Consumer Behavior and Purchasing Decisions - Essay Example

? Consumer behavior and purchasing decisions Lecturer: Introduction In the business spectrum, the business people survive throughtheir capacity to develop products that align to the expectation of their customers all over the world (Trocchia & Luckett, 2013, p. 36). The concept of understanding how these customers act and react in response to certain marketing dynamics is a very important concept for any person who engages him or herself into the world of business. The manufactures and business people need to know for sure what the consumer out there wants and in the process design their products to suit these expectations (Brady et al 2012, p.81). It is only through this manner that the understanding between the business world and the consumer can transform into a profitable venture. Customers need the business world to understand them and avail to them what they want. On the other hand, the players in the business world need the resources that the consumer has in order to turn in a profit. Hence the concept of understanding the marketing stimuli is a mutually beneficial affair. This paper then discusses this concept through an analysis of the marketing dynamics and the marketing stimuli in the need to anticipate and fulfill the customer’s expectations and wants. In so doing, the paper will examine several elements under this concept which includes an explanation of how an understanding of consumer behaviour reduces decision risk for marketers in the definition of target markets and the design of marketing mixes, the analysis of the consumer decision making process, the understanding of how consumers evaluate the goods and services they buy and consume, the consumer involvement and types of buying decisions that these consumers make, the cultural factors that influence purchase decisions, the social factors and purchase decisions and the individual psychological factors influencing the purchase decisions. The paper employs the analysis of a universally popular brand of product; Coca cola, and discusses how the manufacturers of this product have managed to read the consumer expectations, influence consumer cognitive, affective and behavioral responses, design products suited to that expectation, market accordingly, influence the consumers to take up the product and in the process turn in a tidy fortune. Marketing mix and stimuli defined Marketing mix is a concept widely applied in the world of business to ensure that the products that are delivered to the customers fit the four basic dynamics of place, price, product and promotion. Marketing stimuli takes a look into the four elements as have been analysed in the marketing mix too. However, the marketing stimuli goes further to address other elements namely economic, technological, political, cultural as well as competitive element. For a product to be attractive to the customers, it must be selling at a price that appeals to the specific target of consumers, it must be made available where and when it is needed and a certain degrees of promotion of the product must have been carried out. However, it is important to note that other factors also influence the manner in which the marketing is conducted out. The marketing stimuli as named above clearly shows that the marketing dynamics could also be affected by other external forces. The economic aspect is one of them. If the economy of a country is doing well, then that particular country becomes a target for many marketers and many business people. Technological forces may also affect the marketing stimuli. Without the knowledge and subsequent employment of technology in such a manner that allows for the production of goods in an optimal capacity, there is a challenge of producing products that fit with the consumer’s expectations. The other factors namely political, technological, cultural and even competitive also contribute towards the market stimulation or otherwise. The coca cola brand; brief introduction Coca cola is worldwide recognized brand. They are the makers of the popular beverage drinks, some going by the same name. The products of this company, which is headquartered in USA but with branches and extensions and plants in practically every other country in the world. As a giant company, the coca cola has had to build itself up as a brand in the process of trying to put itself up as a highly competitive company. Taking into consideration that the drinks and other products offered by this company are luxurious in nature, it has become important for the company to come up with a workable formula to ensure that it retains its identity as a giant global corporation. And the company has successfully found itself a place on the global map and it is due to this that this paper seeks to analyze the way the company has successful read and overviewed the soft drinks market. Understanding of consumer behavior versus decision risk for marketers Understanding of consumer behavior reduces decision risk for marketers in the definition of target markets and the design of marketing mixes. This is well brought out by Meadows (1977, p.16) when he states that one of the most important thing for the business personnel even before they involve themselves in business ventures is to try and understand the expectations of the customers. When they understand what the customer want and more importantly how these customers react under certain stimuli and certain controlled conditions, the businessmen would be in a position to bring forth to these customers just what the customers require (McKee, 1984, p. 46). By the study of how the consumers behave when one presents a certain product into the market, one is able to know and predict what is desired and expected of him or her in the market. This is instrumental