In this report, the topic, "consumer behavior" will be examined regarding UK Mobile technology. The report will cover the various factors that affect the decision of a customer during the purchase, before the purchase as well as after the purchase has been made. The following report will cover the micro factor such as age, gender, beliefs of the customer as well as macro factors such as word of mouth, social norms, etc. The report also aims to cover the topic of the marketer's instinct in using these factors to manipulate the choices of the customer and helping in the growth of brands. This report is an effort to understand the concept of consumer's ideology before, during, and after the purchasing journey.
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Current Macro-Influences on Consumer/Customer/Shopper Behaviour in the UK Mobile Technology sector.
A consumer examines a lot of features and attributes of the product while investing its money into any product or service. The consumer wants the maximum utility from the product that they have paid for, hence many important factors influence the consumer's buying behavior. The nature of a consumer is dynamic, and it changes before the purchase, during the purchase, and after the successful purchase (Lobo and Green land, 2017). The macro factors that influence the customer's choices are the ambiance around the customer such as reference groups: friends and family, social beliefs, culture, etc. The impact of culture is dynamic on the buying behavior of customer as culture is a dynamic factor that can change over time, In a study, it was seen that individualistic culture prefers the mobile technology that can be customized as per the need of the individual whereas the collectivist's culture would recommend the use of similar technology mobile phones to connect the groups. Social references is another macro element that influences the customer buying behavior when the recommendation of particular mobile technology like phone, app, etc. comes from a close source such as friends, relatives it has a higher level of trust and the customer tends to buy it this is also called Word of mouth. Before the purchase, the customer believes the feature expressed by the peer group, while using it the customer verifies and evaluates and transmits the result to its closed ones. If the result is not as expected the customer is believed to transmit negative Word of mouth which affects the choice of next potential customer (Huete-Alcocer,2017). Social norms such as social acceptance is a factor influencing the choice of a customer. The influence of family beliefs affects the choices in various ways such as the mobile can be a status symbol in the family, If the people in the family choose advanced features mobile technology the customer buying the mobile technology would be influenced by their choice and end up buying the option relevant to the other family members. The choice of features is affected by the younger generation in the family whereas the budget is decided by the elder generation in the family and the customer makes the choice that perfectly matches the two categories. Social roles and status. Many people have a status to maintain, they seek for the option that helps them to maintain their status in the consumer tribe such as the people belonging to gym, media, tend to have branded costly phones. On the other side the people belonging to NGOs, tend to look for simpler options(Kennedy, 2016).
The effect of Social Media on consumer behavior in mobile technology is evident in the review forums on different websites. With the digitalization, the consumer is well-aware of the technology and features of the products and innovation (Schivinski and Dabrowski, 2016). Thus, the consumer gets involved in research before purchasing the technology, various channels describes the features that can help the customer to pick the correct option according to its need. Marketing is another factor that might have impact on the customer. This is the era of advertising and the advertising has impacts on the psychological thinking of the customers, the advertisements tend to manipulate the thinking of consumer towards the product. Advertising campaigns affect the buying behavior in both positive as well as negative context. For example, anenvironmentalist consumer will be influenced if the commercial mentioned that mobile technology utilizes the recycled product and will make the decision to buy mobile technology that saves the earth (Schivinski and Dabrowski, 2016). On the other hand, a gamer youth will be influenced by the advertisement showing the gaming features. Hence the marketing the external factor that influences the choice of the customer.
Current Micro-Influences on Consumer Behaviour in The [UK Mobile Technology] Sector.
Customer personal values and the internal factors that havea direct effect on the instincts while purchasing and using mobile technology has an evident influence on the buying behavior of the consumer. The micro factors include age, education, life cycle stage, gender, occupation, economic status, lifestyle, self-concept, personality, etc., along with these demographic factors, there are psychological factors that are included in micro influences such as perception, motivation, experience, learning, attitude and beliefs that put an effect on the shopping behavior of an individual.
Age of a person affects many choices of the individual such as the people belonging to the younger generation seek technological advance features in the gadgets so that they can challenge their mind and evolve it (Baruk and Iwanicka, 2016). The middle-aged people look for the technology that tends to meet their requirements of connecting with people, completing their work online, ina fast and comparatively easy manner. The age group belonging to the elder ages would seek a simpler option that can be operated by them without much understanding of the technology. Hence the mobile technology company should segment the choices in three age group options.
The lifestyle of a person defines the need and wants of the person. Lifestyle depends on opinions, interests, and activities. While investing in the products of mobile technology such as a phone, a fitness watch, a tablet, etc. The customer verifies the need for the product in the lifestyle, a customer involved in the fitness world would be purchasing the mobile technology that helps the consumer to keep a track of steps, heart rate, blood pressure, etc. another customer that has an interest related to the stock market would be involved in the technology that helps him to be updated about the trends in the market and so on. Lifestyle defines the psychographics of a person, such as work, hobbies, club membership, interest in family, home, job, themselves social interaction, etc. (Maharani et.al, 2018).
Personality and self-concept:Personality is the combination of traits that an individual possesses such as confidence, honesty, punctuality, reliability, etc. the personality traits make every individual different. Personality traits also affect the shopping behavior of a person. The person tends to look for the brand that has the brand value as that of the personality traits. Therefore, brand value has a direct relation to the personality traits of the consumers. Brand personality refers to features such as sophistication, excitement, sincerity, ruggedness (Nguyen et.al, 2017). Mobile technology has become an instinct part of human lifestyle. Hence, the consumer looks for the dependable, reliable feature while choosing the cellular option to match their personality traits.
