Factors Influencing Customers Buying Behaviour of Retail Products

This literature review explores the factors influencing customers buying behaviour of retail products. It discusses the psychological, social, cultural, personal and economic factors that influence buying behaviour. The impact of effective advertising on customers buying behaviours is also discussed. The study focuses on Marks and Spencer Group PLC.

EXPLORING THE FACTORS INFLUENCING CUSTOMERS
BUYING BEHAVIOURS OF RETAIL PRODUCTS: A STUDY OF
MARKS AND SPENCER GROUP PLC
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ABSTRACT
Purpose: The main purpose of conducting the present study is to analyse the factors
influencing customers buying behavior of retail products. There are different factors that have
influenced buying behaviour of consumers towards that brand. These are personal factor, social
factor, physiological factor and many others.
Methodology: In this there are different types of research methods are applied for
collecting as well as analysing data systematically. The present study has carried out qualitative
secondary piece of data that does not deal with numerical and statistical piece of information.
This study has only considered secondary type of information data for addressing each question
of the research in effective and efficient manner.
Results and findings: Main findings of this research is changing buying behaviour of the
customers helped Marks and Spencer in increment of customer as well as improving their
profitability. Customer buying behaviour is significant for a company in attainment of
competitive advantages within minimum time and in successful manner.
Conclusion and recommendations: It is concluded that consumer buying behaviour is
important and significant for M&S in improvement of their brand image and goodwill in
marketplace as well as in customer’s mind. It is concluded that research aim and objectives are
accomplished through the research questions.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my superior thanks of gratitude to my tutor for their support and
guidance in completing each activity of the dissertation in successful manner.
I would also like to expand my special thanks to my friends and families for their
appropriate guidance in accomplishing research aim and objectives successfully.
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Contents
ABSTRACT....................................................................................................................................2
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.............................................................................................................3
Contents...........................................................................................................................................4
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................6
1.1 Background Context..............................................................................................................6
1.2 Problem Statement.................................................................................................................7
1.3 Rationale of research.............................................................................................................7
1.4 Research questions.................................................................................................................8
1.5 Research aim and objectives..................................................................................................8
1.6 Snapshot of methodology......................................................................................................8
1.7 Structure of research..............................................................................................................9
LITERATURE REVIEW..............................................................................................................10
What are the factors influencing customers buying behaviours of retail products?..................10
What is the impact/roles of effective advertising on customers buying behaviors?..................12
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY.................................................................................................19
3.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................................19
3.2 Research Philosophy............................................................................................................19
3.3 Research design/strategy.....................................................................................................19
3.4 Research approach...............................................................................................................20
3.5 Data collection.....................................................................................................................20
3.6 Data analysis techniques......................................................................................................21
3.7 Ethical consideration...........................................................................................................21
3.8 Conclusion of chapter..........................................................................................................21
Chapter 4 – Findings & Analysis...................................................................................................22
Introduction................................................................................................................................22
Theme 1: The factors influencing customers buying behaviours of retail products..................22
Theme 2: The impact/roles of effective advertising on customers buying behaviours.............24
Theme 3: The factors determining the choice of products........................................................27
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Theme 4: The various pricing strategies which determine the customer’s choices...................29
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................31
Chapter 5........................................................................................................................................32
5.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................................32
5.2 Review of research objectives.............................................................................................33
5.3 Major findings.....................................................................................................................33
5.4 Practical and theoretical implication of findings.............................................................33
5.5 Recommendation for future research...................................................................................34
5.6 Limitations...........................................................................................................................34
5.7 Recommendation.................................................................................................................35
5.8 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................36
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................37
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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background Context
Customer buying behaviour introduces to the action taken by customers before purchasing
a services or products. There are four types of consumer behavior that are habitual buying
behavior, dissonance-reducing buying behavior, variety-seeking behavior and complex buying
behavior. Along with this, consumer buying behaviour refers to the study of individuals, groups,
or companies an all the activities linked with the purchase and use of products and services
(Boca, 2021). There are different factors that influencing customers buying behaviors towards
retail products. These are psychological, social, cultural, personal and economic. These are main
factors that have direct influence on buying behaviour of consumers towards particular product
or services. In this, advertisement is one of the main factors that influence on consumer buying
behaviour. Advertising is a promotional strategy used by business organisation for creating brand
awareness in the customers’ mind to take buying decision.
There are various factors which influence the buying behaviour of customers. They
generally buy the products by determining their features, benefits and drawbacks (Varah and et.
al., 2021). In order to gain success, it is important to influence the buying behaviour of customer
of retail products. Customers are the key ingredients for the success of business, it is necessary
for company to attract and retain consumers in order to improve the performance and
profitability of business. The buying behaviour of consumers can be influenced by providing
them relevant information about the product and its quality so that they can make purchase
decision in effective and efficient manner (Wojciechowska-Solis and Barska, 2021). There are
few factors which influence the buying decision of customer such as economic factor, functional
factor, personal factor, marketing mix factor, social factor, cultural factors, psychological factors
and various other factors.
Within this research, Marks and Spencer is a major British multinational company with
headquarters in London, England, UK. M&S was founded in 1884 by Michael Marks and
Thomas Spencer. Company is specialising in selling clothing, food products and home products.
M&S clearly knows the importance of promotion and gives special attention to all the activities
related to promotion or advertisement. They do advertisement through electronic media, social
media etc. They advertise their brand through different channels in the television, they promote
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their brand by making celebrities their product's brand ambassador. They are associating with the
other marketing brand to promote their products (BUI, NGUYEN and KHUC, 2021). They keep
advertising on various media posts, portals and sites. Along with this, all these are effective ways
of advertisement that change the buying behaviour of the customers towards the brand.
Therefore, changing buying behaviour of customers is important part for M&S because it helps
them in attaining competitive advantages successfully. There are various advantages of changing
consumer buying behaviour that are consumer differentiation, retention of consumers, design
relevant marketing program, predicating market trend, innovate new products, stay relevant in
the market, improve customer services, helps in increasing business profitability and many
others.
1.2 Problem Statement
Todays, it is a biggest problem for companies how to change consumer buying behaviour.
Changing consumer buying behaviour is a biggest task because some time this create conflict
among employees, reduce customer loyalty and many others. This is a major problem that direct
impacts over the business performance and profitability of an organisation (Sarah and et. al.,
2021). In order to overcome this problem, there will be a requirement of using available sources
that are books, articles, publication research, magazines and many others. These sources are used
for literature review that helps researcher in identifying the ways for changing consumer buying
behaviour towards the brand. Therefore, with the help of present research, problems that faced
by companies can be resolved in effective and within minimum time period.
1.3 Rationale of research
Main rationale behind conducting this research is to identify the effective ways of changing
consumer buying behaviour along with its importance to the M&S. Main motivation behind
selecting current topic is to determine the significance of changing consumer buying behaviour
for the growth and success of company. Current research is important for various stakeholders
that are M&S, customers, students and researchers (Fernandes and et. al., 2021). For researchers
present research helps them in improving their research skills that are data collection, time
management, presentation, decision making and many others. All these arte main skills and helps
researchers in attaining its personal and professional goals. For students, this research is
important for them by enhancing their understanding regarding the factors influencing customers
buying behavior of retail products. For M&S, this research is essential for them by providing
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information regarding the effective ways through which they can easily change consumer buying
behaviour towards the brand. Therefore, all these are main stakeholders that would be benefited
from the current research.
