time. But it did not
have a very good effect on the Indian audience as they could
not relate themselves to the people over there. There was
needed to make special advertisements for India.

Nokia India marked its special presence in

advertisement world with ‘Made for India’ ad campaign on
the launch of Nokia 1100. This was the fourth advertisement
created in India but created maximum stir in the industry.
The advertisement showed that the Nokia 1100 was
launched first in India and addressed all the concerns of
Indian consumers. The advertisement made a clear
deviation from hitherto hip urban-focused advertisements
that Nokia are known for. It aimed at highlighting the broad
appeal of mobile phones across all socio-economic segments
of India. The aim was to highlight Nokia’s Indian image.
Analysts believed that Nokia would lose the top end
consumers who attached lot of importance to mobile phones
as a style statement. Sanjeev Sharma, Managing Director,
Nokia Mobile Phones India, said “No, not in the least does
the latest piece o communication create dissonance in the
minds of consumers with regard to Nokia’s brand image. The
technology driven ads have created a rub-off on the entire
Nokia range. And fashion and lifestyle products create a
desire at all levels, be it the first-time urban or rural user.”
(Dixit,2004). The advertisement was a success, and Nokia
1100 went on to become best seller not just in India but also
worldwide.

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 The major reason for handset was, Nokia was
expecting exponential growth in small towns and rural
areas. The company planned to build brand loyalty amongst
this segment.

They conducted research to get to know the needs and

concerns of the users of this segment. As Sanjeev Sharma
said, “One of the things we found out was that the torch is of
high value. Besides that a major concern was dust… People
feared that dust might penetrate through the gaps of their
keypad, and that explains the extensive use of handset
covers in India. Another major concern was the grip of the
phone, because of the climatic conditions in this country
people usually have sweaty palms, and therefore the, what if
the handset slips?”

One advertisement that Nokia made in 2000 was a public

interest advertisement, urging users to switch off their cell
phones while watching movies. It showed a clip where hero
picks up an argument with person sitting in front row in a
movie theatre. One of the advertisements was for Nokia
2280 which was offered in bundle with reliance mobile
connection. This was a simple one which educated the
audience of availability of cheap handset with bundled
airtime.
Cricket is considered a religion in India. Nokia has had
a strong association with the sport through its
advertisements. In an advertisement released during
cricketing season of 2003, a cricket fan was watching cricket
with his daughter and a prospective groom walks in, the

43 | P a g e
father throws the ball to him, which he is unable to catch.
The dejected young lad starts to walk away; just then the
television gets blank. The enthusiast fan is frantically trying
to find the score. The boy

gets a message of latest score update on his Nokia mobile

phone, impressing the father. The advertisement targeted
the middle class youth of India. Recently, Nokia sponsored
the ICC World Twenty20 2007 in South Africa. To its luck,
India won the world cup and this format of the game was an
instant hit in India. Nokia also telecast its advertisements
during big sports events like FIFA world cup, ICC world cup
etc. To get the maximum eyeballs for all the advertisements,
they make sure that the ad-films are interesting and
sophisticated.
Nokia also does on-line marketing a lot. You can see
Nokia pop-ups or as-boxed on various websites whenever
they launch a new product. They also have tie-ups with
many online retailing websites. These websites market and
sell Nokia products as a part of the deal. Recently launched
x2 was heavily advertised online on various websites. Nokia
have tie-up with Google and other advertising agencies.

Another successful, India-specific campaign was the one

where
phones with Saral Mobile Sandesh (Hindi SMS) were
promoted. It targeted the rural India, where mobile
penetration is low. The advertisement showed a postman
giving a mobile to a girl which was sent to her by her brother
so that she can exchange Hindi SMSes with her brother. It

44 | P a g e
was an audience specific advertisement and encouraged the
use of Hindi SMS amongst the rural population.

