Social Influences on Buying Behavior - Assignment Example

Situation Analysis Nestle can be considered as a high to medium involvement brand since its product range comprises mainly of food products. Thechocolate and milk products are high involvement products since it serves majorly the children and it also produces pet foods which are considered by the consumers as medium involvement purchase. The Market Situation Analysis implies the various factors that affect the growth & development of a business, these factors also helps in planning & strategy making. The Market Situation Analysis basically consists of the firm’s internal, external & customer environment (Ferell & Hartline, 2010, p. 87) the market situation analysis of Nestle shows: Sales- It holds the first position in selling foods. It makes major profits from the sales of food products alone, this year sales rose to 67.6 billion swiss francs which were only 60.9 billion francs last year. Also it’s the world leader in manufacturing coffee. The first three months of 2013 shows that the company’s sales rose to 21.9 billion Swiss francs from the last year but it failed to meet the expected sales which are 22.5 billion Swiss francs. Competitors-Nestle give good competition to most of the fmcg brands like Kraft Foods Inc., Unilever plc. , P & G, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Heinz etc. Its huge range of diversified products makes it a strong contender in the fmcg & food sector (Express, 2012). Market Share- It’s the market leader in the coffee & mineral water segment. The table below displays the sales & market shares in the year 1992, of different companies- (Source: Pagell and Halperin 1999, p. 195) Product Range- The product range includes bottled waters, chocolates, cereals, dairy, coffee, drinks, food, ice-creams purina pet care etc. It puts more emphasis on the taste & nutrition content of the product & therefore it ends up fixing slightly higher prices than its competitors. Creating pet foods makes it a unique brand which not only cares for humans but also it shows significant care to the pets. Its delicious range of hot chocolate & sausage makes it the number one brand in the food & drink sector. Also the beverage systems offered by the company is used widely throughout the world. (Gilbert, 2013) Markets- It has its presence in the continents of Africa, America, Asia, Australia & Europe, in almost over 80 countries. It customizes its product according to the place where it’s being sold. More or less every household contains a product of this brand. 2. Target Market Customer base of Nestle ranges from middle income groups to higher income groups, from kids to adults, from the health conscious to the junk food eaters because Nestle’s products serve various day to day needs of a person. 3. Social Influences on Buying Behaviour PERSONAL FACTORS Age serves as an important factor for the products and services of the firm. Nestle’s consumer range includes adults, aged people, teenagers as well as kids below 12 years. Due to the brands all over presence across the world, its customer base includes people from various race, religion and ethnicity. These things affect the consumer’s food habit to a great extent. The climate, food habits, language, religion, dressing style, income status, etc. falls basically within the wide gamut of geography. For example let’s think about the approach adapted by McDonalds. The well-known fast food chain has got diverse menu for diverse sites across the world. When the firm was asked to state the cause behind the broad range of menus, the firm replied, “We try to adapt our menu to reflect different tastes and local traditions for every country in which we have restaurants. We're keen to respect cultural differences and so every country has its own policy of developing menu items”. Moreover consumer behavior depends to a large extent on the education and knowledge of the people, for instance people who are well educated are more concerned about the adverse effects of calorie consumption and thus they would prefer to choose the sugar free chocolate prepared by Nestle (Principles Mandatory February 2011, 2011). SOCIAL FACTORS Family, friends, and peer groups create a large influence on the purchase behavior of the consumers. This process is known as “Word of Mouth”. Culture, social class, and social roles are known to be dominant factors in managing the approaches of the human being. It includes a universal set of attitudinal designs which are sustained and transmitted by the members of a definite society by the means of various modes. For example the people belonging to the similar culture would have a general dialect, patterns of doing things and recreations as well as they are anticipated to share like values. 4. Psychological Influences Consumers’ motivation in purchasing decision might proffer the marketers with more unqualified understanding of the customer’s expectations and their reaction to the diverse marketing policy and strategies developed by the marketer. A marketer applies several techniques for drawing the customers and the consumers get diversely motivated by the various tactics of the marketer. Consumer personality talks about the thinking and the behavior of the person which differs from one another. Consumer perception is the process by which a consumer identifies, organizes and interprets information to create a meaning. Attitude is his or her thinking or outlook towards the particular product or service. Learning is a psychological factor that affects the buying behavior of the consumer. Awareness regarding the consumer’s perception and attitude are essential to understand for the marketer to assume and determine consumer actions and needs as these are significantly impacted by point-of-purchase stimulus, service experiences, the facets of marketing communications techniques, and the framework within which these interactions take place (Hawkins, 2010). 5) A Questionnaire/Survey 1. Does price affect the consumer’s purchase decision? 2. Which chocolate brand of nestle is most sold? 3. “Good food, Good life” presents what kind of image in the consumer’s mind? 4. Why the consumers prefer the breakfast cereals presented by nestle? 5. The calorie less ice cream by the firm is preferred by most health conscious people- why? 6. How the controversies related to the firm might affect the firm’s profits? 7. How the emergence of online portal of the company does help it to increase sales? 8. When a customer reports a product to be defective, how does the executives of the firm response? 9. Maggie noodles form a vital part of children’s food, which flavour of Maggie is sold the most? 10. What does the logo (bird’s nest) of nestle imply? 6) Conclusion Thus from the study it is evident that food products form a major part of the daily life of every human being and they put greater focus toward the selection of the food and beverage specially when it is bought for children, aged people or pets. Moreover the consumer’s purchase decision can get influenced by several factors discussed earlier and it is a vital job for the marketer to know his target market and the factors influencing their purchase drive. References Principles Mandatory February 2011. (2011). Nestle Consumer Communication Principles. Retrieved from http://www.nestle.com/asset-library/documents/library/documents/about_us/communication-principles.pdf Ferell, O.C. and Hartline, M.D. (2010). Marketing Strategy. 5 Ed. USA: Cengage learning Gilbert, H. (2013). R & R Ice Cream ‘completes the jigsaw’ to create dream team of confectionary brands. Retrieved from http://www.thegrocer.co.uk/fmcg/ambient/confectionery/rr-completes-the-jigsaw-to-create-ice-cream-dream-team/238351.article Express. (2012). Emerging Markets Boost Nestle Sales Retrieved from http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/352809/Emerging-markets-boost-Nestle-sales Hawkins. (2010). Consumer Behavior. India: Tata McGraw-Hill Education Read More