The Advent of New Information and Communication Technology - Research Paper Example

During the contemporary period, it can be d that the s’ product and service preferences and buying patterns are constantly changing. It is imperative for the marketers to know the behaviour of the consumers so as to be better positioned to satisfy their needs profitably. Against this background, this reflective essay seeks to evaluate the significance of gaining knowledge about the behaviour of the consumers by the marketing students and the marketers at large. It will also analyse how this topic can contribute to the body of knowledge to someone involved in marketing. The essay starts by explaining the key concept of consumer behaviour as well as the different factors that affect the buying decision of the consumers. An analysis of the consumer behaviour in this essay will be based on the premise that we are dealing with rational buyers who do not have enough money to buy everything they want so they try to get maximum satisfaction from what they have. Consumer behaviour in most cases is influenced by various factors which make the people to buy certain products. In attempting to analyse the behaviour of the people towards the products, it is imperative to highlight the meaning of consumer behaviour for easier understanding. Cant et al (2006:2) define customer behaviour as “the study of individuals, groups, or organisations and the processes they use to select, secure, use and dispose of products, services, experiences, or ideas to satisfy needs and desires.” From this definition, it can be noted that the consumers are motivated or influenced by various factors to buy certain commodities or products. Without this knowledge, various businesses could not have been in existence. Essentially, business is meant for gaining profits which can only be achieved when an organisation is aware of the needs of the customers and their buying behaviour which is the basis of marketing. Thus, it is also important to highlight the meaning of marketing so as to get a clear understanding on the link between these concepts. According to Smith (1999), the UK Chartered Institute of Marketing defines marketing as, “the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably.” The marketers have a task to satisfy the needs of the customers profitably. It means that they must be better positioned to gain profit from their operations which does not compromise their viability. Basically, all aspects of the individual which determine his or her buying behaviour such as perception, needs, motives and attitudes are either directly or indirectly influenced by the individual’s ability to learn (Lancaster G &Reynolds P 1999). This is a process where an individual acquires the buying and consumption knowledge about a particular product which will ultimately affect his or her behaviour towards that product. During the contemporary period, it can be noted that customers have got changing personal values which should always be taken into consideration by marketers where they should be a step ahead as far as buying behaviour of the consumers is concerned. Being an aspiring marketer, it is my strong belief that this subject of consumer behaviour will put me in a better position to understand the needs of the customer as well as to know how behaviour is created in the customers. The concept of perception plays a very important role in influencing the people to make sense of the world around them through the organisation of their five senses (Lamb et al 2008). We perceive the world around us in different ways as a result of cues such as colour, taste, smell, hearing as well as feeling. For instance, a person can be exposed to more than 50 advertisements a day but he can only take notice of about ten only. Usually, the consumers use the cues given above to identify and define products and brands through advertisements. In some cases, people may have different perceptions from the same commercial on television and they can interpret differently the meaning of the same advertisement. “Earlier research into advertising effectiveness suggested that there is a particular order in which consumers respond to advertisements. The argument suggests that advertisements, therefore, can be constructed to achieve particular responses according to the nature of the communications and marketing objectives desired,” (Vaughn 1980; Olney et al. 1991; Rossiter et al. 1991as cited in Aitkan, Gray and Lawson 2008). Marketers must recognise the important of cues or signals in consumer’s perceptions about the products. It is very important for the marketing managers to first identify the important attributes such as price or quality that the targeted consumers want in a product and then design signals to communicate these attributes. I think this knowledge is important to have as an aspiring marketer given that it will enable me to be better positioned to tailor all the advertisement messages in such a way that will appeal to the targeted consumers. Advertisements have a great impact on the behaviour of the consumers hence the need to take into consideration all the factors that can shape the way people perceive the world around them. The concept of branding is also very significant in that brand names send signals to consumers and influence their perceptions. The most popular brand in soft drinks is Coca Cola and this has a bearing on how the marketers should brand their products in order to appeal to as many customers as possible as well as changing their behaviour. Besides advertising, marketers can also through studying motivation analyse the major forces influencing the consumers to buy or not to buy products. When you usually buy a product, you do so to satisfy some kind of need. These needs become motives when aroused sufficiently. Strydom (2004) suggests that motivation is the enthusiasm we get for doing something. As far as consumer behaviour is concerned, people are driven by particular needs to behave in a particular way. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is the most widely used theory of motivation which arranges the needs in ascending order. The satisfaction of the lower need may cause the higher level need. A person may be motivated by hunger to buy food from McDonalds in a bid to satisfy the need for food. From this argument, it can be noted that the marketers must take a leading role in identifying the needs of the customers so as to be better positioned to satisfy them. In essence, the main role of marketing is to satisfy the needs of the customers profitably and the marketers must know their behaviour first in order to design products that will meet the requirements of the customers. Without such vital information, it may be difficult to satisfy the needs of the consumers. It can be noted that almost all consumer behaviour results from learning, which is the process that creates changes in behaviour through experience and practice (Lamb et al 2008). It is not possible to observe learning directly but we infer from a person’s action that learning has taken place. An