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Gap Analysis

1) The document discusses conducting a gap analysis to understand consumer preferences and satisfaction levels for different smartphone brands. 2) A survey was administered to 126 smartphone users to understand the attributes they consider important and their satisfaction levels. 3) The analysis found that operating system, aesthetics, availability of apps, and camera quality were the most important attributes, but one brand was more satisfied on attributes like memory and screen size that were not as important.

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Harshini Akilandan
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553 views2 pages

Gap Analysis

1) The document discusses conducting a gap analysis to understand consumer preferences and satisfaction levels for different smartphone brands. 2) A survey was administered to 126 smartphone users to understand the attributes they consider important and their satisfaction levels. 3) The analysis found that operating system, aesthetics, availability of apps, and camera quality were the most important attributes, but one brand was more satisfied on attributes like memory and screen size that were not as important.

Uploaded by

Harshini Akilandan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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GAP ANALYSIS: to determine attributes which are significantly important, to determine where are

we and where we want to be.

CASE: PREDICTING CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR AND GAP ANALYSIS IN SMARTPHONE MARKET


A smartphone is a mobile phone that has an advanced mobile operating system designed to provide
the user many features of a handheld computer and advanced connectivity options. Although
smartphones have been introduced for a while in various avatars, given their high cost, they were
initially used primarily for business communications. Things changed when Apple launched the
iPhone in 2007. With revolutionary features, such as complete touch screen operations, Apps
available through its own App Store, it completely changed the business of smartphones by turning
it into a consumer electronics device that anyone could use.
Given the phenomenal success of Apple with its iPhone, competition could not ignore the
opportunity for long as they too wanted a share of the pie. Slowly, all large players and small
players came up with their versions of smartphones largely trying to emulate Apple’s success. Even
small regional players, such as Micromax, who could not afford to develop their own smartphones,
started marketing rebranded Chinese generic smartphones. The global smartphone market is
estimated to be worth US $ 150.3 billion by 2014.
Link: http:// www.marketsandmarkets.com/ Press Releases/ smartphones-market.asp
With smartphones becoming more affordable, they are slowly becoming another ubiquitous
consumer electronics product. The quality and features of the smartphones are converging rapidly
leading to a loss of differentiation. Given this rapid fragmentation of the market it is important for
the manufacturers to understand the consumer preferences related to their product attributes.
Using proven Statistical Analysis Tools, the manufacturers can confidently predict the several facets
of consumer behaviour — brand loyalty, feature awareness and how such behaviour is determined
by the consumer’s demographic characteristics and experience with the current product.
Once the manufacturers are able to predict consumer behaviour related to their products, they can
make appropriate decisions for the launch and promotion of the products. The first task in this
endeavour was to determine the attributes considered significantly important by the market and
then to determine the satisfaction levels on these attributes for the three major brands available in
the market, Brand 1, Brand 2, Brand 3.
With this objective, a survey was conducted among randomly selected Smartphone users to capture
the following details:
1. Demographic details
2. The attributes that consumers consider important in smartphones
3. The satisfaction levels with the above attributes
The number of survey responses (sample size) received was 126. Using these responses, it was
proposed to implement different tools to analyze the responses from Smartphone owners. One such
tool was the Gap Analysis.
In business and economics, gap analysis is the tool that helps companies in comparing actual
performance with potential performance. At its core are two questions — “Where are we?” and
“Where do we want to be?” In the project, gap analysis will help to understand the gap between
people placing importance to certain variables and satisfaction on the same variables, after the
purchase of various smartphones.
Attributes Captured: The survey captured the various attributes that a consumer values in a
smartphone. Out of all different attributes identified a subset of attributes were finally considered:
(a) Battery performance (b) Operating system (c) Speed (d) Ease of navigation (e) Memory (f)
Screen size (g) Weight (h) Sound quality (i) Robustness (j) Ergonomics (k) Aesthetics (l) Availability
of apps (m) Camera quality (n) After sales support and availability of service centers
Each of these attributes were measured on a 5-point Likert Scale.
SOLUTION: From the data, thus obtained, next the significance of the attribute importance ratings
was obtained. This forms a very important part of consumer analysis because the company needs to
know which attributes are considered significantly important and which are not.
To assess significance, the same simple test of hypothesis, as described above, was carried out. The
sample means were computed for the importance levels as well as for satisfaction levels. Their
associated t-values were also determined. The attributes having the t-values for the importance
ratings as > 1.645 were considered significantly important. Similarly, for Brand 1, Brand 2 and
Brand 3, the mean satisfaction levels were computed and their t-values were determined.
Whenever a t-value was > 1.645 (95% level of confidence) the associated attribute was considered
as significantly satisfactory.
The mean ratings on importance and the associated t-values for the above attributes were:

Thus, the attributes such as operating system, aesthetics, availability of apps and camera were
found to be significantly important.

FINDING: Thus, Brand 1 appears to be performing better than the other players on attributes, such
as memory, screen size, weight, sound quality, robustness and ergonomics. However, these
attributes are not considered significantly important by the market. Therefore, Brand 1 would need
to focus on the significant attributes, such as operating system, aesthetics, availability of apps and
camera to give better satisfaction to their customers.

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