Understanding Factors influence Consumer Behaviour

Numerous distinct elements affect consumer behaviour. A marketer should make an effort to comprehend the variables that affect consumer behaviour. 

Internal Factors That Influence Consumer Behaviour

Consumer behaviour is significantly influenced by internal factors or human psychology. Despite being challenging to quantify, these elements have the potential to affect a buyer’s choice.

Several significant psychological factors include:

1. Motivation

When someone is sufficiently driven, it affects their purchasing decisions. A person has a variety of wants, including those for self-actualisation, esteem, security, and social needs. The fundamental needs and security needs to take precedence over all other demands out of all these needs. Therefore, a consumer’s motivation to purchase goods and services can be influenced by their fundamental necessities and security needs.

2. Perception

Consumer behaviour is significantly influenced by consumer perception. Consumer perception is the process through which a customer gathers facts about a product and interprets those facts to generate an impression of that specific product.

Customers form opinions about products based on what they see in commercials, promotions, customer reviews, social media comments, etc. As a result, customer perception has a significant impact on what people choose to buy.

3. Learning

An individual gains knowledge about a product when they purchase it. Through experience, learning develops through time. The knowledge and skills of a consumer influence their learning. While practice can help with skill development, experience is the only way to learn new things.

Learning might be cognitive or conditioned. In conditional learning, the customer is repeatedly exposed to a circumstance, which causes the consumer to form an opinion about it.

4. Attitudes and Convictions

Consumers hold specific attitudes and ideas, which have an impact on their purchasing decisions. A consumer will act in a certain way toward a product based on their mindset. The brand image of a product is significantly influenced by their mentality. Therefore, in order to build their marketing strategies, marketers work very hard to comprehend consumer attitudes.

Social Factors That Influence Consumer Behaviour

Due to their social nature, humans are constantly surrounded by people who can affect their purchasing decisions. Their purchasing decisions are therefore influenced by those around them. These elements are regarded as social elements. Several societal factors include:

1. Family

Family has a big impact on how people behave when they go shopping. A person forms preferences as a youngster by observing their family members purchase goods, and they maintain those choices as they get older.

2. Reference Organisations

A reference group is a collection of persons that a person identifies with. The reference group’s members typically have similar purchasing habits and influence one another.

3. Societal Status

A person’s position in society has an impact on him or her. If a person holds a high position, their purchasing decisions will be heavily influenced by their position. While a staff member or employee of the same organisation will have a different buying pattern, the chief executive officer of a company will make purchases that reflect their standing.

Cultural Factors That Influence Consumer Behaviour

A collection of individuals is connected to a certain community’s beliefs and ideologies. A person’s behaviour is greatly influenced by the culture associated with the community from which they are originally. Among the cultural influences are:

1. Culture

Consumer purchasing behaviour is significantly influenced by cultural factors. The fundamental beliefs, needs, wants, preferences, perceptions, and behaviours that a consumer learns from close relatives and other influential persons in their life are included in the category of cultural factors.

2. A Subculture

There are numerous subcultures within each cultural group. The beliefs and values of these subcultural groupings are similar. People from various nations, castes, and geographic locations can make up subcultures. By themselves, these subcultures constitute a market segment.

Personal Factors

Consumers’ personal circumstances have an impact on what they choose to purchase. These individual characteristics vary from person to person, resulting in various views and purchasing patterns. Some of the individual factors include:

1. Age

A significant aspect that affects purchasing behaviour is age. Young folks make different purchasing decisions than middle-aged people do. Elderly consumers behave entirely differently when making purchases. Teenagers will be more inclined to purchase brightly colored clothing and cosmetics. Middle-aged people are concerned with their family’s home, possessions, and automobile.

2. Income

Income has the power to affect a person’s purchasing decisions. Consumers with higher incomes have more purchasing power. A consumer has more opportunities to spend on opulent goods when they have more disposable cash. Contrarily, low- or middle-income consumers spend the majority of their income on necessities like food and clothing.

3. Profession

The consumer’s line of work affects their purchasing decisions. A person usually purchases items that are suitable for their or her line of work. For instance, a doctor would purchase clothing in accordance with ttheir job, whereas a professor would do the opposite.

Economic Factors That Influence Consumer Behaviour

A consumer’s purchase decision is significantly influenced by economic reasons. Several significant economic factors include:

1. Personal Income

A person’s purchasing power rises in tandem with their level of disposable income. The money that is left over after meeting a person’s fundamental necessities is referred to as disposable income. Increased discretionary income results in higher spending on a variety of goods. But concomitant to the decline in disposable income was a decline in multi-item spending.

2. Family Earnings

The combined income of a family’s members is referred to as family income. There is more money available for buying necessities and luxuries when there are more earners in the family. A higher family income encourages members to make additional purchases. The inclination is to purchase additional luxuries that a person might not have been able to afford when there is extra money available for the family.

3. Savings

The amount of money a consumer wants to set aside for savings from their income has a big impact on their purchasing decisions. If a person elected to increase their savings, their spending on purchases would decrease. A consumer will spend the majority of their income on goods if he wants to save more money.

4. Liquid Assets

Spending on comforts and pleasures is more common among consumers with liquid assets. Assets that can be quickly turned into cash are known as liquid assets. Examples of liquid assets include cash on hand, bank savings, and securities. Higher liquid assets provide a buyer more confidence to purchase luxury products.