 Smartphone Market In India:-

The number of smartphone users in India was estimated to increase to about 442
million in 2022. India is the second largest market globally for smartphones
after China. About 134 million smartphones were sold across India in the year
2017.

Smartphone vendors are having a dream run in the India market at a time when
global smartphone shipments have been dwindling and Indian economy is going
through its worst slowdown in recent times. India shipped 49 million units of
smartphone in Q3 2019, growing 10% YoY (year on year), according to
Counterpoint’s latest market report for India.

Xiaomi and Samsung continue to be the most sought after vendors with a
market share of 26% and 20% respectively. While they retained their
leadership, they were not the fastest growing vendors. On the contrary, both
companies have lost a bit of their market since Q3 2018, when Xiaomi held
27% market and Samsung 23%. Surprisingly, Xiaomi's shipments grew YoY at
7% due to high uptake of its 7th gen Redmi Note 7 smartphones on online
platforms.

Oppo's online focused sub brand Realme was the fastest growing smartphone
vendor in last one year, jumping from 3% in Q3 2018 to 16% in the last quarter.
Vivo also moved up in the ladder recording it's highest ever market share of
17% in the last quarter, up from 10% in Q3 2018. The researchers attribute their
growth to their new found focus towards online market.

Oppo's managed to hold on to the fifth spot despite the fact that its market share
of 8% in the last quarter was the same as in Q3 2018.

According to Counterpoint, these top five vendors, four of which belong to

mainland China, accounted for 87% of the total smartphone market share.
Price cuts and big discounts on Apple XR and launch of iPhone 11 ahead of the
festive season have put Apple into the top 10 smartphone vendors in India.
In spite of its limited market share, Apple reported double-digit growth in India
in its quarterly earnings report, which was published in June 2019. Apple has
reportedly started assembling iPhone XR in India at Foxconn's Chennai plant.
In the premium segment, OnePlus was the leading vendor in Q3 2019 with
twice the shipments compared to last year.

In a press statement, Anshika Jain, Research Analyst at Counterpoint Research,

points out, "this was mainly driven by the spree of pre-festive season launches,
aggressive marketing and incentivised channel strategy to maintain sufficient
inventory to cash in on the festive season."

Surprisingly, growing demand of smartphones hasn't hurt vendors in the feature

phone market. Even though the feature phone market declined by 37% YoY, it
was largely due to holding back of new shipments from Reliance Jio, as the
operator has been trying to get rid of older inventory of JioPhones before the
festive season.
With 22% market share, up from 17% a year ago, Samsung was the leader in
feature phone segment.

Indian vendors have been struggling in the smartphone market but have still got
takers in the feature phone segment. Lava and Karbonn with market share of
16% and 7%, respectively were among the top five vendors in Q3 2019.
Backed by robust growth in smartphone as well as smart-feature phone
categories, an estimated 302 million mobile handsets will be sold in India in
2019, the highest ever in a year, says a report on Tuesday.

Xiaomi is expected to continue the lead in 2019 in the overall smartphone

market, according to the research from technology research consulting firm
techARC.

Of the 302 million mobile handsets, 149 million (49.3 per cent) will be
smartphones, 55 million (18.2 per cent) will be smart-feature phones and the
remaining 98 million (32.5 per cent) will be the feature phones, the results
showed.

"There is a large replacement cycle due in 2019 for users who bought their first
4G smartphone between 2015-2017," Faisal Kawoosa, Founder and Principal
Analyst, techARC said in a statement.

Some of the prominent brands that are expected to witness growth in their sales
next year compared to 2018 include Xiaomi, OnePlus, Google, Nokia, Asus and
Realme, the report said.

None of the homegrown brands is expected to show reversal of declining trends

that continued all through 2018, while sales for Samsung, Oppo, Vivo and
Honor-Huawei are expected to remain flat and continue to show similar market
performance as in 2018, it added.

TechARC said the sales estimates are based on its internal projections, validated
through interactions across the value chain including users, channel, original
equipment manufacturers (OEMS) and component suppliers.

 Key Players In Smartphone Market Of India

1. Xiaomi – The Redmi Note 7 Pro / Note 8 PRO is killer phones for
Xiaomi and even the affordable Xiaomi Redmi 7A/7/8/8A (sold more
than 4 million units) is a growth driver. In the recent quarter, there is
Redmi Note 8 PRO, Redmi Note 8 and the Redmi 7 Series fueling the
growth of the brand in India.