Nokia was not the market leader in coloured handsets. To

regain its share, it came up with advertisement ‘Har Jeb mei
Rang’ (colour in every pocket) for Nokia 2600. It was a very
colourful advertisement, showing colours spreading out of
Nokia phone. It showed the idea of colour spreading
happiness in every life. Nokia came up with some good
advertisements around the end of 2007. One of them is
starring the superstar of Hindi cinema, Shah Rukh Khan
calling Nokia as his friend
and companion for 10 years.

Nokia followed model-specific advertising for

most part. Different advertisements were made for each
model of Nokia, making it easy to target the specific
audience, which will demand that model. Even different
media was used according to the audience. Nokia even faced
the problem of brand identification in the early stages as
there were no specific signs suggesting that it was an
advertisement from Nokia. Nokia India sets a national
record certified by the Limca Book of Records 2012 for
organizing the largest gathering of twins in India at a single
venue. ‘Nokia’s Twins Day Out’, a first-of-its-kind festival
organised to unveil Nokia’s new dual SIM phones Nokia C2-
00 and Nokia X1-01 – saw the presence of 63 pairs of twins
of different age groups under one roof on June4, 2011 in New
Delhi.
45 | P a g e
 Nokia ran a digital and radio campaign for about four
weeks inviting the twins in the city to launch the new Nokia
dual SIM phones and become Nokia’s Brand Ambassadors
for a day. The festival saw the presence of twins aged
between 15 months to 48 years enjoying themselves as they
participated in games and various fun activities organized
by Nokia. The event was especially designed and themed
around ‘the twin power’.

PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE OF NOKIA PRODUCTS

 Development: When mobile phones were first

introduced they were low quality technology (bad
reception, poor reliability and had a short battery life),
high priced (around £100 for a basic model) and
consumers had to be persuaded to buy mobile
telephones, as they were not yet established as a
necessity. When products are first released, companies
can expect high promotion fee's as the public are
probably not yet familiar with the product. Also when
mobile phones were first released they were bulky and
hard
to use, as product design and development are a key
figure in success, Nokia had to design phones that were
smaller and simpler for consumers to use. As people
had paid a lot for earlier, more primitive products they
were obviously not going to pay the same high prices for
later products so Nokia had to develop phones that
could be sold for less and would last longer, this is
46 | P a g e
 where companies can expect to pay high production
costs.
Nokia typically gives a seven day window to its
exclusive stores which showcase the product and create
the required hype.

 Growth: Sales are high and margin contributions are

quite good. The product would probably be the category
leader and demand would be high. In the growth stage
of the product life cycle,

Companies can expect advertising and promotional

costs to be as
High as in the introduction stage as more companies
will enter the market and competition for market share
will increase. Advertising is a proven way of promoting
technological advanced within a market. The growth
stage is also the stage that companies will start to make
a profit, based on good market research and a strong
sense of branding and a successful marketing scheme.
In the growth stage profit isn't the only thing that will
start to develop, as there are more companies in the
market it is obvious that more technology will be
developed and that will drive prices higher, this is how
companies start to make profits. Consumers have
accepted the product, in Nokia's case, mobile phones, as
a necessity they will be more willing to pay higher
prices for new phones that emerge in the market.

47 | P a g e
  Maturity: When a product enters the maturity stage,
advertising and promotional prices should decrease, as
consumers are more aware of the product and will
research new additions to the market instead of being
told what is new. During this stage Nokia creates a
product platform depending on the success of the
product and would introduce an extension with mere
cosmetic changes but at different price points.

 Decline: At this point phone sales will be decreasing

and promotion and advertising costs will start to rise
again as companies fight for the remaining market
share and struggle
to make a profit. Once the new introduction has
increased in terms of volume and value contribution, its
predecessor would eventually be phased out. If a
company has entered decline it needs to look at the
S.W.O.T forms of analysing their market strategy
However Nokia also prolongs a products maturity stage by
introducing new packaging, colour or even enhancements
and accessories

