ASSIGNMENT 03

BUS 6 20 (SUMM ER 202 0 )

School of Business and Economics

North South University

Tasmia Zaman Apsara

ID: 2025054660

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Table of Contents
Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 2
Factors Influencing Consumer Buying Behavior of soap ..................................................................... 2
Internal or Psychological factors: ..................................................................................................... 2
Motivation ....................................................................................................................................... 3
Perception........................................................................................................................................ 3
Learning .......................................................................................................................................... 3
Attitudes and Beliefs ........................................................................................................................ 3
Personal Factors ................................................................................................................................ 4
Age.................................................................................................................................................. 4
Income ............................................................................................................................................ 4
Lifestyle .......................................................................................................................................... 4
Social Factors ..................................................................................................................................... 5
Family ............................................................................................................................................. 5
Reference Groups ............................................................................................................................ 5
Roles and status ............................................................................................................................... 5
Cultural factors.................................................................................................................................. 5
Culture ............................................................................................................................................ 5
Economic Factors .............................................................................................................................. 6
Income ............................................................................................................................................ 6
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 6
References .............................................................................................................................................. 7

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Consumer behavior is influenced by four factors: cultural (culture, subculture, social class),
social (reference, groups, family, and status), personal (age, life cycle, occupation, economic
circumstances, lifestyle, personality, and self-concept), and psychological (motivation,
perception, learning, beliefs, and attitude). Research into all these factors can provide clues
as to how to reach and serve consumers more effectively. Explain with examples.

Introduction
Consumer purchasing behavior denotes the selection, purchase, and consumption of goods and
facilities for the fulfillment of their wants. There are diverse processes involved in consumer
behavior. Many features, specificities, and characteristics influence the individual in what he is
and the customer in his judgment process, shopping habits, buying behavior, the brands he buys,
or the retailers he goes to. A purchase decision is the result of every one of these factors (Ramya
N., 2016).

Initially, the buyer tries to find what supplies he would like to consume, then he selects only those
supplies that promise greater value. After choosing the commodities, the consumer makes an
approximation of the accessible money that he can spend. Lastly, the consumer examines the
dominant prices of commodities and decides the commodities he should consume. Meanwhile,
numerous other factors are manipulating the purchases of consumers such as social, cultural,
economic, personal, and psychological. In this assignment, soap will be used as the prime product
example and how different brands imply different approaches to sway consumer decision towards
buying their product (Ramya N., 2016).

Factors Influencing Consumer Buying Behavior of soap

The following are the soaps that are generally available in the market: Dove, Lux, Lifebuoy,
Palmolive, Pears, Dettol, etc. Each brand has a specific consumer base according to the factors
they use to attract customers. The consumer behavior is influenced by numerous factors and they
are Internal or Psychological factors, Personal factors, Social factors, and Cultural factors.

Internal or Psychological factors:

Human psychology is a key determinant of consumer behavior and some of the important
psychological factors are:

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Motivation
When a person is motivated enough, it influences the buying behavior of the person. A person has
many needs such as social needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization needs. The soap that offers
the best effect such as soft skin and the best fragrance is often preferred by women. This strategy
is implied by dove, their soap bars have a milk base that softens the skin and keeps it moisturized
(ADITHYA, 2011).

Perception
When a purchaser sees advertisements, promotions, customer reviews, social media feedback, etc.
involving a product, they grow an impression about the product. Hence consumer perception
converts into great guidance for buying decisions. Lux has strong equity in this section, which has
been built over the years with strong advertising sustenance from its legendary “Beauty soap for
the film stars” advertising campaign (Priya, 2017).

Learning
When an individual purchases a product, he/she gets to learn roughly more about the product.
Knowledge comes over some time through familiarity. In conditional learning the consumer is
open to a situation repetitively, thereby making a purchaser develop responsibility towards it. Also,
a bathing soap with a well-planned promotion communication with a grander awareness level
along with a quality product can appeal more customers towards the brand, thereby it will toughen
the word of mouth publicity contributing positively towards the brand and finally, it will result in
the selection of particular bathing soap. This strategy is predominantly used by Lux and lifebuoy
with recurring emotion intriguing promotions on TV, billboard, and radio (ADITHYA, 2011).

Attitudes and Beliefs

Regulars have certain attitude and beliefs which influence their buying decisions. This attitude
plays a substantial role in outlining the brand image of a product. Hence, marketers try hard to
comprehend the attitude of a consumer to plan their marketing campaigns. Palmolive has a good
presence in the premium soap section with its flagship brand, Palmolive Extracare. Palmolive
Naturals was introduced with three variants, Olive Oil, Sandalwood, and Almond. The various
flavors offered by this renowned brand has renewed the customer's trust in the brand and has also
helped them gain more consumers (Nandhini, 2017).

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Personal Factors
Factors that are personal to the clients influence their ordering behavior. These personal factors
vary from person to person, thus producing different perceptions and consumer behavior. Some of
the personal factors are:

Age
Age is a chief feature that influences buying behavior. The purchasing choices of youth differ from
that of middle-aged people. Younger people take better care of themselves and hence look for
products that can offer the maximum amount of benefits, like skincare, fragrance, germ-killing
ability. For example, Lux, Dove, and Palmolive all of them target young women, who are
concerned about how they look. Lux offers brightening qualities, whereas Dove offers anti-aging
and this is how they influence the soap industry (Gope, 2012).

