Consumer Decision-Making - Internal influences - Essay Example

Consumer Decision-making – Internal influences Your name Student number Name of the unit Name of the unit coordinator Word count; 2510 Introduction The process and activities that people engage in while in search of, selection, purchasing, using, evaluating, as well as the disposing of products and services in efforts to satisfy their desires and needs is referred to as consumer behavior (Peter & Olson, 2002). In the development of effective marketing communication programs, it is important to begin with an understanding of why consumer behave the way they do. This understanding is found to be of use to marketers as it helps know what to do so as to encourage more consumers buy a product or service. Using the five-stage decision process model, the consumer is viewed as a problem solver as well as an information processor who has an ability to engage in metal processes to evaluate alternative brands and be able to be in a position to determine the degree to which they are in a position to satisfy needs or the motives of the purchase. This five-step model is more or less a form of cognitive learning (Hawkins et al., 2001). The five stage model Needs recognition and consumer motivation This marks the first step in consumer decision making process. It is what occurs when the consumer perceives a need and by this, the get a motivation to enter into a decision making process in order to resolve the felt need (Hawkins et al., 2001). Marketers are tasked with the duty to know the specific needs that consumer are attempting to satisfy and how they translate that into a purchase criteria. With this information marketers are in a position to accurately portray these needs in their promotional messages and in an appropriate location. The need recognition is caused by the difference in pattern that lies in the consumer’s ideal state and the actual state. Then with this this form a goal which maybe the attainment of a more positive situation from example, a neutral situation or also a negative situation wishing to get to a neutral situation. The causes of the need recognition maybe both internal and external factors. For example, the presence of new products in the market with innovation may prompt consumers to develop a need recognition (Swait, 2001). For instances, the introduction of camera mobile phones created a new need on most consumers for it allows them to do more than ever before. In efforts to create this need recognition, marketers have not always been successful. A good example is from the case of the reluctance that consumers had towards embracing of the personal computers. Manufacturers continuously stressed how the personal computer would help children quickly improve their academic skills as well as do better in school, as a result the successfully got a breakthrough in their marketing initiative (Hawkins et al., 2001. Internal influence; Consumer motivation This stage is critical for it influences the consumer’s decision on the remaining processes. It is usually from the way the consumer perceives a given purchase situation and from that becomes motivated to resolve it. Let’s take for instance buying of a watch, one consumer’s may perceive the need purchase it from a functional perspective thereby focus on reliability and end up going for the low-priced alternatives. Another consumer may on the other hand may perceive the purchase as a fashion statement thereby focus on the design as well as the image of various brands. Marketers devote considerable attention to assessing the motives. In examining the motives they look into the factors that compel a consumer to decide in a certain way. The classic theory of human motivation is one of the best approaches of understanding consumer motivations that was popularized several years ago by Abraham Maslow. This was through his hierarchy of needs theory that postulates five basic levels of human needs which are arrange according to their importance. These needs are; 1) Physiological; these are the things required to sustain life, such as food, shelter, clothing, and sex 2) Safety; this contains need for security and safety from physical harm 3) social/love and belonging— understood as the desire to have satisfying relationships with others and feel a sense of love, affection, belonging, and acceptance 4) esteem; the need to feel having accomplished something, gain recognition, status, and respect from others 5) Self-actualization; the need for self-fulfillment and a desire to realize one’s own potential According to the theorists the lower level needs must be satisfied before embarking on meeting the higher order needs. The lower level needs are a source if motivation for consumer purchasing behaviors. For the developed countries where the physiological needs have been met, marketers sell products that that appeal to consumers in this way the physiological needs appeal to consumers is their key to getting them to develop the motivation to purchase. Look at for instance the focus Huggies have in the marketing of their wipes, they focus on showing the love between the parent and the child as a social need not forgetting the gentleness of the product. This theory is applied by marketers by offering a framework to use in determining the needs they want their product to be shown satisfying. When applied, the advertising campaigns can be designed to show how a given product fulfill these needs. The recognition that different consumers