The
four main factors that affect consumer behaviour they are:
1.
Consumer
Behaviour – Cultural factors
2.
Consumer
Behaviour – Social Factors
3. Consumer
Behaviour – Personal factors
4. Consumer
Behaviour –Psychological factors
1. CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR – CULTURAL
FACTORS
Culture
plays a very vital role in the determining consumer behaviour. Culture is the
essential character of a society that distinguishes it from other cultural
groups. This can sub be divided into the following;
Culture and Values: The underlying elements of every culture are
the values, language, myths, customs, rituals, and laws that shape the behavior
of the culture, as well as the material artifacts, or products, of that
behavior as they are transmitted from one generation to the next. Culture is
pervasive. What people eat, how they dress, what they think and feel, and what
language they speak are all dimensions of culture. It encompasses all the
things consumers do without conscious choice because their culture’s values,
customs, and rituals are ingrained in their daily habits. A firm has little
chance of selling products in a culture that it does not understand. Like
people, products have cultural values and rules that influence their perception
and use. Culture, therefore, must be understood before the behavior of
individuals within the cultural context can be understood. Colors, for example,
may have different meanings. Culture is a very complex belief of human
behaviour it includes the human society, the roles that the society plays, the
behaviour of the society, its values customs and traditions. Culture needs to
be examined as it is a very important factor that influences consumer behaviour
and it also affect manager’s decision.
Sub-Culture: A culture can be divided into subcultures on
the basis of demographic characteristics, geographic regions, national and
ethnic background, political beliefs, and religious beliefs. A subculture is a
homogeneous group of people who share elements of the overall culture as well
as cultural elements unique to their own group. Within subcultures, people’s
attitudes, values, and purchase decisions are even more similar than they are
within the broader culture. Subcultural differences may result in considerable
variation within a culture in what, how, when, and where people buy goods and
services. Sub-culture is the group of people who share the same values, customs
and traditions. You can define them as the nation, the religion, racial groups
and also groups of people sharing the same geographic location. This will
indirectly affect the decision of managers.
Social Class: Society possesses social class; in fact every
society possesses one. It is important to know what social class is being
targeted as normally the buying behaviour of a social class is quite similar. Social
class is typically measured as a combination of occupation, income, education,
wealth, and other variables. For instance, affluent upper-class consumers are
more likely to be salaried executives or self-employ professionals with at least
an undergraduate degree. Working-class or middle-class consumers are more
likely to be hourly service workers or blue collar employees with only a high
school education. Educational attainment, however, seems to be the most
reliable indicator of a person’s social and economic status. This factor
affects the manager decision. Therefore; managers should indicates which medium
to use for advertising. An insurance company wanting to sell its policies to
middle-class families might advertise during the local evening news because
middle-class families tend to watch more television than other classes do, but
if the company wanted to sell more policies to affluent individuals, it might
place a print ad in a business publication. Managers should also know what
products appeal to which social classes can help marketers determine where to
best distribute their products.
2. CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR – SOCIAL FACTORS
A
social class is a group of people who are considered nearly equal in status or
community esteem, who regularly socializes among themselves both formally and
informally, and who share behavioral norms. Social factors are also subdivided
into the following:
Reference groups: Under social factors reference groups have a great
potential of influencing consumer behaviour. Of course its impact varies across
products and brands. This group often includes an opinion leader. For
marketers, reference groups have three important implications:
·
They serve as
information sources and influence perceptions.
·
They affect an
individual’s aspiration levels
· Their norms
either constrain or stimulate consumer behavior. Understanding the effect of
reference groups on a product is important for managers as they track the life
cycle of their products.
Family: The behaviour of a consumer is not only
influenced by their motivations and personalities but also their families and
family members who can two or more people living together either because of
blood relationship or marriage. The family is the most important social
institution for many consumers, strongly influencing values, attitudes,
self-concept—and buying behavior. For example, a family that strongly values
good health will have a grocery list distinctly different from that of a family
that views every dinner as a gourmet event. Moreover, the family is responsible
for the socialization process, the passing down of cultural values and norms to
children. Children learn by observing their parents’ consumption patterns, and
so they will tend to shop in a similar pattern. The family influence manager
decision as the family is the most important social institution for many
consumers.