Another rationale behind conducting this research is to fulfil the research gap. Within this
research main gap is that there was lack of information regarding the factors along with their
influence on customers buying behavior towards retail products. In previous studies, there was
lots of data available about the benefits of consumer buying behaviour for an organisation
(GILITWALA and NAG, 2021). This is a main gap and for addressing this, secondary sources
are used for literature review. Therefore, present investigation is significant in fluffing the
research gap as well as achieving research aim and objectives in successful manner.
1.4 Research questions
 What are the factors influencing customers buying behaviors of retail products?
 What is the impact/roles of effective advertising on customers buying behaviors?
 What are the factors determining the choice of products?
 What are the various pricing strategies which determine the customers choices?
1.5 Research aim and objectives
Research aim:
The aim of the current research is “To analyse the factors influencing customers buying
behavior of retail products”: A study of Marks and Spencer group plc
Research objectives:
 To analyse the factors and the impact of effective advertising on customers buying
behavior
 To understand the importance of customers buying behaviours for different organizations
 To determine the different strategies that organizations can use to develop effective
advertisements
 To determine the influence of customer buying behaviors on organisations
1.6 Snapshot of methodology
Methodology is the process of collecting accurate information regarding the topic. There
are various types of research methodologies that are useful in gathering in-depth information
regarding the factors influencing customers buying behavior of retail products. These are
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interpretivisim philosophy, inductive approach, qualitative secondary research, cross-sectional
approach and many others. All these are effective and useful methodologies for researcher
because these helps researcher in gathering secondary information as well as achieving research
aim and objectives in successful manner (Islam, 2021).
1.7 Structure of research
There are different chapters that are effective in completing full dissertation in successful
as well as systematic manner. All thee chapters are explained as below;
 Introduction: This is a first chapter that incudes various information such as background
of the research, problem of the research, research questions, research aim and objectives,
snapshot of the methodology and many others. All these are main information that helps
researchers in doing next chapter in systematic manner.
 Literature review: This chapter is important in collecting secondary information from
various sources that are books, journals, magazines etc. These are main sources that helps
investigator in gathering in-depth information about the topic (Menidjel, Bilgihan and
Benhabib, 2021).
 Research methodology: This is another chapter that is significant for researcher in
collecting accurate data through different types of methodologies. These are research
philosophy, research approach, research choice, research strategy, time horizon and many
others. All these are main methodologies that helps researchers in gathering secondary
qualitative data effectively.
 Findings and analysis or analysis of findings: This is another chapter that is important
and significant for investigator in evaluating gathered information through research
analytical tool. Within this research, thematic analysis is used by researcher as an
analytical tool. This is an effective tool as it helps investigator in evaluating gathered
qualitative data through the themes or patterns (Luu and Baker, 2021).
 Conclusion and Recommendations: This is a last chapter that includes information
about the all activities in accurate and systematic manner. In conclusion, all information
is concluded in systematic manner that helps in identifying achievement of research aim
and objectives. In recommendations, some appropriate suggestions will be given to the
M&S in changing of buying behaviour of customers.
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LITERATURE REVIEW
Literature review is the chapter that focuses on carrying out secondary piece of
information from the sources such as books, articles, newspapers, journals, publications and so
on. This chapter mainly focuses on addressing the research questions with theoretical piece of
information in the decided time duration.
What are the factors influencing customers buying behaviours of retail products?
According to Luu & Baker (2021), consumer buying behaviour is greatly influenced by
several factors. Company always appoints a marketer so that they can understand about the
various factors that influence consumer behaviour. There are many factors that influence
customers buying behaviour are:
Psychological factors: Human psychology is one of the integral factors that directly
influence the consumer behaviour. These factors are not easy to evaluate and measure. Some of
the integral psychological factors that drive the behaviour of consumers are:
Motivation is one of the considerable defining factors that influence the buying behaviour
of customers of retail products. A common motivation theory is Maslow's theory of hierarchy of
needs. This is the model that is based upon five different levels of human requirements which
include: psychological needs, social needs, esteem needs, safety needs and self-actualisation
needs. With this customer give more importance to security requirements and basic needs above
all these mentioned needs.
Perception is the other factor that plays major role in attracting large number of
customers. This basically shows that how customer gathers information about the specific
product and service and generate an appropriate image regarding a particular product
(Rachmawati, Shukri, Azam and Khatibi, 2019). It is identified whether they get influenced
towards the product or service through an advertisement, feedback, review etc. With this
customer form an image regarding the product offered by retail companies. Now customers are
more influenced by products through surfing the Internet, exploring mobile phones, watching
television and many more.
Attitude and beliefs is the other important factor that prompts the buying decision.
Attitude and behaviour of an individual influences the purchasing and buying decisions of
customers. It plays significant role in shaping the brand image of the product in the mind of
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customers. So, understanding attitude and belief of a consumer becomes significant and useful
for many marketers of the organisation for designing several marketing campaigns.
Social factors: Customers are the people who are very social and get easily attracted with
the views and attitudes of the customers. Buying decisions of the customers are directly impacted
to some extent by the many people around. Customers always want to imitate other human
beings so that they can fit in surroundings. Hence, social factors influence buying behaviour of
customers regarding products of the retail companies. Some of the significant social factors are:
Family plays quite considerable role to impact purchasing behaviour of customers
(Victor and et. al., 2018). Customers form an aversion towards particular products from their
childhood by observing their families utilise that particular product and insist in using those
products as they grow up.
Roles and status is the other vital social factor that plays significant role in changing the
buying behaviour of customers. The higher position they hold in the society, the more their status
affects the way they buy and purchase products. This can be simply explained that CEO of an
organisation has different purchasing pattern and an employee has different buying pattern of in
comparison of CEO.
Cultural factors: Every customer has specific ideologies and values that are formed by
the ideologies and values of the society they exist in and the specific community they belong to
(Cham and et. al., 2018). Their behaviour is subconsciously or consciously influenced by the
culture followed by their specific community.
Cultural factors are generally basic needs, wants behaviours, preferences and wants that
are absorbed by customers from their family members as well as other important people around
them.
Subcultures are one of the parts of culture. These groups always focus on sharing
common sets of beliefs and values. They could consist of people from varied caste, religion,
nationalities and geographies. The whole customer segment is created by this specific customer
segment.
Social class is the other significant factor and this is identified by occupation, residence
location and education of the customers (Dhanabalan and et. al., 2018). The social class is the
other significant component keeping the successful influence of consumer behaviour.
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Personal factors: Alongside cultural, social and psychological factors, every customer
has that factor that are personal to them that directly influences their choices. These are the
factors which vary from one person to another, introducing different behaviours and perceptions.
Age is referred as the primary factor that impacts the preferences of consumers. It is
determined that teenagers like to make flashy and vibrant buying choices of teenagers. On the
other hand, elderly people like products which are less vibrant and soberer.