48 | P a g e
Customer Loyalty of Nokia Mobiles
Customer loyalty is customer intention to reuse something
based on his experience and expectancy in the past.
Customer loyalty is a company’s most enduring assets. By
creating and maintaining customer loyalty, a company
develops a long-term, mutually beneficial relationship with
the customers.
Creating loyal customers has become more important due to
significant increase in competitive and concentrated
markets. The world has moved gradually from satisfying
customers to determining ways to a leap forward into
making them loyal and the most important part of the
current businesses. Today, world has become a place of
competition, survival of the companies has become very
difficult, research suggests that building long term relations
with the customers is very important factor for managers.
There are a number of factors which affect the customer
loyalty. But in our research paper, we studied the variables
which can affect the customer loyalty and these are the
customer satisfaction, customer trust, vendor
communication, brand credibility, perceived quality, and
relational benefits.
Customer satisfaction is the inner feeling of the customer. If
product meets the customer’s expectations then it makes the
customer satisfied. If the customer is satisfied then he will
be loyal with the company. Customer trust is the true
promise of the vendor or the seller with the customer. If the
seller or vendor did all of his work according to his promise
then it creates the trust of the customer which is the most
important indicator for the customer loyal. Business deal

49 | P a g e
occurs when two parties are trust worthy for each other.
Perceived value of the customer is the wish or the desire of
the customer about the product for which he sacrifices his
monetary value. Vendor communication with the customer
helps the customer to be loyal with the organization e.g. in e-
commerce the communication is one of the best indicator for
the customer loyalty. If the vendor responds quickly to the
customer then it will create the positive thinking of the
customers about the product e.g. handling the complaints of
the customer quickly and save their time.
Perceived quality is the perception of the customers about
the ability of the product to meet their needs and desires. If
we discuss basically the quality, it is the ability of the
product to fulfil the expectations of the customer. It is also
an important tool to give satisfaction to the customer about
the product. If the customer uses the product and considers
that the product has ability to meet his demands then he
will become satisfied with that particular product and this
satisfaction will force the customer to use the product again
and again.

Customer loyalty
Loyalty is important concentration of customers towards
sticking with or switching from their suppliers. Customer
basically decides that he will purchase the same product
from the same organization or not. Loyalty can never be
purchased by the companies, it is the decision of the
customer that he will remain with the same organization
forever or switch to another one.

50 | P a g e
But we can force the customer to purchase again and again
just with the help of benefits, incentives and packages. The
retention is subject to the product attributes, pecuniary
switching costs, prices and internal loyalty is through
customer care. Loyalty is internal feeling of the customer
towards any product or organization; it can only be changed
if we change the customer’s judgment about the product.
Customer loyalty can also be increased by the company
through the proper incentive plans and strategies.

Loyalty can never be ensured. If the customer is satisfied

with the company then we will always try to maintain his
relations with the firm and he will be loyal with the
company. When the customer is loyal with the company
then company reduces its costs e.g. costs of setting
customers, costs of attracting prospective customers through
advertisements and aggressive marketing promotion; costs
of personal selling and advertisement. So when firms create
the loyalty of the customer then it does not only increase the
profit of the company through developing the customer
purchase intension but also minimize the costs which are
mention above.
So, customer loyalty is an important factor to expand the
business because engaging one customer with the company
means attracting other customers and losing one customer
means losing other customers.

51 | P a g e
Brand credibility
Kotler and Keller (2008) described that brand can be
anything, a name, term, sign, symbol, design, or
combination of these;it is the brand which recognize the
goods and services of the seller and find the difference
between one seller and another. Customers and users
evaluate identical products and services based on their
brands. One way to reach information about brands is past
experiences by customers. Customers compare different
brands to selected best ones according to their needs and
requirements. Kotler and Keller (2008) believed that the
decision making process becomes easy with the help of brand
and it simplify the life of people. Kotler and Keller (2008)
believed that brand also helps to manage the financial
record of the firms. Besides, the brand name can be
protected through registered trademarks; manufacturing
processes can be protected through patents; and packaging
can be protected through copyrights and designs. These
intellectual property rights ensure that the firm can invest
in the brand in a safe manner and reach the benefits of a
valuable asset. Following Kotler and Keller’s notion, brand
can be one of the measures of the level of quality; therefore,
it can meet customers’ requirements and builds trust that
customers will repeat using existing brand. This repeating
process of buying refers to loyalty, which is beneficial for
firms to stay in competitive market, such as barriers to new
entry firms and other rivals.

