Brand attitudes and loyalty in smartphones category: A study of Samsung and iPhone users

Abstract

In this report we have analyzed and developed a relationship between different parameters which affect Brand Attitude with Brand Attitude and ultimately Brand Loyalty for both Samsung and Apple users. We here do a comparative analysis as to which parameters have worked for the brand with more positive Brand Attitudes (in this case Apple) and how can this understanding be used in case of Samsung to improve Brand Attitude and ultimately Brand Loyalty. The constructs defining each of the parameters were found from the literature survey. These are Ad Affect, Ad Cognition, Ad Attitude, Brand post Affect, Brand Post Cognition, Brand post Attitude, Consumer post Affect, Consumer Post Cognition, Consumer post Attitude, Customer Satisfaction, Corporate Image, Brand Attitude and Brand Loyalty. In total 60 respondents were surveyed of which 35 being Apple users and 60 Samsung users. To take an equal sample from this set of respondents, the responses From Samsung users were randomized and 35 out of 60 responses were selected. As a part of the analysis, one way ANOVA test was used to identify the differences between the two groups on various parameters mentioned above and Regression analysis was done in order to understand the relationship between different parameters as to which parameter explains what and by how much. It was found that all the Smartphone users who responded be it Apple users of Samsung users were equally involved in the purchase decision of a Smartphone as well as in the Smartphone. Also, we found that the way different parameters explain Brand Attitude for both the brands is different (Corporate Image explains Brand Attitude for Apple whereas it does not for Samsung) We could as well understand that all the parameters except Brand post and consumer posts are significantly different for both brands. We also tried to understand which kind of Ad Appeal leads to positive Ad attitude and has higher impact on the same. Doing the analysis we found that Apple users developed more positive Ad attitudes than the Samsung users which can be contributed to Ad Cognition Appeal. Key Recommendations: • We suggest Samsung to focus on advertising with cognitive appeal which according to our analysis will lead to more positive ad attitudes and finally, more favourable brand attitudes. • We recommend Samsung to focus on improving its Corporate Image which will further lead to positive Brand Attitude like Apple. • Samsung should focus on building customer satisfaction which we measured on ease of use, general experience vs. expectations and the product being the ideal product for the user. Samsung should direct its communication in line with telling people how easy is the product for them to use and how it is the ideal product for them. • Social Media, in particularly posts by the consumers are not explaining Brand Attitude. Posts by Brand cannot be explained because of lack of sufficient user data who could recall a Brand post. But the data for posts by consumers was sufficient and it points out to the fact that information search, though very important for this category, is not affected by Facebook posts of other consumers. • To have more positive impacts on consumer post attitudes which further may lead to more favourable brand attitudes, consumer posts should there be high on cognition than affect to have a positive impact on brand attitudes.