Factors Affecting Consumer Choice

This study analyzes the factors that influence the customer’s choice when buying a laptop. It covers the various stages of the buying process, types of consumer behavior and factors affecting the choice of laptops. The study also highlights the importance of price, efficiency, laptop range, convenience, and career in influencing the buyer's decision.

Running head: FACTORS AFFECTING CONSUMER CHOICE
Factors Affectıng Consumer Choıce
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Academic Institution
Date:

FACTORS AFFECTING CONSUMER CHOICE 2
Table of Contents
Abstract............................................................................................................................................2
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Analysis...........................................................................................................................................2
Respondent (5).............................................................................................................................2
Respondent 2...............................................................................................................................3
Respondent 1...............................................................................................................................3
Three questionnaires/respondents as the target for analysis............................................................3
Problem recognition.........................................................................................................................4
Information search...........................................................................................................................4
Factors that influenced the choice of their laptops..........................................................................6
The Economic States of the buyer...................................................................................................9
Conclusion and Recommendations..................................................................................................9
List of References..........................................................................................................................11

FACTORS AFFECTING CONSUMER CHOICE 3
Abstract
The swift changes in the IT sector along with improved competition and merger in the
marketplace, direct both learners and experts to give full consideration to the consumers buying
decisions in the portable computer sector, for instance, laptop. Laptops are largely used in many
institutions, and their sales have increased at a high level. Its portability is one of the main
reasons why people are buying it at higher rate worldwide. This study seeks to develop a better
comprehension of the factors that influence the customer’s choice when buying a laptop. On the
other hand, it also gives the information on the various stages of the buying process, types of
consumer behavior and finally factors affecting the choice of laptops.
Introduction
Consumer purchasing behavior is the total of a customer’s approach and attitudes,
preferred product and conclusion concerning the customer’s behavior in the market when buying
an item. Similarly, buying behavior means the buying habit of the last consumers who purchase
the product for individual consumption. This is an indication that purchasing behavior is a
mental procedure which is composed of actions taken to while buying and using a certain good.
The information search opens up the podium available alternatives for the specific need.
Analysis
Respondent (5)
First and foremost, as discussed below, certain factors affect the choice of laptops in this
case. The respondent for the questionnaire is a masters holder and a company Director. He is old
enough to make a wise decision on the choice. Again, she is under no influence nor pressure on

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which type of laptop to buy. She has a good income as well. All these factors indicated
influences the choice of a laptop. The respondent has little use of laptop and therefore went for
the cheapest and less performing laptop based on the specification. Her age may be a
contributing factor in the specification and the work she intends to do with the laptop. From the
look of the thing, it appears that the work she is planning to do with the laptop is not that
technical based on the specifications indicated on the gadget.
Respondent 2
Respondent is a young female, who works as a flight attendant. He profession involves a
lot of traveling and therefore might not find enough time to use her laptop. However, she is still
young and may want to pursue further studies, and that indicates she needs a durable laptop with
a warranty. Based on assumptions of the youths, she will use the laptop to do various roles, and
that requires a laptop with good features like the option she has chosen. She is earning good
amount, and therefore she went for a fairly priced laptop.
Respondent 1
The respondent is a teenage student at the university level (2nd year). That is an
indication that he has no much use of the laptop and the features do not need to be that of quality.
He has little income and therefore cannot spend on an expensive laptop compared to others; this
is the main reason for him settling on the cheapest laptop on the options.
Three questionnaires/respondents as the target for analysis
In the most parts of the questionnaires, the customers were asked whether they had a
workstation or not, and the individuals who had a PC were permitted to keep on resting of the

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study. The brand name and the price, as well as the specifications of their laptop, were also asked
the consumers. The respondents were grouped into three categories as can be seen from the
results provided. The ranks were given according to various key features that were deemed fit by
the consumers, brand name, as well as prices, also played a major role in the rankings. The
evaluation or assessment, in this case, was done based the specifications such as prices,
processor, memory, hard drive, video card, screen type (whether it is LCD or LED), warranty,
and weight. All these processes are referred to as consumer behavior.
Consumer buying process has various stages such as problem identification, data inquiry,
and assessment of options, buy choice, buy, and post-buy assessment.
Problem recognition
In this stage, customer recognizes that he/she has unsatisfied should be happy with
another item. For instance, a student may be given a task to present with a deadline, but he or she
needs portability in the computer to do the assignment at home as well as at the school (Barnes &
Pressey, 2012). This is where the student recognizes there is a problem that can be solved with a
laptop. About the respondent or questionnaires provided, there was a need to purchase a laptop
by a section of three people.
Information search
The stage involves searching for information concerning the product that can satisfy the
needs intended. The search exists in two categories, both internal and external searches. Internal
involves the memory while external involves friends and relatives. A successful and
accomplished search provides the buyer with potential options, the inducing set. For instance, the

