Factors influencing consumers Behaviour

The buying behavior of ultimate consumers can be examined using a five- part model: the buying-decision process, information, social and group forces, psychological forces and situational factors.

The buying decision process is composed of six stages consumers go through in making purchases The stages are needed recognition, choice of involvement level, identification of alternatives, evaluation and post-purchase behaviour. Information fuels the buying — decision process. Without it there would be no decisions. There are two categories of information sources: commercial and social. Commercial sources include advertising, personal selling, selling by phone, and personal involvement with a product. owned by someone else social sources.

Social and group forces are composed of culture, subculture, social class, reference groups, family and households. Culture has the broadest and most general influence on buying behaviour while a person and group forces have a direct impact on individual purchase decisions as well as a person’s psychological makeup.

Psychological forces that impact buying decisions are motivation, perception, learning, and personality need. Perception is the way we interpret the world around us and is subject to three types of selectivity: attention, distorting, and retention. Learning is a change in behaviour as a result of experience. Stimulus-response learning involves drives, cues, responses, reinforcement, and punishment. Continued reinforcement leads to habitual buying and brand loyalty

Personality is the sum of an individual’s traits that influence behavioral responses. The Freudian psychoanalytic theory of personality has had a significant impact on marketing, it has caused marketers to realize that the true motives for behavior are often hidden. The self-concept is related to realize that the true motives for behavior are often hidden. The self-concept is related to personality. Because purchasing and consumption are very expressive actions, they allow us to communicate to the world our actual ideal self concepts

Attitudes are learned predisposition to respond to an object or class of objects in a consistent fashion. Besides being learned, all attitudes are difficult to change.

Situational influences deals with when, where how and why consumers buy, and the consumer’s personal condition at the time of purchase. Situational influences are often so powerful that they can override all of the other forces in the buying-decision process.