Q: With reference to a consumer brand of your choice clarifies the way the consumer decision process is affected by factors within the mental health core, the consumer environment and by professional manipulated activity. Your explanation must make considerable use of examples of the organisation's marketing activities alongside one another appropriate consumer behaviour ideas and models.
Abstract:
The assignment targets attitudes and behaviour on the idea of the consumer's buying behavior towards coca-cola, different consumers have got different decision making process. The buyer's ultimate goal is to choose the product with low/best affordable price.
Introduction:
According to Blackwell, Miniard and Engel (2006) the Consumer Decision Process (CDP) model, presents a street map of consumer's brains that marketers and professionals may use to help guide product combine, communication, and sales strategies. The model catches the activities that occur when decisions are created in a schematic format and shows how internal and external makes interact to impact how consumers think, assess and work.
Consumer Decision Process:
Consumers make many buying decisions every day. Coca-Cola did comprehensive research on consumer buying decision, to answer questions like what does consumer buy, where they buy, that they buy, how much they buy, when they buy and just why do they buy something, for this question to reorganize the decision different stages needed they can be, information search, and evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision and post purchase decision etc.
Need Acknowledgement:
Every purchasing decision requires a certain process that occurs in the intellects of customers. The first stage in this technique is need identification. In this task, a customer identifies a need or problems. This need can be aroused by external or internal stimuli. This internal and exterior stimulus actually decides which product the buyer will purchase, how much its variety will be and also its reliability.
For this we will need the example of coke. For example, a consumer feels thirsty and he/she wants some soda. The marketing team of coca-cola is very productive in realizing the needs of the consumers. So, in their marketing activities, this team make an effort to presents the solutions of the desired problem by giving different varieties of advertisements.
Information Search:
This is the second level in consumer decision process. In this stage the consumer who has accepted the need, search for information to gratify the necessity. A consumer can collect the info from many resources. For instance, these might be
Personal options i. e. friends, family and neighbour.
Commercial options include advertising, packaging and displays.
Public options include media and different organization.
In these options, commercial sources are extremely important because through advertising, packaging and displays, the companies can provide the impression that they have got what the customer is looking for.
This ad provides information that the consumer can renew themselves by enjoying coke.
Evaluation of Alternatives:
This is the most crucial level in consumer decision making process. In this stage, the consumer actions each brand on the specification it owns from the info collected before. At this stage, brand beliefs play an important role in deciding the merchandise. Branding is becoming so strong that today almost nothing goes unbranded. Brand names help consumers identify product which can benefit them; in addition they tell the buyer something about the merchandise quality. Consumers who always buy the same brand know that they can always get the same features, benefits and quality. (Kotler & Armstrong, 2004, p. 285)
When the consumer looks for a soft drink, he/she might compare the coke with Pepsi or some other competing brands. This is actually the point where internal and interpersonal factors can play an important role in choosing the coke and where coke's marketing activity can be judged that how coke used these factors in a favourable manner to help the buyer decision to buy coke.
Purchase Decision:
This is the stage where the buyer actually purchases the coke. Two factors are extremely important at this stage, attitude to others and sudden situational factors. Although consumer has made his purchase decision in the aforementioned stage, these factors effect is so strong that the purchase decision will not necessarily lead to the actual purchase decision. (Kotler & Armstrong, 2004)
Post Purchase evaluation:
This is also quite stage since it determines the future of the company. In this stage, the buyer actually discover that the product satisfy his/her need or not. You will see three results. If the performance of the product is lower than the expected, it results customer dissatisfaction which can have a bad impact on the continuing future of the company. In case the performance of the product is equal to the merchandise performance than the customer is satisfied. In case the performance exceeds the prospects than the customer will be happy. (Kotler & Armstrong, 2004)
Psychological Factors:
Following are some psychological factors which can effect the consumer decision making process.
Motivation:
Consumer motivation symbolizes the drive to fulfill both physiological and psychological needs through product purchase and intake. (Blackwell, Miniard and Engel (2006)
Motivation Theories:
Maslow's need hierarchy theory:
According to Maslow, motivation is a function of five basic individuals needs, which may be categorized as deficiency needs and growth needs. The insufficiency needs, that can be satisfied externally, contain Physiological needs (food, shelter), protection needs (a secure environment) and social needs (a friendly relationship, affiliation, connections and love). Esteem needs (self-esteem and esteem from others) and self-actualization needs (develop oneself to ones fullest probable) together make up the development needs, which may be satisfied internally.
These needs are organized in a hierarchy, meaning the first basic needs must be satisfied before the second basic needs become relevant. Thus, only one of the five basic needs is aroused at the same time and only after this need is satisfied the individual strives to gratify another higher need.