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three people presented on the questionnaires who wanted to purchase a laptop would collect
information concerning brands.
Evaluation of alternatives
In this stage, the customer appraises the product on the foundation of the selected
criterion such as operation, durability, guarantee, cost, after sale services and eminence and
quality on the competitive foundation.
Purchase decision
The stage involves selecting buying option, and it includes product, package, store, a
method of purchase among other things. For instance, after evaluating many brands of laptop, the
three people decide on which to go for, in this case, the major was Dell, but different models that
were evaluated based on the performance among other important features on the laptop.
Purchase
The purchase may be different from the decision or conclusion, time fall flanked by
purchase conclusion and the definite purchase, product ease of use. It is the last stage where the
customer makes the last decision and successfully buys the product.
Post-purchase evaluation
Positive post buying behavior
It is a situation where the buyer holds an optimistic response concerning the item and
happy with the excellence and performance. For instance, if the three people in the
questionnaires are happy with the performance and the quality of the Dell laptop, they will
recommend the same product to their friends to buy the Dell model and will be brand faithful
through buying more of the Dell goods.

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Unenthusiastic post purchase behavior
This normally comes when expressing dissatisfaction with the item in the form of a
response or feedback. In most cases, the negative sides of the team will be highly highlighted. If
the three people in the questionnaires are neither happy nor satisfied with laptops, they will
convince their friends not to go for the Dell laptops since the encounter with the same laptop is
negative.
Types of consumer behavior
There are various forms of consumer behavior. These include routine reaction,
inadequate decision making, wide-ranging decision making, and inclination purchase.
a) Routine reaction/programmed behavior
It entails purchasing little participation regularly, purchased low price tag products. These
include soft drinks, snacks, milk and other cheap food products.
b) Limited decision making
The type involves buying once in a while. It needs an individual to attain the information
concerning the unknown or unusual brand in a familiar product group. Examples of this type
include clothes and other fashion products.
c) Extensive and Broad decision making
It is a highly complicated involvement, unusual, costly and not regularly purchased products. It
involves a lot of time when searching information that comes with a high level of risk (Ravikanth
& Rao, 2016). Examples include homes, computers, cars, and education.

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Factors that influenced the choice of their laptops
Buyer behavior can be widely categorized as the conclusions and measures that affect
buying manners of a consumer. What motivates the consumer to select a certain item concerning
other products is a question which is always evaluated and researched dealers. Many of the
assortment procedure involved in buying are based on sensations and way of thinking. The
research of consumer behavior not only assists in comprehending the history but even give a
projection of the future concerning the product (Voorveld et al., 2018). Various factors or even
forces influence the consumer behavior. These include internal or corporeal elements, social
factors, and economic, cultural and personal factors respectively.
Personal factors
Personal factors include age, career, circumstances, lifestyle, and life-cycle. At this level,
several issues such as likes and dislikes, main concerns among other important things, influence
consumer behavior. In this case of laptop choice involving the three questionnaires, two
dominant issues seem to be affecting the choice; these include the performance and the price (Ji
et al., 2012). Though marketing and notice can help in affecting the elements to some level, the
individual buyer different preferences set forth bigger effect on the last buy made by a customer.
As mentioned earlier, the purchasing behavior is also inclined by some of the internal or
psychosomatic elements. In this case, the most significant ones are the motivation/inspiration and
perception.
a) Inspiration/motivation through the theory of learning
Motivation can be in the form of advertisements; a need turns to be motivated when it is
stimulated to an adequate level of concentration. A motivation is a requirement or a want that is
adequately pressing and pressurizing to drive the individual to act. For example, the three

