Cultural factors: Way of life or culture is the most basic root of a person’s wants and needs. Growing up, children learn basic values, observation and wants from the family and other people. During his life, a person will be by his family, his friends, his cultural environment that will educate him values, preferences as well as common behaviors to their culture. Culture is a very important when it comes to understanding the needs and behavior of an individual. It will play a role in the observation, habit, behavior or hope of consumers.
It means all about the human. It is about beliefs, attitudes or intentions. d. Characteristics of Culture According to Yvette (2009:105-106), culture has a set of characteristics as follow: 1) Long-term perspective: Culture was developed many years ago and is the accumulation of experience and knowledge. 2) Collection: Culture is a collection of beliefs, values, habits, norms, and traditions. 3) A social phenomenon: Culture appears from human interaction.
Culture is what stands as a comprehensive concept it includes both an individual’s preferences and the way people make decisions. We say culture is acquired since an individual is born into a culture, these cultural influences operate by having set boundaries for an individual behaviour and also influences the functioning of the families at large; these boundaries mentioned above are called norms and these norms are derived from cultural values or formerly beliefs rather principles that reinstate what is not desirable; non adherence to these norms is considered social disapproval in highly sensitive culture individuals could even be banished from their groups, these cultural values create norms and sanctions which in turn also influence consumption pattern. Cultural values are beliefs that a general state of existence is personally and socially worth striving for. (Consumer Behaviour, Milton J Rokeach, 6th Edn., Thomson Learning, 2001, pp. 450.)
Understanding consumer buying behaviour is a fundamental concept in the marketing of goods and services. As it is constantly evolving, creating challenges for practitioners in the field on international marketing and consumer behaviour (Josiannen and Harzing 2008), it is imperative for owners, manufactures, as well as service providers to understand why consumers select one product over another. Similarly, it provides them with a competitive advantage over its competitors in several areas (Kotler and Keller 2011). The decision-making process begins in the mind of the consumers. As such, what consumers buy, when, where, why and how much depends on a number of factors such as perception, culture, social interaction, personal and psychological
Consumer behavior is considered to be a major aspect of marketing, possessing many definitions and models developed by various authors throughout the years that contribute to fully understanding this notion. As a broad definition, most marketers recognize consumer behavior as “an ongoing process, not merely what happens at the moment a consumer hands over money or a credit card and in turn receives a good or service. (Solomon, 2012)”. Therefore three different phases involved in the consumer behavior process should be analyzed: pre-consumption, consumption and post consumption. In addition to consumer behavior, companies must take into account other factors in order to develop business able to satisfy the needs and wants identified in the market,
The consumer is the most relevant element in marketing, to the orientations of marketing management, sales, production, and the consumer is the individual who ultimately uses or disposes of the product, the individual who buys or acquires the product. When defining the strategies of marketing must be taken into account the behaviour of both. Undoubtedly, marketing has been asked by the consumer in order to meet economic objectives, but in parallel the question arises for ethics in consumer research, a concept linked by Ekinci and Riley (2003) to social marketing, arguing that companies “must meet the needs and desires of their target markets in ways that preserve and increase the well-being of consumers and society as a whole”. According to
Personal Factor Consumer behaviour deals with as to why and why not an individual purchases particular products and services. Personal Factors play an important role in affecting consumer buying behavior. Age of a person is one of the important personal factors influencing buyer behavior. People buy different products at their different stages of cycle. Moreover, life styles and buying considerations and decisions differ widely according to the nature of the occupation.
Culture factors include culture, subculture and social class. Culture is basic of people’s behavior, every society has culture, and culture affects customer behavior between different countries with different cultures. Subculture is core part of every culture, and it combines nation, regions, ethic group, and geographic regions. Social class is relative to the society permanently and sequence division whose members share similar values, interests, and behavior. Social factors also influence consumer behavior, and the factors include social networks, family, and social roles and status.
The social factors comprise family friends, work, social groups with which the consumer identifies themselves and influences the purchasing behavior and looking for a garment type. Family causes a strong influence on the choice of children garments. For an example, husband chooses a gift for his wife. They fall into three categories. They are: Reference groups: The membership groups of an individual are social groups to which we belongs and which will influence us.
Companies can make sound marketing decisions based on their knowledge about consumer requirements and perception. A sound understanding of consumer perception is critical to influence consumers and that is the difference between favorable or unfavorable product image. A study on consumer perception helps to understand the behavior of the customer by indicating consumer expectations. Consumer perception is also important to understand the factors that influence product loyalty. Through perception study a company finds possible ways to promote its products through effective fulfilment of customer