Consumer Behaviour and Decision Making

Discuss about the Consumer Behaviour And Their Patterns Of Consumption.

The aim of this report is to evaluate the expenditure and the purchasing habits of the consumer; stretched over a period of seven days. This report provides an insight on the consumption pattern of the consumer for the duration of seven days. The broader aim of the report is to formulate an understanding of the behaviour of the consumers and analyse their spending power stretched across a period of seven days. An understanding of the consumption pattern of the consumer is crucial in having direction about the right kind of marketing mix strategy that needs to be adopted while making decisions consumption patterns. The term consumer behaviour refers to the process of decision making and actions of people that informs and influences the buying and purchasing power of people (Gu, Park & Konana, 2012). There are ranges of factors that have implications on the knowledge and experience of the consumer and enable the consumers to swift decisions about the products they will buy. Regarding the issue of consumption pattern it has been found that there are some consumers who make quick decisions and there are other consumers who show greater level of involvement during the decision making process. This level of commitment may be understood as the buying decisions that are routine in the lives of the individual. The consumption pattern of the consumer enables to understand the low, high or limited involvement of the consumer. This is not to be confused in terms of products. In case of purchasing a commodity like a house, a consumer may require more involvement.

This paper is concerned with locating and identifying the consumer within the marketing mix and critically analyzes the consumption pattern in terms of demographics, personality traits, identification of the value segments and psychographics. Roy Morgan has envisaged this. The next section of this paper provides an elaborate detail about my consumption patter over the past seven days and analyzes the factors that have informed the decision-making process. The following section of the paper examines the thoughts that went behind in purchasing a high-involvement product in this case a luxurious duplex in Perth. A set of marketing theories, consumer behaviour theories and key concepts of consumption has been used to understand the decision-making process. The final segment of this paper is concerned with the ways marketers tap this information on consumption and consumer behaviour to develop deeper and perspicacious understanding of the consumer behaviour through the techniques and theoretical framework of appropriate marketing theories and concepts.

Psychographics and Demographics

In this case, the consumer has been identified as 30-year old woman Kiwi Wilson who has been recently married and lives with her husband in Perth.  She has earned a combined master’s degree in fashion technology and fashion business from the University of Australia. She owns a promerian dog and takes keen interest in arts and aesthetics. Born in Queensland, Kiwi moved to Perth post her marriage and is currently employed with a fashion print magazine agency. She also has her own boutique store where she sells her signature label.

The consumer, Kiwi Wilson was born in the year 1991 and belongs to the millennial or the baby boomer generation (1985-1997). According to the research conducted by Roy Morgan on the segment of Value Segment, the consumer manifests disposition towards the liberal democratic ideology. This can be assumed from her brand preferences as she is prone to experimentation but at the same time stays loyal to trusted, high-end and luxury brands. She invests her trust in terms of quality as well as trend. She is determined to pay the price for the product given that the product lives upto her expectations and there is quality maintained on the product. She is ready to pay the price for the value of money. Therefore, it can be stated that the consumer, Kiwi Wilson has a penchant for luxury products and yet those that make a statement and enables her to maintain her status.

According to Armstrong, Denize and Kotler (2014), personality and personality types helps in determining as it can be useful in the analysis of the consumer behavior for the purchase of certain kind of products or making decisions in terms of brands. According to Myers and Briggs  Personality Type Test (MBI Typology 2013) the consumer has been recognized as ISTJ that refers to Introversion, Sensing, thinking, Judging). This has the following personality traits like responsibility, analytical, sincere, realistic, reserved, hardworking and systematic, and trustworthy with the ability to make sound judgments (Cornelissen, 2002) People who are classified under this group are an attention towards facts and details and their interest in the present context compared to the future. People under this group are found to be observant and circumspective. These people are subjective, practical, logical, impeccable and well-organized.

In case of the psychographic factors it has been found that the consumer, Kiwi Wilson is a fashion enthusiast and loves collecting dresses. She is also into reading fashion magazines and keeps herself updated with the latest in the world of fashion. It has been found that she is a fitness enthusiast and immensely takes care of herself. She routinely purchases make-up products and spends a considerable amount of time in the gym. She has always been ambitious, driven and an enterprising person. Studies have shown that personal traits have bearing on the consumption pattern of the person and reflect in their choice of products.

Motivational Factors and Purchase Decisions

A quick look through the number of products purchased by the Kiwi Wilson over the period of seven days, it has been found that she has purchased almost 60 products and has spent more than 2 million Australian Dollar. For the week, a record was maintained detailing each of the items purchased by the consumer and the concomitant factors of these products. In the following section, there will be a discussion of the factors that may have influenced the behavior of the consumer in a detailed manner.

Based on the above data it can be stated that the motivational factors involved in the purchase of each of the products of the consumer. The five physiological factors recognized by Noltemeyer, Bush, Patton, and Bergen (2012) comprise of the basic needs that are configured in the hierarchy from the lower to the higher order are indispensable for the existence of human beings.

As per the data entered in Table 1, it can be said that psychological factor plays an important role in a large number of purchases.. These purchases have been recognized by Poston (2014) in Maslow’s hierarchy of the needs this is associated with the most basic needs that includes water, warmth, food and rest. Therefore, it makes sense that why such a large number of purchases that were made over the past few weeks are subsumed within this category.

The data further represents only 13 per cent of the purchases were motivated by the social factor.