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Source: Maslow
There are many ads of coke in which there is inspiration for the clients. The main concentration in coke's advertising is self-confidence and do it yourself actualization. Among the coke ads with the subject "Hard times" is very popular in this category. In this particular advertising, a billionaire lost everything because of the economic crisis. On the other hand, he finds pleasure after enjoying coke and locating the company of his friends. (http://www. youtube. com/watch?v=EnUKurl7Fog)
Means-End Chains (MEC) analysis:
For companies that look for product development along with deepened understanding of their consumers, an important step is to comprehend what consumers perceive as positive in a product, as well as to identify which features that acts as intermediary value. Everyone has another reason for his / her behaviour and when consumers select products it often works as an instrument to accomplish their goals or prices. A theoretical model detailing individual's cognitive composition, including principles, is the Means-End Chains (MEC) model.
The basic idea behind MEC is to derive the bond between your product and the meaning it plays for the consumer's life. Also, it clarifies why and how a product is important in someone's life. The MEC model advises a hierarchical illustration of how consumers view products and services. Three levels are presented: Attributes-> Consequences -> Values
The first level, product feature (A), corresponds to cement characteristics of the product. It is often displayed in physical aspect. An attribute of coke could for instance be the entertainment or cola flavor. A product is seen as a plenty of capabilities. Which capabilities are significant to a consumer is known as to be determined by consumer's intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. The extrinsic determination is associated with the supply of the product. While intrinsic motivations are linked to the requirements of the consumer.
The second level, the results (C), describes the power or disadvantage that the customer will experience therefore from the attributes. The consequences could be either of physical, mental health or social dynamics as well as direct and indirect. For example, consequences from drinking alcohol of coke can be "ease thirst", "save time" and "save money". The public and psychological consequences can for example be better higher status. Direct results come straight from the consumed product or from the actual consumption. Indirect effects occur when other people react positively or adversely towards the consumer because of his or hers buying behaviour. The MEC model assumes that the consumers work in order to see positive consequences also to avoid negative repercussions.
The consequences will lead to the third and last abstraction level, value (V). A value is defined as "criteria used to go for and justify actions and to assess people and occurrences. A person's value is designed by culture, society and its organizations as well as the individuals own personality. Values play an important role for the individuals consumption pattern as many products are used to be able to help us getting a related goal.
Attention:
Attention is very important in understanding. If the customers didn't pay attention to the advertisements of the merchandise, it can not be stored in the customers' brains. As far as, the marketers are worried, it is vital to allow them to gain attention of the clients. So the key purpose of the marketing is obtaining the customers' attention.
According to Kotler and Armstrong 2004, there should be three main characteristics in the advertisings to get customers' attention.
The advertisings should be important. It should describe all the huge benefits and characteristics of the merchandise a customer is looking for.
The advertising should be believable. The customer should think that he/she will get the desired benefits from the merchandise.
The advertising should be unique. In their ads it ought to be mentioned clearly that this product is better than its looking at brands.
Coke is famous worldwide by its successful marketing campaigns and advertisements. To get customers' attention, coke has portrayed world known superstars in his advertisings. To get customers' attention this was a distinctive idea to obtain celebrities in their advertisements because stars always got people attention. In addition to this, coke has sponsored many famous tracks of the football world cup simply to get the world's attention towards coke. Coke has its own unique materials carefully combined/added to it, it 'likes' very good and delights the consumers' senses temporarily, So when the customers see something that signifies that tastes that 'delighted' them temporarily for the reason that moment, they are then 'reminded' from it, which usually brings about craving it, thus purchasing/eating it.
Perception:
Perception means awareness. To get customers' attention is not enough to get success in the market. Customers only choose the product when they understand that the merchandise will be great for them. In this way, it is customers' conception that leads them to choose the product.
Coke is totally alert to this fact plus they have used many slogans in their advertising to perceive the customers. Some famous slogans of coke are pleasure, the real thing, pleasure, enjoy etc. The reason why coke is famous among the clients is their slogan "Coke makes you feel great". If we observe the coke, it is just brown coloured glucose water. But the customers pay far more than its cost. The explanation for this is merely their slogan "feel good". A very important factor to comprehend about coke understanding is value. Coke always gives the perception that they give value with their customers.
Learning:
Learning is the procedure through which a comparatively everlasting change in behaviour results from the results of past behavior. Learning, changes in a person's behaviour caused by information and experience. Corresponding to classical conditioning theories of learning, the training process has four factors i. e. drive, cues, reactions and reinforcement. Drive is a strong inner stimulus which results in an action. In cue stimulus the consumer makes a decision when, where and how he/she will react to the drive. The action to cue is response. In the last, reinforcement occurs when response is worthwhile.
