Factorsthatcanaffectconsumerpurchasingdecisions.doc

Examine factors that can affect consumer purchasing decisions. Evaluate the implications of this for the ways companies market their goods

Introduction
In marketing, consumer purchasing decision is very important to influence companies market their goods, because consumer purchasing decision decide companies strategic plan. Customer purchasing decisions have a series of segments; it is a process of customer purchasing behavior. The customer purchasing decisions process consists of stimulating needs, gather information, evaluation, risk analysis, implementation, and purchasing behavior (Fishbein 1975). There are a lot of factors can affect consumer decisions making, on the whole, there are two main parts, one is individual factor which includes personal factors and mental factors, another part is environment factors such as price, brand name, product characters, customer service and social impact (McMullan 2008). Some researchers think that individual factors firsthand affect consumer decision making, but some researchers argue that environment factors direct impact both individual factors and consumer decision making. This essay partly agree their both opinions, the essay will argue that the individual factors which include personal factors and mental factors and environment factors such as price, brand and social factor affect to consumer purchasing decision, also individual factors and environment factors both impact each other, each factor will give supporting points and against points, also examples will be given. The essay focuses two main points, first is individual factors, and second is environment factors.

Individual Factors
The individual factors have personal factors and mental factors, they are main reasons to impact consumer purchasing decisions, and consumer purchasing decisions are main effect to companies strategy in marketing, so companies must rely on individual factors to produce their production.

Firstly, Personal factor has two points; they are stabilizing factor and random factor. The stabilizing factor may affect range of decision making. The stabilizing factor is personal character, such as age, income, and career (Fishbein 1975). For example, a professor and a government officer, they have same salary, but they may have different distribution of salary, because their work features result in their different demands. According to consumer different features, the companies can give different level productions. For instance, in mobile phone shop, there are some expensive mobile phones for businessmen, also some cheaper mobile phones for students. Above cases showed that personal features can impact companies market to produce different good to consumers. About random factor, it must have especial situation and conditions, so it may have little effect to consumer decision making.

In addition, mental factors include attitude and experience. First, a lot of research show that consumer’s past experience and knowledge can impact their attitude and purchasing desire, this reason may conduce marketers makes packing of goods look like interesting. Beerli (2004) point out that purchasing behavior primarily used by the purchasing desire, attitude is one factor of purchasing desire, attitude through purchasing desire to affect consumers purchasing behavior. For example, when consumers buy products, there are a lot of features may be given attitude by consumers, such as price, design of products, brand, advertisement of produces, and service quality, therefore the attitude of production and companies of consumers decide stratagem of companies, also it impacts production of companies output. Second, a good customers experience can help companies hold resource of consumer. The experience is a result by past knowledge and skills, the result of personal behavior strongly impact process of gather experience. A good experience let consumers may choose same products in next time, for example, a man who bought a sort of brand cigarette, if he very enjoy this brand cigarette, he may buy it again next time. The experience will result in new products to succeed or fail, so when new products are born, the marketer usually give tries for consumers, such as Tango drink. A successful experience may help companies hold consumer’s heart, but an unsuccessful consumers experience will let companies lose their consumers (Fishbein 1975). This claim has stress the mental factors may change costumers mind; this will affect consumers final decision making. In fact, individual factors can not exist alone, because there is an interactive relationship between individual factors and production, they affect each other.

However, personal factors are subjective factors of consumers, it only depend individual subjective factors. Although marketers struggle to know personal factors, but marketers only can know a few personal factors, because there are some personal privacy problems and individual features are not easy to understand. According to Szymanski (2000) that individual factors can impact companies marketing stratagem, also it may misguide companies to produce frustrated production, if companies understood wrong individual factors. Other anti points, mental factors are subjective factors of consumer too; it is more difficult to understand than personal factors for marketers. The attitude factors have randomicity and dependent reasons, the attitudes fully depend on personal emotion, for example, and when consumers shopping, they may want to buy something is not in their shopping plan. Also it was impacted easier by visual sense, such as advertisement on TV. The experience of consumer could be important, but there are a lot of productions never given to try, such as valuables, therefore the public praise are more important than the experience of consumer. As Swaminathan (2000) claim that the experience is necessary, but it may be not important in all industry. This view argues that the attitude and experience factors are not important in all industry, it partly was agreed, the attitude and experience factors are necessary, they also are important in all industries, because there are not conditions to try in few industries, if possible, they will try too.

Environment Factors
The environment factors include three factors; there are price factor, brand factor, and social factor. The environment factors could impact individual factors, they also affect consumer decision making, because the environment factors have the most interactive between consumers and marketers.
Firstly, price factor is concernful factor to affect consumers decision making. Compare price of same production, consumers usually do this before they buy products. Marketer efforts to reduce costs of production, and consumers want to pay lowest cost to buy production, so the cost is important for both of them. The competitive price will allure most people to shopping, Dawar (1994) state that 85% of consumers concerned about the price, competitive prices is an important factor, and it may stimulate consumers to spend more money in USA. For example, odd pricing is very popular pricing in UK, we usually can find it in supermarkets, such as £0.99, £9.99, these pricing can give consumers a psychology pricing, such £0.99, it is max price under £1, when consumers who buy this pricing product, they may feel better, because their psychology pricing may be 1 pound. Matos (2009) also claim that consumers perceptive pricing affects consumer decision making, instead of real pricing. This claim has shown the pricing can impact production of companies output, it also can affect psychology pricing of consumers, the pricing is most weight age in consumer mind, so the pricing is really important factor for consumers and companies both.

