The Concept of Psychological and Social Factors - Coursework Example

? Environmental and consumer influence analysis Environmental and consumer influence analysis Introduction Krispy Kreme donut or doughnut is a fried dessert food that is prepared as sweet snack and is sold in supermarkets, grocery stores and franchised specialty outlets. Krispy Kreme donuts consist of different ingredients and different shapes. Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc produces more than 5 million donuts daily and has market presence in more than 40 US states and other foreign countries such as United Kingdom. The company has attained consistent expansion and growth in revenues due to high-quality doughnuts that attract consumers. Accordingly, the company allows customers to make online orders. Numerous psychological and social factors influence consumers in purchasing Krispy Kreme donuts. Some factors include personal attitudes, perceptions, motives, personality, social class, reference groups, and family (Harrison, 2012). Consumers perceive the donuts as high quality and affordable. In addition, the hot donuts motivate consumers to make an impulse purchase since they have a strong visual appeal when displayed in the stores (Wright, 2006). One of the psychological factors that influence consumer towards purchase of Krispy Kreme donuts is motive of the consumer. The motive refers to the internal energizing force that influences an individual’s activities towards the satisfaction of a certain need (Blithe, 2008). The motives of purchasing the donuts include hunger, need for self-esteem and recognition. Eating Krispy Kreme donut is like a status symbol. Another factor that influences consumer behavior toward the donuts is personal perceptions (Harrison, 2012). Consumers perceive the donuts as healthy, tasty and nutritious due to their existing thoughts and beliefs. In addition, advertisements on billboards have led to positive perceptions on the company’s donuts (Blithe, 2008). Attitudes also influence consumer behavior toward Krispy Kreme donuts since consumers have created a positive image of the donuts. Consumers’ experience with the donuts and interactions with other consumers has created a positive image of the brand thus leading to high customer loyalty (Harrison, 2012). Consumers usually retain information that conforms and reinforces their attitudes towards the consumption of a certain product in making the purchase decision (Wright, 2006). Accordingly, consumer personality will determine the consumer behavior towards the purchase of a particular product (Blithe, 2008). Personality encompasses the traits and values that make an individual unique due to personal experiences or hereditary factors. Some aspects of personality include agreeableness, extroversion and adaptability. Individual who are more friendly, ambitious, agreeable and adaptable are more likely to consume the company’s donuts (Blithe, 2008). There are several social factors that influence the consumer behavior toward the purchase of Krispy Kreme donuts such as the family members and reference groups of the individual consumer. The family is the basic unit of socialization and different family members play critical roles in influencing the consumer behavior of an individual towards a certain product (Wright, 2006). Family roles and consuming preferences model children behavior through imparting social and cultural values regards to consumption of certain products (Blithe, 2008). American families prefer consuming fast foods from supermarkets and grocery stores especially confectionary foods. In this case, the decision of either a mother or father to consume Krispy Kreme donuts will also influence the children to consume the same product. Accordingly, each family life cycle such as newly married couples or older married couples will display a unique consumer behavior towards the demand for donuts. For instance, older married couples encourage their children to consumer donuts (Harrison, 2012). Another social factor that influences consumer behavior toward Krispy Kreme donuts is the social class of the consumer. The income levels, occupation, race, education and wealth of an individual define the social classes. Krispy Kreme donuts are popular among upper-middle class and middle class Americans (Wright, 2006). These categories of consumers include the social elite, the professionals in corporate world, students, middle level managers and college graduates who prefer eating the donuts due to sense of esteem and social class status (Blithe, 2008). The middle class prefer quality and tasty donuts that are appealing while displayed in the stores. Accordingly, these social classes prefer making their shopping in supermarket outlets thus purchasing a larger quantity of the donuts from the supermarkets. Lastly, reference groups will also influence the consumer behavior towards Krispy Kreme donuts. Any consumer has a reference group that he or she identifies with and assumes some of the group values, behaviors and attitudes (Harrison, 2012). Some reference groups include professional associations, working groups and social groups like sporting groups. For instance, consumers who belong to a reference group that holds positive attitudes and values towards consumption