2. Samsung – Samsung has models like the M30, M30s, Mssssss20,

M10, A30, A50 which are selling well in the entry and mid-range
segment. While Note 10, Note 9 and the S10e/S10/ S10+ are top sellers in
the higher segment.

3. Vivo – Vivo also is playing strong in the mid-range market with several
models such as the V15, V15 Pro, V17, V17 Pro and the Y series.

4. Oppo – Though the report says that Oppo has 7% market share and lags
behind Vivo but if we include Realme, then it is ahead. The top sellers are
F17 Pro, F17, Oppo Reno 2, Reno 2F, Reno 10X Zoom, A5, A9, and K3.

5. Realme – Realme is succeeding in India and now has a higher share than
Oppo. The top sellers are Realme 5, Realme C2, Realme 5 Pro and the
latest Realme X.
 Top 10 Most Popular Smartphone Brand In India:-

1. Samsung:-
India is the leading and second largest smartphone market
in the world, Samsung and Apple’s dominance on India’s luxury
smartphone market. The Samsung Electronics and Apple Inc are the two
largest manufacturers of smartphones in the world, followed by Huawei
Technologies and other Chinese smartphone companies in India such as
Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo and OnePlus. The South Korean Samsung
Electronics company is rated as India’s most attractive and trusted brand
of mobiles. Samsung has one of the largest lower priced handsets
market in India with record earnings and profit.

2. Xiaomi:-
Xiaomi is a Chinese electronics company and a leading
smartphone manufacturer in the Indian market. India is the world’s
second-largest smartphone market and the company also set up
manufacturing unit in India.

3. Oneplus:-
OnePlus is another Shenzhen-based Chinese
smartphone company, released numerous phones in India.
Latest Oneplus 6T and 7T are one of the best smartphones in the world.

4. Apple:-
The American multinational technology company expanded its
products into the Indian market. Apple taking over the smartphone
market in India and planning to invest and set up new development
center facility.

5. Vivo:-
Vivo Communication is one of the top 10 smartphone makers in
the world and entered the Indian mobile market, also became the title
sponsor of the Indian Premier League.
6. Oppo:-
Oppo is a leading manufacturer of smartphones in India and was
the sponsor the Indian national cricket team.

7. Lenovo:-
Lenovo is the Chinese company, acquired the mobile phone
handset maker Motorola and into the designs, develops, manufactures of
smartphones, computers and tablet.

8. LG:-
LG Electronics is another South Korean electronics company in
India having one of the most trusted brand status in electronics.

9. Nokia:-
Nokia is a Finnish multinational electronics company, was the
largest worldwide vendor of mobile phones and smartphones, also one of
the most popular brand of earlier mobiles phones in India.

10. HTC:-
HTC is a Taiwanese electronics company making Windows
based smartphones and with the competition from Apple Inc. and
Samsung Electronics.
1. XIAOMI:-
XiaomiiiCorporation is a Chineseiielectronics company headquartered in
Beijing. Xiaomiiimakesiiand investsiiniismartphones, mobile apps,
laptops, and related consumer electronics. Xiaomi released its first
smartphone in August 2011 and rapidly gained market share in China to
become the country's largest smartphone company in 2014. At the start
of second quarter of 2018, Xiaomi was the world's fourth-largest
smartphone manufacturer, leading in both the largest market, China, and
the second-largest market, India. Xiaomi later developed a wider range
of consumer electronics, including a smart home (IoT) device ecosystem.
Xiaomi has 15,000 employees in China, India, Malaysia, Singapore and
is expanding to other countries including Indonesia, the Philippines, and
South Africa. According to Forbes magazine, Lei Jun, the founder and
CEO, has an estimated net worth of US$12.5 billion. He is China's 11th
richest person and 118th in the world. Xiaomi is the world's 4th most
valuable technology start-up after receiving US$1.1 billion funding from
investors, making Xiaomi's valuation more than US$46 billion. History
Xiaomi was founded in 2010. Xiaomi and MI are two different
companies. However, they produce MI and Redmi with collaboration
with each other. Xiaomi's logo "MI" is short for Mobile Internet since
Xiaomi was founded to be a mobile-first technology company. Xiaomi
has a total of 15,222 full-time employees. Most are 5 based in Beijing,
Mainland China, while the others are split between India, Taiwan,
Indonesia, and Hong Kong. Products Xiaomi produces many products.
Notably, it produces smartphones which run on their own version of
Android MIUI firmware. Observers suggest that part of Xiaomi's rapid
success rests on its ability to differentiate itself within the Android
universe. The company has increased its range of products; its
smartphones include: Mi Series, Mi Note Series, Mi Max Series, Mi Mix
Series and the Redmi Series. Redmi Note and MI mobile phones are two
different products of two different companies.As well as mobile phones,
Xiaomi has started selling wearables, mobile accessories, and appliances
such as television and speakers. In 2018 it was selling tablets, laptops,
and smart-home devices. Xiaomi operates on a vertically-integrated
model that enables the company to sell hardware at cost or below in
order to attract users and earn money by selling content. Hugo Barra, a
former Google executive who served Xiaomi's vice president from 2014
to 2017, characterized the organization as "an Internet and a software
company much more than a hardware company". Xiaomi also keeps its
prices low or close to "bill-of-material" by keeping most of its products
in the market longer, eighteen months rather than the six-month norm
followed by many smartphone companies.
 2. SAMSUNG:-