Secondly, the brand factor can hold a group consumer for companies marketing. Familiar extent may impact consumers to choose their glad brand, this basic on experience of consumer. As familiar extent increase, consumers will feel products are reassuring when they make decisions. For example, people who bought a computer, he has compared his computer with other brand computer, he found his computer is better than other one, he may want to know more information about this brand for next shopping. The famous brands is a good sample for above argument, because the famous brands had too many advertising in media, we always can see them, if we live the city, consumers known them even they have not any purchasing experience of famous brands. Dawar (1994) show that many consumers like to buy famous brands, rather than buying an unknown brand on internet in USA. The state has give a clear famous brands effect, and it point out people who want to buy something, the famous brands will be first choice on internet, it has shown the brand effect is important for companies marketing stratagem.

Thirdly, social factors may result in consumers to make settled and group decision making. It has two main parts, there are role and family factors and stratum factor(Hoffman 1997). A person who can be different roles in different place, for example, a man is a manager in his office, also he is a father in family, personal roles do not only impact people common behavior, it could affect consumers purchasing behavior. A man also is a father in family; he may make decision to buy settled things in family such as car, garden tools. Companies may consider above problem and produce related production. Social stratum is a similar social status of an open group, open means that individuals can freely enter and leave group (Harvey 1998). For example, students and officers, for deferent stratums, companies may provide disparate production for consumers, such as bus card, students may have students bus card, children may have children bus card. As Oliver (1999) claim that companies usually face a group making decision in stratum factor, companies should gingerly consider stratum factor. This claim has discussed social factors give companies settled and group decision making, this is especial decision making of consumers, it may be important for companies, because there are some evidences are not very clear.
In fact, the environment factors may mostly affect individual factors, because the environment factors are main referrence when consumer shopping it also can give more choice to consumers, but in sometimes, environment factors never can affect individual factors.

However, the environment factors are necessary and important in marketing, but it can not influence individual factors sometimes. First, in common situation, price is very important for consumers, and low price is really absorbing, but if people who do not need this product, they never want to buy it even the price is very low. For example, men who never want to buy women’s especial items even it is low price. Secondly, the brand effect is not huge effect in consumer decision making. If condition allowed, people usually want buy famous brands, but we know there are a lot of common shop in shopping centre, such as ZARA, H&M, they also produce fashion products, but it is not expansive, this show consumers consider brand, price and fashion, they will find a balance between brand and fashion, so brands are thought by consumers, but fashion and price are more important than brand. Thirdly, social factors do not make settled and group decision making. Although there are deferent role in deferent place, a role may handle settled decision making, but the role may change, if role change, decision making will be changed, so it is not really settled. Group decision making has same issue, because social stratum is a similar social status of an open group, because it is opened, so it may change in all time, companies can not easy to catch group decision making, so it is not important to consumer decision making. Sherry (1990) point out that individual factors and environment factors both affect each other, but they all should be considered for consumers decision making. This claim shown individual factors and environment factors are alternating, when consumers buy products, their may be affected by multifold factors.

Conclusion
In conclusion, there are individual factors and environment factors to affect consumer purchasing decisions. Individual factors are necessary, companies should depend on individual factors to produce their good, it is partly right, because companies need to know consumer’s demand, then they produce goods for consumers, but it is not easy to understand by privacy and psychology, so it may accelerates companies are successful or unsuccessful. Environment factors impact individual, because people always are allured by price, brand, but there are some especial items for male or female, something consumers never want to buy even it is very cheaper. Consumers usually find a balance between price, fashion and brand, but price and fashion more important than brand. The essay partly agree both opinions, because individual factors and environment factors are interactive to each other, and they both impact consumer purchasing decision.

Reference
Beerli, A., Martin, J. and Quintana, A., (2004), A model of customer loyalty in the retail banking market, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 30 No.1/2, pp. 253-275.

Dawar, N. Parker, P. (1994). Marketing universals: Consumers ‘use of brand name, price, physical appearance, and retailer reputation as signals of product quality. Journal of Marketing, (2) 81-95.

Fishbein. M, Ajzen. I. Belief. Attitude (1975). Intention and Behavior: An Introduction to Theory and Research. Reading : addison-wesley.

Harvey, J., (1998), Service quality: a tutorial. Journal of Operations Management, Vol.16 No.5, pp. 582-97.

Hoffman. D. L, T. P. Novak. (1997). A New Marketing Paradigm for Electronic Commerce. The Information Society, Special Issue on Electronic Commerce , 1, (2) : 43-54.

Matos. C. A, Henrique. J. L, and Rosa. F, (2009), The different roles of switching costs on the satisfaction-loyalty relationship, International Journal of Bank Marketing, Vol. 27 No. 7, pp. 506-523.

McMullan, R. and Gilmore. A, (2008), Customer loyalty: an empirical study, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 42, No. 9/10, pp. 1084-1094.

Oliver, R.L. (1999), Whence Consumer Loyalty? Journal of Marketing, Vol.63, pp.33-44

Szymanski. D. M, Hise, R. (2000) Satisfaction: an initial examination. Journal of Retailing, (2) 309-322.

Sherry, J. F. (1990). A Socio-cultural Analysis of a Midwestern American Flea Market. Journal of Consumer Research, (17) 13-30.

Swaminathan, V. E. White ,B. P. (2000). Browsers or Buyers in Cyberspace? An Investigation of Factors Influencing Electronic Exchange. Journal of Computer Mediated Communication , (12), 15-22.