Names: JOHN PATRICK VICTORIO

Course: BSBA- MM

1. Please make research about these External Environmental Factors Affecting Consumer Behavior.

- Sub-cultural Influences
For a subculture to have a major impact on a consumer, the consumer must identify with it or
believe they are a part of it. Because the subculture lifestyle, beliefs, and expected behaviors are
routinely reinforced, this impact is particularly powerful if the consumer regularly interacts with
people in such communities.

This means that a subculture is a “related” group of people WITHIN an overarching

culture, which shares common values and behaviors. As a result, consumers within
subcultures will have a perceived “sense of identity” and follow an “expected” set of behaviors.
Because they have will some unique behavioral characteristics, this means that subcultures can
be used for market segmentation purposes and become target markets, to develop a suitable
marketing strategy.

 Age cohorts = Baby Boomers, Generation X, Generation Y, etc.

 Gender and sexual preferences and variations
 Country of birth and racial backgrounds = where they were born, born internationally,
first-generation, second-generation, etc.
 Regional and state/province locations and related lifestyles
 Differing religious beliefs, particularly those that strongly influence behavior and values
 Social class = upper, middle, lower class

- Social Class
Social class is an important determinant of consumer behavior as it affects consumption patterns,
lifestyle, media patterns, activities, and interests of consumers.
income Wage gaps can contribute to social status differences, but they aren't always the source of
disparities in purchasing habits or lifestyles.
For example, two consumers earning the same amount of money may have very different
lifestyles if one has a postgraduate degree and is employed in a multinational's senior
management cadre, while the other is self-employed and has only completed a few years of
schooling.

These two consumers have vastly different preferences in terms of product and brand purchases,
media consumption patterns, and interests in various leisure activities. As a result of these
findings, marketers have begun to assess social class as a composite variable that includes not
just economic inequalities, but also educational qualifications, kind of career and designation,
material belongings, and so on.
- Social Group Influences

 groups of people who have an impact on an individual's attitude or conduct. Individuals utilize
these organizations as a reference point for acquiring attitudes, beliefs, and conduct, which they
then adopt in their daily lives. Due to their regularity of engagement with the person and the
significance of these significant individuals in an individual's life, family and close friends are
regarded d key reference groups in an individual's life.

Reference groups have an impact on product and brand purchases, especially when the
consumption is observable. When a product is consumed in public, the brand chosen may be
impacted by what purchasers consider to be acceptable to their reference groups. Even product
consumption is impacted by reference groups in the case of conspicuous luxury. In the case of
inconspicuous items, reference group influence is smaller since there are little or no penalties
(sanctions) for not making the 'correct' choices.

Marketers may only identify members of reference groups by doing background research, which
must be product-specific. Such study must contain questions regarding the respondent's level of
engagement, expertise, social status in organizations, preference to adapt new items, and ability
to influence others.

- Family Influence
Consumer behavior analysts often address the family as a consumption unit
because families make group purchasing decisions and shape their
consumption behavior. Families are involved in consumer decisions that
involve more than one person. Families make purchase decisions believing
that it will maximize the welfare of their members. Although some members
might have special allocations or more power over how the pooled resources
are used, families pool their financial resources.

the purchase and use of many products and services, which we think of as
individually consumed, are usually influenced by the family. Thus, consumers’
attitudes toward spending and saving and even the brands and products
purchased have been influenced by the families they grew up in.

Family structure specifies the power, responsibilities, activities, and role

expectations of each member.

Family structures are also changing gradually, making family purchase

decision patterns different than before. Marketers must be sensitive to these
changes and the way they influence family purchase decisions and
consumption activities. You can thus, argue that the family should be the main
focus of studying consumer behavior.

Therefore, marketers need to understand the nature of the family’s influence

on its members and how they make purchase decisions. This knowledge will
help them better in developing marketing programs and in formulating
strategies to implement those.

- Personal Influences

Occupation and its impact on consumer behavior:

A person’s occupation affects several things in his life, including how he spends his
time, lifestyle, and choices in various aspects of life.

A person’s occupation and wages affect his buying power but they also affect the type of goods
and services he might be interested in and the type of fashion he selects to buy. For example, a
person would like to buy the type of clothes that suit his status and occupation. It also extends
to other products like automobiles and types of electronics products an individual wants to buy.
For example, a high-earning program buys a Mac, and an entry-level technology engineer buys
an affordable Windows laptop for his personal and professional use. Apart from that, the type of
conditions that someone works in will also affect his choices in various areas.

Age and Life Stage:

People’s taste in food, fashion, and other things changes with their age during their
lifetime. Their choice of food, fashion, furniture, and recreation are often related to their
ages. Apart from that, the stage of the family life cycle also affects buying decisions.

The stages through which families pass as they mature over time also affect important buying
decisions. Life stage changes mainly result from demographics and life-changing events. Such
events can include marriage, having kids, buying a home, kids growing up and going to college,
retirement, etc. It is why marketers use the life cycle stage to select and categorize their target
markets and create appropriate products and marketing plans for them.
Personality and self-concept:
Each person has a distinct personality that affects his or her buying behavior.
Personality refers to the unique psychological characteristics that define a person or a
group. Generally, personality is defined in terms of traits including self-confidence,
dominance, sociability, autonomy, defensiveness, adaptability, and aggressiveness.

 The main idea behind this concept is that brands also have personalities and people
would choose brands that match their personalities. 

A brand personality refers to the mix of human traits that may be attributed to a specific
brand. Research has identified five brand personality

- Other Influences

Perception.
Customer perception is a process where a customer collects information about a particular
product and interprets the information to make a meaningful image of it

Situational factors

One of the most important aspects of business is the consumer market. An important skill is
needed for businesses to understand the needs of customers. In addition, they should understand
the factors that affect their behaviors. Examples of situational factors that affect consumer
behavior include economy, culture, marketing, age, prevailing circumstances, and personal life.

Conclusion

Many factors affect the purchasing decisions that consumers make. These decisions are
influenced by a wide range of factors that are grouped into three classes. They include
internal, external, and situational factors. Factors in each group influence consumer
behavior differently to varying degrees. Examples of internal factors include motivation,
feelings, perception, and attitude.
2.The buying behavior of consumers is influenced by several internal or
psychological factors. The most important ones are Motivation and Perception. So,
what are Motivation and Perception?

Psychological Factors
Human psychology plays a very significant role in impacting the decision-
making process of consumers. It’s very difficult to precisely measure and
evaluate the psychological factors. But they’re powerful enough to impact
consumers’ behavior and influence their decision. Some of the main
psychological factors are as follows;

Motivation
What motivates a person to use goods and services and what forces influence
them to buy something to consume. Human needs are the powerful motive
behind their consumption decision. When we talk about human needs, there
are different kinds of needs like physiological needs, security needs, love and
family needs, social needs, and self-actualization needs.

Physiological needs and security needs are the most important out of all
human needs. They motivate a person to make the consumption decision.

Perception
There’s a very famous quotation “monkey see, monkey do.” It means that we
as human beings are social animals who live in societies and communities.
Unconsciously our mind is always studying and learning from the
environment. We gather information from various sources and our
experiences, and all of these factors create our perception of different
products.

Customer reviews, promotional schemes, TV ads, and feedback on social

media put an impression on people. As a result, they create the perception of
consumers. When people go out shopping, the perceptions they already have
in their minds influence their decision.