CONSUMER PREFERENCES FOR MOBILE PHONES AMONGST STUDENTS IN AKOKA AREA OF LAGOS STATE

Over the years after the invention of mobile phones, people are still purchasing and using mobile phones today. However, different people prefer different attributes of mobile phones.The main purpose of this study was to identify the factors that influence consumer preferences on mobile phone purchase. The specific attributes examined in this study were brand, price, colour, quality and warranty. From the purchasing information, the total sample implied that the attribute that influenced their decision to purchase a mobile phone the most was brand name. And as observed, 75% preferred Nokia mobile phones. 82.5% of the respondents purchase mobile phones mainly for calls. As observed, 41.5% showed preference for the highest price (Above N20,000) listed for this survey. It was also observed that all the respondents that participated in the survey use mobile phones. Results showed that the total utility of the product propertles indicated that profile 4 had the highest utility of 19.431, which was the best combination: Nokia, Above N20, 000, Ash, Low quality and has warranty while profile 25 had the lowest utility of 9.631, which was the least combination: Motorola, Below N10,000, Black, Low quality and no warranty. The results confirmed that brand (44.394%) had the most influence on overall preference for mobile phones. In the research, two product profiles that were not ranked by the respondents were simulated using Maximum Utility, BTL (Bradley-Terry-Luce) and Logit models.