The Social Factors Influencing Consumer Decision - Essay Example

The Social Factors Influencing Consumer Decision Introduction The consumer decision making process can be identified as one of the means through which people (or prospective consumers) collect and evaluate information and thus make selection among the alternative goods, services, organisations, ideas, places and people. It comprises of the procedure as well as the factors impacting the process (Awami, 2011). Notably, there are individual factors such as perceptions along with motivational aspects, learning behaviours, values, personality traits, self concepts as well as lifestyles. The social factors influencing consumer decision making are often observed as cultures, subcultures, reference groups, opinion leaders, family life cycles and social classes. Similarly, the purchase situation also has an impact upon the consumer decision making procedure (South-Western College Publishing, 1997). Hereby, the main objective of the report is to critically discuss the role of internet upon the five stages of consumer decision making process and how internet assists the consumers in their ultimate decision regarding purchase. Consumer Decision Making Process The first step of the consumer decision making process prompts all succeeding activities. The consumer is bound to fill the gap that exists between the actual state and the desired state when the person’s threshold regarding the problem awareness is reached. It is the external as well as the internal factors that assist in triggering the problem recognition in such cases. In traditional markets, conventional marketing communication increases the demand by means of conventional media such as advertisements made on the television. However, the internet as a medium tends to be comparatively new and therefore novel forms of communication is required. Computer-mediated environments facilitate recognition of the individual needs (Amazon, 2012). In the context of consumer problem recognition, it becomes quite significant for the internet marketers to acquire the consumers in the initial stage. The marketers with the assistance of the databases related to the consumer information are in a good position to identify and predict the requirements of the customer. Amazon.com can be considered as one of the good examples of online business that intends to narrow the service gaps so that the customers demand can be satisfied. When the consumer begins to shop at Amazon’s online store, Amazon tends to comprehend their expectations. After the consumer makes a product selection, Amazon prepares a consumer profile and thus tries to offer them with the alternative goods and service that may be vital at attracting them (Amazon, 2012). Once the need for a particular product is identified, the consumer tries to search for the information and the solutions for satisfying that need. This stage consists of recovery of the information to assist them in identifying what can be bought (Lake, 2009). In case of online shopping environment, the consumers seeking for pre-purchase information can involve him in two forms of seeking activities such as directed searching as well as browsing. Internet is a giant database that consists of huge information regarding any product or service. Therefore, by means of browsing activities, the consumers can actively seek out the product information. Furthermore, internet can influence all the primary source of information such as internal, group, marketing and public (Autotrader, 2012). Autotrader offers the customers with wider choices. It is in this context that if the customers desire to sell their car via Autotraders, they can simply click on the web portal of the company, named ‘sell my car’ and thus by following the required steps, the car can be sold. The information provided by the website tends to save huge amount of time as well as money of the customers and offers the required information within a short span of time (Autotrader, 2012). Evaluation of the alternatives is another step that the consumer follows which is identified during the information search process. It is to be mentioned that the online consumers intend to compare the product as well as the pricing alternatives and also focuses on the evaluation of the potential risks that is linked with the purchase of the product from internet. In this context, price runner has numerous categories of products among which the cell phones can be chosen for the purpose of the study (Solomon, 2010). In this regard, it has been observed that the website is quite helpful for the customers to compare the prices of the different retailers. For one particular product the customer can click on “compare prices” portal and thus comprehend the different vendors and the offered prices for a particular product. The website lists the name of ten retailers, ratings, the message of the retailer, price of the product and availability. Such information helps the customers in taking quick decisions regarding a particular product. If the customers are not satisfied with