have different need levels. Take for instance a young single person in the buying of a car, they will be after the social or self-esteem needs unlike the family which will focus will be more on the safety needs. Motivation relates to the consumer desire to achieve certain outcome. For instance, while trying to make a decision on making a purchase the consumer’s motivation is affected by their financial position or time constraints. The marketing implication this has is that marketers need to make options attractive do that the consumers can learn about their product such as information on the internet. For other products free trial would motivate them more before they can commit to the purchase. Information search and consumer perception This follows as the second stage of consumer decision making process. After the consumer has perceived a need to satisfy by the purchase of a product, they begin searching for information so as to be able to make a purchase decision (Kotler, 2000). This means searching information on past experiences with the product brand and how much it will cost. Let’s take for instance making a choice of a movie to watch on a Friday, it will entail simply asking a friends or going through the movie guide in the newspapers. But for a more complex purchase such as a car might entail greater search and of course with an in-depth search such as reading reviews as well as consumer reports and also test-driving cars to make a decision (Hawkins et al., 2001. Internal influence; Consumer perception This as an internal factor is an aspect of how consumers acquire knowledge as well as use information from external sources. It is an important aspect that marketers need in the formulation of a communication strategy (Engel, 1995). Perception is defined as the process through which individuals selects, organize and interpret stimuli into meaningful picture of the world. It is highly associated with the stage of information gathering in the consumer decision process for being the process of gathering information through the senses, i.e. hearing, seeing, touching, smelling, tasting and sensing. In often times, consumers are bombarded with messages on magazines, television, radio and also the internet. With all this advertising information, not all makes it to the brain since they select what information makes there through a process called selective exposure. Within this internal factor lies selective attention, a situation whereby the consumer filters out information based on how relevant the information is important to them and also the selective retention where a consumer may forget information that is important to them. This is why marketers repeat their advertisement to ensure that messages get through the consumer so that they can remember them. In the formulation of communication strategies, marketers are interested in the following processes as part of perception; 1) How consumers sense external information 2) How they attend to various sources of information 3) How this information is interpreted and given meaning 4) How the information is retained Perception is highly dependent on internal factors such as experiences, person’s beliefs, needs, moods, and expectations. As mentioned in the definition, stimulus such as color, size, and intensity influence perception. Alternative evaluation, consumer attitude development and change The consumer moves to alternative evaluation after acquiring information in the information search. Here, the consumer compares the various brands identified as having the capability of solving the need (Churchill & Peter, 1998). For instance, a choice on what smartphone to acquire considering they serve the same need and motive would lead to one coming up with a list. But to be able to get to two products, the consumer reviews them at the alternative evaluation stage (Kotler, 2000). At this stage, the goal of advertising is that of increasing the likelihood that their brand will be included in the evoked set and also be considered in the alternative evaluation (Hawkins et al., 2001). Evaluate criteria comes which are the attributes of a product that are used to compare different alternatives. Using the car purchase example, the evaluation criteria for the consumer would be objective attributes such as the price of the car, the warranty offered, not forgetting the fuel economy. On the other hand there are subjective attributes a consumer will look into and that is the image or the styling of the car. The product attributes as well as the benefits that the consumer associates with any product is very essential since they are the basis on which the consumer form attitudes and then from that decide among the various alternative choices (Hawkins et al., 2001). Internal influence; consumer attitude development and change According to Gordon Allport, attitudes are learned predispositions in response to an object. It can be put as a summary of construct that is a representation of an individual’s overall feeling toward an object. It is true that consumers hold attitudes toward a variety of objects usually important to marketers that includes the celebrity figure used in the endorsement of the brand. It is important to marketers because they summarize theoretically the evaluation of the consumer of the product thereby representing negative or positive feelings as well as behavioral tendencies. For this reason, advertising and promotion comes in to crate favorable attitudes hence changing the negative