I chose to observe a friend of mine named Isaac; he is 22 years old and stays in the same apartment with me. Isaac is African but been living in the US with his parents for fifteen years. During this observation period I tried to look out for the kind of items he purchased, where he prefers to purchase these different items, how much he spends for these items and if he’s price conscious, if the prices affects his purchasing decisions, and lastly why he makes the purchases.
A consumer’s buying behavior is influenced by four major factors; cultural, social, personal, and psychological factors. These factors cause consumers to develop product and brand preferences. Although many of these factors cannot be directly controlled by marketers, understanding of their impact is essential as marketing mix strategies can be developed to appeal to the preferences of the target market. ( Hawkins 2013) , These were the factors that guided me while observing my roommate.
The observation took place for couple of weeks particularly during the weekends because that’s the most time he gets his groceries and needs, so I was confident there would be a lot to observe. My roommate is African so naturally he tends to eat more African homemade dishes compared to the more circular meals around. As a result I noticed he prefers to go shopping in Hy-Vee compared to Walmart due to the fact that he gets more food items ingredients in Hy-Vee compared to Walmart. For example I noticed he buys some items you won’t find at Walmart like habanero peppers, fresh red tomatoes, some kind of spicy sauce etc. As a result of this I concluded that his satisfying needs influences his purchases rather than price or other factors. Considering he has been staying in the US for fifteen years he’s still much attached to his cultural norms which I figured out is mainly because he lives with his parents.
While observing Isaac I also figured out the kind of clothes he purchases are thick durable shirt and jean trousers, he likes to make purchases that suits him both in the winter and summer thereby saving lots of money in having to buy new clothes for each season. I can say in reference to the choices he makes while shopping for clothes, he’s price conscious because he tries to get what suits him for both seasons as in the case of the jeans trousers he buys which can be worn in both cold and hot seasons. Isaac makes most of these purchases on-line probably because there’s wider inventory and different choices can be found as a