This is exact what coke marketing team does. In their advertisings, they are trying to give happiness to their customers. When the consumers feel happy, it generates a strong interior drive which results in a confident reinforcement. In the following add, Santa after ingesting coke spread delight everywhere in the world at the The holiday season. It creates a solid internal stimulus in the consumers to drink coke. (http://www. youtube. com/watch?v=4TMwBFK2qHI)
Beliefs and behaviour:
Beliefs and frame of mind also performs an important role in consumers' buying behaviour. A perception is reported to be the consumers' trust on brands or products. Marketers are interested in formulating strong beliefs about their product in the consumers because these values make up product and brand images that affect buying behaviour.
Attitude is a person's like or dislikes being about something. Frame of mind is also reported to be a judgement. Once a positive or bad attitude is developed it is difficult to improve it. Coke has gained favourable frame of mind of consumers. Through their advertisements also, they are trying to change the unfavourable attitude of customers giving them pleasure. Just like in this advertisement coke gives pleasure to students by giving them free coke thus changing their unfavourable attitude into favourable.
(http://www. youtube. com/watch?v=M0D3jKLz6sA)
Memory:
Memory performs an important role in advertisements. It is vital for marketers that if they are attracting new customers, they shouldn't lose their existing customers. Consistence advertising of a product have a long and everlasting impact on the memory space of the clients. Coke's marketing team is completely aware of this fact. For example, the above advertisement will have a permanent impact on the storage of the students.
Environmental Factors:
Environmental factors also play an important role in consumers' decision process. Those factors are as follows:
Social factors:
Consumer's needs, learning, motives etc. are affected by opinion market leaders, person's family, guide groups, social category and culture. All these factors play an important role in consumer's decision process. People indicate all human stars who play a role operating delivery and thus influence the consumer's perceptions and behaviour through their own behaviours and attitudes (Wilson 2010). Folks who are effectively involved with service delivery can help consumers through the decision making process, can strengthen an existing brand image and increase consumers purchase and re-purchase intentions.
In the campaigns and promotional programs of coke, we can view a mixture of happiness and delight among people, organizations and friends. For example in the aforementioned ad, he main focuses on were students' organizations. If a fresh student is going to sign up for this group, he'll definitely entice to coke.
Personal factors:
Personal factors are those factors which can be unique to the customer. These factors can be years, gender, Demographics etc. Sometimes we are not the decision manufacturer in the family, and also there are different reasons to buy a thing between young and old people. As age group progresses choices also changes. Additionally, economic situation of the customer also influence the consumers' buying behaviour. As far as coke can be involved, it protects all the walks of life. Childs, young and old people used to refresh themselves by drinking coke. Normally people used to drink coke as their lifestyle.
Cultural Factors:
Cultural factors performs an important role in consumer byuing behaviour. Culture portrays a customer's needs and behaviour. Culture of 1 nation includes beliefs, beliefs, belief and frame of mind of the consumers of this region. As every region has its culture therefore the marketers should focus on the culture of each country. Price of the merchandise, promotional programs & most important the merchandise should be ideal for the prospective population's culture.
Coke's marketing team is fully aware of the cultural aspects of every nation. If we talk about Europe culture, Xmas is very important festival for Europe. Here coke celebrates Holiday with the folks of European countries. (http://www. youtube. com/watch?v=HVfYxMYkWLo)
If we talk about Pakistan culture, the month of Ramadan is the blessing month in Pakistani culture. Here again coke celebrate the month of Ramadan with Pakistan. (http://www. youtube. com/watch?v=_HM6ybZupkE)
Conclusion:
It is vital for marketers to comprehend all these factors which assists with handling the consumers buying decision. On basis of our analysis, we have drawn the following summary that advertising, brand, social, psychological, and get older all affect consumer choices to some extent. We found that some consumers, who affiliate a brandname with ad as well as having actual understanding of the brand's advertisings, do indeed believe that their choice of product is to a big degree affected by brand advertisement.
From this review, it can be concluded that for coca-cola to reach your goals and form consumers' decision process, it is vital that they put into practice a mixture of the analyzed factors in their marketing strategy so to best reach target teams. More specifically, the strategies should be personalized in accordance to the mark groups' age, seeing as consumer preferences range depending on a person's age. Lastly, although promotional initiatives are still effective in reminding and persuading consumers of brands and products, companies must distinguish themselves in their information and techniques, etc. as advertising campaign clutter is at a rise.