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persons in the questionnaires might have been driven by various needs such as educational
purpose. Other types of needs are biogenic and Psychogenic needs.
Biogenic needs come from physiological conditions of tension such as hunger and thirst;
however, it might not be applicable in this circumstance. Psychogenic needs: these needs come
from the psychological conditions of tension such as the need for recognition and esteem
(Ackermann, Mugge & Schoormans, 2018). The type becomes a buying motive when a person
seeks satisfaction by buying something, for example, in this case, there is a need for a laptop to
satisfy the needs of these three people presented as the main example. A motive, therefore,
becomes an inner urge, a desire to purchase an item to fulfill the arising need.
b) Perception
The brain makes conclusions as what is important and what is not relevant. Therefore, there
might be a perception based on what has been heard in the past about certain product. The
consumer will make a choice based on the perception, in this situation, the dominant product is
the Dell type laptop, it clearly indicates the perception the customer's had in mind, and they only
decided to take a comparison on Dell laptops only.
Purchasing Power
Purchasing is another factor that influenced the choice of the laptop. The products had
different prices and the choice depend widely on the financial muscle of an individual.
Therefore, purchasing lays an integral role in influencing the behavior (Morales, Amır & Lee,
2017). Purchasing power calls for consumers to evaluate their capability before making any
choice of buying the laptop. The laptop may be having good features, but it fails to satisfy the
purchasing the ability of the consumer and that means, the purchasing power will influence the
sales.

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10
The Group Influence
The group may also influence the choice of a product. The major powerful group comprising
of family, relatives, colleagues and a persuasive optional gathering comprising choices of
neighbors and associates are seen the more noteworthy impact on the obtaining choices of a
buyer (Harmeling et al., 2017). For instance, the group liking for Mac laptop over other
computers.
The Economic States of the buyer
Source of income and amount of incomes plays an important role when choosing a laptop. It
determines the spending decisions of an individual and portrays the economic status of the buyer
(Alguacıl-Mallo, 2018). Computers are a bit expensive and require a good amount of money to
get the quality; however, that again depends on which role the customer intends to do with the
computer. When the customer has enough power regarding finance, he or she will go for the best
and costly laptop.
Conclusion and Recommendations
Through evaluating some of the factors that affect buyers’ decision making on buying a
laptop; these factors include, price, efficiency based on the specifications or features, laptop
range, convenience and also a career that dictated the source of income of each. From the
respondents, it was clear that the three buyers considered the price and they opted fairly
affordable laptops. For instance, respondent one who is a student went for the cheapest due to his
financial power and the nature of function intended for the laptop. Similarly, it was evident that

FACTORS AFFECTING CONSUMER CHOICE
11
model attracts customers more than other reasons when choosing the laptop. From the
respondent's choices, there is one dominant mode that stood out, and that is Dell. Price also plays
an important role especially in recognizing the technological improvement it comes with. As
much as the price was the determining factor in this case, it is important for the buyers to go
quality products that last longer instead of spending little cash on a product that will not last.

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List of References
Ackermann, L., Mugge, R., & Schoormans, J. (2018). Consumers' perspective on product care:
An exploratory study of motivators, ability factors, and triggers. Journal Of Cleaner
Production, 183380-391. doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.02.099
Alguacıl-Mallo, S. (2018). A Customer-Centrıc State Of Mınd. TD: Talent Development, 72(4),
38-42.
Barnes, S. J., & Pressey, A. D. (2012). In Search of the "Meta-Maven": An Examination of
Market Maven Behavior across Real-Life, Web, and Virtual World Marketing Channels.
Psychology & Marketing, 29(3), 167-185. doi:10.1002/mar.20513
Harmeling, C. M., Palmatier, R. W., Fang, E., & Wang, D. (2017). Group Marketing: Theory,
Mechanisms, and Dynamics. Journal Of Marketing, 81(4), 1-24
Ji Yan1, 2., Foxall, G. F., & Doyle, J. R. (2012). PATTERNS OF REINFORCEMENT AND
THE ESSENTIAL VALUE OF BRANDS: II. EVALUATION OF A MODEL OF
CONSUMER CHOICE. Psychological Record, 62(3), 377-393.
Morales, A. C., Amır, O., & Lee, L. (2017). Keeping It Real in Experimental Research--
Understanding When, Where, and How to Enhance Realism and Measure Consumer
Behavior. Journal Of Consumer Research, 44(2), 465-476. doi:10.1093/jcr/ucx048
Ravikanth, M., & Rao, P. V. (2016). Buying Behavior of Electronic Products in Andhra Pradesh
– A Study of Selected Electronic Consumer Product. International Journal Of Recent
Research Aspects, 3(2), 101-106

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Voorveld, H. M., van Noort, G., Muntinga, D. G., & Bronner, F. (2018). Engagement with
Social Media and Social Media Advertising: The Differentiating Role of Platform Type.
Journal Of Advertising, 47(1), 38-54. doi:10.1080/00913367.2017.1405754