Behavior for Determining The Market Strategies of Your Firm

Guide to Market Research and Consumer Behavior

Market research can be defined as the process of collecting, articulating and understanding the information which would go on to assist a company to establish the viability of a product it wishes to launch in the market and assist in decision making. There are multiple benefits that a company may achieve by conducting market research which includes, understanding the behavior of the consumer, understanding the impact of the product in the market, evaluating the market of the product and the dynamics of the market, identifying the competitors and gathering the information related to the competitor products.

The primary step in the market research includes gathering data which can be of two types, primary and secondary. Primary information includes data which is gathered by someone which can be exploratory or specific in nature and can help to create a broader picture of the market. Secondary information includes information which is already gathered and are readily available on multiple sources like internet for free. There are multiple methods which is used by the company to complete the market research. There are primarily four methods which may help a company to conduct a market research which includes, competitor analysis, interviews with the market participants, focus groups and surveys.

Use of Consumer Behavior in Market Research

The study of consumer behaviors focuses on how individuals, communities, and organizations choose, acquire, utilize, and dispose of concepts, products, and services to fulfil their needs and desires. Consumer behavior analysis may be important to identify the needs and demands of consumers which involves scanning the trends and the current prevailing market conditions along with the understanding of the customer’s lifestyles. All this information can be used by a company to devise strategies related to the products that it wishes to launch in the market or improve upon the existing sales. Analysis of consumer behavior would help the company to select the target market of the product that the company is planning to bring to the market. Different segments of the market may be identified with consumer behavior analysis which would help the company to devise future strategies. After identifying the unmet requirements and wants, the marketer must choose the ideal combination of the four Ps: product, price, place, and promotion. Promotion is all about establishing a relationship with clients through marketing communication channels. Among the popular promotion techniques include advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, publicity, and direct marketing and selling.

Consumer Behavior Analysis for Specific Markets

In order to carry out consumer behavior analysis for specific markets, the following steps needs to be followed:

• Segmenting the audience of the market – The primary step in consumer behavior analysis is the segmentation of the markets and categorizing the base of the customer. A wide range of characteristics should be used in segmenting the audience in the market.
• Identification of important benefits for each group – The factors that influence the decisions of the customers of the market apart from the need of the product should also be analysed in this step.
• Quantitative data allocation – The data collected in the above two steps are qualitative in nature and hence it is needed to be quantified in this step to have a better understanding of the information at hand.
• Comparison of quantitative and qualitative data – This step involved analysis of the data that is collected in the above steps to be compared with each other. We may acquire a thorough insight of your clients' journey by comparing the two sets of data against their customer experience.

Importance of consumer behavior analysis in marketing of product and other services of the firm

The demand for the goods that is going to be introduced by the company in the market needs to be understand thoroughly for the success of the product hence consumer behavior analysis is required. If the demography of the market and the behavior of the consumer spending is well understood it would be easier for the firm to direct the marketing strategy towards the relevant areas and sections of society. Other services of the firm would also be enjoying the benefits of a well understood market as it would be easier to channelize the strategy of marketing towards important and relevant sections of the society.

Factors influencing consumer behavior

The following are the factors that influence the behavior of the consumer into a specific market setting which are discussed below:

• Psychological factors – There are multiple psychological factors that influence the behavior of the consumers which includes motivation for the consumers, perception of the consumers, learning of the consumers, and attitude and beliefs of the consumers.
• Social factors – The consumers are also influenced by social factors. We are all social beings; therefore, it stands to reason that the people we are around by will have some influence on our shopping decisions. In an effort to blend in with our environment, we are always trying to imitate other people. As a result, societal variables have an impact on how we purchase things.
• Cultural factors – There are multiple cultural values and ideologies which motivates and influences a consumer for buying or rejecting a product that is available in the market and an idea about the same would reap benefits for a company conducting the research.

Consumer Decision Making Process

There are primarily five steps in the consumer decision making process which is discussed in details below:

• Recognizing the problem – This step involves the identification of the need to buy a specific product or service.
• Information search – Gathering information about ways to satisfies or meet the demands using any product.
• Alternatives evaluation – Conduct a comparative analysis and choose the best suitable option.
• Purchase Decision – Making the purchase using various modes of payments including cash and online payment methods.
• Post purchase evaluation – This process involves reflection of the consumer on the product it just purchased.