Role and status: People who belong to different organizations,
groups or club members, families play roles and have a status to maintain.
These roles and status that they have to maintain also influences consumer
behaviour as they decide to spend accordingly and this also influence manager
decision.
Under
social factor, consumers decision making process affect the manager decisions,
therefore; Managers should consider social class of the consumers, which has to
do with reference groups, family, role and status in purchasing situations
along with the distribution of consumer and decision-maker roles. Ordinary
managers view the individual as both decision maker and consumer.
3. CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR – PERSONAL
FACTORS
A
number of personal factors also influence the consumer behaviour. In fact this
is one major factor that influences consumer behaviour. The sub factors under
personal factor are listed below.
Age and life cycle stage: Age of a consumer and his life cycle are two
most important sub factors under personal factors. With the age and the life
cycle the consumers purchase options and the motive of purchase changes, with
his decisions of buying products change. How old a consumer is generally
indicates what products he or she may be interested in purchasing. Consumer
tastes in food, clothing, cars, furniture, and recreation are often age
related. Age and life cycle of consumer will affect manager decision.
Occupation: Occupation of a consumer is affects the goods
and services a consumer buys. The occupations group has above average interest
in buying different products and services offered by organizations. In fact
organizations produce separate products for different occupational groups. If
this is true, then it will affect will affect manager decision.
Financial or economic situations: Everything can be bought and sold with the
help of money. If the economic situation of a consumer is not good or stable it
will affect his purchase power, in fact if the consumers or the economy of a
nation is suffering a loss it defiantly affects the consumers purchase or
spending decisions and this indirectly affect manager decision.
Life style: People originating from different cultures,
sub cultures, occupations and even social class have different styles of
living. Life style can confirm the interest, opinions and activities of people.
Different life styles affect the purchase pattern of consumers and will also
affect manager decision.
Self concept and personality: Every individual is different and have
different and distinct personalities. Their distinct personalities and distinct
physiology effects their buying decisions. Hence purchase of products and
services defers from person to person. Manager decision is greatly influenced
by the personality of the consumers.
4. CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR –PSYCHOLOGICAL
FACTORS
An
individual’s buying decisions are further influenced by psychological factors:
perception, motivation, learning and experience, and beliefs and attitudes. These
factors are what consumers use to interact with their world. They are the tools
consumers use to recognize their feelings, gather and analyze information,
formulate thoughts and opinions, and take action. Unlike the other three
influences on consumer behavior, psychological influences can be affected by a
person’s environment because they are applied on specific occasions. For
example, you will perceive different stimuli and process these stimuli in
different ways depending on whether you are sitting in class concentrating on
the instructor, sitting outside of class talking to friends, or sitting in your
dorm room watching television.
Motivation: Motivation is activating the internal needs
and requirements of the consumer. It can also be described as goals and needs
of the consumers. Motivation arouses and directs the consumers towards certain
goals. These needs can be psychological needs, needs of security, social needs,
esteem needs and also self-actualizing needs.
Perception: Perception is sensing the world and the
situations around and then taking a decision accordingly. Every individual look
as the world and the situations differently. The judging ability and capacity
of every individual is different and hence the look at the world differently.
This is what separates the decision taking abilities.
Learning and experience: Learning is the research of products and
services before the consumer takes the decision of buying a product. Learning
and self-educating these days is done online and also in groups. Experience is
taking a lesson from the past experiences of a product and service. Learning
and experience both again play an important role in influencing the consumer’s
behaviour as it influences their purchase decision.
Attitude and beliefs: Attitude is a consumer’s favorable and
unfavorable emotional condition or emotional feeling, also its tendency of
reaction to certain actions and behaviours. Beliefs of people that are the
belief that people assume the products to be as make the specifications of the
products. Hence attitude and beliefs are also important and need to be taken
into consideration while studying human behaviour. Under
the Psychological factor, consumers decision making process affect the manager
decisions in perception, motivation, learning and experience, and beliefs and
attitudes of the consumers. These factors are what consumers use to interact
with their world. Therefore; Managers should consider these factors in
gathering and analyze information, formulate thoughts and opinions, and take
action in decision making.
Thanks for reading, i believe this information was beneficial to you. You can drop your comment or email me on eghosa4christ@gmail.com.
Live your best dream, I value you!
No comments:
Post a Comment