Overview on Consumer Behaviour - Assignment

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Consumer behavior
[Type the document subtitle]
1/24/2020
student name

Consumer behaviour 1
Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Personal effects and their influence on consumer decision-making..........................................3
Recommendations to improve firm's marketing strategies........................................................6
Targeting and segmentation...................................................................................................7
7 P’s........................................................................................................................................8
Conclusion................................................................................................................................12
References................................................................................................................................13

Consumer behaviour 2
Introduction
Consumer buying decision making is the process which initiates with customer being
identifying the needs for product and ends with the purchase of a particular product. Thus, the
purpose of the report is to understand factors and personal effects that may influence the
consumer decision-making, according to which recommendation will be provided to the
organisation considering their marketing strategies. For critical analysis, Woolworth’s that is
a retail chain will be considered as an organisational case study to better understand the
consumer behaviour. Woolworths is one of the popular retail brands in Australia. However it
has been identified that the retail industry has faced various changes in recent years and the
consumer behaviour towards retailing has also changed, which would influence company’s
marketing strategies (Hudson & Roth, 2016).

Consumer behaviour 3
Personal effects and their influence on consumer decision-making
From previous analysis, it has been identified that Woolworth’s supermarket has been
offering convenient shopping experience along with the reasonable pricing strategy in
Australia. The company tries to increase the speed of buying decision making process while
understanding the factors that influence this decision making of the consumer. The factors
that may have impact the decision making of the consumer are
1. Needs
Consumer needs reflect the requirement of the products and expectations from the
products offered by the customer. Considering the target market the consumer are the
regular users that are looking for reasonable prices for the supermarket products like
grocery and consumer goods. This indicates that large number and variety of product
s would be needed by the customers. Thus, the customers that are targeted by
Woolworth are middle to higher income group, as identified from previous analysis.
Needs of different customer segment may vary, for instance the middle income group
may be looking for fresh grocery products in medium range. On the other hand,
people with higher income group may be looking for high quality or premium
products like organic fruits, vegetable and seeds. Thus the requirement is the major
cause that is influencing the consumer decision making in buying process (Mohd &
Sasmita, 2015).
The key factors that are impacting the needs of the customers, like economic factors
of the customer that is income level. For instance the customer may need more
premium services like home delivery, for which the customer may prefer to pay
additional amount. Thus the needs may impact the choice of brand in retail industry.
Moreover, it has been identified that the competition is very high and there are
various other retail company that are offering large products with the various offers.
Thus the needs of the customer may largely impact Woolworths demand and
consumer behaviour towards the brand (woolworthsgroup, Our Businesses, 2018).
2. Attitudes
Attitude is another personal factor that may be influencing Woolworth’s business and
strategy. Attitude towards the brand, product and services are the key aspects that are
influencing buying decision making process. The attitude also includes the lifestyle of
an individual. Considering the consumer profile of Woolworths, it can be said that the

Consumer behaviour 4
people with working lifestyle, and modern lifestyle may be looking for the option for
convenient shopping either at one store or through online mode. The consumers with
the changing lifestyle and indulge more towards use of internet, online shopping and
technology. An attitude is considered to be negative or positive evaluation of an
individual towards anything. Thus it can be said that the attitude towards online
buying has increase to larger extent across the globe. However one of the key
problems that have been identified for Woolworths is that the measuring attitude is
not easy as this may be changing rapidly and can only be understood through
observation (woolworthsgroup, DOING THE RIGHT THING, 2016).
Therefore, it can be said that the changing attitude of the consumers may influence
their decision making while purchasing the products from Woolworths. This is the
important element that is impacting the readiness stage of the consumers that is if the
consumer will react to the started in positive or negative way. The company is looking
for the positive attitude that is to increase the customer retention for the brand and
thus the expression of the key consumers are considered towards the products offered
by the company, services, experience, place that is the location, which eventually
need to be reflecting the convenience for the customers of Woolworths. For instance,
attractive and easy handling website to order online by the consumers (Mills, 2015).
3. Personality
Personality is also found to be one of the major factors that are responsible for
influencing consumer buying decisions. The personality of an individual is impacted
through the lifestyle which the customer has. This is the characteristic of the buyer
which reflects the interaction of the consumer characters, stimuli, and consumer
response and decision process. One of the models presented by the researcher is black
b ox theory of behaviourism. This reflects that there is a pattern for the buyer response
as an impact of rational decision process, while assuming that the consumer has
recognised the problem. Moreover this theory is majorly related to the specific set of
process that is within the customers however the relation among environment or
situation and response of the customer is assessed. The cultural effect and the lifestyle
is generally western for most potential consumers that are looking for better services
offered by the company so as to increase the convenience. This may be premium
service at the store or online shopping convenience with additional services of
delivery and return policy. Moreover the lifestyle has also inclined towards quality

