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How personality affects consumer behaviour
How personality affects consumer behaviour
How personality affects consumer behaviour
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Personality and its effect on consumer behavior
While researchers can determine consumer behavior quite easily, it is almost impossible to get accurate and reliable data on why people buy what they do. How in the world can we figure out why consumers make the decisions in purchases they make, when we can only predict motives? Well, everything tends to be linked to a psychological trait that can help define the behavior of consumers.
Think of personality traits as a back door to understanding motivations. Because personality traits and consumer behaviors can be measured accurately, understanding the relationships between the traits and behaviors allows a researcher to understand the motivations in purchases without having to ask people for this
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They study and utilize what they see as a link between personality and consumer purchasing behavior. For this reason, products are often created to have "brand personalities" that marketers believe match the primary personality traits of those they see as the best prospects for purchasing the product. They believe that personality factors influence greatly what consumers purchase, as well as when and how they use or consume products and services. Even online, consumers reveal much information about their "self-concept" as they visit different …show more content…
They can also very well influence the buying behavior of consumers. Teenagers would be more interested in buying bright and loud colors as compared to a middle aged or elderly individual who would prefer decent and subtle designs. A bachelor would prefer spending lavishly on items like beer, bikes, music, clothes, parties, clubs and so on. A young single would hardly be interested in buying a house, property, insurance policies, gold etc. Someone who has a family, on the other hand, would be more interested in buying something which would benefit his family and make their future
Consumer behavior is the ways that consumers exhibit in searching for, purchasing, using, evaluating, and disposing of, products and services. The study of consumer behavior as a separate marketing discipline all started when marketers realized that consumers did not always react as marketing theory suggested they would (Ekström, 2003). Many consumers rebel at using the identical products that everyone else used, instead they prefer differentiated products that they feel reflect their own special needs, personality and lifestyles.
We are all consumers, and we buy diverse products every day. But, do you know what the main factor is that influences us to choose a product? If someone selects a cloth, maybe he pays attention to its quality! Customers’ decisions can be changed depending on what the main factors they are looking at. Various influences can cause consumers to select different products.
Have you ever thought about why you made a purchase? Or better yet, what decisions or attributes pointed you towards that specific purchase? It could have been because the product was cheap, aesthetically appealing, or simply something you have been motivated to buy for quite some time. Dan Ariely, author of Predictably Irrational, explores how individuals behave in ways that are irrational, yet do consistently, and predictably, without even realizing it. Individual’s irrational behaviors are not random, and we repeat the same mistakes over and over again making them predictable. Nevertheless, by understanding that individuals are predictably irrational, it will later encourage them to do something differently when making other consumer behavior
Personality is defined as the combination of characteristics or qualities that form an individual's distinctive character. Our personality has a huge influence on our enduring, distinctive thoughts, emotions, and behaviors which influence how we adapt to our world. It’s how we define ourselves, and how others view you. Many psychologists have faced the challenge of trying to determine where our personality is derived from. Four main theories have been established on personality including psychodynamic, humanistic, trait, and social-cognitive. Using these theories, you can often better understand why people are the way that they are, such as Bill Cosby.
In relation to this case, Target Corporation depicts a brand personality among its target audience. Target Corp. is considered as the retail store that caters to the younger and more educated and well-off clientele as to compare with its rival. In a survey conducted, Target Corp. shoppers fall on a 46 years old age median, mostly female, have children at home, and attended or completed college (Target Corporate Facts, 2006). Thus, the target market is perceived to be sophisticated. However, with the corporate values the corporation applies, the brand personality serves as one of its distinguishing pro.
A person’s personality has been the subject of psychological scrutiny for many years. Psychologists have drawn up several theories in an attempt to accurately predict and determine one’s personality. Foremost amongst these, is the “Big Five Trait Theory” which stemmed from Raymond B. Cattell’s theory.
There are many people in this world; no two people are the same. When considering personality theories it is important to note that not all theories apply to all situations or all people. Different theories have different approaches. It is important to know the person before making assumptions about the proper theory to apply to the person or in any given situation. The purpose of this paper is to analysis how different personality theorists could interoperate different individual circumstances and behaviors based on case examples provided by the instructor.
