Pattern Analysis for Customer Behavior

Running head: PATTERN ANALYSIS FOR CUSTOMER BEHAVIOR
PATTERN ANALYSIS FOR CUSTOMER BEHAVIOR
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Author Note

1PATTERN ANALYSIS FOR CUSTOMER BEHAVIOR
Introduction
The study is a literature review concerning the pattern analysis of customer behavior. In
recent times customers are more likely to engage in rational buying. Customers have become
more brand conscious and focused towards quality and longevity of the products they buy.
Customer buying patterns have greatly changed from the last decades. It is important to note that
the customers of the present generation have much more choices that they used to in the past.
Studies reveal that the large number of choices have contributed towards customers making
smarter choices. An essential problem becomes finding just how many factors affect buying
behaviors of the customers. People are buying more products without considering their ethical
implications that range from environmental to human rights. The patterns of customer behavior
are changing across the world. The essential focus is to review and analyze the current patterns
of buyer behavior and gather implications in regards to which are the factors that actually tend to
affect buyer behavior patterns the most. The relevance, effects and limitations of the previous
literatures are evaluated and discussed.
Critique
According to Kooti et al. (2016) customer buying behavior patterns are greatly linked to
the social contacts that are kept by the customer. This was found to be similar in online shopping
as well as normal offline shopping tendencies of the buyers. The authors however, have focused
mainly on e-commerce websites in their study. Hence majority of the data gathered have been
measured on the basis of the online behaviors of the customers. However, the demographic
patterns that the study has found does provide essential insights into the buying patterns of the
customers. The findings suggested that most of the purchases were made on the first days of the
week. Moreover, the findings distinguish between periodical purchases and frequent purchases.
It was found that the practical value of products are more important for men than the detailed
description of the products. Women prefer the physical experience of products despite their
frequent usage of the e-commerce sites. The role of social media was found to be a huge factor
that led to the decision making of the customers in relation to product choices. The other
important factors were found to be access to websites, potential for purchase and product

2PATTERN ANALYSIS FOR CUSTOMER BEHAVIOR
information gathering. However, the impact of the websites in influencing the customers were
not vividly described though the work. An important limitation was also the fact that only those
online purchases were recorded when confirmation emails were sent.
Butt (2016) in his study have provided a positive picture of customer buying patterns in
the current market situations. The work focuses on the increase in ethical consumerism among
the customers. The consumers according to the study are increasingly buying products from
organizations that are known to participate more in Corporate Social Responsibility functions.
The study utilized survey questions to understand whether or not people will give preference to
companies that have a known reputation for undertaking CSR activities. The respondents
provided answers that pointed to the fact that people are getting more aware of the activities of
social responsibilities that are being conducted by the manufacturers of commodities. The study
suggested that people are becoming more aware of the ethical standards of buying. The pattern
suggested that the perceived notions of the CSR activities of the companies are very important to
induce buyers towards buying the products of the company. The study pointed towards
significant positive changes in favor of ethical consumerism. However, the study is affected by
limitations as the name of the organizations were not revealed to the customers and only their
CSR activities were described. Hence, the knowledge of the brand names could have made an
impact.
The available researches that analyze the buying patterns of the customers rarely relate to
the factors of ethical consumerism. This causes a gap in the understanding of consumer buying
patterns in the context of ethical consumerism. As opined by Ramya and Ali (2016) the factors
that tend to mostly affect consumer buying patterns are cultural, social, personal, economical and
psychological. The study is an essential analysis of the factors that affect consumer buying
behavior and the various sub-factors are analyzed with regards to their potential to affect the
consumer buying behaviors. It is important to note that the findings point towards the major
factors of marketing stimuli and other stimuli. This in turn affects the buyer’s characteristics and
the decision making process identified in the study as the Black box of the buyer. The end result
is the decision of the buyer. The limitation of the research is that it is based entirely on secondary
sources. This limits the perspectives of the views that have been provided. The study points out