The Characteristics That Affect Consumer Behaviour

Study the market, its structure, identify attitudes and behaviours of consumers, this is the first step of marketing. Among the range of behaviours and characteristics of potential buyers, it is necessary to identify homogeneous groups or segments of customers, assess their importance and possible development.

Culture is one of the most relevant elements that can define not only a society but also a country’s cumulative beliefs and system. Often noted as the origins of a country, culture is definitive in the sense that it harbors all the elements that can provide justification on the traditions and norms set by the society for its members. More often than not, the society members follow norms in order to create a harmonious community, and the beliefs and the traditions serve as the poles or grounding rules for each member to follow. Culture is very dynamic in the way that it can change over a variety of foreign influences but what is permanent about it is that original elements about it often lingers with the influences, therefore making it multi-faceted and broad. More importantly, culture serves as an individual and unique trait each society has, and therefore sets it apart from other countries and other societies.

Consumers are the centre of many marketers work. While the consumer is part of the marketing environment, it is also very important to recognise and understand the more personal and specific influences effecting consumers and the nature of the decision making process they use.

Understanding consumer behaviour is essential to succeed in business. As Solomon et al. (2013) stresses, businesses exist to satisfy consumer’s needs. By identifying and understanding the factors that influences their customers, firms have the opportunity to develop a more efficient strategy, marketing message and advertising campaigns that is more in line with the needs and ways of thinking of their target consumers (Perreau, 2015).

Offer- An offer is a proposal involving one of the parties offering something of value to the other party in the agreement. Both parties are allowed to reject the offer. For example, buying a second-hand car, a person interested in buying the car makes an oral offer of $16,000.

Marketing has become more and more important, especially as the purposes of marketing expanded into performing marketing researches. Through marketing researches, it is asserted that marketing starts with a real customer need. Classic marketing, has, nonetheless, focused on making the need that will draw customers, and this stresses the advertising power of marketing (Woodall 2007, p.1284). This is also called the sales concept of marketing (Woodall 2007, p.1285). An example is how advertising lures people into buying a brand, because of the

1. Using the tricomponent attitude model, compare the differences in attitude of consumers towards Kraft Foods versus their attitude towards Vegemite.

In today’s world of various products and services, businesses aim to excel and lead the competition by marketing the most number of consumers, which is a full time endeavor of business. To survive in the market, a firm or an organization has to be constantly innovating and understand the latest consumer trends and tastes. Marketers need to understand consumer behavior because the decision-making process for consumers is anything but straight forward. Consumers’ behaviors and their purchasing patterns is a huge advantage to understanding the way customers think and the reason for their purchases. Therefore, the study of consumer behavior is important because it allows the

Sources of informationTextbooksBevan J, Dransfield R, Coupland-Smith H, Goymer J and Richards C – BTEC Level 3 National Business Student Book 1 (Pearson, 2009) ISBN 9781846906343Bevan J, Goymer J, Richards C and Richards N – BTEC Level 3 National Business Student Book 2 (Pearson, 2009) ISBN 9781846906350Coupland-Smith H and Mencattelli C – BTEC Level 3 National Business Teaching Resource Pack (Pearson, 2009) ISBN 9781846906367Cave S – Consumer Behaviour in a Week (Hodder Arnold, 2002) ISBN 0340849711Dibb S, Simkin L, Pride W M and Farrell O C – Marketing Concepts and Strategies (Houghton Mifflin (Academic), 2005) ISBN 061853203XHall D, Jones R and Raffo C – Business

Thus, the terms culture and society are somewhat interchangeable. Characteristics of culture: Culture is narrow. It prescribes that kinds of behavior considered acceptable in the society. The prescriptive characteristic of culture simplifies a consumer's decision-making process by limiting product choices to those, which are socially acceptable. These same characteristics create problems for those products not in tune with the consumer's cultural beliefs. Culture is socially shared. Culture cannot exist by itself. Members of a society must share it. Thus acting to reinforce culture's perspective nature. Culture is learned. Culture is not inherited genetically; it must be learned and acquired. Socialization or enculturation occurs when a person absorbs or learns the culture in which he or she is raised. Culture facilitates communication. One useful function provided by culture is to facilitate communication. Culture usually imposes common habits of though and feeling among people. Thus, within a given group culture makes it easier for people to communicate with one another. But culture may also block communication across groups because of a lack of shared common culture values. This is one reason why a standardized advertisement may have difficulty communicating with consumers in foreign countries. How marketing efforts interact with a culture determines the success or failure of a

There are four main factors that influence the consumer’s behavior; cultural, social, personal, and physiological. These factors determine what the consumer will buy, why they buy an item, and if they will be a return customer.

2) There are significant differences between the traditional Porsche customer and Cayenne and Panamera customers. The traditional Porsche customer is interested in exclusivity, in having a niche car, different than others. The Cayenne and Panamera customers are also interested in the utility of the car. In other words, they are interested in the storage capacity of the car and in the power of its engine. There are also financial differences between these types of customers. The traditional Porsche buyers have greater financial power in comparison with other buyers. This means that the Cayenne and Panamera customers' purchasing decision process is also based on the price of the car. Therefore,

The buyer decision process of a typical Porsche customer focuses on selecting cars that reflect their high social status, their financial power, and their preference for exclusive products. They are not interested in the utility or price of the cars in comparison with other customers that are interested in how much the car costs, its size, or its fuel economy performance. Porsche buyers also take into consideration the car's performance, but they focus on the sensations they have when driving such a car.

Based on the Model of Consumer Buying Behavior, culture is the most basic source of a consumer's wants and behavior. It lives at the foundation of a consumer's world view. Culture is mostly a learned behavior, being constructed by the society a consumer grows up in. That society "teaches" the consumer basic values, perceptions, wants and behaviors. What a consumer is "taught" can vary greatly in different parts of the world. Marketers need to remember that every group or society has a culture. Cultural influences can and will vary greatly from country to country, social group to social

What makes someone decide to buy ? Many consumers investigate to find the best deals, while others tend to impulse buy. There are four factors that influence consumers behavior. Cultural factors are from the different components related to culture or cultural environment that the consumer belongs. Social factors are the factors that influence consumer behavior significantly. Personal factors influenced by the characteristics of each consumer. Lastly is the psychological factors influenced by the consumers behavior.