Income
Income can influence the buying behavior of a person. Higher-income gives higher purchasing
power to consumers. When a consumer has higher disposable income, it gives more opportunity
for the consumer to spend on luxurious products. Whereas low-income or middle-income group
consumers spend most of their income on basic needs such as groceries and clothes. Despite having
extensive campaigns, involving celebrities and various advertisements, Lux continues to produce
one of the cheapest soaps in the market. This means they have the widest target group, where all
social classes and age groups are included (Gope, 2012).

Lifestyle
Lifestyle is an attitude and a way in which a person lives in society. The buying behavior is highly
inclined towards their lifestyle. For example, people that are vegetarian or vegan, opt towards
greener products and they are the fixed customers of the brand that can provide them with their
needs (Gope, 2012).

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Social Factors
Humans are social beings and they live nearby many people who affect their buying behavior.
Humans try to replicate other humans and also wish to be socially accepted in society. Some of
the social factors are:

Family
Family plays a significant role in shaping the buying behavior of a person. A person develops
preferences from his childhood by watching family buy products and continues to buy the same
products even when they grow up. Pears for example, despite being more expensive than the rest
of the brands has a steady client base, who believes in its quality and continues to buy its product
(Gihan Wijesundera, 2011).

Reference Groups
A reference group is a group of people with whom a person links himself. Commonly, all the
people in the reference group have mutual buying behavior and impact each other. This is basically
among youngsters, if an advertisement can affect them positively, they buy the product and also
urge their friends and family to do the same (Patwardhan, et al., 2010).

Roles and status

A person is influenced by the role that he holds in society. If a person is in a high position, his
buying behavior will be influenced largely by his status. This is why celebrities and brand
ambassadors play a huge role in the consumer behavior of buying soaps (Patwardhan, et al., 2010).

Cultural factors
A group of people is allied with a set of values and philosophies that belong to a particular
community. When a person comes from a particular community, his/her behavior is highly
influenced by the culture relating to that particular community.

Culture
Cultural Factors have a strong influence on consumer buying behavior. Cultural Factors include
the basic values, needs, wants, preferences, perceptions, and behaviors that are observed and
learned by a consumer from their near family members and other important people around them.
From the cultural aspect, when brands like sandal soap mention the use of sandalwood, neem, and

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turmeric in their product it automatically grabbed the attention of the older generation and
compelled people to buy their soaps (Kumar, 2010).

Economic Factors
The consumer buying habits and decisions greatly depend on the economic situation of a country
or a market. When a nation is affluent, the economy is strong, which leads to the greater money
source in the market and higher buying power for consumers. When customers experience a
positive economic atmosphere, they are more self-assured to spend on buying products. Whereas,
a weak economy reflects a struggling market that is impacted by joblessness and lower purchasing
power. Economic issues bear a significant effect on the buying choice of a consumer (Jenefa,
2013).

Income
When a person has higher disposable revenue, the procuring power increases concurrently. When
there is an increase in disposable income, it leads to higher expenditure on various items. But when
the disposable income reduces, parallely the spending on multiple items is also reduced. When
more people are earning in the family, there is more income accessible for shopping basic needs
and luxuries. Higher family income influences the people in the family to buy more (Jenefa, 2013).

In terms of soap, the lower-income family opts toward general brands like Lux or Palmolive. But
the more affluent families experiment with their products and do not bother about the price. This
leads to a difference in consumer behavior and divided them into different classes. Hence the soap
companies have to be aware of their target group, creating appropriate advertisement content as
well as better selling products (Kumar, 2010)

Conclusion
For a successful consumer-oriented market service workers should work as a psychologist to
procure consumers. By keeping in mind-affecting factors things can be made favorable and the
goal of consumer satisfaction can be achieved. The study of consumer buying behavior is the
gateway to success in the market and must be taken more seriously by all the companies. With the
world growing faster, and in the era of the best technological advancements, the products need to
keep evolving with the consumer’s demands.

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References

ADITHYA, H., 2011. SOAPS - AN EXPLORATIVE STUDY ON.

Gihan Wijesundera, R. A., 2011. FACTORS INFLUENCING THE DEMAND OF BEAUTY

SOAP.

Gope, K., 2012. Factors Influencing the Extent of Brand Loyalty of Toilet Soap Users in

Bangladesh: A Case Study on Dhaka City.

Jenefa, L., 2013. Socio-economic Factors Influencing Buying Behaviour with.

Kumar, R., 2010. Consumer Behavior. The role of Consumer Behavior in marketing strategy in

the 3 marketing stimuli.

Nandhini, A. K. a. D., 2017. Factors Affecting the Purchasing Behaviour of.

Patwardhan, M., Flora, P. & Gupta, A., 2010. Identification of Secondary Factors that Influence

Consumer's Buying Behavior for Soaps and Chocolates.

Priya, V., 2017. Study on Consumer Buying Behavior Towards Selected. 2(6).

Ramya N., D. S. M. A., 2016. Factors affecting consumer buying behavior.