Internal Factors Influencing Consumers Decision-Making Process for a Product or a Service - Essay Example

Student Name: Instructor’s Name: Course: Institution: Date Internal factors influencing consumer’s decision making process for a product or a service Introduction: Consumer decision making refers to the process by which needs are identified by a consumer, information is collected about the product, alternative needs are evaluated and then a purchase decision is made. Such a behavior is controlled by such factors as psychological, economical and environmental factors. Consumer decision making is therefore the procedure undertaken by a consumer with respect to a market transaction in three different stages- before, during and even after the buying of a good or service (John C. Henderson et al, 1980) Before choosing on a product to provide to a target group, a marketer must therefore put into consideration various aspects, both internal and external, that may affect the demand for such a product by the prospective buyers. Consumer behavior is therefore an integral part in a sales and marketing strategy that is bound to be successful. The consumer behavior is the character displayed by a prospective buyer in being in need of, buying and eventually consuming the products/ services. Thus, a marketer should know the consumer/ prospective buyer so as to provide goods and services that are readily acceptable by the final user (Nicosia F., 1966) There are different types of consumers and this should also be put into consideration while laying out a production and sales strategy of goods and services by a particular firm or organization. We have personal consumers, those who purchase goods such as cloths or food and services for personal use. We also have organizational consumers who purchase products or services with the aim of running their organizations such as office equipments. Marketers should also pay attention to consumer behavior so as to be aware of life cycles of products, environmental views, consumer protection policy, public policy, technology and how they change with time so as to provide goods and services that are readily acceptable, purchasable and consumable by the prospective buyers. Consumer behavior can therefore be used in making of such marketing concepts within the firm as follows; Production concept, enhancing an effective production of the firms products or services. Product concept ensures goods of high quality. Selling concept focuses on the sales of the product. Marketing concept ensures a marketing strategy that is basically consumer oriented through identifying consumer needs that are unsatisfied or rather not recognized, conducting a market research, monitoring needs of consumer and their preferences in addition to studying the consumption behavior of the consumers. Social concept, working in accordance to the principles set by the society. A marketing strategy should also conduct a consumer research and keep the following key issues in mind; provide an overview of the research process, combine qualitative and quantitative findings on the research process. A firm should also use segmentation, targeting and positioning in their marketing strategy. Segmentation involves the division of the consumer market into subsets with regards to sameness of needs and characteristics. Segmentation should be consumer rooted, consumption specific, based on facts, demographics, geodemographics, psychographics, cognitions and psychographics and sociocultural values. Segmentation of consumer markets can be Geographical, division in accordance to region, city size, density and climate. Demographic segmentation puts into consideration such factors as age, sex, family size, income, occupation, education, religion and nationality. Psychographical segmentation ensures division along social class, lifestyles and personality characteristics. Behavioral segmentation which puts into consideration such factors as benefits sought, occasions, user status, usage rate and loyalty status. There can also be Hybrid segmentation where such factors as purchase behavior, product usage, preferences, lifestyles, sociocultural values and personality are considered during division of the consumer market. Targeting then involve the selection of target segments. Effective targeting should be identifiable, sizeable, stable, accessible, and congruent with the firm’s objectives, goals and resources. Lastly, positioning involves the development of a distinctive product or service image in the minds of the consumers. In a marketing strategy, other factors must be considered too as follows; product/ service, price, place and promotion. The packaging, brands, design and attributes of the product or service must be able to persuade the consumer into buying such a product. Price should also be favorable and affordable by the prospective buyers. Distribution should be through stores and outlets. Promotion should be through advertisements, personal selling, digital marketing, good public relations and sales promotion through discounts and after-sale services e.g. delivery to consumers’ premises or even installation where applicable. With reference to consumer needs, such factors may influence the decision making process of a consumer; consumer needs and motivation, consumer personality and self concept, consumer perception, learning and consumer involvement and finally consumer attitudes. Consumer needs and motivation may have influence on their decision making and hence affecting consumption of a particular product or service. Basic needs such as food shelter and clothing are therefore the most important needs a firm should provide to the consumers as they cannot live without the same. The seller should therefore understand the consumer needs and motives, dynamics of motivation and the relationship between consumer needs and their goals. Motivation is the force that drives an individual into action due to an unfulfilled need. Needs can be innate or at times acquired. Innate needs are physiological such as the need for food, water and air while acquired needs are psychological such as the need for self esteem, prestige and affection. Motives, on the other hand, can also be positive or negative. Positive motivation offers the consumer a behavior that is directed towards a positive goal. Negative motivation offers a negative goal and hence consumer behavior is directed away from the goal. There are also rational and emotional motives. Rational motives involve the selection of goals that have the greatest utility for the consumers while the later involve a subjective selection of goals according to personal criteria (Leon Schiffman Paladino, 2011) Needs are never fully satisfied as newer ones emerge when the old ones are satisfied. Failure to achieve a set goal or objective may lead to frustration and hence development of a defense mechanism by a user and thus influencing a consumer’s