Samsung is a South Korean multinational company which serves many

areas such as information and communications technology, construction,
entertainment, and advertising. We can mention that some of their
products are electronic components, telecommunication. Samsung's
revenue was equal to 17% of South Korea's $1,082 billion GDP. Given
that it was a low-cost me-too manufacturer of imitations of Sharp’s
microwaves in the 1970s this is a huge achievement. Pivotal to Samsung
Electronics’ success over the past decade or so has been the way it has
embraced design as the source of competition. Growing from 2 to 900,
the Samsung Electronics design team now consistently takes most awards
at the prestigious annual design events as the company’s products are
time and time again seen as leading the category in performance, quality,
and value. The company has over the 500,000 employee that proves the
company is a multinational company. The current company’s chairman is
Lee Kun-hee and vice chairman is Lee Jae-Yong. Company culture is
very important in terms of innovation driver because it helps shape up the
productive community within the organization. Moreover, business
culture is also powerful to the company because it creates a behavior
pattern inside the companies. Samsung has a strong culture in their
organization because, in order to become an innovative company and
world leader, their employees need to have the same understanding about
their business and also business direction. These business cultures not
only make Samsung a market leader, but they also teach lessons in
struggle and success. One of the lessons thought is that after the
company’s world tour, Lee-Byung-Chull noticed that their product sales
had not met the expectation because the sale representative did not pay
attention to their brand. Moreover, Quality Management becomes the
most important idea for their production.
 3. VIVO:-

vivo Communication Technology Co. Ltd. is a Chinese technology

company owned by BBK Electronics that designs and manufactures
smartphones and smartphone accessories in China, software and online services.
BBK Electronics also owns Oppo, Realme and OnePlus. The company develops
software for its phones, distributed through its vivo App Store, with iManager
included in their proprietary, Android-based operating system, Funtouch OS.
Since its founding in 2009, vivo has expanded to over 100 countries around the
world. International expansion began in 2014, when the company entered the
Thai marketplace. vivo quickly followed up with launches
in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.
In 2017, vivo entered the smartphone market In 2017, vivo entered the
smartphone market in Russia, SriLanka, Taiwan, Hong
Kong, Brunei, Macau, Cambodia, Laos, Bangladesh, and Nepal. In June 2017, it
entered the Pakistan mobile phone market and the vivo brand is currently
experiencing rapid growth in popularity in the country.
On 26 November 2017, vivo entered the Nepali market with its Y53 and Y65
models. In 2019, it started operations in the Middle East. In October 2015, vivo
became the title sponsor of the Indian Premier League under a two-year deal
starting in the 2016 season. In July 2017, the deal was extended until 2022.
In June 2017, vivo reached a sponsorship deal with FIFA to become the official
smartphone brand of the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups.] The company also
became a title sponsor of India's Pro Kabaddi. VIVO has assembly plant in
Greater NOIDA. Basically they import parts from china and assemble in
NOIDA. They must be getting some tax benefits by doing this. Also, I have
heard that Chinese labor cost has gone up, thus it is better to shift labor
intensive works like assembling to India(where labor cost is low).
In 2012 Vivo released the X1.The X1 was also the first Vivo phone to use a Hi-
Fi chip, developed by American semiconductor company Cirrus Logic. Vivo
followed this up in 2013 by releasing the world’s first 2k-resolution screen
phone, the Xplay3s. Other popular phones in the Vivo lineup include the X5Pro,
the X5Max, and the Xshot. Vivo joined the ranks of the top 10 smartphone
makers in the first quarter of 2015 with a global market share of 2.7%. With
research and development centers in Shenzhen and Nanjing, the company
employed 1,600 R&D personnel as of January 2016.Vivo smartphones is
currently the sponsor for the Indian Premier League editions 2016 and 2017.
 4. OPPO:-

