Consumer Behavior and Buying Process - Research Paper Example

CONSUMER BEHAVIOR Consumers go through a complex psychological and psychosocial decision-making process before deciding to make the purchase of a desired product or service. Psychologists and researchers have attempted to evaluate those factors that influence a consumer to make decisions in regard to choosing the products to purchase. This is because the study of consumer behavior enables companies to not only effectively market their products to consumers but also develop products that meet the desires of consumers. This is achieved after a careful analysis of those factors that affect the way a consumer is going to make their choice. This paper looks into why the consumers make the purchases that they do through problem recognition and the search for information on that product. It also looks into how the consumer evaluates the alternatives at hand prior to deciding the purchase. After making the purchase, the consumer makes an evaluation of the product by basing their judgment on the satisfaction derived from using that particular product. Introduction Consumer behavior is the study of how, where and when a consumer decides to purchase a product, like a consumer deciding on either to buy durable goods or specialty goods. Consumer behaviour can also be defined as the study of internal and external influences that affect consumers in their purchasing decisions (Mooij, 2011). The factors that affect consumer behavior can be divided into external factors and internal factors. Both of which come into play when a consumer is making the decision on whether to buy a product or not. Internal Factors They are also referred to as psychological factors and include “personality, lifestyle, knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, motivation, learning, feelings, self-concept and perception” (Mooij, 2011). Motivation Motivation happens upon a need arousing and the consumer wants to satisfy it. This need drives a consumer to buy the product that will fulfill the desire. If the product satisfies the desire, it may influence the consumer to make a repeat purchase. On the other hand, if it does not meet the need to satisfy the desire, the consumer may try to find a different product that will fulfill the desire (Reynolds & Wells, 1977). Perception This refers to how a consumer collects information and organizes it. It can be determined by the number of times in which the said consumer is exposed to the information or how they interpret it individually. Personality This refers to an individual’s psychological traits, characteristics, habits, attitudes and beliefs. These factors influence how an individual responds to stimuli. Learning This refers to the process via which consumers obtain knowledge on product purchase and utilization. It can be through adverts, friends or past experience. Attitude This refers to the overall evaluations that express how much a consumer likes or dislikes a particular product. Consumer attitudes are learned and last over a long period of time and cannot be changed easily External Factors They are also referred to as social factors and they include culture, sub-culture, family, social class, past experience, reference groups. It is important for marketers to be aware of these factors and how they can influence the consumers’ decisions on purchasing products. Culture Culture is a way of life of a people and it is made up of behavior patterns and social relations, which characterize each culture and make it unique from others. It provides a reference frame for consumer desires and the behavior exhibited towards achieving them. Culture usually contains sub-cultures such as race or ethnicity, religion and geographical regions (Arch, 2005). Marketers should design products that meet different needs of each sub-culture. Social class This refers to the divisions in society where individuals sharing similar values lifestyles, interests, level of income and behavior can be categorized. Members of the same social class often have similar behavior patterns. This means that one’s social class determines what they wear or what they eat. Social class can be used as a reference frame by consumers when they are making purchase decisions. Reference group This refers to a group that consumers use as a standard in making their purchases. In this context, the consumer buys products that conform to those of other members of the reference group in question (Reynolds & Wells, 1977). Examples of reference groups are can be the consumer’s family, peers or social class. Before a consumer makes a purchase, they go through a 5-stage decision-making process. The stages are: 1. Need recognition 2. Information search 3. Alternative evaluation 4. Purchase 5. Post-purchase evaluation This process has been termed by researchers as being psychological. However not at all times do consumers, experience the entire five stages. For instance, if a consumer feels thirsty, he/she will directly go to the stage of making the purchase. 1. Need Recognition The buying process begins with a customer recognizing their need. For example, one may need a new pair of shoes or new tires for their car. The sense of need arises as a result of the difference between the actual state and the desired state. The actual state is how the consumer feels at that particular time or how the need is being met at that particular point in time while the desired state is the way a consumer wishes the desire to be met. The ideal state is achieved when the desired state and the actual state are equal, that is, when a consumer meets their desire in the way that they wanted to (Laura, 2009). The need is triggered by stimuli, which are those factors that make the consumer buy something. The stimuli can be either internal or external. Internal Stimuli This refers to those factors that arise from within an individual to make them purchase a product. An example of an internal stimulus is hunger, which may make the consumer to buy food. External Stimuli These are factors outside the consumer that influence them to make a purchase. For instance, when someone passes by an attractive advert of a pizza, it may influence one to buy it (Laura, 2009). 2. Information Search After the need is established, the consumer gets to look for relevant information about the product desired. The search can be undertaken either internally or externally. Internal Search This entails the consumer spotting alternatives from their memory. This information may have been achieved earlier from the use of the product. Internal search is especially applicable when a consumer wants to make a low-involvement purchase where huge cost are not incurred for example in buying a snack. External Search This involves the consumer obtaining information from brochures, magazines, adverts or by asking friends. 