Consumer Purchasing Behavior - Coursework Example

Task CONSUMER PURCHASING BEHAVIOR Consumer forms an important part of any organization decision making since they are thekey to the firm success. Hence, their purchasing power must well be analyzed by the marketing department if the company is to make any sales. Thus, consumer purchasing behaviors are those patterns that influence the buying of a particular commodity in attempt to satisfy their utility. (Zuo, Yi, Shawkat and Katsutoshi, 2014).Due to this, a mind map has been set up for the sale of iPhone 5S to determine how different factors affect the purchasing behaviors of consumers. It has been supplemented with various data sources majorly from the primary levels provided by discussions and secondary information provided for in journals and adverts. From the debates, it can be noticed that various factors such as social, personal, psychological, cultural and situational factors greatly affects purchasing patterns of an individual. It was also noted that other factors such accessibility; price and ethical factors influenced the purchasing behavior of customers. Introduction Consumer behavior is ways that are used by persons to identify, obtain, and acquire products and services that they use to satisfy their needs and satisfaction. Purchasing of a particular product is dependent on many factors about the consumers. They are construed right from the mind to the external environment (Zuo, Yi, Shawkat and Katsutoshi, 2014). Thus, the more a person integrates consumption patterns of commodities, the more individuals will purchase more quantity of a given product. However, these buying patterns are determined by the income and level of utility that a person derives from consuming a particular product. Marketers are thus influenced to make crucial decisions on how customers chose between alternatives. What motivates them into consuming a particular product? How environment affects their behaviors and the information that the consumers have about a particular product. All these factors must be put together before a marketer can produce goods and services in diverse segments (Zuo, Yi, Shawkat and Katsutoshi, 2014). The organization can thus formulate critical decisions on how to influence the market so that consumers can have more of their products. Hence, the paper tries to examine how consumers purchases are affected by the most critical buying behaviors against the mind maps that determine the purchases patterns of a particular commodity. The order of the consumption importance includes social, psychological, cultural and personal factors. Thus, to help understand the purchasing patterns, groups of discussions were formed to formulate on various models and relate to a mind map about the purchase of iPhone 5S. Appendix 1: hierarchy of influential factors The above hierarchy thus demonstrates on what factors influences consumer behavior from the top to the bottom. To arrive at the order above, various decisions came into play. Personal factors include income, price of a particular commodity and the availability of the product in the market. These are the primary factors that determine buying of a specific product, since without income, no one will consume and if the product is made not available, then most definitely the consumers will not have to think of them. Thus, it formed my number one factor in consumer buying. Psychological factors were the second in hierarchy. It was so because they are views that an individual about a particular product and are formed within a person. Social factors are family and status and a person must integrate them before consumption since they will always behave in a manner that conforms to the surroundings. The fourth in hierarchy was the cultural factors. After assessing oneself and society at large, the next big decision is if the product will conform to a person’s way of life and represent their values and norms. The least in hierarchy was the situational factors which are merely circumstantial and do not affect purchasing behavior of an individual so much. Personal factors Consumer buying is majorly affected by the traits and nature of the different users. They include lifestyles, economic circumstance, and age. Economic situation: Refers to the relative amount of income that a consumer have. Consumers will tend to spend more with high incomes so long as they find the relevance in obtaining satisfaction in a particular product. Thus, they will have a high purchasing power of goods and services due to excess capitals. Lifestyles: is the interest and values that are held by individuals. Those with high lifestyles in the society, for instance; they want to keep up with every trend so that they maintain their lifestyle hence influences their purchasing behavior. While those persons who do have low living standards will find no reason to buy the new product. Age: Individuals will not consume the same products they used to purchase at their 30s and 60s due to changing tastes and preferences of different consumers. A consumption behavior varies with diverse age difference since the needs and preferences are not similar anymore. Psychological factors These are factors that tend to influence consumption behaviors concerning a particular product. They are motivation, values that persons hold of a commodity, perceptions, beliefs, and attitudes, learning about a new product. Perception: consumers are sensitive to particular stimuli about a product. From this, they get information that they organize and analyze about a commodity and draw conclusions. Depending on the particular times, beliefs and traits at the time, persons will always make decisions when to act. However, these perceptions usually created differ from one person to another, and an individual decision does not merely affect other consumers purchasing patterns. Learning: consumers always want to know about a particular product and to do so; they have to acquire the products. Thus, they will have enough experience that enables them to access a commodity and will make critical decisions concerning a purchase of a product into the future. Beliefs and attitudes: these are convictions that consumers have