Income is the other significant buying behaviour of customers that has great contribution
in affecting this. It is identified that the higher income of the customer shows that customers
have more purchasing power. On the other hand, customers having lower income do not take
more interest in buying more products frequently.
According to Rabbani, Heidari and Farrokhi-Asl (2018), it has been identified that the
major factor that plays significant role in influencing customer buying behaviour towards retail
product is personal factors. Personal factors play important role to influence customers such as
age. Teenagers and youngsters are the people who are easier to influence towards products of the
company because they are continuously active on different channels of social media. Whereas
the older people are not easier to influence because they have certain preferences and needs
which are difficult to change. The other personal factor is income because buying behaviour of
customers depend on their salary or remuneration. So, students are the people who do not earn so
they are not at the stage where they could purchase more products of the company. On the other
hand, people who have great income are easier to get influenced towards products of the
company.
What is the impact/roles of effective advertising on customers buying behaviors?
According to Sunderaraj (2018), advertising is the method of communication for convincing
an audience to take buying decision about a product or service and providing information to
viewers and observers. Advertising is considered as one of the renowned marketing tools to
create awareness about the product in the mindset of a prospective customer for taking eventual
buying decision. Advertising with the assistance of all mediums influence prospective as well as
existing customers but social media and television are the strongest medium to advertise and
because of its mass reach, it could influence not only attitude, exposure and lifestyle of an
individual but in longer run, it could simply influence the culture of an organisation. When a
customer watches an advertisement about the organisation or its offerings and increases likeness
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for the same and ultimately willingness to buy it. The major advertisement is done with the
purpose of creating positive attitude towards the brand until prospective or existing customer
buys the product and by this positive attitude creates emotional responses in the customer's mind.
As per the opinion of Nuseir (2018), it has been determined that with the help of
advertisement, companies could easily create positive impact over buying behaviour of
customers towards the offerings of different product. There are many studies that have founded
that customer's attitude towards different advertisements increase the demand for the advertised
offerings. It is also studied that cognitive changes among the several groups of the customers that
encourage to make various attitudes towards the procedure of advertisement. An essence of
advertising is creating brand awareness, selection and preference of products of the organisation.
When companies advertise products, audience could easily differentiate features their likeable
products with the different offerings of an organisation. This gives competitive edge to the
company so that they can easily have more number of customers in comparison of competitor
organisation.
According to the Sama (2019), the major purpose of advertising is to impact on consumer
buying behaviour, this impacts about organisation is strengthened or changed frequently through
memories of people. Memories about the organisation are created by associations that are
connected to organisation's name in the mind of customers. These organisations constantly
influence consideration, evaluation and finally multiple purchases. Consumers buying behaviour
has always provided so much significance and space in the study of effect of advertising
regarding its effectiveness. Most of the time customers buying behaviour depends upon disliking
or liking of customers towards the advertisement of the offerings advertised. A great quality
advertisement is generally used for influencing consumers into purchasing that product whereas
poor quality advertisements would do the opposite. Sometimes company uses humour in their
advertisements but it can be risky at many time as a large number of customers may not be
entertained or attracted by the same concept. This can be failed attempt for reaching out large
number of customers as well as influencing prospective customers. This must be cleared that
entertaining advertisement does not always mean adding humour into ads (Ali, 2021). Great and
interesting suspense advertisements could also come under entertaining advertisements. Thus,
advertisement helps in influencing the behaviour of consumers by providing them genuine and
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true information of the product and services. It generally provides attractive content to
consumers that helps in creating desire to purchase the products.
According to Yuan and et. al., (2019), it has been identified that advertising holds great
importance within an organisation because it helps in changing behaviour of the customers so
that they can purchase more from the company. There is positive impact of advertising on
customers because they get to know more information about the products of company and
increase their expenditure to buy more products. With the help of advertisement, companies form
mindset among customers that products they are providing are of great quality. Therefore,
advertisement is the method that is very important within an organisation and for customers.
What are the different strategies that organizations can use to develop effective advertisements?
As per the opinion of Pradhan, Israel and Jena (2018), advertisement plays an important
role in increasing the profitability and performance of business. It is a process of exchanging the
information through TV, newspaper and radio. Through advertisement company can increase the
brand and product awareness. They can also stand out from the competition and improve the
brand positioning image. Effective advertisement helps in supporting other business operations
and educates business customers about the products and services. Advertisement helps in
introducing new product in market and also increases the sale of business. There are various
strategies which can be used by company in order to develop effective advertisement such as
web design, search engine optimisation, pay per click, social media marketing, content marketing
and email marketing. The other strategies which can be used by organisation for promoting their
products and services are emotional appeal, promotional advertising, endorsements, unfinished
ads and complementing the customers. Through these strategies, company can enhance its sale
and profitability and also attract maximum number of customers towards the brand. For creating
effective advertisement, it is necessary for organisation to determine their goals, find right target
audience, consider how brand is viewed, test and track ad campaigns, consider their timing and
try low cost advertising options.
Web design: It is one of the effective advertisement strategies which can be used by
company in order to develop effective advertisement for their customers. Organisation must
focus on designing effective website that helps in providing relevant information about the
product and services to its customers (Bellini, Cardinali and Grandi, 2017). It is a platform
through which consumers can research and avail the valid information about the company, its
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investors, goods and services and other data related to brand. Through web design, organisation
can provide information to large number of people and promote its brand in market. The web
design can break the success of online advertising campaigns. It also helps in grabbing the
attention of consumers and encourages them to buy the products and services of brand. If
company is able to design the site properly and effectively, it makes visitors to stay longer and
also build trust among them.
Search engine optimisation: Search engine optimisation is another advertisement
strategy which must be implemented by company in order to develop effective advertisements.
Organisation must focus on investing in search engine optimisation as it helps in improving the
website and increase its rank on Google for searches. It mainly includes incorporating keywords
related to products and services of website so that if customers search for those keywords in
search engines they get the page appear as result. The main aim of search engine optimisation is
to make website on the first page of result. It is one of the effective tools that helps company to
advertise their products and services and reach to their potential customers. Search engine
optimisation helps in boosting exposure, conversion rate and foot traffic.
Pay per click: It is another advertisement strategy which can be used by organisation in
order to promote their products and services. It is an online advertising model that helps
company to place ads in search engine results (Eze and Bello, 2016). Pay per click advertisement
works on bidding system due to which organisation has to select target keywords and compete
with other firms to place ads in search results. Through pay per click advertisement, company
have to pay when customers click on their advertisement. It is effective online advertising tool
that works within budget and also increase their online visibility.
Social media marketing: Social media marketing is one of the largest platforms which
have wide range of active users. It mainly includes sites such as Twitter, Instagram and
Facebook. Through social media marketing, company can reaches to large number of audience
and also connect with their target audience. It is a great place to advertise the products and
services as it helps in increasing the profitability and growth of business. By using social media
platform, company can select their audience based on demographic information like location, age
and gender. Organisation can also identify the interest and behaviours of customers and offer
them product accordingly. Social media marketing is low cost platform which helps in increasing
the sale and profitability of business. It also helps in increasing trust worthiness and brand
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recognition, foster online community, increase level of customer services and also enhance the
sale of business.
