The term consumer behaviour, individual buyer behaviour, end user

behaviour and consumer buying behaviour all stands for the same.
Consumer behaviour is the study of how individuals, groups and
Organisation select buy, use and dispose of goods and services, ideas or
experiences to satisfy their needs and wants.

Consumer behaviour may be defined as the decision process and physical

activity individuals engage in when evaluating, acquiring, using or
disposing of goods and services.

According to Belch and Belch "consumer behaviour is the process and

activities people engage in when searching for, selecting,purchasing,
using, evaluating and disposing of products and services so as to satisfy
their needs and desires".
Nature of Consumer Behaviour: 

Systematic process : Consumer behaviour is a systematic process

relating to buying decisions of the customers. The buying process
consists of the following steps : 

 Need identification to buy the product 

 Information search relating to the product 
 Listining and evaluating the alternative 
 Purchase decision 
 Post purchase evaluation by the marketer

Influenced by various factors : Consumer behaviour is influenced by a

number of factors the factors that influence consumers include
marketing, personal, psychological, situational, social and cultural
etc. 

Different for different customers   : All consumers do not behave in

the same manner. Different consumers behave differently. The
different in consumer behaviour is due to individual factors such as
nature of the consumer's lifestyle, culture etc. 
Different for different products  : Consumer behaviour is different for
different products there are some consumers who may buy more
quantity of certain items and very low quantity of some other items. 

Vary across regions  : The consumer behaviour vary across States,

regions and countries. For instance, the behaviour of urban
consumers is different from that of rural consumers.  normally rural
consumers are conservative (traditional) in their buying behaviour.

Vital for marketers  : Marketers need to have a good knowledge of

consumer behaviour they need to study the various factors that
influence consumer behaviour of the target customers. The knowledge
of consumer behaviour enables marketers to take appropriate
marketing decisions. 

Reflect status  : Consumer buying behaviour is not only influenced by

status of a consumer coma but it also reflect it. Those consumers who
owned luxury cars, watches and other items are considered by others
as persons of higher status. 

Result in spread effect  : Consumer behaviour as a spread effect. The

buying behaviour of one person may influence the buying behaviour
of another person. For instance, a customer may always prefer to buy
premium brands of clothing, watches and other items etc. This may
influence some of his friends, neighbours and colleagues. This is one of
the reasons why marketers use celebrities like Shahrukh Khan, sachin
to endorse their brands.
Undergoes a change : The consumer behaviour undergoes a change
over a period of time depending upon changes in age , education and
income level etc, for example, kids may prefer colourful dresses but as
they grow up as teenagers and young adults, they may prefer trendy
clothes. 

Information search : Search for information is a common consumer

behaviour. Consumers cannot purchase goods and services if they are
unaware that a good or service exists. When a consumer decides to
buy a certain item, his decision must be based on the information he
has gethered about what products our services are available to fulfill
his needs. There might be a product available that would be better
suited to the consumers needs, but if he is an aware of product, he will
not buy it. 

Brand loyalty : Brand loyalty is another characteristic of consumer

behaviour. Brand loyalty is the tendency of a consumer to buy
product products or services from a certain company that one likes or
equates with having high quality goods and services. For example, if
Naina's first car was a Honda as a teenager and the car lasted 200,000
miles, she might have a tendency to buy hondas again in the future
due to her previous positive experience. This brand loyalty may be so
strong that she forgoes the information search all together when
considering for next vehicle.

Scope of Consumer Behaviour: 

1) Consumer behaviour and marketing management : Effective

business managers realise the importance of marketing to the success
of their firm. A sound understanding of consumer behaviour is
essential to the long run success of any marketing program. In fact, it
is seen as a comerstone of the Marketing concept, an important
orientation of philosophy of many marketing managers. The essence
of the Marketing concept is captured in three interrelated
orientations consumers needs and wants, company integrated
strategy. 

2) Consumer behaviour and non profit and social marketing : In

today's world even the non-profit organisations like government
agencies, religious sects, universities and charitable institutions have
to market their services for ideas to the "target group of consumers or
institution." At other times these groups are required to appeal to the
general public for support of certain causes or ideas. Also they make
their contribution towards eradication of the problems of the society.
Thus a clear understanding of the consumer behaviour and decision
making process will assist these efforts.

