Understanding consumer behavior and factors that influence consumer behavior

According to Mangkunegoro in Akhmad (1996), consumer behavior is activities that can be defined as the decision-making process of individual physical activities seen in evaluating, obtaining, using or being able to use goods and services.

The factors that influence consumer behavior according to Kotler (2005), are:

1.      Cultural Factors

Cultural factors have a broad and deep influence on consumer behavior.

·         Culture

Culture is the most basic determinant of a person's desires and behavior. If the lower beings' behavior is largely governed by instinct, then human behavior is largely learned. Children raised in a society learn a set of basic values, perceptions, preferences, and behaviors through a socialization process that involves the family and other important institutions.

·         Sub-culture

Each culture has smaller sub-cultural groups, which are identification and socialization unique to the behavior of its members.

·         Social class

All societies represent social layers. These social layers sometimes take the form of a caste system in which members of different castes assume certain roles and they cannot change their caste membership.

2.      Social Factor

A consumer's behavior is also influenced by social factors, such as reference groups, family, status and social roles.

·         Reference Group

A person's behavior can be influenced by various groups. A reference group for a person are groups that have a direct or indirect influence on a person's attitudes and behavior.

·         Family

Family members can exert a strong influence on buyer behavior. Families in buying life can be divided into two types, namely the family as a source of orientation consisting of parents and the family as a source of offspring, namely the husband and wife and their children. The family is the most important buying consumer organization in society and has been extensively researched.

·         Status and Role

A person's position can be explained through the meaning of role and status. Each role carries a status that reflects the general respect given by society.

3.      Personal Factor

A buyer's decision is also influenced by his personality traits, including his age and life cycle, occupation, economic conditions, lifestyle, personality and self-concept.

·         Age and stage of life cycle

A person buys goods and services that change over the course of his life. Marketers often define their target market as groups of certain life stages and develop products and marketing plans that are appropriate for these groups.

·         Profession

A person's consumption pattern is also influenced by his work. Marketers try to identify occupational groups or occupations that have an above-average trend of interest in their products and services.

 

·         Economic Condition

A person's economic situation will have a big influence on product choice. A person's economic condition consists of disposable income, savings and possessions, ability to borrow and his attitude towards spending rather than saving.

·         Lifestyle

Living people who come from sub-cultures of social class, even from the same job, may have different lifestyles. A person's lifestyle is a person's pattern of life in the world of daily life which is expressed in the activities, interests, opinions concerned. Lifestyle describes the “whole person” with which a person interacts.

·         Personality

Each person has a different personality that will affect buyer behavior. What is meant by personality is the psychological characteristics that distinguish a person, which causes a relatively permanent and enduring response to his environment.

4.      Psychological Factor

A person's buying choice is also influenced by four main psychological factors, namely motivation, perception, learning, beliefs and attitudes.

·         Motivation

A person has many needs at any given time. Some needs are biogenic, namely needs that arise from biological pressure. And other needs are psychogenic, namely needs that arise from psychological pressure. A need becomes an impulse when the need arises to a sufficient level of intensity. A motive is a need that is strong enough to direct a person to seek satisfaction of that need.

·         Perception

A motivated person is ready to do an action. How someone is motivated to do something is influenced by his perception of the situation he faces. Two people who experience the same state of urge and the same goal of the situation may act differently because they respond to situations differently.

·         Study

One who does will learn. Learning describes a change in an individual's behavior that comes from experience. Most human behavior is acquired by studying it.

·         Trust and Attitude

Through action and learning, people acquire beliefs and attitudes. This in turn affects their buying behavior. Trust is a descriptive idea held by someone about something. Attitudes describe good or bad cognitive judgments, emotional feelings, and tendencies to act that last for a certain time towards some object or idea.