Analysis of External Influences on Consumer Behavior - Assignment Example

Analysis of External Influences on Consumer Behavior Introduction : This assignment intends to investigate and analyze the various external factors that influence the consumer’s behavior. Consumer behavior may be defined as the behavior of an individual or a group of people towards the need for a certain product, choice of the product, mode of purchase, usage or utilization of the product, method of disposal and other related aspects. This behavior is very important for a marketer to locate the consumer group for a specific product and promote the purchase of that product. The consumer behavior may be influenced by factors that are internal to the consumer or by factors that are external in nature. The internal factors may be the attitudes, feelings, personality, perception, lifestyle and learning process ( George .D.A., 2003 ) . The external factors may be factors like cultural and sub cultural factors, core values, influence by peer groups, social class, reference groups and family. The product / service chosen for the analysis in this article is the Compaq Presario – Notebook PC series. For this product the consumer behavior for external influences and their implications have been studied and analyzed in the following sections. Section 1: Cultural and Value Analysis : Answer 1. The value and culture analysis of the chosen product - Compaq Presario Note Book PC series can be done from two different advertisements of the product. The first advertisement shown in Fig. 1. gives the full details of the product. This advertisement is targeted on the internet users. The message it conveys confines to that of logical and practical values. The message conveyed by this advertisement is it’s unique product identity, appeasing design and appearance , collateral and communications. The Compaq product targets a tech – eager customer who needs a quality and high performance computer. Compaq delivers this need with a good style and value. These values are portrayed to the audience in a more descriptive , elaborative an easily understandable manner. Fig.1. Advertisement 1. The second advertisement, shown in Fig.2. gives a pictorial message to the public. This advertisement aims at the general public who read newspapers. Ashish Mitra of the Indian Express Group ( Technology, 2007 ) states that Hewlett Packard has reinforced it’s core values around quality, affordability and performance. These core values tend to increase the influence of the product and instigates the consumer to buy the product. Thus it can be seen that the core values of quality, performance and affordability are shifting upwards and they encourage the usage or ownership of the product. Fig.2. Advertisement 2. Answer 2. The goals or motives of a consumer can be identified with the values they hold. The core values are dependent on behavioral aspects of being independent or interdependent , truthful and also it depends on the desired end perspective. The reality of value can be defined in terms of extrinsic values, intrinsic values and systemic values ( Raquel and Angeles , 2007 ) . The extrinsic value talks about the utility of a particular product or service. The intrinsic value deals with the emotional satisfaction of the consumer. The systemic value is related to the logical relationship between sacrifices and returns in the purchase characteristics ( Hartman, 1967 ). Thus these three aspects of emotional , logical and practical values influence the satisfaction of the consumer. Culture can be defined as the common socially accepted values by a majority of the society. These values that are shared and accepted may include factors like common beliefs, common norms, affective reactions, common attitudes and similar behaviors. General culture differences arise among people belonging to different countries. Differences in culture arise based on the degree to which the people feel that they are independent or interdependent. Culture is not to be born with, it is something that is learned during the lifetime, it is also comprehensive in the sense that it encompasses all aspects within some logical ideology. The influence of culture is limited to a boundary and is less changeable. With increasing global marketing of a specific product, understanding the cultural behavior of different people has become highly essential. This understanding has implications on the marketing strategies and standards that has to be followed in different countries or cultures. Individualistic culture enable more flexibility in marketing the product as the consumer behavior depends on his self attitude or opinion about a product. Whereas collectivist culture poses some constraint on the product marketing as the buying strategy highly depends on the common opinion of the society. Section 2 : Sub – Culture and Social Class Analysis : Answer 1 : The marketing strategy used to communicate to ratio - ethnic segments involving sub culture behavior, is called as multicultural marketing. Ratio ethnic behavior refers to the difference that exists among people within a culture or society. These are certain distinctive groups among a country or region based on demography, age, lifestyle, ethnicity, etc. In sub culture influence self attributes are less important than interpersonal attributes. This multi cultural marketing should not be neglected in any product marketing as it may lead to loss in business, misinterpretation of product messages and damage to brand image ( Jim and Meg , 2005 ). Addressing the key issues like language management, factors influencing purchase and other cultural differences are important in multicultural marketing. Thus marketing a product to a ratio ethnic group needs market research through surveys, plan for marketing, execution of campaigns based on feedback from the racially different people. Answer 2 : Nowadays, every field has the usage of computers, so by using special marketing strategies as mentioned above almost all group of people can be influenced to buy this note book PC series of Compaq Presario. Here again, specific sub culture – college students and business people can be given more information about this note book PC as it may find tremendous usage within this sub culture and social class of people. To attract the student community, the marketing strategy that needs to be followed may include advertising with a superstar, projecting the sleek and stylish appearance, projecting the technical capabilities, affordable cost, easy payment in installments, etc. To market the product to people involved in business , who use more laptops, the marketing strategy may include projecting the handy reduced size and weight of the product so that it can be easily carried, technical capabilities, available accessories, low cost, product life time, etc. Answer 3 : Social class involves grouping of people based on their privilege, monetary power and status