52 | P a g e
PERCEPTION

Perception is the process of attaining awareness or

understanding of the environment by organising and
interpreting sensory information. All perception involves
signals in the nervous system, which in turn result from
physical stimulation of the sense organs.

CONSUMER PERCEPTION

Companies that are able to communicate a certain meaning

(e.g. prestige) through the appearance of a product design
can create a competitive advantage in the market and
increase the product’s chance of success. According to the
design of products should be understandable or meaningful
to someone. The meaning, appearance of a product helps
consumers assess the product on functional, aesthetic,
symbolic or ergonomic motives. These motives play a role in
the overall product appraisal.

BRIEF LITERATURE SURVEY

This part of the paper attempts to make a review of

research articles in the related field of the study
undertaken. A focused review of the available literature
helped us to get in depth of the topic and to understand the
53 | P a g e
contributions of others as well as to identify the research
gap.

Observes the term customer as typically used to refer to

someone who regularly purchase from a particular store or
company. The term, consumer, more generally refers to any
one engaging, acquiring, using or disposing or goods and
services.

According to a famous web portal the components of

customer value are simple. Product quality, service quality,
price and image shape a customer’s perception value. A
firm’s strategy and performance in these areas are
integrated by customers’ perception of value proposition.
This is particularly important for first time customers. In
this highly competitive business environment, the
customers will compare the perceived value of competitive
offerings. The ultimate ‘winner’ in the battle for the
customers’ pocketbook is the firm that delivers the ‘best
value’ from the customer’s perspective.

In the study by Gladwin (2003), the Lancaster model of

consumer demand is referred as the product attributes
model to evaluate brand positioning. This model assumes

54 | P a g e
that consumer choice is based on the characteristics of a
brand.

According to Mason & Bequest (1998) perception of product

performance are more important than actual performance.
The authors opined that marketing managers should know
the attributes that consumers expect in a product and
positive or negative attributes help develop and promote a
successful product.

Brand Loyalty

Investigated the customer loyalty for and found out that

product value attributes directly impact the levels of loyalty.
In their analysis, they concluded that brand image, firm
viability, product quality and post sales service quality
significantly affect repeat sales. Punniya moorthy and
Mohan (2007) investigated the antecedents of brand loyalty
and found out that involvement, functional value, price
worthiness, emotional value, social value; brand trust,
satisfaction, commitment and repeat purchase are having
positive relationship with brand loyalty. Marketers in
smartphone industry influence consumer with high quality
of product and brand engagement to make sure that
consumer be loyal to the brand. In summary, loyalty had

55 | P a g e
been investigated to been formed through the following
antecedents such as brand trust, commitment, satisfaction,
perceived value, image, association, quality and others.
Likewise, the consequences of brand loyalty are related to
their relationship with repeat purchase, purchase intention,
word of mouth, preference, price premium, brand equity,
variety seeking, performance, resistance to competitor and
brand switching. Loyalty can be hard to define as it can be
formed from attitudinal or behavioural dimensions. One of
the attitudinal loyalties is attitude towards brand. Attitude
toward brand is an attitudinal measure for loyalty as
attitude toward the brand is a relatively enduring, one-
dimensional summary evaluation of the brand that
presumably energizes behaviour. This study encompasses
the dimensions of appealing, good, pleasant, favourable and
likeable as found in Spears and Singh (2004) as the

RESEARCH RESULTS

Personal profile:

In this section the researcher analysed the age profile,

educational profile and occupational profile of the

56 | P a g e
respondents. Age profile shows that 40% of the respondents
belong to the age of 30 -35 years, 34% of the respondents in
the age group 25 – 30 years, which together accumulated
three quarters of the total sample size. The average age of
the sample respondents has been estimated as 30.1 years
with a standard deviation of 4.39. The numerical value of
standard deviation shows that there is not much variability
of age across the number of samples. There is also general
perception that people in the young age or middle age are
more enthusiastic and involved in sports activities.

