An insight into the preferences of consumers for consumer durables (Televisions)

By: Prof. Michael David Premkumar, HOD, Management Studies, Bishop Heber College, (Autonomous), Tiruchirappalli.

The consumer electronics sector started with the trading of imported radio sets in the late 50’s. Colour TV was introduced in the year 1982 with the advent of 9th Asian games and later when the government of India started the process of liberalization and globalization in 190 we had a wide choice of foreign brands for the Indian consumers. A 21” television which was available of Rs.18000 t0 20000 a decade back is sold today for less than Rs.8000. The industry today is on a high growth path. Today we have the state of art TV’s like the LED televisions and shortly will have advanced technology like the OLED’s. This idiot box as it was called earlier has formed an integral part in the lives of the Indian consumers.

This research paper is based on a simple survey with 12 questions circulated amongst college teachers to understand the mind of the consumer and what they have to say about this television and its impact in their lives.

The study reveals the following information:

Independent variables:

Sex / Occupation / Type of House / Type of Family / Members in Family / Income / No of Bedrooms / Size of TV / Period to Change TV
M:55% F 45% / Pvt Ltd 100% / Own:45%
Rented:33%
Others: 22% / Joint:45%
Nuclear: 55% / 1-2 = 22%
3-4=56%
>5=22% / <10000=11%
10K-20K=67%
>20000=22% / 1=22%
2= 44%
3=34% / 14”=10%
21”=60%
32”LCD=10%
32”LED=10% / Once in 5 yrs=78%
Once in 10 yrs=22%

Dependent Variables:

Ranking of Television (PRICE) only 22% have said that price is the most important feature to decide the purchase of a television. (QUALITY) More than half of the respondents (55%) have said that quality is the most important feature. (BRAND) Around 33% have said that brand is the most important feature to decide on purchase of a television. However nearly 55% have said that size is the least important feature to decide the purchase of television. (Since the majority of the respondents are living in the rural areas this is possible.

Nearly 55% of the respondents are aware about the difference between LCD television and the regular CRT television.

Willingness of Price that customers are making for the industry:

The following are the prices that consumers are willing to pay for different sizes of television:

14 Inches TV / 21 Inches TV / 21” LCD / 32” LCD / 42” LCD / 32” LED
2-3 thousand / 6-8 thousand / 10-15 thousand / 15-25 thousand / 25-40 thousand / 30 – 35 thousand

Rating of Television as an important household durable:

More than half of the respondents rated the television as a very important household appliance, 34% of the respondents said that television is an important household appliance and 11% said it is not important.

The global surveys show that consumer needs as we all believe is on price, but the next most factor is quality and design. LCD and LED television markets are growing at a compounded growth rate of 50% very rapidly. The growth of CRT televisions and projection televisions have come down and shows a negative growth rate. However the future is LCD and LED televisions. Even the computer industry have stopped selling CRT monitors and have started selling LCD monitors as part of OEM’s.

The modern Indian consumer wants everything on par with international standards. He wants Hi Definition television, Blue ray broadcasting and even the screen size to increase from 4:3 to 16:9. He prefers stereo broadcasting and 5:1 channel broadcasting. The future is OLED (Organic light emitting diodes, a type of solid state lighting are plastic based materials capable of emitting light. It can be used to make screens by spraying the materials on a surface. OLED displays have the potential to offer a cheaper, brighter, less power-hungry alternative to LCDs. One of the most interesting aspects of OLED is that it can be used to build transparent and flexible screens. USA government is funding the OLED projects and it would be quite a while that the Indian consumers have a feel or see what OLED is all about.

References:

i)Cetma News: December 2004, Shir Satish Kaura, Samtel Color Ltd, A strategy for Indian TV industry based on recent global trend.

ii) Cetma News Sept 2011, Digitivity, OLEDs are the future of screens.

iii) Consumermate survey on survey on consumer buying behaviour of electronic products.

iv)NCEAR reports 2010-11.