Report: Analyzing Consumer Behavior for Country Road Fashions

This report analyzes consumer behavior, focusing on how companies like Country Road Fashions target specific market segments to influence purchasing decisions. It explores the marketing mix, including product, price, place, and promotion strategies employed by Country Road to reach women over forty. The report delves into Country Road's advertising techniques, particularly emotional appeals, and the use of family-oriented themes to resonate with their target audience. It examines the importance of segmentation in understanding consumer needs and desires, which is crucial for developing and packaging products that influence buying behavior and increase sales. The report also references relevant academic sources to support its analysis of consumer behavior and marketing strategies.

Consumer behavior
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Consumer Behavior
 Consumer behavior refers to the study and analysis of individual
people or groups and all the actions linked to the buying, use and
discarding of good or services (Rani 2014, pp. 55).
 Therefore, a company must study their target consumers behaviors,
emotions and mental responses that dictate their purchasing power.
 By understanding that, a company can develop and package a
product that satisfies the needs and wants of a consumer.

How to Influence Consumer Behavior
 In order to influence the consumer behavior, a company must segment their
specific target market.
 After that, the company engages in analyzing its target customers including their
needs, wants and desires (Ibrahim, Alkhawlani and Al-shaghdari 2017, pp. 35).
 When a company does proper segmentation, they are able to produce, package
and offer their product strategically to the target customers.

Introduction
 Company: Country Road Fashions Australia
 Product: Trenery Label
 Target Customers: Women above forty years of age

Marketing Mix
 Marketing mix can be defined as "set of marketing tools that the firm uses to
pursue its marketing objectives in the target market“ (Ibrahim, Alkhawlani and
Al-shaghdari 2017, pp. 35).
 Country Road fashions has been able to utilize the marketing mix model as
follows:
 Product: They have developed a product that satisfies the needs of their target
consumers.
 Price: The price strategy is based on the consumer’s value for the product

Continuation
 Place: The company has its label located at all the countrywide
outlets as well as virtually where a client can order the product
online over the company’s website and have the product
delivered.
 Promotion: The company is advertising their brand in such a way
that they tap into the consumers’ emotions prompting them to
buy.

Country Road’s Adverts
 The Country has engaged in some adverts for their brand label. These adverts are
aimed at tapping at the emotions of the target customers.
Summer Wonder
 The short film advert was used to celebrate the company’s forty years of operations
(Country Road 2014).
 It featured the Australian iconic supermodel Gemma Ward holding her baby.
 The theme of the advert was “Come behind the scenes as we capture iconic summers
of sun, sea and family”.
 The advert tapped on the issue of family which is usually the pride of every
woman/mother within the age bracket of the target customers (Gunter and Furnham
2014, pp. 128).

Continuation
Simple Things
 The advert runs on the company’s’ website to promote their fashion label.
 The theme of the ad is “Simple Things is a story about what’s truly important. It’s
about being yourself or spending time with friends and family. It’s laughter, a
smile, your favourite tee or pair of jeans. It’s trust, honesty and simplicity. Simple
things are what Country Road is famous for” (Country Road n.d)
 Thus, the message catches the attention and emotions of the women since advert
covers the issue of family and love (Nijssen and Frambach 2013, pp. 64).

Segmentation
 According to the Australian Information Services Department, the country’s population
has its majority group being that aged between 45 and 50 years.
 The group forms approximately 18.3% of the country’s total population (Australian
Government 2017).
 Moreover, within that majority group, the bigger percentage in dominated by women. As
a result, the company has settled on women aged forty and above as their target audience.
 Therefore, the company has settled on that group since it very loyal to a brand and they
make a lot of shopping decisions for their families (Lin 2015, pp. 148).

Advertising Techniques
 The company has used the following techniques:
 Emotional Appeal: In all its adverts, the company has tapped into the
issue of the family which arouses the emotions of the target buyers
prompting them to buy (Malik, Ghafoor, Iqbal, Ali, Hunbal, Noman and
Ahmad 2013, pp. 119).
 Involvement technique: The company has strived to involve their
consumers indirectly in their adverts since all of them featured women
who are mothers thus linking directly to their target customers (.

Conclusion
 In the process of brand marketing, the company needs to be specific with a
certain market segment rather than the diverse target market.
 By having a specific target group, it is easy to establish their needs, wants and
desires which can be factored in the development and packaging of the product.
 It is through the understanding of the target customers’ needs and desires that the
company can be able to develop and present a product that influences the
consumer buying behavior.
 Once a company influences the consumer behavior, it means that it increases
their sales and consequently increasing their income and growth.

References
Australian Government. (Sep 2017). Australian Demographic Statistics. [Online]. Available from: <
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/0/D56C4A3E41586764CA2581A70015893E?Opendocument >
[Accessed on 4 May 2018].
Country Road. (2014). Summer Wonder. [Online]. Available from: <
https://www.countryroad.com/summerwonder > [Accessed on 4 May 2018].
Country Road. (n.d). Simple Things. [Online]. Available from: < https://www.countryroad.com/simplethings
> [Accessed on 4 May 2018].
Gunter, B. and Furnham, A., 2014. Consumer Profiles (RLE Consumer Behaviour): An Introduction to
Psychographics(Vol. 5). Routledge, pp. 120-135.
Ibrahim, A. A., Alkhawlani, M. A. A., & Al-shaghdari, F. M. (2017). Customers Desires on Marketing Mix and
It’s Impacts on Tesco (Malaysia). International Sciences of Management Journal, 1(1), 30-40
Lin, J. H. (2015). An Integrated Motive Based Consumer Segmentation for Karaoke TV (KTV) and Service
Strategy. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 3(07), 148.
Malik, M.E., Ghafoor, M.M., Iqbal, H.K., Ali, Q., Hunbal, H., Noman, M. and Ahmad, B., 2013. Impact of
brand image and advertisement on consumer buying behavior. World Applied Sciences Journal, 23(1),
pp.117-122.
Nijssen, E.J. and Frambach, R.T., 2013. Creating customer value through strategic marketing planning: A
management approach. Springer Science & Business Media, pp. 56-70.
Rani, P., 2014. Factors influencing consumer behaviour. International journal of current research and
academic review, 2(9), pp.52-61