Consumer Behaviour

Introduction

The purchasing decision of consumers is often affected by aspects which are beyond their control, but have either direct or indirect impact on how they live and how they consume. Due to that reason, consumers are usually faced with a lot of external influences which may include individual’s beliefs, culture, subculture, structure of the household, and the people which a person relates with. Market and business owners therefore refer to this us external influences, since the source of the influence is based on the outside person, and not on the inside. Currently, consumers are faced with a wide variety of product assortment, and competition is also stiff among different companies. Internal and external factors are linked, hence they work hand in hand in aiding consumers in the process of decision making. This paper is therefore going to analyse the key influential/external consumers of Chinese consumers, before providing an analysis of each consumer behaviour.

The following are the key influential/external consumer behaviour in China: Age, product preferences, and subcultures.

Age

Over the years, Chinese consumers have been majorly affected by age, a factor which determines which products will be on high demand and which ones will not. The Chinese were earlier known to be extravagant, where they would spend their finances on products. However, currently, their purchasing power has really dropped, a factor which has been attributed to economic decline. Similarly, in the early days (1960s), the consumer group was not well educated, a factor which made them to earn less finances, hence they became price sensitive (Hoyer, MacInnis & Pieters, 2018). This price sensitivity made it hard for them to be able to purchase extravagantly, hence they considered price and quality before actually purchasing any given products (Du & Schultheis, 2015). On the consumers in the 1966-1976, during this period, consumers were well educated, hence they would earn high salaries, and have small families, and thus they did not have high expenditures on their families (Belk, 2010). This group therefore comprised of those who did not care about prices, and all they cared about was the quality of the product, and were willing to purchase, more products.     

         The third group is commonly known as the thirties group. This was a well-educated group, which spend more and saved less. They would therefore save less money, and spend more on entertainment (Du & Schultheis, 2015). In addition, this group did also spend a lot of money, as it was supposed to cater for their parent’s needs, children’s needs and to also cater for their needs. The final group is the wealthy group, which lives in urban areas (Hoyer, MacInnis & Pieters, 2018). This group is majorly attracted to foreign products, and is also willing to spend its money on premium quality products. This group is also motivated by what is trending in the market, and would do anything to purchase it guaranteed it is trending (Belk, 2010).   

Product Preferences

The Chinese are majorly attracted to products which they know are effective. It is therefore not easy for consumers to change their product preference, hence new products may take long before being accepted by the consumers (Du & Schultheis, 2015). This has been a very key external behaviour, whereby since the early 1960s, consumers have always been attracted to products which they have used and understand their effectiveness. Equally, they have since been attracted to cheap products, particularly from other countries. Based on the year, and the generation, different groups of Chinese consumers have been attracted to high quality and cheap products. On the other hand, consumers have been very specific particularly on the types of products which they have used, and they also understand how they work (Hoyer, MacInnis & Pieters, 2018).

In modern times, the Chinese are still attracted to dominant brands, hence they only purchase products which they know are of good quality (Lu, 2011). The wealthy, for instance, are more than willing to spend more on high quality products, and not on products which are not of good quality. However, due to the changes in economic conditions in the country, most of the consumers have opted to purchasing high quality products which are good and durable. In addition, they are not spendthrift, and they therefore concentrate on high quality products which can last longer, thus having them the cost of purchasing other items due to poor quality (Belk, 2010). Consumers have changed their purchasing behaviours, and are nor spending less on products, and saving more, hence they only focus on high quality products.

Subcultures

Consumer behaviours are majorly affected by subcultures in China, whereby the consumers uphold high cultural beliefs (Hoyer, MacInnis & Pieters, 2018). On the other hand, consumers who live in different geographical regions in China have different purchasing behaviours, based on what motivates them to purchase. For instance, the poor, and the less educated, who live in villages have different consumer behaviours as compared to those living in urban areas, are well educated, and are also rich. This consequently affects these two groups of consumer tend to behave particularly when purchasing different products (Belk, 2010).  

