Introduction
The modern market economy prioritizes the field of consumption over that of production, and the relationship between the consumer and the retailer is of great importance to society. Consumer behavior, or the actions of a person who is considered a consumer, can be characterized in different ways, depending on the perspective. The characteristics of economic, sociological, and psychoanalytical perspectives on particular consumer choice events will be analyzed.
Consumption Event Definition
Initially, the consumption process is divided into several primary stages. In a brief description, six main stages can be distinguished – determination of need, search for information, evaluation of the product, purchase, usage, and disposal. In this case, stages one through four will be discussed in detail, as they are directly related to the process of product selection.
The determination of the demand, or issue, consists of a person’s assertion of a need for a specific product or service. This stage can be considered complete when consumers consciously recognize the necessity to purchase (Hornsby and Love, 2022). Marketing plays a significant role by having the possibility to impose such a desire on the potential buyer. After confirming the need begins the process of searching for information to create the criteria for the choice: this stage takes place when buying a costly item and can take months, and when buying ordinary goods from the shelf in the supermarket – information such as packaging, weight, or manufacturer is analyzed.
Product evaluation and product selection is the process that any company’s marketing efforts are designed to influence. Consumers can use criteria of different personal priorities when there are several product options or alternative product groups (Olsen, 2019). The study takes as its subject the example of making a choice when buying a car, a rather serious decision even for consumers with a high level of earnings.
Traditionally, when choosing a car, potential buyers:
- Consider the brand and model based on their capability and need;
- Choose a retailer between official dealers or the aftermarket;
- Visit car dealerships and secondary markets, make personal meetings with private sellers, and examine the products close up;
- Make a selection and purchase.
Economic Perspective
From an economic perspective, consumer choice is made based on consumer preferences, needs, buyer’s income, and commodity prices. The egoistic pursuit of the buyer’s interest as a unit of consumption also implies utility maximization, a clear definition of necessity, and direct dependence on available resources (Rao et al., 2018). The rationality of decisions and autonomy in choice characterizes the “economic man” in the neoclassical economic theory (Etilé, 2022, p. 223). This view of the choice process implies the priority of the financial criterion in making a decision.
When buying a car, people, from this perspective, determine for themselves an acceptable minimum and maximum cost. It will depend on the buyer’s total expenses and income, with potential consideration (Haughwout and Mandel, 2019). Having a price range, the potential buyer tries to maximize the price-to-quality ratio when researching information (Amron, 2018, p. 236). It means that when considering cars in their price category, the consumer prefers more prestigious brands, better specifications, and conditions while trying to keep the price dimension as close to the lower end of the acceptable range as possible for the most significant benefit in the transaction.
Sociological Perspective
According to the sociological approach, consumer choice is seen as part of consumer behavior and is far from always rational or prevailing. In pursuing an individual’s own good, consumption does not always seek to increase, as sociology distinguishes communication, rivalry, or power as integral parts of human development in society (Shayo, 2020). From a sociological perspective, the process of choice is understood as a social process whose regulators are the interests, behavior, and interaction of consumers, social groups, and strata, depending on specific social or historical conditions.
Nowadays, consumption can often have a social character, and even in individual consumption, individuals relate their actions to certain social groups or communities. When buying a car, this is more evident than ever-a. Middle-class people will never allow themself to buy a low-end car (after an accident or of inferior visual qualities). Even provided the car is technically in excellent condition and economically even more profitable than the minimal price estimated by the consumer, a person from this social group will not even consider such an option. They foresee the reaction of their social group, which will express explicit or implicit denunciation of the decision taken (Ekstrom and Brembeck, 2020). At the same time, as this group member, the consumer would react exactly the same way to such a decision by other group members. In some high-class social groups, a similar adverse reaction awaits anyone who, for whatever reason, buys a Ford or Nissan pickup truck instead of the usual Jaguar or Maserati.
Psychoanalitical Perspective
The psychoanalytical perspective views consumer behavior as a particular case of social behavior, which is flexible and fluid, characterized by variability and a certain logic of development. It divides decision-making into levels, among which are strategies of human economic behavior, consumption habits based on preferences at a more tactical level, and spontaneous situational consumption under the influence of emotional state or external factors (Babin and Harris, 2021, p. 118). When making a choice, the consumer often overestimates or underestimates specific product properties due to the subjectivity of their own evaluation. In the case of car purchases, many buyers overestimate, for example, the color – some men consider pink a feminine color and will prefer it over another, even ignoring the possible clear economic benefit (Millot, 2019). Furthermore, some buyers buy a car with manual transmission for greater trust in the mechanics as a measure of personal peace of mind.
