The decision on whether businesses should consider the purchase behavior in the prediction of life changes is relative. This is because; the purchasing process by a consumer is a complex issue that can be influenced by both the internal and external factors. Behavioral changes by any consumer can be attributable to external factors (Duhigg 13) such as peer pressure, or internal factors (Duhigg 14) that may aim at preventing the life changing event from occurring. The two factors, which are both the internal and external factors, can affect the demand of a given commodity by a consumer in stores such as wall mart, and this will also be dependent on the level of marketing that has been implemented by such a firm (.Duhigg 17) It will therefore be right for businesses to be allowed to use the purchase behavior of consumers in the prediction of life changes, depending on the level of marketing that has been implemented by such a business.
The reason as to why businesses should use the consumer purchase behaviors in predicting of life changes is because consumers tend to portray four types of behavior. These are; routine response, imperfect decision making, broad decision making, and impulse buying which does not require planning (Samli 13). In routine response, a business will be able to predict life changes to regardless of intensive or non intensive marketing; in that the consumer will frequently buy items that they are used to buying (Samli 17). For instance, wall mart does not want to advertise pampers to the lactating mothers, since it is obvious that such women will end up purchasing the product even without being enticed to do so.
When it comes to imperfect decision making in terms of consumer behavior (Ariely 13) there are some products that are not often used by a given group of population. An example in this case is fashionable outfit among the elderly. For instance, wall mart stores cannot pay much attention on advertising the current trends in fashion to the elderly, since the youths are the ones who are more cautious when it comes to fashion. Broad decision making among consumers can also be applicable by a business in determining life changes (Samli 21). For instance, wall mart stores along with other businesses that are capable of predicting the life changing events, are better placed in assessing extensive decision making that are made by the consumers, in relation to the products that are rarely purchased by a given segment of the population. In this case, the firm can decide to undertake intensive marketing over such products, with the aim of determining whether there will be improvements in the consumer purchase behaviors over such products.
Businesses should be allowed to use the purchase behavior of the consumers in the prediction of life changes. This is because, a business that deals with goods and services that are capable of influencing a life event, is capable of weighing the demand of the consumers. In this regard, a fall in demand for such products that have influence on life changes will mean that the probability of such event happening is lessened. For instance, when wall mart experiences a fall in demand on the purchase of academic materials that may be needed by individuals for them to graduate, it can be predicted that the number of graduates will reduce.
In conclusion, life changes can be easily determined by businesses through the use of the consumer purchase behavior. This is evident from the above discussion, such that a fall demand for the goods and services that are related to events such as graduation will mean that the number of graduates will reduce when all factors relating to marketing by a business remain constant. It is therefore recommended that, the businesses should be permitted to use the consumer behavior in providing a prediction on life changes, since firms offering goods and services are better placed in assessing the trends in demand (Ariely 7).
Work Cited
Duhigg, Charles. The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business. New York
: Random House, 2013. Print.
Samli, A C. International Consumer Behavior in the 21st Century: Impact on
Marketing Strategy Development. New York: Springer, 2013. Print.
Ariely, Dan. Predictably Irrational. HarperCollins, 2008. Print.