Guangdong OPPO Mobile Telecommunications Corp., Ltd, commonly referred

to as OPPO, is a Chinese consumer electronics and mobile communications
company headquartered in Dongguan, Guangdong, in China, and known for
its smartphones, Blu-ray players and other electronic devices. A leading
manufacturer of smartphones, OPPO was the top smartphone brand in China in
2019 and was ranked No. 5 worldwide. It is a subsidiary of BBK Electronics. It
is a part of BBK Electronics Corporation along
with Vivo, Realme and OnePlus. The brand name OPPO was registered in
China in 2001 and launched in 2004. Since then, they have expanded to all parts
of the world.
In June 2016, OPPO became the biggest smartphone manufacturer in
China, selling its phones at more than 200,000 retail outlets. In 2017, OPPO
won the bid to sponsor the Indian national cricket team and has achieved the
rights to display their logo on the team’s kits from 2017 to 2022. Within this
period the Indian national cricket team will play 259 International matches
consisting of 62 Tests, 152 ODIs, and 45 T20 Internationals. This number also
includes the 2019 World Cup in England and 2020 T20 World Cup in Australia.
The current base price for bilateral matches involving India has been set at Rs
4.1 crore (approx.) and for Asian Cricket Council (ACC) and International
Cricket Council (ICC) matches, it is Rs 1.56 crore (approx.) - almost a four-fold
increase from its earlier rate.
In 2019 OPPO became a sponsoring partner of the French Open Grand Slam
tennis tournament that is held in Roland-Garros, Paris.
In 2019, as per a survey conducted by Numr Research, a market research
company in India, OPPO emerged as a brand with highest Net Promoter Score
in India OPPO is a global electronics and technology service provider that
delivers the latest and most exquisite mobile electronic devices in over 20
countries, including the United States, China, Australia and many countries
throughout Europe, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
OPPO is dedicated to delivering customers with the most extraordinary mobile
experience through meticulous designs and smart technology
 5. REALME:-

Realme (stylized as realme) is a Shenzhen-

based Chinese smartphone manufacturer. The brand was officially established
on May 4, 2018 (National Youth Day in China) by Sky Li (born Bingzhong Li),
who was previously the Vice-President of Oppo Electronics. Realme also
produces a wide variety of other products such as earphones, fitness bands and
bags. Realme first appeared in China in 2010 as "OPPO Real". It was a
subbrand of OPPO Electronics Corporation until its separation in 2018, after
which it became its own brand under the Chinese multinational firm BBK
Electronics.
On July 30, 2018, former vice president of OPPO and head of OPPO's overseas
business department Sky Li announced his official resignation from OPPO and
his intention to establish realme as an independent brand on the Chinese
microblogging website Weibo. He said that in the future, the realme brand will
focus on providing mobile phones that integrate strong performance and stylish
design, bringing young people a joyful life featuring affordable "technology"
and "beauty". Currently, realme has entered the markets of more than 18
countries such as China, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia,
Pakistan, Egypt, etc. In May 2019, we’ve launched in the Europe regions.
realme is committed to offering powerful performance, stylish design, sincere
services and exploring more possibilities for smartphones.
To expand its footprints in India, Realme planned to establish around 25
exclusive service centres across India by the end of 2019. It inaugurated its first
exclusive service centre in the country’s capital city New Delhi on March 19.
The company also planned to expand its offline sales channels to 150 cities in
2019 by partnering with retail stores and multi-brand outlets across the country.

