External Influences on Customer Behavior
Consumer behavior is that study which is concerned with the understanding of the expectations, preferences, lifestyle, values, beliefs and behaviors of the customers in order to produce the products that satisfy their needs (De Mooij 2019). However, there are various influences that affect their buying behaviors and also impact the frequency of purchase. The influences can be external and internal that can affect that can ultimately affect buying patterns of the customers and the recognition of these buying behaviors can be an effective approach for the company (Rani 2014). The report is being prepared on the impact of external and internal influences on the behavior of the customers on the chosen brand which is the Ford Ranger Raptor Truck which is the newly launched car of Ford company ideal for the off road racing. The report will discuss the external influences such as the reference groups that have interpersonal influence upon the customers that are being targeted by the company. Also, the report is being discussing the situational influences onto the consumer behavior. Schwartz ten core values are also being illustrated to identify the impact of cultural influences. Further, an analysis of needs, motives and perception of the customers is being identified along with the learning theory like reasoning versus operant conditioning. Lastly, recommendation is given along with the marketing strategy being used by the Ford.
External influences are individualistic and are the factors or the groups that the individual interacts on the daily basis which have huge impact upon the buying patterns of the consumers (Khalil & Raza 2018). Similarly, the customers of Ford Ranger Raptor Truck can be affected by the external influence as the cars of the company is usually preferred by the people with enhanced lifestyle and hence the reference groups, situational influences and culture of the customers can affect the sales of Ford company.
Reference group affect the attitude and behavior of the customers that will actually make the purchase of the product. Reference groups have group and interpersonal influence that have impact upon the attitude and behavior of the customer (Fernandes & Panda 2018). Family and close friends are the primary reference groups as the individual interacts frequently with them on daily basis. These reference groups can significantly impact the attitude of the individual as the perception of one individual can affect the preferences of the entire family. Similarly, the cars of Ford Company are preferred by the customers that are being influenced by the reference groups or the opinions that they receive after the interpersonal or the group interactions. Moreover, when a person decides to purchase the car then the buying decision may be impacted by the references and interpersonal interactions which can even lead to change into the brands due to trust upon the family members.
Internal Influences on Customer Behavior
Further, colleagues, classmates and neighbors are the secondary reference groups that can influence the buying behavior of the customers. Individuals interact little with these reference groups but there is huge impact of these references (Zhang, Li & Burke 2018). Similarly, the customers of Ford Raptor are influenced by the attitude of secondary reference groups. When any purchase is made by the peers then it not persuades them to buy the car. Any views of the friends matters a lot to the customers and their purchasing behavior.
There are various situational factors that can have impact on the consumer behavior. It involves the decision making of the customer that can lead the customer to either buy the product or my lead to a situation where customer does not buy anything at all (Atulkar & Kesari 2018). Similarly, Ford Raptor Truck as the product of Ford has to deal with the situational factors which are certainly based upon the buyer’s mood. There are factors are included into the situational preferences of the customers of Ford Raptor and are discussed as above:
- Physical Factors: These factors include the location of the stores, geographical area and the physical environment of the store that influences the buying decision of customers(Sun & Yazdanifard 2015). As far as Ford Ranger Raptor is concerned, the physical environment of the showroom may affect the customer’s decision as it is observed that the customers who have enhanced lifestyle demand higher hospitality.
- Social Factors:Social factors pertaining to the customers can highly affect the purchase of Ford Raptor as the people who have outdoor thrill-seeking lifestyle usually buy the product and also the customers who want to maintain social standards strive for these cars (Ford Media Center 2019).
- Time:Time is the next situational factor that can influence the attitude of the customer towards buying of the product. When the customer is buying a car, the customer will decide upon the time at which the he/she will use the car. As Ford Ranger Raptor is precisely for weekends and fulfills the weekend driving needs of the customers, the customer makes the decision accordingly as per the time (Ford Go Further 2019).
- Buyer’s Mood and Conditions: In the situational influences, buyer’s mood is a contextual effect that greatly influences the behavior of the customers. It temporarily affects the customer’s buying information and the ability to evaluate the alternatives(Tosun, Sezgin & Uray 2018). Similarly, the customers of Ford Raptor have indifferent moods and are unable to make the choice of the cars due to the fluctuations in mood arising from contextual effects.
Culture is concerned with the values, beliefs, attitude, norms and principles of the customers that influences their behavior to buy the product. However, the culture affects the buying behavior of customers who are intending to buy the Ranger Raptor for the fulfilment of their weekend driving needs (Sreen, Purbey & Sadarangani 2018). Customers who follow a particular culture may not accept the purchase of the product if it is against their core values. Further, by applying the Schwartz model of core values which defines the ten basic values within the culture that can affect the buying behavior.
Through the identification of these ten values within the culture, people who have self-direction, stimulation, achievement and hedonism as the values are more likely to be the buyer of the Ranger Raptor as these people are challenging, independent, exploring and action taking which are the main behaviors of the customers that compels them to buy the new launched Ford range. There are values such as security, universalism, tradition, conformity and benevolence in which people are protective, have inclinations towards the social norms, respect religions and traditions and believe into the welfare of all (Brodhead 2019). Thus, customers with these values are less likely to buy the Ford Ranger Raptor as these customers may not accept the cars meeting their values and beliefs and thereby have an indifferent attitude towards this brand of Ford company. Thus, the culture of customers affects the buying needs and attitude towards the particular product.