Consumer behaviour 5
food products, and organic food products. This is due to increase in purchasing power
of the consumers which reflect positive attitude towards purchasing premium products
and spending in more convenience (woolworthsholdings, 2019).
Personality is one of the major cause for specific nature and the reaction of the
customer, this may also reflect the expectation from the customer. For instance person
with luxurious lifestyle may reflect different personality, which will impact on the
expectations by the customer towards the brand and service offered. Such customer
segment may be looking for better services offered by the brand and the customer
retention may become necessary as such customers may not prefer to switch too much
if personalised services are offered (Murphy & Dweck, 2016).
4. Perception
Customer perception is believed of the customer towards the brand and the products
offered. This reflects the positive of negative perception of view to look the brand.
This will reflect the brand image in the market which has been perceived by the
customer. Some customer may believe that the brand is offering reasonable products,
on the other hand some customer may perceive that the brand is offering low quality
product due to lower price offered by the company. Through perception it can be said
that the customer is identifying, organising, and interpreting the collected information
about the brand in order to generate a meaning in his own mind. Thus how the brand
is being understood by the customer is the perception which is majorly impacting
Woolworth’s business as well. This is similar to listening and hearing. The message
send by Woolworths in the form of advertisement, a customer listen the whole
advertisement, but may perceive the ad in one way and remember only one aspect
from the message, which will indicate the brand image in mind of the customer. Thus,
this will largely responsible for influencing the customer in purchasing decision from
Woolworths at the stage of selecting among the alternative options available in the
retail sector (Tuten & Ashley, 2015).
The perception can be bifurcated into two categories that is high level that is perpetual
defence and low level that is perpetual vigilance. Perception of the customer is
generally built by expectations, memory and learning (woolworths, 2019).
For example, the branding of Woolworths is done with green symbol which reflect the
message of nature and ecological connotations by the brand, which may or may not be
perceived the same way by the consumers. Another example from 2017 is that the
Coles has message of “down-down” that reflect the lower price by the brand, which

Consumer behaviour 6
has make negative perception for the consumers after a time. This has considered as
the advantage by the Woolworth’s as the company invested in shopping experience,
data and digital technology. Considering the financial statistics of the company, it has
been identified that a nostalgic brand image has been perceived by the consumers for
Woolworth’s as the company reflect subtle and innovative advertisement messages.
The statistics reflected that the customers were tired of Coles and their strategy of
getting the price down and it has been perceived that the customer lifestyle and
perception or attitude towards the brand has been changing. This also reflected the
need of the customer towards increase in eth product rage, quality, innovation, digital
mode and transformation of the brand towards more digital services. Thus, the 2017
financial year that reflects turnaround transformation which recorded good progress
by the brand.
From previous analysis, it has been identified that the gender is playing role for
Woolworths while perceiving the brand and product which eventually affect the
buying behaviour. Research reflects that girls perceive the brand based of value
offered and boys are more concern towards technological updating (Zielke, 2014).
5. Learning
Learning is the ability and a procedure to acquire modified or new knowledge, skills,
values, behaviours or preferences. Learning theory can be bifurcated into three
categories that are cognitivist, behaviourism, and constructivism. Learning in the
marketing may influence the consumer behaviour along personality, motivation,
beliefs, values, lifestyle, attitudes, and motivation. Thus learning new things may
affect the brand image, loyalty by the customer. for example if Woolworths is
investing in digital transformation the learning for the website, application and other
digital mode may impact the personality of the consumers. Thus, adoption of the
transformation could be perceived as positive or negative based on the learning for the
same by the consumer and the readiness of the buyer (hunter.tafensw, 2018).
Recommendations to improve firm's marketing strategies
After analysing the influence of various personal factors that have been impacting consumer
purchasing decision for Woolworth’s, the recommended marketing strategies that may be
helpful to Woolworths for improving the performance and positive consumer behaviour that
includes

