3 Major Consumer Behaviour Patterns in Laptop Market in 2021

Laptop market saw a surge in demand from students and employees during lockdown. This demand in the laptop market is continuing even after the lockdown has been lifted in many places in India. Having said this, it must be remembered that Corona continues to claim a high number of fresh cases in certain states of India, Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Orissa and West Bengal prominent among them. 

Presently, the retailers are addressing specific kinds of the consumer behaviour in the laptop market; as the consumers are opting for compact type model devices with wider features on them. 

The year 2020 ended as the biggest year for notebooks with 7.9-million-unit shipments during the year, a growth of 6%. A number of consumers these days prefer cross-functional devices that offer integrated features and capabilities in the same device. This has encouraged the development of multi-functional devices. Laptops offer extensive diversity in their application areas, ranging from business and education to entertainment. Furthermore, high investments, availability of economical devices due to mass production, and a range of diverse applications are projected to provide a fillip to the market.

The massive demand in the consumer segment driven by online learning led to the exceptional performance of notebooks. Likewise, gaming notebook PCs were one of the fastest-growing categories, further proof of the growing importance of fast processing laptop market in the country.

In addition, a high degree of digital convergence and continuous product innovation initiatives undertaken by key manufacturers are poised to aid in catapulting sales of the device over the forecast period. Booming E-commerce coupled with surging demand for gaming devices is likely to play a key role in bolstering the demand for the device over the coming years. Some ports in China were shut down, leading to delays in shipping and a rise in ocean freight. Companies tried air freight, but there were supply constraints there too, which in turn led to an increase in freight charges in the laptop market.

Demand

People are traveling a lot once the lockdown has relaxed, since they have to catch up on all the pending work and also, they need to get out after being shut indoors for so long. There has been a great demand during the festival seasons, The people prefer traveling light with minimum luggage and working according to their convenience. This cultural change in work has changed the perspective of buying the required electronic systems. The demand in the laptop market has shifted in favour of compact laptops and printers with additional features has gained importance. When people have the option to work from anywhere they don’t opt for heavy laptops or printers. The retailers are not likely able to meet the customer’s demand as there was only limited stock. This was the biggest issue when there was a restriction on china’s import and export duties. At present, the supply chain is moving up slowly and the retailers are able to meet the customer’s demand gradually.

“Consumers are looking for slim devices in terms of Laptops with less power consumption so that the battery has a better life. The screen should be an FHD (Full High Definition) version for better visualization and when it comes to SSD (Solid State Drive), the data transfer is very high which is in huge demand in the market. 30 to 40 percent business has increased due to demand from IT and Education sectors,”said Chitta Ranjan Jena, Proprietor, Spectrum Technology, Bhubaneswar.

Technical Features

The configurations are secondary for the consumers as a lot of data storage is in the Cloud. However, still most people would prefer to keep their important data locally. People after the pandemic are very particular regarding spending money on the market. They expect a minimum feature like an i3 processor, which comes around estimation of up to Rs 30,000. Customers are there who are ready to spend around Rs 1,00,000 for advanced featured devices, those customers are more into Gaming technology where they require high-end configurations.

“People are mostly adapting to compact laptops and devices with more features like the i3 configurations process, They are ready to spend around Rs 26,000 to Rs 30,000 which is the rate for a regular daily use laptops, Brands such as Lenovo, Dell and HP have seen an upswing in the sale. However, the demand has increased because of online education and cloud adoption. In some cases of business, prices were kept higher because of China’s import and export restrictions. There was no stock available during that time. At present, slowly and gradually we are able to meet the customer’s demand,” said Dattatray Kasrlekar, Proprietor, Nisha Infocomp, Goa.

Price 

Most of the devices that are being sold in the market are HP, Dell and in the case of printers, it is Epson. The customers are very specific on their budget as well as the features on it. According to the market, the company is providing the devices in i3 and i5. The sudden demand has increased the products which has led to the shortage during the time of the pandemic. There was a supply shortage which has impacted the market as only very limited products are provided by the distributors. The price of the products has increased around Rs 10,000 for every product.

“We are not able to match with the customer’s demand, at present only 50 products are given compared to 500 before the pandemic. Therefore the demand is very high. Ink tank printers which are around Rs 12,000 are having more sales. The prices have also increased because of the increase in prices for all the commodities including fuel charges,” said Murugan, Owner, Monica Infotech, Pondicherry. 

“Dell brand laptops products are being sold the most in 2021, the consumers are expecting wireless features in both the laptops and printer for easy access. Before the pandemic the demand was stable. At present people are also ready to buy second-hand products in case of laptops and printers. They are not ready to invest a huge amount for a quality product”.  Said Hardik Desai, Partner, Sahjanand Infotech, Gujarat.

Brand and Quality

“The customers are going for the i3 configuration which is having more sales after the demand from the IT and education sector became high. The basic budget of the customer is coming around Rs 35,000 with maximum features in it. The demand was mainly because of the Covid -19 pandemic. During this time the Production was not there from china which led to a lack of supply. Quality is another part where consumers are expecting within the particular budget. There is a huge shortage of laptops and printers in the industry because of the pandemic,”said Riyas C K, Owner, Zippon computers, Kochi.

The customers are specific on their brand and features in most cases. They prefer very high quality at low prices. This was because of the sudden demand during the time of the pandemic. When the commodities were not available in the E-commerce platform during the Covid-19 pandemic. People started purchasing from the retailers for immediate backup.

--By Vishal SS

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