Dr. V. Aslıhan Nasır, Sema Yoruker, Figen Güneş and Yeliz Ozdemir Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey
ABSTRACT
The rapid developments in IT sector accompanied by increased competition and acquisitions and mergers in the market, lead both academicians and practitioners to concentrate on the consumers’ purchase decisions in portable PC industry. The NDP group’s report published by PC World state that in May 2003, U.S. retailers made more money selling laptop/notebook computers than they did selling desktops. It was the first time that laptops have outsold desktops in the U.S. This research seeks to develop a better understanding of the factors influencing consumers’ laptop purchases. What makes this study distinctive from other sectoral studies is that, this research also seeks the differences among three consumer groups (stayers, satisfied switchers, and dissatisfied switchers) of a company with respect to the factors influencing consumers’ laptop purchases. It is found that core technical features, post purchase services, price and payment conditions, peripheral specifications, physical appearance, value added features, and connectivity and mobility are the seven factors that are influencing consumers’ laptop purchases. Furthermore, price and payment conditions factor shows significant difference among three consumer groups of a company’s customer base.
INTRODUCTION
There are seminal studies on consumer purchase decision models in the literature, however, consumer purchase decisions vary greatly depending on the product to be purchased. Therefore, sectoral studies are needed to delineate the factors affecting consumer purchase decisions in various product markets. The International Data Corporation (IDC, 2006) report mentioned that in 2005 consumers continued to respond very
