Icons of Trust – Monitors
Samsung Makes A Splash
They grow bigger each passing year, and have slimmed down considerably. And since they are literally always in your face, users exhibit definite preferences when it comes to selecting a monitor for their needs.
While a smaller number of respondents in the survey have purchased a monitor (as compared to desktops), more than two-thirds of those making a purchase said that the monitor was for personal use — rather than general household applications. This could indicate that many buyers were upgrading existing monitors for gaming, graphics or other visual applications. Over three-quarters of the total respondents indicated that they have had the display for more than six months.
Index of Trust
The Index of Trust for monitors is largely influenced by credibility (39 per cent) and satisfaction (27 per cent). Factors such as loyalty and ownership are seen to be relatively less important by respondents, and awareness was not considered very relevant in engendering trust. Samsung was rated as the most trustworthy brand for monitors, closely followed by Dell. Brands like HP, LG, Viewsonic, and Lenovo/IBM were all closely clustered in terms of scores — and there was little to set them apart from the leaders. This indicates that technological sophistication, product quality and product experience offered by all the leading monitor brands are very high.
Awareness
Samsung rated highest on overall awareness, followed by LG and HP. However, Samsung had low top-of-mind recall as compared to HP and LG. Other brands about which the respondents were highly aware include Dell and IBM. Despite the high level of ownership of Samsung monitors amongst the respondents, the top-of-mind awareness of Samsung was low. However, ownership definitely contributed to the high overall awareness about the brand. The other brand which had high levels of ownership amongst respondents was LG, but it also suffered from low top-of-mind recall, unlike HP and Lenovo/IBM.
Credibility
Respondent reactions towards monitors seem to be highly influenced by the PC ownership patterns. This is because, while many branded PCs ship with bundled monitors, users with assembled PCs tend to specify and choose a particular brand. HP was rated as the most credible brand by our respondents, and was rated high on innovative features. But, most of the other brands were close behind HP-and there was little to distinguish between them. All monitor brands were rated good to excellent, including Viewsonic and NEC, with Viewsonic scoring high on ease-of-use.
Satisfaction
HP was rated to deliver highest index of satisfaction, followed by LG and Samsung. Brand availability for HP was perceived to be high, and it was considered to be very good value for money. Dell scored high on overall quality, but lost out on account of longer lead times for delivery and lower sales support (since it is largely sold online). LG did well on information availability and pre- and post-sales support, while after sales support from HP was deemed to be the best.
Loyalty
HP, LG and Samsung all score high on the Index of Loyalty, followed by Dell and Viewsonic. However, amongst owners of monitors, HP and Dell have the largest number of loyal customers — those with high propensity to repurchase the brand. This could be partly attributed to the high penetration of HP and Dell desktop computers amongst the respondent base. Both LG and Samsung have their own bands of adherents who are willing to talk positively about the respective brands, and recommend to others.
Ownership Cost
Nearly two-thirds of the respondents said that they were the sole decision makers in the purchase of a monitor, and all said that they were involved in monitor purchases. Respondents who bought a monitor paid an average price of about Rs. 6,800 for a HP or Dell monitor, while the Acer and LG ones were a little more expensive. People who bought Samsung monitors paid a lot more — perhaps because they bought larger displays, or more sophisticated models. Both Samsung and LG offer longer warranty periods, according to users, but most users have had no opportunity to get their monitors serviced. Dell was overwhelming rated as best on the Index of Ownership.