There are different reasons behind the arguments on consumer choices as influenced by different factors within the market. Through a clear understanding on the consumer choices on the products and services available in the market is critical for marketers in relation to developing marketing strategies towards meeting the target audiences. The impact of such situations is cases where the marketers largely develop strategic marketing approaches that largely influence consumer’s decision making and choices. In relation to the proffered approach and reflecting on the personal experiences, it is evident that apart from the personal tastes and preference factors contributing into decision making, marketers tend to have marginal influence on making either a good or bad choice in the market.
There are two aspects that largely define personal decision making in purchasing products in the market. These aspects are; internal influences and external influences (Toivanen, 2004). Under the internal influences different factors tends to define my personal buying behaviors. Some of the variables attached to the internal influencing factors are; motivation, perception, attitudes, learning, personality, self-confidence, life style, age and gender (Hutt, 2004). These factors not only define my personal buying behavior but also that of every consumer purchasing a given product in the market. The perception on a given product is largely based on some of these factors hence largely contributing to decision making process during the product or service purchasing process.
External factors on the other hand are based on the external surroundings with variables such as family, household, opinions from those in authority, word of mouths, culture, social class, and groups among other factors. These factors largely contribute to decision making of every consumer in the market in relation to the type of good or service purchased by a given consumer in the market.
In the market, marketers incorporates information from some of the influencing factors depicted above to develop strategic marketing approaches aimed at propelling consumers to make a given purchasing decision based on their targets. In the recent purchasing personal decision, marketers facilitated the purchase of a product that failed to offer value as availed in the marketing campaign as developed by the marketers. The advertisement of the product argued that the product offers unique services largely satisfying the consumer needs. However, upon the purchase and the use of the product, it was evident how the product availed minimal and lower attributes as availed in the marketing strategy. Although marketers tend to over speculate the benefits of a given product in the market, they can also provide essential information on new products in the market that meets the required consumer needs (Speh, 2004). They informs consumers on the newly innovated products and services as availed by the manufacturers hence allowing the consumers to access more efficient and highly beneficial products and services.
In conclusion, consumer buying decisions are largely influenced by different factors ranging from the proffered internal and external factors to situational factors or influences plus the marketers role. Under the situational factors, the consumers tend to be influenced by the physical surrounding, social surrounding, time, antecedent states, and purpose of the purchase. Marketers are currently playing a critical role in defining the decisions of consumers on products and services available in the market. Through detailed market research on consumer buying behavior, they are able to develop strategies aimed at influencing targeted consumers on purchasing a given product in the market.
References
- Fred Balboni, (2011), Business Analytics and Optimization, IBM Global Business Services
- Toivanen, Otto and Michael Waterson, (2004), “Market Structure and Entry: Where's the Beef?” RAND Journal of Economics, forthcoming
- Hutt, M.D., Speh, T.W. (2004) Business Marketing Management. Hagerstown, MD: South-Western