3. Evaluation of Alternatives In this stage, the consumer evaluates the information acquired from the previous stage. This leads to the selection of the product brand that has the highest likelihood of satisfying the consumer´s needs. In high-involvement purchases, the consumer may take longer and do extensive evaluation before making the purchase. This is because the purchase involves high expenditure or high risk. On the other hand, some purchases require simple evaluation, for example, when one needs to buy a pen or a roll of tissue paper. To influence the consumer more, firms need to stress more on the positive aspects of their products in comparison with those of their rivals. The following factors are used in evaluation (Reynolds & Wells, 1977). Evaluation Criteria This entails the standards and measurements used to compare different products. Salience This refers to the importance attached to a certain criteria where one focuses on the determinant attributes and chooses the one deemed most important. Determinant Attributes Theses are the details that determine which brand or store a consumer chooses. In evaluating a product, consumers can employ either compensatory or non-compensatory approaches (Mooij, 2011). Compensatory Evaluation Strategies This is where a perceived weakness of an attribute can be offset by the perceived strength of another attribute. This can be done in two ways: simple additive or weighted additive (Reynolds & Wells, 1977). Simple additive This happens when a consumer enumerates or adds up the number of times each alternative is judged favorably in terms of the set of salient evaluative criteria. Weighted additive This is where the consumer concentrates in more refined judgments about the alternative’s performance, whether they are favorable or not (Mooij, 2011). Non-Compensatory Evaluation Strategies This is where a product’s weakness cannot be offset by the strong performance of its other attribute. They include lexicographic strategy, elimination by aspect strategy and conjunctive strategy. Lexicographic strategy This happens when brands are initially compared on one important attribute. The one that is perceived to be superior is then selected. Elimination by aspects strategy This happens when the consumer sets limits (for example, that the products to be selected must be over a certain price range) Conjunctive strategy This happens when the consumer establishes a number of limits and the brand that meets all of them is selected. 4. Purchase After the consumer has evaluated the information at hand, they make the purchase decision. This is where the consumer decides on what to buy, in which quantity and from which store. Sometimes the consumer may change their decision at the last minute. For example, this can occur when upon arriving at the store, the consumer finds an on-going promotion like a premium on a particular product/brand and makes the decision. This stage is divided into 3 categories: fully planned purchase, partially planned purchase and unplanned purchase (Mooij, 2011). Fully Planned Purchase This happens when the consumer chooses the product and brand well in advance before the consumer visits the store. The product is purchased deliberately after an extensive decision-making process. This is especially so when efforts are placed on loyalty gained through strategies like free samples. Partially Planned Purchase This takes place when the intent to buy a product exists but the choice of a particular choice is postponed incentives like price reductions are likely to be gained. In this case, the product may be selected in the store or the store’s website (Reynolds & Wells, 1977). Unplanned Purchase Mooij (2011) points out that this takes place when both the product and brand are chosen at the point of sale. Such decisions are likely to be made when marketers employ strategies like credit purchase or price cuts at the stores. 5. Post Purchase Evaluation This is the last stage that comes after the consumer has made the purchase. In this stage, the consumer evaluates the product they have bought by the satisfaction derived from using it. The consumer might find that the product does not meet their requirements or it meets them. Sometimes the product may exceed the anticipation the consumer had for it. This is the appropriate stage for marketers to make follow-ups by collecting consumer feedback. This will come in handy in providing information on how to improve certain products or their brands to meet consumer satisfaction. Marketers should not strive to create the need in consumers but rather work on ways of meeting them satisfactorily (Laura, 2009). Conclusion To sum up the whole discussion, consumer behavior is all about the decisions made by consumers upon purchasing any time. The study of consumer behavior is very important to producers and manufactures because it helps them enhance their marketing strategies through understanding matters like: the way consumers think before deciding between dissimilar alternatives. Therefore, marketers should make a careful analysis of the community or society they intend to market their products. This entails the study of the reference groups like the cultures, sub-cultures or social classes that are most prevalent, that is, they should know what these groups see as appropriate and what they do not. Armed with this knowledge, profits can be maximized courtesy of the consumer satisfaction. Marketers need also to strive to influence consumers to buy from them by trying to make an impact at every stage of the decision-making process. They should provide adequate information about products through influential adverts, giving free samples and conducting promotions at the points of sale. On the same note, marketers should also make follow-ups by collecting feedback from consumers to know if they are happy with their products. In case they are not satisfied, the ways of improving them are put in place. Any marketer who will take the pain to influence the consumer at every stage is sure to reap handsomely. Reference Laura, A.L. (2009). Consumer Behavior For Dummies. Chichestre: John Wiley Reynolds, F. D., Wells, W. D. (1977). Consumer Behavior. New York: McGraw Hill Mooij, M. D. (2011). Consumer Behaviour And Culture: Consequences For Global Marketing And Advertising. Thousand Oaks, Calif: SAGE Publications Read More