The educational background was done in order to find out

how they perceive the product and whether it makes any
impact on their buying judgement. The school students are
not included in this particular research because of age
factor. According to the survey majority of the respondents
(44%) have a high educational background, with post
graduate degree holders such as Master of Philosophy,
Doctor of philosophy, Master of Engineering. It is followed
by a class of graduates working in different fields
comprising 38% of the sample respondents. The least 10% of
the respondents are other category as diploma holders
which includes polytechnic, diploma in pharmacy, catering
technology, etc.

57 | P a g e
Around 44% of the respondents belong to student category,
pursuing graduation, post-graduation and diploma courses
in various institutions and 32% are working professionals.
Only 24% of respondents are self-employed. This shows that
the perception and attitude of the respondents are
dependable for deriving conclusions of the study.

Brand Association

Consumers’ favourable brand beliefs will influence their

purchase intentions and choice of the brand. For
smartphone, brand associations can be represented by the
functional and experiential attributes offered by the specific
brand. Consumers associate the brand with, such as
dynamism, high technology, innovativeness, sophistication,
distinctiveness, excellence and prestige. The combination of
tangible and intangible attributes creates a brand identity,
that is “a unique set of brand associations that the brand
strategist aspires to create or maintain,” which drives brand
association. Therefore, the identity of the specific brand may
impact brand associations and ultimately sales. In short,
brand association is defined as the strength of functional
and experiential attributes perceived by the consumers.

58 | P a g e
Perceived quality is the perception of the customers about
the ability of the product to meet their needs and desires. If
we discuss basically the quality, it is the ability of the
product to fulfil the expectations of the customer. It is also
an important tool to give satisfaction to the customer about
the product. If the customer uses the product and considers
that the product has ability to meet his demands then he
will become satisfied with that particular product and this
satisfaction will force the customer to use the product again
and again.

Product customization benefits, economic benefits and

symbolic benefits. We check these benefits most of the time
while purchasing the product. We use environment friendly
product because we are conscious about the environment.
Sometimes, we only buy the product because it is cheaper
than others. Firms can maintain their customer loyalty
through the customer satisfaction and creating trust of the
customer. Firm can increase the customer satisfaction
through increasing benefits which are associated with the
product. Loyalty has been a primary concern in marketing
planning for different reasons including global competition,
market saturation, technological development, and customer
awareness. Price is not just a function to retain our
customers but it is the quality of product and services.

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General Buying Behaviour cell phones:

After analysing the demographic profile of the respondents,

this section deals with the second objective of the study.
Regarding the buying trend of cell phones or the frequency
of purchase it was found that 37% of the respondents buy
cell phone once in three years on an average while 31% of
the respondents buy once in two years. This is followed by
24% who prefer to change phone once in a year. The buying
frequency is correlated with certain personal variables to
understand its mutuality among certain variables. The
correlation between age profile and buying frequency
showed a negligible positive correlation 0.119. This might be
due to the dominance of young and middle aged people in
the chosen sample the cost factor plays important role in
consumer buying decision. The results of the survey show
that 50% of the respondents do not prefer buying costly cell
phone. Around 30% of the mobile users are ready to buy
costly phones occasionally, while only 16% go for it
frequently and a negligible 4% do not mind purchasing
costly phone very frequently. This clearly depicts that
majority of the respondents’ buying decision of cell phones is
influenced by price. The correlation co-efficient of age and

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cost factor shows a negligible negative value (0.266)
implying no significant association between these variables.

In Kanyakumari district most of the cell phone retail shops

are located in long distance towns. Question was asked to
find out the attitude of consumers to travel distances for
purchasing cell phones. Of the total respondents, a major
60% would never go the distance to purchase their preferred
model. Around 32% of the respondents afford to travel long
distance for chosen brand sometimes. Only 8% do not mind
covering distance stores and they frequently visit the long
distance retail shops or showrooms to get value for the
purchase decision. However the majority are not so keen to
run around for the preferred model or brand.

