Consumer Behavior 

And 

Marketing Psychology

Purpose: 

The survey is conducted in order to critically analyse and understand the factors of consumer behaviour such as culture, lifestyle, perception, attitude, motivation or individual and group differences. The paper will also be discussing how these affect the purchasing power of the customer in case of buying an Apple MacBook. Thus, the survey has the following goal:

• To determine the forces affecting the purchasing intentions of the consumers towards Macbook  

Development of a survey instrument: 

1. What is your gender? 

• Male
• Female
• Transgender

2. What is your age? 

• Under 18
• 18-24
• 25-34
• 35-44
• 45-54
• 55-64
• Above 65

3. How far do you agree that society and culture affect your buying behaviour?

• Strongly agree
• Agree
• Neutral
• Disagree
• Strongly disagree

4. How far do you agree that your family influence your buying behaviour? 

• Strongly agree
• Agree
• Neutral
• Disagree
• Strongly disagree

5. Do you care about the opinion of others while making your purchasing decision?

• Yes
• No

6. How far do you agree that financial condition impact on buying decision? 

• Strongly agree
• Agree
• Neutral
• Disagree
• Strongly disagree

7. How far do you agree that price influence buying decisions?

• Strongly agree
• Agree
• Neutral
• Disagree
• Strongly disagree

8. How far do you agree that store environment influences your buying decision?

• Strongly agree
• Agree
• Neutral
• Disagree
• Strongly disagree

9.  Will you chance to another product if you have a bad experience with the previous one?

• Yes
• No

10. What factors are most important to you while making the purchase decision of the laptop? 

• Personal
• Psychological
• Cultural
• Social
• None

Administrative process: 

21 respondents were selected from the university from students and faculty, having a personal laptop. 

The respondents were sent a link of the survey which was created using the monkey survey web application. The link was sent to them via Email, WhatsApp or Direct Messages after asking for their permission to participate in the survey.

Data Analysis

1. What is your gender? 

Table 1: Gender

2. What is your age? 

Table 2: Age

3. How far do you agree that society and culture affect your buying behaviour?

Table 3: Effect of Society & Culture

4. How far do you agree that your family influence your buying behaviour?

Table 4: Effect of Family

5. Do you care about the opinion of others while making your purchasing decision?

Table 5: Effect of Other’s Opinion

6. How far do you agree that financial condition impact on buying decision? 

Table 6: Financial factor

7. How far do you agree that price influence buying decisions?

Table 7: Product Price

8. How far do you agree that store environment influences your buying decision?

Table 8: Store Environment 

9.  Will you chance to another product if you have a bad experience with the previous one?

Table 9: Choice to buy again with bad past experience

10. What factors are most important to you while making the purchase decision of the laptop?

Table 10: Factors deciding the purchase

Key Findings (Summary of the analysis)

In this we assignment we design and conduct a survey to understand the factors affecting the consumer behaviour like attitude, perception, motivation, group and individual differences, family, lifestyle and culture. We will be critically analyzing this survey based on the purchasing intentions of the consumer focusing on the product Apple MacBook. This survey is focused on analyzing the data for the mentioned product and helping the company utilize this information to strategize marketing plans and product specifications.

Question 1

The question asked to the respondents was to state their gender (table 1 and graph 1 in appendix), and the results show that 57.14% of the respondents are male, 42.86% of them are Female, and none of them identifies as Transgender. The data shows that more male customers are buying laptops than female ones. This might be useful for the company to target its male-oriented customer base with products specially designed for them. As Male buyers generally go for specifications and its processing capabilities and use the laptop roughly, it may be efficient for the company to provide sturdy and robust laptops with high performance for the male customer base of the company.

Question 2

The information about their age is asked to the participants (table 2 and graph 2 in appendix), and the results are seen are the majority of them being in the age bracket of 18-24, i.e. 66.67%, 9.52% people in the 25-34 age bracket and 23.81% people in 45-54 years age bracket. As the data suggests, the majority of the users of laptops are young and technological savvy. As this poll consists of respondents mainly from the educational background, the company can use this data to understand the usage statistics in the age groups and design the product accordingly.

Question 3

Responses to the Question of their purchasing behaviour is dependent on social and cultural norms (table 3 and graph 3 in appendix) mostly all of them agreed with the dependency; some of them strongly in agreement 33.33% and 57.14% agreeing to the basic extent and 9.52 % said they could neither agree or disagree with the notion. According to Ramya and Mohamed Ali (2016), the consumers belonging to the upper-class society, tend to purchase high-class products. This helps them in maintaining their status in society. This is in agreement with the essential requirements and needs for the people to be accepted in the community and live in a social gathering. Thus, most of the people accept the fact that they buy products that are based on the social and cultural norms of their community.

