Today, successful entrepreneurial activity is impossible without conducting market research. For those companies that produce products or services, provide advice or engage in trading activities, it becomes extremely important to study consumers, their needs, specific and standard requests, as well as the psychological and cultural aspects that guide them in the buying process.
What includes market analysis
The process of collecting information about the situation on the market for products, consumer requests and the main trends in the competitive environment is an essential part of the marketing department. Many decisions regarding the volume and structure of products, as well as strategies for promoting and selling them, are based on the information that experts receive as a result of market analysis. To make the data as reliable and useful as possible for the company, the analysis should include the following actions:
- Drawing up a general description of the markets where the product is supposed to be sold, as well as assessing their volume and calculating the share of the enterprise.
- Studying the dynamics of market development, predicting its possible changes, highlighting the main factors influencing these parameters.
- The wording of the basic requirements that consumers make to the product.
- Competitor market analysis: their technical capabilities, market influence, product price and quality information.
- Determination of the advantages that the company has in comparison with competitors.
Marketing and its tasks
By and large, the main goal of marketing is to optimize the process of marketing of goods or services by increasing the relevance of their quality and composition to the needs of end consumers. In other words, the head of the company expects marketers to recognize the universal and specific needs of the consumer, analyze the situation of competing companies and find the ideal market for the sale of the product.
Paradoxes and features of the consumer market
A whole segment of marketing has been allocated to study consumer behavior . He collects information on how customers choose a product (service, idea) and what they say about their experience in using it.
Consumer analysis faces a lot of difficulties and problems, because to find out what customers want, to understand their motivation and behavior is not so simple. Many buyers are happy to participate in surveys and give answers about what they want or what they need. However, being in the store, they show completely different inclinations and commit unpredictable acts.
The buyer may not be aware of the motives for his purchases, say what is expected of him (therefore his answers are unreliable) or change his mind at the last moment. Consequently, the stereotypes of behavior characteristic of the target consumer, as well as what he needs, what he wants, how he perceives the product, and which route he chooses to sell the product, become the subject of marketing research.
Statistics of queries (phrases that Internet users enter in the search line) can serve as a more or less objective reliable source of information.
The use of advanced and scientifically developed questionnaires resulted in the identification of eight main motives that guide almost every person who decides on the feasibility of any acquisition. Consumer analysis found that buyers seek:
- Be safe.
- Feel your own worth.
- Concentrate on your ego.
- Show creativity.
- Be the givers and recipients of love.
- Possess power.
- Preserve family cultural values ​​and traditions.
- Get immortality.
The universality of this list is that it is relevant for absolutely any product (product or service) and can be used by almost every marketer.
What is called a consumer behavior model
Until recently, marketing experts were forced to analyze consumers in “combat conditions”, that is, directly in the process of selling goods. The expansion of companies and the expansion of their structures led to the separation of marketing managers from the end customer. Today, these people do not personally contact consumers. They examine the behavior of buyers on abstract models, the essence of which is what kind of response the buyer has to various marketing incentives.
The task of these specialists is to study the processes that occur in the minds of consumers in a brief period from the effects of an external stimulus to the decision to purchase.
As a result, consumer analysis comes down to finding answers to two main questions:
- How can the cultural, social, personal, and psychological component of a customer influence his behavior in the store?
- How is a purchasing decision formed?
Cultural factors and their impact on consumer needs
The influence of cultural factors on the behavior of buyers is regarded as quite substantial. What matters is the general cultural level, the influence of certain subcultures and the social class. Analysis of consumer markets through the prism of cultural values provides a wealth of useful data, because it is culture that can be called a determining factor in the needs and behavior of many people.
Culture is inculcated in children from an early age, firmly introducing specific sets of values, stereotypes of perception and behavior. This is facilitated by the family, educational and social institutions.
Consumer Portrait: Social Class
The division of society into social classes and layers, to one degree or another, determines the needs and desires of most consumers. Social classes are called fairly homogeneous and stable groups of people who are united by common values, interests and behavior.
An analysis of the sales market involves the study of a portrait of a consumer, so it is absolutely necessary for a marketer to understand how different income, work, education, place of residence, housing conditions and even the level of general development of various social classes and segments of the population differ.