of Krispy Kreme donuts are likely to purchase the donuts (Blithe, 2008). External factors that affect consumer behavior There are several external environment factors that affect consumer behavior such as political environment, legal environment, social environment, ecological environment, cultural environment, technical environment, and business ethics (Blithe, 2008). Political factors Several political factors have affected the consumer behavior towards Krispy Kreme donuts. Some political factors that have facilitated the high demand for the donuts include stable US government and little political legislation towards confectionary foods (Harrison, 2012). However, the specialist eateries industry has faced high number of unionization of workers and political calls for the legislation of the minimum working hours and conditions (Wright, 2006). Currently, the tax policies and trade tariffs are favorable for the sale of donuts in the market (Blithe, 2008). The US workers are currently demanding for increase of the minimum wages. Accordingly, the US political landscape is worried about the current increase in obesity and other diet related diseases. In this case, some government departments are calling for the reduction in foods with high fat content (Harrison, 2012). Social environment The current social environment is favorable for consumer behavior towards consumption of Krispy Kreme donuts. The current markets are experiencing a growth in population. Accordingly, the consumers have a habit of going out to eat and drink at the same time thus these social attitudes of consumers towards consumption of donuts will not change in the future. The US consumers have positive attitudes towards careers thus the increase in population growth rate will lead to high number of workforce in need of Krispy Kreme donuts. After boycotts of several fatty products in 2008, Krispy Kreme doughnuts, Inc reduced the fat levels in the donuts thus attracting high number of consumers who are conscious about their health. The US and UK eatery industry holds several events and shows that are aimed at highlighting the bakery techniques and increasing awareness on the nutritional content of the donuts. The sophisticated lifestyle of consumers will mean that more consumers will continue buying the donuts as a symbol of recognition and self-esteem (Blithe, 2008). In addition, consumers have positive opinions and attitudes towards the company due to high brand recognition and customer loyalty. Krispy Kreme doughnut, Inc is committed to continuous publicity and advertising thus the company will be able to influence the perceptions of the consumers towards the donuts. The social environment influences the purchase need such as need to satisfy hunger, self-esteem or need for recognition (Harrison, 2012). Accordingly, the social environment influences information search since many consumers search information from both internal sources like perceptions, attitudes and external sources like family, social groups or reference groups (Harrison, 2012). Technological environment The technological environment is conducive for survival and profitability of Krispy Kreme donuts. The recent technological changes have revolutionized the nature of preparing and purchasing of the donuts in the market (Harrison, 2012). For instance, improvements in food preparation technology has made it possible to preserve the nutrients, add variety in terms of flavor and shape and ultimately make the donut appealing to the consumers. On the other hand, e-commerce and online shopping technologies has made it possible for home delivery and reduction of the need to maintain physical stores (Harrison, 2012). Krispy Kreme donuts will attract high number of customers due to online orders, home delivery and physical presence in strategic locations of the cities. The technological environment assists consumers in searching information on available donuts that satisfy the consumer need and in making the purchase decision (Wright, 2006). For instance, customers can use e-commerce to purchase the donuts and making post-purchase evaluations such as complaints or recommendations for change in bakery techniques (Blithe, 2008). Conclusion Several psychological and social factors influence consumer behavior in making the consumer purchase decision. Psychological factors include attitudes, motives, personality and perceptions of the customer. Social factors include the immediate relationships of the customer such as family, social classes or reference group of the consumer. These factors influence the purchase need, the sources of information search and the process of evaluating different alternatives of satisfying the purchase need. The external environment such as political, social and technological environment will also affect the behavior of a consumer while making the purchase decision. The social environment affects the attitudes and opinions of consumers towards a product while technology will influence the manufacturing and distribution channels of the product. References: Blithe, J. (2008). Consumer behavior. London: Thompson Learning. Harrison, J.S. (2012). Foundations in strategic management. Cincinnati: South-Western. Wright, R. (2006). Consumer behavior. London: Thompson Learning. Read More