Families and the Buying Decision Process †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Families and the Buying Decision Process. Answer: Families form societal institutions that shape how other family members make decisions. Beyond social roles, families have been found to serve a critical role to determine purchase decision making processes among family members and relatives (Polya Sandor, 2013). In fact, families play a significant role in terms of consumer socialization and in the end, this influences how children become consumers. In one of his studies for instance, Polya and Sandor maintain that it forms a framework under which children start learning on different ways to behave as potential consumers, obtain all relevant competencies pertaining to buying and consumption, from which they turn into competent to other consumers. Change of roles among children in families is not a recent thing, but it has been in the air for the past years. It has affected purchase decision making processes among families (Koc, 2004). Children see themselves in the same position as the rest of the family members. In most cases, they gain knowledge concerning what parents do and make a competency decision. Chander Raza (2015) claim that in fact, most children have learnt to become consumers than their counterparts a few decades ago. We can differentiate two different situations that contribute to one making decision in a family: at an individual level and at a group level. When a product is affordable, it might cause any problem and hence, can be bought easily by family members. Nonetheless, in the case that a product has a high value, then several members of the family take part in the decision making with each member taking different roles. This aspect brings out a family as an important component in the decision making process. In one of the studies conducted by Comegys, Hannula and Visnen (2006), the decision making process assumes five key stages. They include recognizing customer needs, searching for information, conducting evaluation, making final decision to purchase the product, and post purchase behaviour. In every part of these stages, families take part in shaping the decisions of their children. Hibi? and Poturak (2016) refer to need recognition as the problem seeking stage. This is when one member of the family sees the difference between the state they would like to have and the current actual state. Of course, other factors that play a role include income, family size, education, race, sex, age, and marital status. Information search by customers makes it possible to use a number of techniques and tools in order to collect critical information that shows different products and services already available in stores. A perfect case is an exploratory study conducted by Chander Raza (2015) to understand the extent to which male and female provided information in an electronic decision making process. The study targeted tourists that travelled as a group. The findings revealed that spouses preferred consulting among themselves to gain more information about the services and possible destination points. Similarly, Polya and Sandor (2013) explain that through active information search, children always engage their parents or close relatives to offer information regarding brands, prices, models, and quality, among other critical information. Koc (2004) posit that consumers also receive information through personal sources such as family and friends, experimental sources, public sources, and commercial sources. While commercial sources contribute greatly towards generation of information, Koc, acknowledges that the personal source offers the most effective information. Evaluation of alternatives help consumers in setting rules, cut-off, or attributes concerning product choices available. While these are the most minimum acceptable levels, customers end up using an alternative they perceive as trustworthy. This could be through first-hand experience in consumption of products. Family members and friends have been found to top the list in this category. According to Petkovski and Mirchevska (2013), they are more willing to share their testimonies on product use, cost, and value. Of course, families play a key role in assigning potential consumers reduce the list of alternatives. The Purchase decision comes after a customer has already evaluated available alternatives. Comegys, et al (2006) illustrate that attitude of family members, the community, or friends might put pressure on customers to change their preferences. The second factor might include prices as part of unexpected occurrences. However, what of if these factors fail to have an impact on a customer? This would result in what Comegys, et al refer to as impulse buying. Even after an individual has purchased the product, the purchase process will still go on. Two important factors that always come in the minds of marketers and retailers include post-purchase satisfaction and post-purchase actions. Again, families interact to influence one another to make repurchases or preferences. Marketers might target mothers or newlywed couples to purchase home products. As a group, couples are likely to seek information from one another because of preferences and loyalty. Therefore, it is evident that throughout the five decision making processes, families play significant roles in influencing purchase behaviours. References Chander, S., Raza, M. (2015) Consumer Buying Behaviour: A Comparative Study of Male and Female Users of Electronics, Abasyn University Journal Of Social Sciences, 8(1), 47-61. Comegys, C., Hannula, M., Visnen, J. (2006) Longitudinal comparison of Finnish and US online shopping behaviour among university students: The five-stage buying decision process, Journal Of Targeting, Measurement Analysis For Marketing, 14(4), pp. 336-356. Hibi?, S., Poturak, M. (2016) Impact of a Brand on Consumer Decision-making Process, European Journal of Economic Studies, 17(3), pp. 405-414 Koc, E. (2004) The Role of Family Members in the Family Holiday Purchase Decision-Making Process, International Journal of Hospitality Tourism Administration, 5(2), pp. 85-102 Petkovski, V., Mirchevska, T. P. (2013) The concept of anchoring and psychological pricing in the customer's decision making process, Economic Development (3), pp. 45-56. Polya, E., Sandor, R. (2013) Examining the role of family members in family buying enter in adult Hungarian population, European Scientific Journal, Vol. 19, pp. 1857-7881