Ways In Which Consumer Choice Is Influenced Commerce Essay

Ways In Which Consumer Choice Is Influenced Commerce Essay The aim of this essay is to critically evaluate the ways in which consumer choice is influenced by our psychological need to create and maintain both our personal and social self-concept. Two years ago, I looked at my wardrobe and came to the conclusion that I had enough clothes but something was still missing. I had more than enough clothes but I didnt have a perfect bag that suited all my clothes. I came to the conclusion that I had a new mission. Instead of buying a relatively cheap bag I decided to save money to buy the perfect bag I always wanted to have. It took me quite a long time before I had the amount of money of buy the perfect bag. However I wanted the perfect bag so badly that I worked hard to get the money. After a few months I bought the perfect bag that suited my entire wardrobe. However after the purchase I did not feel better with my new and relatively expensive perfect bag. It was not even big enough to fit al my personal belongings. I asked myself the question why I wanted that bag so badly and why the bag did not make me happier. Why didnt I just save my money for something more special? Why did I want such a fashionably item? Overall I asked mys elf the question what kinds of factors have influenced me to buy that special bag. Furthermore I asked myself if this mission was not a perfect illustration of factors that influenced my personal buying behavior. In the essay I will evaluate my purchase experience and analyze why consumers can show a certain consumer behavior. According to Asome (2012) I am perfect example of showing my personality with a certain bag and that I want to be seen as an exclusive shopper. In the end I bought the bag to reward myself, to satisfy my psychological need and to try to make myself feel better. I spend hours in other shops considering and comparing other different bags, not worrying about the price, but in the end anything kept me from buying that one and only bag. This purchase was a perfect example of my self-concept. I wanted define myself with this expensive and exclusive bag, but some factors have influenced my purchase. I did not choose for a cheaper alternative. I wanted to be associated and seen by others as a person who was up to date and following the latest fashion trends. However the bag was not even practical. The outside of my bag was saying more about my identity. My first choice was not based on the form or function of the bag but about the way I wanted to show my identity. People have reflections of their attitudes towards themselves. Whether these attitudes are negative of positive, these attitudes will help to make a decision about products or services. Most attitudes are automatically being influenced due to the past experience and the perception of certain products and services. However these automatically attitudes will not always lead to the same choices as it will be more influences by the social and cultural environment as well. Purchases can be used to boost consumers self-esteem or to reward themselves. This is what I did after saving money to buy the perfect bag. In the end the possessions of people will help to reflect their identities. According to Knor ang tatt (2010) Modern shoppers buy things to reward themselves, to satisfy psychological needs or to make themselves feel good. Consumers are being influenced by their perception, motivation, learning or beliefs and attitudes as well to buy a certain product. These psychological influences have an enormous impact on the consumer buying behaviour. The world is changing as well as the needs and wants of the consumers throughout the world. Trends, technology, innovation and the World Wide Web are influencing the way people are. These factors are affecting the buying behaviour of the consumer throughout the world. The globalization makes the world smaller as well as creating more demand for products and services. Marketers are constantly seeking to understand how consumers behave around the world. They are trying to create gaps in the global market as well as responding to the needs of the customers. Their influence has never been so strong due to the influence of programming, social media and advertising. The process by which people purchase products and services is influenced by their need and wants. According to Solomon (2007) the processes involved when individuals or groups select, purchase, use or dispose of products, services, ideas or experience to satisfy needs or desires. The process by which consumers decide which products and services they will select can be highly more complex and variable. (Solomon 2007). The consumers needs and wants are constantly changing. Nowadays the individual consumption behaviour is in the middle of attention and it is a meaningful practise of our every day life. My purchase was heavily influenced by the opinions and behaviours of my social group. All my friends did have a perfect bag that suited their entire wardrobe. I was influenced by having conversations about the latest fashion trends with my friends rather than being influenced by the commercials, magazines or advertising made by the marketers. I did not want to buy a bag from maybe even a more practical and more quality brand. I wanted to be approved by my friends that all loved that particular brand. People share cultural values and have beliefs and attitudes about how they think the world should be. Other groups are influencing people as well: their subculture or their social class. Buying a perfect bag does not mean that it signify my social status unless others in the reference groups or social groups share the same ideas and beliefs as I did. In this case my reference group had heavily influenced me. The people who matter to me value the idea that I needed to be style conscious, independent, show your identity with expensive clothes and following the latest fashion trends. My purchase was heavily influenced by the opinions and behaviours of my friends. All my friends did have a perfect bag that suited their entire wardrobe. I was influenced by having conversations about the latest fashion trends with my friends rather than being influenced by the commercials, magazines or advertising made by the marketers. I did not want to buy a bag from maybe even a more practical and more quality brand, as I wanted to be approved by my social group that all loved that particular brand. Marketers have to try to identity reference groups of their target markets. According to Bearden and Etzel (1982) reference groups concepts have been used by advertisers in their efforts to persuade consumers to purchase products and brands. The effect of the reference group is large on customer behaviors because they expose people to new behaviors and lifestyles. Looking at trends and innovation people change their lifestyle constantly to keep going with the rest of the world. Reference groups influences attitudes and the self-concept as well. Reference group usage of a brand provides user image associations and psychologi- cal benefit associations for brands (Muniz OGuinn, 2001). This means that certain brands are being used to create and define a consumers self-concept. Consumers want to link themselves with the things they like and they want to present themselves to others through their brand choices. They are choosing for certain brands due to their self-image, brand image and the choice of the reference group. Reference groups are associated with certain brands. Customers want to be connected with a certain reference groups because they want to be