in the very fact that it allows the business fraternity to make informed decision based upon these reflections. In this element of consumer behaviour, a number of facts and facets concerning the customer have to be known. For instance, one need to know about how the consumers make their purchase decisions. The questions that need to be analyzed here include; what are the average earnings of the target group of clients? What are these clients willing to spend for the consumption of a certain product? , what are the expectations of these target clients? What is the social status and social class of these clients? It is important to note here that different customers in different social as well as economic classes have very different needs and their wants must be satisfied according to their social status. A product designed for the more economically endowed class could be rejected amongst the low class of people. And the vice versa is also true. Class influences the consumer behaviour a lot and this influences the way the consumers make their decisions as pertaining to certain purchase decisions. The businessman need to be in cognizant of these phenomena in order to match perfectly the supply to the demand. If the business person can know how these customers make their decisions to purchase products, then he or she is placed in a situation where he would be capable of delivering in accordance to the needs of these customers (Mitchell & Boustani, 1992, p.12). In this concept, the business person needs to have an understanding of where, when, how and why consumers acquire, use and dispose of products and services (Jorgen’s, C 2006, p.365). The businessman should identify the areas where the customers go to get their products, understand how they go about this business, why they go about attaining these products as well as services and what they do with these products and services after they use them up (Cassidy, 2011, p. 165). In other words, they should know of how these customers dispose of these products. Through this concept and taking our case example; the coca cola, it can be observed that the company management has invested a great deal in anticipating what are the customer purchase decisions in the different countries that they operate in. Analysis of the consumer decision making process The second process is the analysis of the consumer decision making process. The company coca cola has successfully been able to analyze the consumer decision making processes of the millions of the people who consume these products all over the globe. In the process of analyzing the consumer decision making nodes, one needs to take into consideration a number of two factors. These factors have been employed by the Coca Cola Company successfully to enable it build a mega brand. These two factors include the recognition of unfulfilled want. The coca cola management recognized a need by market and the various consumers in the market to have a soft drink that was both fulfilling and whose delivery was not determined by the forces of the market. In other words, the coca cola found out that the companies which had been involved in the production of the soft drinks were performing the task dismally. There were a lot of complains ranging from the inconsistency of delivery of the product and the quality of the same. The company saw the urge by the customers to have a product that was superior in quality albeit trading at a higher rate. Truong (1979 p. 97) states that in the theory of consumer behaviour, the customers are willing to spend a little more if it warrants and sustains their quality and consistency levels. The coca cola company management understood this ideology and came up with a product that was both superior in quality and whose mechanisms of delivery were designed in such a way that the delivery was guaranteed. The next factor involves the information search relating to the consumer purchasing modifications. Consumers are always in pursuit of products that are tailored to suit their needs. As such, the information pertaining to the products that they seek for should always be made available to them way in advance to assist them in making their decisions. The process of consumer purchasing is very dynamic according to Hurst (2008, p. 111) and Evans (1989, p. 9). The coca cola company has made great strides on this front through engaging itself in continuous, captivating and consistent advertisings all over the world. The people can easily and readily identify themselves with this company’s products because the information regarding the products of the company is readily and widely available. Advertising is among the major ways in which the company and other companies can ensure that the targeted consumer market attains the desired information (Liberman et al 2007, p. 113). Bray (n.d, p. 2), states that if the company targeting a certain group of consumers does not provide the necessary information pertaining to that specific product, the company cannot blame the consumers for poor revenues. Advertising is very crucial. How consumers evaluate the goods and services they buy and consume Coca cola has made huge developments towards the understanding of the ways in which influence how the customers in different places consume their products. Every other company should do the same. This evaluation is conducted on the basis of consumer expectations, satisfaction, perceptions of value. Consumers are very stratified and the earlier the different organizations as well as the companies seeking to target these consumers understand that, the better for them. For instance, there occurs differences depending on the economic power as well as social status of the different consumers (Erasmus, 2002, p.5). As has been mentioned in an earlier part of this paper, these