Consumer Behavior and Analysis of Dell-Free-Samples for Students

Question: Discuss about the Consumer Behavior and Analysis of Dell. Answer: Service Overview Dell, started in 1984,has established itself as a pioneer of the era of technological innovation and providing the customers with the most competitive pricing products options equipped with flexible customization options. Dell has striven to introduce some of the most groundbreaking and innovative ways of creating a niche in a market. For instance, it has plans to create waste free packaging, generate a large scale waste recycling facility and bringing in resources to produce resource efficient packaging for its products. Innovation wise, Oracle 10g grid on Linux is the greatest success that the company has witnessed success in the field of catering customers with technology and revolution. The users are bestowed with amazing features like zero system failures or outrages, sustainable performance and reliable products. Over the years, Dell has situated itself in a well-esteemed position in the field of networking and business expansion. Dell is a market oriented company which focuses on catering to the customers needs and produce the products in such a fashion so as it synchronizes with the demands of customers. They have done excellent so far with the help of a strategic assessment of consumer psychology and demand pattern, consequently fostering a harmonious relationship with their customers. One of the awe-inspiring products of Dell has to be the Latitude 7000 which has a detachable keyboard fashioned for the students and corporate employees to carry their tablet without any hurdles. It has witnessed a market growth of 46 percent annually. Critical Analysis Consumer decision buying process Consumer has the buying power which denotes the systematic pattern of purchasing a thing which furthermore enumerate a number of stages that influence the same. Need recognition, consideration of available alternatives, purchase design, a thorough evaluation of the product, choice of the product are some of the factors that have a say in influencing peoples buying pattern. Buying process basically entails the decision behind the purchase of any good or availing service. Desire and interest of the consumer to identify with the product is crucial in order to increase consumer involvement (Chander and Raza 2015). The same can be influenced by the aesthetic and utilitarian pleasure surrounding the product. Understanding the consumer needs is absolutely necessary in order to make the product desirable to them and trigger the recognition of the needs for the particular product. Advertising of the product through differentiating the product from its rival competitors is an effective way of making the consumer come in terms with their need for the product. Dell has taken the initiative of promoting the product internally, within the organization and encouraging the employees for sharing their feedback so that the product can increase its appeal amidst a wider section of customers. Dell has used mediums like website advertising and consumer ratings. Dells marketing strategies have however failed at product differentiation and customers have chosen comparatively cheaper products like Lenovo and Compaq (Kotler 2015.). It has weaken customer involvement which has failed to make them choose the product for hedonistic or utilitarian purposes. The existence of a number of alternative has made the customer choose other products after weighing the pros and cons. In this case, Dell has failed to compete with Lenovos product design, price and brand image that Lenovo has created. Personal Influences: This consists of the information regarding the product in ways such as it affects the way buyer evaluates the product. The same is important to ensure that the individual is identifying with the product that would prompt him/her in buying it. Individuals may emphasize more on the price than the design, or vice versa which can influence the buying choice (Solomon et al. 2014). According to market analysis of 2017, Dell has been unexpectedly beaten by Lenovo and Apple mainly due to product innovation and appeal. The project evaluation sector includes the size, features and the like. Dell in this aspect is lagging behind Acer and Apple who have continuously striven to introduce new features in their products like magnesium-alloy surface and glass touchpad. Post purchase evaluation: It is when the customers assess the overall qualities of their newly purchased product (Solomon et al. 2014). Buyers remorse is one of the things that Dell has tried to prevent by acquiring strategies like third party validation, like promoting positive customer reviews in websites although product differentiation is still an issue with Dells advertising. Consumer behavior and its understanding is not an easy phenomena as it is rooted deep inside the consumers mind. Social, psychological, cultural and individual factors help marketers to study current consumer behavioral pattern and analyze future trends. Social Factors: Family, references and individuals status are worth considering important in social factors (Zhang and Benyoucef 2016). These influences are significant when one considers why an individual will choose Dell over Hp or Lenovo. Social factors play a convincing role and the buying tendency is also dependent on the role that an individual plays in the society. Dell has failed to update itself based on the expectancies of foreign market like Acer and Samsung have. Personal Factors: Buyers age, profession, financial situation and lifestyle fall under this category and analyzing the consumers lifestyle can give a brief idea about their preferences. Today the brands have developed character traits so as to align them with the customers, for instance customers who are tech savvy and desire to remain up-to-dated have chosen Apple over Dell laptops. Mac was given first preference by those who preferred sophistication over cost-effectiveness. Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon was considered the best business laptop because of its excellent battery backup which lets working people carry out their important meetings over laptops even without carrying a charger. Dell XPS 13 was left behind mainly because of the poor webcam quality. Psychological Factors: Buyers motivation, perception and beliefs control their buying pattern. Products are inherently a symbol of status in the society and therefore while for some Dell laptop could be the perfect pocket-friendly innovative model, but customers who are more inclined towards the aesthetic features of a product will choose Apple Macbook Pro, Asus Zenbook or LG Gram. Cultural Factors: The basic arrays of shared values and wants that initiate buying choice have a huge role to play in regulating the sales of laptops. Culture is further divided between sub-culture and social class where sub-culture is shaped by nation, rare and geographic location. Social class includes the income rate and both these factors apart from influencing the sales can also affect how an individual is receiving the advertising of a particular product. To become compatible with these factors Dell should come up with products that would satisfy a customers class, occupation, background and patterns of media usage and shopping behavior to increase product sale. Current Marketing Strategy Dells marketing strategy is influenced by a couple of factors like psychographics and demographics. Dell believes in being geographically reachable to its customers and has therefore established market in some of the developed economies of the world, Ireland, China etc. although dell is facing stiff competition from brands like Hewlett, Packard and Lenovo, customers have responded well to Dells web-enabled infrastructure that gives room for customization. The e-commerce of Dell is its strongest competitive advantage that has helped them to function in the market complying with the demands and preferences of the customers. Dells products are segregated according to the class and economic scenario of the customers, which gets a clear representation through Dells sales and marketing. Their current marketing strategy involves a straight-forward interaction with the customers. In fact, in 2007 Dell implemented its long impending decision to sell its Inspiron notebooks through Wal-Marts Sa ms Club outlets (Moncrief, Marshall and Rudd 2015). After tumbling down the line and facing stiff competition from Lenovo, as itstarted to base its marketing strategy by splitting the customers into two clear distinctions- business and individual customers. As a result, this has immensely helped them in product innovation and customization. However, recently Dells poor marketing strategy has shown lapses in making the product innovative and attractive from its rival competitors that have gained entry into the market and created a niche for itself. It is in fact the driving force behind Dells success is dependent. Dells outsourcing strategy has created a fragmented supply chain management and making room for new competitors. It is therefore that leading electronic companies like Apple and Google have limited outsourcing which allows them to keep their innovative features and design internal, improving product differentiation (Kumar et al. 2016). As far as the current marketing strategy is concerned, Dells major failure is to differentiate its products stem from outsourcing. Dell has recurrently failed to address these issues while creating marketing strategy and as a result had witnessed a decline in market. Strategic Recommendations for Dell Innovative Marketing Strategy- the purpose of re-creating marketing strategy is to ensure better branding. Branding is a culmination of name, symbol or design which can accentuate the popularity of the product and differentiate them from immediate competitors (Harashima 2017). For a better marketing strategy Dell should put ideas that would justify the product price to the customers. Dell should do the same in the language that would have wide access in the wider section, for instance the usage of lucid language will make the product appealing even to those customers who are not as tech savvy as the others. Unnecessary jargon in the language can make the features look chaotic and can affect those sections of the society who do not have in-depth knowledge regarding laptops and functioning. Social Media as a viable Platform- the generation is hugely dependent on social media when it comes to gathering opinion about a commodity or changing their pre-existing notions regarding the same. Putting the innovative products on the forefront like on the web forums with the help of bloggers can help Dell access to a section of consumers like students, marketing professionals and personal bloggers. Advertising through magazines, television sets or billboards can miss out those sections of society who are use social media platforms for the better part of day (Sirgy 2015). Dell can use Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to engage customers, introduce and familiarize them with innovative features and shape their awareness. One of the apparent advantages of using social media as a tool is that it can help Dell to connect up with customers, increase online traffic and analyzing customer psychology. The online viewers can be most effectively converted into potential customers in this way. Dell can create a conversation on the social media platform rather than blindly following the age-old technique of promoting a product (Luo et al. 2017). Increase of Retail Locations-Dells immediate focus should be on location-based marketing that would help them to reach out to more number of customers, assess their buying patterns, and know in-depth about the exiting customers. Location based marketing can also help Dell to create a new customer base with the strategic administration of innovative product features and therefore convert their buying impulse to sales. Another most important aspect of setting up more retail locations is an efficient regulation of buying remorse, by being more responsive and accessible to them (Birkin, Clarke and Clarke 2017). As it is the buyer need information, product efficiency to ensure that their post purchase product evaluation is not full of regrets. Location-based services can furthermore gain Dell an appreciating position on the internet search results, and influence the consumers in a most significant way. Segmentation and Targeting of Customers-Segmentation, targeting and positioning the products can help in the overall growth structure of Dell (Cross, Belich and Rudelius 2015). With the wise use of customer segmentation and product innovation and differentiation, Dell can come up with interesting features in their notebooks, desktops or laptops. Pricing of the product should be done n compliance with the demographic status of the customers, the income patter and education of the customers. The main strategy of Dell should be to produce low priced products while at the same time maintaining the profit scale of the company. A smooth relationship with its suppliers will help Dell with market benefits and a steady supply of products to the customers (Christopher 2016). Segmentation will help Dell understating behavioral patterns in order to spot customers wants that can be satiated by the brand Dell. The laptops needs a better implementation of important customer-friendly features like s leek models weighting low, improving color gamut and a well responsive touch bar Reference List: Birkin, M., Clarke, G. and Clarke, M., 2017. Retail location planning in an era of multi-channel growth. Routledge. Chander, S. and Raza, M., 2015. Consumer Buying Behaviour: A Comparative Study of Male and Female Users of Electronics. Abasyn University Journal of Social Sciences, 8(1). Christopher, M., 2016. Logistics supply chain management. Pearson UK. 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