Comparative Study: Apple, Samsung Branding and Consumer Behaviour

This report examines the influence of branding on consumer behavior, focusing on the choices between Apple iPhones and Samsung devices in London. The study explores the concepts of brand image, brand loyalty, and customer perception within the context of the competitive mobile market. The research includes an introduction to branding, an overview of Apple and Samsung's market positions, and a literature review covering the meaning and importance of branding. It investigates the significance of branding for both companies, analyzing its impact on customer behavior and the benefits of effective branding strategies. The report also touches upon the methodology of the research, the rationale behind the study, and its significance for various stakeholders, including students, researchers, suppliers, and the companies themselves. The aim is to assess the branding impact, with objectives to understand branding importance, evaluate its effect on consumer behavior, and recommend successful implementation methods. The report highlights the importance of branding in influencing customer decisions and the profitability of firms, emphasizing the need for companies to maintain high-quality standards and adapt to consumer preferences. The report also discusses the market share of Apple and Samsung in London, along with the factors affecting consumer choices, such as price consciousness and brand image.

Impact of branding on
consumer behaviour in
London to choose iPhone and
Samsung

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I'm expressing my gratitude with love and sincerity to them who were associated with me
to accomplish this project work. All the hard work, devotion towards duty and the love or
tolerance which my supervisor has shown I'm grateful to. At the end I want to thank my family
and friends for their involvement and cooperation in my data collection on conducting my
research work on the impact of branding on customer behaviour.

ABSTRACT
The whole research project which is to be conducted is based on the comparative study of
Apple and Samsung and their brands impact on customer behaviour. The dissertation will be
having qualitative study so that we can judge the impact of branding on customer of company.
Branding is the signal which is allowing the customer in recognising the product quickly as they
are very familiar with the company and brand as well. Behaviour of customer is all depended
upon the brand of that company and this will be including the decision of buying the product or
not. As the brand of Apple and Samsung are very well known by the quality of product and
services which they are providing to customer at any cost. This also states that how will data is
ethical on all grounds and what are its limitations. The methods which are applied in field of
study or research in a systematic and theoretical manner is known as methodology. In the
dissertation customer who are having specified knowledge about technological gadgets and who
are frequently involved in purchase of these gadgets are taken so that they are able to judge how
will purchase be affected by branding.

