N2N571 Marketing and Management

Introduction:

Consumer behavior is a complex process which involves a variety of factors impacting decision making for a particular product (Solomon, 2012). The scope of a marketer is to analyse various factors that have an effect on consumer behavior then trying to mold various factors such that a consumer is attracted towards a particular product and makes decision towards purchasing it. The scope of this current report deals in analysis of various influences as internal and external, that might impact consumer behavior from their respective interviews (Özsomer, 2008)

For the purpose of this analysis there are two different consumers selected Mr. Neil Watson, who has recently purchased an Apple  iPhone 7 and Mr. Ronan Bradley who has purchased Microsoft Lumia 930. Both the consumers are from Ireland, Dublin area, while Mr. Neil Watson is the Marketing Head for Abbott Laboratories, Mr. Ronan Bradley works as a store level executive in Lidl. Product preference for both the consumers are different that can be understood from their purchase decision. While one has opted for an expensive product proposition the other person has opted for an average product. The first consumer has selected the product according to his social status and the other person has selected the product due to his personal need (Dahl, 2013). Analysis of purchasing decision for both the users and the factors influencing are undertaken as below.

Findings

Interview from both the consumers revealed the following findings regarding the product and its features;

Interviewee 1: Mr. Neil Watson

Findings 1: He went accompanied with an associate for purchasing a phone. His colleague had an iPhone and deeply recommended the product to him. He belongs to a high class society thus, his choice for product is governed by the demographic factor of class (Jaakkola, 2007).

Findings 2: He found the phone features very attractive and the pricing that matched his status. He has a high preference towards brands as he mixes with elite class of people where he often needs to show off his status.

Findings 3: He believes that due to the high price of the phone it will deliver good features. From his past memory he recalls that all other leading brands in the market he has used but they were not satisfactory and the phone often hanged after two years of usage.

Findings 4: From his attitude he found the phone feature to be attractive and fast that could display various reports (Holzwarth, 2006). He could also use the phone for his professional needs for various demonstration and the phone also possessed features of high storage space.

Interviewee 2 : Mr. Ronan Bradley

Findings 1: While working at a retail store in the night shift, he managed to break the LCD of his screen. He was depressed from the incident as he had to keep a phone and purchasing a new one would mean additional expense. His product choice was mainly governed by personal need of having a phone.

Findings 2: He comes from a middle income household, where he happens to be the sole earning member. So, any additional expense was a difficult decision for him to make (Darley, 2010).

Findings 3: His economic status drive him to purchase the phone as its features were quite basic. According to him the phone is durable for prolonged usage and is more hardy compared to the last brand he possessed.

Findings 4:Microsoft designs Windows phone with features that can support users to access various types of Apps and make phone calls. Ronan has heard from his friends group as well as colleagues that Microsoft generally has high product performance (Kengthon, 2010). Thus, his friends and colleagues were instrumental in influencing his product purchase decision.

Analysis

Analysis of the results from the interview reveals various factors that motivated the individuals into making the purchase decision related to the product.

Analysis 1 - Social factors: A predominant external influence on consumer behavior is social factors. Consumers make preferences for various products according to the society they belong to. Thus, marketers mold communication strategies by highlighting or linking social factors along with the product (Varadarajan, 2010). As in this case the first consumer made selection for iPhone purely on basis of its social class and not on its features. For the second person social class was not a determining factor that influenced his choice, but he confirmed selection of the product according to his social class the middle income group as well.

Analysis 2 - Personal needs and motives: While product purchases are not always governed by personal needs they might be often related to motives. Often marketers make push sales by creating a gap between the desired state and actual state in consumer minds. As in the first case the purchase decision of the consumer behavior was solely motivated by the launch of iPhone 7 and owning an expensive trendy product. The interviewee expressed his needs to possess the product as a way to depict his consumers, colleagues and others regarding his social status (Quester, 2007). While in the second case it can be well understood that product purchase decision was governed by need arising from breaking of LCD screen of the last phone he possessed.

Analysis 3 - Cultural factors: Cultural factors are emotional needs that a consumer identifies with a particular product. Culture can be used as a means to gratify consumer needs and also fulfill them. In the first case of the interviewee the product price and the esteemed possession of the phone was deemed to be necessary according to his culture. But for the second case, the interviewee reflected that his cultures taught him to save and expend less. Hence, the product preferences greatly differed.

Analysis 4 - Attitudes: Companies make themselves aware regarding the attitudes of its target consumers by means of market study (Rust et al., 2010). For Apple users they are aware of the modernized features that their users are looking forward to and the various Apps. Apple iPhone creates a craze in its product launch such that there is a high demand for the product. For Microsoft, they generally prefer soft launch and there is no rush to purchase the product, hence attitude of the consumers also vary.   

Analysis 5 - Segmentation: Marketers often segment their consumer on various segments according to age, gender, income levels, education levels and so on. For iPhone users that segment is high income group consumers and for Microsoft it is middle income group.

Analysis 6 - Target Market: A specific target market is developed of each product by marketers such that they can effectively market their products. For iPhone the target market can be attended to by providing exclusive services to them and for Microsoft it can be low pricing strategy.  

Conclusion:

Analysis of various factors form the interview of the consumer purchase decision making process reflects that apart from product characteristics. Factors that influence consumer decision making process are internal and external factors. While internal factors include perception, personal factors, personal beliefs and attitudes cultural factors, external influences includes social factors, environmental factors and so on. While both the consumers were driven by personal needs to make purchase of a phone, one made a decision to purchase a phone that suits his social status while the other person just made sure that his needs were met according to the specified budget. Thus, marketers of both the companies made sure that product features were communicated to consumers, advertisements and other forms of communication were made to attract target consumers segment.   

Reference:

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