Buying Behavior Issues - Essay Example

Running Header: Buying behavior Your name: Course name: Professors’ name: Date Introduction Buying behavior varies from person to person. People have different behavior when making purchases; there are people who are keener on every detail and price while there are others who are generally less keen on details as long as the commodity of purchase meets some desired qualities or features. In the modern world, customer behavior is shaped by the presence of information about products online. More so, there has been a significant improvement on purchasing behavior in many respects since early 60’s, consumers became more aware of variety and hence more cautious on purchases that they make. There are two forms of theories that define customer purchasing behavior namely low and high involvement. In low involving situations, the product that is being purchase is mostly of cheaper price and hence making the buyer not to consider more details. On the other hand high involving situations involve purchase of products that are of a higher price margin. Consumers normally take more time because of the nature of these products and the need to ensure that they get it right on the first time. The key aspect in this case is the financial loss that will be experienced as a result of inappropriate choice. In this analysis, I will focus on two products that involved these identified situations and critically analyze how my buying behavior was when making the decisions on whether to purchase the product or not. Purchase decision The first purchase decision that I was recently faced with was purchasing a laptop computer which in my situation, I considered it as high involvement. The rationale for this is because the price of the computer is relatively high as compared to most products that I am used to purchasing such as clothes and other things. As a result of the financial constrain as at that time, I was forced to make decision on what type of computer to purchase (Schiffman 2007). The first step that I took in my decision making process was analyzing my financial budget against the product. This was an important step because I needed to know if my budget could allow me to purchase a laptop or a desktop and which make of the two was the most suitable as per my budget. The second issue that I considered is an analysis of my requirements, I love graphic design and watching high definition movies, I also value space and the ability to save as much as I can (Dens & De Pelsmacker 2010, p.50). I generally love a fast computer that is compatible to all the market software and wireless connections and especially the latest standards like 802.11n. I ensured that I listed all these specifications demands before making the purchase. Based on my requirements, I went down to the specifications that could meet my usage requirements. From my basic computer knowledge, I knew that a higher processing speed was necessary because of graphic define and high definition movies that I loved. I also considered that I required a higher volatile memory (RAM) that works hand in hand with the processor to allow better multitasking. I also considered the size of the internal hard drive; I needed not less than 750 GB to store my documents as well as my movies. The other consideration that I ensured is the graphics of the computer, this was specifically important because of my desire to commit more to graphic design. With this respect, I considered having more than NVIDIA in terms of graphic. The other important aspect that I considered was having the most appropriate operating system which could serve me with better functionality. I specifically preferred the latest operating system in the market such as Windows 8 because of the additional features as compared to Windows 7 and Vista. Windows 8 also has additional graphics compatibility and options. The other important consideration was the hardware part of the computer, in this case I considered the leading market providers( Peter 2008). The rationale for this decision was to reduce the risk of unknown models and at the same time get the best product. After these considerations, I made a decision to purchase a core i7 processor, 6GB RAM, 1000GB hard drive, Webcam Samsung laptop. My decision gave me the best possible properties that could allow me to enjoy my graphics design and movies without being bothered with the speed of the computer. My purchasing habit here was more inspired by theory of planned behavior where every aspect of the buying behavior was anticipated and hence consequently leading to imperative decision making. The second item that I recently bought also involved a high involvement situation. I was purchasing a car for our family use. I was mandated the task because my parents thought I was good in making decisions. There are a number of issues that I considered before purchasing the car despite being given the mandate to undertake the task. I also must point out that this was the biggest asset that I had ever bought in my life. There was mixture of emotions in this case. I was partly proud of my parents and siblings for their trust but on the other hand I was a bit worried by my decision making process especially considering the stake that this challenge contained (Escalas & Bettman 2005,p.378). I immediately started debating on my decision; I first considered whether it was worthwhile to purchase a car or to buy a new one. First I considered the convenience factor, while it was way cheaper to lease a car; it was by far more expensive in the long run and thus not economical. Since this was not a personal car but a family car, the convenience factor really pointed towards purchasing a car instead of my initial and better idea of leasing a car for a period of time. Another crucial factor that I made in this case was whether buying a car was beneficial as compared to the available real life challenges of using public means as a form of transport to get from one point to the other. I personally had to make this decision on a holistic view. After concluding on this issue, I was still persuaded that purchasing a car was still the way to go. I then decided to consider the maintenance cost of a car. I grossly though of the maintenance cost of the car and the gas consumption rate, in this respect, I also consider this impact to my family as a whole. What financial impact will the purchase of a car have on my family expenses, will it increase the expenses