associated with them. Escalas and Bettman (2003)states that brand use by reference groups is a source of brand associations, which become linked to consumers men- tal representation of self as consumers actively construct themselves by selecting brands with associations relevant to an aspect of their current self-concept or possible self. This means that consumers like the same things as the reference groups do. So customers are not only associated with certain brands as their reference group but also due their self-concept. I always had the intention to buy the bag because it suited my image but my reference group really pushed me a little bit more to by the bag in the end. Another aspect is the influence of culture that creates a certain meaning of products in different kind of societies. Every person carries within him or herself patterns of thinking, feeling and acting that were learned throughout their lifetime. (Hofstede 2005) Cultural influences are the basis of customer behavior because it is the way people act, create and learn things in the society. It creates a certain importance of things in life. According to Hofstede (2005) culture is the collective programming of the mind that distinguished the members of one group or category of people from others. This means that the subjective culture influence the practices, values and cognitive beliefs of consumers, which in the end influences the attitude and social norms as well. Culture differs from one society to another and therefore there are different consumer behaviour looking at different societies. Customers who strongly feel connected with their environment, care about their own culture and are giving careful thoughts about certain products and services. Markets are identifying other kinds of cultural groups: subculture, social class to understand the needs and wants of consumers as well. An interesting feature is consumers change all the time. The world changes constantly and so do people. Consumers have the capability of being part of one subculture as well as being influenced through other factors therefore they can change. Customer can have many assumptions about clothes, food, services and how people interact with each other. This has the ability to change after encountering different environments. However once something is embedded in peoples culture marketers found it difficult to change their well-established identity. It is something what people learned and found important right from the scratch. Symbols, heroes, rituals and values remain unconscious to those who hold them and most of the time only the practices of a culture can be learned and change throughout people lives. Generally all different kind of groups have the capability of unconscious pressure to influence and to re-enforce people. The consumer choice is also being influence by the symbolical meaning of products and services. The level of involvement plays an important role in the perception and importance of products and services. Most low involvement purchases are most of the time not showing heavily influenced consumer behaviour as these purchases have limited information and a simple decision process. High involvement products are associated with symbolic meaning for the consumers sense of the self. Their emotional processes rather than cognitive evaluation are influencing consumers. Consumers are taking symbolic meanings into account when they are thinking about a purchase and making a consumption choice. According to Elliot (1998) these meanings also serve in the construction, maintenance and communication of social and individual identity. Low self esteem are most of the time associated with dysfunctional and sometimes abdicative consumer behavior as well whereas products with symbolic meanings are embed ded in the areas of the personal self behavior. Furthermore they are intensely integrated in the growth, affection and support of social groups and relationships. Thats because consumer are most of the time giving presents to each other containing a symbolic meaning. According to Wattanasuwan (2005) people employ consumption symbolically not only to create and sustain the self but also to locate us in the society. Again this is being influences by our self as well as being part of peoples own environment. Consumers make purchases when they contain symbolic meanings. I wanted to be buy the perfect bag that symbolized I am an independent and fashionably young women. In the end all consumption has a meaning of symbolism to create and identify the self as well as to be associated and viewed by others. According to Gabriel and Lang (1995) we consume clothes, hairstyles, shoes, cars, computers and other products that contribute to the symbolic means of self-identification, through which we align ourselves emotionally with those sharing our lifestyles. The perfect bag was an example of symbolism because I felt that I belong to the fashion group that I had created by buying the bag. Marketers, reference groups, social groups, and other external factors do not only influence customers. People change and therefore their subconscious and conscious decision behaviour will change during their lifetime. Different life stages are changing the consumer behavior, material goods and their self-completion. A perfect example is celebrating Christmas once a year. Most people see Christmas as a memory of happy times. The transition of life stages makes people perceptions, attitudes and buying behavior different. Children are being more excited than adults. They are more nervous about how many presents they will get from the Santa clause every year. Adults are less excited and they want to celebrate Christmas with their family by having diner and catching up good old memories. This is something that marketers cannot influence as well because people change themselves. The world is rapidly developing and changing as a result values, needs and consumer behaviour are changing constantly as well. Nowadays consumers do not buy products only because of their main function or to satisfy their needs. Customers are choosing for products that have a brand personality that matches their own self-concept. It has become more complex where the todays role of products exceeds its basic role. Innovation, trends and the power of the World Wide Web are making the needs and the wants more complicated. Customers are seeking for products that fulfil and create their perceived value, personal and self- concept. However not only the consumer characteristics and the consumer physiological needs influence the choice of the consumer. People change themselves as well while growing up. The different life-stages have the capability to loose certain product characteristics and psychological needs as well as creating a demand for other products and services. My perfect bag was a perfect example of being influenced by both internal and external factors. Two years ago I wanted the perfect bag and did everything to get the perfect bag. Now being older and having more knowledge and life experience I can conclude that I will never make such a purchase. The then internal, external factors and the transition of my life made me realize that they are more important things than such a materialistic bag. However I change all the time and I will never stop changing. What I value today is already going to be different tomorrow. Marketers, internal and external factors are always influencing my decision buying pr ocess. Maybe I wont fall for the perfect bag anymore but there will be something else that will influence me which will create and maintain both my personal and self-concept again. Words 2523

