Insights on Brands:

Perception and Purchase Behaviour

of
Singaporean Youths

Temasek Polytechnic
Temasek Business School
Diploma in Marketing

10th December 2007

 Executive Summary

The Diploma in Marketing at Temasek Polytechnic develops students’ marketing

knowledge and skills through a rigorous curriculum that meets the requirements of a
knowledge-based economy. The curriculum focuses on developing the functional
competencies among our students in areas such as Marketing Research and
Consumer Behaviour in their junior year.

As part of their marketing research project in April Semester 2007/2008, students

from Diploma in Marketing and Diploma in Retail Management interviewed some
2,025 youths aged between 15 and 27 to determine the perception and purchase
behaviour of mobile communication services among Singapore youth consumers.

Data collection for the face-to-face survey was conducted from 29 May to 25 June
2007. Quota sampling method was used.

Youths are a sensible group when it comes to making purchases. It was found that
youths are more rational in their purchase behaviour than normally perceived. They
are quality conscious, will study options before their purchase and brand is not the
most important criterion in their purchases of products.

The starting age of a youth owning and using a mobile phone is getting younger. It is
now common to see an eleven-year-old being the proud owner of a mobile phone.
Youths regard the mobile phone as a crucial item in their lives with youths strongly
indicating they will feel lost without a mobile phone and will carry it wherever they go.

A seventeen-year-old is most likely to wear Adidas t-shirt and shoes with Adidas bag
and watch as accessories. Adidas has become a lifestyle brand among youths today.
Youths are also most likely be found in McDonald’s, with an Apple Mac or Acer
laptop with them. They will also tell you that their preferred computer desktop for
home use is Hewlett Packard.

The survey research is the first youth perception study that Diploma in Marketing has
embarked on. In its endeavour to develop a keen and deep understanding of the
youth consumers in Singapore, the Diploma in Marketing plans to conduct a series of
surveys to examine the current trends and practices that affect the attitudes and
aspirations of youths today.

Attachment:

Key Findings for Youth Perception Study

PART A: Buying Patterns and Preferences Among Youth Consumers

PART B: Handphone Usage and Purchase Behaviour
PART C: Youths’ Top 3 Brands in Singapore

Key Findings for Youth Perception Study

Methodology

The face-to-face survey covered the period 29 May 2007 to 25 June 2007 and
involved 2,025 youths, grouped into six groups: Secondary school students, Junior
College students, ITE students, Polytechnic students, University students and
National Servicemen. They were between 15 and 27 years old.
Table 1: Sample profile of Youth Perception Study
Sample
Youth Profile
Full-time Enrolment Population1 (n=2,025)
Total 100% 100.0%
Secondary School Students 50.4% 49.0%
Pre-University Students 6.8% 7.8%
ITE Students 5.1% 2.9%
Polytechnic Students 14.8% 11.2%
University Students 11.0% 19.1%
NS Men 11.8%2 10.0%
Note 1: Source from Ministry of Education, Educational Statistical Digest 2005
Note 2: Estimates

The sampling method used was quota sampling.

PART A: Buying Patterns and Preferences Among Youth Consumers

1) Cognitive versus Emotive

While youths like to try new and different things, as well as tend to follow latest
trend and technology, they are more rational in their purchase behaviour than
generally perceived:
ƒ Drawn to hi-tech and latest trends (86.5% said they will try new and different
things; and 76.5% said they tend to follow latest trend and technology)
ƒ Quality conscious (85.9% of respondents)
ƒ Study options before purchase (86.2%)
ƒ Brand is not the most important consideration (only 53.4% agree that brand
is most important)

Possible reasons:
ƒ Consumer socialisation process
ƒ More enlightened – better at information search, use of internet, comparisons
with friends etc (74.6% said they will seek friend’s opinion before buying things)
ƒ More information search for high involvement goods
ƒ Budgetary constraints (81.9% spent $500 and below per month)

2) Handphones as Essentials
Youths regard the handphone as crucial to their daily life. Handphones play a key
functional role but not to the extent that they become an expression of their
identity.
ƒ Feel lost without handphone (77.9%)
ƒ Carry handphone wherever they go (87.6%)
ƒ Do not “personalise” their handphones (only 52.0% said they will personalise
their handphone as much as they can) Note: The word “personalise” is
defined as the downloading of wall paper, ringtones, changing handphone
cover etc.
ƒ Not a reflection of who they are (Only 32.0% said handphone is a reflection of
who they are)

