Consumer electronics as a service: Access-based consumption and consumer electronics markets

Servitization is a growing trend in Business-to-Business industries. The trend is popular especially in the manufacturing industry, yet its implications have also reached to the consumer electronics markets. Many of the previous attempts of implementation of access-based service model to the consumer electronics markets have been rejected. This study examines the phenomenon of servitization and its implications such as access-based consumption and how access-based service model could be implemented to the consumer electronics markets. This study focuses on students, who are also referred to as early adopters of smartphones. Total of 21 persons were interviewed by using semi-structured in-depth interviews. Servitization refers to a value creation process, where a company shifts its focus from products to services, in order to create better value for the customer. Access-based consumption is one of the implications of servitization and product-service systems. Product-service-systems are value-adding combinations of products and services, where products are offered in the form of services. The key attribute in access-based service models is that the ownership does not change at any phase. The interest towards access-based consumption has increased significantly in the recent years. One of the main reasons for this is the increased interest towards circular-economy. The study reveals five main themes concerning consumer buying behaviour and preferences in the consumption of consumer electronics. These five themes are the fundamental attributes that create value for the consumers. In general consumers are ready for access-based consumption and the attitude towards access-based services is mainly positive. Consumers are willing to try access-based services if the service model is presented in a transparent and value adding way.fi=Opinnäytetyö kokotekstinä PDF-muodossa.|en=Thesis fulltext in PDF format.|sv=Lärdomsprov tillgängligt som fulltext i PDF-format