Marketing Management Assignment help on : Effective marketing strategy
How situational influences affect the consumer decision to purchase a product or service
A consumer’s buying behavior is influenced by cultural, social, personal and psychological factors. Situational factors affect the customer buying decision by having an impact on the psychology of the customer. An effective marketing strategy is one which pulls customers towards the products or services of the company. Without understanding the buying behavior of the target segment an effective marketing campaign cannot be devised ( Blackwell, Miniard and Engel ,2006).
Situational influences affect the consumer’s decision to purchase a product or service in a big way. Situational influences include the physical factors, social factors, current or forthcoming events which may have an impact on the current situation of the buyer, and other cultural and social factors. In the given case the birthday of Kate’s boyfriend John is approaching. She is out to buy a smart-phone as a birthday gift for him. This is the most important situational factor influencing her purchase decision. She talked to her boyfriend’s best friend about this. He knows John’s personality and character well and has recommended that i-phone 5 would be suitable for John. Kate also talked to a sales consultant who claims to be an expert in smart-phones. He has recommended Samsung Galaxy SIII. In normal situation Kate would have gone with the advice of the sales consultant. However because of situational factors Kate is facing difficulty in deciding whether to buy i-Phone 5 or Samsung Galaxy SIII. The three situational influences affecting Kate’s buying decision are: the approaching birthday of her boyfriend; the personality characteristics and traits of her boyfriend; and the recommendations of John’s best friend and the sales consultant.
Kate’s relationship status is making her to buy a gift for her boyfriend’s forthcoming birthday. She wants to buy a smart-phone which pleases her boyfriend John. The recommendations of John’s best friend and the sales consultant are playing on her mind and influencing her purchase decision. Had it not been for the situation of her boyfriend’s birthday, she might have gone with the recommendations of the sales consultant who claims to be an expert on smartphones. She would have bought Samsung Galaxy III as is recommended by the sales consultant. Had it not been for her boyfriend’s birthday other factors would have dominated Kate’s purchase decision. These other factors include cultural, social, personal and psychological factors. Cultural factors usually exert the broadest and deepest influence on customer buying behavior in the absence of situational factors. Cultural factors are so important because culture is the fundamental determinant of one’s needs and wants. The need usually may be similar but want is determined by culture. So both an American and Chinese need food when they are hungry but an American may want a burger to fill his hunger while a Chinese may want a plate of noodles (Foxall, G ,2005.).
Every culture has smaller subcultures within it. These subcultures provide specific identification and socialization for the members of that sub-cultural group. Subcultures include such factors as nationalities, religions, racial groups and the geographical region to which the consumer belongs. Marketers need to take into account these factors while devising their marketing strategy (Phillip Kotler, 2000).
Social factors exert another important influence on consumer buying behavior. A consumer’s buying behavior is influenced by such social factors as reference groups, family, and social roles and statuses. A reference group is any group which has a direct or indirect impact on the consumer’s attitude or behavior. Membership groups are those groups which have a direct influence on the consumer and his or her buying behavior. Membership groups include family, friends and workplace peers with whom the consumer attracts on a continuous basis. Their opinions therefore may have a strong influence on the buying behavior of the consumer (Phillip Kotler, 2000).
Personal factors influence customer buying decision in a significant way. These personal characteristics include the consumer’s age and stage in the life cycle, occupation, economic circumstances, lifestyle, personality and self-concept. Personal factors of the target consumers should be definitively taken into account while devising the products, promotions, distribution and pricing strategy for a product or service. Psychological factors which influence consumer buying behavior are motivation, perception, learning and beliefs and attitudes. In this case the situational factor (boyfriend’s approaching birthday) is motivating Kate to buy a smartphone. It is important for marketers to have a clear understanding of the conscious, subconscious and unconscious motivations which drive the buying decision of the consumer. Motivational theories of Sigmund Freud, Abraham Maslow and Frederick Herzberg give important insights into the motivations that influence the buying behavior of consumers (Loudon, D.L.,1988).
In this case it is important to understand the respective buying roles. The five roles people usually play in a buying decision are: initiator, influencer, decider, buyer and user. In this case Kate is playing the role of initiator, decider and buyer. Her boyfriend John’s best friend and the sales consultant are playing the role of the influencer. John, her boyfriend, will be the user of the smartphone. As initiator Kate has suggested herself the idea of buying a smartphone as a birthday gift for her boyfriend John. The advice of John’s best friend and sales consultant are influencing her purchase decision. As decider Kate will decide which product to buy ultimately. As buyer Kate will also make the ultimate purchase. The smartphone that she buys, she will present it to her boyfriend John on his birthday. As user John will ultimately use this smartphone. It is important to note here that another situational factor which is influencing Kate’s purchase decision is the personal characteristics of her boyfriend John. John’s best friend has told Kate about the personal characteristics of John and based on these characteristics he has recommended that Kate should buy i- Phone 5 for him. The buying behavior also varies with the type of buying decision that the consumer is making. The decisions to buy toothpaste, tennis racket, a personal computer are all very different ones and affect the customer buying behavior differently. If Kate had been buying the product for her use she might have displayed a different kind of buying behavior. But here she is buying the smartphone as a birthday present for her boyfriend; this is influencing her buying behavior in a very different way (Loudon, D.L.,1988).
Marketers utilize situational factors affectively to market a product or brand effectively. Take the case of smart-phones which are also part of the subject of this case study. Marketers can position smart-phones as a desirable birthday present for one’s beloved boyfriend or girlfriend. The tagline for such a positioning can be: “Express your love to your beloved by gifting a smart-phone this birthday.” The marketing strategy for such a positioning will focus on product, pricing, promotions, distribution and target segment. The target segment will be customers in the age group of 20 to 45 who are in a romantic relationship. The product element should especially focus on packaging. Packaging is of critical importance when a product like smart-phone is bought for gifting as a present on an occasion like birthday of one’s boyfriend or girlfriend. At the same time the product features should emphasize on features which make a smartphone an attractive birthday present. How the smartphone suits the personality of one’s boyfriend or girlfriend? The pricing component should focus on giving discount deals to customers who buy smartphones as birthday present for their beloved. This pricing strategy will encourage consumers to buy smart-phones on occasions like birthdays of their loved ones. The place or distribution aspect is always very important. Distribution should be such that the target segment enjoys easy access to the product. If the distribution strategy doesn’t fit well with the positioning strategy then the whole marketing strategy is bound to fail. The promotional strategy should be such that it positions smart-phones as a very desirable birthday present in the minds of target customers. Such media should be used for promotions which effectively penetrates the target market. Increasing number of marketers are using situational factors for spinning their marketing strategy. A marketing strategy cannot be effective if it ignores situational factors because situational factors have the biggest influence on customer buying behavior. Nowadays marketers are creating situations (like Rose day and Friendship day) for marketing their products and services. The emergence of Christmas season as the biggest shopping season in United States of America bears testimony to the influence of situations in customers’ buying behavior (Solomon, M.R. ,1994).
As far as Kate is concerned, it is recommended that she should choose Option A and buy i-Phone 5. She is buying the smartphone as a birthday present for her boyfriend John. John’s best friend has opined that i-Phone 5 suits John’s personality well. So Kate should buy it as a birthday present for John because it is likely to end up pleasing John more than Samsung Galaxy SIII.
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