It has been found that there are key factors that influence the consumption pattern of the of the consumer. In this case, the biggest influence was in terms of the reputation of the brand (45 %), secondly it was the convenience (20 %) and thirdly it was the quality of the product (16%). In the consumer description, it was mentioned that the consumer being a qualified fashion designer and being conscious about status symbol is inclined towards products based on the reputation of the brand in the market (Rucker & Galinsky 2009). She leads a high-profile lifestyle and therefore, the brand consciousness reflected in her consumption pattern does not come as a surprise.

Some of the products consumed by Kiwi Wilson over the period of seven days is on Day 1 she purchased a Gucci bag, on Day 2 she purchased a Dolce 7 Gabanna sunglass, on Day 3 she purchased tofu and mushroom, on Day 4 she purchased Luis Vuitton shoes and so on. All the purchases made during the one week demonstrate that she is inclined towards luxury products and it is the factor of brand reputation that determines her choice.

Key Purchase Factors

Table 2: Key Purchase Factors

The method of payment adopted the consumer in case of all the products were a combination of credit card, Paypal and shopping credits that she collected on luxury shopping portal. She made a small amount of purchase using the medium of cash nad mostly made payment through credit card.

In the case of Kiwi Wilson, three separate modes of payment have been observed . These are in-store, online and drive through as modes of purchase made over the course of seven days. Since she provides  strong emphasis on luxury labels, purchasing products online is a good option as all the major fashion label have their products available online.

Kiwi Wilson spends a considerable amount of time in the selection of the products as it has been found that she takes between 111 and 20 minutes to make the decision about the product. This demonstrates her attitude to stay on-trend and makes calculative decisions regarding the suitability of the product.

Kiwi Wilson was particular about choosing products that cater to her taste and that would enable her to experiment. Therefore, not much alternative was available in her case.

The term culture refers to the values possessed by an individual that have profound implications on the behavior of the consumer and their pattern of consumption. Business leaders need to understand the cultural factors that inform the decision making process of the consumer. Consumer undertakes a range of unconscious decisions that are informed by the cultural factors in the purchase of the products. Kiwi has shown inclination for brands that are luxury labels, known for their quality and is a status symbol for the consumer. Therefore, it can be stated that she belongs to the affluent class.

The consumer has recently purchased palatial sea-facing duplex. Some of the features of this duplex are as follows- It has two car garage, that is insulated with dry walls and is fire-taped, there are 26 tall vanities in the washroom and  smoke detectors and an alarm to alert about carbon monoxide that comes with a batter back-up.  There are stainless steel appliances, there power coat that guard the metal coat and railings and there are full-length mirrors situated at the top of the vanity. The duplex house has been considered as a high-involvement product due to a number of factors because of the high price of the product ($1,999 AUD), the time invested in purchasing the product as it is a property and involves a lifetime investment.

Payment Modes and Purchase Selection Time

Analysis-Factors that have influenced the purchase of high-involvement product

Purchasing a high-involvement product entails a range of factors. In the stage of recognition, the consumer identifies the need to but a duplex. Since the duplex relates to the real estate it can be stated that it is important as a person will be inhabiting there for the lifetime. Another factor that makes the duplex a high-involvement commodity is that it has a resell value and can be sold to others. It  can also be used for renting for film shoot or organizing events. A considerable amount of money can be made through the duplex. On the hand, the duplex is a luxury property given the features of the duplex. The consumer can stay in a less expensive house, however she chose the duplex as it provides all cutting-edge facilities, scenic view and a spectacular garden that elevates its aesthetic appeal. As per the study of Rageh Ismail and Spinelli (2011), consumers prefer products. In this instance, Kiwi Wilson has purchased the luxury property for a comfortable living especially during the summers.

In the next stage, the consumer has taken the decision through research and information collected on official websites of reputed luxury property companies. This stage is quite lengthy as it involves a considerable amount of time in deciding on the right kind of property keeping in mind that it involves high investment. In this stage she was engaged in browsing through real estate website, reading magazines related to real estates, seeking suggestions from friends, review of the prices, talking with the various real estate agents and speaking to insiders in the field about the product. She has researched and then planned on the purchase. This has involved a deliberate thought.

In case of Kiwi Wilson, the noticeable difference in terms of the purchase of high-involvement product with that of the other products that she has consumed over the week, it can be seen that Kiwi Wilson was keenly engaged in the purchase of the duplex. However, in case of purchasing the other luxury products, it was found that she took lesser amount of time. But at the same time it cannot be denied that she pays a lot of attention to detail and features during the consumption of commodities. The second noticeable difference evident in case of Kiwi Wilson is that in case of purchasing the luxury property (high-involvement product) she undertook a lot of planning and research, sought expert advice and acquainted herself about luxury properties especially duplex. This underscore on the role of the social factor in the consumption of the product. Purchasing a high-involvement renders the consumer with learning more about the product nad involves profound deliberations as envisaged by Tendai and Crispen (2009).

The analysis of the data led to a range of insights. The first influential factor is the role of social factor in informing the decision about purchase of a high-involvement product. In the age of digitization, internet plays an instrumental role and it was manifested in case of online purchase and seeking information about the duplex bought by the consumer. It is crucial that consumers are exposed to range of information while purchasing a high-involvement product. There should be the availability of robust customer service for the consumers as it would enable to seek queries and derive more information about the product. Therefore, a keen understanding of demographic, psychographic, personality and social factors are important in deriving insight about the consumption patterns of a consumer.

References and bibliography

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