The Subcultures of Consumption - Essay Example

?“Subcultures of Consumption: an analysis of the Online Shoppers and Buyers” INTRODUCTION The subcultures of the consumption are the special and homogenous set of consumers who are inclined and committed to a specific set of consumption behaviour and activities. These subcultures of consumption are created in order to make it easy for the marketers to understand and target a particular set of customers with same preferences and norms (Schouten and McAlxendar, 1993). One of the emerging consumption subcultures in the today’s high tech environment is the online shoppers and buyers. There has been drastic increase in the online shopping all over the world due to several reasons. Owing to the increasing online buying and shopping trends it has become important to analyse and evaluate consumer behaviour of the online shoppers along with the buying and purchase decision process of these online buyers. This in turn will allow the marketers to come up with effective and efficient strategies to attract this particular subculture. The aim of this study would be to analyse the consumer buying behaviour of the online shoppers and the factors that lead to such behaviour. In order to evaluate the buying behaviour of the online shoppers, consumer choice would be evaluated in particular. This will help in identifying the influence of consumer choice on the buying behaviour of online shoppers and buyers. In addition, the buying behaviour of the consumers in the online shopping industry will also be assessed along with the factors that lead to such modern shopping means. SUBCULTURES OF CONSUMPTION AND CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOUR Different researchers have defined consumer behaviour as the activities performed by individuals or groups that eventually lead to decisions or actions (Pachauri, 2002). The decisions that are made by individuals or groups include purchase, use and disposal of goods and services (Desmond, 2003). On the other hand, the concept of consumer behaviour is defined as the particular way in which an individual acts when consuming or disposing products (O’Dougherty, Haynes, Davies & O’Connor, 2007). Solomon (1995) describes consumer buying behaviour as a process aimed to satisfy the needs and wants of the consumer due to which the consumer makes certain decisions associated with the selection, purchase, use and disposal of products, services and experience. The concept of consumer behaviour is quite vast as each individual in the society and community has a unique behaviour according to which the person acts. The aim behind such actions and decisions made by the individuals or groups is to satisfy the needs and wants which could be done with the selection, purchase and disposal of the products and services (Schiffman, Kanuk, and Hansen, 2011). With advancement in technology, consumers are constantly changing their buying behaviour. This can be observed when the consumer shifted from the traditional buying methods to more modern online buying (Solomon, Bamossy, Askegaard, and Hogg, 2010). In order to identify the consumer buying behaviour, stimulus-behaviour model and buying process model are frequently used (Evans, Jamal, and Foxall, 2009). The stimulus-behaviour model proposed that internal and external stimuli play an essential role in influencing buyer’s behaviour. Marketing mix (i.e. product, price, place and promotion) and external model (i.e. economic, technological, political and cultural stimuli) can influence the consumer’s buying decision in terms of product, brand, time and amount. On the other hand, the buying process model includes 5 core steps taken by the individual to satisfy the needs and wants (Blackwell, Miniard, and Engel, 2006). The steps include recognition of need, information search, and alternative available in the market, purchasing and post-purchase decisions (Hawkins & Mothersbaugh, 2009). The steps involved in the consumer purchase or buying process are given in the image below: (Neal, Quester, & Hawkins, 2004) These theories of consumer buying behaviour become more useful and beneficial when applied to a particular subculture of consumption. It is important to understand the concept of subculture of consumption in order to analyse the consumer buying behaviour of any particular subculture. The subculture of the consumption is created by the interaction of the people who have similar interests and preferences and therefore have specific consumption patterns and activities (Schouten and McAlxendar, 1995). SUBCULTURE OF CONSUMPTION AND CONSUMER CHOICE The subculture of consumption can be directly related with different theories of consumer choice. In the standard view, a choice theory proposes the frequency of decision made by an individual. It could be said as a process that determines the choices that an individual have and to chose the best or most preferred option to meet the needs and demands. This rational consumer choice theory proposes that all the individuals have certain preferences and according to those preferences an individual chose the right product (De Mooij, 2011). The people falling in a particular subculture of consumption