people have very diverse and different needs and their needs must be met accordingly. The business people and organizations should ensure that they solve the misunderstanding that may arise concerning the consumer behaviour and services delivery. The delivery of services to the clients should never be compromised. Clients value services delivery very much and this influences the way they purchase products from a certain company. The coca cola company has made it a policy to ensure that all its products are strategically made available where and when the demand arises. This consistency, speed and recognition of class has made the company become endeared to many across the globe. The company has come up with products under its brand that are suited to the satisfaction of all social classes. The product quality variations, packaging and product differentiation are among the various mechanisms that the coca cola company has employed to raise its stakes and ensure that it keeps itself afloat and competitive in the market. Consumer involvement and types of buying decision There is another dimension of consumer involvement and consumer influence where the consumer takes a look upon how the various companies solve the issues that these clients bring up pertaining to the products that they buy. This is viewed from three different angles and dimensions namely routine problem solving for frequently purchased items, limited problem solving for new purchases in familiar product categories and extensive problem solving for infrequent, expensive or high risk purchases. According to Bukhari (2011, p. 380 ), if the company management is willing to offer solutions to the problems that the consumers face in the process of purchasing their products, then they create a certain rapport that makes the customers retain their loyalty to the specific brand, product or service. It is important to understand what the customer wants and when the delivery is not at par with the expectations of the customer, then all measures should be taken to reverse this and ensure that the customer is comfortable (Zepeda & Deal 2009, p. 699). This is one of the very effective ways off maintaining and retaining a customer to achieve brand loyalty. Coca Cola Company boasts of having one of the robust customer experience and customer care models on the planet. The company has employed agents whose works is to conduct the market reviews and gather information pertaining how the reception of the coca cola products is done. The experts also take care of any misunderstanding and any complains that the clients could be having on their products. Noting that it is important to have clients coming to purchase their products over and over again, consumer care must be well established and nurtured (Sherry, 2008, p. 70; Chernev, Hamilton, & Gal, 2011, p.). Social, cultural, individual factors and purchase decisions The social, cultural, individual factors also influence the purchase decisions of the customers. Social influences has been analysed in the preceding discussions. According to Vrontis & Vronti, 2004, p. 390), cultural as well as individual factors influence the purchasing decisions of people in a very major way. On the cultural grounds, the people living in a certain premeditated place have to con form to certain manners and consume certain foods as well as products and services that are designed and accepted by the culture of this particular place (Chen et al 2012, p. 65). In the society, image is a very important concept. People live by particular set means and set standards that are expected of them from the society. In other words, the society dictates how we behave, what we consume and how we live (East, Hammond & Lomax, 2008, p.220). The individual factors, as the name suggests are more aligned to the individual preferences and the individual tastes (Koller et al 2013, p. 100). The underlying elements under this factor include the demographic characterization of the various consumers. For instance, People consume products depending on their age, gender and other personal factors. The personality, image as well as other self-concept factors also contribute largely to this consumption behaviour. Coca Cola Company has successfully identified how these factors could lead to influence the way clients buy the products from the coca cola company. To this regard, the company has managed to influence the purchase mechanisms of these clients through tapping into the avenues provided for by the social, cultural and individual factors. The company has come up with products designed and sold as a way of raising the image of the consumers. Some products of the company are branded, blended and differentiated in pricing as a way of ensuring that the consumers of these products view themselves as persons of high caliber. This has gone a long way into raising the image of the company. Conclusion Consumer behaviour especially when it come to the purchasing aspect of decision making has definitely been placed as a factor that business people can’t afford to ignore in their pursuit of a wider customer base. From the above discussion, it has been shown that customers are very choosy and they tend to go for products and other stuff that work for them. If the companies are not in a position to deliver upon these products, then most likely the consumers will go to look for the same in other areas. On the same note, as has been described using illustrations from the coca cola company, a god understanding of the customer is often very rewarding. Companies should strive to ensure that they understand the customer completely by knowing how the customer behaves, makes decisions pertaining to purchasing and the perceptions as well as expectations of these customers. 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