decision making. Pertaining to needs and motivations, basic needs come first in the scale of preference by a consumer as they are the essence of a user’s survival (Nicosia F., 1966) Personality and self concept is also another internal factor, from within the consumer that affects a consumer’s decision making. The seller should therefore understand how an individual’s personality and self concept can influence his attitude towards a commodity or a service. Personality entails the unique characteristics of an individual, both psychological and physical, that influence their behavior to the environment. Personality can though at times change. Freudian theory of personality explains that unconscious wants rests at the heart of human personality and that personality is composed of three systems interacting with one another; id works on pleasure principle, the super ego that is one’s expression of the ethical and moral codes of conduct and lastly, the ego that ensures conscious control. Neo-Freudian theory of personality explains that social relationships are essential to the development of one’s personality. It divides personality groups into three i.e. complaint, aggressive and detached. The complaint moves towards other groups of people, the aggressive moves against other groups of people while the detached moves away from other groups of people. Trait theory of personality bases its focus on personality through its identification and its qualitative measurement in terms of characteristics. All these personality theories though explain that personality and self concept can influence ones preference, taste and choice of a commodity or a service and hence influencing a consumer’s decision making. The seller should therefore be innovative enough to produce products and services that are consumer oriented (Leon Schiffman Paladino, 2011). Generally, personality and self concept of consumers are positive with regards to basic needs such as food and hence they come first in a consumer’s scale of preference. Consumer perception can also influence a consumer’s decision making as it entails how an individual receives, selects and interpret a change. When a consumer has a higher perception of a service or a product, he/ she may tend to be attracted by such a product or service and hence a boost in demand of the same. A seller should therefore produce goods that the consumers have a higher perception of and thus boosting his/ her sales. Food has a positive consumer perception since it is vital for one’s survival. An individual will tend to perceive what they need as they block the perception of what they may not want, thus selective perception. The seller should therefore produce goods of a physical appearance, descriptive terms and first impression that readily persuade the consumers’ perception of the same to be in line with that of the producers. The perceived price of a commodity or service should also be put into consideration through such means as follows; Reference price forms the basis for price comparison and thus the sellers should put into consideration the prices of other products that are used for the same purpose as theirs. Perceived quality of products and services, price/ quality relationship, manufacturer and store image should also be put into consideration as it influences the decision making process of a consumer. Perceived risk is another perception that the consumer may have in mind and hence him/ her choosing to or not to consume a product. Goods should therefore be of good quality, good brand and image, good store image and model so as to do away with any perceived risk that the consumer may have in mind (Leon Schiffman Paladino, 2011) Learning and consumer involvement is another internal factor that may have influence on the decision making of a consumer. Consumer learning refers to the process consumers acquire the knowledge of purchase and consumption and how they apply the former in future related cases. Consumer learning elements include the following; motivation, cues, response and reinforcement. Motivation catalyses the learning process as it is based wants and objectives. Cues, on the other hand, direct the consumer motives. Response involves reaction to cues while reinforcement increases the possibility of a response to reoccur in future. Classical conditioning theory of behavioral learning explains that all living organisms can be taught through conditioning and repetition. Thus the behaviors of consumers in market places and even towards certain commodities can be controlled through repeated learning. Instrumental conditioning requires linkage between the cause and the response. This theory tries to explain behavior as a product of environmental manipulation, not cognitive processes (Leon Schiffman Paladino, 2011) Through the learning process, one forms different attitude towards different goods or services and hence a change in his or her choice and preference. The nature of consumer attitude can also have an influence on consumer decision making and so the sellers should be conversant with the nature of the attitudes of consumers and also understand how attitude can lead to a change in behavior. Attitude involves behavior towards a certain good or service which can either be positive or negative (Leon Schiffman Paladino, 2011) Attitude of consumers towards a certain good or a service can therefore be of great influence to the decision making process of a consumer in favor of the commodity or service or against such a commodity or a service. In case of a negative attitude, the seller can strategize on motivational function of the firm, by resolving the conflicting attitudes, association of a commodity to a certain group or event admired by the customers, changing the beliefs on their brand or on other competitor brands so as to change the consumer attitude to positive. This ensures that the attitude on their goods and services remain positive or move from positive to negative and hence maximizing sales. Conclusion: Such internal factors as needs and motivation, personality and self concept, consumer perception, learning and consumer involvement and attitude are all internal factors that have influence on the decision making process of a consumer. Needs and motivation form the core internal factors that influence the consumer decision making since human basic needs are never fully satisfied and hence the need to satisfy then over and over again while motivation through various means as provision of incentives, promotions, after sale services and discounts can make one to prefer a commodity or service to another. References: John C. Henderson and Paul C. Nutt. Influence of Decision Style on Decision Making Behavior. Management Science, 26.4. (1980) 371-386 Leon Schiffman Paladino. Consumer Behavior, 5th Edition. 2011 Nicosia F. (1966). Consumer Decision Processes. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs. 1966 Read More