Though the company’s product line-up comprises mostly the budget and
midrange smartphones, it is also working on a premium offering with flagship
specifications and features that is expected to be launched in India by the end of
2019. The upcoming phone is expected to rival the Xiaomi Redmi K2 Pro,
launched in China in May and likely to come to India in June.

Realme smartphones currently use Oppo’s ColorOS, based on the Android

operating system, as their default user interface. The company is working on a
new user interface, which is also expected to roll out by the end of 2019.
  WHAT IS BRAND:-

A brand can be defined as a set of tangible and intangible attributes designed to

create awareness and identity, and to build the reputation of a product, service,
person, place, or organization. The objective of branding strategy is to create
brands that are differentiated from the competition, thereby reducing the
number of perceived substitutes in the marketplace, increasing price elasticity,
and improving profits. Branding strategies are built on the interdependent
frameworks of competitive brand positioning, value chains development, and
brand equity management. Competitive brand positioning requires the
identification of a distinct market space and a cognitive location as perceived by
consumers. Value chain development is based primarily on product
development and market development. Product development includes strategic
initiatives on product design, product innovation, and the ability to introduce
new product lines and category extensions. Market development revolves
around pricing strategy, distribution strategy, and marketing communications.
Brand equity is the set of assets and liabilities associated with a brand. The
trend in branding is moving beyond the customer's perception of a brand, to the
measureable metrics of customer satisfaction throughout the value chain.
Brand is a complex phenomenon. Though brands have been widely discussed
and debated in academic world; a common understanding on brand could not be
made among the brand experts. “Each expert comes up with his or her own
definition of brand or nuances of definition” (Kapferer, 2004), which increases
the complexity in brand interpretation as well as its management. This article
aims to provide an overview of the existing academic literature defining the
brand by analyzing and synthesizing more than three dozen definition of brand.
The review of the existing literature was done to reduce the time and efforts of
present and future researchers in this area by providing a quick snapshot of the
existing definitions; pointing unanswered questions and various perspectives
that constitutes brand meaning. At the end views and critical analysis have been
presented reflecting authors understanding of the brands.
A Brand is a name, term, symbol or design or a combination of them, which is
intended to identify the goods and services of a seller or a group of sellers and
to differentiate them from those of competitors.
 FEATURES OF GOOD BRANDS:-

 Brand should suggest something about the product – purpose, quality,

benefit, use, action etc.
 It should be simple, short and easy to pronounce and remember
 It should be easy to advertise and identify.
 It should be of a permanent nature.
 It should be clear and attractive.
 It should be capable of being registered and protected legally.
 It should be distinctive.
 It should have a pleasing sound to the ear, when pronounced.
 It should be economical.
 It should be original.
 It should not be pronounced in several ways.
 It should not be offensive.
 It should create a good image.
 It should not be out-dated
 Why branding individual products is required?

Why branding individual products is required?

 Memory recall is facilitated.

 This could lead to more rapid initial buying action or greater frequency of
buying and hence deeper loyalty.

 Advertising can be directed more effectively and linked with other

communication programmes.

 Branding leads to a more ready acceptance of a product by wholesalers

and retailers.

 Self-selection is facilitated very important consideration is self-service

stores.
 Display space is more easily obtained and special promotions are more
practicable.

 The importance of price differentials may be diminished.

 Brand loyalty may give a manufacturer greater control over marketing

strategy and channels of distribution.

 Other products may be introduced more readily. (the failure of a brand

may, of course, lead to undue resistance to other products)

 The amount of personal persuasive selling effort may be reduced.

 Branding makes market segmentation easier.

 Different brands of similar products may be developed may be

developed to meet specific categories of users.
 The demand for the general products class should be large and strong
enough to support a profitable marketing plan, involving additional
promotion cost.

 The product should be easily identifiable by a brand and lend itself easily
to conspicuous marketing.

 The brand must be economies of large scale production, whenever

additional production is undertaken as a result of expanding sales volume.

 The brand must carry through to the ultimate consumer.

 The quality of the product should be best and it should be easily

maintained.

 There must be consistent and widespread supply of the product.

 The ideal brand is the one which becomes universally well-known but at
the same time retains a clear and independent identity.