concerning a particular product and significantly affects their buying behavior. If users are attached to a particular commodity, they will spend on it while if their beliefs do not conform to a product, they will avoid the good. Motivation is the force that drives purchases on the part of the consumer. It is correlated with the satisfaction that a customer derives from consuming a particular product. Thus, producers will always manufacture commodities that conform to customers needs so that they create a buying positive behavior to the customer. Social factors These are factors that affect purchasing behavior relative to the society influences. They include family, reference groups and status in the society. Reference groups: these are groups that an individual belongs to in a community. Persons will tend to consume what other members of the group purchases. For instance, if the majority of the members were to buy the iPhone, then the remaining will also buy the commodity hence affecting their consumption behaviors. Family is the unit where a person derives the society values from and the most important element that shapes the character of an individual. Persons will always have to possess what other family members have hence affected their consumption behavior. For example; if all members of a family own a particular brand like the Toyota, then an individual will follow suit by purchasing the product. Social roles and status: An individual usually belongs or occupies a special position in a society and a significant status in the community. Thus, he is expected to conform to standards that justify his/her nature among the members. To do so, he will have to purchase products that are in line to the standards or to the members who hold similar roles in the community thus affecting consumption behaviors. Situational factors Time: is the period that is available to consumers to make decisions on purchases thus affects purchasing consumption of the customers. By allowing more time to customers, they become rational and obtain vital information pertaining to a particular product that influences their purchases over time. Less time available to consumers makes them consult with friends, family members and analyze the product, and if they did not plan to buy the product, they might end up not purchasing it at all. Mood: This is the mindset that has usually been developed inform of emotions concerning a particular product. A positive attitude will always influence the customer to purchase the product while negative feelings deter them from buying the commodity. Reason for purchase: Consumers attach a particular function to a specific product thus influences their purchasing behavior. If the product is of importance to satisfying a particular need, then the customers will defiantly purchase the product. But it has no function to the consumer; they will divert to other products and will not buy the commodity. Cultural factors Cultural factors the environment to which an individual belong, and usually affects their purchasing behavior since the consumers are expected to conform to a particular standards within the system. Sub-cultural: this comprises of different ethnic groups within a system who try to share their values together and affects the behavior of purchases of various commodities. Consumers have a high investment in products that targets their culture and spend less on goods that are unrelated to them. Social classes: An individual belongs to different classes in the society. These types are usually categorized from high to low. Thus, people of the same category will tend to have same products hence influences their purchasing power. For instance, if the majority of the members of a group owned a TV, then the rest will also acquire TV. 4. Discussion of the mind maps Consumer behaviors are majorly affected by factors such as psychological, situational, social, personal and cultural. These factors primarily formed by the environmental situations that an individual faces and comprise of emotions and opinions that a person holds. Thus, they consist of both internal and external behaviors that determine the person’s purchases. To understand them, we analyze the mind map of iPhone 5S. First, the most important factor is personal reasons for acquiring the product. It includes income that determines revenues that are held by an individual and the age factor. I Phone 5S is very expensive and unless you have a stable and reliable income, an individual will not buy the product (Zuo, Yi, Shawkat and Katsutoshi, 2014). Hence, the consumer will have to spend on most essential goods first no matter the lifestyle. Age also tends to play a part, for instance, eighty-year-old guy sees no relevance of the device and will not purchase the product. Second is the psychological reason of having to acquire the product. An individual holds certain beliefs and attitudes concerning a particular product and are motivated to learn them. The phone makes communication and access to internet much easier while its portability drives me crazy. As such, I do have a positive attitude in the product that actually contributed to me opening up the savings account so that I can purchase the iPhone 5S. Third is the social factors that are majorly influenced by my family members. Most of my time spends with my family members, and major decisions I make are influenced by the unit. Such is the case when almost all of close relatives have acquired the device; I am compelled to look for one no matter what. Such is the rational mind that has been influenced by my family members. Another motivating factor that influences purchases is the cultural norms of the society. Consumers will consume a product that tends to favor their cultural system and thus will affect their purchasing power. For instance, the modern world has become digital, and everyone acquires a Smartphone to be able to fit in the society. It has become like a norm thus influencing the purchasing patterns. Thus, more persons are likely to buy the iPhone 5S since it is the trend that everyone would like to acquire. The less influencing factors is the situational scenes that are likely to arise concerning a particular purchase. It majorly depends on values that are held by individuals regarding a product and the time preferences. For instance, if a majority of the consumer’s phones are capable of serving the same purpose as the new one, then they will not purchase the product. 