E-mail marketing: Email marketing is also a form of digital marketing through which
company can advertise their products and services in market. It is one of the oldest forms of
advertisement strategies which help in reaching to targeting audience directly in their inboxes.
Email marketing helps in connecting with current and potential consumers. Organisation can use
email marketing in order to attract large number of customers and also it helps in providing
information about the product and services effectively. Email marketing helps in generating
leads and also engages customer towards the product and services.
Endorsement: It is other effective strategy which helps in advertising the products and
services in market. Organisation must focus on endorsing celebrities and influences who have
large number of followers. Through endorsing, company can boost their sale and profitability. It
also helps in attracting large number of customers (East and et. al., 2021). The celebrities and
influencers generally promote the product by sharing their own experience with the product
which helps in creating trust among audience. Generally celebrities and influencers have wide
range of fan following which will be beneficial for the company to increase its customer base.
On the other hand, Kumar, Hundal and Kaur (2019), it is being identified that there are various
strategies through which company can develop effective advertisement. It is important for
organisation to identify the effective strategies and implement in efficient manner in order to
reach maximum number of audience. The effective advertisements help in increasing the brand
and product awareness, attracting current and potential customer, improve brand positioning
image and also support other business operations. But it generally promotes unnecessary
consumption and also decline in moral values.
To determine the influence of customer buying behaviours on organisations
As per the viewpoint of Sangroya and Nayak (2017), customer buying behaviour influence
the profitability and performance of business. It is important for organisation to focus on
understanding the behaviour of customers while purchasing the goods and services. Organisation
is responsible to satisfy the needs and demand of customers so that they can attract large number
of customers and create string consumer base. Through understanding the customer buying
behaviour, company can decide what products and services must be manufacture and produce in
market. There are various factors which influence the buying behaviour of consumers such as
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price, situation, marketing factors, family, environmental factors, personal factor, culture and
psychological factor. In order to gain the success in market, it is necessary to understand the
consumer buying behaviour and also identify the needs and expectation of customers. There are
few actions through which company can influence the consumer buying behaviour for long term
such as they must focus on reinforcing positive new beliefs, sustain new habits, shape emerging
habits with new offerings, align messages to consumer mindsets and also analyse consumer
beliefs and behaviours.
As per the viewpoint of Sharma and Trivedi (2016), it is the responsibilities of organisation
to focus on handle the queries and problem of customers in order to create strong customers and
gain their loyalty towards the brand. Consumer buying behaviour can influence the profitability
and growth of organisation, they play an important role in enhancing or reducing the brand
image. It is important for company to ensure that their consumers must be satisfied with the
products and services so that they can gain competitive advantage in market and enhance its
brand awareness. The current customer behaviour trend are transparency, online buying, clean
and green companies, low price products with high quality and security. Due to COVID 19,
company has shut their business and face severe loss. The pandemic leads to increase in online
shopping due to which company can increase their sale and bear their loss. Decision of the
customer plays an important role in purchasing the product and services. Organisation must
focus on creating strong bond with consumers by interacting them more so that they can give
better reviews and feedback about the product and services and company can also understand
about their behaviour while purchasing the product. Customers generally adjust their purchasing
behaviour depending upon their needs. Sometimes the choice of consumers are quite random, if
they buy the product they have some reason behind it. They buy the product by analysing various
factors and aspects, then make their decision. There are various types of buyers in market such
as analytical buyer, amiable buyers, driver buyer and expression buyer. These buyers have
different nature and behaviour while buying the products and service of brand. In order to
influence the consumer and their buying decision, it is necessary for organisation to focus on
recognising and getting aware of needs, search for information, evaluate the alternatives,
purchase and conduct post purchase evaluation (Badgaiyan, Dixit and Verma, 2017).
On the other hand, Sonwaney and Chincholkar (2019), it is being identified from the above
information that consumer buying behaviours plays an important role in organisation. Through
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understanding the buying behaviour of consumers, company can increase the profitability and
growth of business. It also helps in fulfilling the needs and preference of customers. But while
understanding the consumer behaviours, few marketers mold the behaviours of buyers in favour
of their products and also use objectionable techniques.
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CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction
Research methodology refers to the process used by researcher for collecting and
evaluating data regarding a research topic. Main purpose of the methodology within a research is
it helps investigator in collecting as well as evaluating of accurate information regarding the
topic. There are different types of methodologies that used for gathering and analysing
information regarding the factors influencing customers buying behavior of retail products.
3.2 Research Philosophy
Research philosophy refers to the process used for collecting and analysing information
regarding any topic. There are three main types of philosophies such as epistemology, ontology
and axiology. All these are effective philosophies in collecting and evaluating data regarding any
topic or subject. In epistemology, there are three types such as positivism, interpretivisim and
critical realism. These are essential in data collection and evaluation but for gathering and
analysing information about the factors influencing customers buying behavior of retail products,
interpretivisim is a selected philosophy because it helps in collecting and analysing qualitative
data within minimum time period (Ruggiano and Perry, 2019). There are certain reasons behind
the selection of interpretivisim philosophy under epistemology. These are; provides qualitative
data, helps in gathering theoretical information from available sources that are books, articles,
publication research and many others, not require maximum time, cost-effective etc. On the other
hand, positivism and critical realism are another types of philosophies that are not used within
this research because it takes lots of time in data collection and evaluation.
3.3 Research design/strategy
There are three main types of research designs that named are experimental, descriptive
and exploratory. All these are effective, but within a current investigation, exploratory is a
selected design. There are various advantages regarding the selection of exploratory design such
as provides secondary information, helps in collecting in-depth information, cost and time
effective design and many others. On the other hand, experimental and descriptive are another
designs that are not effective in collecting secondary information about the factors influencing
customers buying behavior of retail products. These types of research designs are requiring lots
of time and cost.
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There are also various types of research strategies that are case study, experimental,
survey and many others. All these are effective types of research strategies but within this
research case study is a chosen strategy (Mohajan, 2018). There are various benefits regarding
the use of case study such as provides secondary information, not takes maximum time, not
require maximum amount of capital and many others.
3.4 Research approach
This is the process of collecting and evaluating information through effective type of
research approach. There are two approaches of the data collection such as qualitative and
quantitative. Both approaches of the research are effective but within this research, qualitative is
a selected approach because it provides data in theoretical manner. There are various benefits
about the selection of qualitative approach such as cost effective, less time consuming, higher
availability of the resources and many more (Tarrant and Hughes, 2021). On the other hand,
quantitative is another approach of data collection that is not useful within a research because it
requires maximum time and not assist in getting valid outcomes.
There are also two approaches of the data analysis such as deductive and inductive. Both
approaches are essential but within this research, inductive approach is useful because it facilitate
in evaluating qualitative data within decided time period. There are various benefits regarding
the selection of inductive approach in current investigation such as helps in getting valid results,
not need maximum time in qualitative data evaluation etc. On the other hand, deductive is
another type of research approach that is not useful within a present investigation because it
requires maximum time (Silverman, 2020).