Financial circumstances, to buy or invest in any mobile technology the finance plays the most important role as a person must take care of the expenses in the daily routine with the income the customer earns. The basic objective behind a successful purchase is value for money. The mobile technology is available at various price slot which satisfies the need for lower, middle, and the upper-class people. A person with high income can afford to buy luxury products that depict his status whereas a middle-income range person would look for a convenient option, that has maximum features at an affordable price (Hubert et.al,2017).
Occupation: there is a huge impact of the occupation on the day-to-day choices of a person. The choices of a CEO (Chief Executive Officer) and a normal teacher would vary a lot. The CEO can prefer the luxury expensive items whereas the teacher would stick to the needs and pay accordingly. The field that a person is, affects the choices it makes during the purchase of mobile technology such as fitness enthusiast is more likely to invest in machines that help the person to keep a record of physical activities such as a fit-band, smartwatch, etc. a teacher is more likely to choose the technology that helps to keep a record of students, make and distribute notes and helps to conduct classes.
Learning and experience: This factor refers to the experience of a brand or product, which affects the decision to buy it again or invest in a new product. Experience defines the utility satisfaction that a customer gets by using the gadget. Whereas learning is the research conducted before the purchase of the product, examining the features and results of the product as reviewed by others and then making a smart choice based on the result of the learning and experience. The learning and experience are extremely easy in the world of social media that connects the people who have already used the technology and the ones willing to buy it.
Attitude and beliefs: This is the most personal factor that depends entirely on the mood of a person shopping, if a person in a light mood is shopping, the features can be read or heard easily with attention and the decision would be made. On the other hand, a person in a hurry needs to purchase the item real quick would just analyze the product superficially that may lead to dissatisfaction post-purchase. Some customers purchase mobile technology based on instinct while they are purchasing it, these are the group of people who do not pay much attention to the details.
Implications for Shopper Marketing in the Mobile Technology Sector.
Marketing affects the customer's buying decision directly or indirectly; the marketers use the micro and macro influences of the customer in the customer's buying journey for the benefit of sales. The marketers understand the customer journey and the impact of various factors in the journey and utilize for the growth of the brand. The customer's buying journey is represented in the process chart below:
Figure 1 Purchasing journey of a customer. (Kietzmann et.al, 2018)
The marketers utilize the macro and micro influencing factor for creating brand awareness and consideration through various methods such as using branded packaging, marketers believe that the connection doesn't establish when the customer uses the product but when the customer unboxes the product. Hence the companies invest in customized packaging to get an emotional connection from the customer. The emotional connection because of innovative packaging seems to last longer than the product itself. Packaging adds value to the brand perception, and it connects with the customer psychology. Segmentation is another method that is used by marketers to segment the customer on demographics such as age, gender, lifestyle, occupation, financial status, and launch product in all the segments to attract all the groups of segmentation. This increases the brand value among the customers by giving them an option according to their needs and beliefs (Chan et.al, 2016).
Social Media Marketing, it is an old saying that, "be where your customers are" this is very important for the mobile technology as the users are available online surfing the best available option. The shoppers use this as an opportunity to influence the customer on social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, where they can target the audience, they wish to sell the product. By various campaigns (Fernando and Fernando, 2019). Social media is an easy and pocket-friendly method to create awareness among potential customers and be a part of the customer buying journey so that they are aware of the product and consider the option while purchasing.
Despite all the various techniques, there is less success of the marketing campaign seen, thus Byron sharp has given objectives of marketing with a new concept that the marketers need to understand the concept of, "How brands grow" Sharp defines the main objective of marketing is to be available, availability here has two dimensions. Available in the stores and their psychology. These are coined as marketing assets by Sharp. Physical availability refers to the availability at stores though maximized distribution and by the psychological presence, sharp refers to the distinct feature of the brand that directly targets the customer's mind such as colors, logo, jingle, design, tagline, etc.
Byron sharp says customer loyalty is a myth, the customer buys a product out of habit and not due to any commitment. The brands that grow tend to become the habit of the customer. The two ways to become the habit is either be the habit or purchase the product group that is the habit of the customer. Thus a brand penetrates the market by acquiring various products and companies. Segmentation plays no role in increasing the sale instead it restricts the sales, thus, the main aim of the brand should be to mass marketing with a single logo, design, targeting the customers around the globe. The evidence from the purchasing behavior of the consumer, it is evident that the customer is not seeking to build relations with the brand or expecting the brand to add meaning to their lives. Instead, the customer purchases the brand that is easy to purchase, and post-purchase benefits and services value the customer's money. For example, a brand with fewer features but satisfactory after purchase service is reported to earn more than the company with a lot of features products and unsatisfactory service after the purchase.
The successful brands use the sensory assets to reach the customer's choice list instead of conceptual instinct in the marketing campaigns. The basic ideology followed by the shoppers to target the customer are staying competitive and visible in the market. Creating brand assets by being available physically and psychologically. Ensures easy post-purchase, purchase, and after purchase services. The brands grow by being competitive and innovating the product as per the need and not merely by advertising (Sharp, 2016).
Conclusion
In this report, Customer buying behavior in the UK mobile technology has been analyzed and evaluating. The report considers various factors that affect the decision of a customer in the buying journey. The factors are macro and micro that influence the purchasing behavior of the customer in various ways. It can be seen through the report that the factors around the customer such as peer groups, marketing, social norms, social acceptance influence the choice of the customer. Besides the external factors, there isan internal factor called a micro factor such as attitude, age, gender, beliefs that decides the purchasing habits of an individual. In the end, the marketer's instinct has been described as, how they utilize these factors and helps the brand to grow. The report also includes Byron sharp's "how the brand grows" theory to show the connection between the marketing techniques and the customer's instinct in purchasing.
References
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