Buyer Behaviour in the New Technological Era - Essay Example

Insert Insert Grade Insert Buyer Behaviour With the increasing trends in buyer choices and preferences as a result of modernism and the new technological era, buyer behaviour has been of great concern to many businesses and scholars alike (Sheth and Lunn 35). Decision-making and behaviour in all areas has remained a subject of many influences given the diverse interests of humanity. Consequently, businesses in turn depend on decisions and behaviour of potential buyers for the determination of how their products or services may fair in the market. The study of buyer behaviour or otherwise referred to as consumer behaviour is an essential component of marketing because it helps in the determination of pricing incentives, mode of advertising and brand differentiation among others. This paper therefore seeks to identify and illustrate the concepts that facilitate understanding of buyer behaviour as well as evaluate the various models or theories of buyer behaviour with close association with the concept of neuroscience. Another area that will be looked at is the area of decision making process in consumption that gives rise to the various types of consumer purchases. To begin, buyer behaviour generally refers the process in which consumers take in order to make decisions on acquiring certain goods or services for their own use. Consumer buying behaviour is therefore a multi-staged process that involves the identification of a specific need and even goes beyond the consumption stage to an evaluation one. It is for this reason that consumers are likely or unlikely to consume one product as opposed to the other in cases where there is indifference between two products. The consumer buying process is a complex one because of the influences it relies on and the characteristics of human diversity that makes us act differently. Some research studies have also indicated that the buying behaviour can also be linked to neuroscience. It is therefore important to understand the process of consumer buying behaviour as shall be discussed in the following section. The Decision-Making Process Model The consumer buying decision-making process model adopts a five stage interconnected process that illustrates how individuals or consumer groups will always conduct themselves before and after purchase of a product or a service (Riley 1). The first stage is the need identification and problem awareness stage. At this stage, an individual identifies a need within him or her that needs to be satisfied. The utilitarian theory has been associated with this stage of decision making. Since an individual identifies that there is an inside urge to satisfy a need or maximize utility for a certain good or service, there is awareness for a certain problem. For instance, a student lacking stationery in his or her locker may recognize that he or she needs, say a writing pad, and therefore recognize that as a problem. It is however important to note that sometimes these needs are as a result of external influences like previous purchases, family influence, marketing stimulus, individual development or the current situation of the consumer among other factors. The buyer decision making therefore, at least for this model, must emanate from some urge to fulfil a need or the recognition of certain deficiencies that might be subject to external stimuli as will be discussed elsewhere in this paper. The second stage is that of information search for the product that has a likelihood of satisfying the identified need or maximizing the utility of the consumer. Generally, consumer information search may be from internal as well as external sources. Whereas the internal search may involve a simple recall of the consumer’s past use of a product or service, the external sources of information may vary and may be as a result of different sources. First is the personal source that may involve the engagement of family members, close associates or friends and even neighbours. The second category involves the use of commercial sources to obtain information on the desired product. In this case, salespersons, advertisements, organizations, dealers and point of sale displays may act as some of the agents of passing the required information. Another category of information flow is through publicly available sources like television, newspapers, consumer awareness groups and other specialized publications. The last category of information sources is through experiential means. For instance, a buyer may handle, operate or use a product or may have to personally venture into the purchase of a service. Overall, there are indications that consumers value information obtained mainly from the personal sources category because of the attachment that they might have developed in the past. Close relationships result into trust and therefore personal sources are perceived as the most trustworthy in cases where needs are to be effectively catered for by individuals. After the successful acquisition of the requisite information from the appropriate source, the fourth stage of decision making process is that of evaluation of product or service alternatives. At this stage, the buyer has to make a choice from the various products or services that have been identified at the information gathering stage. The evaluation criteria can be in terms of either objectivity or subjectivity. It therefore goes that buyers that take the objective criteria approach will choose the right product or service by checking for things like specifications, different brand, producing companies, and quality among other distinguishing features. On the other hand, the subjective criteria will major on image and perceptions about the product or service rather than the actual qualities or benefits that may be derived from the product. The next stage in line after successful product evaluation is that of purchase. Here, the customer has to choose the