3) Consumer behaviour and government decision making : In recent

years the relevance of consumer behaviour principles to government
decision making. Two major areas of activities have been affected: 
i) Government services: It is increasingly and that government
provision of public services can benefit significantly from an
understanding of the consumers, or users, of these services.

ii) consumer protection: Many Agencies at all levels of government

are involved with regulating business practices for the purpose of
protecting consumers welfare.

4) Consumer behaviour and demarketing: It has become increasingly

clear that consumers are entering an era of scarcity in terms of some
natural gas and water. These scarcities have led to promotions
stressing conservation rather than consumption. In other
circumstances, consumers have been encouraged to decrease or stop
their use of particular goods believed to have harmful effects.
Programs designed to reduce drug abuse, gambling, and similar types
of conception examples. These actions have been undertaken by
government agencies non profit organisations, and other private
groups. The term "demarketing" refers to all such efforts to
encourage consumers to reduce their consumption of a particular
product or services.

5) Consumer behaviour and consumer education: Consumer also

stands to benefit directly from orderly investigations of their own
behaviour. This can occur on an individual basis or as part of more
formal educational programs. For example, when consumers learn
that a large proportion of the billions spend annually on grocery
products is used for impulse purchases and not spend according to pre
planned shopping list, consumers may be more willing to plan effort to
save money. In general, as marketers that can influence consumers'
purchases, consumers have the opportunity to understand better how
they affect their own behaviour.

Importance of consumer behaviour:

1) production policies: The study of consumer behaviour effects
production policies of enterprise. Consumer behaviour discovers the
habits, tastes and preferences of consumers and such discovery
enables and enterprise to plan and develop its products according to
these specifications. It is necessary for an enterprise to be in
continuous touch with the changes in consumer behaviour so that
necessary changes in products may be made.

2) Price policies: The buyer behaviour is equally important in having

price policies. The buyers of some products purchase only because
particular articles are cheaper than the competitive articles available
in the market.

3) Decision regarding channels of distribution: The goods, which are

sold and solely on the basis of low price mast and economical
distribution channels. In case of those articles, which week T.V. sets,
refrigerators etc. Must have different channels of distribution. Thus,
decisions regarding channels of distribution are taken on the basis of
consumer behaviour.

4) Decision regarding sales promotion: Study of consumer behaviour

is also vital in making decisions regarding sales promotion. It enables
the producer to know what motive prompt consumer to make
purchase and the same are utilised in promotional campaigns to
awaken desire to purchase.

5) Exploiting marketing opportunities: Study of consumer behaviour

helps the marketers to  understand the consumers needs, aspirations,
expectations, problems etc. This knowledge will be useful to the
marketers in exploiting marketing opportunities and meeting the
challenges of the market.

6) Consumer do not always act or react predictably: The consumers of

the past used to react to price levels as if price and quality had positive
relation. Today, week value for money, lesser price but with superior
features. The consumers response indicates that the shift had
occurred.

7) Highly diversified consumer preferences: This shift has occurred

due to availability of more choice now. Thus study of consumer
behaviour is important to understand the changes.

8) Rapid introduction of new products: Rapid introduction of new

product with technological advancement has made the job of studying
consumer behaviour more imperative. For example, the information
Technologies are changing very fast in personal computer industry.

9) Implementing the "Marketing concept": This calls for studying the

consumer behaviour, all customers need have to be given priority.
Thus identification of target market before production becomes
essential to deliver the desired customer satisfaction and delight.

Applications of consumer behaviour: 

1) Analysing market opportunity: Consumer behaviour study help in

identifying the unfulfilled needs and wants of consumers. This
requires examining the friends and conditions operating in the
Marketplace, consumers lifestyle, income levels and energy influences.
This may reveal unsatisfied needs and wants. Mosquito repellents
have been marketed in response to a genuine and unfulfilled consumer
need.

