Factors Influencing Consumer Behavior

Definition: The Consumer Behavior is the study of how an individual decides to purchase a particular product over the other and what are the underlying factors that mold such behavior.

Factors Influencing Consumer Behavior

The marketers try to understand the actions of the consumers in the marketplace and the underlying motives for such actions. These motives are the factors that influence the consumer behavior. These are:

Psychological Factors: The human psychology plays a crucial role in designing the consumer’s preferences and likes or dislikes for a particular product and services. Some of the important psychological factors are:

• Motivation
• Perception
• Learning
• Attitudes and Beliefs

Social Factors: The human beings live in a complex social environment wherein they are surrounded by several people who have different buying behaviors. Since the man is a social animal who likes to be acceptable by all tries to imitate the behaviors that are socially acceptable.  Hence, the social factors influence the buying behavior of an individual to a great extent. Some of the social factors are:

• Family
• Reference Groups
• Roles and status

Cultural Factors: It is believed that an individual learns the set of values, perceptions, behaviors, and preferences at a very early stage of his childhood from the people especially, the family and the other key institutions which were around during his developmental stage. Thus, the behavioral patterns are developed from the culture where he or she is brought up. Several cultural factors are:

• Culture
• Subculture
• Social Class

Personal Factors: There are several factors personal to the individuals that influence their buying decisions. Some of them are:

• Age
• Income
• Occupation
• Lifestyle

Economic Factors: The last but not the least is the economic factors which have a significant influence on the buying decision of an individual. These are:

• Personal Income
• Family Income
• Income Expectations
• Consumer Credit
• Liquid Assets of the Consumer
• Savings

These are some of the underlying factors that influence the consumer behavior, and the marketer must keep these in mind, so that appropriate strategic marketing decision is made.