Purchasing Criteria of Wealthy Single Urbanites with Respect to Mobile Phone Accessories: A Post-COVID-19 Study

The mobile phone accessories market is booming in response to a surge in smartphones, the ‘work from home’ culture induced by the COVID-19 era, and an increasing focus on aesthetics by young consumers. Moreover, increasing internet penetration and online retailing trend in India are helping the mobile phone accessories market flourish. Wealthy single urbanities (WSUs) are the new superconsumers. In the post-COVID-19 era, this group of consumers is adapting to the new culture of working from home and limited direct social interactions with friends and family. With the requirements of working from home, these individuals are spending heavily on mobile phones and their accessories. The current study thus tries to identify the most significant factors that influence mobile phone accessory purchase decisions among WSUs. The research also tries to find out if there exists any association between gender and the monthly purchases made by WSUs with respect to mobile phone accessories. The sample size for this study was 210, and the research was conducted in Pune City in Maharashtra State. The data were analyzed using Garrett’s ranking technique and the chi-square test performed using the SPSS software. The research found that social influence, compatibility, and brand name were the three important factors that influenced WSUs while purchasing mobile phone accessories. The research also found that there is no association between gender and the monthly purchases made by WSUs. These critical outcomes of the study could help mobile phone accessory companies formulate more suitable policies to make accessories more socially influential as well as work on the key outcome that their mobile accessories should be compatible with the majority of the available mobile brands. The study also reveals that companies should focus on the branding aspect, as the brand name is also an important factor that influences customers’ purchase decisions.