2) Selecting target market: Review of market opportunities often helps

in identifying district consumer segments with very distinct and
unique wants and needs. Identifying these groups, behave and how
they make purchase decisions enable the marketer to design and
market products or services particularly suited to their wants and
needs. For example, please sleep revealed that many existing and
potential shampoo users did not want to buy shampoo fax price at rate
60 for more and would rather prefer a low price package containing
enough quantity for one or two washers. This finding LED companies
to introduce the shampoos sachet, which become a good seller.

3) Marketing-mix decisions: Once unsatisfied needs and wants are

identified, the marketer has to determine the right mix of product,
price, distribution and promotion. Where too, consumer behaviour
study is very helpful in finding answers too many preplexing
questions. The factors of marketing mix decisions are:
i) product ii) price iii) promotion iv) distribution

4) Use in social and non profits marketing: Consumer behaviour

studies are useful to design marketing strategies by social,
governmental and not for profit organisations to make their
programmes more effective such as family planning, awareness about
AIDS.

Consumer decision making process

Need Recognition
The first step in the consumer decision-making process is identifying the need. The
need is the most important element which leads towards the actual buying of the
product or service. Need is the trigger point of all the buying decisions.

Finding out what the customer needs is the first milestone towards evaluating the
Consumer Decision Making Process. Determining the needs and wants of the target
market provide support to many marketing decisions.

Searching and gathering information

The potential consumer after identifying his needs moves on to the second stage i.e.
searching & gathering information. When it comes to choosing between alternatives
humans tend to be skeptical, therefore they need all the information before
spending their money.

During this phase of the Consumer Decision Making Process, the consumer evaluates
the entire positive and negatives aspects of the purchase. Due to the changing
trends and online shopping sites, consumers are far more informed and are able to
make better purchase decisions.

Information can be collected from many different sources like prints or electronic
media or from people’s reviews about certain products. Making a purchase decision
is important so the consumer does not tend to be hasty while gathering information
about the products and brand available in the market. The consumers receive
information from many different directions.

Some Sources of information are mentioned below.

 Personal Contacts: This is a very strong source of information and has the
greatest influence over the mind of the consumer. Consumers tend to discuss
the needs and their interests in different products with friends, family,
colleagues and acquaintances and make purchase decisions based upon their
recommendations.
 Commercial Information Sources: Electronic media, TV Ads, Newsletters, Sale
Persons and Public displays are some important types.
 Printed Sources – Newspapers and Magazines
 Previous Purchase Experiences: Consumer’s own personal experiences about
the prior use of a product.

Evaluating the Alternatives

Consumers begin to search out for the best deals or options available once he has
identified the Need and the source to satisfy that need. The Consumer at this stage
evaluates different options based upon product price, product quality, product
quantity, and value-added features of a product or other important factors.

Customer reviews and compare prices for the substitute products before choosing
the product that will satisfy the need in the best possible manner. Careful evaluation
of all the alternatives/ substitute products available in the market comprises the
3rd stage of the Consumer Decision Making Process.

The consumer after Need recognition and collecting useful information choose the
best product available in the market based upon his taste, style, income, or
preference.

Actual Purchase of the Product or the Service

In this stage, the customer decides what to buy, where to buy after going through
all the above stages. After proper assessment of all the facts, the consumer makes a
logical decision to buy a product based upon his needs and wants.

The Needs and want are often triggered by the advertising and marketing
campaigns, recommendations from personal connections, or maybe from both.

Post Purchase Evaluation

In the final stage of the consumer decision-making process the consumer evaluates
or analysis the purchased product, the usefulness of the product, satisfaction
delivered from the product, Value of the product with respect to the need fulfillment
of the consumer.

If the consumer feels that the product bought delivered the value and has met the
expectation they will become the loyal customers of the product.