Topic: Impact of branding on consumer behaviour in London to choose iPhone and Samsung
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
Background of the study:
Brand is associated with the design, symbol and name of the company which will be
helping customer, investor and company itself to distinguish between one or more company in
marketplace. The general perception and feeling about the brand and then its influence on
customer behaviour is called as brand image and this is the important part of brand. So in the
present condition of work branding and brand image is the method which will be helping the
company in finding its value of product in market. Brand image is also the feature of product
which is kept in mind of customer while he is making his purchase of particular product this can
be either price or quality or also the use of technology in the product development. It is very
much helpful for the company and is also very important as this will be making the company
distinguishing its brand with that to its rival in market. All the firm whether big or small need to
give attention on brand and branding of its product and service thus making profits and revenue
for them.
Branding is the signal which is allowing the customer in recognising the product quickly
as they are very familiar with the company and brand as well. Customer in today's environment
is very much up to date and they always find their best quality of product from the market as
they are having all kind of information which is relevant to product. Customer also relate the
purchase of product to that of their experience and this will be laying emphasises on whether to
buy or not. Brand is not new to world as this was also used at the pastime in Egypt in around
2700 BC as at this time the cattle of one person was used to distinguish from that of others in
market.
The present dissertation is based on the impact of branding on customer behaviour and
will be studying the comparative analysis of two big giants in the world of electronic gadgets
Apple and Samsung. Both the company are not just company in the world of electronic market
but are associated as the brand of Apple and Samsung. Brand and branding in the case of Apple
and Samsung is very frequently used as they are the one who clearly knows what and how to
achieve with the help of brand. Apple is an American multinational technology company which
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is designing, developing and selling the consumer electronic and computer software and online
services. This is also regarded to as the market leader in world as is the most popular brand
among all customer. All the customer who are using mobile or computer software are in the want
of buying product of Apple with only seeing the brand of Apple.
On the other hand Samsung is considered to as the biggest rival of Apple in terms of
market share. Samsung is the South Korean multinational conglomerate which is comprising
many companies under the brand of Samsung. This is very well known company in almost all
parts of the world which is all because of the brand image of Samsung and its product in market.
Samsung is known for selling the best quality of mobile and computers systems as is regarded as
market leader in many of countries. There are many types of products rather than only mobile
phones like the semi conductors, washing machines etc., All these products are also forming the
part of conglomerate of Samsung and preforming under the brand name of Samsung.
London, UK is been selected in this research work just because population of London are
very much found of gadgets Samsung is also opening giant showroom on Regent Street of
London so that it can compete with Apple. According to statistical research done within city
there were about 48% respondents who were using Apple iPhone. Among them only 20% of
them have recently upgrading and changing their handset to new one like iPhone X and 8 (UK
Mobile Market Is 2017 The Year Of The Mid Tier, 2018). The share of Apple iPhone X in 2017
May was about 49.21% which was less than that in 2016 January. Bas this was said that the
mobile consumer at London, UK are becoming more price conscious and sale of iPhone X was
reduced because of this. Still, during the last year 2017 mobile market share of UK was
dominated by both Apple and Samsung with the share of 49.04% and 29.98% respectively. All
the others in market like that of Nokia, LG or Motorola were having relatively smaller parts.
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Illustration 1: UK Mobile market: Is 2017 the year of the mid-tier?
[Source: UK Mobile market: Is 2017 the year of the mid-tier?, 2018]
All the customer who are associating themselves with the brand of Apple or Samsung are
having full knowledge about the brand as are having the good image. Branding and brand are
very much important for them as the customer behaviour will be depending upon them and this
will be requiring company to keep the standard of their quality as high as the expectations of
customer. They need to always give emphasises on the quality of product as this is the reason
behind brand image of company.
Behaviour of customer is all depended upon the brand of that company and this will be
including the decision of buying the product or not. As the brand of Apple and Samsung are very
well known by the quality of product and services which they are providing to customer at any
cost. The impact of branding is very extensive on the behaviour of customer and then on the
profitability of firm which is defined wholly by this factor only. If the experience of customer is
not good with that particular company then he will surely will not be ready to purchase that
product. Customer finds these both countries as doing very successful business in the market by
the use of brand image.
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Aim:
Aim of the study is to assess the impact of branding on consumer behaviour in London to
choose iPhone and Samsung
Objective:
 To understand the importance of branding in Apple and Samsung.
 To evaluate the impact of brand and branding on customer behaviour.
 To analyse the impact of brand and branding on customer behaviour.
 To recommend the ways in which the branding will be implemented successfully within
company.
Research Questions:
 What is the importance of branding for Apple and Samsung.
 What is the impact of branding on customer behaviour.
 What are the benefits of implementing branding on customer behaviour.
 What are the ways branding can be implemented successfully within Company.
Significance:
The present dissertation will be of importance for the various types of group like
students, researchers, suppliers and both company. The student can easily understand the
importance of branding on the profitability of company and customer behaviours. Researcher can
use this matter for further research work in the field of their research work. Supplier will be
using the report on analysing that how to use the following matter in supply of product. Both the
company can also use the research work in their understanding of the behaviour of customer and
how can they get the benefit from branding on the increment of profit and market share.
Rationale:
The following study is done so that the reader can easily understand the value of brand
and branding on the customer behaviour. The study can help many types of group of people who
can easily understand what is the meaning of branding and how will it be helpful in impacting
the customer behaviour. The customer behaviour will also be there in the following study. The
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impact of behaviour of customer which need to be studied will be clearly defined as to why in
present scenario brand is been given so much importance. The study will be helpful for both the
