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When you write any assignment, it’s natural to think, “What would my professors love to see in the paper?” You think about all the references that your professor usually suggests and the points that they highlight during lectures and include them in your assignment to make it more appealing. Well, if you’re going to write a marketing assignment with a focus on the buying patterns of consumers, you have to ask a similar question – “What would consumers focus on when they decide to buy something?”
If the concept of consumer psychology feels too complex for you, feel free to seek marketing assignment help at MyAssignmenthelp. Keep this as a last-minute resort in case you don’t have enough time to conduct research on the matter yourself. But if you do have time, just go through this blog. It’ll dive right into the intricacies of the consumer psyche and help you understand what factors go into helping someone decide whether to purchase something or not.
5 Factors Influencing Consumer Psychology
Marketing experts providing assignment help at MyAssignmentHelp in UK recommend students follow these five factors in their journey to uncover the secrets behind the mysteries of the consumer psyche –
- Psychological factors
Many psychological factors influence a person’s buying decisions. One of them is motivation. In order to survive in society, a person will always prioritise their basic needs above anything else. After all, it’s a matter of survival. Once the consumer has made sure that their basic needs are met and that they are secure from external factors that might affect their survival, they will focus on their other, more trivial needs.
Let’s consider a simple example. Recall the time when the COVID-19 pandemic just set in. Schools, workplaces, theatres – everything was closing down, and people were panic buying necessities. iPhones were not flying off the shelves. But toiletries, canned food, and other items that people can’t live without were the ones being completely emptied in supermarkets. No business would make the mistake of promoting luxury items at a time when people’s survival is in question.
Perception is another important factor that affects a consumer’s buying decision. You’ll notice that before the launch of any product, companies will use all avenues to market it. Social media, newspapers, TV advertisements, billboards – the product will follow you everywhere you go. This is meant to create a perception of the product in the consumer’s mind. If the company manages to create a positive impression in the buyer’s mind, it can guarantee good sales during the launch.
- Personal factors
Personal factors like age, demographics, income, occupation, and lifestyle also play a vital role in determining one’s psychology. Let’s consider some examples.
Income – A person who earns more is likely to have more disposable income. That’s why people who belong to higher-income groups can often indulger themselves in buying luxury items that middle or lower-income groups would consider a waste.
Age – Priorities change with age. While a person in their mid-20s would focus more on spending money on entertainment and gadgets, someone in their late 30s would think about property. That’s how priorities change. If a business wants to cater to a particular product, they have to first figure out which age group they are targeting.
Lifestyle – The lifestyle that a person has led since they were young will often have an influence on their buying habits, even if the same conditions are not present. There are quite a lot of studies that claim that adults who grew up poor have less control over their finances during certain circumstances because they are too afraid of the money slipping past their fingers. Yet, you can also find people who have a decent income when they grow up but refuse to spend too much money on anything because of their chosen lifestyle.
- Cultural factors
You certainly can’t ignore the long-standing effects of culture when trying to figure out the psychology behind consumer behaviour. Some of the major issues that culture influences are –
- Brand images
- Advertising elements
- Prices
Let’s take a simple example. Asian countries like Japan and South Korea focus more on collectivism. Here, the betterment of the entire community is prioritised over everything else. But that’s not the case in the USA. In most Western countries, the individualistic aspect is highlighted. This is why you’ll notice a stark difference in the advertising approaches in Asian and Western countries.
Companies also have to focus on modifying their advertisements based on the consumers they are targeting. For example, an ad marketing a new makeup concealer for dark-skinned people being promoted by fair-skinned models is just going to alienate the target audience. So, it is always best to be a bit culturally sensitive when deciding which marketing tactics might be the best for a particular assignment.
- Economic factors
Economics doesn’t only cover a person’s personal finances and its influence on their consumerism. The country’s economy matters as well. A country is deemed prosperous when its economy is good, and there is a lot of money supply in the market. In such situations, consumers have higher disposable income and feel more confident about spending their money on things other than items to cover basic needs.
Now, you’ve already covered personal income early on. So, let’s discuss a bit more about family income – another important factor to be considered under this category. The more members of a family that earns, the greater the total family income. Thus, families where more than one person earns can afford more luxuries than families with a single breadwinner.
- Social factors
When you think of social factors, you have to take into consideration the biggest influencer in the market – social media. Sometimes, the internet has a strong hold over what people will buy.
Take the Stanley Cup, for example. It’s just a simple steel tumble with a straw and a handle. That’s it. There is nothing phenomenal about it, no added benefits or anything – a simple cup that suddenly got traction on social media, and now everyone and their mothers have bought a Stanley cup and are busy making TikToks about customising their cups.
Social media pressure to buy something that you absolutely do not need is not to be trifled with. You might think you’re above giving in to such pressure, but once the FOMO hits, you have no choice.
In conclusion,
Understanding the complex psychology of a consumer is the first step to figuring out buying patterns. You must understand that people don’t always check a product’s benefits and choose it without considering the other factors that are already covered in this blog. The more you dive into the intricacies of human psychology, the easier it will become for you to predict a consumer’s buying patterns.
