The Business Productivity and Revenue - Essay Example

Nutritional Information Should be Available for s: Satisfying the Consumers Hedonism Consumer behavior greatly influences businesses. Thus, it is important to analyze the trends and directions of the target market, in order to increase the business’ productivity and revenue. Consumers are the primary ingredient in service industries, as such, their behavior should be taken into account when improving and developing a business. In the food industry, primarily restaurants, the customer’s values regarding health and pleasure should be considered. Because of the high value placed on one’s physical appearance, it can be assumed that the consumer trend is more on nutritional and healthy eating habits, rather than gratifying the taste buds. This indicates that the value on nutrition is very high, thus, influencing the trend of the consumer’s choice of diet (Hoyer & Macinnis, 2008). Humans have a tendency to pursue what is pleasurable for them and to avoid things that can be painful or upsetting (Mooij, 2004). This is the hedonistic nature of man that governs his behaviors and actions, and influences his decisions. This greatly influences that buying behavior of man, which when studied and analyzed can be helpful for understanding the trends that will be beneficial in creating new products or improving current products. This indicates that hedonism is influential in the choice of purchases of a consumer. This signifies that consumers tend to be attracted to those products that they consider pleasurable or beneficial for their wellbeing. It is then, important to consider giving the consumers what they need in fulfilling this value. Having the nutritional value of the food the restaurant serves implies value for the consumer’s needs. Whether the dish is nutritious or not, it allows the consumer to understand and to know what they eat, and the implications of what they are eating. With this, consumers feel that their needs and wants are served, and that their choices are important for the management of the restaurant. Giving out the nutritional value does not necessarily mean that the restaurant needs to indicate this in the menu. What is important is that there is nutritional value on the dishes within the restaurants that the customers will be able to notice. There is awareness that there is such information within their grasps and it will be their choice whether or not to check it. This will allow the restaurant to minimize loses, when the customer chooses not to order say a high-priced item which has more calories than usual but satisfies his craving for sweets because of the information that he has read about the implications of the food he will be eating, while increasing their customer satisfaction, as the restaurant gives the customer the choices to make. It is important that a message be sent out to customers, that they are indeed valued customers. By making this information ready and within their grasps, the customer will have the choice to make, emphasizing even more his individuality and independence. It is important that the information be ready to satisfy the curiosity of the customer of what he is really eating, and to abide by the law that customers need to protected by giving them all the information they need before purchasing a product. Though it is something consumable, food is still a sellable product and it is still important that buyers need to know exactly what they are getting in exchange for their money. The dominant approach in the study of consumer behavior is information processing. This approach assumes that the ability of humans to consider all possible decision alternatives and to reach a utility-maximizing decision is limited (Roering, et.al., 1986). This indicates that consumers make buying decisions based on a limited amount of information available for decision making. The result, thus, is a decision that satisfies their wants and needs rather than a decision that is most advantageous for them. Assuming that this is the general consumer behavior, providing the nutritional information for consumers will give them access to the appropriate information that is needed to allow them to maximize their options and make optimum decisions according to what would be most advantageous for them. However, if the hedonistic nature of the individual is more influential, then they will process the readily available full information in a way that will serve their purposes and wants in purchasing the product. When the nutritional information is made available for the customers, this will affect their buying decision. Depending on his personal characteristics, such as age, social class and lifestyle, the customer will process the available information according to what he needs and wants from the product that he will purchase. An individual who is on a diet will specifically look at the calorie content within the information available for him, whereas, someone who is more physically active will look at the protein or carbohydrate content of the foods that is available in the said restaurant. Someone who does not mind his weight or is not particular with what he eats will just ignore this information. This shows that making the nutritional information ready and available for the customer does not mean that all customers will examine it on a general basis. The cognitive approach in analyzing consumer behavior indicates that customers will process the information available for them in a specific manner that agrees to their wants, needs or lifestyle. Providing nutritional information for customers can be even more successful when coupled by nutrition education. Nutrition education is composed of familiarity with nutritional terms, understanding principles of current nutritional recommendations and understanding practical applications of recommendations in terms of food purchase, preparation and eating (Fine, 1998). Even if the nutritional information is made available to consumers, they will not be able to understand what they are looking at and looking for if they do not know anything about nutritional information. It is not the responsibility of the restaurants and food chains to provide this education although the staff members need to be educated on nutritional information to assist customers. This is especially beneficial for customers as they can, at least, have a general understanding of the nutritional information provided for them. Although nutritional information is available for customers, it is not also imperative that customers look at it. The important thing is that the restaurants are sensitive of their customer’s right to information and that the restaurants are clear and open on the nutritional information of the food they serve the customers. The trend of the buying behaviour of food purchases is related to the hedonistic nature of humans, which influences the behaviour of the consumer according to what they believe is good for them. Providing them the nutritional information is an advantage for both the consumer and the restaurant as it will make their relationship open and clear. It will also create new markets depending on the available food products that they offer. There are specific consumers that prefer more nutritious dishes than others, depending on their age, gender and lifestyle. By having the nutritional information readily available, it will allow the customer access to information and it is in their choice whether to make use of it to make optimum decisions on their food choices. Work Cited Fine, B. (1998). The Political Economy of Diet, Health and Food Policy. NY: Routledge. Hoyer, W., & Macinnis, D. (2008). Consumer Behavior, 5th ed. OH: South-Western Cengage Learning. Mooij, M. (2004). Consumer Behavior and Culture: Consequences for Global Marketing and Advertising. CA: Sage Publications, Inc. Roering, K., Boush, D., & Shipp, S. (1986). Factors that Shape Eating Patterns: A Consumer Behavior Perspective. What Is America Eating? Proceedings of a Symposium (pp. pp.72-86). Washington D.C.: National Academy Press. Read More