3.5 Data collection
Data collection refers to the process used for gathering accurate information regarding the
topic. There are two methods of data collection such as primary and secondary. There are various
tools for collecting primary data such as questionnaire, interview, focus group, observation and
many others. In order to gather secondary information, there are various sources such as books,
journals, magazines, publication research and many others. These are effective methods of
collecting data regarding any topic or research. Within this research, secondary sources are used
for collecting data about the factors influencing customers buying behavior of retail products.
There are various benefits regarding the selection of secondary sources of data collection such as
not requires maximum time, ease of access, low cost, time effective, allow researcher to generate
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new insights from previous analysis and many others. All these are major benefits about the
selection of secondary research in present investigation. On the other hand, primary is another
type of research that is not effective in this study because it requires lots of time in data
collection and not assist in getting reliable results.
3.6 Data analysis techniques
Data analysis refers to the process of evaluating gathered information via research analytical
technique. Within this research, secondary data is gathered from books, articles, journals and
many others sources for literature review. In order to evaluate secondary information regarding
the factors influencing customers buying behavior of retail products, thematic analysis is used by
researcher. This is an analytical tool that facilitate a researcher in evaluating secondary
information within decided time period and in systematic manner. There are certain cons and
pros of thematic analysis. Pros are; helps in evaluating in-depth information within minimum
time, not require larger amount of capital etc. Cons of the thematic analysis is it not assist in
evaluation of numerical information.
3.7 Ethical consideration
Research ethics are important and useful within a research because with the help of this,
researcher can complete full dissertation in ethical manner. There are certain principles of the
research ethics that helps investigator in completing secondary research ethically manner. These
are data must be de-identified before release to the investigator, use of the data must not output
in any distress or damage, results of the analysis must not allow re-identifying participants,
consent of study subjects can be reasonably presumed etc.
3.8 Conclusion of chapter
From the above mentioned methodology chapter, it has been concluded that there are
different types of methodologies used by a researcher for gathering secondary information about
the factors influencing customers buying behavior of retail products. These are inductive,
interpretivisim, qualitative and many others.
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Chapter 4 – Findings & Analysis
Introduction
Findings is defined as the results or outcomes of the research and the analysis is
considered as the method which studies data from the entire investigation made. Analysis is
basically the description of how exactly the investigator has used the data from various sources.
This section mainly reveals the analysis on the factual matters of the results but low content on
the implication and their meaning. The findings are basically the research questions and
objectives which are converted into themes so that such objectives can be discussed with proper
analysis of what it did in the literature review section. This section majorly discusses the answers
of such questions which are related to the research aims and topic so that investigation can prove
authorised and authentic in nature.
There are several objectives of the research which are converted into the topics of
literature review and then again it is converted into the themes for the current findings and
analysis section. Such themes as per the research topic includes the factors influencing customers
buying behaviours of retail products. Another theme is the impact/roles of effective advertising
on customers buying behaviours. Third theme is the factors determining the choice of products
and the last theme is the various pricing strategies which determine the customer’s choices.
Discussion is made on these questions by in depth reviewing the literature review questions by
several authors.
The following discussion is based on the findings and analysis on the research topic and
literature review conducted on the aims and objectives of the investigation. The below discussion
represents the most relevant information which was covered in the previous sections of literature
review. It has clarified the uncleared points which was not discussed above will be now
discussed in the current section. This section will present the short discussion with results at the
end with proper explanation of the themes. Moreover, it has also included the negative results so
that the negative points can equally be judged and determined for an accurate and appropriate
findings and analysis of the information gathered for the current investigation.
Theme 1: The factors influencing customers buying behaviours of retail products
Consumer purchasing action is largely affected by various causes. Organization always
hires a marketer expertise so that they can realize about the assorted causes that affects consumer
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action. There are numerous causes that affects customers purchasing action are such that:
Psychological factors is one of the factor influencing customers buying behaviours of retail
products. These components are not simple to assess and measure. Motivation is one of the
psychological factor. A ordinary motivation theory is Maslow's theory of hierarchy of needs.
This is the framework that is founded upon five various levels of human needs which considers
psychological needs, social needs, esteem needs, safety needs and self-actualisation needs. With
this customer give more value to safety needs and basic necessities above all such mentioned
requirements. Perception is an another psychological factor (Grewal, Noble, Roggeveen and
Nordfalt, 2020). It that plays the leading function in pulling big amount of customers. This
fundamentally shows that how customer collects data about the particular product and service
and create the proper image in context with the specific product. It is known whether they get
influenced towards the product or service with the help of an advertisement, feedback, review
and many more. With this customer form a picture in regards with the product served by retail
companies. Now customers are more influenced by products with the help of surfing the Internet,
exploring mobile phones, watching television and many more. Attitude and beliefs is also one of
the psychological factor. Attitude and behaviour of a person influences the purchasing and
buying decisions of customers. It plays important role in constructing the brand picture of the
product in the mind of customers. Therefore, intercepting attitude and belief of a consumer
becomes essential and helpful for many marketers of the company for scheming various
advertising movements (Anitha and Patil, 2019).
Social factors is an another factor influencing customers buying behaviours of retail
products. Customers are the group who are very societal and get simply attracted with the views
and attitudes of the customers. Purchasing judgement of the customers are straightly impacted to
some level by the many group around. Customers always require to copy other human beings so
that they can be suitable in environment. Hence, social factors influence purchasing action of
customers in regards with the products of the retail organizations. Family is one of the social
factor. It plays rather appreciable part to affect buying action of customers. Customers form an
antipathy towards specific products from their childhood by making perception about their
families who uses that specific product and implore in using those products as they grow up.
Roles and status is an another social factor. The high position they grasp in the social group, the
more their status impacts the manner they purchase and leverage products. This can be easily
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described that CEO of the firm has assorted buying structure and an employee has antithetical
purchasing structure of as compared to CEO (Prakash, Choudhary, Kumar, Garza-Reyes and
Panda, 2019).
Cultural factors is also one of the factor influencing customers buying behaviours of
retail products. Every customer has particular orientation and beliefs that are defined by the
theorization and beliefs of the social group they exist in and the particular gathering they belong
to. Their action is unconsciously or consciously affected by the perceptiveness followed by their
particular gathering. Cultural factors are mostly the fundamental needs, wants behaviours,
preferences and wants that are engrossed by customers from their household associates as well as
other crucial group around them. Subcultures are one of the parts of culture. These groups
always directs on exchanging communal sets of impression and beliefs. They could belong to
people from multifaceted caste, religion, nationalities and geographies. The entire customer
section is formulated by this particular customer section. Social class is one of the cultural factor.
It is known by occupation, residence location and education of the customers. The social class is
the different important element keeping the flourishing influence of consumer action (Roggeveen
and Sethuraman, 2020).
Personal factors is also an another factor influencing customers buying behaviours of
retail products. Apart from cultural, social and psychological factors, every customer has that
cause that are private to them that straight away affects their selections. These are the causes
which alter from one individual to other, presenting various actions and perceptual experience.
Age is one of the personal factor. It is described as the fundamental cause that affects the taste of
consumers. It is discovered that adolescent like to make brassy and spirited purchasing selections
of teenaged group. On the other hand, aged group like products which are little spirited and
soberer. Income is an another personal factor. It is the other important purchasing action of
customers that has big contribution in impacting this. It is known that the high financial gain of
the customer displays that customers have more buying power. On the other hand, customers
having less financial gain do not take much involvement in purchasing more products on a
frequent basis (Tsao, Raj and Yu, 2019).