companies which are taken in the study like Apple and Samsung who are the market leader in
terms of electronic equipments and computer software.
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CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
Theme: Meaning and importance of Branding.
According to Ariffin, Bibon and Abdullah, (2017) brand is anything as in case to
company which help the customer or other rival of firm to distinguish between others in market.
This include the name, term, symbol or design of the company or a particular product and are
used at the time of purchase, marketing and advertisement of the product in market. At the
ancient times in Egypt during 2700 BC brand was used to distinguish cattle of one person form
that of other and they used to do this by putting a hot branding symbol on skin of animal. As per
Babin and Sarstedt, (2017) brand is now evolved which means company or brand promising to
customer over the value and quality of that product. And now this also is the practice of
packaging of goods in very attractive form. Beecham and Wood, (2014) critically reviewed that
branding is set of communication and selling methods which will be helping company in
distinguishing them from the competition in market. It is also noted that there are various key
components in branding like brand communication which include logos and trademarks, brand
awareness, brand loyalty and brand management strategies.
On the other hand Braun, Kavaratzis and Zenker, (2013) said that branding is not just the
name or symbol of product which company is offering to customer but it also ensures the correct
quality and price of product. Brand is that one factor which will be ensuring the total worth of
company in terms of profitability and also assessing the effectiveness of component of branding.
Daunt and Harris, (2014) noted that brand is the symbol which will be helping customer in
identifying the product in market while branding is the process of ensuring brand as a symbol.
This is the main bases of product differentiation in market and now is referred to as to identify
company.
Deng, Wang and Galliers, (2015) said that branding is also used in accounting in term of
intangible asset and is the most valuable asset in balance sheet of any firm. The owner of firm
need to value and create the value of their brand in order to create the shareholder value and
brand valuation. This brand valuation will thus be attracting all shareholder for purpose of
investment in company. Branding will always be resulting in higher sale of not only one
particular product but all the product of firm which they are selling under the same name. This
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will be also be increasing the trust in brand and in company thus remaining with brand. Dhawan
and Prior, (2017) was of view that brand is also personality that will be identifying a product,
service and company and these all relate to customer, staff and investor. One brand name or
symbol can not be similar to that with others in market which will be causing confusion among
customer so it should be unique in all the aspect.
Theme: Scope of branding.
Dinnie, (2015) also clarify that this brand is related to the psychological mind set of
customer as well as they link one particular brand with which they are associated to their
thinking, ideas and feeling. This is largely known as brand experience of customer with company
so company must be very sensitive towards customer. Frow and Young, (2016) further add on to
branding that people who are connected to brand gradually develop expectations with the
company and they are of impression that all products form the company are having same quality
same as that particular. Thereafter, the company when ever doing advertisement of product is not
promoting company or product but only brand is been promoted. The behaviour of customer
during the buying process is all dependent on what type of brand they prefer and what is the
marketing fundamental related to branding. As per Govers and Go, (2016) brand is not just the
price or cost of product but it is actual value of quality of product to customer. Brand recognition
is also the part of branding which include the positive sentiments in marketplace and thus
achieving brand franchising. Then customer without seeing name of company and brand can just
recognise it with logo or symbol of that product. As according to Kotler and et al., (2009)
identity of brand is delivering four meaning which is attribute, benefits, value and personality.
Holt, (2016) said that all the components of brand and branding are linked and associated
with buying behaviour of customer as if the brand is well recognised by customer then they will
be purchasing or giving the preference to that company or brand only. The building up or
construction and then maintenance of brand image is the most essential part of brand
management and the product or service are demonstrated by functional and symbolic element.
There are various reaction of customer on different type of brand activities by that particular
company in market. Keller, (2017) continued that at today time where everything is digitally
transformed and customer are having full knowledge about all type of product and services
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which are been provided in market by one company. As they are in no requirement to have a
look on name of the company without seeing that only they can recognise brand. Following
Okonkwo, (2016) held the opinion that confidence in brand will be resulted in brand equity
greater is the confidence of customer in brand higher he will be ready to pay for the product.
This confidence is built up in brand with the help of 5 consideration which include brand
performance in market, social image, consumer recognition, sentimental attachment, balance
between the brand value and trust of customer in brand. All the customer make their purchase of
product according to brand image rather than product. Punjaisri and Wilson, (2017) identify that
customer satisfaction is the overall experience of shopping rather than just from that product or
service. And this is also linked with performance of product in market which can be the
difference of customer satisfaction from brand. Brand image is having very significant impact on
customer satisfaction which is also throughout e-banking and other channel of product
distribution. As per Wheeler, (2017) social factors are also there which will be impacting
consumer behaviour interacting with the perspective consumer and other level and
circumstances. There are also the situational factor which will be impacting the buying behaviour
of customer and may include location and environment as per Chowanda, Herman and
Notoatmojo, (2016).
Hasan, Lings, Neale and Mortimer, (2014) said that branding is not only that one factor
which will be influencing on customer buying behaviour but there are some other factors as well.
The other factor include price, cost and features of the products which customer will be
considering before buying any product. France, Merrilees and Miller, (2015) clarify that the
factor like that of personal including taste, preference and other factors like financial condition
are also one of the factor other than branding which people will be considering before buying
product. Groeger, Moroko and Hollebeek, (2016) also said that the elements of marketing mix
will also be included at the time of consumer buying process. As this is will form the part of
marketing of product or service of company which is price, place, promotion and product of
company.
According to Karatepe and Nkendong, (2014) brand loyalty is also included in branding
of product and this is affecting equity of brand either positively and directly. Then customer will
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