FACTORS AFFECTING CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

DEFINITION

Consumer Behavior is the study of individuals, groups, or organizations and the processes they use to select, secure, use, and dispose of products, services, experiences, or ideas to satisfy needs and the impacts that these processes have on the consumer and society

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AREAS COME UNDER THE UNDERSTANDING OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

Psychology

Sociology

Anthropology

Marketing

Economics

WHY WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND THE CONSUMER BEHAVIOR IN MARKETING

Marketing is actually a battle with the thought of a person. Marketer should know how to make consumer’s decisions on buying. For this marketer should have a good knowledge about how targeted consumer behaves.

Better understanding will result absolute marketing which lead to make consumer’s decision on buying good or service which marketer markets.

FACTORS AFFECTING CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

According to the famous marketing philosopher prof. Philip Kotler, Consumer Behavior will produce as a cooperate result of many factors. He categorizes those factors as follows.

1. Cultural Factors

2. Social Factors

3. Personal Factors

4. Psychological Factors

SOCIAL FACTORS AFFECTING ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

Humans are social animals. They learn many more things from society. Also society have some what great influence on human behavior. This influence should be considered as important to understand regarding consumer behavior.

SOCIAL FACTORS INFLUENCING CONSUMER BUYING DECISION CAN BE CLASSIFIED AS FOLLOWS

Reference Groups

Immediate Family Members

Relatives

Role In the Society

Status In the Society

REFERENCE GROUPS

Reference groups comprise of people that individuals compare themselves with. These Groups again classify as follows

Primary Group - consists of individuals one interacts with on a regular basis.

Examples- Friends, Family, Relatives etc.

Secondary Groups – Secondary groups share indirect relationship with the consumer. These groups are more formal and individuals do not interact with them on a

regular basis. Example - Religious Associations, Political Parties, Clubs

ROLE IN THE SOCIETY

Each individual plays a dual role in the society depending on the group he belongs to.

Example - An individual working as Chief Executive Officer with a reputed firm is also someone’s husband and father at home. The buying tendency of individuals depends on the role he plays in the society.

SOCIAL STATUS

Purchase of some goods and services reflect the social status of the customer. That means when in making a decision about choice, consumer’s social status has a high influence.

example – lower middle to lower class people buy food which are cheap. They need only to suppress their

feelings of hungry.

Absolutely this is for surveillance.

But when it comes to the regular role of a upper class person he search about many brands with many

wants instead of full filling his need basically.

PERSONAL FACTORS AFFECTING CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

Occupation

The occupation of an individual plays a significant role in influencing his/her buying decision. An individual’s nature of job has a direct influence on the products and brands he picks for himself/herself.

Ex- CEO of a company usually prefers a luxury goods and services, like wearing globally reputed watch, clothes, Shoes etc. But a person like a naturalist , who usually prefers to be with nature differs significantly with that CEO. Most of time this like persons wear hard clothes, Boots like shoes etc. Eating behavior like most of things show significant difference.

AGE

With our age, our needs and wants show some significant evolution. Persons in different ages have different needs and wants. Therefor consumer behavior is greatly influenced.

A bachelor would prefer spending lavishly on items like beer, bikes, music, clothes, parties, clubs and so on. A young single would hardly be interested in buying a house, property, insurance policies, gold etc. An individual who has a family, on the other hand would be more interested in buying something which would benefit his family and make their future secure.

ECONOMIC CONDITION

The buying tendency of an individual is directly proportional to his income/earnings per month.

How much an individual brings home decides how much he spends and on which products? Ex- Expense for lunch , difference between a laborer and the owner of

the company varies according to their economical conditions.

LIFESTYLE

Lifestyle, a term proposed by Austrian psychologist Alfred Adler in 1929, refers to the way an individual stays in the society.

It is really important for some people to wear branded clothes whereas some individuals are really not brand conscious.

An individual staying in a posh locality needs to maintain his status and image.

An individual’s lifestyle is something to do with his style, attitude, perception, his social relations and immediate surroundings.

PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS AFFECTING CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

Decision a consumer going to make is related to mind of a person. So, consumer behavior is affected by psychological factors.

Many psychological factors can be identified.

Motivation

This refers to which motivate individuals to purchase products and services.

Eg- Peter buy a Pepsi to drink at 12.00 clock

motivation factor - Thirsty

PERCEPTION

What an individual thinks about a particular product or service is his/her perception towards the same. For someone a Dell Laptop might be the best laptop while for others it

could be just one of the best brands available.

Individuals with the same needs might not purchase similar products due to difference in perception.

LEARNING

Learning comes only through experience.

An individual comes to know about a product and service only after he/she uses the same.

An individual who is satisfied with a particular product/service will show a strong inclination towards buying the same product again.

CULTURAL FACTORS AFFECTING CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

Culture tell us the basic or accepted pattern of behavior. When in marketing to understand the particular consumer’s behavior he or she should well aware about the culture that consumer belongs.

Many cultural factors affects on consumer behavior. Among them below factors are significant

Subcultures Each culture further comprises of various subcultures such as religion,

age, geographical location, gender (male/female), status etc.

SUBCULTURES

Eg1- Religion

Most of times religion comes with the birth. But it is a cultural factor which the infant belongs. When this infant grows, family and other society try to teach culture as well as religion.

This brings many rituals, norms etc. on personal behavior.

As a consumer he most of times don’t expect exclusions to these routine behaviors. Ex- Muslims never eat pork, they prefer Halal foods

Hindus and some Buddhists prefer Vegetarian meals

STATUS (UPPER CLASS, MIDDLE CLASS AND LOWER CLASS)

People from upper class generally have a tendency to spend on luxurious items such as expensive gadgets, cars, dresses etc.

You would hardly find an individual from a lower class spending money on high-end products.

A person who finds it difficult to make ends meet would rather prefer spending on items necessary for survival. Individuals from middle class segment generally are more interested in buying products which would make their future secure.

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