Theme 2: The impact/roles of effective advertising on customers buying behaviours
Advertising is the concept of communicating to the customers in order to persuading an
audience to make purchasing judgement in terms of the product or service and renders data to
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viewing audience and observers as well. Advertising is basically reasoned as one of the
illustrious marketing method in order to generate knowingness about the product in the mentality
of a expected customer for making ultimate purchasing judgement. Advertising with the aid of
all intermediates affects the expected as well as present customers but social media and
television are the powerful platforms in order to advertise and this is because of its mass range, it
can affect not only the mental attitude, revelation and life style of an individual but in longer run,
it can easily affect the culture of the company. When a customer reviews an advertisement about
the company or its products that improves the likeness for the same and finally willingness to
purchase it. The leading advertisement is done with the intent of generating affirmative mental
attitude towards the company until expected or present customer purchases the product and by
this affirmative mental attitude generates the cerebral results in the customer's cognition
(Mubarak and Mufeeth, 2020).
It has been discovered that with the assistance of advertisement, organizations can simply
generate affirmative outcome over purchasing action of customers towards the products of
various products offered by the firm. There are numerous surveys that have contented that
customer's mental attitude towards assorted advertisements additions the demand for the
advertised products. It is also deliberated that psychological modifications among the various
groups of the customers that promotes to make several mental attitude towards the process of
advertisement. An importance of advertising is generating the brand knowingness, selection and
preference of products of the firm. When organizations advertise products, audience can simply
distinguish characteristics their likeable products with the assorted offerings of the company.
This provides competitive edge to the firm so that they can simply have more amount of
customers as compared to the competitors companies (Hwang and Chung, 2019).
The leading intention of advertising is to affect the consumer purchasing action, this affects
the organisation and is reinforced or transformed on a frequent basis with the help of different
memories of people. Memories about the company are generated by institutions which are
related to company's name which are in the knowledge of customers. These companies
perpetually impacts the thought process, evaluation and eventually for the aggregate purchases.
Consumers purchasing action has always rendered so much importance and space in the study of
effect of advertising in regards to its effectiveness (Husnain, Rehman, Syed and Akhtar, 2019).
Most of the time customers purchasing action is based upon disliking or liking of customers
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towards the advertisement of the products advertised. A good quality advertisement is
specifically utilized for convincing consumers into buying that product as compared to the bad
quality advertisements performs opposite. Erstwhile, organization uses humour in their
advertisements but it can be hazardous at many time as a big amount of customers may not be
amused or attracted with the identical conception as before. This can be the unsuccessful effort
for stretching out big amount of customers as well as convincing expected customers. This must
be clarified that amusing advertisement does not always mean adding humour into ads. Good and
fascinating suspense advertisements can also come under amusing advertisements. Thus,
advertisement assist in convincing the action of consumers by rendering them authentic and
genuine content of the product and services. It mostly renders captivating content to consumers
that aids in generating tendency to buy the products from the organization (Grewal and
Roggeveen, 2020).
From the above findings of the study, it can be concluded that advertising has a very
crucial role in the function of influencing the purchasing pattern of the customers. This is
because it helps in attracting the attention from the customer towards the brand which raises their
interest and creates desires to buy the products as per their needs and requirements. It is
determined that advertising is the fundamental foundation which drives and controls the
behaviour of the consumer to buy or make purchases of the product from a particular company or
brand. Advertisement which has a special features such as those which are well written and well
presented in a strategic manner has a strong convincing power to change the behaviour of the
consumer but this can only be possible if the advertisement is placed tactically with consistent
delivery of the advertised content and fulfilling the expectations of the promises of what is
shown in the advertisement. Moreover, advertisement makes the organizations to get related with
the happiness in terms of performing the consumerism function by marketers. It means that there
are advertisements which are manipulative in nature that has the intention of using of some facts
and arguments which directly hits the emotions of the customers. In this way, customers
influences automatically about the products and services offered by the brand. Advertisement is
the tool which highly impacts the decision making by the customers in terms of purchasing of a
product or not from a specific brand. Perception is the area from where the advertisements tries
to grab to the attention from the consumers. This helps in building up the belief towards the
product. Perception of the customer totally depends on the advertisement content because if the
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perception or belief is positive then it will be the positive decision making by the consumers in
making purchases and vice versa. Therefore, a successful content of advertisement mainly
transcends the perception of the customer's needs and requirements. It generates the emotional
appeal which greatly influences and convinces the customers that the product which is being
promoted will definitely make difference in their regular lives and life style in terms of happiness
and improving status in the society along with the satisfaction and providing security to the
customers (Nash, 2019).
Theme 3: The factors determining the choice of products
From the above secondary source it is been discussed that advertisement can greatly
influence the customer buying behaviour towards the organisation. The customer buying
behaviour helps in determine the profitability and performance level of the company. It is crucial
for the companies to shift their focus and understand the behaviour and attitude of the buyers
while they are purchasing any good and service. Customer satisfaction depends more on how
business predict their buyer behaviour. Needs and demands of the purchaser need to be know so
that they can attract large number of buyers and can create a strong consumer base. This also
helps the companies to gain more detail about what goods and service they need to manufacture
and produce which is more demanded by the buyers in the market. Different factors are there
which influence buying behaviour which is price, situation, marketing factors, family,
environmental factors, personal factor, culture and psychological factor. If companies want to
gain success in the market it is very important to analysis effective the buying pattern of
consumer which is related to the product they deal in.
Price: it is one of the factor which directly influence the buying attitude. If companies charge
high price than that of the rivalry than they will loss market. what customer is paying to avail the
product must match with the quality a companies in providing. In recent time consumer are the
king of the market. they have variety of option availed to purchase goods. So organisation should
use the approach of cost differentiation because this will help them more to compete with the
competitor and gain competitive advantage out of it. Price determine the profit a company can
earn over their goods and service they are producing.
Psychological factor: Another factor which organisation need to be analysed effectively is the
psychological of the buyer towards the good they are dealing with. Human psychology is one of
the factor which is related to the internal feeling. These directly determine the consumer buying
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behaviour. These factor are not easily to be measured. So for this expertise need to be hired
which can see internal mindset of the individual and can get to provide detail information about
human behaviour and thought regarding the purchase of the product.
Perception: Another factor that determines the consumer buying behaviour is the perception of
the individual about goods and service. This also helps an organisation to attract more buyers if
they correctly evaluate the perception of the human regarding the product. In this factors that are
being evaluated are the information which they collect about the product and image they are
making of. Consumer buying behaviour and attitude mostly determine organisation good because
if they perceive something positive than they will definitely make a purchase without giving any
second thought. They also identified whether they get influenced towards the product or service
through an advertisement, feedback, review etc.
From organisation it is also very important to identify the needs and expectation of the consumer
towards the company and brand because social factor also plays a vital role. Buyers will use
those products only which can give advantage of social factor. Because they are living in the
society so they need to use those product and service which is moral and ethical accepted in the
society. Values, culture, religion also impact their buying behaviour. Here are some actions of
organisation also which is determine by consumer which are their brand image, how much
purchaser are aware of brand, manufacturing process, cost of production, investor view point etc.
through these action business can influence the consumer buying behaviour for long duration.
