Essay on Factors Affecting Consumer Behavior (Marketing Module)

This essay explores the multifaceted nature of consumer behavior, focusing on the influence of cultural, social, and personal factors. The introduction defines consumer behavior as the study of how individuals and organizations select, use, and make decisions regarding products and services, highlighting the interplay of motivation, psychology, and behavior. The essay then delves into cultural factors such as culture and subculture, illustrating how different norms and values impact consumption patterns. Social factors, including reference groups, family, status, and roles, are analyzed to demonstrate their effect on purchasing behavior. Finally, personal factors like age and occupation are examined, showcasing how they shape consumer choices. The paper concludes by summarizing these factors and the decision-making processes involved in consumer behavior, from identifying needs to analyzing prices and making purchasing decisions. The essay provides supporting examples to reinforce the key concepts and arguments.

Running head: BEHAVIOR OF CONSUMER 1
Behavior of Consumer
Name
Institution

BEHAVIOR OF CONSUMER 2
Behavior of Consumer
Introduction
Consumer behavior means the study of organizations and
individuals and how they chose as well as use services and products. It
remains mainly linked to motivation, psychology, and behavior (Schütte
& Ciarlante, 2016). Also, consumer behavior remains the study of how
individuals make decisions to use their available resources in the
market. Indeed, there remain numerous other factors influencing the
purchasing power of the consumers, for example, cultural, social, and
personal. This paper shall clearly explain some of the factors that
affect consumer behavior.
Cultural Factors
Consumer behavior remains influenced by cultural factors, for
example, buyer subculture, culture, as well as social class.
Culture: It is true that culture remains the part of each society.
It remains the essential cause of individual behavior and wants. Culture
indeed influences the behaviors and thoughts of consumers (Tyagi,
2018). For instance, individuals from different cultures consume
differently, mainly due to their differences in norms and values.
Subculture: Each culture is made up of different subcultures,
for example, religions, racial groups, geographic regions, nationalities,
among others. Marketers may use the groups mainly by dividing the
market into numerous small portions (Bucko, Kakalejčík & Ferencová, 2018).

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For instance, marketers may design commodities according to the
demands of a specific geographic group.
Social Factors
Additionally, social factors influence consumers' purchasing
behavior. The essential social factors include family, status, role, and
reference groups.
Reference Groups: It is true that reference groups possess
potential in forming an individual behavior and attitude. The influence
of these reference groups varies across brands as well as products. For
instance, when the commodity remains visible, for example, car,
shoes, the dress, and then the impact of reference groups will be high.
Also, reference groups consist of opinion manager (an individual who
influence other people due to his knowledge and special skills or other
features.
Family: The behavior of buyers remains highly influence via the
family’s members. So, marketers remain attempting to determine the
influence as well as role of the husband, wife as well as children. If the
purchasing decision of a specific commodity remains influenced by the
husband, then the markets shall attempt to target men in their ad.
Here we ought to know that buying roles often change with the
lifestyles of the customer.
Status and Roles: Every person has dissimilar status as well as
roles in the community reliant upon the clubs, groups, an institution

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among others to which she belongs. For instance, a man remains
working in a firm as a procurement officer. Now he is playing 2 tasks.
One is that of the father as well as the other of the finance manager.
So, his purchasing decisions shall be influenced by his status as well as
roles.
Personal Factors
Personal factors may affect customer behavior. The main
essential personal factors which affect the purchasing behavior include
occupation and age, among others.
Age: It is true that age has a huge impact on customer buying
behavior. The customers change the buying of services as well as
goods with the passage of time. The use of various commodities
depends on the age of the consumers.
Occupation: a person's occupation has a critical impact on her
purchasing behavior. For instance, a director of a firm shall attempt to
buy business outfits, while low-level employees in the same institution
shall buy ragged work clothes.
Conclusion
There remain numerous factors that may affect consumer
behaviors. The factors that may influence the behavior of consumers
discussed in the paper include social, personal, and cultural factors.
There are various processes involved in this consumer behavior.
Initially, the customer attempts to find what products she would like to

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use; then, she chooses only commodities that promise better utility.
After choosing the commodities, the customer makes an approximate
amount of money that he may use. Lastly, the customer analyses the
price of the commodities as well as decides the products she ought to
consume.
References
Bucko, J., Kakalejčík, L., & Ferencová, M. (2018). Online shopping: Factors that affect
consumer purchasing behaviour. Cogent Business & Management, 5(1), 1535751.
Schütte, H., & Ciarlante, D. (2016). Consumer behaviour in Asia. Springer..
Tyagi, A. (2018). A Study on Factors Affecting Consumer Buying Behaviour. International
Journal of Business & Engineering Research, 11.