Krishna :: Religion Religious Hinduism Essays

Krishna Krishna, revered as a glorious manifestation of the Supreme (Vishnu). He is often picture as drawing humans to the Divine by the power of love, symbolized by the lure of his flute. (Living Religions, 14th edit; p. 93) The textbook, The Humanities by Witt, Brown, Dunbar, Tirro and Witt, states that Krishna is the ninth and most recognizable incarnation of Vishnu. People of compare the relationship between Vishnu and Krishna to the Christian belief of God and Jesus. In the eighteenth book of the Mahabharata, The Bhagavad-Gita (â€Å"Song of the Supreme Exalted One†), Krishna appears as the charioteer of Arjuna. (Living Religions, 14th edit; p. 93) In the Bhagavad-Gita, Arjuna is going to fight in a battle that places him in the position of fighting his own people. Arjuna then turns to Krishna for guidance. In the Bhagavad-Gita Krishna is a wise teacher, as well as Arjuna charioteer. In R. Zaehner translation of the Bhagavad-Gita, Krishna in response to Arjuna plight says: â€Å"Never was there a time when I was not, nor you, nor yet these princes, nor will there ever be a time when we shall cease to be – all of us hereafter. Just as in this body the embodied [self] must pass through childhood, youth, and old age, so too [at death] will it assume another body: in this a thoughtful man is not perplexed. But contacts with the objects of sense give rise to heat and cold, pleasure and pain: they come and go, impermanent. Put up with them, Arjuna†¦.† Arjuna is told to withdraw his attention from the impetuous demands of senses, ignoring all feelings of attraction or aversion. This will give him a steady, peaceful mind. He is instructed to offer devotional service and to perform the prescribed Vedic sacrifices, but for the sake of discipline, duty, and example alone rather than reward. Krishna says those who do everything for love of the Supreme transcend the notion of duty. Everything they do is offered to the Supreme. Thus they feel peace, freedom from earthly entanglements, and unassailable happiness. This yogic science of transcend the â€Å"lower self† by the â€Å"higher self† is so ancient that Krishna says it was originally given to the sun god and, through his agents, to humans.

