Markting

Question 1: Environmental Factors

In general, environmental factors are controlled by social factors, which base on cultural, political and economic situations present in a particular society. For grace children’s products, the two major environmental factors that would affect consumer behaviors are cultural factors and demographic/ social factors. Culture is very important in understanding the needs of any individual because throughout life, they are influence by family, cultural environments and friends. Social or demographic factors can be put to three categories, social status and roles, family and reference groups. These are groups whose opinions are important to the consumer, making their perception of the product important. For example, if the buyers’ parents believe that grace children’s products are helpful to children, the buyer will most likely buy it, because they trust the opinion (Dixon & Thompson, 2013).

Question 2: Consumer Factors

These traits unique to the individual influence the decision-making and thereby buying behavior of customers. The first and most important one is lifestyle. People living lavish lifestyle will want only the best for their children in terms of quality. This will make them more likely to buy the products for their children. The second is income, this is crucial because you have to have money to spend money. People who earn enough money for basic needs only will not have the money to buy products even if they desire them, they have to prioritize their spending and the product may not be at the top of their priority list. The third is age and way of life. People don’t buy the same products when they are 70 as they did when they were 20. Activities, values, hobbies and other traits evolve with time throughout their lives. Moreover, factors influencing the buying decision process change. And older people know exactly what they need, younger parents tend to buy more than they need (Dixon & Thompson, 2013).

Question 3: Role of involvement in customer decision-making

Grace children’s product may not be expensive but they are important in ensuring that children and parents have the best experience and comfort from the earliest age possible. Therefore, it is more likely than not that the level of involvement in deciding whether to purchase the product will be high. This is because parents who want to bring their children up a certain way take seriously the options available so as to ensure the products bought are safe for their children and themselves. Therefore, they will do research on the products, process the information and make the decision weather the product is suitable for their children or not. This level of involvement is consistent with complex consumer buying behavior (Cheung & Thadani, 2012).

Question 4: Consumer Decision-making Process

First step is problem recognition; the parent has to realize the need to make their child comfortable, while making their work easier. Thus, the marketing strategy will be to show how grace children’s products make the babies more comfortable while reducing the effort or work put in by the parent. The second is information search where the consumer finds out options available. The strategy here would be to ensure that wherever they look, the product details are available, be it online, in magazines or TV advertisements. The third is evaluation of alternatives. The strategy here would be to ensure that the products are presented in a manner that shows it serving all the need for parents. Fourth is purchase decision, which is influence by price, delivery, warranties and so forth. The best strategy here is to show the product as the one that gives the best value for money spent. This includes easy payments, deliveries and delivery time. Fifth is the actual purchase of the product, the best products are those that are easy to pay for and get delivered shortly after the order has been made. Sixth is the post purchase evaluation, following up to ensure that the purchased products served the purse it was intended for well without any problems reassures the customer that you care and builds loyalty. The next time they need any products for their children they will prefer grace children’s products (Clemen & Reilly, 2013).

References

Dixon, M. J., & Thompson, G. (2013). Bundling and Scheduling Service Packages with Customer Behavior: Model and Heuristic. Available at SSRN 2206479.

Cheung, C. M., & Thadani, D. R. (2012). The impact of electronic word-of-mouth communication: A literature analysis and integrative model. Decision Support Systems, 54(1), 461-470.

Clemen, R., & Reilly, T. (2013). Making hard decisions with DecisionTools. Cengage Learning.