They should also focus on reinforcing positive new beliefs, sustain new habits, shape emerging
habits with new offerings, align messages to consumer mindsets and also analyse consumer
beliefs and behaviours. It is also morale duty of the company to give focus on their sale person
because their attitude also impact buyer’s attitude. Positive behaviour of sales person can
increase the sale of the company. Organisation should also effectively handle the queries and
problem of their customer so that strong communication can be made and more brand loyalty can
be gained. Consumer buying behaviour can also influence the profitability and growth of
organisation, they play an important role in enhancing or reducing the brand image and any false
feedback of the company. Companies need to satisfied their buyers with the product they are
dealing with so that they can earn competitive advantage and can gain more market share. In
recent time the major consumer behaviour trends are transparency, online buying, clean and
green companies, low price products with high quality and security. Online buying is one of the
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leading market trends after the pandemic of Covid 19. The hit of Crisis has force many business
to shut down but companies which use this online trend success and is in the state which they are
able to run their business. The pandemic leads to increase in online shopping due to which
company can increase their sale and bear their loss. Cost of production is also low in this trend
because there is no need for those small venture to set a different warehouse and sale their profit.
The another major trend of on which organisation need to focus is on creating a strong bond with
their buyers which help them to interact with their buyers are get a feedback and review. This
feedback and reviews will help them to improve their performance and compete in the market.
There are various types of buyers in market such as analytical buyer, amiable buyers, driver
buyer and expression buyer. The companies should also determine the factors which is related to
their buying pattern so that they can target them according to the need and demand of them.
There nature, attitude and perception are different while buying the goods and services post
purchase is also very important factor.
Theme 4: The various pricing strategies which determine the customer’s choices
From the above gathered information it is been discussed that there are various strategies
that can be used by organisation to develop an effective advertisement. There are different
channels through which companies can advertise their product and can reach with target
customer. Advertisement plays an important role for organisational performance and
profitability. For designing effective promotional strategies it is very vital for business t
determine their goals and find target market. These will help them to build an approach that is
low in coast and require less time to get ready. If strategies are formed innovative and attractive
than this will help companies to built new market and increase their sale and revenue through the
operation. Competition from the rivalry can also be reduced which assit them to gain competitive
advantage. Frome the above information it is been seen that there are various strategies that can
be used by organisation some of them are web design, search engine optimisation, pay per click,
social media marketing, content marketing and email marketing and many more. These
approaches will aids them to promote their goods and services and can make an emotional appeal
to the buyers. This will also helps in communicating with the consumer directly with the
emotional attach to them regarding the product they are using. Let discuss these strategies in
detail which can be used by retail sector:
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Web design: This is one of the effective advertisement practices that can be develop by the
organisation to promote their product in effective and efficient manner. Companies should focus
on developing an innovative and attractive website for their organisation that will help them to
provide all the detailed information which is necessary for the buyers to know about the product
or service they are availing. This is that approach which give more insight information about
companies goods and services. The valid information which is being covered in this is investor
manes, goods they manufacture, price and many other data related to brand. Though web site
companies can provide information to large number of people and can promote their product to
wider section. This will also help them in breaking the success of online campaign of
advertising. It will also assist in grabbing more attention of the buyers and motivate them to
purchase company good and service.
Search engine optimisation: This is another advertisement strategy which is developed with
passing time. This also gains more importance day by day and many companies are shifting their
focus on the strategy of search engine optimisation. This is implemented by various
organisations so that they can improve their company image. Search engine optimisation is an
approach in which companies rank their website on top of the ranking bar so that they will be
shown above from that of their competitors. Business should focus more in this strategy as it will
help them to improve their website and increase their ranking on Google search bar. Elements
which are included in this are incorporating keywords related to goods and service so that buyers
will search for those words in SEO and will get that page which appears as a result of their
searching. It is one of the attractive practices that advertise to reach target buyers. It also helps in
boosting exposure, conversion rate and fool traffic.
Pay per click: It is another approach which is used by retail industry to promote their product. It
is an online advertising model that helps the business to place their ads in search engine result. In
recent time this practice is being used more because of the customer using online website more.
Pay per click works only on bidding system because of target buyers. Organization their
keywords and then compete with their rivalry to place their advertisement in search results. In
this company pay a certain amount when and buyers click on their ad. It is one of the innovative
promotional activities which is also within the company budget.
Endorsement: Another advertising activity which is effective in promoting product and service
in the market. in this company can focus on endorsing famous personality to promte their brand.
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Celebrity endorsement is one of the good approaches in recent time because buyers can influence
if they find famous faced that is advertising company product. This also helps the company to
boost their sale in the market and a great profit from it. In this an agreement is signed between
the celebrity and company. The organisation need to pay amount of endorsement to the celebrity
they are using. Wider audience can also be targeted as well as promote brand. In this celebrity
are asked to share their own experience when they used the product and provide positive
feedback to the customers. Only those famous personality are being endorsed who has large fan
following.
Email marketing: Another approach that can be used by companies is email marketing. This is
and digital marketing form of advertisement to promote the product. It is also one of the oldest
form of promotional tool which assist in reaching with buyers directly through using chat box or
inboxes. Through this companies can connect with their current and potential customer who will
be loyal toward the organisation. This is also one of the practices through which companies can
generate leads and engage with the purchaser and know about the related discount, offer that they
will be giving while purchasing the goods and service.
Social media marketing: It is one of the largest platform to advertise the wide range of goods
and service to active users. Sites which are covers in social media are Twitter, Instagram and
Facebook and many more. With the use of this they can break the geographical boundaries can
reach large section of consumer in one go. It is also one of the great channels to increase their
market and can also grow if advertisement strategy is designed effectively. Social media
marketing is a very low cost platform as compare to other. Brand recognition, foster online
community, product awareness and many other benefits can be gained using this.
Conclusion
It is concluded that it is important to conduct the findings and analysis section in the
entire investigation. This is because it is considered as an essential concept to learn and study so
that its applications can be applied in the actual world research approaches. The reason being is
that this section has a high importance in conducting the research studies as as it helps in making
the entire study of a data in a more simpler form and in a more accurate manner. It supports the
investigators directly with the interpretations of the results and data so that the relevant
information can be drawn out in an appropriate manner. Furthermore, it assist in organising the
data and information in a sequential manner with a proper structure of the research report. These
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are the structures which are in the form of presentable information that are useful for the real
world applications.
Moreover, it is also concluded that consumer buying behaviour is an important concept to
learn and study so that its applications can be applied in the actual world companies. This is
because it supports the organization conducting the market research which majorly includes the
interpretation of the purchasing patterns of the customers towards the brand and to analyse the
size of the market along with the demographics and many more for better findings and analysing
the consumer behaviour pattern on buying products and services. Therefore, it is important to
analyse the factors influencing customers buying behaviours of retail products. It is essential to
examine the impact/roles of effective advertising on customers buying behaviours. It is necessary
to determine the factors determining the choice of products and it is significant to gain the
knowledge about the various pricing strategies which determine the customer’s choices. Hence,
the above information is based on such themes for better understanding of the conception of
findings and analysis of the consumer buying behaviour in terms of the retail products.
