CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

For students of PGDB in Financial Management & Marketing Management

CASE STUDY TEST

PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING:

1. This case study should be solved individually by the students of Financial

Management & Marketing Management

2. Please go to the last page and check your roll number allocation to find out
which set of question you have to answer and answer accordingly

3. Answering the wrong set of question will lead to cancellation of your submission

4. The students are to submit a handwritten solution. Typewritten solutions

and/or softcopies of the solution will not be accepted

5. The number of words should not exceed 1000 +/- 5%

6. The bibliography should be formatted using APA style of citation

7. The marks awarded would be as follows:

Legibility of the paper : 03

Sequencing of Arguments : 03
Correctness of the Arguments (4x3) : 12
Correct Citation & Bibliography Format : 02
Total Marks : 20

8. Deadline for submission is 27-August-2007 and will not be extended. Failure

to meet the deadline will result in a zero being awarded.

9. The case study should contain the following:

Your Name
Your Department & Your Roll Number
Question Set Allocation: A /B /C

[CASE STUDY SOLUTIONS]

(not more than 1000 words)

Bibliography
 CASE STUDY
“Buying a Personal Computer”

We had fretted over the decision for more than one year. My husband and I were reluctant
to add this stress to our already harried lives. Sure, nearly all our friends had one and
boasted about how rewarding the little darlings were; but we also knew that this would
demand time we couldn’t spare. And it would probably need it’s own room and special
furniture.

Despite our anxieties we decided that it was time to buy our first home computer. Although
we both used PC at work, but our technical knowledge did not go beyond working with the
on-off switch. So armed with advice from our friends, Sonal and I headed for a nearby mall.

The friendly salesman at the computer department at the shopping mall asked us what we
wanted to do on our PC. “Writing” I replied. He seated me in front of an IBM’s new computer
the IS-2400, ignoring the bulky Rs. 60,000 Compaq Presario Pro. He popped off the top and
babbled about memory cards, SVGA, expansion slots and disk drives. The talk made me
dizzy, but the PC seemed downright friendly. With a few mouse clicks, I was creating files.
When we figured out what we really need the price, including a print-scan-copy printer, the
price of the bundle soared to Rs. 47,000 from the initial Rs. 38,000. But the promise of
IBM’s service and the salesman enthusiasm was appealing. “I used to be afraid to sell
computers” he said; “but with IBM, I am not”.

Before our next outing, we figured that more homework was in order. Computer catalogues
with their list of megabytes and I/O ports proved worthless. One brochure rhapsodized
about disk-caching, ROM shadowing, and LIM 4.0 EMS support in ROM. Stacks of
computer magazines didn’t offer much enlightenment either. Suddenly the idea of plugging
the cuddly IS-2400 seemed good. Still, we now were confident that we knew our RAM from
the ROM. So off we went to Computer Point – the largest computer store in town. After
asking which word processor we liked, the salesman dismissed the Dell’s new home PC
saying that it lacked processing power. He suggested Dell’s Proliant Xenon which we could
have for Rs. 42,000 with a inkjet printer. But when we added an asynchronous modem,
extra HDD and graphics card, the price soared to Rs. 67,000 excluding VAT.

As with the IBM’s IS-2400, the sales approach for the Dell’s PC emphasized fun and easy
software, including programs to balance our budget and plan our meals. With the “stereo
system of the month” blaring nearby, I did not catch all the details, but a handy chart
comparing the Dell to IBM showed that we would save money on purchasing Dell and also
get repairs and service through the Dell’s 24x7 network. After the visit to Computer Point,
we were beginning to feel like a pro. A dinner time Sonal and I would discuss the merits of
various computers and the respective add-on’s.

Our confidence was soon dashed when we visited Elec-tri-CITY – another electronic shop in
the town. Wandering through the shop, we attracted little notice, until a casually dressed
employee approached. He was perplexed when we could not specify what we wanted. After
listening to us, he advised us to buy an Apple iMac. He said that an iMac would be much
more easy to operate than an IBM computer. Maybe, but by now I could not think of
expanding our computer search to a new universe of models.

By now, we were itching to spend. And what better place than the “computer superstore”
that boasted of more than 5000 computer related items. At first sight, the “computer
superstore” seemed part chaos and part carnival. Families strolled the superstore with
children and computer gear in tow. A salesman recommended a machine based on Cyrix or
AMD chipset. He pointed us to the store special – “the system of the week” – a Rs. 28,000
IBM clone. With the extras that we wanted, the price came to Rs. 40,000. The price
sounded good; but one of our magazines had warned against falling for an in-house special.
And Sonal had doubts about the monitor’s sharpness.

Finally we took the easy way out. A friend in the computer business put together for us an
assembled PC meeting our requirements. He is even loading the software. Now, if only he
also sold computer furniture

QUESTION GROUP A

1. Describe the consumer decision process stages described in the above scenario
2. Identify the research issues suggested by the above case for computer manufacturers

QUESTION GROUP B

3. Critically examine the implications of post-purchase behaviour of this couple and other
computer buyers
4. Assuming that a large number of consumers acted like the couple described above;
what are the implications for communication strategies for computer manufacturer

QUESTION GROUP C

5. Identify the external and internal factors that influenced the couple’s buying process
6. Critically examine the change in the couple’s evaluation process over time.
 ROLL NUMBER ALLOCATION

Answer Answer Answer

QUESTION GROUP – A QUESTION GROUP – B QUESTION GROUP – C

2 12 13 15 5 7 8 9 1 3 4 6

21 22 29 30 14 19 23 26 10 11 16 17

32 33 34 36 39 41 43 45 18 20 24 25

38 42 48 50 47 54 57 58 27 28 31 35

52 56 60 61 62 63 68 69 37 40 44 46

64 65 66 67 70 71 72 74 49 51 53 55

76 77 — — 75 — — — 59 73 — —