Consumer Decision Process - Literature review Example

Consumer Decision Process Name Institution Date Introduction Buying a new car is a serious decision where the buyer has to consider a number of factors before purchasing. The consumer decision is impacted by internal and external influences from the time of perceiving a need through to the post-purchase phase of consumer decision making. Internal factors that impact consumer decision making include attitudes, perception, personality, lifestyle, roles, motivation and knowledge (Kotler et al 2002). Internal influences are factors that are within the person that play a role in the consumer decision making process. They are contrasted with external factors which come from other people or outside the environment. Some of the external factors that impacts the consumer decision making process include culture, group membership, purchase decision and purchase situation. Other external factors include family influence, opinion leaders, age, gender, family life-cycle stage (Lamb 2009). This paper investigates the impact of external and internal influence on the real life purchase of a car by a young University student. The study starts by introducing the purchaser and providing his brief profile. Secondly, the paper analyzes how internal factors affected the purchase decision of the subject of the case study. Secondly, the paper investigates the impact of external factors on the purchase decision of the subject. Finally, the paper provides a conclusion on how internal and external influence impacts the purchase of high-involvement product such as cars. The Purchaser My childhood friend, Jason Miller recently purchased a Dodge Challenger SRT to drive to and from classes at the University of Sydney. Jason was able to buy the car after getting a loan from his father as it would ease his commute to the university. Jason says he bought the Dodge Challenger as it is a thrilling ride and it enhances his identity. The next two section of this report will discuss how internal and external influences impacted Jason’s decision to purchase the Dodge Challenger. The Impact of Internal Influences Self-concept Self-concept comprises of a number of internal influences including perception, attitudes, beliefs and self-evaluations. According to Lamb (2009), individuals are always striving to achieve an ideal self and many will not make purchases that compromise who they believe to be. Jason believes he is a young, hip trendsetter and wants to enhance this image by driving the famed Sports Car. The Dodge challenger is advertised as the choice car for the young, hip generation and those who are looking to have fun. It has been shown that consumers make purchases that narrow the gap between their real self and an ideal self-image (Hawkins, Best and Coney 2010). The dodge challenger also fits Jason’s lifestyle as he likes to take long drives with friends and he also drives to the beach each weekend with his friends to surf and play beach volleyball. Perception Perception is concerned with a person’s reaction to stimuli in terms of Smell, sight, touch, taste, and hearing (Hawkins, Best and Coney 2010). Perception is concerned with how people perceive the world around them and how it influences their purchase decision. The sights and sounds of cars are important influences on the purchase intention of a new car especially for consumers who consider car performance important (Lamb 2009). Perception is a significant factor in Jason’s decision to purchase the Dodge Challenger. Jason has been an admirer of cars with big engines; car and racing movies are among his favorite entertainment. When we watched Fast and the Furious at the cinema, Jason started talking about buying a performance car like the one driven by the stars of the film. The media has promoted the Challenger as a mean, masculine car for the toughest people who wish to get behind the wheel (Solomon 2016). Jason also perceives the Challenger as a machine that proves his manhood and appeals for his taste for adventure. Motivation The motivation of a consumer in making a purchase is concerned with fulfilling a particular need (Hawkins, Best and Coney 2010). For example, hunger motivates people to walk into restaurants and order meals. The Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs helps to understand the motivation for making various purchase decisions. According to the model, a purchase is made to fulfill the following needs Physiological, safety, social, esteem, and self actualization (Lamb 2009). Jason decision is based on the need to travel between his parent’s house and the university campus which are more than 50 kilometers apart. Jason also fulfils the social need of identifying with his fun-loving friends by having a sports car. In addition, the car also serves Jason’s esteem needs as he confessed he feels proud in driving his own sports car. Beliefs and Attitudes Beliefs and attitudes are also important influences on purchase decisions. According to Chon, Pizam and Mansfeld (2012), belief