Consumers look for different parameters while purchasing a

cell phone. The respondents were asked on the various
factors, that usually they look for when buying a phone such
as comfort, style, price and availability. A major 56% of the
users have rated comfort (ease of use) as the most important
factor. The second important factor influencing buying
decision is price as revealed by the respondents. Only 16%
prefer style of the cell phones and give consideration to this

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factor. Very few of the respondents attach preference for the
availability of cell phones.

Perception about the brand Nokia:

The third objective of the study was to assess the consumer

perception on the brand ‘Nokia’. The respondents were
asked how they would get information regarding the models
of Nokia that were launched into the market. This also
helped to analyse their perception on the brand of Nokia. A
significant 40% of the respondents got new product
information over the internet. This is followed by 30% of the
respondents receiving information through television,
followed by 16% through press, newspapers, magazines,
trade and technical journals etc. Very few depend on
friends, relatives, salesmen and window display to get
information on Nokia.

Nokia has variety of models, which has been a major reason

for success in the global market. Respondents were asked
about the comparative position of other common brands in
the market. Around 37% of the respondents would prefer to
buy Samsung cell phones in case the Nokia product is not
available in the shop or showrooms. This is followed by 26%
of the customers choosing Blackberry, another renowned
cell phone. Sony Ericson was next preferred by 21% of the
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respondents. Only a small section 16% of respondents prefer
to buy other brands (of China and India) if preferred Nokia
models are not available.

To understand the reasons for a large market share of

Nokia, the respondents were asked to rate various
attributes on a five point scale ranging from excellent to
poor. The ratings were given as 1= excellent, 2= very good,
3= good, 4=average and 5=poor on brand name, durability,
comfort, style and price.

Ranki Weighted
ng Attributes Average

1 Brand Name 1.836

2 Durability 2.24

3 Comfort 2.46

4 Style 3.2

5 Price 3.7

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 Table 1: Personal profile

Age % Qualification % Occupation %

20 – 25 10 School level 8 Students 44

25 – 30 34 Graduates 38 Self Employed 24

Post
30 – 35 40 Graduates 44 Others 32

35 – 40 16 Others 10

Table 2: General buying behaviour

Buying Trend % Costly phone % Long distance % Product Features %

Twice in a year 8 Never 50 Never 60 Price 20

Once in a year 24 Occasionally 30 Occasionally 32 Comfort 56

Once in 2 years 31 Frequently 16 Frequently 4 Availability 8

Once in 3 years 37 Very 4 Very 4 Style 16

frequently frequently

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 Table 3: Nokia market trend

Market trend % Buying Options % Exclusive Showroom %

Highly
unsatisfactory Nil Nokia Showroom 14 Strongly disagree Nil

Unsatisfactory 20 Online 20 Disagree 34

Other
Neutral 10 shops 66 Neutral 20

Satisfactory 40 Agree 36

Highly satisfactory 30 Strongly agree 10

The weighted arithmetic mean scores suggests that the

prime reason for selecting Nokia is the brand name
associated with it. The next in ranking is the durability of
the product with a mean score 2.24 followed by comfort of
the usage as the third preferred parameter of Nokia
compared to other brands. Even if the price gets the least
rank, the mean score of 3.7 for price shows majority of the
respondents have given well to average rating for this
aspect. This further implies that Nokia users are not highly
satisfied with price factor of cell phones.

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Trend of cell phone market in Kanyakumari District:

This section deals with market trend of Nokia in the district

chosen in the study and the opinion of the respondents
regarding the suitability of launching an exclusive Nokia
showroom in the district.

Majority (40%) of the respondents are satisfied with the

existing market trend of Nokia in the district. Another 30%
of the respondents are highly satisfied with the growing
market for Nokia. Very few are not satisfied with the
market trend in the district. This clearly shows that a vast
majority of the Nokia users are quite satisfied with the
trend of Nokia market in the chosen district.

