How People Make Buying Decisions

Learning Objectives

1. Describe the personal and psychological factors that may influence what consumers buy and when they buy it.
2. Explain what marketing professionals can do to influence consumers' behavior.
3. Explain how looking at lifestyle information helps firms understand what consumers want to purchase.
4. Explain how Maslow's hierarchy of needs works.
5. Explain how culture, subcultures, social classes, families, and reference groups affect consumers' buying behavior.
   

You've been a consumer with purchasing power for much longer than you probably realize - since the first time you were asked which cereal or toy you wanted. Over the years, you've developed rules of thumb or mental shortcuts providing a systematic way to choose among alternatives, even if you aren't aware of it. Other consumers follow a similar process, but different people, no matter how similar they are, make different purchasing decisions. You might be very interested in purchasing a Smart Car, but your best friend might want to buy a Ford F-150 truck. What factors influenced your decision and what factors influenced your friend's decision?

As we mentioned earlier in the chapter, consumer behavior is influenced by many things, including environmental and marketing factors, the situation, personal and psychological factors, family, and culture. Businesses try to figure out trends so they can reach the people most likely to buy their products in the most cost-effective way possible. Businesses often try to influence a consumer's behavior with things they can control such as the layout of a store, music, grouping and availability of products, pricing, and advertising. While some influences may be temporary and others are long lasting, different factors can affect how buyers behave - whether they influence you to make a purchase, buy additional products, or buy nothing at all. Let's now look at some of the influences on consumer behavior in more detail.