The impact of COVID-19 on Consumer Behaviour on spending pattern with respect to Mobile Phones and the impact of Anti-Chinese Sentiment towards buying of foreign brands

COVID-19 pandemic has brought the world to a standstill. People are locked in their houses having a very low option to move out during the lockdown period. The objective of the study is to focus on the impact of COVID-19 on consumer behaviour towards the use of mobile phones and their view towards Made in India products. The consumption pattern of individuals might be altered due to COVID-19 as there is no knowledge of when everything will be resumed back to normal. A survey sheet was floated to collect individual data via responses using social media platforms, blogs and calls. These responses would provide data for further analysis to determine the outcome of the study. Hypothesis testing method is used for the data analysis and to interpret the results


Introduction
India is holding a prominent position in the global mobile market which can be further elevated. India has world's 20% consumers of cellphone and thus it has one of the fastest-growing markets for a smartphone. With the emergence of widespread adaptation of new technology in India, the demand for mobiles is ever increasing. According to the research, the demand can outcast the supply by as much as five times the local production. In India, mobile phones are the most prominent medium for having access to the internet. Most consumers had their first use of the internet via mobile phones than on a laptop or pc. India is the second-largest market for mobile phones having more than 400 million smartphone users after China. Taking everything into account, India has demonstrated to be a monster in the area of manufacturing mobile phones, both as a maker and a customer. With 1.3 billion individuals spread across a huge and primarily assorted geological region, the nation can draw upon a massive pool of HR and possible clients. The current Indian Mobile market is dominated by foreign brands with more than 90% of the share being accounted for by imports. The Indian market can be segmented into various segments like low end, medium-end and premium mobile phones. About one-third of the mobiles sold in India lies in the range of Rs. 11000 to 18000. This segment holds a potential and has shown tremendous growth and would possibly grow in future. The graph shows the Smartphone Market Share of Q2-2020. (Apr-Jun) The market is dominated by Chinese brands like Xiaomi, Oppo, Realme, Vivo. The other foreign brand dominating the Indian market is Samsung. Indian brands with other foreign brands are competing for the remaining 8%. In 2019, the central government begin designing a new policy to uplift the process of manufacturing to the next level and bring about a revolution in assembly and production. In 2020 March, India was hit by COVID-19 and these schemes were brought to a halt. By collaborating with other big players in the market the scheme was planned to be implemented. After the pandemic of COVID-19, presumed to have originated from China, and Anti-Chinese Sentiment rose among Indians. These sentiments made China an antagonist and a revolution to boycott Chinese goods gained strength. The Indians are adamant to ban apps and boycott Chinese products which might affect the mobile phones market in India as the key players are Chinese companies. Also, the pattern of spending per handset might change based on availability and feature provided by other Non-Chinese companies. There is also a possibility of a reduction in imports from china or imposing a higher import duty on imports increasing the price. These uncertainties will further affect the consumer's behaviour and cause and change in buying/spending pattern.

Literature Review
The change in consumer behaviour and pattern has been affected due to COVID-19 pandemic and this has led to change in their daily habits. After the pandemic, the habits will reverb back to once they were but there would be some changes in behaviour and pattern of their lifestyle. (Jagdish Sheth et al, 2020). There would be an emergence of new habits, behaviours and changes in lifestyle owing to due to the emergence of new technologies and the consumer will cope and adapt to the once o suit him the best.
The emergence of the new pandemic is ought to occur every 10 to 50 years. Since the pandemic is not completely over, it cannot be implied what are the after-effects of the pandemic. Although being hit by pandemics in the past, each has a different social, economic and behavioural effects which linger throughout (Jorda O. et al, 2020). The pandemics shift the focus towards macroeconomic leaving out their implications on a microeconomic level. If the data towards microeconomic is made available, it will be able to better judge and make provisions as per the behaviour of an individual at ground level. The global pandemic has led to the shutting of many businesses and led to an unprecedented time in economics of all sectors. All organizational functions are intended to prioritize and optimize spending or postpone tasks that will not bring value to the current environment.

Hypothesis and Explanation
Hypothesis:

There is a shift in the consumption pattern of mobile due to COVID-19 pandemic
The consumers have shifted their spending on essential like food, groceries and medicines, thus having limited capital left to spend on mobile phones. Further uncertainties related to the job and having very low or no income during lockdown would have affected individuals to spend less on mobiles and have encouraged saving in time of crisis. Also, since the people are locked inside their home, having no other option to interact socially with a physical presence, mobiles became a prime source of interaction with others. There is a significant change in spending on mobile phones due to COVID-19.

There is a change in brand perception and encouragement in buying Indian phones due to COVID-19
The pandemic has opened a new perspective of China among Indians. Apart from getting blamed for COVID-19, China was also blamed for violating LAC and trying to enter India through other means. This led to the boycotting of Chinese products and many individuals supported the claim of buying Local. The individual consumer is keener on buying mobile phones from any company apart from Chinese brands.

There is an increase in the purchase of mobile phones via Online platforms due to COVID-19
With the limitation to move out only for essential commodities and unavailability of mobile shops, the consumers are restricted to buying online. Further, individuals are redundant in moving out and the only option available to get things delivered is via an online platform. Also, buying other commodities like food and medicines have increased online which have further influenced individuals to have more option and buy mobile phones online too. Thus there is an increase in the purchase of mobiles via online platform during COVID-19.

Research Methodology Population Profile
The population under consideration belongs to consumers in Metro, Tier 1 & Tier 2 cities.

Sample Profile
The population can be considered as a sample set for consumers belonging to service or manufacturing sector.  The p-value for the above result is 0.0566 which is significant, as it is greater than 0.05. Thus we can say that Alternate Hypothesis is Rejected and Null Hypothesis is Accepted.

Conclusion
Based on research and survey conducted, observations were made which responded in conclusion to the argument that the COVID-19 pandemic has altered the spending pattern of consumers. The thought process of individuals has been altered due to uncertainty and insecurity of the current situation. The encouragement towards saving has boosted and led to low spending towards unessential products like Mobile phones. The observations also show a rise in Anti-Chinese www.psychologyandeducation.net Sentiment and Swadeshi has promoted Indians to buy Indian brands over Chinese or Foreign brands. The research also shows the increase in procuring products through e commerce platforms. The lack of availability of goods nearby and e commerce being the only medium to buy products during lockdown increased the usage of online platforms for buying mobile phones.

Limitations
The survey was conducted through online medium and the responses were from those with access to internet and well educated. The lower income group of the strata have been exempted from the survey. The survey was conducted in July 2020, thus the preference would have changed as the individuals were on Work from Home and schools were not operating during that period. The sample size is also limited and complete sentiment may vary from whole population.