To analyse further the cell phone market trends in the

district, respondents were enquired regarding various
shopping possibilities or alternatives. People generally buy
cell phones either from Nokia showrooms, other cell phone
shops or online stores. Of the total respondents a significant
66% prefer to buy cell phone from other mobile phone shops
rather than an exclusive outlet of Nokia. This is followed by
20% who resort to online purchase. Only small group (14%)
of respondents prefer purchasing Nokia cell phone from the

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exclusive showrooms. It can be noted that the district does
not have sufficient exclusive Nokia showrooms.

One of the objectives of the study is to identify whether the

consumers would prefer to have an exclusive showroom for
Nokia. Majority of the respondents acknowledged the idea of
an exclusive showroom in the district. According to the
survey more than half (36% and 18% of them agree and
strongly agree respectively to the idea) of the sample
respondents welcome the notion of having exclusive show
room for Nokia. Around 34% of the respondents disagree
with it. This may be seen contradictory to their opinion of
buying habit revealed in the previous section (majority buy
from any retail outlet of cell phones). This is because
presently they are not given much option from where to buy
Nokia phones.

The Questionnaire design:--

Questionnaire
1. Age
o 18-30
o 30-40

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2. Gender
o Male
o Female

3. Are you a Nokia Phone user/having?

o YES
o NO
(Note-'If you answer is "YES" then go for question no 4 and if your answer
is "NO" then skip question 4)

4. What is degree of your satisfaction?

Very Low

o 1
o 2
o 3
o 4
o 5

Very High

5. What phone are you using now?

o Samsung
o Moto Group
o MI
o ASUS

Other:

6. What is the first brand comes to your mind as android?

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 o Samsung
o Moto Group
o MI
o ASUS
Other:

7. After launching Nokia Android (N3,N5,N6) are you going

to buy one of them?
o YES
o NO

(Note-Note-'If you answer is "YES" then go for question no 8 and if your answer
is "NO" then skip question 8)

8. Are you going change your current handset?

o YES
o NO
o May Be
o Not Thinking Right Now

Other:

9. Your opinion about late entry of Android in Nokia set?

Strongly Disagree

o 1
o 2
o 3
o 4
o 5

Strongly Agree

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10. How much you rate from your anticipation 'Nokia
Android' from other android brand?
Worst

o 1
o 2
o 3
o 4
o 5

Best of All

11. How do you know about 'Nokia Android'?

o Magazine
o Internet
o Word of Mouth(WOM)

Other:

12. Would you recommend 'Nokia Android' to

your Colleagues/Friends/Family members?
o YES
o NO
o May BE

Other:

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CONCLUSION

This study has brought about certain unexplored trends

regarding Nokia cell phones in Kanyakumari district.
Majority of the respondents are young adults pursuing
academics or professional courses and technology savvy.
Most of them look for cell phones with reasonable price.
Comfort plays a vital role in selecting a brand for cell phone.
The data analysis establishes the brand superiority of
Nokia, in relation to other brands. The respondents are
quite satisfied with the durability, comfort and style of
Nokia cell phones. There is a general positive outlook
towards the availability of exclusive showroom of Nokia in
the district. Nokia even though being a global giant still has
not captured the complete Kanyakumari district market as
of now. Hence the company should come out with better
marketing strategies specially pricing strategies in order to
update the customers more about the new models and
exclusive features.

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REFERENCES

1. Loudon, David & Bitta Albert, Consumer

Behavior, Tata McGraw Hill Publishing
Company, Forth Edition.
2. G.C. Beri, Marketing Research, Tata
McGraw Hill Publishing Company, Third
Edition.
3. Philip Kotlar, “Marketing Management:
Analysis, Planning, Implementation and
Control”, 8th edition, 1996, Prentice Hall of India
Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi.

4. Aaush Chowdhury, Abishek Kapoor,

“Profiling the Young Indian Consumer”,
Advertising express, Vol. V, Issue 9, Sep. 2005.
5. Bruner, Gordon. “The effect of problem
recognition style an information seeking”,
Journal of the academy of marketing services,
Vol. 15,1987.

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