Question 4

According to Ahuja (2015), orientation or background of the family like household income influences the purchasing decision of consumers towards a particular product. In response to the question regarding the effect of their family on their buying behaviour (table 4 and graph 4 in appendix) majority of the people (47.62%) agree with family being a prominent factor affecting their buying behaviour. 4 out of 21 (19.05%) respondents strongly claim this as a deciding factor, and 7 people (33.33%) neither agree or disagree with this claim. This is again helpful for the company to understand the family background and their preferences as they have a decisive role in making the customer choose the product.

Question 5

On being as whether the respondents care for the opinion of others while purchasing and does it affect their behaviour (table 5 and graph 5 in appendix), the respondent answered in a mix sort with 71.43% agreeing to take opinions of others while the 28.57 opted out of receiving opinions or the opinions did not affect their buying behavior. According to Zhou and Guo (2017), social influence is driven by the notion of individuals to relate with other reviewers. This data is very helpful for the company as this suggests that people do rely on the opinion of others on the products that they are buying. The online reviews play an important role in the selling power of the product. The company can make sure they get positive reviews for their products to enhance its visibility and make consumers buy the product with better positive feedbacks.

Question 6

In responding to the question of the effect of the financial factor on their buying behaviour and their decision-making process (table 6 and graph 6 in appendix), most of the people agreed on this factor is a major dependency on their buying decision. 42.86 % strongly agreed, 47.62% agreed, 4.76%neither agreed nor disagreed and 14.76% person disagreed. According to Lim et al. (2016), the perceived usefulness of a particular product is reduced among the consumers during high-risk situation. This is an important question which is quite useful for the company to target good financially stable customers who can afford their product. 

Question 7

According to a recent study by Kumar and Sharma (2017), it has been evident that consumers tend to purchase items at reasonable prices. The response on the effect of price on their buying decision (table 7 and graph 7 in appendix) was gain unanimous with 9 (42.86%) people strongly agreeing and 9 (42.86%) people agreeing with the fact and 3 (14.29%) people neither agreeing nor disagreeing. As the competition grows in the market the profit margins have been reducing, the companies are trying to make their products low priced to attract more customers and this survey backs the notion of low pricing altering their buying decisions.

Question 8

The respondents were asked about the influence of the store environment on their buying decision (table 8 and graph 8 in appendix)and they responded with 25% with strongly in agreement, 40% in agreement, 30% neither agreed nor disagreed and 5% disagreed. 1 person opted to skip the question. Though the majority of the people agreed with the environment affecting their buying decision it is also to be noted that many people don't bother by the environment and rather keep the decision based on the quality pricing and brand value of the product they are purchasing. Most people want the store environment to be maintained and the staff is courteous and polite. The high-end stores tend to have higher pricing, which is in accordance with the locality and other factors as well. 

Question 9

The respondents respond to the question of buying with the same brand again if they had bad experience previously with their products (table 9 and graph 9 in appendix). They responded with a yes, giving the weightage of 71.43% (15 out of 21) and 28.75% (6 out of 21) responded with a No. Thus, it can be seen that the perceived usefulness of a particular product is reduced among the consumers during the high-risk situation. 

Question 10

In responding to the question of what factor is most important to them while making the purchase decision (table 10 and graph 10 in appendix), the 80.95% answered as ‘Personal’, 4.76% answered ‘Psychological’, 14.29% answered ’Social’, 4.76% answered ‘Cultural’, 19.05% answered ‘None’.

The data helps the company in understanding the purchasing behaviour of consumers and what factors affect them the most. Using the data and the various other researches on buying behaviour of the consumer it can be deducted that factors affecting the consumer behaviour like attitude, perception, motivation, group and individual differences, family, lifestyle and culture are important to analyze and use this information to improve the marketing and advertisement strategy of the company to sell more MacBook. In this survey we discuss on these factors that influence the customers' behaviour and alter their decision-making process in terms of purchasing an item has been analyzed correctly and will be helpful for the company to use this to attract more customers towards their products. This analysis shows that people are buying laptops based on cultural and societal norms and mostly young people are using the laptops. Reviewing the products is significant step that affects their buying decision, and also the price of the product matters dominantly. The survey helps the company analyze the behaviour of the consumer when they visit their stores and what drives them to buy their product in the first place. The company can also strategize about brand loyalty as people are willing to give the company another chance if they fail with one product. The company must aim to improve on their current products and services by using the information and analysis provided by the survey.