 The brand, once established, can command a premium price owing to the
valuable psychological intangibles associated with its name.
 Classification of Brands:-

1. Family Brand:-

A single brand name for all the products of a company and which are
being similar in quality.

2. Individual Brand:-

Brand name is given for each variety of products and each product of
same producer will carry its own brand used for dissimilarity

3. National Brand:-

The same brand used on the national level manufacturers brands are
commonly termed as national level.

4. Private Brand:-

Large wholesalers and retailers operation over regional or national market

and placing their own brand on the products that they market. These
brands offered by wholesaler and retailer are usually called private Brand.

5. Umbrella Brand:-

All products having the name of the company or manufacturer is called

the umbrella brand.
 BENEFITS OF BRANDIN

1. Producers Benefit:-

 Brand enables a firm to build reputation.

 It is a device by which a good image and goodwill are established.
 It facilitates introduction of new products, in a simplified process
 It distinguishes products from rival firms and thus ensures constant
returns.
 It is essential for sales promotion and building a demand.
 It widens the market, through demand creation
 It helps in reducing advertising cost.
 It brings repeated sales.
 It reduces the need for price comparison.
 Individuality of a product is established

2. Wholesaler/ Retailers Benefit

 They require less time to get sold.

 Branded products pose less risk.
 There is an established demand.
 Branding aids in advertising and display programmes.
 Branding assists in increasing control over the market.
 Branding reduces the price comparisons and helps to stabilize price.
3. Consumers Benefit:-

 There must be widespread supply of the products.

 The quality and standard of the products must be maintained regularly.
 Enforcement of product identification and differentiation by brands must
be strictly adhered too.
 Brand must carry through product to the ultimate consumer, to be more
effective. · Product must have distinctive and special approach.
 Brand distinguishes and differentiates the products of different
producers.
 Identification is possible through brands; consumers are at ease while
shopping.
 CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOUR:-

Consumer buying behaviour signifies more than just the approach of

consumer towards buying a product. Marketing efforts therefore also
emphasize on consumer’s consumption of services, ideas and activities.
The manner in which consumer buys a product is extremely important to
marketers. It involves understanding a set of decisions (what, why, when,
how much and how often) that the consumer makes over the time. This
research scrutinizes consumer behaviour in a wider perspective and
highlights its dependency on the most popular jewellery segments. It
proceeds in two directions where the consumers and jewellers move
parallel and also highlights traditional as well as branded jewellers and
jewellery market of Jaipur. In general terms “Consumer is a person who
consumes”, especially an individual belonging to a particular gender, age,
sex, religion etc. and who acquires goods or services for direct use or
ownership rather than for resale or use in production and manufacturing.
In other words, it can be said that the Consumer is an individual who
buys products or services for personal use and not for resale or reproduce.
A consumer is an important person who can make the decision to
purchase an item from a particular store, and can be swayed by marketing
and advertisements. People usually consume things of daily use and also
consume and buy these products according to their personal needs,
priorities and buying power. These can be consumable goods, durable
goods, Special goods or industrial goods. Consumer buying behaviour
means more than just how an individual buys products. Marketing efforts
therefore also focus on consumer’s consumption of services, his activities
and ideas. It explains the set of decisions that a consumer makes while
buying (Hoyer, 2004)1 . It is important to know consumer reaction
towards different products, their features, price, and advertisement
pattern, in order to ensure strong competitive advantage.
 Consumer behaviour allows a number of things-

 It opens up opportunities for estimating demand.

 Measures behaviour in society, brings a clear understanding about how

brands behave.

 Forecasts how the company can serve their expected customers in the
most efficient manner.

 It is the base for the individual to come into terms of one’s own
expenditure.
 BRAND PREFERENCE:-