of living. This stratifying of people as different social class differs in different culture and sub culture. The social classification may affect the marketing strategy because the life style, language accent, occupation of people, tradition, other issues like caste etc. are different. Hence the requirement and purchase power of the people may differ. Thus marketing needs to be more specific in addressing the needs of these socially variable people. The chosen product – Compaq Presario Note book PC series, needs specific strategies for marketing towards sub culture and social class influences. Since this product is a high tech product, marketing this to highly ethnic groups demands more research surveys, awareness and understanding of the chosen sub culture group or social class. This product marketing can be done by choosing proper mix of factors that influence the consumer. These factors include choosing a superstar or a popular person of that particular sub culture or social class for campaigning the product. Marketing according to seasons and holidays. changing the color patterns, language or message styles in an advertisement. choosing a graphic representation that depicts the traditional ideas of that ethnic group. Providing easy payment procedures or easing the buying procedure, as shown in fig.3. Proper strategies for packing and delivery with less shipping time etc. Fig. 3. Easy buying procedure and payment policies. Section 3 : Analysis of Reference Groups and family : Answer 1 : The influence of the reference group on a consumer can be in the form of values where the group has a common opinion about certain products. The group may be an information source to give all possible information about related products. The influence of a family on a consumer is still complicated as the family bondage leads to joint decision making during purchase rather than individual opinion. Also the change in the family status over time leads to different needs and choice of different products according to the group of new people with whom come in contact. Answer 2 : For the chosen product – Compaq Presario Note Book PC series, the target reference group may include learned business class people and the blooming student community. As an example, to promote the product among this group the Compaq Presario has chosen superstar – Shah Rukh Khan as quoted by Ashish Mitra of the Indian Express ( Technology, Aug03 . 2007) for it’s Indian market. This effort attracts the general public, students as well as business people. The major factors that influence in choosing such a person for brand promotion include interaction of this celebrity with the reference group, credibility of the personality as perceived by the reference group, visible usage of the product by the celebrity. Section 4 : Analysis of Consumer Influences and Diffusion of Innovation : Diffusion of innovation is the phenomenon that is related to the new ideas and new products spreading among the people. It best describes a product life cycle says ( Lars Perner , 2008 ). Initially a product gets introduced, then it gains recognition, it’s usage increases, later it attains a saturation state. Generally new products are accepted only by few people but later it starts spreading. This spread is due to the opinion of the users who are satisfied by the product. This type of opinion leadership is more valuable than the information from advertisements, as it comes out of experience. The diffusion of the innovation depends on the value and respect of the opinion leader. If the opinion leader is highly respected or valued, then that innovation is likely to spread more. Rather if the opinion leader tends to be conservative, the diffusion of innovation will be less. When the product has extremely new ideas, then the opinion leader may have less influence on the diffusion of the product. In such circumstances the information from advertisements seems to be more valuable. Also for younger innovative people the information from advertisements may be more valuable compared to word of mouth. Section 5: Virtual communities : Virtual community refers to group of people who share their ideas and information over the internet. These virtual communities may be social networking groups, email groups, forums or newsgroups. These group of people are a diverse and highly passionate community who may help each other about valuable information. If used properly by a marketer, these virtual community sites become an excellent means of building communication with the consumers. For the chosen Compaq Presario Note Book PC series, the on – line database of FieldShare of dobney.com has been chosen for market research including a forum to post questions to the group. The discussion can be monitored to improve the marketing strategy, post advertisements and other promotional messages about the product to the site. Also information about the people in the group can be collected to know about their need and requirements which will help in marketing the chosen product. Some recommendations for product promotional campaign may include Use pay per click option to promote awareness about the product. having good contact with people through virtual community sites. Post promotional articles related to the product among the community. Identify the proper affiliation group to market the product. Thus the virtual communities can be used to market the chosen product where loyal customers help one another to evaluate the quality. Conclusion : This assignment discusses the various aspects of the external influences on the consumer behavior. Analysis has been done based on a specific product – Compaq Presario. The influence of certain key aspects like culture and core values have been discussed in the light of the chosen product. Also other aspects of influence like sub culture, social class, reference groups and family have been analyzed in detail. Later the assignments analyses the concepts of diffusion of innovation and virtual community marketing for the chosen product. References : 1. Ashish Mitra, ( 2007, 03 August), ‘ Hp Tought Bubble Unvieled - Technology, Screen Weekly, The Indian Express group, August 03, 2007. 2. George . D.A., (2003), Marketing, Ed. Cibernetica MC, Bucharest, ISBN 973-96916-3-3. 3. Hartman .R.S., ( 1967). The Structure of Value: Foundations of a Scientific Axiology. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois Press.Jim Stachura , Meg Murphy ( 2005, October 25 ), Multicultural Marketing : Why One Size doesn’t Fit All, Retrieved 23 January 2009 from http://www.marketingprofs.com/5/StachuraMurphy1.asp 4. Lars Perner. Ph.D., Consumer Behavior : The Psychology Of Marketing, University of South California, Los Angeles. 5. Raquel .S. and Angeles .M., ( 2007 ), Marketing Theory - The concept of perceived value : a systematic review of the research. Sage publication. Retrieved 25 January 2009 . < http://www.sagepublications.com> Read More