Factors influencing consumer behavior

  

Knowing the people to whom the products are target is the best technique to provide things and satisfy them with their requirements. There are several factors found out for understanding how the consumer behavior. They are explained below.

Psychological factors

Psychology has a direct influence on consumer. This is felt within the individuals. The different psychological factors are: The first one is need and motivation. A buying process starts with recognition of need. Need is an internal stimuli that gets motivated. There are two kinds of needs; primary and secondary. According to Maslow’s hierarchical model, there are five needs

·         Physiological need

·         Safety

·         Social needs

·         Esteem

·         Self actualization

  The second comes the perception. Perception is the process of selecting, organizing and interpreting one environment to make a sense. It is the action of five senses in the body. The perception of one individual to a product is different from another. The third point is learning. Learning is the process of gaining knowledge through one experiences and interaction. Learning starts from getting stimuli from the environment. The repeated buying of a product experience a learning behavior.

 Cultural factors

   Culture is the set of values and believes that one holds in his life. This is acquired from one’s life time. The marketer should understand the culture of the country to provide right products and services to the consumers. Sub culture is another component which comes under culture. Sub culture is the culture inside the culture is known as sub culture. India has a culture and each state and district has different culture. These differences play a role in understanding consumer behavior.

   Social factors

                 Man is a social animal. He cannot run away from the society and his responsibility to the society. Reference group is the first point discussed. This is the group in which persons are referred to. This is the group in which people interact and deals with society. Every individual will be a member of any group. The group’s norms and behavior determines the consumer behavior. Family is another social factor influencing consumer behavior. Family is the group in which people are associated by blood relation or marriage. Family influences the purchasing behavior of the individuals.

Personal factors

  These are the factors related with an individual when he is there to take a purchase decision. The age of the person is the first personal factor. Age is a crucial factor. Parents decide the needs of their child. When the child grows, he starts selecting his interests. Occupation comes the second factor. Occupation is another important factor. The interest of the people towards a product may be different according to their occupation.

   

Consumer buying process

Buying is a crucial process for a consumer. He has to prepare at least for a minute. Before buying a product one will go through lot of thinking and analyses. In case of cheaper products buyer will take decision fast. But cases like students are purchasing a laptop, or an employer buys a car, goes through a long span of time with analysis and thinking. Today the world is dumped with thousands of products. The consumer always gets confused with the thinking of which one he will purchase? The following stages a common buyer passes through.

                    Recognition of a need is the first stage. When a person feels that he is lacking something, there arises a need. This is the first stage of a buying process. A need may be internal or external. When one feels thirst, hunger is an internal stimulus. When one feels a need because of the influence of the society it is an external need. After the need is identified the buyer will search for the products. There he will be finding thousands of products and its information. Here the consumer will collect maximum information regarding the products. He will collect the information from advertisements in newspaper, TV, radio, websites etc. also asks for friends and relations for information.

          

When the search is over, he will start for alternative products. After the collection of information, this process involves the classification, analysis and evaluation of the different alternatives available in the market. After the evaluation process the consumer will find which alternative bring favorable need satisfaction to him. Then the next stage leads a prospect to the purchase decision. Here he pays the products which he ranked first. This purchase may leads to a trial purchase or a repeat purchase.

   

For a marketer, after selling a product doesn't stop the duty to monitor these consumers. He has to look the consumers and has to find out whether he is satisfied or dissatisfied with the product and services. The marketer should understand; the behavior which may be higher satisfaction or neutral or below satisfaction.

Characteristics of consumer behavior

Consumers are nowadays known as the god of market. They should be treated or worshiped by quality products and services. A satisfied customer brings profit consistently. So the marketer should understand the customer properly. He has to understand how one customer behaves in the purchasing time. Consumer behavior can be explained as all social, psychological and physical behavior of consumers as they become aware of evaluate, purchase, consume and tell others about the products and services.

Characteristics of consumer behavior are:

Consumer behavior is the part of human behavior. This cannot be separated. Human behavior decides what to buy, when to buy etc. This is unpredictable in nature. We cannot say that what an individual is going to do in the next moment. Based on the past behavioral pattern one can at least estimate like the past he might behave.

Learning the consumer is difficult and complex as it involves the study of human beings. Each individual behaves differently when he is placed at different situations. Every day is a lesson from each and every individual while we learn the consumer behavior. Today one may purchase a product because of its smell, tomorrow it may vary and he will purchase another due to some another reason.

Consumer behavior is dynamic. A consumer’s behavior is always changing in nature. The taste and preference of the people vary. According to that consumers behave differently. As the modern world changes the consumer’s behaving pattern also changes.

Consumer behavior is influenced by psychological, social and physical factors. A consumer may be loyal with a product due to its status values. Another may stick with a product due to its economy in price. Understanding these factors by a marketer is crucial before placing the product to the consumers.

Study of consumer behavior is crucial for marketers. Before producing a product or launching a product, he has to go through a clear analysis of the consumer behavior. If the people or prospects reject the product, he has to modify it.

Consumer behavior is a continuous process as it involves the process starts before the buying and continuing after purchasing. Before buying there will be high confusions and expectations about the product. After buying it, if the buyer is satisfied with the product he shows a positive behavior , otherwise negative.

  

marketing information system and marketing research- Difference

Marketing research is the systematic method to find out the solution for marketing problems. To find out the solution is a difficult process as it involves several steps to go. Management information system is the man machine combined system which provides information for decision making. Difference between MIS and Marketing Research are:

MIS is always focused on preventing the problems and the marketing research is focused on solving the problems are the first difference under discussion. MIS handles the data to prevent and predict the problems. Marketing research is for the past happening and its solutions. Marketing research deals with both internal and external data used for solving the problem and MIS focused on external data. MIS is mainly focused on external environment and also MIS is a continuous process. It stands as a watch dog of the organization where as the marketing research is the tool for finding a particular problem.MIS rates as a wide concept in which the marketing research also includes. But marketing research is narrow concept.MIS future oriented to preventive nature and marketing research is past oriented to find out a solution for a past problem or a postmortem.

The importance of management information system and marketing research are discussed. The first point is providing relevant data. An organization always seeks for the updated data that can be used for the accurate decision making. A company producing consumer electronics needs the data relating to the best technology and innovation coming in the market. This possible when there is a good marketing research wing is functioning in the organization. Also the management information system facilitates the information handling for such purposes.

Learning the consumer behavior is another importance. The behavior of the consumer of a product is important for the survival of an organization. The marketing research focused on knowing the consumer behavior brings the information of the tastes and preference of consumers regarding the product. Management information helps to maintain a clear record for these activities. Also these are the tool for facing competition. The information about the competitor is a crucial tool to face them. To make the strategic decision in a competitive environment we may use a marketing research program to find out the competitors product features and consumer attachment to the product.