Today, potential customers are constantly exposed to advertising and various forms of marketing that shape their needs, preferences and behavior. Some messages attract our attention and amaze, while others cause satiety or boredom. However, all of them affect customers and create consumer behavior more or less consciously.
The market reality includes stimuli - advertisements, decorations, packaging that affect the perceptive system of customers and are analyzed by their senses. However, what often determines the purchase are the subconscious feelings that appear in potential customers at the very thought of a given brand.
In order to understand consumer behavior and control it in order to persuade them to take advantage of a specific offer, modern marketers must acquire knowledge of psychology and non-perceptual mechanisms of human functioning.
Consumer needs and behavior
Marketing thinking begins with the realization of human needs and desires. As Kotler emphasizes - marketing is a social and management process, thanks to which specific groups receive what they need and want to achieve by creating, offering and exchanging products with a specific value.
Manufacturers and retailers first need to be aware of who they are target group. They must also know what needs are to be met by the products or services they offer. Thanks to this knowledge, they will be able to accurately hit their desire to satisfy them in their marketing messages. Human needs are characterized by the fact that they are arranged hierarchically - from the most basic, physiologically determined, to higher needs, realizing human life values.
Knowing about your needs and motivations allows you to design appropriate marketing strategies. Thanks to them, by launching a specific motivational process or by evoking appropriate emotions, companies persuade the consumer to buy a given product. Understanding the needs of consumers allows you to explain some consumer behavior - for example, sudden interest in a previously unnoticed product. It also allows for the development of marketing strategies favoring influencing such behaviors and reacting to changing ones consumer trends.
Possibility of choice and consumer behavior
Many consumer behaviors are habitual, repetitive and compulsive choices. In fact, only with some purchases we consider the choice in a conscious and reflective way. That's why it's good to know consumer's decision-making process.
The realization of the possibility of choice appears most often only when the consumer begins to notice the discrepancy between the existing state and the desired state. This usually leads to an increased search for information about the methods (products or services) that will fill the gap. And here comes a place for the use of various marketing tools.
In reflective choices, the consumer evaluates the considered alternatives according to their different characteristics. Chooses between available and previously known brands. However, the final choice, and hence the specific consumer behavior, is influenced by various circumstances. These are, among others time pressure, availability, complexity of the purchasing process, willingness to have something new or avoiding risk.
Instruments influencing consumer behavior
In the conditions of intense competition, the need to analyze consumer behavior is of increasing importance. The purchasing behavior which results from the needs and expectations consists in making choices between the possibilities that are available on the market. The determinants of consumer decisions form the basis of strategic decisions, becoming the foundation of marketing activities.
The consumer's behavior results from the individual perception of needs, covering the entirety of objectively and subjectively defined, rational and emotional, conscious and unconscious moves when making decisions about choosing specific consumer goods. They are determined by many factors: demographic, economic, social, cultural and psychological.
Properly selected marketing instruments can significantly influence customers' purchasing decisions, creating their consumer behavior. Commonly used sources of consumer information can be divided into internal (memory, associations, conclusions) and external (advertisements, recommendations). There are various, deliberately created instruments influencing consumers and their behavior in the market. They are related to:
- product (product, packaging, logo, brand),
- price (price, rebates, reductions),
- distribution (type of point of sale, distribution channel),
- promotion (advertising, sales promotion, personal sales, public relations).
Start building your brand image
Increasingly, a significant impact on consumer behavior on the brand image, and building and maintaining it at the appropriate level requires a lot of time and intensive activities. Hence, more and more companies focus on being effective branding, a communication strategy it is really well thought out. Gaining the trust of the recipient and maintaining it is possible only by creating a unique relationship between the customer and the company. The modern instruments influencing consumer behavior include:
- alternative outdoor advertising media, connecting the offline and online world,
- guerrilla marketing, based on the use of unconventional techniques,
- word of mouth marketing, which allows you to reach the recipient with the help of direct, spontaneous communication between customers,
- social media, thanks to which we share information quickly and easily, in an environment where customers feel at ease and authentic.
A well-chosen communication campaign, based on modern tools, allows you to gain customer trust, which is extremely important for the brand and, as a consequence, translates into specific consumer behavior.
