Consumer's Behavior Research

Executive summary

The customers for iPhone 7 are grouped into 3 generation personas whose purchasing experience is analyzed on the basis of the reasons behind buying the product. Two generations, baby boomers and X were the main target market for this product given that they are privy to the latest technology and changing trends.  The value for money, product functionality and features are the main driving forces for the purchase of iPhone 7. Customer engagement informed the purchasing experience for most individuals that were interviewed. The advertisement campaigns, analysts and people close to the customers were the most influencers of the purchases done. Use of online ordering process has been used to increase customer traffic. 

 

Introduction

This paper aims at analyzing the purchasing experience of the iPhone 7customers belonging to the Baby Boomers generation, Generation X and the millennial generations. The decision making by consumers consist of constant interactions between their behavioral actions and environmental factors. This process involves a relationship between the pre-purchase information obtained by the buyers and the post-purchase outcomes.  The customer experience is very important aspects in marketing and purchasing process given that organizations that offer great experience are able easily achieve their growth objectives.  A purchase experience should be understood from the perspective of the customer since only they can tell the various steps they have to purchase a product and their degree of satisfaction through this experience.

Personas Profiles for Generational Buyers

 

Baby Boomer generation

This generation consists of adult individuals between the ages of   49- 64 years and has the most disposable income than any other demographic. Most of these people plan on spending majority of such money recreational interests, hobbies and traveling. They tend to be loyal to the brands they buy initially and stresses more on great quality for such products, and if a product is proven to be useful for a long period of time, one can acquire their confidence.  The reason for this generation buying iPhone 7 is that they want more quality for their money. They are not very familiar with digital marketing but are increasingly becoming engaged with online platforms which present a good opportunity for reaching out to them. They mostly get information through printed audio and visual media

Generation X

This refers to the individuals whose age is between 37- 48 years old. They are individuals with a lot of responsibilities given that they are at the peak of their careers and have families to take care of. They are thus constantly looking out for updates about family and work, and thus they are constantly checking out on emails and are likely to respond positively to emails with retail details. Their reason for buying iPhone 7 is their need to access such updates constantly wherever they are, at home or at work.  This generation is less likely to move with trends, but would buy products with a wide range of benefits. These individuals are mostly in the social media networks, which is a good platform for reaching out to them. They also set aside savings for the purpose of taking vacations, which shows they have a considerable amount of disposable income.   

The millennial generation

This generation includes individuals within the age bracket of 18- 36 years, and are with time taking over in the job market. This generation has the largest number of entrepreneurs and are an economic force, have a huge buying power but less frequently visit in-store for buying products. The generation has a large presence in the online platforms especially in the social media. They keep with trend and are always waiting for the next big thing and always want more for less. They would go for a trendy product that can have a wide variety of uses but at a reasonable price. They main reason why this generation buys the iPhone 7 product is their desire to keep up with the latest product in the market. Any product which provides solutions to their problems while making life easier appeals to this generation.  

                                   Descriptions of Buyers’ Purchasing Process                                  

 

The purchase is usually the physical part of complex process of decision making which is created by a customer for every purchase they make. Need recognition is the initial purchase process’ step which results from the existing gap between an actual situation to an ideal situation desired by the consumer (Batra& Kazmi, 2008). The need recognition defines the beginning of customer purchase experience as seen in the reason for purchasing the iPhone 7 among the three generations. The need to have a quality product that offers value for money , the need for a product that can offer different functionalities and the need  to keep up with the latest trend in the phone industry was that present among the three generations.   This need lead to customers evaluating the available alternatives before making the final buying decision. The decision is determined by the available information and the steps made previously on the basis of perceived value, the feature and capabilities for that particular product.

Many of the interviewed customers were longtime fan of iPhone7 especially among the generation X and Millennial generation. They got the information about the product after a news release that it was being launched into the market. The description about the functionalities of the product – what the device could do and wanted to get the experience of using the product. The customers were able to have a buying experience whose emphasis was the brand and the provision of information about how the brand functions. Many of the customers could be referred to voracious consumers of such information especially those who were able to access the products positive reviews on the online platforms or advertising. The buyers also interacted with brands representatives, analysists and peers through online platforms, phones and in person.  Such levels of interactions made the customers across the three generations to feel engaged and through this they were able to make decisions on buying this product. Purchase experience consists of various elements that inform the buying decisions and beginning from customers psychology, information consumed to interactions they have in the entire buying process (Schiffman, 2015).   

Product purchased and target market

The iPhone 7 product had favorable number of purchases that were informed by the product’s features, capabilities and a good buying experience.  These features includes an bigger size of the battery which adds more hours for power storage, a better camera that produces brighter pictures, and a water resistance features that is very appealing to the customers. Other features include a higher storage options that double the previous version of the iPhone gadgets and gaming. This smartphone seems to be largely targeting the younger and middle age generation which includes both the x-generation and Millennial generation who are the main driving force for the sale of this product. Apple seems to have a good understanding of the market, consumers and technology which has formed the basis of the firm’s marketing strategies for iPhone 7.  One of strategies involves a separate way of launching the produced. The marketing strategy involves creating a small number of iPhones to cause a lot of hype about the product which makes the consumers to feel the need to purchase the phone especially among the millennial generation that focus on the trending and new products.  The product has also use appearance as a strategy of differentiating the iPhone 7 from iPhone.  The brand target for the generation –x segment of the product may be the reason for trying to have the long battery life given the desire for a multifunctional product. The product store marketing has involved ad campaigns which have involved letting target customers feel the product as a lifestyle rather than just a product. The company has especially used local celebrities to reach to the localities. The company allows for the product to be bought from the apple store through online technology after a customer has made reservation. The online platform allowed many customers to have access to the device.

iPhone 7 Purchasing Influencers

The product most influential purchases impacted the generation X and the millennial generations which indicated the highest interest in owning the device. This can be attributed to the customers need being met by the product regardless of the price associated with it (Batra& Kazmi, 2008).  These influencers included analysts and the people close to the buyers of the phone but advertisement campaigns featuring prominent people such as celebrities also impacted on such purchases. 

References

Batra, S. K., & Kazmi, S. H. H. (2008). Consumer behaviour: Text and cases. New Delhi: Excel Books. 132

Schiffman , L. G. (2015). Consumer Behavior. Pearson India.