The Influence of Different Internal Factors on a Consumers Decision-Making Process - Case Study Example

The Influence of Different ‘Internal Factors’ on a Consumer’s Decision-Making Process Student’s name Course Tutor’s name Date: Executive summary This paper explains three internal factors that influence consumers’ decision-making to purchase popcorn when going to movie theatres. The paper points out beliefs and attitudes, consumer learning and involvement, and personality and self-image as the three main internal factors that influence people in their decision to purchase popcorn. The report notes that popcorn is an affordable snack, which by its mere positioning and aroma, can capture the attention of potential consumers going to the movies. Consumer involvement is however not always low. In some cases, consumer involvement is high based on factors such as past experiences, the type of corn one prefers in their popcorn, the package used, and the purchase intention. The conclusion reiterates the point that marketers can appeal to different internal factors by for example, using healthier butter in order to appeal to the health-conscious market, marketing popcorn as a snack for people of all social standing in order to appeal to people of different personalities and social standing, and offering different popcorn packages of different monetary values. Table of Contents Introduction Eating popcorn in movie theatres would appear like the obvious thing to do for most movie goers. Yet, a critical look at consumers’ motivation to purchase popcorn would reveal that there are several ‘internal’ factors that make people buy popcorn. This paper identifies beliefs and attitudes, learning and involvement, and personality and self-concept as the three main internal factors that influence the purchase of popcorn for consumption in movie theatres. The three are identified because compared to other internal factors such as perception; they have more influence on consumers’ decision-making especially for a product that is cheap and easily accessible courtesy of the strategic positioning in proximity with movie theatre entrances. The paper is organised into three sections, which include the introduction, the body in which the three internal factors are discussed, and the conclusion, which is a summary of the key points in the paper. Influence of ‘internal’ factors on consumer decision-making The consumer decision-making process has been defined as “a five-step process used by consumers when buying goods or services” (Lamb, Hair & McDaniel, 2012, p. 63). The five-step process starts with need recognition followed by information search and evaluation of alternatives. Eventually, the consumer makes the purchase, which is followed by the final step – post purchase behaviour (Perner, 2010). In addition to psychological/internal factors, consumer decision-making is also affected by social, cultural and individual factors. The foregoing factors are however outside the scope of this paper. Some consumers purchase popcorn for consumption in a movie theatre out of habit (Bates, 2011; Dye, 2011), others buy because they saw others buy it, others on the other hand buy it because popcorn shops are conveniently placed near theatre entries to capture the interest of consumers. Still, there are those who purchase popcorn because they actually like it (Zitkus & Puskoriute, 2013). Whatever the reasons, three internal factors can explain the motivation for their decision to buy popcorn. Beliefs and attitudes Beliefs are defined as the inner conditions that exist in individuals, which are pegged on the individual’s hope that the statements, facts and interrelationships presented to him/her regarding an object are fair (Pikturniene & Kurtinaitiene, 2010; Zitkus & Puskoriute, 2013). Consumer attitudes on the other hand are defined as the predisposition that a person has towards a product or service, and which is rational, emotional or mental, which (Himansu, 2009). They are also defined as the general evaluation that a person has towards a product or service (Solomon, 2009), or a composite of feelings, beliefs, and behavioural intentions that a person has towards a product or service (Perner, 2010). In the case of popcorn for example, a person may hold negative or positive beliefs about the dietary content of the same. If the person thinks the calories in a packet of popcorn do not negatively affect their health and well-being, he or she would be more inclined to purchase. A behavioural intention on the other hand would depend on how one feels about purchasing the popcorn. For example, does buying popcorn make one feel like part of the crowd in the movie theatre or would it feel like a waste of a few dollars? According to Oskamp and Schultz (2005), beliefs and attitudes are enduring, and they form a ‘filter’ with which every product or service is scrutinised before purchase. Popcorn would for example bring pleasure at the time of eating, but if a person has a previous experience where they had a stomach upset after eating popcorn in a theatre, they would probably associate their pain (whether true or not) to the popcorn and would therefore avoid it, or spend more time in the information seeking stage, with a specific aim of ensuring that the product is fresh or hygienically prepared and served. In a research conducted by Neal et al. (2010), it was revealed that habitual popcorn eaters in theatres do not have other reasons besides doing something so often; it becomes part of their lifestyle. In other words, they were not motivated by hunger, and neither were they concerned about the freshness of popcorn. It has been argued that “a strong habit to eat a particular food in a given context may be insensitive to current hunger levels or the palatability of the food” (Neal et al., 2010, p. 1429). Those who did not eat out of habit did so because they had liked the taste of popcorn in a previous movie session (Neal et al., 2010). That means that if the popcorn eaten in the previous session was stale (or not as well tasting), it would lead to the formation of new attitudes and/or beliefs regarding popcorn, hence making the decision-making process more involving. Consumer learning and involvement Consumer learning is defined as the process by which people (the consumers) “acquire the purchase and consumption knowledge and experience that they apply for future related behaviour” (Schiffman, Kanuk & Das, 2006, p.3). Learning may be intentional or incidental depending on whether one has carefully searched for information or whether the information was provided to them without much effort on their part. In the example of popcorn, popcorn marketers have made learning about popcorn consumption relatively easy by positioning their shops near theatres. That way, consumers do not search for where to buy. Additionally, eating popcorn is pretty straightforward, and the packaging has made it pretty easy for consumers to hold it on one hand while using the dominant hand to eat. The strategic positioning of popcorn shops near theatres can perhaps be explained by the stimulus response theory, which argues that learning occurs when one responds to external stimuli (Schiffman et al., 2006). For example, the smell of popcorn may instinctively attract movie goers to purchase them. To others, the ‘buy popcorn’ reminders placed near popcorn outlets, or the mere site of other people holding popcorn cans acts as a stimuli whose response is usually a purchase decision. Involvement is defined as the “the degree of interest in a product and the importance the individual places on that product” before making a purchase decision (Williams, 2012, para. V). Popcorn would be perceived as a low-involvement item because it is not only relatively affordable but it also has less social risks related to it. For example, no person (regardless of their social ranks can be judged for eating popcorn in movie theatres). Arguably, popcorn consumers’ level of involvement fits into a routine response behaviour, or impulse buying. Routine response behaviour is a problem-solving approach by consumers which does not require much effort in searching information and making the purchase decision (Geiling, 2013; Pride & Ferrell, 2012; Williams, 2012). Impulse buying on the other hand is a problem-solving approach often in response to a powerful urge to purchase something (Williams, 2010). A person may for example, in response to an advert, other people purchasing popcorn, or the mere smell of popcorn, have an irresistible urge to purchase the same. The level of involvement may however be altered by consumer preferences, packaging, pricing and the presence of competing products as has been explained in the ‘involvement’ section below. Personality and self-concept Personality is defined as the “inner psychological characteristics that both determine and reflect how a person responds to his or her environment” (Tapsell, 2010, para 1). Personality is influenced by four aspects namely: external aspect (how one interacts with others); internal aspects (a person’s attitudes and values); dynamic aspect (how a person behaves when faced with new situations); and consistent aspect (a person’s characteristic lifestyle) (Tapsell, 2010). When purchasing popcorn for consumption in a movie theatre, the attitudes and value components, which make up the internal aspect may inspire one to purchase or refrain from purchasing depending on whether they believe popcorn is a healthy snack. First time movie goers may for example purchase popcorn in an effort to fit in, something that would be a reflection of the external aspect and the dynamic aspect of their personality. Popcorn outlets however ought to be within reach of such people; otherwise the information-seeking phase of where to purchase the same would probably overwhelm them. The foregoing informs the reason why most such popcorn outlets are visible and accessible to all theatre goers. If a consumer’s characteristic lifestyle involves attending the movies and purchasing popcorn on the way in, it would not take a lot of convincing by marketers to purchase a packet of the product. Self-concept on the other hand is defined as the “composite of ideas, feelings and attitudes that a person has about their own identity, worth, capabilities and limitations” (Tapsell, 2010, para. 8). One’s self image is determined by their self-esteem (i.e. the extent to which a person is comfortable with whom they are), self-image (who a person think they are, and how they perceive their self. Self-image is usually affected by personality traits, body image and social roles), and ideal self (the person one would like to be in future). The purchase of popcorn may for example be an easy thing to do for people who feel they have an ideal body, and those who do not mind how a ‘few’ calories would affect their weight. A person whose ideal weight requires losing some calories would however think twice before purchasing popcorn. Other self-concept factors such as being too old or too high in the social standing to eat popcorn in movies may prevent some people from purchasing popcorn. The role for marketers would therefore be to strategically position popcorn as a snack for people of all ages and social standing. It could be that ‘cooking popcorn with healthier butter (or other healthy ingredients) would convince those willing to maintain or perfect their self-image (especially in relation to body image and weight loss) to purchase them. Involvement in the purchase of popcorn Just because popcorn is cheap does not automatically mean that it would be a low involvement item. Geiling (2013), indicate that consumers make a distinction between popcorn made from yellow corn and white corn, with most preferring the taste and look of the former. The purchase decision of consumers therefore is based on differences or similarities of the popcorn offers being made (Mittal, 1989). The purchase situation also matters. For example, if popcorn outlets outside the same movie theatre had the same white or yellow popcorns, but had differently sized packages for the same price, consumers would consider what their best alternatives are. When purchasing popcorn for a companion, the level of involvement would be higher as indicated by Michaeldou and Dibb (2008), since the buyer would be more motivated by the need to make the right choice. When purchasing the popcorn for own consumption (and unless there are previous experiences that call for caution), one would be more relaxed and indifferent to differences in packaging or even the hygiene standards of the outlets. Emergency purchase behaviour, as indicated by Michaeldou and Dibb (2008), would also affect the level of involvement. If a person is trying to get into the theatre before the movie starts for example, and still wants to purchase popcorn, they would not care much about the package, the colour of the popcorn, or even the hygiene standards of the popcorn outlet. Conclusion This paper has explained why internal factors namely beliefs and attitudes, consumer learning and involvement and consumers’ personality and self-image can explain why people choose to purchase popcorn when going to movie theatres. Notably, popcorn marketers have impressively appealed to the consumer market by strategically positioning their products near theatre entrances, thus attracting consumers who through any motivation may choose to purchase popcorn. Although the paper notes that popcorn does not cost much, and can hence qualify as a low-involvement item, there are factors that may change the tide and make the purchase decision to be a high-involvement decision. Such factors have been identified as the variations of corn used to make popcorn, the purchase intention (i.e. buying for a companion as opposed to buying for self), and previous experiences (for example a stomach upset the last time one ate popcorn). Overall however, this paper argues that marketers can use different approaches to make popcorn appealing to a divergent consumer market. For example, the popcorn can be cooked with healthier butter in order to appeal to the health-conscious market, it can be marketed as a snack for people of all social standing in order to appeal to people of different personalities and social standing; and different package sizes can be offered for different prices References Bates, C. (2011). Junk food habit: why you can’t stop eating popcorn at the movies – even if its stale. Daily Mail. Retrieved April 14, 2014, from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2034592/Why-eat-popcorn-movies--stale.html Dye, L. (2011). 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