Customers belonging to the same class find identical or very close preferences regarding the choice of different products (clothing, home furniture, leisure, cars, food). Knowing the consumer market and the tastes of its target audience, a competent marketer will be able to use this effective leverage and stimulate demand for a particular product.
What are social factors and how do they affect consumer psychology
Among the social factors that influence how consumers assess the need to make a purchase, they distinguish:
- Family.
- Reference group.
- Role.
- Status.
The influence of primary and secondary membership groups should also be considered. This is an environment that to some extent forms a person’s subjective view of a particular need.
Primary membership group - family members, friends, employees. Secondary - professional team, religious communities, clubs. Reference groups carry out the following effects on the consumer:
- They can affect how an individual relates to life and to himself.
- They are able to push a person to certain actions and attitudes that will ultimately shape his behavior and lifestyle.
- They can and influence what goods and trademarks an individual prefers.
In addition to the influence of those groups to which a person belongs, he may be exposed to external (alien), but attracting his community. In an effort to be like the members of the “desired group,” the individual buys goods that personify another way of life for him.
Family as an important factor affecting consumer behavior
Families are the first and often the most durable relationships for many people. Being closely associated with parents or guardians, children adopt their preferences, habits and orientations.
In the vocabulary of marketers, there are such concepts as:
- Teaching families.
- Generated by a family.
The first type is the society in which the person was born and raised (parents, immediate relatives). Here the concepts of religion, life goals, a sense of self-worth and love are laid. The instructing family also becomes an environment with certain political and economic views. All grains planted in childhood bear fruit later, throughout life.
True, the role and influence of the family born (wife, spouse, children) is much higher. Compared to the indirect influence of a mentoring family, it can be called direct.
Buyer Personal Factors
The significance of this category cannot be compared with the influence of the others, since the individual characteristics of a person (physiological, economic, psychological) are a unique combination of all other factors.
Among the most significant, you can specify:
- The age of the person, the stage of the family cycle. These indicators directly determine what products the consumer may need. Children need to buy baby food, adults tend to try out new products and exotic ones, and closer to old age, many have to switch to diets. In addition, analytics and query statistics in the most popular search engines confirms the fact that not only the family life cycle, but also the psychological stage of the family’s life greatly affects the consumption structure. Today, a marketer must pay attention to the specific needs of people after divorce, widowhood, remarriage or other important events.
- The scope of the consumer. This indicator is perhaps the most important, because it depends on the occupation of a person that determines his income and needs. Workers are forced to buy and wear special clothes and shoes, while corporate presidents cannot do without expensive costumes and membership in country clubs for the elite. The marketer's task is to determine the groups and categories of consumers in accordance with their occupation and professional activities. In accordance with these data, the manufacturer will be able to give the product specific characteristics.
- Economic situation. Of course, most purchases are planned by the individual with an eye to their own financial capabilities. Characteristics of a person’s economic situation are the level and stability of the expenditure side of the budget, the size of savings and assets, the presence of debts, creditworthiness, and also the attitude to the process of accumulating money.
- Lifestyle is another personality factor that should be distinguished from the social class and occupation, as it is customary to call a person’s life form a way of life, which is expressed by him through activity, interests and opinions. The way of life most succinctly reflects the essence of man, as well as his ways of interacting with society. The success of a marketer largely depends on the ability to “bridge the bridge” from the company's products to lifestyle-related groups. For example, the head of a computer manufacturing company can see that the hallmark of his customer’s contingent is his focus on professional success. A natural consequence is the conduct of more in-depth studies of this target group, as well as the use of symbols and words in the advertising campaign that are correlated with success.
Conclusion
In general, the analysis of the sales market is aimed at creating such a product that will be as useful and attractive to the consumer as possible. In extreme cases, the product should look like this. The formation of a positive image of the product is achieved by developing the right, “working” packaging and advertising campaign.
In accordance with the unspoken rule of marketing, a product is better sold if it has a favorable image. That is, the image of the product should be associated exclusively with the notions of well-being inherent in certain categories of customers. Inadmissible is considered an illustration of any unpleasant or painful aspect.
A study of all marketing wisdom, a thorough analysis of the data, the use of psychology, sociology and economics is used precisely in order to satisfy the needs of the buyer, to provide what he lacks (or it seems that he lacks).
Often a company resorts to such a technique as educating its client. This approach involves offering a completely new product along with popularizing the problem that it solves.