Possible reasons:
ƒ About 80% of respondents spend an average of 2.5 hours on the handphone
ƒ Use it for many purposes other than communication (camera, music, alarm etc)
(59.6% of the respondents said that they like to play with their handphone
whenever they can)
 ƒ Handphone is used for functional purposes (eg calls and sms) rather than a
status symbol (55.0% said handphone is only for making/ receiving calls and
sending/ receiving SMS.)
ƒ Not important to have the latest model of handphones (Only 24.8% said that it is
important for them to have the latest handphone model. However, 47.7% said
that it important for them that their handphone has the latest features and
functions)

3) Sense of Self-Importance
Youths have a strong sense of self-importance but do not see themselves as
opinion leaders and stand out among their peers. Friend’s opinion is garnered only
on need basis.
ƒ They do not care about other people’s opinion and will do what they want
(73.7%)
ƒ If need be, they would seek friends’ advice (74.6%).
ƒ They follow trends but do not regard themselves as competent source of
advice for purchase (76.5% said they tend to follow the latest trends and
technology, 32.7% said their friends regard them as a good source of advice
about handphone and mobile phone service)
ƒ Not important to stand out and perceived as unique (Only 25.9% said it is
important to them that they stand out in a crowd)

Possible reasons:
ƒ Able to get expert advice and info from a variety of sources, other than their
friends
ƒ Rational thinking at work

4) Brand of Handphone is not Key

Brands of handphones do not feature dominantly in the purchase behaviour
among youths.
ƒ Do not consider brand as the most important criterion in purchase (Only 53.4%
think that brand is the most important criterion)
ƒ Remain reasonably loyal to a brand and will not switch brands easily (61.7%
said they do not switch brands easily)
ƒ Will tell others about their favourite brands (68.0% said they will tell others about
their favourite brand)

Possible reasons:
ƒ Functional relationship between handphone and its owners (55.0% said
handphone is only for making/ receiving calls and sending/ receiving SMS.)
ƒ Established and trusted handphone brands
ƒ Tied down by contract (only 16.4% of the respondents said that if they like a
handphone model, and they are already on contract, they would still sign up
another line)

PART B: Handphone Usage and Purchase Behaviour

1) Younger starting age in the use of mobile phones (The average age a 25 year
old started using mobile phone is 17.3 years old. This is compared to a 20
year old and a 15 year old now who starts using mobile phone at 14.3 years
old and 11.8 years, old respectively.)
2) 22% of all respondents started owning a mobile phone because their parents
ask them to have one. Of the secondary school students, 27.3% said their
parents want them to have one.
 3) Camera functions are the most important feature (86.0% used the camera
function of the handphone).
4) Functions of phone are more important than brand (54.8% vs. 5.5%)
5) Value added services (VAS) not perceived to be important (51.0% do not use
any VAS). The most popular VAS used is the MMS (24.6%), followed by
Roaming (13.7%) and Internet Surfing (13.0%).

PART C: Youths’ Top 3 Brands in Singapore

1. Sports Shoes Category

Youths are likely to own a pair of Nike or Adidas sports shoes; and to a lesser
extent, Puma.

2. Casual Shoes Category

Converse, Nike, and Adidas are favourites among youths.

3. Bag Category
Adidas and Nike are the preferred brands. Not to be outdone, Crumpler bags also
has a strong following.

4. Watch Category
Adidas, Fossil and Swatch watches are popular among the youths surveyed.

5. Fast Food Category

Youths are more likely to hang out in McDonald’s and KFC. To a lesser extent,
Long John Silver as well.

6. Casual Apparel Category

Topshop/Topman, Giordano, and Zara are desired casual apparel brands among
youths.

7. Sports Apparel Category

Adidas, Nike and Puma are top of youths’ mind when asked which sport apparel
brands they would like to buy.

8. Desktop Category
Acer, Dell, and HP are favoured brands of desktop computer among youths.

9. Laptop Category
Youths desire Apple, Acer, and HP brands if they consider buying a laptop.

Researched and Presented by: Diploma in Marketing, Temasek Business School, Temasek Polytechnic.