Abstract:

In today's fast changing mobile handset market, do consumers pay attention to brand? How easily will consumers give up their current handsets to adopt newer models? The authors analyze consumer preference data to uncover how brand impacts consumer selection of handsets in today's market and the significance of consumer inertia in the decision to purchase a new mobile handset. Applying discrete choice analysis of over 1,800 consumers in nine countries around the globe, the authors conclude that brand plays a limited but important role today and that manufacturers must win on multiple attributes in order to overcome customer inertia.