or actually decrease the accrued expenses as a result of travelling. With the consideration that the fuel prices have been growing lately, this was one of the hardest decisions to make. There was a balance of convenience and cost as at this time (Amaldoss & Jain 2005, p.30). Another aspect that I also had to consider was the image factor; in this case, I considered how having a car will affect us as a family versus hiring a car. To be honest, having a car seemed to be the best idea while hiring a car seemed to deem our image as a family. It is with this respect that I continue valuing the idea of having a personal car as compared with leasing a car. More so, I also considered the fuel consumption rate of the car, it is obvious that some cars consume more gas as compared to other simply because of the engine capacity and the technology of oil burning process. VVTI cars from Toyota have better fuel consumption rate as compared to the older models which used EFI. More so, some more expensive cars such as the German cars like BMW and Mercedes are expensive without real economic value. The marketing aspect of these cars is the brand name which has grown worldwide. Notably my concern was more oriented towards savings and hence making my decision to purchase an affordable and more usable car. In essence, my strategy was to approach many dealers before deciding on the best dealer, this was important because purchasing a car meant a lot to me and my family. As stated by (2003, p.669) I feared making a wrong decision considering the fiscal budget that had been allocated for the purchase. In this case, my actions were more inspired by theory of reasoned actions; this is because of my behavioral intentions before making the decision. Before making a purchase for this important product of my life, I considered some main factors as already identified. Firstly, I considered the image of my family; this was when making decision between a leased and a purchased car. Secondly, I considered the affordability of the car; since the budget was limited I could not go beyond the budget. Thirdly, it was important to consider the maintenance aspect of the car; I needed a car that could be sustained over a period of time without a lot of maintenance issues (Bagozzi 2000, p.97). This is was an important decision economically. Fourthly, I seriously needed a form of transport for my family, I believe that this was an important consideration considering the hustle that my family had experienced over time, despite this being an emotional aspect; I believe it formed the important basis of my decision to purchase the car despite other equally important factors that I had carefully considered. In essence it was very humiliating to see my family being deprived the privilege of moving from one place to the other simply to shop or do some other personal issues. Despite the fact that my family had owned some old cars, maintenance issues and fueling cost were increasing as a result of the car depreciation over the years. This was one important factor to consider especially when deciding to opt for leasing or a purchase of a new vehicle. As noted by Bagozzi (2000, p.97) from the two scenarios, I noted that my buying behavior was a complex behavioral process which demanded a complex web of internal psychological variables that I had to consider when making the two high involving buying situations. Notably I involved my perceptions, research, motivation, attitude and personality when making all the decisions to make the purchase. In essence, I consider the purchasing behavior a cognitive psychology process where complex behavior of the mind came into play during the decision making process. This was one of my biggest moments in life but I understood that I had to keep my emotions in check and even consider that the property that I was going to purchase was an asset that my family could use for more than two years (Schultz 2006, p.57). These two assets were some of the most important decisions that I had ever made in my life. I until this moment value an economical car and an effective computer. Conclusion In conclusion there are some basic personal and socio-cultural influences that determined my buying behavior; firstly I was focused on the price of these two assets because of our current family economy. Secondly I valued our image as a family; I did not like unnecessary inconvenience when a car could simply get us out of the mess. In practical sense, customers are driven by social and cultural forces when making important purchasing decision. This came into play in this case and that is why I made the important decisions that I made when making the purchases that I made. I bought a computer and specifically a laptop because of convenience of owning a computer, I also bought a car because of the inconvenience that my family had suffered when moving from one point to the other. I however made important decisions before settling on one of these products, I considered usability, price and the long terms aspect of the product especially the car. This was important because of the options that were available and I only had to make a single decision. Decision making was actually was varied as consumer decision making process is varied in possible aspects. References Amaldoss, W & Jain, S 2005, Pricing of conspicuous goods: A competitive analysis of social effects, Journal of Marketing Research, vol.42, no.1, pp. 30-32. Bagozzi, R 2000, Cultural and Situational Contingencies and the Theory of Reasoned Action: Application to Fast Food Restaurant Consumption, Journal of Consumer Psychology, vol. 92, no.2, 97-106. Bay, D 2003, The Theory of Trying and Goal-Directed Behavior: The Effect of Moving Up the Hierarchy of Goals, Psychology & Marketing, vol.20, no.8,pp. 669-684. Dens, N & De Pelsmacker, P 2010, Consumer response to different advertising appeals for new products: The moderating influence of branding strategy and product category involvement. Journal of Brand Management, vol.18, no.1, pp. 50-65. Escalas, J & Bettman, J 2005, Self-construal, reference groups, and brand meaning, Journal of Consumer Research, vol.32, no.3, pp. 378-389. Peter, P. J., et al., 2008, Consumer Behavior and Marketing Strategy, McGraw Hill, Singapore. Schiffman, L. G., et al., 2007, Consumer Behavior, 9th ed, Prentice Hall, London. Schultz, J., 2006. Vehicle of the self: The social and cultural work of the H2 Hummer, Journal of Consumer Culture, vol.6, no.3, pp. 57-86. Read More