advertisement for a burger by McDonalds somehow stimulates the buyer to purchase the product. It can be seen then that some kind of learning has taken place. Against this background, it can be noted that this topic helps me as a marketer to be aware of the factors that influence the buying behaviour of the consumers. Having realised that consumers can learn from advertisements, the marketer is better positioned to reinforce their behaviour towards a particular product. An advertisement therefore is tailored in such a manner that will stimulate the customer and he will respond by buying the product being offered as a way of gaining the satisfaction being promised in the advertisement. Through the use of repetitive advertisements, many organisations find it ideal to promote particular products because the customers will be constantly reminded of such products which entails the continuous learning will take place. Basically, the learning theory is helpful in reminding the marketers that concrete and timely actions are factors that reinforce desired consumer behaviour. It can therefore be noted that this particular topic is very helpful to me as a prospective marketer in that I will immensely gain knowledge about the factors that influence customer behaviour which will enable me to tackle all the customer related issues I may encounter in a bid to satisfy their needs which will benefit both the organisation and them. I will also use this learning process in such a way that the customers will learn to associate certain things with the products and brands offered as a way of differentiating our organisation from other competitors in a bid to gain competitive advantage. In the world of competition, the marketer should be in a position to know the behaviour of the consumers so that he will be able to anticipate their needs and put measures that will meet their needs. Learning helps people to shape their value systems and in turn the values help determine a person’s self concept, personality and even lifestyle (Lamb et al 2008). The customers ought to take into consideration the social, emotional as well functional value of the product and its impact since this shapes their behaviour towards it. This has a close bearing on the benefits that are likely to be derived by the customers from consuming a particular product which entails that the marketer must know these values so as to be better positioned to deal effectively with the customer needs. According to this perspective, there are different values that can be derived from using a particular product. These include the following: “emotional value” refers to the utility derived from the affective states that a product or service generates; “social value” refers to the social utility derived from the product or service, “functional value” refers to the utility derived from the perceived quality and expected performance of the product or service, and “perceived sacrifice” refers to the loss derived from the product or service due to the increment of its perceived short-term and long-term costs (Wang et al 2004). These normally lead to brand loyalty whereby the customers will purchase particular product fully knowing that they will derive some benefits from it. Consumers form relevant attitude to buying behaviour as a result of direct experience with the product. McCarthy & Perreault (1990) define an attitude as “a learned predisposition to behave in a consistently favourable or unfavourable way towards market related objects or situations.” Therefore, it can be noted that from this definition the major characteristics of attitude are; attitudes are learned and attitudes tend to be consistent. Attitudes also encompass an individual’s value system which represents personal standards towards a particular product. A good example can be drawn from the customers’ attitude towards the iPhone, a prestigious phone offered by Apple. It can be noted that the behaviour of the consumers with regards to their attitude towards the brand is a learned process. Whilst there are various brands of cell phones offered in the market as well as regardless of the high cost of the iPhone, consumers buy this product because of the attitude they have learned with regards to the perceived value of this gadget which combines both telephony services, music and videos as well as other features that can be hardly imitated by the other competitors. Consumers form relevant attitude to buying behaviour as a result of direct experience with the product. The iPhone for instance was developed over a certain period of time where the unique features were incorporated in order to appeal to the consumers and over time, the consumers have learned about these features and developed a positive attitude towards the product. This bears testimony that there is every need for the marketer to know the factors that shape the behaviour of the consumers towards particular products. As a marketing student, this knowledge will greatly help me to do what I will be expected to in order to fulfil the needs of the consumers once I am in business. Consumers do not just buy certain products out of panic but they need to get the value for money from what they have. It is therefore important for the marketers to know the behaviour of the clients in order for them to be better positioned to implement strategies that are likely to appeal to a large number of customers so as to ensure the long term survival of the business. Attracting customers is not an event but it is a process that requires concerted efforts by the marketers. It is the duty of the marketer to identify the factors that shape the behaviour of the consumers towards particular products since this helps determine the performance of the product on the market. It must also be borne in mind that attitudes are not necessarily permanent but they can change at any given time. It can thus be seen that it is very important for marketers to design their messages targeted at consumers in a fashion that will not cause them to have a negative attitude towards their brand. As noted above, attitudes are primarily influenced by the information the consumers get about a product hence there is need to safeguard the interests of the brand at all costs to avoid the emergence of negative attitude among the consumers which can have a negative impact on the performance of the brand as a result. If the products develop a negative perception among the customers, they will perform badly the reason why the marketers should always take into consideration the aspect of consumer behaviour. The concept of culture also has a bearing in influencing the consumer buying behaviour of particular products. Issues related to culture are very important with regards to the way the customers and the marketers relate especially during the contemporary period where it can be noted that the business environment is dynamic and it is ever changing. Culture shapes the way people in an identifiable area or organisation behave and it has a bearing on their day to day performance. Thus, culture is a set of values, norms and attitudes