Consumer Decision making Process is very important for marketers to successfully

market their products and product line. Understanding the targeted market fully
increases the efficiency of a Marketing plan and yields better results from
Promotional Plan.
FACTORS AFFECTING BUYING BEHAVIOUR, PURCHASE BEHAVIOUR,
BUYER’S ROLE

Consumer purchasers are influenced by strongly by cultural, social, personal

and psychological characteristics as shown below

We can say that following factors can influence the Buying decision of the
buyer:

a. Cultural

b. Social

c. Personal

d. Psychological

1.Cultural Factors

Cultural factors exert the broadest and deepest influence on consumer

behavior. The marketer needs to understand the role played by the buyer’s
culture, subculture, and social class.

a. Culture

Culture is the most basic cause of a person’s wants and behavior. Human
behavior is largely learned. Growing up in a society, a child learns basic
values, perceptions, wants, and behaviors from the family and other important
institutions. A person normally learns or is exposed to the following values:
achievement and success, activity and involvement, efficiency and practicality,
progress, material comfort, individualism, freedom, humanitarianism,
youthfulness, and fitness and health.
Every group or society has a culture, and cultural influences on buying
behavior may vary greatly from country to country. Failure to adjust to these
differences can result in ineffective marketing or embarrassing mistakes. For
example, business representatives of a U.S. community trying to market itself
in Taiwan found this out the hard way. Seeking more foreign trade, they
arrived in Taiwan bearing gifts of green baseball caps. It turned out that the
trip was scheduled a month before Taiwan elections, and that green was the
color of the political opposition party. Worse yet, the visitors learned after the
fact that according to Taiwan culture, a man wears green to signify that his
wife has been unfaithful. The head of the community delegation later noted, “I
don’t know whatever happened to those green hats, but the trip gave us an
understanding of the extreme   differences in our cultures.” International
marketers must understand the culture in each international market and adapt
their marketing strategies accordingly.

b. Subculture

Each culture contains smaller subcultures or groups of people with shared

value systems based on common life experiences and situations. Subcultures
include nationalities, religions, racial groups, and geographic regions. Many
subcultures make up important market segments, and marketers often design
products and marketing programs tailored to their needs. Here are examples
of four such important subculture groups.

c. Social Class

Almost every society has some form of social class structure. Social Classes
are society’s relatively permanent and ordered divisions whose members
share similar values, interests, and behaviors. Social class is not determined
by a single factor, such as income, but is measured as a combination of
occupation, income, education, wealth, and other variables. In some social
systems, members of different classes are reared for certain roles and cannot
change their social positions. Marketers are interested in social class because
people within a given social class tend to exhibit similar buying behavior.
Social classes show distinct product and brand preferences in areas such as
clothing, home furnishings, leisure activity, and automobiles.

2. Social Factors

A consumer’s behavior also is influenced by social factors, such as the

consumer’s small groups, family, and social roles and status.

a. Groups

Many small groups influence a person’s behavior. Groups that have a direct
influence and to which a person belongs are called membership groups. In
contrast, reference groups serve as direct (faceto- face) or indirect points of
comparison or reference in forming a person’s attitudes or behavior.
Reference groups to which they do not belong often influence people.
Marketers try to identify the reference groups of their target markets.
Reference groups expose a person to new behaviors and lifestyles, influence
the person’s attitudes and self-concept, and create pressures to conform that
may affect the person’s product and brand choices.

The importance of group influence varies across products and brands. It tends
to be strongest when the product is visible to others whom the buyer respects.
Manufacturers of products and brands subjected to strong group influence
must figure out how to reach opinion leaders—people within a reference group
who, because of special skills, knowledge, personality, or other
characteristics, exert influence on others.

Many marketers try to identify opinion leaders for their products and direct
marketing efforts toward them. In other cases, advertisements can simulate
opinion leadership, thereby reducing the need for consumers to seek advice
from others.

The importance of group influence varies across products and brands. It tends
to be strongest when the product is visible to others whom the buyer respects.
Purchases of products that are bought and used privately are not much
affected by group influences because neither the product nor the brand will be
noticed by others.

b. Family

Family members can strongly influence buyer behavior. The family is the most
important consumer buying organization in society, and it has been
researched extensively. Marketers are interested in the roles and influence of
the husband, wife, and children on the purchase of different products and
services.

Husband-wife involvement varies widely by product category and by stage in

the buying process. Buying roles change with evolving consumer lifestyles.

