Factors affecting lower middle income people to decide to purchase a Smartphone.

Abstract

Nowadays, smartphone has become an essential part of daily life and became an important tool of communication. From the 2013 research, a 3G smartphone are sold over 8.1 million units, 80% growth from 2012. The overall smartphone market in 2013 has increased 30% from year 2012. The statistical data shows 41.4% of the lower-middle income people, the major population of Thailand who has revenue between 5,001-15,000 baht, would like to occupy smartphones but they could not due to their limited purchasing power. This research studies which factors affect lower-middle income people to buy a smartphone. The target is a person whose salary is lower than 15,000 baht, acquire smartphone, and live in Bangkok and Vicinities. This research finds 92.4% of the sample thought that worthiness and warranty, convenience of distribution channel are the two most important factors. However, this research could not answer that the factor affect lower-middle income people to buy a smartphone is influenced by society, famous people who use smartphones. So smartphone companies should improve and develop concordantly with all of factors such as brand, price, product features, distribution channel and promotion in order to meet the demand of lower-middle income customers and gain competitive advantage to compete with the others. KEY WORDS: Lower middle income, Smartphone, Consumer behavior, Making decision