have similar patterns and preferences of consumer choice, as they have similar needs and wants (Hebdige, 1979). The idea behind such consumer theory is that the consumers choose certain products to satisfy the needs and wants along with the maximisation if utility. But the individual has certain limitations that stop an individual from making a choice i.e. budget constraints. This indicates that even though an individual might want to purchase more for the satisfaction of needs and maximisation of utility but the individual cannot due to limitation imposed by the total wealth (East, Wright, and Vanhuele, 2008). For achieving or maximising the utility, the individual has to make a choice that could provide the individual with more utility than the other products in the market. By doing so, an individual would be able to enhance the potential utility that could lead to the internal satisfaction (Peter and Olson, 2008). Similarly, a particular subculture of consumption tends to make a particular choice on the basis of the particular needs and available resources (Schouten and McAlxendar, 1995). CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOUR OF THE ONLINE SHOPPERS AND BUYERS IN THE ONLINE SHOPPING INDUSTRY With the rapid development of internet, consumers are provided with an opportunity to purchase the desired products and services to satisfy their need and wants. With the invention of internet, the consumers are provided with ease of shopping due to which it has become essential part in consumer’s life. Consumers being provided with such opportunity, it has been observed that the numbers of people using online shopping rather than traditional shopping are increasing to great extent. This indicates that consumer now prefer online shopping due to which online shopping is increasing rapidly (Joines, Scherer, & Scheufele, 2003). Consumer buying behaviour in the online shopping industry has increased to great extent. With the passage of time, this medium of shopping has taken over the traditional shopping medium. According to a research conducted by Palatnik (2008), it was observed that 29 out of 100 people shop more than one time in a week using internet. On the other hand, it was also indicated in the report that search engines are the source that helps the consumer find the right shopping site on the internet. 82 consumers out of 100 use search engines to find the right site where they could purchase the desired products and services so that their needs and wants could be satisfied. Europe is one of the continents where the retail industry has observed significant shift of consumers from traditional to online shopping. With such significant change, it was observed that the internet usage in Europe alone has grown by 275 percent since 2000 (Oracle, 2011). According to Internetworldstats.com, the internet users in the world have grown significantly over the last decade in which Asia is the leading continent in the world and accounts for 45 percent of the internet users followed by Europe with 21.5 percent of internet user. A research further indicated that the shift in consumer buying behaviour towards online shopping has expanded to an outstanding extent. It was revealed in the research by Oracle (2011) that consumers spending via the internet accounts for almost US$470 billion; and it has been further forecasted and predicted that the number would exceed US$1 trillion by 2012. The shift from traditional shopping to online shopping was mainly due to the challenging economic climate (Rodriguez, 2009). As the consumer were suffering highly from the economic crisis, they shifted from the traditional means of shopping as it was too costly and consumed a lot of the consumer’s time. On the other hand, internet being the source to provide the consumers with desired products and services at low cost were the major reason that drove the consumer away from traditional means and closer to modern means i.e. online. FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE THE CONSUMER CHOICE OF ONLINE SHOPPERS AND BUYERS WHILE SHOPPING ONLINE According to the consumer choice theory mentioned earlier in the study, there are some factors that can influence the consumer choice along with the decision while shopping online of the online buyers and shoppers. It has been observed that the internal and external factors are some of those factors that could influence the consumer choice (Schiffman and Kanuk, 2010). Each of the factors mentioned are separately discussed below: Internal Factors The internal factors are those that come from the consumer’s mind. This includes psychological processes such as attitude, learning, perception, motivation and self-image (Hawkins & Mothersbaugh, 2009). External Factors The external factors according could be divided into five categories. The categories or sectors provided include demographics, socio-economics, technology, public policy (i.e. culture and sub-cultures) and marketing (Hawkins & Mothersbaugh, 2009). Some of the major factors that could influence the consumer’s choice while online shopping are as follows; Information availability Consumer choice can be heavily influenced with the information available