product or brand through awareness or otherwise. Purchase will therefore depend on the preceding stages in the buyer evaluation process as well as other factors. The buyer, for instance, has to consider the costs of purchasing the product or service chosen. For example, the buyer has to feel that the product or service to be purchased is of great relevance or is important to him or her at personal level. This is also referred to as buyer’s level of involvement in the product or service. As a general principal, more valued products like buildings, cars and others will call for a higher degree of involvement as compared to the lower value ones like fast foods that do not require much evaluation. Finally, the fifth stage is the post- purchase evaluation phase where the buyer examines the effect of the purchased product or service. The buying process surprisingly continues even after the purchase because the consumer has to ascertain the level of satisfaction. This is attained through evaluation of the expected results with the actual performance of the actual product or service that was finally consumed. It then follows that when performance exceeds personal expectations for purchased products or services, the purchase shall be deemed to have satisfied the needs of the buyer and vice versa. It is therefore critical that products pass the test of this stage if there is any possibility that the consumer will continue to use it in the future or even recommend its use to the other consumers. This stage is also said to arise as a consequence of cognitive dissonance. This is because the buyer might be at a point of reflection on whether the alternative forgone during the purchase may have been a more suitable than the actual purchase made. The result of this stage therefore is very important for marketing as well as determination of future purchases. For example, a company is more advantaged if the product it offers for its consumers is able to elicit a positive evaluation as compared to the substitutes. After a close examination of the decision making model, it is important to note that there are various types or categories that may arise out of the different trends in buyer behaviour. Types of Buying Behaviour Most researchers have categorized different buyer into four distinct categories. As indicated by Farooq (1) they include complex buying behaviour, dissonance reducing buying behaviour, variety seeking buying behaviour and habitual buying behaviour as discussed below. Complex buying behaviour involves a high degree of involvement in the way the buyer will engage the product or service to be purchased in quality and brand evaluation. This behaviour is also influenced by the product or service characteristics. For instance, a product with a high price, high risk of damage or law quality is likely to be subjected to scrutiny by the consumer as opposed to a product that has an established brand identity as well as good pricing. Good examples of products that may elicit this type of buyer behaviour are high end consumer products like electronics. They are in very many brands and a consumer is likely to do a lot of research on the cheaper but high performing brand available in the market. On the other hand, dissonance reducing buyer behaviour is characteristic of infrequent purchases. These are products or services that a buyer does not frequently use or need to use. Sometimes, these products are bought and may take a long time before the need to buy them arise. The buyer involvement in product or service scrutiny is therefore very high since the product is not bought often and the substitutes may have insignificant difference. It follows then that after the purchase of the product, the buyer may experience a post purchase experience referred to as dissonance. This is because they may feel that the substitute brand might have been the better option. As opposed to the two discussed buyer behaviour types, habitual buyer behaviour may not consider the brands available in the market. This type exhibits the tendency to be less concerned with the product specifications and issues like pricing. In effect, there is low involvement by the consumer on brand names. Fast moving consumer goods might fall in this category. They do not require brand loyalty because consumers only need to buy and use them anytime they feel like regardless of the brand name. A practical example might be that of a match box that do not require much identity by consumers to be able to thrive well in the market. However, there are still marketing strategies employed by the manufacturers of these brands that are more directed to establishing positive attitudes towards their products. The last type of buyer behaviour is that referred to as variety seeking. This is a unique behaviour that is characterized by a lower buyer involvement but there is a significant brand name and identity distinction. Most fast food products might fall into this category. For example, a buyer might not want to engage the brand name of a certain consumer product but may want to alter between brands because of changing tastes and preferences. Here, the post purchase evaluation is very important in determining whether the buyer is likely to purchase the product or not in the next consumption period. As a result, most marketing specialists try to alter this behaviour to habitual buying behaviour so that they are assured of brand loyalty and frequent purchases that might eventually help in driving the sales as well as increasing market share. As the above discussed behaviour may determine the success rate of different products, it is important that marketing departments identify the various types of behaviour that may be necessitated by the products they present to their customers. By looking at this categories or types of buyer behaviour, it is therefore evident that the key determinant is always the nature of the product in the market or otherwise. Against this observation, it