5. Debate Consumers purchasing behaviors are generated from an inside and outside sources. Such is the views that are held by my group members. Inside sources are those that are buying behaviors that are influenced from an individual point of view. They include economic circumstance, urgency and attitudes concerning a particular product. An individual will always spend depending on the economic situations at the time of purchase. When a person has more income, he would undoubtedly pay more to acquire the commodity since he/she can afford the product while those with less capital tend to reduce their purchases to basic goods. If the product is needed by the consumer in the shortest time due to its importance, customers will have to buy it hence affecting the purchasing behavior. While an action such as a positive attitude tends to persuade a person to purchase the product since some form of likeness exists. Outside sources are the external environment that determines purchases. They include friends, societal status, family members and groups that a particular person subscribes. Thus, if a majority of the population among diverse units were to acquire a product, then the remaining few will always try hard to obtain the same. This action is stimulated by the desire of the remaining population to be at the same levels with the rest. Hence, it will influence their consummation of a particular commodity (Zuo, Yi, Shawkat and Katsutoshi, 2014). Thus, their purchasing behavior is significantly influenced. A cultural factor also comes into play for a person to have a commodity. Individuals purchases goods that conforms to their society values and avoids the rest with no attachment to their norms. Other factors though such time, and mood, functions that a product has to consumer influences purchases. For instance, consumers will buy more of a product that is more urgent to them while postpone buying of a commodity that satisfaction would be realized in the future. 6. Surprises encountered while compiling the paper Due to various factors that affect purchasing of a particular product such as consumptions, it proved difficult to generate conclusion to which factors are more influential than others. This action was majorly attributed to different consumption patterns that existed among diverse customers. So to validate the results was not easy. The group members also had divergent opinions on factors that influence purchasing with reference to their buying pattern. Thus, arriving at particular factors according to the hierarchy was quite a challenging task. Other factors such as accessibility were also raised in the debate but could not be established the hierarchy. Producers must make their products available by creating distribution channels. Failure to do so, the consumers will not access the product with ease. However, this is contrary to the purchasing behavior since customers will always buy more of a product that they can find with ease. 7. Ethics that needs to be considered in the hierarchy These are forms of conduct that should be adhered to in the process of hierarchy formulation. Customers should be aware of details concerning a particular product before they can purchase them. Thus, it will help them to know if their needs and satisfactions are met by consuming a particular a product. The product they purchase should reflect the information they obtain from public Medias such as advertisements and journals. Prices of commodities should also be put into consideration. The manufacturer should charge social prices that do not harm the consumer so that they make more profits. Prices also determine the amount of goods that a person would purchase. High rates reduce purchases unless it is luxury goods that are bought more with an increase in prices. Thus, they should be economically friendly with the consumer so that more of a particular product to bought. 8. Factors that needs exploration Nature of the commodity should be explored in how it affects the purchasing behaviors of the consumers. Is the product an underlying commodity, luxury, necessity or any opinions that are held concerning particular products? Users usually tend to purchase more of an essential right since they cannot do without them. They would rather spend all their income on them instead of buying a product that will not satisfy their utility. Other factors that should be explored are durability and security that are attached to a particular product. Customers will always consume more of products that will last longer hence influencing their purchases. Purchasing power of a client increases when the product is safer to use. Conclusion Consumer purchasing behavior is dependent on many factors right from those that are generated from within to those arising due to the external environment. They can, however, be stated in broad terms as psychological, social, personal, cultural and situational. These factors are dissimilar from one customer to another depending on how an individual integrates them. Nevertheless, a problem arises in the classification of the factors to which affects the consumers more in the process of purchasing decision-making tree. Thus, it is a dilemma to form the hierarchy since every single individual holds a particular view both in the group and to customers’ opinion. Thus, producers of the commodities are faced with a difficult task since they have to satisfy the diverse purchasing patterns. Hence, they must use the consumers’ divergent opinions to make critical decisions so that they manufacture goods and services that attract customer purchases. By doing so, they have more competitive advantage over their rivals and command a significant market share. Work cited Zuo, Yi, ABM Shawkat Ali, and Katsutoshi Yada. "Consumer Purchasing Behavior Extraction Using Statistical Learning Theory." Procedia Computer Science 35 (2014): 1464-1473. SWOT analysis: Appendix 2 Appendix 3: Mind map Read More