Such changes suggest that marketers who’ve typically sold their products to
only women or only men are now courting the opposite sex. For example, with
research revealing that women now account for nearly half of all hardware
store purchases, home improvement retailers such as Home

Depot and Builders Square have turned what once were intimidating
warehouses into female friendly retail outlets. The new Builders Square II
outlets feature decorator design centers at the front of the store. To attract
more women, Builders Square runs ads targeting women in Home, House
Beautiful, Woman’s Day, and Better Homes and Gardens. Home Depot even
offers bridal registries.

Similarly, after research indicated that women now make up 34 percent of the
luxury car market, Cadillac has started paying more attention to this important
segment. Male car designers at Cadillac are going about their work with paper
clips on their fingers to simulate what it feels like to operate buttons, knobs,
and other interior features with longer fingernails. The Cadillac Catera features
an air-conditioned glove box to preserve such items as lipstick and film. Under
the hood, yellow markings highlight where fluid fills go.

Children may also have a strong influence on family buying decisions. For
example, it ran ads to woo these “back-seat consumers” in Sports Illustrated
for Kids, which attracts mostly 8- to 14- year-old boys. “We’re kidding
ourselves when we think kids aren’t aware of brands,” says Venture’s brand
manager, adding that even she was surprised at how often parents told her
that kids played a tie-breaking role in deciding which car to buy. In the case of
expensive products and services, husbands and wives often make joint
decisions.

c. Roles and Status

A person belongs to many groups—family, clubs, organizations. The person’s

position in each group can be defined in terms of both role and status. A role
consists of the activities people are expected to perform according to the
persons around them.

3. Personal Factors

A buyer’s decisions also are influenced by personal characteristics such as

the buyer’s age and lifecycle stage, occupation, economic situation, lifestyle,
and personality and self-concept.

a. Age and Life-Cycle Stage

People change the goods and services they buy over their lifetimes. Tastes in
food, clothes, furniture, and recreation are often age related. Buying is also
shaped by the stage of the family life cycle—the stages through which families
might pass as they mature over time. Marketers often define their target
markets in terms of life-cycle stage and develop appropriate products and
marketing plans for each stage. Traditional family life-cycle stages include
young singles and married couples with children.

b. Occupation
A person’s occupation affects the goods and services bought. Blue-collar
workers tend to buy more rugged work clothes, whereas white-collar workers
buy more business suits. Marketers try to identify the occupational groups that
have an above-average interest in their products and services.

A company can even specialize in making products needed by a given

occupational group. Thus, computer software companies will design different
products for brand managers, accountants, engineers, lawyers, and doctors.

c. Economic Situation

A person’s economic situation will affect product choice. Marketers of income-

sensitive goods watch trends in personal income, savings, and interest rates.
If economic indicators point to a recession, marketers can take steps to
redesign, reposition, and reprice their products closely.

d. Lifestyle

People coming from the same subculture, social class, and occupation may
have quite different lifestyles. Life style is a person’s pattern of living as
expressed in his or her psychographics. It involves measuring consumers’
major AIO dimensions—activities (work, hobbies, shopping, sports, social
events), interests (food, fashion, family, recreation), and opinions (about
themselves, social issues, business, products). Lifestyle captures something
more than the person’s social class or personality. It profiles a person’s whole
pattern of acting and interacting in the world.

Several research firms have developed lifestyle classifications. It divides

consumers into eight groups based on two major dimensions: self-orientation
and resources. Self-orientation groups include principle-oriented consumers
who buy based on their views of the world; status-oriented buyers who base
their purchases on the actions and opinions of others; and action-oriented
buyers who are driven by their desire for activity, variety, and risk taking.
Consumers within each orientation are further classified into those with
abundant resources and those with minimal resources, depending on whether
they have high or low levels of income, education, health, self-confidence,
energy, and other factors. Consumers with either very high or very low levels
of resources are classified without regard to their self-orientations (actualizers,
strugglers). Actualizers are people with so   many resources that they can
indulge in any or all self-orientations. In contrast, strugglers are people with
too few resources to be included in any consumer orientation.

e. Personality and Self-Concept

Each person’s distinct personality influences his or her buying behavior.

