Part 2: The Factors Influencing a Consumer’s Buying Behavior

This is the continuation of the two-part blog series (Part 1: The Factors Influencing a Consumer’s Buying Behavior) about the factors that affect a consumer’s buying behavior.

As discussed on the previous article, consumer behavior is defined as the consumption or purchase of goods and services to satisfy the needs and wants of an individual. This is influenced by a number of factors such as personal and social factors.

Here are the other facets that affect a person’s decision-making mindset when buying a product or service:

Cultural Factors

This explains how values and culture affects a person’s buying power.

Culture and Subculture – Culture is a set of beliefs shared by a group of people or believers. This factor therefore greatly affects a person’s choice of products and services, depending on the culture a person lives by. There are a wide array of cultural dividends that are efficacious such as religion, nationality, ethnicity, geographical location, language, and other factors alike. Some manufacturer’s shape their demographics targeted to a specific cultural/subcultural group.

Social Class – Classification of people in terms of socio-economic status is also a dictating element in a person’s buying decision. Social order has been a facet that significantly affects how society runs since time immemorial. Social classification is not limited to money as measurement/parameter. It is also measured by level of educational attainment, degree of profession, income, authority, influence, ownership, lifestyle patterns etc. Basically, society is subdivided to three class, namely, upper, lower, and middle class. Obviously, upper class consumes high-grade goods as their status can attain such high-quality standards. Middle class are careful buyers as they compare as their purchasing power is standing on neutral ground. Lower class are limited to basic needs and struggling to live on their means. Education as a parameter though can help better a person’s situation in the social ladder.

Psychological Factors

This aspect is based on a person’s subconscious decision-making.

Motivation – A person’s purchasing behavior is also highly influenced by the gravity of motivation. Based from a person’s needs (biogenic, psychogenic, social), a consumer’s decision is affected by the pressure a certain circumstance demands.

Beliefs and Attitudes – A customer’s decision-making ability can also be is driven by beliefs and attitudes towards a certain product. This is associated mainly from perceptions brought about by brand image, and experiences, may it be first-hand or third-hand.

Economic Factors

This includes a person’s financial capacity and stability to spend money on a product.

Personal Income – A personal income is a key determinant of an individual when purchasing products or services. Some important financial considerations include tax deduction and meeting basic necessities if a person decides to have an increase in standard of living like spending more on leisurely expenditures.

Family Income – This apparently influences the buying behavior of the family as a whole. This covers the basic needs, educational needs, shopping goods, furniture, appliance, home improvement, and leisurely expense of individuals and as a unit.

Income Expectations – This is a crucial determinant of a consumer’s behavior. If a person is expecting to have a larger sum of money to receive, he/she may buy based on his/her means. Meanwhile, if a consumer is expecting less, he/she is restricted to spend.

Savings – An increase or decrease in the amount of money to keep affects the purchasing decision of a person. If he/she wants to save money, his/her spending will be limited to the basic necessities and will veer away from spending money on luxury.

Now, you can easily determine the motives of your purchasing. This will also help you decide whether your expense is a need or if your urge to buy is affected by factors aforementioned above.

Check out the Part 1 here: Part 1: The Factors Influencing a Consumer’s Buying Behavior?