Jason G.

Mesina
1. A. Psychological Factors That Influence Consumer Buying Behavior
Motivation and Need
Needs motivate buying behavior. You buy food when you're hungry, protective gear
to feel safe, brand-name clothing to look stylish, education to enable
accomplishment and self-improvement to reach self-actualization, the pinnacle of
psychologist Abraham Maslow's hierarchical pyramid of needs. The more basic they
need, the greater the priority it assumes in driving consumers to fulfil it. If you can
convince consumers that your product or service meets one of their motivating
drives, you can convince them to buy what you're selling. Advertising can help
associate a product with need fulfilment.
Perception, Attention, Distortion and Retention
The selective way in which the human mind views the world around it and the
information that reaches it forms the basis of perception. To get attention, you can
use shock tactics, surprise, humor or any device that makes people watch and
listen. Once you get consumers' attention, you must induce them to remember your
message without filtering it through the "distortion field" of their outlooks and
mindsets. Repetition helps make your information stick. That simple concept helps
explain how often you see the same ad and how many times it repeats an important
part of its message, such as the phone number to call in a direct-response TV spot.
Learning and Conditioning
Consumers can gain decision-making information from advertising, especially about
products in categories beyond their experience. If a commercial message convinces
consumers to try a product but their post-purchase experiences prove dissatisfying,
they learn to avoid that product, even if it changes enough to negate their prior
dissatisfaction. In response, the advertiser must try to teach consumers another
message about the product, one that removes prior conditioning in favor of new
information. Conditioning also explains how rewards, gifts with purchases and "but
wait, there's more" messages work to train you to prefer one product in a category
over another.
Beliefs and Attitudes
What consumers believe about a seller, product or service affects whether and what
they buy. These attitudes can persist even when the situations that produce them
change. If a company appears to share your values, it may attract your business. If
you perceive a product as beneficial or its competition as harmful, you move toward
one and avoid the other. Advertising strives to position products so they appear
associated with positive traits and to counteract beliefs that interfere with the
products' ability to attract buyers.

Consumer Buying Behaviour -- A Literature Review: A. Abdul Brosekhan et al.

B. Social Factors affecting Consumer Behaviour

1. Reference Groups
Every individual has some people around who influence him/her in any way.
Reference groups comprise of people that individuals compare themselves with.
Every individual knows some people in the society who become their idols in due
course of time.
Co workers, family members, relatives, neighbours, friends, seniors at workplace
often form reference groups.
Reference groups are generally of two types:
Primary Group - consists of individuals one interacts with on a regular basis.
Primary groups include:
Friends
Family Members
Relatives
Co Workers
All the above influence the buying decisions of consumers due to following reasons:
They have used the product or brand earlier.
They know what the product is all about. They have complete knowledge about the
features and specifications of the product.
A married individual would show strong inclination towards buying products which
would benefit not only him but also his family members as compared to a bachelor.
Family plays an important role in influencing the buying decisions of individuals.
A consumer who has a wife and child at home would buy for them rather than
spending on himself. An individual entering into marriage would be more interested
in buying a house, car, household items, furniture and so on. When an individual
gets married and starts a family, most of his buying decisions are taken by the
entire family.
Every individual goes through the following stages and shows a different
buying need in each stage:
Bachelorhood: Purchases Alcohol, Beer, Bike, Mobile Handsets (Spends Lavishly)
Newly Married: Tend to purchase a new house, car, household furnishings.
(Spends sensibly)
Family with Children: Purchases products to secure his as well as his familys
future.
Empty nest (Children getting married)/Retirement/Old Age: Medicines, Health
Products, and Necessary Items.
A Ford Car in the neighbourhood would prompt three more families to buy the same
model.

Secondary Groups - Secondary groups share indirect relationship with the

consumer. These groups are more formal and individuals do not interact with them
on a regular basis, Example - Religious Associations, Political Parties, Clubs etc.
2. Role in the Society
Each individual plays a dual role in the society depending on the group he belongs
to. An individual working as Chief Executive Officer with a reputed firm is also
someones husband and father at home. The buying tendency of individuals
depends on the role he plays in the society.
3. Social Status
An individual from an upper middle class would spend on luxurious items whereas
an individual from middle to lower income group would buy items required for
his/her survival.
http://www.managementstudyguide.com/social-factors-affecting-consumerbehaviour.htm
C. Situational Factors affecting Consumer Behaviour
Just as influencer communications are impacted by community, economic, sociocultural groupthink, and ideological situations, these universal situations are further
impacted by local situational factors; they represent the personal factors in the
consumers life that interact with the universal situations outlined previously to
further impact the purchase decision-making process.
Personal circumstances such as household finances, lifestyle, and relationships that
influence the decision-making process of individuals within communities.
Personal Situational Factors
The consumers familial situation is a key disrupter to a marketers brand
messaging and call to action. Personal situational factors are typically dictated by
proximity, intimacy, and nature of the consumers personal relationships. For
example, a woman who is the mother of three young children makes purchase
decisions differently than a woman without children. If the three children, for
example, are grown and off to college instead of young and at home, purchase
decisions take a different form yet again.
Environmental Situational Factors
The environments, both physical (geography) and digital (devices), where brand
messages and recommendations are received are yet another disrupter of the

brands messaging path. Brand messages received on mobile devices while in a

store versus a desktop computer when at work are interpreted in vastly different
ways. For example, a positive rating on a restaurant by a friend is more impactful on
the consumers purchase decision if received on Yelp or Zagats mobile app while
walking down the street searching for a place to eat, than if they viewed a positive
brand mentioned by that same person when reviewing their random positive
comments or pictures on social sites such as Facebook or Instagram.
Emotional Situational Factors
Emotions or the emotional state of a consumer might have the most effect on a
consumers final decision-making process. For example, consider the state of mind
of auto workers in December 2008, when the three major U.S. auto industry
companiesGM, Chrysler, and Fordasked the federal government for a $34 billion
bailout to avoid bankruptcy. The emotional state of the millions of workers
associated with the industry was decisively negative in the months after this
presentation. Or, on a more micro level, consider the emotional state of the possible
consumer of a wheelchair or other accessibility device in the weeks after an
accident that gave them a permanent disability? The emotional state of prospective
customers have a significant impact on their motivation to embrace or ignore an
advocates recommendation.
Life Cycle Situational Factors
The final localized factor to consider is where the customer is in the purchase life
cycle of a product. A consumer who is in the needs
identification or awareness stage of the purchase life cycle will react differently to
an influencers message than someone at the decision stage. Similarly, if the
audience receiving the message is already a customer, are they at the loyalty stage
where theyre willing to buy more from you or are they at the advocacy stage where
theyre willing to voluntarily advocate your brand to their audience?
This is the blueprint that we use when servicing our clients, moving people along
the customer life cycle to build business value and profit by improving the customer
experience. As part of that methodology, we recognize that not all customers are
or will beadvocates. Once they become a customer, theres a period of
satisfaction where customers look to have their purchase decision justified by
good customer service, product utility, and so on. Once proven, they move toward
loyalty, which is represented by their willingness to buy more from the business

based on its continuing good service, utility, and possibly recognition or rewards for
continued patronage. Some, but not all of those within the loyalty stage of the life
cycle, become so happy that they choose to voluntarily advocate the product and
service to their business.
http://www.quepublishing.com/articles/article.aspx?p=2065721&seqNum=5

2. What is consumer problem solving?