Personality refers to the unique psychological characteristics that lead to
relatively consistent and lasting responses to one’s own environment.
Personality is usually described in terms of traits such as self-confidence,
dominance, sociability, autonomy, defensiveness, adaptability, and
aggressiveness. Personality can be useful in analyzing consumer behavior for
certain product or brand choices. For example, coffee marketers have
discovered that heavy coffee drinkers tend to be high on sociability. Thus, to
attract customers, Starbucks and other coffeehouses create environments in
which people can relax and socialize over a cup of steaming coffee.

Many marketers use a concept related to personality—a person’s self-concept

(also called self-image). The basic self-concept premise is that people’s
possessions contribute to and reflect their identities; that is, “we are what we
have.” Thus, in order to understand consumer behavior, the marketer must
first understand the relationship between consumer self-concept and
possessions. For example, the founder and chief executive of Barnes &
Noble, the nation’s leading bookseller, notes

4. Psychological Factors

A person’s buying choices are further influenced by four major psychological

factors: motivation, perception, learning, and beliefs and attitudes.

a. Motivation

A person has many needs at any given time. Some are biological, arising from
states of tension such as hunger, thirst, or discomfort. Others are
psychological, arising from the need for recognition, esteem, or belonging.
Most of these needs will not be strong enough to motivate the person to act at
a given point in time. A need becomes a motive when it is aroused to a
sufficient level of intensity. A motive (or drive) is a need that is sufficiently
pressing to direct the person to seek satisfaction. Psychologists have
developed theories of human motivation. Two of the most popular—the
theories of Sigmund Freud and Abraham Maslow—have quite different
meanings for consumer analysis and marketing.

b. Maslow’s Theory of Motivation

Abraham Maslow sought to explain why people are driven by particular needs
at particular times. Why does one person spend much time and energy on
personal safety and another on gaining the esteem of others? Maslow’s
answer is that human needs are arranged in a hierarchy, from the most
pressing to the least pressing. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is shown in
Figure. In order of importance, they are physiological needs, safety needs,
social needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization needs. A person tries to
satisfy the most important need first. When that need is satisfied, it will stop
being a motivator and the person will then try to satisfy the next most
important need. For example, starving people (physiological need) will not
take an interest in the latest happenings in the art world (self-actualization
needs), nor in how they are seen or esteemed by others (social or esteem
needs), nor even in whether they are breathing clean air (safety needs). But
as each important need is satisfied, the next most important need will come
into play.

c. Perception

A motivated person is ready to act. How the person acts is influenced by his or
her own perception of the situation. All of us learn by the flow of information
through our five senses: sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste. However,
each of us receives, organizes, and interprets this sensory information in an
individual way. Perception is the process by which people select, organize,
and interpret information to form a meaningful picture of the world.

People can form different perceptions of the same stimulus because of three
perceptual processes: selective attention, selective distortion, and selective
retention. People are exposed to a great amount of stimuli every day. For
example, the average person may be exposed to more than 1,500 ads in a
single day. It is impossible for a person to pay attention to all these stimuli.
Selective attention—the tendency for people to screen out most of the
information to which they are exposed—means that marketers have to work
especially hard to attract the consumer’s attention.

Even noted stimuli do not always come across in the intended way. Each
person fits incoming information into an existing mind-set. Selective distortion
describes the tendency of people to interpret information in a way that will
support what they already believe. Selective distortion means that marketers
must try to understand the mind-sets of consumers and how these will affect
interpretations of advertising and sales information.

d. Learning

When people act, they learn. Learning describes changes in an individual’s

behavior arising from experience. Learning theorists say that most human
behavior is learned. Learning occurs through the interplay of drives, stimuli,
cues, responses, and reinforcement.

e. Beliefs and Attitudes

Through doing and learning, people acquire beliefs and attitudes. These, in
turn, influence their buying behavior. A belief is a descriptive thought that a
person has about something. Buying behavior differs greatly for a tube of
toothpaste, a tennis racket, an expensive camera, and a new car. More
complex decisions usually involve more buying participants and more buyer
deliberation. Figure shows types of consumer buying behavior based on the
degree of buyer involvement and the degree of differences among brands.

