Consumer Behavior and Insights: Zara's Decision Making Report

This report analyzes consumer behavior and insights, focusing on the consumer decision-making journey within the context of Zara. It explores the stages of this journey, from need recognition to post-purchase behavior, and emphasizes the importance for marketers to map the path to purchase. The report details the key differences between B2C and B2B decision-making processes, providing specific examples to illustrate these distinctions. It also examines various market research approaches and methods used to understand consumer decision-making in both B2C and B2B contexts. Furthermore, the report discusses how marketers can influence different stages of the decision-making process, offering concrete examples to support these strategies. Overall, the report aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of consumer behavior and its implications for marketing practices, using Zara as a practical case study.

BEHAVIOUR AND
INSIGHTS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
P1 Determine the stages of the consumer decision- making journey for a given product/service
.....................................................................................................................................................3
P2 Determine the importance for marketers to map a path to purchase and understand
consumer decision- making.........................................................................................................4
P3 Determine the key differences of the decision-making process in the context of B2C and
B2B by giving specific examples................................................................................................5
P4 Discuss the different approaches to market research and methods of research used for
understanding the decision-making process in both B2C and B2B contexts..............................6
P5 Determine that how marketers can influence the different stages of the decision-making
process of B2C and B2B by giving specific examples................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Analyzing consumer behaviour is an important thing for business in order to evaluate the
effectiveness of the market offerings, consumer behaviour and insights gives an idea of how
consumer reacts and responds to the products and services offered by the business. It is important
as it gives a way to business profitability and success, wherein satisfied consumer boost the sales
and profit maximization whereas dissatisfied consumer leads to drop in the sales and the profit
goals of the business. Thus, marketer must carefully analyze and understand the consumer
buying behaviour both in B2B and B2C in order to accomplish profitability and sales margin
targets. In the context of Zara which is a British Multinational retailer founded by Amancio
Ortega and Rosalia Mera in the year 1974, headquartered in Spain, UK. This report covers that
what are the stages of consumer decision making journey, the importance for marketer to map
path to purchase and decision making, differences of decision making process in both B2C and
B2B, approaches of market research and methods for understanding decision making process in
both B2C and B2B, how marketer can influence the decision making process of B2B and B2C
(Benson and et.al., 2015).
MAIN BODY
P1 Determine the stages of the consumer decision- making journey for a given product/service
To understand the consumer decision making journey map, the apparels of Zara company is
supported. Thus, the consumer decision making journey starts with the problem identification or
need recognition, wherein an individual is driven by the external or internal stimuli and
motivates him/her to purchase something (Dootson and et.al., 2016). The internal stimuli of
clothes right include the running short of clothes want to purchase more or need to purchasing
the latest trendy clothes wherein the external stimuli include advertisement, window shopping,
promotion and other that driven an individual towards something. After the need is generated,
the individual start looking for information in order to satisfy the identified needs. The individual
finds the information pertaining to purchase of clothes in internet, magazine, company website
and others. Thus, an individual starts collecting the information from different sources. The next
steps of the consumer decision making journey involves analyzing the collected information
wherein an individual analyze the information that whether it is relevant, whether it satisfies the

need identified, whether is useful information thus an individual evaluates the information from
different internet sources, physical outlets before making the right consumer decision, comparing
the reviews, different brands and so to evaluate the best out the given sources. Moving on to the
next function wherein the consumer makes final purchase decisions, wherein the consumer
chooses the most convenient sources where he/she can have flexibility over the payments options
and the delivery services of the clothing company. The next steps include the post purchase
consumer behaviour wherein the makes decision to make continue purchase from the company
or drop the decision of making further purchase or not. The consumer who are satisfied with the
offerings delivered by the company stay loyal to the brand but the consumer who are unsatisfied
with the offerings they might drop further purchase and also demotivate other customers to make
purchase. Thus, a company must look into making improving the customer relationship and
delivering the quality products and services to the consumers in order to accomplish the set of
pre-determined objectives (Ismagilova and et.al., 2020).
P2 Determine the importance for marketers to map a path to purchase and understand consumer
decision- making
It becomes important for the marketer to map a path to purchase and understand consumer
decision- making as it draws the measures which the marketer has to take in order to deliver and
formulate effective marketing objectives. Right from analyzing consumer needs to the post
purchase behaviour of the consumer decision making process, marketer have to take different
measures the best suits each stage of the decision making process. When a marketer rightly
analyzes and delivers value to the consumer it supports to accomplish the profitability goals and
business success in the marketplace. Wherein the satisfied consumer helps to develop the brand
image in the external environment with increased sales and profitability goals. It serves the
business to accomplish pre-determined set of marketing objectives. Wherein a marketer frames
out the products development planning and calls to action of the products and services in
consideration of the consumer decision making behaviour. Further the consumer decision
making behaviour also helps to determine the effectiveness of the specific product and services
that helps to deliver the further analysis of whether to drop the product, improvements in the
existing market offerings or develop the new innovative products and services that best suits the
marketing objectives of the business. Thus, it becomes important for the marketer in order to