the product of one retailer, they can easily switch to another retailer of their choice (Pricerunner, 2012). The purchase stage in the consumer decision process comprises of two sub-stages and thus occurs once the consumer has made his/her decision to purchase a product or a service. It is in the first stage that the consumers tend to finalise their choices among the various alternatives that are available. In the second phase, the customer involves himself with “in-store” choices. In this context, internet technology is expected to revolutionalise the purchase decision process of the customers since through the internet the consumer can share information, read reviews and view pictures of the product before making a purchase. In this manner, the risk related with product uncertainty can be lowered and thus the consumers can be encouraged for their ultimate purchase (Lamb & et. al., 2011). It has been observed that the consumers can view the products, its prices and availability of the selected product prior to placing their order. This eases the process of purchase and helps the customer in developing fair decision making regarding a product. Companies like PayPal offers the customers with safe payment options where the customers can use Visa, MasterCard, and American Express. With the help of digital cash, credit cards, cash and checking accounts the customers can make payments easily without carrying cash all the time. In such cases PayPal plays a vital role (PayPal, 2012). Followed by the purchase of the product, consumers’ decision-making process is still observed to comprise of three post purchase stages such as the consumption stage, the post consumption stage and the divestment stage. In has often been observed that in most of the time when the customer has certain doubts regarding a particular product, they experience post-purchase dissonance (Hoyer & Macinnis, 2009). Since the internet can endorse one-to-one communication, it can be considered as one of the vital tool for enhancing the consumer’s post-purchase satisfaction. The internet offers the marketers with quick, efficient and inexpensive means of obtaining feedback from the customers. It is in this context that consumers find it easier to offer their feedback regarding the particular product by means of emails. Thus, with the feedback, the marketers are capable of identifying the satisfaction and dissatisfaction of the customers and initiate actions accordingly. It has been found that website of Tesco contains a portal namely “rate this page” where the customers can fill the form and rate the services provided by the company. This demonstrates the role of internet in making purchase decisions (South-Western College Publishing, 1997). Conclusion With reference to the above discussion, there are numerous factors that have an impact upon the consumer decision making process to a large extent. Notably, there are numerous factors responsible for arousing the needs for a particular product such as advertisements and trade shows among others. Once the need for any product is recognised, the consumer tends to search for right product. It is in this context that internet is considered as one of the most vital tool that can assist the consumers with adequate information regarding a particular product/service. Consecutively, after having identified the best alternative which he/she considers is best suited according to his/her requirements, the consumer tends to make purchase decision. Once the consumer has made the purchase, he/she may have certain doubts regarding the product which leads to post-purchase dissonance (South-Western College Publishing, 1997). Hence, it can be stated that it is quite significant for the marketers to make the consumers satisfied so as to attain higher rate of customer retention. References Awami, H. A. A., 2011. Consumer Behaviour. Consumer Decision Making. [Online] Available at: http://cvlearn.com/Documents/Consumer%20decision%20making.pdf [Accessed March 16, 2012]. Amazon, 2012. Today’s Deal. Gift Cards. [Online] Available at: http://www.amazon.com/ [Accessed March 16, 2012]. Autotrader, 2012. Sell My Car. Home. [Online] Available at: http://www.autotrader.co.uk/cars/selling [Accessed March 16, 2012]. Hoyer, W. D. & Macinnis, D. J., 2009. Consumer Behaviour. Cengage Learning. Lamb, C. W. & et. al., 2011. Essentials of Marketing. Cengage Learning. Lake, L., 2009. Consumer Behavior for Dummies. John Wiley & Sons. Pricerunner, 2012. Categories. Phones. [Online] Available at: http://www.pricerunner.co.uk/pl/1-2705433/Mobile-Phones/Samsung-Galaxy-S-II-GT-I9100-Compare-Prices [Accessed March 16, 2012]. PayPal, 2012. Get Started. Send Payment. [Online] Available at: https://www.paypal.com/in/cgi-bin/helpscr?cmd=_home-general&nav=0 [Accessed March 16, 2012]. Solomon, M. R., 2010. Consumer Behavior: Buying, Having and Being. Prentice Hall. South-Western College Publishing, 1997. Chapter 6: Consumer Decision Making. Student Notes Pages. [Online] Available at: http://www.nmmu.ac.za/documents/busman/SU3.pdf [Accessed March 16, 2012]. Read More