that shape human behaviour as well as the artefacts, or products of that behaviour as they are transmitted from one generation to the next (Lamb 2008). Human interaction creates values and prescribes acceptable behaviour for each culture. It can be seen that culture gives order to the society. It is important that marketers realise that culture is dynamic. It adapts to changing needs and an evolving environment. The advent of the new information and communication technology have brought about various changes to the people behave and perceive the world around them. The internet for instance has revolutionised the way people do their business especially buying products. Without understanding a culture, a firm has little chance of selling the products to that cultural group. In different parts of the world, there are different cultures and they perceive the world around them differently. Language is another important aspect of culture that global marketers must deal with. Extra care must be taken so as not to convey the wrong message to the intended customers. It is very important for the marketers to ensure that they know the culture of a people so that they can design special marketing strategies to serve their needs. Without such measures in place, it may be a bit challenging to sell the products to the people. The aspect of demographics also plays a significant role as consumer behaviour is concerned which also leads to the creation of loyalty among the customers. Indeed, there is need for the marketers to segment the market so as to be better positioned to identify people with the same interests since these will likely have the same behaviour which can in turn influence their buying behaviour. Segmentation of the market can be based on the level of income, education as well as lifestyles. To find a suitable position for the product, the marketers need to make an analysis of the market and target customer groups and establish their behaviour. There is need to take a holistic approach when targeting a market because in some instances, certain sections of the market are often overlooked especially by bigger companies. This results in them not taking into consideration the behaviour of customers in an equally important niche market. However, these often constitute a very important section of the market hence the need to further divide the market into equally smaller segments. This is commonly referred to as niche marketing where smaller markets are targeted and special attention is given to the needs and interests of the people comprising these small markets. Identifying the behaviour of customers in equally smaller markets will help the marketers to know the products required by the customers. The concept of personality also plays a major role in shaping the behaviour of the customers. The person’s personality is a combination of his psychological makeup environmental forces (Cant 2004). Personality includes people’s dominant character and some marketers believe that personality influences the types and brands of products purchased. The youths are particularly interested in fancy things hence organisations concerned about fulfilling this need in the youths should venture into producing something similar to their requirements in a bid to influence consumer behaviour. Today’s youths are more interested in fancy devices where they can enjoy music and it can be seen that with the advent of the iPod, Apple is actually taking a lead in global as well as mobile technology by virtue of its improved devices which possess extraordinary features that are not found in any other device offered by rival competitors. This greatly influences the behaviour of the consumers as they would develop a positive attitude towards unique products offered. It is very important for the marketers to ensure that they have information about the personality traits that shape the behaviour of the consumers in order to make their life easier when it comes to marketing their products. Consumers’ product and service preferences and buying patterns are constantly changing and in order to address this constant state of affairs and to create a proper marketing mix for an identified market, the marketers must have a thorough knowledge and understanding of consumer behaviour. This can help the marketers in several ways to change the attitude of the customers towards something. When buying products, consumers usually follow the consumer making decision process which is comprised of five stages namely: problem recognition of an unfulfilled need, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase and post purchase behaviour (Lamb et al 2008). As indicated above, the customer in question in this case is a rational customer who is influenced to make a purchase after a need has arisen which will prompt a customer to look for information about a particular product. Having accessed this information, then the customer can evaluate alternatives to see if there can be a suitable substitute. The purchase will be made followed by post purchase behaviour. The marketer ought to know this information as it shapes his buying behaviour which determines if the customer will be better positioned to make a purchase of the given product. It can be noted that being an aspiring marketer, this topic is very important since it will enlighten me on what I should know as far as preparing a marketing mix for a product is concerned. Gaining knowledge about the customers is very important given that the essence of marketing is to satisfy the needs of the clients profitably. Without this knowledge, there may not be any customer in existence which will entail that there is no business. Marketers should clearly know all the factors that affect human behaviour so as to be in a position to fulfil their needs. Over and above, it can be concluded that during the contemporary period, it can be noted that the customers’ product and service preferences and buying patterns are constantly changing. It is imperative for the marketers to know the behaviour of the consumers so as to be better positioned to satisfy their needs. Knowing consumer behaviour is very important for the marketers since it enables them to be in a position to identify their needs. It has also been noted that consumer behaviour in most cases is influenced by various factors which make the people buy certain products. However, all aspects of the individual which determine his or her buying behaviour such as perception, needs, motives and attitudes are either directly or indirectly influenced by the individual’s ability to learn. Since the organisations are operating in a very dynamic environment during the current period and the customer tastes and interests are also changing, the firms ought to take cognisant of these and put measures in place that are meant to establish the behaviour of the customers and relationship between them in a bid to retain them. Bibliography Aitken R, Brendan G & Lawson R (2008). Advertising effectiveness from a consumer perspective. University of Otago. 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