Branding has always been an important aspect of marketing. Brand is a

powerful differentiator in a highly competitive market place. It provides
the company the power to deflect competitive moves. A strong brand
rings trust, confidence, comfort and reliability in the customer’s mind.
Brands live in the minds of consumers and are much more than just a tag
for their recognition and identification. They are the basis of consumer
relationship and bring consumers and marketers closer by developing a
bond of faith and trust between them. The promise of brand is consistent
with reliable quality, service and overall psychological satisfaction. Brand
preference is the selective demand for a company’s brand rather than a
product; the degree to which consumers prefer one brand over another.
Brand preference can be achieved by creating the positive brand image in
customers mind. Brand image is the consumer’s impression about the
brand’s physical characteristics, its performance, the functional benefits,
the kind of people who use the product, the emotions and associations it
develops, and the imagery or symbolic meanings, it generates. The brand
choice decisions are critical for marketer. Understanding how customers
arrive at specific brand choice is essential for brand development. The
present paper focuses on the study of brand preference for mobile phones
with reference to the management students. The primary objective of the
study is to assess the brand preference for mobile phones among the
management students of Kolhapur City. It also identifies the major
features which a student looks in a mobile phone. The present study is the
descriptive research. Brand preference analysis is done by conducting the
survey which describes the preferences for different mobile phones of the
surveyed management students.
 BRAND PREFERENCE IMPORTANT IN CONSUMER
BUYING BEHAVIOUR:-

Consumer brand preference is an essential step towards understanding

consumer choice behaviour, and has therefore always received great
attention from marketers. However, the study of brand preference has
been limited to traditional marketing focusing on functional attributes to
maximise utility. But now the shift to experiential marketing broadens the
role of the brand from a bundle of attributes to experiences.
Technological advancements have helped to increase the similarities
between brand attributes and product commoditisation. Consequently,
consumers cannot shape their preferences among brands using rational
attributes only. They seek out brands that create experiences; that intrigue
them in a sensorial, emotional and creative way. This study seeks to
develop a model that provides an understanding of how brand knowledge
and brand experience determine brand preference and to investigate its
impact on brand repurchase intention. Accordingly, exploratory focus
group discussions are employed followed by a survey of mobile phone
users in Egypt. The findings provide insights into the relative importance
of consumer perceptions on different brand knowledge factors in shaping
brand preferen At the other extreme, customer preferences may be
scattered throughout the space, indicating that customer vary greatly in
their preferences. The first brand to enter the market is likely to position
in the center to appeal to the most people. A brand in the center
minimizes the sum of total customer dissatisfaction. A second competitor
could locate next to the first brand and fight for market share or it could
locate in a corner to attract a customer group that was not satisfied with
the center brand. If several brands are in the market, they are likely to
position throughout the space and show real difference to match customer
preference differences. ces. It also demonstrates the significance of
consumers’ experiential responses towards brands in developing their
brand preferences that in turn influence brand repurchase intention. The
model therefore offers managers a new perspective for building strong
brands able to gain consumer preference.
 Types of Brand Preferences:-

The target audience might like the product but not prefer it to others. In
this case, the communicator must try to build customer preference by
promoting quality, value, performance and other features. The
communicator can check the campaign’s success by measuring audience
preference after the campaign. The following are the types of preference.

1. Homogeneous Preferences
2. Diffused Preference

3. Clustered Preferences ·

4.Heterogeneous Preference

1. Homogeneous Preferences:-

A market where the entire customer have roughly the same

preference. The market shows no natural segments. We would
predict that existing brands would be similar and cluster around the
middle of the scale in both sweetness and creaminess.

2. Diffused Preferences:-

At the other extreme, customer preferences may be scattered

throughout the space, indicating that customer vary greatly in their
preferences. The first brand to enter the market is likely to position
in the center to appeal to the most people. A brand in the center
minimizes the sum of total customer dissatisfaction. A second
competitor could locate next to the first brand and fight for market
share or it could locate in a corner to attract a customer group that
was not satisfied with the center brand. If several brands are in the
 market, they are likely to position throughout the space and show
real difference to match customer preference differences.

3. Clustered Preferences:-

The market might reveal distinct preference clusters called natural

Market Segments. The first firm in this market has three options. It
might position in the center hoping to appeal to all groups. It might
position in the largest market segment. It might develop several
brands, each positioned in a different segment if the first firm
developed only one brand and competitors would enter and
introduce brands in the other segments.

4. Diffused Preferences:-

At the other extreme, customer preferences may be scattered

throughout the space, indicating that customer vary greatly in their
preferences. The first brand to enter the market is likely to position
in the center to appeal to the most people. A brand in the center
minimizes the sum of total customer dissatisfaction. A second
competitor could locate next to the first brand and fight for market
share or it could locate in a corner to attract a customer group that
was not satisfied with the center brand. If several brands are in the
market, they are likely to position throughout the space and show
real difference to match customer preference differences.