Consumer Behaviour & Marketing

Consumer behaviour refers to the way the consumers behave in the market through their various approaches. It is mainly defined by its social, behavioural and psychological elements. The influence of each element has its value in shaping the behaviour of the consumers towards the market. It holds very high importance for companies around the world. Understanding the behaviour of the customers is very essential in forming the marketing strategies of the company. Each element that influences the behaviour of the consumers becomes a key part of forming a company's marketing strategy to make their business grow and sustain. This study will discuss various aspects of consumer behaviour and the way it affects businesses around the world in forming their business marketing strategy.

The thesis statement for the study is that consumer behaviour plays an important role in determining the marketing strategies of the companies.

Contemporary Perspectives on consumption

Behavioural insights for consumption and consumer behaviour propose two modes of thinking- automatic and reflective. People went through two types of thinking in their daily activities and which also define their way of action for their behaviour upon consumption. Automatic thinking makes a person give less effort in their actions. Reflective thinking makes a person give effort before they take an action. Neuromarketing utilises the neuroscientific methods to understand the behaviour of consumers in their act of making consumption. It then develops the marketing methods based on the knowledge, to make the businesses deliver upon the decisions a consumer can make (Stasi, 2018).

Technology plays a great role in determining the behaviour of consumers. It helps the businesses in analysing the consumption activities of the consumers and develops the products and the marketing strategies following that. Technology is used in neuromarketing procedures in understanding the subconscious thinking that determines consumer behaviour a lot. The nature of innovation is based upon the actions that are taken by the consumers in their consumption approaches. By understanding the thinking the consumers can make during their action of purchasing materials and products, businesses can be able to innovate their products following that (Erlangga, 2022). The behaviour of the consumers on social media determines the way they think and act while making purchases. By understanding their interests, the products can be marketed with greater efficiency, allowing the businesses to make better profits. The contemporary perspectives based upon the consumption of humans are very important for businesses in developing efficient marketing strategies to make their businesses perform better.

Individual Decision-Making and Involvement

Individual decision making can be of two types- low involvement and high involvement. It depends upon the situation of the person and the importance of the decision they will be making. When a person has to choose something important to that person, and it requires the person to think before taking a decision, then the person approaches with high involvement decision making. In this type of thinking the recognition of the problem is very important. It becomes the basis for the person to search for the best action. The evaluation of the preferred choices is then done to understand the best one which will apply to the problem to overcome it. After it, the decision is made and the outcomes are faced by the person (Jain, 2019).

Low involvement decision making is approached by a person when the significance of the problem is less. Here, the intention of the person matters a lot in making the appropriate decision. It depends upon the situation, in which the person is. The choice is made based upon lesser thinking and preferring the intention which the person was having (Jain, 2019). Outcomes of making the choice are then faced by the person. The decision that an individual makes in overcoming the situations that come ahead is very important for the companies to analyse. It is an important part of understanding the behavioural aspects of the consumers, to make businesses in building the best marketing strategies to cater for the needs of the consumers.

Importance of Perceptual Processes in understanding individual consumers

The perceptual processes involve the behaviour of people by considering the factors like the stimuli and the processes that determine the reaction of the person. Each factor holds importance in understanding the behaviour of the consumers. Exposure to the stimuli is the first thing. It is the first thing that initiates the reaction of a person. The stimulus is accepted through the sensory organs and the reaction process gets started, which forms the attention, interpretation and response of the person. To develop a good marketing strategy, businesses need to focus a lot on the stimuli, as it is the only thing they can control.

Businesses need to gain the attention of the consumers to get a positive response from the person through the best interpretation. Understanding all the perceptual processes helps businesses in forming effective strategies for the marketing of their products. Products that can draw the attention of a person and bring a positive response from them are mostly based upon the person rather than the product. Therefore, it becomes important for businesses to showcase the right products before the consumers follow their interests and their past activities (Sheth, 2021). Perceptual processes are the actual processes that take place in a human to not just buy anything but to take every decision in real life. Its importance is very high before the businesses, to make them grow with the tastes of the consumers.