Personality is a branch of scientific discipline that studies temperament and its variation among people. It is a dynamic and a set of characteristics possessed by their atmosphere, cognitions, emotions, motivations and behaviours in various things. Personality conjointly refers to the pattern of thoughts, feelings, social adjustments and behaviour consistently exhibited over time that powerfully influences one’s exceptions, self-perceptions, values and attitudes. It also predicts human reactions to different folks, problems and stress.
The study of personality traits is beneficial in identifying the many variables that exist from human to human; the combinations of these variables provide us with a true level of individuality and uniqueness. In the field of psychology, trait theory is considered to be a key approach to the study of human personality (Crowne, 2007; Burton, Westen & Kowalski, 2009). This paper aims to identify a number of significant contributors who have played crucial roles in both the development and application of trait theory. This paper then moves focus to these theorists, outlining their theory and analysing both the strengths and weaknesses of those theories. An illustration of the methods used in trait measurement is given and includes the arguments both for and against such procedures. Lastly the findings of trait theory and its components described within the paper will be summarised.
Allport defines personality as ‘the dynamic organisation within the individual of those psychological systems that determine his unique adjustment to his environment’ (Allport, 1937). An individual’s unique personality traits and attributes are a powerful indicator of how he/she will interact with the work environment. The difference between average and outstanding employees can often be solely personality related. As the employee is the most valuable asset to the company, ‘selecting the right employee during the process is critical’ (Carbery and Cross, 2013, pp. 41-53)
It is important for a brands personality to match up with that of its intended target customers. Reading through some marketing sites Dr. Brian Monger situated his words in a way that I like best for the task of creating a brand image. Dr. Monger stated “ The task of creating a brand image often needs to move beyond attributes or feelings, to include the ultimate consequences of product use and the relationship of product use to people’s life-styles, needs, and values. A positioning strategy that focuses only on attributes or feelings can be shallow and less effective than one that is based on a richer knowledge of the customer.” Simply put make your brand relate to the intended buyer on a personal level, one that hits home with the things that they want and like to do. The understanding needs to be met that each target market will have different relations to products from the other. High priced cars can b...
Every company wants to understand why people decide to buy its products or others. Firstly, we have to understand why people buy certain kind of product. People buy products because they need them. A need is activated and felt when there is a sufficient discrepancy between a desired or preferred state of being and the actual state. (Engle£¬Blackwell and Miniard. 1995. p407 ) For example, when you feel hungry, what you needs is some food. It is very important for marketer to understand the needs of consumers. All the consumers may have the same needs, but the ways which they satisfy what they need are different. Here is a example, Chinese people would choose rice when they feel hungry, whilst British people may choose bread to satisfy their needs.
Conclusion Companies are better able to market their products to consumers if they have a good Understanding of the consumers and the basic purchase decision process. By understanding the consumer and the type of purchasing behavior associated with different products, marketers are more likely to create a marketing campaign that positively impacts the consumer’s purchasing decision.
Nevertheless, one of the most important constants among all of us, regardless of our differences, is that, above all, we are buyers. We use or consume on a regular basis food, clothing, shelter, transportation, education, equipment, vacations, necessities, luxuries, services, and even ideas. As consumers, we play an essential role in the health of the economy; local, national and international. The purchase decision we make affect the requirement for basic raw materials, for transportation, for production, for banking; they affect the employment of employees and the growth of resources, the successfulness of some industries and the failure of others. In order to be successful in any business and specifically in today’s dynamic and rapidly evolving marketplace, marketers need to know everything they can about consumers; what they are want, what they are think, how they are work, how they are spend their leisure time. They have to find out the personal and group influences that affect consumer decisions and how these decisions are made. In these days of ever-widening media choices, they need to not only identify their target audiences, but they have to know where and how to reach
To achieve and maintain success in such a complex system as market it is essential to every marketing person to understand clearly consumer behavior. Understanding consumer behavior is not that easy as it may seem from the first glance. The reason is that there are plenty of various factors that may influence it in one certain way or the other. When considering each of the factors it is also important not to forget that they ought to be analyzed as different parts of one whole picture, that is, in correlation with each other.