is important that this paper also examines the various influencing factors to buyer behaviour. Influences of the Buying Behaviour There are several factors that are likely to influence consumer behaviour as established by several researchers and analysts. Among various factors, this section will examine four major factors that influence the type of behaviour that a buyer is likely to exhibit. They include personal, psychological, social and cultural factors. To begin, the personal factors that influence consumer behaviour may include age, occupation, economic condition, lifecycle of the buyer among other personal influences. An individuals’ occupation for instance may influence his or her level of income that may eventually determine the degree of involvement. The life cycle stage, on the other hand, may also determine the buyer’s approach to purchasing a product or service. For example, life cycle may determine whether the potential buyer will be single, married or retired. Each of the mentioned sub-categories may also influence the buyer behaviour. For instance, newly married couples are likely to have a more open purchasing approach more than established couples whose economic conditions might change because of a larger family. Lifestyle is also another important determinant in the area of personal factors that influence buyer behaviour. It sometimes leads to a habitual type of buyer behaviour since social groups that follow fashion only want to identify with a certain brand. Psychological factors have been lauded as another major determinant of buyer behaviour as well as other personality issues. Factors that are associated with psychology include wants or desires of individual buyers that may be shared by a common group of individuals. In turn psychological factors as identified by neuroscience may come in different forms. Motivation, perception and learning are the major theories that have been put forth to explain certain behaviours including buyer behaviour. Motivation refers to the inward urge to acquire certain desires or needs. As a result, when this need is a product or service available in the market, it will mean that it will in turn influence behaviour. A popular theory that reinforces this argument is the Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. This theory identifies categories of needs that range from the lower basic needs to higher needs that are attained as a result of fulfilling the lower level needs. In effect, an individual that has fulfilled the basic needs in the lower level may be motivated to purchase other high-level needs and thereby adopt different approaches to certain needs. Freud theory of stimulus may also be another explanation for motivation as an influencing factor of buyer behaviour. The theory proposes a framework of self-esteem that centres on different personality types. It goes that a reserved personality type is more likely to resolve to a reserved or traditional approach to purchasing certain products. However, it is not usually true in every case that consumer behaviour is likely to be influenced by the ideals proposed by the theories mentioned above. Perception also affects greatly the way products are likely to be received and constantly bought by individuals. Perception influences the way individuals view the usage of certain goods and this will in turn influence the way they are likely to approach their purchase. Perception is also greatly connected to certain stimuli. For instance, certain brand names or identity like company logos are associated with conditioned reflex that influences the choice of the consumers when evaluating substitute products. Perception is also a determinant of an individual’s way of engaging the product on offer or the different brands available for purchase. In addition, human beings are attached to experiences and that is what learning theory bases its argument on. It therefore goes according to this theory that a buyer who has had prior experience in using a product is likely to remain loyal to the brand. In effect, this creates habitual buyer behaviour. Learning is connected to the memory of an individual and therefore the more memorable a product’s performance, the higher the likelihood of frequent purchase of the said product. Beliefs and attitudes are also determinants of individual consumption as well as purchasing behaviour. For instance, one’s cultural belief may lead to a pattern of consumption that can either be habitual or be more restrictive or subjective (Gilligan, Wilson and Richard 183). Conclusion Buyer behaviour is an important area of study for the understanding of purchasing patterns of individuals when it comes to different products. It is important that marketing specialists are able to identify the various components of buyer behaviour so that they are able to identify the most suitable strategies that may be employed in achieving organizational needs. The different types of buyer behaviours are as a result of product use or characteristics even though it has been noted that there are several influences to such behaviour. Psychological factors play a major role in influencing buyer behaviour. Neuroscience is therefore a major pre-cursor for the identification of buyer behaviour tendencies (Churchland 3). This paper establishes that most of the models and theories proposed on this topic have a higher likelihood of applicability and believability. Works Cited Churchland, Patricia. Brain Trust: What Neuroscience Tells Us About Morality. Princeton: Princeton university press, 2011. Print Farooq, Umar. “Types of buying behaviour.” Study lecture notes, 2011. Web. 16th Jan 2013. . Gilligan, Colin., Wilson, S and Richard, M. Strategic Marketing Management. London: Routledge press, 2012. Print Riley, Jim. “Buyer Behaviour- the Decision making process.” Tutor2u, 2012. Web. 16th Jan. 2013. Sheth, Jadgish and Lunn, J. Models of Buyer Behaviour. Decatur: Marketing Classics publishers, 2011. Print Read More