Consumers in society

Consumers prefer to use the products that are used and trusted by others. The community in which people live forms the basis of their comparison, choices and guidance while they form their beliefs upon the various products that are available in the market. These groups that play a major role in influence are called reference groups. It becomes an important factor for the companies to consider in creating the image of the products they sell before the consumers. The attitude of the consumers towards a particular business is a significant factor in determining the brand value of the company (Zéman and Bogdan, 2019). The behaviour of the consumers is heavily influenced by the reference groups. Therefore, it becomes important for the companies to form strategies that are aimed at a community rather than an individual.

There are four types of reference groups based on their attractiveness and membership. They are namely contractual or associative, aspirational, disclaimant and avoidance or dissociative. The word of mouth is an essential medium that forms in the social processes of transferring or sharing information among the reference groups. It is usually informal in its form. The information that is being shared is either positive or negative about the services, products and the businesses that served them. Besides this, electronic word of mouth is plays also a critical role in transferring and sharing information by using digital mediums. The sharing of the information can take place in both formal and informal forms, which mainly depends upon the reference group.

Where it is heading - Future Trends in Consumer Behaviour

The development of technology has a great influence on determining and shaping the behaviour of consumers. With the advent of the internet and social media, people have increased their interest from just the available local products of the market to the products that are available around the world. The tracking of metrics will help the companies in determining the behaviour of their consumers. Usage of big data includes the datasets, social media interactions and surveys for the understanding of the human behaviour towards their consumption. The growth of technology has pushed consumers to adopt digital means in meeting their interests and requirements (Tarhini et al., 2018).

Society makes a great influence on the behaviour of the consumers and the way it gets shaped for the future (Tur-Porcar et al., 2018). Finance and society make the organisations around the world make their businesses profitable and sustainable following the conditions of the environment. Contemporary consumer culture, increasing self-sufficiency among the consumers, and other social concerns influence the market and the consumers at a global level. Consumer misbehaviours include deviant acquisition behaviour and deviant usage behaviour. The first one consists of compulsive buying and theft, while the latter one refers to excessive consumption. All the trends play a major role to determine where the market is heading in the area of its behaviour. The technology is developing at an extreme pace and is engaging more people every day to it. To utilise the market is changing itself a lot, it becomes important for the companies to form the best strategies for their diversification.

Conclusion

Consumer behaviour is a very essential part for the businesses to consider to cater to the market's changing needs and interests. It plays an important role in determining the growth and sustainability of a business. There are many ways in understanding the behaviour of the consumers. Businesses and companies can make an approach that covers both the physical and psychological aspects of human beings. By understanding the way customers behave, companies can form efficient marketing strategies in to increase the reach of their products in the market. Social factors also play an important role in determining the face of the market and its situation. By understanding the factors that influence the thinking of people and the way they behave and respond, strategies can be implemented in making marketing fruitful for business organisations. The psychological and social elements of consumer behaviour are very important in understanding them and applying the marketing principles accordingly.

References

Erlangga, H., (2022). The Effect of Product Promotion and Innovation Activities on Marketing Performance in Middle Small Micro Enterprises in Cianjur. Budapest International Research and Critics Institute-Journal (BIRCI-Journal, 4(1), pp.528-540.

Jain, M., (2019). A study on consumer behavior-decision making under high and low involvement situations. IJRAR-International Journal of Research and Analytical Reviews, 6(1).

Sheth, J., (2021). New areas of research in marketing strategy, consumer behavior, and marketing analytics: the future is bright. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 29(1), pp.3-12.

Stasi, A., Songa, G., Mauri, M., Ciceri, A., Diotallevi, F., Nardone, G. and Russo, V., (2018). Neuromarketing empirical approaches and food choice: A systematic review. Food Research International, 108, pp.650-664.

Tarhini, A., Alalwan, A.A., Al-Qirim, N. and Algharabat, R., (2018). An analysis of the factors influencing the adoption of online shopping. International Journal of Technology Diffusion (IJTD), 9(3), pp.68-87.

Tur-Porcar, A., Roig-Tierno, N. and Llorca Mestre, A., (2018). Factors affecting entrepreneurship and business sustainability. Sustainability, 10(2), p.452.

Zéman, Z. and Bogdan, A., (2019). Marketing strategy and building brand value on the Hungarian market. Ekonomicko-manazerske spektrum, 13(2), pp.1-9.

Consumer Behaviour and its Influence on Marketing Strategies

Table of Contents