on the internet regarding the products available. It has been observed that while consumers are shopping through online medium, the consumers are influenced and attracted at those sites that provide proper and accurate information regarding the product offered. A website or retail store that does not provide retail stores is unable to gain the consumer’s attention in the market. By providing proper information to the consumer can help the retail store attract and create awareness regarding the product which will eventually influence the consumer to purchase from particular e-retailer rather than any other in the market (Park & Kim, 2003). Difference in cost/price The price charged for a particular product can also influence the consumer in the market. It has been observed that difference in price can lead to change in consumer choice. This indicates that if the consumer fined a particular product in the market at cheaper price, the consumer might shift to the product that is being sold at cheaper price rather than purchasing same product at higher price in the market. As indicated in a research that low price is one of the factors based on which consumers in the market make their decisions (Zhou, Dai, & Zhang, 2007). Advertisement Advertisement is a crucial factor that can influence consumers in the market to change their choice. It has been observed that advertisement or sale promotion can deeply influence individual or group to shift from one product to another while shopping online. According to research, the amount of discount and other deals can also influence the consumer to change the buying decision when provided with such offering. Along with this, advertisement also plays an essential role in gaining the attention of the consumers and this can strongly influence a consumer while shopping online (Haubl & Trifts, 2000). Convenience Convenience in online shopping can strongly influence the choice of the consumer in the market. Being provided with convenience, a consumer can be influenced to change the choice in the market. It has been noticed that online shopping is growing rapidly due to the convenience factor. By allowing the consumer to shop anytime of the day in the week, the consumers are influenced to adapt to this shopping medium rather than going back to traditional shopping. Time and cost are some of the factor that encourage and influence the consumers to stay at home and shop all they want through the internet (Gehrt & Yan, 2004). Trust and security Trust and security are some of the essential factor that could lead to the change in consumer’s choice. People have considered online purchasing as an important medium in earlier years and have continued relying on online shopping as they are provided with high security of privacy which leads to connection between the retail store and the consumers (Park & Kim, 2003). CONCLUSION To conclude, it could be said that the behaviour of the consumer plays an important role in the selection, usage and disposal of goods and services. Based on the behaviour, an individual selects the most preferred product to satisfy his/her needs and wants. At the same time the subcultures of consumption are created to group and categorise the customers with similar buying preferences and behaviours. For this purpose it is important to understand the overall process of decision making along with the consumer choice. In order to identify the consumer behaviour while making decisions, two most prominent models were identified i.e. stimulus behaviour model and decision making model. The subcultures of consumption have a particular buying behaviour because of the similar external and internal stimulus and factors. The stimulus behaviour model proposed that the individual buying behaviour can be influenced by internal and external stimuli along with marketing mix i.e. product, price, place and promotion. The external stimuli identify the factors that the individual has no control over i.e. economic, technological, political and cultural stimuli. The other buying process model is based on 5 crucial steps undertaken by individual while making buying decision. The steps include recognition of need, information search, evaluating alternatives, purchase decisions and lastly the post purchase decisions. In the online retail shopping, it has been observed that online shoppers and buyers are taking much interest now and due to such technological changes, the consumers have shifted from traditional shopping to online shopping. The consumer choice has played an essential role in the shift. The factors that were found to have influence on consumer choice while online shopping were convenience, difference in cost, information availability, advertisement and trust and security. List of References Blackwell, R., Miniard, P., and Engel, J. (2006). Consumer Behaviour 10th Edition. Mason, OH: Thomson South Western De Mooij, M. (2011). Consumer Behaviour and Culture: Consequences for Global Marketing and Advertising. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.  Desmond, J. (2003). Consumer Behaviour. London: Palgrave.  East, R., Wright, M., and Vanhuele, M. 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