Problem Statement of Lubricant Industry Essay

Lubricant industry is a very competitive industry because many companies around the world have created their own private label and competition between the well-known product in the market such as Shell, Castrol, Royal Purple etc. The availability of a vast range of products at competitive prices has been a major factor in attracting customers to lubricants market. As a result, many manufacturers of lubricants, including big corporations, have been aggressively pursuing international and Asia markets. Moreover, the market share of the industry is monopolized by big corporations, such as, Petronas, Shell and Caltex. The big corporations and manufacturers have the advantages many small companies lack of, such as, expensive advertisement, sponsorship and expert management team. For the small businesses to tap into market that has been monopolized by big corporations is very difficult for companies. Psychologically, consumers always and only use products that are recommended by peers or they have been using it for a while (2). Because of this reason, products that are very new will be hard to market their brands into the market effectively. The user confidence is very low because weak brand image, uncertain quality and doubtful suitability. Besides that, counterfeiting has become the major issue for various types of products in the market. As technology become more sophisticated and cheap, many counterfeiters easily copied products that are well-known and established. This also becomes a problem by Moto7 Distribution S/B to overcome as it has to compete with the original products and counterfeit products, hence making the market shares become much smaller.

The Death Penalty And Capital Punishment - 1223 Words

Capital punishment has been a debated issue for many years and is commonly thought to be only sought out upon by extremists. Henceforth, the death penalty has been extremely problematic and widely disputed issue for centuries. Since the start of civilization, individuals who commit a criminal act have been subjected to capital punishment. The punishment itself is carried out in the most humane way possible; thusly, the issue is whether the citizens accept it as a sensible punishment. In contrast, the citizens criticize the governmental bodies that partake in the non-moral act. Even though capital punishment has become, to a greater extent, less gruesome. This form of punishment has evolved from beheadings to the electric chair, and now lethal injection. A couple of common supporting arguments that death penalty commentators often voice is that it saves money, lives, and is a just cause from a moral standpoint. Subsequently, this leads to the benefits of the death penalty outweighing the negative counterparts. Provided that one of the main arguments that supporters of the death penalty make is that it would decrease the inmate populations. In light of, this would help the criminal inmate overcrowding problem that the country currently faces. An article that supports the death penalty provides the statistics that â€Å"over the course of a year, 13.5 million people spend time in jail or prison, and 95% of them eventually return to our communities† (9Gleissner). This statisticShow MoreRelatedCapital Punishment : The Death Penalty1482 Words   |  6 PagesMrs. McElmoyl 12/12/14 Capital Punishment As stated by former governor of New York, Mario M. Cuomo, Always I have concluded the death penalty is wrong because it lowers us all; it is a surrender to the worst that is in us; it uses a power- the official power to kill by execution- that has never brought back a life, need inspired anything but hate. 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The debate over capital punishment has always been a topic of great controversy. Before the Supreme Court ruling in 1976 America had been practicing capital punishment for centuries. At the current time some states enforce the death penalty, while some do not. There are differences of opinion’s relating to whether or not the death penalty is the proper wayRead MoreCapital Punishment And The Death Penalty991 Words   |  4 PagesCapital Punishment Imagine your having a normal morning, eating breakfast doing your normal routine. Suddenly your phone rings and when you answer you hear the worst news possible. One of your family members has just been murdered in cold blood. You cry, mourn, then become angry. You attend the court hearing and you sit less than 20 feet away from the murderer. Do you truly believe this person deserves to live? Or should they face a punishment that is equal to their crime? Some may say CapitalRead MoreThe Death Penalty And Capital Punishment1569 Words   |  7 Pagesthe death penalty also referred to as capital punishment. The death penalty is both useless and harmful to not only criminals but also their potential victims. This paper uses these horrific facts to try and convince the reader that the death penalty should be done away with before it is too late, although that time may have already come. With supporting evidence to support my cause, I hope that the following information sways at least one reader to see the harm of keeping the death penalty an activeRead MoreCapital Punishment And The Death Penalty1235 Words   |  5 PagesWhat is capital punishment? Why do people support it, but yet people cherish lives? Is it a moral thing to do? Should one be for or against the Death Penalty? Let’s take a look deep into the world of justices and why capital punishment still exists in today’s society. 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This is usually given to people that have committed serious offences or capital crimes. There are 31 states in the United States that are for the death penalty. Crimes that are punishable by the death penalty, vary from state to state. Examples of such crimes are; first degree murder or premeditated murder, murder with special circumstances, such as: intende d, multiple, and murder whichRead MoreCapital Punishment And The Death Penalty1539 Words   |  7 PagesCapital punishment, otherwise known as the death penalty, has been the center of debate for a long time. Capital punishment may be defined as the â€Å"[e]xecution of an offender sentenced to death after conviction by a court of law of a criminal offense† (Capital Punishment). Up until 1846, when Michigan became the first to abolish the death sentence, all states allowed legal practice of capital punishment by the government (States). 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