Consumer behavior refers to the process in which individual consumers decide what, when, where, how and from whom they purchase the goods and services that they need (Pride). Before a consumer makes the decision on buying a particular product or service, there is a factor or some factors that will influence the decision on whether to buy the product and when, where, how and from whom. According to Kotler and Armstrong, the main influences on consumers' buying decisions are cultural factors, social factors, personal factors, psychological factors and situational forces. More than one of these factors can affect consumers buying decision depending on the product or service that the consumer intends to buy. All of these factors have affected have at one time or the other, influenced our decisions when buying different goods and services (Kotler and Armstrong).
Personal Factors
Personal factors that influence our buying decisions include age, occupation, income, and lifestyle. Whenever I want to buy certain things I have to consider some of these personal factors. Whenever I go out to buy clothes, my decision is influenced by one or more of these personal factors (Pride). For instance, I recently went out to do an improvement in my wardrobe since it had been quite some time since I bought some clothes for myself. The decision as to which types of clothes I bought was determined by my occupation and taste and preference. My occupation requires me to use official clothes most of the time (Kotler and Armstrong). These are suits or some neat and presentable casual clothes that I can wear during weekends when am working. My taste is for slim fit clothes, and that's what I bought.
My occupation involves a lot of traveling and sometimes back it dawned on me that I could be better off with a personal car. My decision to buy the car was, therefore, influenced by the dynamics of my occupation. I had to choose a car that can travel for long distances and had low fuel consumption considering my level of income. Above are two purchase decisions that I made based on personal factors.
Psychological Factors
These are factors such as motivation, perception, learning, and attitudes. They are important factors in some of the purchase decisions that consumers make. Sometimes consumers develop certain attitudes towards certain products based on the past experiences that they have had on the product. For instance, the brand of toothpaste that I have used all my life is determined by my attitude towards that brand (Kotler and Armstrong). There are occasions when I have checked the composition for my brand of toothpaste and that of its competitors and realized they were made of the same components. However, I still find it hard to buy another brand even when my preferred brand is out of stock. The second product that I have bought as a result of psychological influence if my laptop. Until recently I was still using the low-speed duo core laptop. However, after watching my colleagues finish their assignments faster and more efficiently using the most modern high-speed laptops, I was motivated to acquire one as well.
Social Factors
These factors include reference groups, family, and social class. The society in which we live in has a significant influence on the purchase decisions that we can make. For instance for a person with his or her family, some of the purchase decisions that they make have to put into considerations the needs of the family. The reference groups; peers that we socialize around also play a significant role in the purchase decisions that we make (Kotler and Armstrong). For instance, sometimes back I bought a television set. The brand that I bought was not really what had been until then, my favorite brand in electronics. I have always been inclined towards Samsung products. However, a majority of my peers use Sony, and they have some solid reasons why they prefer their brand to mine. Eventually, I was convinced and ended up buying the Sony brand. My decision to by that particular brand was as a result of a social factor influence (Pride).
My second purchase decision that was influenced by a social factor is my city of residence. My family has grown up together, and we always like to keep in touch more often and possibly hold family meetings as frequently as possible. My family was, therefore, not comfortable with me moving to a distant city. They preferred that like my other siblings; I should stay around and develop my career from the cities adjacent to our home town (Pride). I gave in to family pressure and decided to stay around.
The knowledge of consumers' buying behaviors is vital for marketing managers. They need to know the factors that different consumers will be considering while making their purchase decisions so that they can use device appropriate marketing strategies. For instance, for products and services targeting youths or college students, it should be understood that their decision making is largely influenced by social factors (Kotler and Armstrong).
Works Cited
Kotler, Philip, and Gary Armstrong. Principles Of Marketing. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2006. Print.
Pride, William M. Marketing Principles. South Melbourne, Vic.: Cengage Learning, 2011. Print.