develop effective marketing objectives as per the consumer decision making process journey
(Javornik, 2016).
P3 Determine the key differences of the decision-making process in the context of B2C and B2B
by giving specific examples
To understand the differences in decision making process in both B2B and B2C, the
discussion is briefed below:
Awareness: in case of B2C decision making and consumer gets aware about the certain products
or services offered by different businesses through the promotion and other sources that aware is
a consumer about the market offerings of the businesses. When a consumer generates a need
he/she gather as much as information in order to accomplish the set of needs. Example: Zara
promotes its clothing brand of the business to spread the brand awareness, so when customers
search for shopping clothes or branded clothes, the customers are easily able to find the company
and satisfy their desires (Lim, Soutar and Lee, 2016).
In case of B2B, the deployed managers in Zara will find out the right supplier and manufacturer
which satisfies the quality standards and the cost effectiveness.
Interest: In case of B2C the effective promotional technique, the features and the benefits
offered by the Zara will produce interest in the minds of the customers to purchase the market
offerings.
In case of B2B, in case of B2B, the businesses evaluate different available alternatives and
information and select the best among the available alternatives. Zara will crosscheck the
supplier’s details, the past supplier sales and the reviews of the products offered by the supplier.
Consideration: In case of B2C consumer will start comparing the products offered by Zara with
the other competitive or substitute brands and select the most desirable one that best satisfy the
quality, price and utility derived by other products and services (Loureiro, Costa and
Panchapakesan, 2017).
In case of B2B, the production manager and operational manager will share and pass on the
relevant information about the selected supplier to Executives Verify and select the right
supplier.

Intent: in case of B2C, after that consumer evaluates different available alternatives, he/she
come to a desirable decision of choosing the best products and services offered by the business.
In case of B2B, the managers in Zara will ask samples of the products from the supplier in order
to make further business transaction.
Eval: in case of B2C, the buyer makes the final decision of purchasing the product and now he
or she checks the available options of payment and delivery options offered by the company.
In case of B2B, Zara check the quality of the sample product received and now makes the final
decision of whether to accept or reject the products and continue further sales contract.
Buy: In case of both B2C and B2B, buy is the last stage wherein The consumer and the business
both makes decisions and complete the sales transaction (Szmigin and Piacentini, 2018).
P4 Discuss the different approaches to market research and methods of research used for
understanding the decision-making process in both B2C and B2B contexts
B2C Market Research B2B Market Research
Environment study:
Pestle analysis Is one of the business
environmental study that helps to evaluate the
consumer behaviour, the changing consumer
preferences in the external market
environment. Pestle analysis involves
different elements such as political,
environmental, social, technological,
economical, all these elements helps Zara to
gather information about the changing
external environment challenges and
opportunities And the business can adopt
desired changes in the business process and
the products and services such as the
technological advancement, the lifestyle
Study of competition:
In case of B2B, Zarashould analyze the
competition in the external environment. This
can be done with the help of Porter generic
model which is a competitive Analysis model
to determine the positioning of the offerings
delivered by the business, the positioning of
the competitors in the market place. With the
help of Porter generic model, Zaraadopts
approaches to attain the competitive
advantage by delivering the right product and
services that matches the consumer
expectations, utilities, purchasing power and
other important elements to deliver quality
products and services and develop a

pattern in the purchasing power of the
consumers, the Rising environmental
concerns that our business needs to adopt
green approaches, changes in the business
process by complying with the political and
legal factors (Parsons, Maclaran and
Chatzidakis, 2017).
benchmark in the market place to cope up
with the competition (Marriott, Williams and
Dwivedi, 2017).
Quality research with target customers:
Zara adopts Approaches of collection of
feedback from the customers, wherein the
enumerator of the business conduct face-to-
face interviews in order to gather the
consumer responses of the offerings delivered
by the association and what all the strength
and weaknesses of the improvement that the
business needs to deploy to meet the customer
expectations (Rimkute, Moraes and Ferreira,
2016).
Quality study with discussion and
interview with experts and clients:
Zara conducts discussion, interviews in
business meetings with the clients and the
business experts to make the right decision of
business contracts. This helps the business in
order to make purchase decision and deal with
the challenges faced in the sales constraints
and deal with the challenges faced in the
supply chain management with effective
business solutions.
Quantitative study: online survey
With quantitative study the business is able to
study the changing market demand and
customer preferences. The quantitative online
survey also helps the Association in order to
evaluate Information of the end customers
Responses in a specific market. This session
can also draw accurate statistical data of the
business success and the weak points to draw
further analysis and decision pertaining to
consumer market.
Analysis of the market:
Zara conducts market research in order to
analyze the changing market demand in
respect of legal, political, economic changes
and gather updated information to establish
effective supply chain (Rodríguez-Ardura and
et.al.,2017).