Chapter 5
5.1 Introduction
Consumer buying behaviour is defined as actions that has been undertaken on both online
and offline ways by customers before they purchase or buy a service or product. It has been
evaluated that consumer buying behaviour process can include consulting search engines, social
media post and number of other actions. In order to attract customers towards organisational
offerings it is essential for an organisation to analyse the behaviour of customers with the help of
different methods and analyse the psychological, cultural, social-economic and personal aspects
in order to influence them efficiently. Present report is conducted on a multinational British
company Marks and Spencer which is operating its roles and responsibilities in London,
England, United Kingdom. Company offers wide range of services and facilities to customers.
Present research analyse the factors which is influencing consumer buying behaviour of retail
products. Research also include in depth analysis in the form of literature review, appropriate
methodologies and efficient recommended practices.
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5.2 Review of research objectives
Present research is conducted to evaluate elements of factors that have influence upon the
behaviour of customers of retail products. In this consumers group of Marks and Spencer is
being analysed with the help of significant objectives such as evaluation of factors and the
impact of effective advertisements of consumer buying behaviour. It has been underlined that
there are psychological factors such as perception, motivation, attitude and believes which
impact consumers. In addition to this social factors like family, role and status, cultural factors,
social class, personal factors such as income are some of the elements which impact on the
buying behaviour of customers. Along with another objective of this research which is to
understand the importance of consumer buying behaviour for different organisation identifies
that it is essential for organisation to understand the importance of consumer buying behaviour,
as this will help them to attract their attention in efficient manner. Furthermore, the another
objective of this research which is to determine different strategies that organisation can use in
order to develop effective advertisement states that there are different strategies such as social
media marketing, web design, search engine optimisation, pay per click, email marketing etc
which helps organisation to influence mindset of consumers. At last, the last objective is to
determine the influence of consumer buying behaviour on organisation. It has been identified
that consumer buying behaviour influence organisation performance and profitability. In this it is
essential for organisation to evaluate behaviour of customers in order to attract them effectively.
5.3 Major findings
Present research conducted with the help of research approach, philosophy, choice, method
and strategies. With the help of effective tools and techniques investigator evaluate and find out
that factors like psychological factors, cultural factors and social factors impact upon consumer
buying behaviour. Along with this it is also find out that advertisement significantly impact upon
mindset of consumers. This research also states that consumer buying behaviour is important to
understand different organisation, as it helps them to satisfy our customers accordingly. There
are different type of strategies such as web designing, search engine optimisation, social media
marketing which helps organisation to conduct effective advertisement.
5.4 Practical and theoretical implication of findings
Present research is conducted to duly identify the factors which influence consumer buying
behaviour of retail products. Research analyse, the case study analysis of Marks and Spencer
33

which is operating as leading organisation in retail industrial sector. It has been evaluated that in
terms of buying retail products consumer buying behaviour get influenced by psychological
factors which include perception, motivation, attitude and believes. While social factors such as
status and family also impact upon the behaviour of customers. Furthermore, cultural factors
such as a cultural, social class also have major influence on the buying behaviour of customers in
terms of retail products. Researcher also find out that advertisement play important role in
buying behaviour of customers. This will help organisation to influence attention of customers.
With the help of attractive advertisement research also identify strategies such as search engine
optimisation, web designing, social media marketing, email marketing that helps organisation to
influence attention of large number of customers. Consumer buying behaviour influence upon
organisation in terms of productivity. In this it is essential for company to recognise the
importance of understanding consumer buying behaviour in order to gain long term sustainability
and higher profitability.
5.5 Recommendation for future research
Present research report is conducted with the help of appropriate research methodology.
This help researcher to collect and evaluate appropriate information and data associated to the
topic and fulfil research objectives and appropriate manner. Present research is conducted with
the help of interpretivism research philosophy, case study, qualitative research approach which
helps in fulfilling overall objectives of research in a well-defined and effective manner.
Researcher use of secondary data collection method is being undertaken by research that offered
advantages in terms of cost-effective and time-effective way to fulfil research objectives.
However for future research use of primary data collection method will help in evaluating
viewpoint of number of respondents which enhances effectiveness authenticity of the collected
data and information in appropriate manner.
5.6 Limitations
To fulfil objectives of present research I have undertaken use of interpretivism research
philosophy as it is effective in analysis of data and information. Along with this I have also
undertaken use of qualitative research methods which allow me to undertaker advantage of
different type of secondary data collection method. This helped me to enhance efficiency of this
research. However the drawback and pitfalls that has been duly faced by me during this research
is related with lack of practical manner to analyse research. Along with this during this research I
34

also faced drawback in terms of investing my lot of time in analysing books, journals, articles in
order to take information and data appropriate. This affected me in terms of investing my lot of
time which affected the outcome of this research. However, with the help of my time
management skill I have overcome the challenges that has been faced by me in terms of
collecting data. However, in this it is essential for me to put some extra attention in analysing the
sources to collect data in time effective manner as to fulfil overall outcomes in an appropriate
manner.
5.7 Recommendation
In retail industrial sector there is high competition among organisations. Marks and Spencer is
operating as a leading organisation in this industry which is affected with the dynamic change in
the behaviour of consumers. In this it is essential for them to study consumer buying behaviour
in order to understand and needs and expectations effectively. This will help them to offer their
products and services in the segment of customers as per their needs and demands. Mentioned
below there are some recommended practices through which organisation can influence
behaviour of customers with the help of effective techniques:
 Marks and Spencer is recommended to take advantage of social media marketing as it is
one of the most effective way of analysing needs and demands of consumer. Social media
marketing is among the largest platform in which Marks and Spencer. With the help of
Instagram, Facebook Twitter can attract large number of customers and can influence
their needs and demand. In this company is recommended to take advantage of social
media marketing on the basis of demographic information on the target set of customers.
 Along with this Marks and Spencer is also recommended to take advantage of email
marketing, as it is an effective form of digital marketing which help organisation to stay
connected with customers and keep them influencing towards the products and services.
This will help Marks and Spencer to influence consumers effectively/
 In this competitive environment in retail industrial sector Marks and Spencer is
recommended to enhance their competitiveness with the help of taking advantage of
aligning their message to consumer mindset and analyse consumer terms and behaviour
on regular basis. With this with the help of effective marketing practices Marks and
Spencer can gain advantage in terms of influencing consumers in effective manner.
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5.8 Conclusion
From the above research it has been concluded that a consumer behaviour analysis plays
important role for any organisation dealing in different industrial sector. Consumer buying
behaviour is inclusive of actions that customers take before purchasing a product or service.
From this research it has been stated that the consumer buying behaviour play important role for
organisation which help them to influence their needs and demands effectively. This research has
been conducted with the help of appropriate research methodologies which helps in identifying
the impact and role of effective advertising on consumer buying behaviour. It has been analysed
from this research that with the help of social media marketing and use of appropriate digital
marketing channel organisation can influence mindset of customers and can gain hair growth and
profitability in industry.
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