Trends Affecting Consumers in 2019

Though technology remains important, the consumer in 2019 is looking for balance.

Convergence of Digital and Physical

Shopping
In an effort to find a balance between technology and human interaction, today’s
consumer is interested in both a digital and physical shopping experience. While past
years saw closing of many brick-and-mortar stores in light of the Amazon revolution, in
2019 Forbes indicates a shift. Now, many online-only businesses are opening physical
spaces.
Other retailers, like Target, are learning how to merge their digital shopping
environments with their physical spaces. This trend has led to the creation of a new
term, “Phygital,” which refers to the merged brick-and-mortar experience and the online
shopping experience.

A New Definition of Beauty

All brands must understand what consumers define as beautiful, as it will impact
everything from model selection for advertisements to the products people choose to
buy. The definition of beauty is changing as consumers crave diversity and inclusivity.
Many shoppers respond positively to ads that include people with disabilities, people of
different body sizes, and people with a diverse set of physical features.

On the other hand, consumers are responding negatively and rejecting brands that push
a specific “traditional” definition of beauty. Beauty is now seen as a way to express one’s
self, rather than a way to fit into a mold. Brands that respond to this trend by embracing
diversity in both their products and their advertising choices will see greater success as
2019 progresses.

The Role of “Influence” Will Become Even

Greater
Social influencers are growing in importance among brands and marketing
professionals. A recommendation from a well-loved blogger or radio personality can
drive more sales than a strategically positioned advertisement. Reviews from real
consumers will influence more buying decisions than just about anything else.

What makes influencers so valuable in changing consumer actions is the many different
platforms where they can get across their messages. From online platforms to Instagram
and other social media channels, to radio and television advertising, influential people
are able to leverage multiple channels to drive purchase decisions. Brands that
incorporate this knowledge into their business plans will find greater success in the
coming years.

Demand for Eco-Friendly, Low Plastic

Options
Eco-friendly is not a new trend, but in 2019 it is becoming increasingly important. In early
2018, China ended the import of plastics for recycling, and America faced a serious
problem. Now, with nowhere to send plastics, recycling initiatives have become less
beneficial. Many cities, even those with recycling programs, are left with huge piles of
plastic with nowhere to dispose of them. Because of this, some cities have actually
stopped offering recycling programs altogether, because they do not have the facilities to
recycle and no longer have a place to sell the plastics to have them recycled. Those that
are keeping these programs are paying quite a bit more for them. Recycling less,
however, certainly does not align with consumer desires. In 2019, a large portion of the
population is concerned about the environment. It took some time for consumers to
understand the impact of China’s plastic ban, but now that they are aware, it is changing
the way they buy products.

As a result, many consumers are willing to spend more for products that were packaged
in an eco-friendly way. Recyclable and recycled packaging is something people will pay
more to have. Many brands, like IKEA, are phasing out single-use plastic products and
oil-based plastic materials in favor of more eco-friendly options. Brands that follow this
trend may find greater success in the coming years.

Time Saving Becomes a Premium Service

In 2019, life is busier than ever. As a result, consumers are demanding their products
and services right now. They do not have time to wait for the things they need, and
mobile technology makes it even easier to order products and services in the moment of
need. This “efficiency-driven lifestyle” means that consumers are more than happy to
spend money on something that will save them some time.

Some marketers are responding accordingly.

For example, many major retailers, including Walmart and Target, are offering pickup
services. Shoppers shop on their phones or computers, then arrive at the store at a
scheduled time with their groceries ready to get loaded into their car. Amazon Go stores,
launched in Seattle and Chicago, have ditched the checkout line. Customers simply
scan their app when they enter the store, pick up what they need and leave. Their
Amazon account is automatically charged for what they buy.

This trend also translates into the online shopping world. Fast, even next day, delivery
remains in high demand. Consumers are used to the lighting speed of Amazon Prime
and are willing to pay well for similar services from other retailers.