Understanding Consumer Decision Making Process: Analysis Of Purchasing Behavior

Description of the customers considering psychographic factors

Discuss about the Consumer Behavior and Purchase Intentions.

Understanding consumer decision making process is very important for fulfilling consumers’ demand and satisfying them to the higher extent. In order to understand the decision making process or purchasing behavior of the consumers it is important to analyze their purchase trend (Wang & Yu, 2017). The purchasing behavior of the consumers can be better understood by analyzing the purchasing data of the consumers in the contexts of type of products, price level, time involvement and other available information.

The key purpose of this study is to analyze the purchasing behavior of a customer or consumer considering the factors like, high cost-low costs and high involvement-low involvement of the consumers during purchase. The findings in this study will help to understand how decision making process of the consumers evolves and how the companies can satisfy their customers in the best manner. At the same time, the findings will also make the marketing strategies making process of the company easier.

This report starts with the description of the customers. Customers’ description has been provided considering different factors like, demographic factors, personality traits and psychographic factors. After that the reports moves towards the analysis of overall purchasing behavior and decision-making process of the consumer and along with that the study will also identify and analyze the factors that influence consumers towards purchase. After that the report compares and contrasts the buying behavior of the consumers considering overall purchase.

Age Save Time On Research and Writing Hire a Pro to Write You a 100% Plagiarism-Free Paper. Get My Paper	31
Gender	Female
Marital status	Married
Family	One child and husband. Parents live nearby and have regular contact. Other family members also stay nearby.
Education level	Master degree in business administration
Income	$60,000 per year
Occupation	Human Resource Manager in a nationalised company
Generational cohort	Generation Y
Value segment	Real conservatism and Conventional family life

Description of the customers considering psychographic factors

• Very punctual and organized in daily life
• Loves to spend time with friends and family
• Very conscious about maintaining own health and health of family members
• Very responsible at the workplace and family
• Loves shopping at stores
• Prefers shopping products at standard price
• Tech-savvy

In order to understand the buying behavior of the customer or consumer, it is important to have a clear knowledge regarding the personality trait of the consumer. Here, Big Five Personality Traits model is used to identify the personality traits of the consumer. The application of this model is shown below:

“Big Five” trait	Outofservice.com	Truity.com
Openness	80.00%	91.00%
Conscientiousness	96.00%	90.00%
Extraversion	59.00%	43.00%
Agreeableness	71.00%	77.00%
Neuroticism	41.00%	37.00%

 
Considering the results identified under the big five traits model, it can be stated that the consumer is open minded, which means that she loves to experience new things. The percentages under the trait of conscientiousness are also indicating that the consumer is self-disciplined. At the same time, it is also indicating that the consumer prefers to follow a plan to perform her daily activity systematically. She does not like any sudden change in her life. The Extraversion percentages are at moderate level, which indicates that she is not much fond of outgoing and social activities. She takes part in the social activities but to a limited level. The percentages under Agreeableness are indicating that the consumer is very tactful and friendly. This personality trait helps her maintaining good relationship with other people and avoiding controversies. Neuroticism scores are low, which means the consumer is not much moody or frustrated in her life.

Big Five Personality Traits model

If the data regarding the consumer purchasing behavior in the excel sheet is considered, it can be identified that the purchasing behavior of this particular consumer is influenced by several factors like, alternatives or change, convenience, health, price, quality and taste. Considering the results of the analysis in the excel sheet, it can be stated that convenience is the most important factor that influence the purchasing decision making of this consumer. The count cost of convenience is 8, which indicates while purchasing, this consumer considers convenience factor at first. While analyzing the psychological factors of the consumer, it has been identified that this consumer is very punctual, which indicates that she manages time very efficiently. This is one of the reasons for which she focuses on convenience factor most. At the same time, the excel sheet is also indicating that health, quality and taste are also important factors that play major role in the decision-making process of the consumer. The following diagram is showing the fact:

If the purchasing behavior of this consumer is analyzed using the motivation-need theory of Maslow, it can be stated that the purchasing behavior of this person is highly motivated by mainly three needs – self-actualization need, esteem need and social need. The following diagram is showing the fact:

Considering the above diagram, it can be stated that the score for self-actualization is 9; score for esteem need is 6 and score for social need is 4. There are also two other types of need that have affected the purchasing behavior of the consumer and these two types of need are – psychological need and safety need. If the personal traits and psychological characteristics of the consumer are considered, it can be identified that she is organized and responsible towards her work and family. At the same time, the consumer prefers to follow a plan or systematic way of work, so that she can be successful at any field. These characteristics of the consumer have influenced the self-actualization need. On the other hand, the big five traits analysis has indicated that the consumer is open-minded and she loves to spend time with her family and friends. These characteristics have influenced the social need of the consumer. The consciousness of the consumer towards maintenance of health has influenced the safety need of the consumer.

Therefore, the above discussion has cleared out how the purchasing behavior of the consumer is related to het characteristics. Considering the factors behind the purchasing behavior of the consumer, it can be mentioned that the consumer considers her taste first while making any purchasing decision. On the other hand, the data in the excel sheet is also indicating that the consumer mostly prefer to shop at night. However, she also shops in the afternoon and morning. However, the tendency of purchasing the products and services in the morning is lesser than the afternoon and night. At the same time, it can also be identified that the consumer is comfortable to shop online as well as offline. Moreover, the consumer is tech-savvy. Therefore, companies can attract this type of consumers online and off-line. However, it is also important to note that this particular consumer likes to shop at the stores. Hence, there are more chances that the companies can sell more products to this customer through stores or outlets.

Factors influencing the purchasing decision-making process

If the payment method applied by the consumer is considered, it can be identified that most of the time, the consumer preferred to use the debit card for paying the bill. This is because the c consumer is tech-savvy and so she prefers to carry her debit and credit card. At the same time, it can also be stated that the consumer prefers to maintain safety while purchasing any goods or services.

