FACTORS INFLUENCING

CONSUMER BUYER
BEHAVIOR

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Major factors that influence

consumer buyer behaviour
Buying Behaviour is the decision processes and acts
of people involved in buying and using products.
We need to understand:
1.Why consumers make the purchases that they make?
2.What factors influence consumer purchases?
3.The changing factors in our society.
Consumer Buying Behavior refers to the buying
behavior of final consumers -individuals &
households - who buy goods and services for
personal consumption.
These final consumers make up the consumer
market.
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 Consumers buyer behaviour and the resulting

purchase decision are strongly influenced by
cultural, social, personal and psychological
characteristics.
A consumers buyer behaviour is influenced by
four major factors:
1.Cultural factors
2.Social factors
3.Personal factors
4.Psychological factors
Although many of these factors cannot be directly
controlled by marketers, understanding of their
impact is essential as marketing mix strategies
can be developed to appeal to the preferences of
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the target market.

Cultural
Factors
Culture
SubCulture
Social
Class

Social
Factors

Personal
Factors
Age
&
Lifecycle
stage

Reference
Groups
Family
Roles
Status

&

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Occupation

Psycholog
ical
Factors
Motivation

Economic
situation

Perception

Lifestyle

Learning

Personality
&
Self
Concept

Beliefs
&
Attitudes
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CULTURAL FACTORS
Include a consumers culture,
subculture and social class. These
factors are often inherent in our
values and decision processes.
1.Culture
2.Subculture
3.Social Class
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Culture
Culture
is
the
learned
values,
perceptions, wants, and behavior from
family and other important institutions
Culture is the most basic cause of a
persons wants and behavior
Culture
reflects
basic
values,
perceptions, wants, and behaviors
Cultural shifts create opportunities for
new products or may otherwise
influence consumer behavior
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Subculture
Subculture are groups of people within a culture
with shared value systems based on common life
experiences and situations. Subcultures include
nationalities,
religions,
racial
groups
and
geographic regions.
Major subculture groups in the U.S.A include;
Hispanic consumers, African-American consumers,
Asian-American consumers, and Mature consumers
Many brands now target specific subcultures with
marketing programs tailored to their specific needs
and preferences.
For example, P&Gs Cover Girl Queen cosmetics
line was inspired by Queen Latifah to celebrate
the beauty of women ofCBcolor.
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Social Class
Social classes are societys relatively
permanent and ordered divisions whose
members share similar values, interests, and
behaviors.
They include;
1.Upper class
2.Middle class
3.Working class
4.Lower class
Social classes are measured by a combination
of
occupation,
income,
education,
wealth, and other variables
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The Major American

Social Classes

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SOCIAL FACTORS
Include groups (reference groups,
aspirational groups and member
groups), family, roles and status.
This explains the outside influences
of others on our purchase decisions
either directly or indirectly.
1.Reference groups
2.Family
3.Roles & Status
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 Reference Groups and social networks

Membership,
Reference,
and
Aspirational groups
Marketers attempt to reach opinion
leaders within groups important to
target market
Opinion leaders are recruited as brand
ambassadors or for buzz marketing
Online social networks allow marketers
to
interact
with
consumers
e.g.
Facebook, Twitter, Orkut, My space,
Twoo etc.
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 Family
Strongly influences buying behavior
Gender stereotypes for certain types
of purchases are relaxing in the U.S.
Children are very influential, and
have substantial disposable income
of their own
Roles and status
Role = Expected activities
Status = Esteem given to role by
society
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PERSONAL FACTORS
Include such variables as age and lifecycle
stage, occupation, economic circumstances,
lifestyle (activities, interests, opinions and
demographics), personality and self concept.
These may explain why our preferences
often change as our `situation' changes.
1.Age & Lifecycle stage
2.Occupation
3.Economic situation
4.Lifestyle
5.Personality & Self-Concept
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Lifestyle
A persons pattern of living as expresses
in his or her activities, interests, and
opinions.
Lifestyle is expressed in terms of an
individuals psychographics.
People within the same subculture,
social class, and occupation may have
different lifestyles. Thus people often buy
the lifestyles represented by products or
services
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 Personality
Refers to the unique psychological
characteristics that distinguish a person or
group
Generally defined in terms of traits
Can be useful in analyzing consumer
behavior for certain product or brand
choices
Brands may also have personalities

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PSYCHOLOGICAL
FACTORS
Psychological factors affecting our
purchase decisions.
1.Motivation
2.Perception
3.Learning
4.Beliefs and Attitudes
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Motivation
A motive is a need that is sufficiently pressing
to direct the person to seek satisfaction.
The term motivation research refers to
qualitative
research
designed
to
probe
consumers hidden, subconscious motivations.
Consumers often dont know or cant describe
why they act as they do.
Thus, motivation researchers use a variety of
probing techniques to uncover underlying
emotions and attitudes toward brands and
buying situations.
According to Maslow, human needs are
arranged in a hierarchy. Starving people will
take little interest in the latest happenings in
the art world.
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Maslows Hierarchy of
Needs

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Perception
A process by which people select, organise and
interpret information to form a meaningful
picture or word.
Selective attention
selective distortion
selective retention
All these cause people to perceive things
differently.

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Learning
Changes in an individuals behavior arising
from experience
Occurs due to an interplay of drives,
stimuli, cues, responses, and
reinforcement
Strongly impacted by the consequences of
an individuals behavior
Behaviors with satisfying results tend to
be repeated

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Beliefs and Attitude

A belief; is a descriptive thought that a
person hold about something
An Attitude; is a persons consistently
favourable or unfavourable evaluations,
feelings and tendencies towards an object
or idea.

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