Consumer behaviour 7
Targeting and segmentation
Targeting market is one of the major decisions in marketing strategy of the company, the
reason being focusing of the target group by the company will increase the probability of the
working of the company to attract customer segment. Moreover it becomes easy for the
company to recognise the basic characteristics of the consumer, which may also include
personality, attitude of the consumers. Thus, in order to improve the marketing strategy of the
company, the target market that must be further target by Woolworth’s include:
Geographic segmentation
The company has been targeting a limited geographical area, which reflects that the company
is recommended to increases the geographical area other than Australia so as to increase the
scope to increase new customer. For instance, the company can introduce the retail chains in
Asian market in countries like India. Since the target market is developing nation, and
majority of people are middle class and looking for cheaper or discounting stores for
everyday consumer goods (news.com.au, Woolworths reports full-year profit of $1.53 billion,
2018).
Demographics and segmentation
This segmentation include variable like gender, age, family size, occupation, income.
Considering improvement in marketing strategy of Woolworths it can be said that the age
group that will be targeted by the company is adult group as the products offered by the
company or consumer goods and considering groceries generally adults are interested in
purchasing such products. Another factor is gender what which will include both male and
female to be targeted, however female will be more targeted by Woolworths, the reason Bing
females are more font of responsibility towards family. Considering the occupation factor,
Woolworths will be targeting working men and woman, The reason being the services
offered by the company and with the changing consumer behaviour it can be said that the
working men and woman are facing a busy lifestyle and maybe looking for options to
purchase grocery and consumer goods through off-line and online in a cheaper and better
quality. Considering income level, all income groups will be targeted by the company as the
company will be offering large variety of products with various variations in quality and
ranges. Thus it would be advantageous for the company to target lower, middle and higher
income group (fin24, 2019).

Consumer behaviour 8
Behavioural segmentation
It includes variable like usages, where the behaviour may affect the buying decision for the
product. Woodworth will be targeting current, potential and regular users this may reflect that
the heavy users are being targeted as the products are everyday products that are groceries
and consumer goods. For this the company is recommended to Target the current users for
customer retention, potential users in order to increase number of users and create marketing
strategies to make every user a heavy user for such products (Calboli, 2015).
Psychographic segmentation
What this is done on the basis of lifestyle, attitude and personality. As discussed in the
previous section the consumer buying behaviour is largely impacted through these factors,
thus this must be eventually knowledge and focus by the company while targeting the market.
Taking into account the lifestyle of an individual, but what will be targeting busy and western
lifestyle. Through the marketing strategy the company is recommended to target a segment
which is working or busy and maybe looking for what convenient shopping of everyday
products (news.com.au, Woolworths half-year profit up 37.6 per cent, 2018).
7 P’s
The extended marketing mix of Woolworths will include the factors that may help the
company to improve their marketing position, brand positioning and more profitable
organisation.
Product strategy
Product is the basic requirement that needs to be high in quality offered by Woolworth; this
may also include the range of products, quality of products, service quality and constant
support training to service offered by the company. The company is currently being offering
grocery products, pet products, fruits and vegetables, consumer goods and baby care
products. The company has been considering diversify the product mix range. However
through this marketing plan it is being recommended to the company to consider service
innovation rather than product differentiation strategy. Considering the changing consumer
behaviour and demand towards the services offered by the company in the retail industry it is
recommended to offer additional services in order to create value to the customers.
Considering the target market it is recommended to offer additional online services, premium
store services to the customers (Pappas, 2016).