The rich, well educated, and rich who particularly live in urban, have since been extravagant and willing to spend more. On the other hand, the poor, less educated, and those who live in villages, tend to be price sensitive, and are not extravagant (Du & Schultheis, 2015). These subcultures have been brought about by differences in geographical regions and education level. Similarly, those who live in villages have a huge responsibility, due to the huge families which they have, as opposed to those who live in urban areas and have small families, thus they spend more on entertainment. As compared to the poor, the rich constitute 1.5 million of the country’s economy, hence making the overall purchasing power of the Chinese to be low, since the poor are more as compared to the rich, a factor which makes the country to experience low purchasing behaviours (Lu, 2011). 

Marketers have understood these external influencers, thus they have incorporated new influencers on their advertisements. For instance, marketers have come up with new methods of advertisements, which target the youths (Hoyer, MacInnis & Pieters, 2018). The use of the social media for marketing purposes has been embraced, particularly when targeting the youths who live particularly in urban areas. Due to the consumer behaviours of the youths who  live in urban areas, marketers are consequently using the social media as a means of advertising and also boosting the quality of certain products, thus making them to trend, since the youths are attracted to products which are currently in the market, and those products which are trending. Similarly, the thirties group has been greatly targeted by the marketers, through offering product promotions, which offer entertainment packages for the consumers (Belk, 2010). This therefore becomes one of the ways of luring the consumers, since they are adapted to entertainment, hence providing entertainment promotions enables them to increase the rate of purchases, thus boosting the number of sales of a given product.     

Product preferences is another consumer behaviour, which the marketers are exploiting. Marketers are introducing new products with similar effects and quality to the ones which are highly preferred. For instance, if consumers prefer a certain washing machine due to its efficiency and low price, new companies produce products with similar features, and effectiveness at lower prices, thus making the consumers to opt for the cheaper product (Lu, 2011). This has consequently seen more consumers shifting from their preferred products to other products. Nonetheless, subcultures are also being used by marketers in such a way which improves the number of sales of different products. For instance, marketers produce small and cheap products for the villages, whereas they produce huge products which are relatively expensive for those in towns (Du & Schultheis, 2015). This explains how the poor would end up purchasing more, as compared to the rich, because the poor purchase products in small quantities.  

Under these external influences, dominant companies have been very successful, thus being able to attract more and more customers as the years go by (Hoyer, MacInnis & Pieters, 2018). In addition, they have also been able to retain their customers, since the consumers are very loyal, and they consequently stick to products which are of high quality as compared to low quality products or products which they do not know about. On the other hand, new companies have not been successful with these external influencers, because consumers have not been able to see the need of moving from the marketers whom they have known for a very long period of time, and whose quality of products they understand (Belk, 2010). This is also a factor which has made it hard for new business to easily thrive in the country.

In order to improve the sales, marketers would need to understand the external influencers, thus being able to come up with strategies which can meet them (Du & Schultheis, 2015). Moreover, understanding what consumers are looking for is also significant, as it allows marketers to use it as a means of reaching the consumers (Lu, 2011). For instance, understanding what those in villages want if it is the quality of the product or its price, then marketers can produce cheaper products, hence being able to attract these consumers.

When it comes to age, marketers need to understand the age brackets of the consumers who can purchase, and impact their businesses for a long period of time (Belk, 2010). Secondly, they need to also understand what these consumers like, where they are likely to be at certain times, thus making marketing moves in such areas, advertising their products in areas where they are most likely to visit (Hoyer, MacInnis & Pieters, 2018). For example, if marketers believe the youths are the consumers who will impact their businesses positively in the future, then they should use the social media as a means of reaching them, and to find out what they like about the social media, thus using it as a means of reaching them. In so doing, business will grow in the country.

Conclusion

In conclusion, external consumer behaviours are significant, as they dictate the choices which consumers make. This is a factor which therefore drives the markets, thus making marketers to see different approaches and strategies, in order to attract the consumers to their products. However, as discussed in the paper, consumers are majorly influenced by what they believe in, and it is therefore the authority of the marketers to come up with ways of improving the sales and attracting the consumers to the products.

Reference

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