Analyzing the overall purchasing or buying behavior of the consumer, it can be stated that she is a need-based consumer, who prefers to shop whenever it is needed. This type of consumers makes plan before shopping. In order to attract this type of consumers, companies need to focus particular on the needs of the consumers.

In this study, the focus has been made on the soft drink, which has been described below

Product name	Diet Coke (Coca Cola)
Size	1 ltr
Calories	0
Fat	0
Sodium	40mg
Total carbs	0gm
Protein	0gm

If the decision making process of the consumer is analyzed in detail, it can be identified that there are four different factors that have influenced the decision making process of the consumer and these four factors are – price, easy availability, quality and taste.

Price is one of the major factors that the consumer has considered while purchasing diet coke. As this is a frequently purchased product, the consumer has considered price as one of the major factors while making purchasing decision because most of the time, consumers do not want to spend much money for purchasing frequently used products. Moreover, as a healthy drink, diet coke is available at standard price range, which influenced the consumer for purchasing this product. While analyzing the characteristics of the consumer, it has been identified that she likes to buy the products that are priced at a standard range or affordable range. At the same time, price is such a factor that has not been influenced by any peer.

On the other hand, the quality of the product is also a major factor behind the purchasing decision of the consumer. As the consumer is conscious about the maintenance of health condition, quality became one of the major factors during the decision-making for purchasing diet coke. The consumer does not want to buy any soft drink that has negative impacts on health. Due to this, she has preferred diet coke over the other soft drinks produced by Coca Cola. On the other hand, in the case of diet coke, the above table is indicating that the product includes 0 fats, 0 calories, 0 protein and 0 total carbs. It only includes 40gm sodium, which is good for health. This was the reason for which the consumer has preferred to buy this product.

Analysis of buying behavior

Another important factor that has influenced the consumer for purchasing diet coke is easy availability. At present diet coke is available almost every grocery store. The availability of the product is high. This particular consumer is very conscious about time management. Due to this she does not prefer to buy such a product or soft drink that is not available easily. As she is a working lady, she generally does not have much time to search for healthy soft drinks. Due to this she has preferred diet coke, which is healthy and easily available at stores. At the same time, as diet coke is a healthy drink which the consumer prefers to consume every day. Therefore, easy availability is very important for this product.

Taste is another important factor that has influenced the purchasing decision of the consumer. As it is a beverage item the consumer has focused on its taste. This consumer does not prefer to consumer any soft drink that tastes extremely sweet. Due to that she has not preferred to buy any fruit juice and any soft drink that is extremely sweet in taste.

Therefore, from the overall analysis, it can be stated that the consumer has critically analyzed the soft drink before purchasing the same from stores. The analyzing is clearly indicating that the consumer wanted to buy such a product that tastes good and healthy. At the same time, the consumer has preferred diet coke because of easy availability and affordable price range.

The above analysis of the consumer purchasing decision has been done on a high-involvement product. However, if the comparison and contrast is made on the consumer’s purchasing behavior in respect to the low-involvement products, there might be some differences in the buying behavior. In the case of the high-involvement product, the consumer emphasizes more on the particular factors like, price, quality, taste and availability that are important for the consumer (Mittal, 2017). In the other words, it can also be stated that the consumer thinks deeply while making decision regarding the purchase of high-involvement products. On the other hand, a low-involvement purchase is that in which the consumer does not think critically while making buying decision (Muzellec & O’Raghallaigh, 2018). While making any decision for purchasing low-involvement products, consumer does not think much about the particular factors. However, it is important to be mentioned that consumer does not avoid the factors while making decision for buying low-involvement products (Zhu et al., 2017).

Diet Coke purchasing decision-making process

At the same time, it can also be stated that in the case of making purchasing decision for the high-involvement products, the stages under the need hierarchy theory becomes more effective (Hettich et al., 2017). It means while making purchasing decision for the high-involvement products, the consumer focuses more on her needs at different stages of need hierarchy like, need at self-actualization stage or need at safety stage or needs at esteem stage; whereas, in the case of low-involvement product, the consumer does not think about her need hierarchy while making purchasing decision.

Therefore, it can be stated that, while making marketing strategies, the consumers must consider the type of product for which marketing strategies are being prepared.

The review of consumer buying behavior is indicating that she is a need-based consumer and critically analyzes the product before purchasing. Therefore, it will not be possible to sell any product to this consumer. However, as she wants to try new products to meet her needs, companies can sell new products that meet her needs. However, the companies need to focus on the quality of the products because the consumer is very conscious about the quality of the product. While analyzing the purchasing behavior of the consumer in the context of diet coke, it has been identified that she had prefer to buy diet coke because it is healthy. At the same time, the consumer also considered the availability of the product. As diet coke is available easily at the stores, she has preferred to buy that product.

From the analysis, it has also been understood that there are certain factors that always influence the buying behavior of the consumers. It becomes habit of the consumer to the products that fulfills their needs in respect to those factors. Therefore, while developing the product mix, the company must consider these factors, so that the consumer feels familiar while purchasing. Considering these factors companies can influence the consumers for repeat purchase. It can also be stated that considering these factors is also important for generating and maintaining continuous flow of revenue in the business. Moreover, the companies must consider other opinions and characteristics of the consumers while deciding the marketing strategies. 

Conclusion

In this study, it has been identified that consumer buying decision depends on several factors. These factors may vary from one consumer to other consumers. This study has been conducted on a consumer, who considers price, easy availability, quality and taste as the most important factors while making the purchasing decision. The study has also recommended that the companies must consider these factors while developing product mix and marketing strategies for their products and services.

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