Consumer behaviour 9
Another product strategy will be total quality management strategy. With the changing
consumer behaviour towards the quality of the product instead of just the price of the product,
it is recommended to the company to focus towards the quality that has been offered by the
company.
Pricing strategy
Woolworths has always been considering towards the pricing and the cost of the product. The
company unique selling proposition is convenient store along with the lower price range as
compare to the competitors. However the recommended pricing strategy for the company
through this marketing plan is price differentiation strategy. Since the company is
recommended to target all income level groups the company could differentiate prices
according to the product range. For instance, charging premium pricing for the premium
product range like organic grocery products.
Similarly neutral pricing strategy will be considered for fresh products and economical
strategy for general consumer goods like low-cost biscuits and other grocery products which
will consider discounting pricing strategy in order to attract lower income group customer.
Other than this in order to work towards service innovation the company may also integrate
the strategy towards pricing strategy by allowing additional discount Or vouchers in case of
Digital payment, while collaborating with some of the banks (Mitchell, 2018).
Placing strategy
Currently, the company has been placed or located More than 1000 stores, which reflect that
the company has placed you know via the Digital and large number of supermarkets. The
recommended placing strategy for the company is to integrate online platform and off-line
stores in order to provide additional services to the customers. Mobile Commerce is one of
the easiest and convenient ways to get in contact with customers and for the customers to
order goods online. The company may adopt Omni channel for distribution of goods and
services. This will include integrating the order processed from online platform and
collecting the products from the off-line stores. The purpose of this placing strategy would be
to increase the convenience for the customer as they may be looking for the quick access to
the products along with no waiting line and inconvenience of Billing lines (Kaplan, 2015).
Promotional strategy

Consumer behaviour 10
Promotion is considered to be one of the most essential elements of marketing strategy as this
is may increase the interaction and communication channels with the customers. The
company has been focus towards various marketing campaigns like the fresh food people,
which has been highlighted across various platforms like television, social media platform,
radios and other online portals. The recommended promotional strategy for the company is to
use digital marketing and social media marketing at pace. Through this the company may
increase the customer relationship management by offering gift cards, discounts and
personalised messages through email marketing. The online platform may include YouTube,
Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat. For this, the video marketing will be the most appropriate
method to attract customers and communicate the marketing messages to the potential
buyers. This may also helpful in changing the consumer perception towards the brand and
increase the positive attitude of the consumers (Petersen & Kumar, 2015).
Physical evidence
This reflects the store ambience where the products and services are offered by the company.
It can be said that the company has been working with large number of stores where they
have been attempting to make it eye catchy, tidy and neat. The recommended physical
evidence strategy for Woolworth would be appropriate shelf placement for the products so as
to make it more convenient for the customers. This may include offering online store
experience for the customers, in order to search for tea product placement with the store. This
could be done through technological advancement by the company as whenever the goods are
we filled all removed from the place it must be indicated in the online store what application
(Wel, 2012).
People
Through this marketing strategy the employs are the key factors to provide better services and
convenient service at the store. In retail sector, Woolworths have been focusing towards
skilled and competent employees to attend the customers. For instance the company must
work towards zero tolerance policy in order to assure that there is no harm or discrimination
among the employees of the company and the employees are hired with essential skills and
trained affectively in order to increase communication and interaction policy with the
customer.
Process

Consumer behaviour 11
The most important purpose of the organisation is to increase customer satisfaction which can
be done through customer friendly process. The company has been focused towards
convenience of the customer which can be done through press the strategy of the company.
This may include technological update so as to process the work in the organisation in the
most affective and efficient manner. For example the company must provide quick billing
services, customer comfort facilities and supportive staff. Other than this the company must
consider continuous improvement so as to take innovation and change at priority while
understanding the customer changing behaviour (Zhang, 2015).

Consumer behaviour 12
Conclusion
From consumer behaviour analysis for Woolworth’s grocery products, it can be concluded
that Woolworth’s is popular retail brands in Australia and various changes in consumer
behaviour towards retailing has been identified. The factors that may have impact the
decision making of the consumer are Consumer needs. Needs of different customer segment
may vary, for instance the middle income group may be looking for fresh grocery products in
medium range. Attitude is another personal factor that may be influencing Woolworth’s
business and strategy. People with working lifestyle and modern lifestyle may be looking for
the option for convenient shopping either at one store or through online mode. The
personality of an individual is impacted through the lifestyle and found to be one of the major
factors that are responsible for influencing consumer buying decisions. Other factors are
perception and learning. The recommended marketing strategy for Woolworths included
service innovation rather than product differentiation strategy; price differentiation strategy;
and Omni channel for distribution of goods and services.

Consumer behaviour 13
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Consumer behaviour 14
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