Conclusion
Internal influences are mainly individual based influences that can affect the buying behavior of the customers. It includes, the perceptions, motives, lifestyle and learning which are defined as the personal characteristics of the customers that influence the buying decision of the customers (Rajagopal 2019). Similarly, internal influences can affect the attitude of the customer towards Ford Ranger Raptor. Moreover, lifestyle is one of the internal influences that affects the buying decision of the customers as it defines the way a person is living the activities in which the person is involved in. However, Ford Raptor is greatly preferred by the people with enhanced lifestyle as they have a positive attitude towards these off-road vehicles that helps the customers in meeting the social standard. Apart from lifestyle, there are more internal influential factors that are discussed as above:
Needs and motives are the internal influences that can affect the behavior of the customers as the it is defined by the efforts that the customers make to satisfy their needs will exert the buying decision (Ramya & Mohamed Ali 2016). Moreover, the needs of the customers pertaining to the cars greatly influences the attitude of customers towards Ford Ranger Raptor. Also, when the customers are motivated to buy the cars due to the social or psychological factor, then the customers are more likely to have a positive attitude towards the Ford brand. By applying the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to this factor, it can be observed that there are five basic needs that drives a person and motivates him/her to buy the product. Moreover, Maslow’s hierarchy needs persist upon the basic idea, that there are five basic needs and the satisfaction of one need creates drive for another need (Acevedo 2017).
As per the Maslow’s model, the need for a car arises when the security needs are met which means that the Ford brand satisfies the esteem needs and self-actualization needs (Bauman 2018). Moreover, the customers are motivated to purchase Ford Raptor when to fulfill their esteem needs wherein the basic motive is to stand in a place where a person can make social connections and create a quality of life. Thereafter, it satisfies the self-actualization needs as the cars of Ford create standard of living and the product satisfies self-actualization needs as it creates a sense of fulfillment, achievement and accomplishment which are considered to be the needs of the customers and have a positive attitude towards Ford brand.
Recommendations for Marketing Strategy
Perception is considered with the overall look out towards the product and the way the customer sees the product greatly influences the buying behavior of the customer. The marketing activities of a company are focused towards the influence of the perception of the customers (Vahdati, Mousavi & Tajik 2015). Similarly, the perception of the customers towards the Ford cars can be the crucial factor that can affect the purchase decision of the customers. However, the perception might be different for different demographics. Also, it can be observed that people of young age usually have positive perceptions towards Ford Ranger Raptor as these are the people who have need for off road vehicle.
Therefore, marketers are engaged in the research of the perceptions and building the marketing strategy that creates a positive perception in all kinds of demographics. This can be implied by the marketers of Ford Ranger Raptor to inform their car’s features to the customers and publicize their offering through communicative marketing messages which can create a positive perception and thereby creating an attracting attitude towards the Ford brand.
Learning relates to the knowledge of the customers pertaining to the attributes of the product. The customers who have prior knowledge of the products are difficult to manipulate and their attitude affects the buying decision (Rajagopal 2019). Moreover, Ford Raptor has been affected by the buying behavior of the customers when the customers have deep knowledge of car and car features and also the knowledge about different ranges. This behavior of customers can lead to sales of cars if they get impressed and if they get disappointed then they might choose to avoid the brand for a lifetime.
Moreover, applying the learning theory of reasoning vs. operant conditioning, it can be observed that learning is not only based according to the knowledge but it means that influencing the customers through the creation of preferences. As per the theory, learning can be achieved through the process of association as factors such as reinforcement or punishment are the operant factors and are not applicable to the consumer case (Blackman 2017). Thus, marketers of Ford company can create a fair learning process for the customers by engaging with them in the relevant way so as to persuade their behavior affecting the decision-making process.
Marketing strategy includes that plan of activities that the company undertakes to make the promotion of the product and reaching the prospective target customers. Ford as in the automobile industry makes effective marketing strategy for reaching the target customers (Zhang & Wang 2019). For their newly launched brand Ford Ranger Raptor Truck, the company has been using different channels to be ahead of the competitors and making the higher sales of their cars. The marketing strategy can be understood through the following framework of marketing mix containing of 4ps which are the recommendation for the company:
Product under the marketing mix strategy is expected to be the recognition of physical attributes of the product. This means that the product needs to be appropriate in physical appearance and is easy to handle. For the Ford Raptor, it is being recommended that the car should be technologically latest into the design and should be durable requiring little maintenance (Zhang & Wang 2019).
Price is the value of money that is expended in the exchange of the product. The price of the product needs to be affordable and acceptable to the customers. Also, the marketers can keep the prices competitive for cutting off the competitors (Nagle & Muller 2017). Moreover, Ford is recommended to keep the prices of their cars affordable and should be in such a manner where it reaches the profit margins.
Place is concerned with the physical distribution of the product which ensures that the right product is delivered to the right customers and at the right place. Thus, the place needs to be geographically accessible to the customer (Clark et al. 2016). Further, Ford is recommended to reach their target customers by the using of the strong distribution channel in order to reach the national and international customers.
Promotion is considered with the undertaking of the activities in the promotion and advertising of the products. The marketers inform the customers about their products through the use of promotion (Alexandrescu & Milandru 2018). Ford Raptor as the new range of Ford company is however, recommended to use aggressive promotional techniques in order to make a loyal customer base and spreading the awareness of the Ford Ranger Raptor Truck as the new launched brand of the company.
Conclusion
To conclude, it can be said that there are various influences that can affect the buying behavior of the customers. These influences can be external and internal. As the needs of the customers are fluctuating and all the customers have different approaches and buying behaviors which can ultimately affect the sales of the company. The report is successful in the understanding of the impact of various factors that can have influence into the buying behavior of the customers of Ford Ranger Raptor Truck which is the selected brand for this assignment. Thus, report highlights the external influences wherein it identifies the reference groups, situational factors and cultural factors along with the relevant theory to understand the impact of these factors on the frequency of purchase. Also, the report is successful in the internal factors through needs, motives, perception and learning through various learning theory which are applied to understand the consumer behavior along with the recommendation for the company through marketing mix framework.
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