attitudes (Liviu et al., 2008). Besides influencing the consumer’s decision, attitudes can be used to predict consumer behavior. Scale development and psychometrics are approaches that have been developed in attempts to measure attitudes (De Meuse & Hostager, 2001). The ability to predict attitudes highly depends on the time interval. Importantly also is that experience can form the attitude with a certain product or service such that they will always buy that or not buy it at all (Kirzner, 2001). An example of a child who has never watched the Tombraider computer game may have a positive attitude towards it for just having watched the movie. Personality and self-concept A unique personality is something each consumer has. Personality is the broad concept thought of as a way of grouping and organizing how an individual typically gives reaction to situations. This means that personality combine the psychological makeup with the environmental forces. It includes the underlying personal dispositions as well as the most dominant characteristics. Thus influences the brands and the type of products a consumer purchases. For instance, the type of car one drives or the jewelry a consumer buys is a reflection of one or more traits of their personality. Self-concept on the other hand is the way consumers perceive themselves. It includes their attitudes, self-evaluations, and beliefs. It is through the self-concept that people define their identity which in turn provides for consistent and coherent behavior. It combines with the ideal self-image that is the way an individual would like to be and the real self-image which is the way an individual actually perceives themselves. With the urge by consumers to protect their identity, self-concept is what they largely depend on. For this reason, the stores the consumers buy from, the credit cards they carry, and the products that they buy support their self-image. Marketers on their part consider self-concept as important for it helps in the explaining the relationship between individuals’ perceptions and their consumer behaviors. Lifestyle also features here for it is a characteristic used in segmenting and targeting consumers. It addresses how consumers express outwardly their inner selves in their cultural as well as the social environment. Marketers apply this in their market segments (Liviu et al., 2008). Consumer learning and involvement The process by which consumers change their behavior after they have gained information or after a given experience with a given product is what is referred to as learning. It is the process by which individuals get the consumption and purchasing knowledge as well as the experience that they apply in the future. Learning is the reason one does not buy a product twice, it doesn’t just affect what a consumer buys but it also affects how they buys. The people who have limited information regarding a given product seek out more information than those who have used the product before. To counter this, marketers try getting consumers to learn about their products in various ways. For instance, for someone who is looking to buy a car, the car dealers will offer test drive so as to have a feel of the experience in a given car brand. McDonald’s offered their customers free sample, they do this to get the consumers to try the product and as a result many of the consumers buy it especially right after trying it in the store. One of the learning theories used to explain this situation is the classical conditioning. This is occurs by associating a conditioned stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus so as to get a particular response. The more the conditioned stimulus is linked with the unconditioned stimulus, the faster the learning. This is exactly what advertisers try to do. Conclusion In efforts to satisfy their needs and desires, consumers have been believed to use a five stage model that is a consumer decision making process. Within this five stage model are underlying internal influences that affects their decision making that include, motivation, perception, attitude formation and change, and integration processes. The decision process for this reason can be viewed as a cognitive orientation. The internal influences have possible influences on the behavior of the consumer and more specifically, they have an impact on the different stages of the decision making. These internal influences are important for marketers to consider so as to have the consumers decide quickly on purchasing their product or service. The impact of the marketing concept cannot be overlooked considering that it in return affects the consumer decision making process. References Churchill, G, & Peter, J. P. 1998. Marketing: Creating Value for Customers. Second Edition. New York, McGraw-Hill Engel, J. F., Blackwell, R.D., & Miniard, P. W. 1995. Consumer Behavior. Eighth Edition. Chicago, The Dryden Press Hawkins, D. I., Best, R. D,. & Coney, K.A. 2001. Consumer Behavior: Building Marketing Strategy. Eighth Edition. Boston, Irwin McGraw-Hill Kotler, P. 2000. Marketing Management: The Millennium Edition. London, Prentice-Hall International Kotler, P. 2000. Behavioral Models for Analyzing Buyers, in Gould, J. S. 1979. Marketing Anthology. Marketing Anthology. New York, West Publishing Co. Sorina-Raula, G., Liviu, C., & Georgeta-Madalina, M. (2008). THE ROLE OF ADVERTISING IN THE PURCHASE DECISION PROCESS. Annals of the University of Oradea, Economic Science Series, 895-900. Read More