Consumption Perspectives Comparison
The economic approach to assessing consumer choice, as compared to the socio-psychological ones, focuses on a narrower set of criteria. According to this approach, the necessity, the cost of the goods, and the number of finances the consumer is willing to spend that matter in the formation of the final determination. However, people are not always strictly rational in making decisions, so there are sociological and psycho-aesthetic perspectives. The sociological perspective emphasizes social factors among decision-making factors, that is, the influence of society on the consumer’s decision, social group, or class. The psychoanalytical perspective focuses on the individual’s personality and characteristics that influence decision-making (Zhou and Liu, 2020, p.6). In addition to this fundamental dissimilarity, making more serious consumer choices may also be a priority difference (Kuokkanen and Sun, 2020, p. 419). For example, a person is more rational and unhurried when choosing a car, and it is less likely that this choice will be made quickly and spontaneously under the influence of a marketing move. Moreover, it could be argued that a spontaneous decision is more likely to be made when completing small purchases.
Best Consumption Choice Examples within the Perspectives
Each consumer situation can be considered and analyzed using all three methods. However, in this situation, the economic approach is the most rational, as it is in similar situations involving severe spending on the buyer’s position and certain long-term results (Martinho, 2020, pp. 6-7). In addition to buying a car, this could include buying real estate or construction work, hiring an attorney in a lawsuit, or an unnecessary medical operation such as vision correction.
With the sociological approach, it is easiest to analyze consumer situations that involve joint decision-making by several individuals or whose outcome will affect a group of individuals. An example of such situations might be the purchase of decorations for a communal park area or the public construction of a playground in the neighborhood (Shayo, 2020). Psychoanalytical methodology, on the other hand, helps to understand consumer behavior’s cognitive and behavioral causes (Roubal, 2018, p. 44). Thus, the narrowest components of behavior are explored, such as the symbolic load of goods and the identification of marker goods (Donnelly et al., 2021). It is most convenient to analyze inadequate consumer behavior, which involves the purchase and consumption of excessive amounts of tobacco, alcohol, and drug products. Psychoanalytical analysis can also more clearly explore the efficacy of narrowly targeted marketing moves.
Conclusion
Therefore, as an example, the consumer process of choosing and buying a car was examined. The economic, sociological, and psychoanalytical approaches have their own prospects in this sort of process, but the economic approach is the most appropriate. Determining the best value option involves minimizing cost while improving the car’s qualities and requires a rational approach. The best value can be achieved by leveling out social influences or irrational personal preferences.
Reference List
Amron, A. (2018) ‘The influence of brand image, brand trust, product quality, and price on the consumer’s buying decision of MPV cars’, European Scientific Journal, 14(13), p. 228.
Babin, B. J. and Harris, E. (2021) CB: Consumer behavior. Boston: Cengage.
Donnelly, R. et al. (2021) ‘Counterfactual inference for consumer choice across many product categories’, Quantitative Marketing and Economics, 19(3), pp. 369-407.
Ekstrom, K. M. and Brembeck, H. (2020) Elusive consumption. New York: Routledge.
Etilé, F. (2022) ‘Economic Perspectives on Food Choices, Marketing, and Consumer Welfare’, Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 50(2), pp. 221–232.
Haughwout, A. and Mandel, B. (2019) Handbook of US consumer economics. San Diego: Academic Press.
Hornsby, A. N. and Love, B. C. (2022) ‘Sequential consumer choice as multi-cued retrieval’, Science advances, 8(8), eabl9754.
Kuokkanen, H. and Sun, W. (2020) ‘Companies, meet ethical consumers: Strategic CSR management to impact consumer choice’, Journal of Business Ethics, 166(2), pp. 403-423.
Martinho, V. J. P. D. (2020) ‘Food marketing as a special ingredient in consumer choices: The main insights from existing literature’, Foods, 9(11), p. 1651.
Millot, M. (2019) Embarrassment of product choices 2: Towards a society of well-being. London: ISTE.
Olsen, N. (2019) The sovereign consumer: A new intellectual history of neoliberalism. Copenhagen: Palgrave Macmillan.
Rao, V. R. et al. (2018) ‘Emerging trends in product bundling: Investigating consumer choice and firm behavior’, Customer Needs and Solutions, 5(1), pp. 107-120.
Roubal, O. (2018) ‘Maximizers and satisficers in consumer culture changes’,Communication Today, 9(2). Web.
Shayo, M. (2020) ‘Social identity and economic policy’. Annual Review of Economics, 12. Web.
Zhou, G. and Liu, W. (2022) ‘Consumer choice in online vegetable distribution terminals: A Planned Behavior approach’, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 68, 103019.