Consumer Choice or Influential Factors in Purchasing Products

People purchase products and services for a variety of reasons, whether it is for their own personal wants and needs, for family and friends, or for prestige. These consumers vary in age, income, education, and lifestyles. This report briefly discusses the influences involved in consumer purchases and identifies the consumer process used in order to purchase a product or service.

Consumer decision making is “the process of making purchase decisions based on cognitive and emotional influences such as impulse, family, friends, advertisers, role models, moods, and situations that influence a purchase.” (Schiffman & Kanuk, 2007, p. G-3)

External Influences

External influences provide information about a product or service and can greatly influence the consumer in regards to their values, attitudes, and behavior. There are two primary external influences which are: (1) marketing input and, (2) sociocultural input.

A firm’s marketing activities attempts to “reach, inform, and persuade consumers to buy and use its products,” which can be accomplished by a marketing mix that not only consists of the product itself, but the promotion of the product, pricing, and channels of distribution from the manufacturer to the consumer. (Schiffman & Kanuk, 2007, p. 531)

Input from the consumer’s sociocultural environment has a major influence on the consumer’s buying decision. This includes a wide range of noncommercial influences such as family, friends, neighbors, and opinions from other consumers on the Internet. Other internalized influences include social class, culture and subculture, which are important factors that can also influence the consumer’s decision to evaluate and purchase a product.

Consumer decision makin...

... middle of paper ...

...tion of need. The prepurchase search begins when the consumer believes that the need can be satisfied by the purchase of a product or service. The final step is for the consumer to evaluate alternative brands and base their decision on the most important attributes of the product or service. In reviewing the final cost of my vehicle, I found that the marketing team had excellent promotional skills which influenced me in buying the entire warranty package for my vehicle.

Works Cited

Schiffman, L. G. & Kanuk, L.L. (2007). Consumer behavior (9th ed). Upper Saddle River, NJ:

Pearson Education, Inc.

Chen, T., Kalra, A., and Sun, B. (2009, December). What Makes People Buy Extended

Warranties for Consumer Goods. Journal of Consumer Research. (Vol. 36, No. 4).

Retrieved November 14, 2011 from

http://www.strategy-business.com/article/re00101?gko=85c1a