The Factors That Affect the Decision-Making Process of a Consumer - Essay Example

As the young ones grow, they imitate several behavioral patterns from older family members both knowingly and unknowingly. Therefore, the culture adopted in the family would affect the choice-making process when buying the item in a market. The other environmental factor worth consideration is the social class of a person. In this case, social class is taken to mean a group of people who share common positions in society. Many factors can be used to aid in defining a social class of an individual such as occupation, education, income, and much more (Hudson, Huang, Roth, & Madden, 2016).

Therefore, within a given social class, people often share common interests and perspectives about things. As a result, they would tend to buy similar things. In most circumstances, people of the same social class would tend to purchase the same house, have similar leisure activities, and the type of holiday is often alike. In this case, consumers would tend to have a similar attitude towards a given product, which in turn affects the buying capacity. By the same token, people of the same social class would tend to hang out together.

Thus the influence process occurs when buying commodities. Consumer factors consist of those things that are intrinsic to an individual and the way they impact the decision-making process of making a purchase. First is the lifestyle of a person. Every individual has a unique way of life, and this affects the buying pattern of a person (Kumar, & Ghodeswar, 2015). Notably, people from various cultures and subcultures, social class, and even occupation often have a different way of life. Therefore, every person would tend to have specific wants to satisfy depending on his or her lifestyle.

On the whole, lifestyle can define the interests of a person, opinions, and even activities of an individual, thus impacting buying patterns. Second, self-concept and personality play a significant role. Every person has a distinct personality, and this has a significant impact on choice making (Lim, Soutar, & Lee, 2016). Moreover, physiology varies from one person to another, which is another defining component of a person concerning a person’s individuality. Consequently, a person may decide to buy something depending on his or her self-concept and personality.

Third, age is a crucial factor as far as the purchase is concerned. What an old man buys, may not be proper for a younger individual and vice versa. In short, the motive of buying an item varies significantly with age and life cycle. Undoubtedly, some people may see it improper to buy an item, which is considered suitable for a given age group to which he or she does not belong. The involvement process refers to a psychological state of a person that can motivate him or her to be conscious and keen about people, objects, or situations around.

The involvement of a consumer can vary from time to time (Pechmann, & Catlin, 2016). As a result, some people may get involved in the purchase process than others. Generally, there are high and low involvement purchases. In my case, a customer would use a high involvement purchase to make a concrete decision based on whatever he or she would want to accomplish in life. First, individuals who have a high interest in buying an item will spend more time while comparing different products to get a better result.

Such a person would take his or her time while making a comparison on various products to make sure he or she satisfies the problem (Akroush, & Al-Debei, 2015). Also, people who are risk aversive are more likely to spend a lot of time while deciding on the product to purchase. In this case, a person would take time to compare different components of a product such as a price value, and quality. Also, expensive products often have high involvement purchase behaviors because they often possess high-risk factors.

The decision-making process of a consumer when making a purchase undergoes six steps. In each step, the marketing strategy can be used to advertise a product. First, in problem recognition, a consumer may aid identify the problem, which is then treated as a sample (Joshi, & Rahman, 2015). Afterward, my firm would use it to show the world how to solve that particular problem. Second, a consumer would start to search for a product via google. In that case, I would market the firm on Google and ensure that it is the first to appear in searches.

In that sense, the firm will have a positive image. Third, a consumer may start evaluating alternatives. Therefore, it is viable to convince the consumer that the product offered is the best, and it can be achieved by comparing the prices and quality of the product. Fourth, purchase decision appears almost in the middle, and in case the consumer does choose or not, an email reminder can be set for him or her as an update on the items. Fifth, the purchase is the second last stage as the customer has decided on what to do.

In this case, a satisfied customer can give testimonials based on satisfaction. Last, post-purchase evaluation involves analyzing the customers’ loyalty. Therefore, proper marketing to keep them coming is crucial.