is a knowledge about the world that a person holds to be true or false. Jason’s belief that the Dodge Challenger SRT is the best, most appealing and fastest sports car led to his decision to purchase the car. The Car’s well developed brand image as shown in various American motion pictures contributes to the perception that the Challenger is a car that increases a person’s social prestige (Mullen and Johnson 2013). External Influences External factors also operate in conjunction with internal factors in influencing the purchase intention of individuals. External influence arises from an individual’s interaction with other members of the society. Some of the strongest external influences on purchase decision include culture, social class, family, opinion leaders and family (Kotler et al 2002). Cultural Influences Culture influence many dimension of individual behavior including how they dress, what they eat, how they feel, and how they make decisions (Chon, Pizam and Mansfeld 2012). In many cases, consumers are not aware about the impact of cultural influence on their purchase decision. Culture is an important factor in Jason’s purchase decision as it impacts the time of purchasing a first car and the type of car he decides to purchase. In our middle income neighborhood there is a well developed subculture. Among the peculiar norm is an unspoken rule that a parent should purchase a car for their male children before they join university. For Jason, the time to purchase a car came when he received his admission letter to the University of Sydney. Social Reference group Social reference groups are important influences on the purchase decision of various individuals. In this case, Jason’s reference group is the students they school with and the group of surfers they rides the waves together. According to Hawkins, Best and Coney (2010), an individual is likely to use brands and products that enhance his popularity and acceptance in a given reference group. Some students at Jason’s campus own sports car while most of his surfing buddies drive similar cars. Jason also consulted his friends and Colleagues regarding the choice of car he should purchase. Social reference groups influence consumer purchasing behavior in three distinct ways: First, the reference groups influence perception and provide information about brands and products; secondly, norms within the group either stimulate or constrain consumer behavior; finally, social reference group determine the aspiration of an individual (Kotler et al 2002). Obviously, part of the reason Jason purchased a sport car was to increase his popularity among his friend and colleagues at both the University and the surfing club. Family Family is also an important influence on the consumer decision making process. In many cases, the children learn their consumption trends from their parents and start to behave like their parents (Lamb 2009). Jason’s father was a strong influence in the latter decision to buy a sports car instead of an ordinary Sedan. Jason’s Dad currently drives a Ford Mustang Sports Car and has owned several other sports cars in the past. When he loaned Jason the money to purchase his fast car he advised him not to buy an ugly and slow car. Jason also consulted his younger brother who spends most of his leisure time playing racing game on Play Station before making the purchase decision. Conclusion It is imperative for businesses to understanding the external and internal influences that impact the purchase decision of the consumers of their products. The factors that influence the consumer buying decision are important in determining the attributes a product should have. In this case, the internal influence and external factors are shown to play a significant role on the car that a 20 year university students decides to purchase. Jason decided to purchase a Dodge Challenger as his first car as it helps enhance his self-concept as a hip, fun-loving university student. Secondly, Jason is motivated to make the purchase so he can satisfy the need for a means of travel to class. However, the car also fulfils Jason need for sense of belonging to his group of fun-loving friends. Jason also perceives the Car as proof of his manhood and is always thrilled to show his new ride around. However, Jason purchase decision was also influenced by other people including his family, friends and social reference groups; these form the external influence on Jason’s consumer decision. References Chon, K.Y. Pizam, A. and Mansfeld, Y., 2012. Consumer behavior in travel and tourism. Psychology Press. Hawkins, D.I., Best, R.J. and Coney, K.A., 2010. Consumer behavior. Mcgraw Hill Higher Education. Kotler, P., Armstrong, G., Saunders, J.and Wong, V., 2002. Principles of Marketing, 3rd European Edition, Pearson Education. Lamb, C.W 2009. MKTG. Cengage Learning Mullen, B. and Johnson, C., 2013. The psychology of consumer behavior. Psychology Press. Solomon, M.R., 2016. Consumer BehaviorBuying, Having, and Being: Buying, Having, and Being. Pearson. Read More