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The influence of the Internet on consumer behavior
The Internet is a source of knowledge for many people, so it is no wonder that it has a huge impact on shaping consumer behavior. The constantly increasing range of the network and its growing role in the lives of many consumers is not - or at least should not be - without significance for buyers and potential sellers. Purchasing attitudes change from year to year and new opinions about transactions concluded on the Internet appear. Consumers treat the Internet as a source of knowledge. They are happy to seek advice on selected products and service providers, and also reach for guides and articles to help them guide their choices. All this makes the web the main source of information for consumers and a place where they can buy everything they need.
4P is a principle that began to function in marketing in the 1960s and is now taking on a new meaning. It used to refer to a producer who could freely manipulate the price of goods to entice a customer to buy. Along with the dynamically changing market, the 4P principle (product, place, price and promotion) has also evolved. As a result, 4C was also added to it, i.e. consumer value, convenience, cost and conversation. Currently, the reference point is the customer for whom the price is much more multidimensional than several dozen years ago. Why? Well, the Internet is a great tool to convince consumers that by buying in this place they not only save their money, but also time and nerves. In the case of the 4P rule salaries on the Internet has ceased to apply, therefore it has been replaced with convenience - the convenience of the 4C principle.
The advent of the internet has drastically changed the way sellers communicate with buyers. The continual development of online technologies and tools has given retailers many new tools, opportunities and opportunities. Whether or not to be for the seller now depends on the way they are used. The market is undergoing dynamic changes that must be complied with in order to be successful.
Consumer behavior of Poles
Consumer behavior Poles have changed many times in recent years. They were shaped by the situation on the market and economic development. However, the past year has brought very noticeable changes resulting from the pandemic and the economic slowdown. Those who did not buy online two years ago are looking for the products they need today. Poles also gave up shopping in large hypermarkets in favor of small, local shops. Nearly 1/3 of us started to buy online goods that we previously purchased only through traditional purchases. The KPMG report shows that in 2020 in Poland there was an increase in online sales by nearly 140%. These numbers clearly show how quickly the consumer behavior of Poles is changing, but not only, because similar data can also be observed in other countries.
Today we can distinguish three dominant trends:
- temporary limitation of purchases related to large expenses and ostentatious consumerism,
- purchases from local suppliers in line with the fair-trade idea supporting smaller stores,
- striving to purchase products personalized to the needs of modern customers.
Poles today buy less, but with more caution. Secondly, we want to support family businesses, so we are happy to buy without intermediaries, thus supporting local sellers who have been particularly affected after the outbreak of the pandemic. Experts predict that over time, Poles will start to buy products from proven and trusted brands. The vast majority of us also want to buy personalized products. Today's Poles are not satisfied with goods that meet quality standards, and eco-products are not enough either. We are looking for items that will accurately reflect your purchasing preferences. Products that can be personalized and adapted to expectations - those that fit the tastes of a single customer and allow them to fulfill their original vision are very popular. Poles do not want clichés, but originality.
Smart Shopping
One of the fastest growing trends is smart shopping, which in free translation simply means smart, smart shopping. For some Poles it is the result of the functioning of farms in times of crisis, for others - the rationalization of consumption. The key actions taken in smart shopping are rational planning of the household budget. This is done by purchasing the most-needed goods at the most affordable price. We want to buy cheaply and at the same time stay on a similar level of quality of life. How do we most willingly save?
- we buy at discounters,
- we invest in our own brands,
- we are looking for information about products that can be bought cheaper in another network,
- we are more willing to buy goods in promotion and on sale,
- we buy online more and more,
We have been observing new trends in consumer behavior on the foreign market for years. Poles are gradually starting to show the same tendencies as wealthier citizens of other countries and, over time, we will most likely adopt all the behavior from the West. It is influenced by globalization and improvement of the quality of life of many of our compatriots. Social and cultural changes that really shape the Polish market are not without significance. Of course, the individualisation of shopping preferences and lifestyle continue to play an important role. As a country, we draw on others, but bearing in mind our own needs and available resources.
Consumer behavior is constantly changing. How we choose today may change completely in a few years. There is no doubt, however, that the observation and awareness of consumer behavior can really affect the development of the company. Focusing your marketing efforts on what the average consumer is looking for today is one of the best ways to increase your profits.