P5 Determine that how marketers can influence the different stages of the decision-making
process of B2C and B2B by giving specific examples
Marketer plays an important role for influencing the buying decision of both B2C and B2B. In
the context of Zara wherein the marketer has to deploy effective strategies from each consumer
buying decision stage, right from needs recognition to the post purchase consumer behaviour.
Wherein the consumer feel needs and identified problem for purchasing the trendy and
fashionable clothes, the marketer of Zara has to deliver the marketeering objectives to these
consumers via promotional and advertising activities to drive the customers to purchase the
products and services of the company. When the consumer moves to next phase of the decision
making process stage, he/she searches of the peculiar information in order to accomplish the set
of targeted needs and objectives. The role of marketer here to deliver useful information to the
customers to that customers can access to set of relevant information which they are looking for
(Sethna and Blythe, 2016). The marketer in Zara uses search engine optimization tool to deliver
right information to the targeted customers about the services of the company. With helps of
search engine optimization, the company can deliver the information to different customers to
large number of the consumer segments with short span of time, other tool includes social media,
billboards, brochures, affiliate marketing, sales call in order to aware customers. Another
important measures that the marketer in Zara adopts is to the next steps of the consumer
behaviour which involves analyzing information from different sources. Here, marketing must
deliver differentiated products and services in order to attain the competitive advantage covering
the quality, feature, attractive prices and other different specification and additional points that
attracts the customers to purchase the offerings of the company. In the stage of making the
purchase decision, the marketer in Zara approaches deploys approaches that deliver flexible
payment options to the customer, moreover, convenience in delivering the products and services
at the doorsteps of the consumer. The final steps of post purchase behaviour the marketer in Zara
develop different channel of consumer engagement in order to resolve the consumer issues and
concerns and addressing the changes which didn’t work out while delivering the products and
services. It helps to build customer loyalty wherein the customers stay loyal to the brand with
improved customer relationship and continues to take the services of the company (Sharp, 2017).

CONCLUSION
Thus, the above report delivers the importance of consumer behaviour and its relevance
to the organizational objectives. Business must carefully understand that what actually consumer
wants and they are looking for in order to deliver the right consumer value and attain consume
satisfaction. Wherein to understand the consumer behaviour the marketer must understand the
consumer journey map that purchases the consumer to purchase the services of the products of
the company. Moreover, the marketer must initiate different measures in order to influence the
buying decision of the consumers. The consumer of the business also involves the other business
who purchases the goods from the business to initiate further sales, production activities or even
the suppliers. Thus, it becomes important for business analyze both B2C and B2B consumer
behaviour in order to accomplish business success and profit maximization goals.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Benson, V. and et.al.,2015. The role of security notices and online consumer behaviour: An
empirical study of social networking users. International Journal of Human-Computer
Studies. 80. pp.36-44.
Dootson, P. and et.al.,2016. Where do consumers draw the line? Factors informing perceptions
and justifications of deviant consumer behaviour. Journal of Marketing
Management. 32(7-8). pp.750-776.
Ismagilova, E. and et.al.,2020. The effect of characteristics of source credibility on consumer
behaviour: A meta-analysis. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services. 53.
Javornik, A., 2016. Augmented reality: Research agenda for studying the impact of its media
characteristics on consumer behaviour. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services. 30.
pp.252-261.
Lim, K. L., Soutar, G. N. and Lee, J. A., 2016. Factors affecting investment intentions: A
consumer behaviour perspective. In Financial Literacy and the Limits of Financial
Decision-Making (pp. 201-223). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Loureiro, S. M. C., Costa, I. and Panchapakesan, P., 2017. A passion for fashion: The impact of
social influence, vanity and exhibitionism on consumer behaviour. International Journal
of Retail & Distribution Management.
Marriott, H. R., Williams, M. D. and Dwivedi, Y. K., 2017. What do we know about consumer
m-shopping behaviour?. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management.
Parsons, E., Maclaran, P. and Chatzidakis, A., 2017. Contemporary issues in marketing and
consumer behaviour. Routledge.
Rimkute, J., Moraes, C. and Ferreira, C., 2016. The effects of scent on consumer
behaviour. International journal of consumer studies. 40(1). pp.24-34.
Rodríguez-Ardura, I. and et.al.,2017. A Review of Online Consumer Behaviour Research: Main
Themes and Insights. The Customer is NOT Always Right? Marketing Orientationsin a
Dynamic Business World. pp.599-599.
Sethna, Z. and Blythe, J., 2016. Consumer behaviour. Sage.
Sharp, B., 2017. Marketing: theory, evidence, practice. Oxford University Press,.
Szmigin, I. and Piacentini, M., 2018. Consumer behaviour. Oxford University Press.