Consumer behavior is affected by numerous factors such as brand loyalty, its remarkableness, consumer’s income, preferences, memory, emotions, to name just a few. Talking about my perspective on the issue, I should admit that my choice is guided by the attitude to the brand. Below, I will describe more precisely the thinking process and provide two examples from the literature.
I believe that the attitude of people to every aspect of their life affects their behavior, including consumer one. People use money to support a certain brand when purchasing its product. Therefore, when an individual does not support the values of a company, he or she would not buy a product to inform this company that its beliefs are not in demand. This perception is close to the core ideas of behavioral economics. For instance, I do not want to support firms that test their goods on animals and, therefore, the best possible decision I could make is not to spend money on this companys goods. This attitude works vice versa, if I share the views of a brand, then I would support it with my money even though the price of its products is slightly higher than that of a brand that I do not want to assist. Overall, I find that consumer behavior is shaped by the authority of a brand that individuals might either appreciate or not.
The research conducted by Tekin, Yıltay, and Ayaz (2016) indicates that 74 percent of respondents claim that brand image is the critical factor that influences their final decision. The authors state that if people want to be a part of something luxurious, then they would buy a brand that has a suitable image (Tekin et al., 2016). Suki and Sasmita (2015) also confirm that customers associate themselves with certain brands and therefore support the brand image of which they find appealing. Therefore, the mentioned researchers prove the idea that customer behavior depends on the personal attitude towards brands.
References
Suki, J. S. N. M., & Sasmita, J. (2015). Young consumers’ insights on brand equity: Effects of brand association, brand loyalty, brand awareness, and brand image. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 43(3), p. 276-292.
Tekin, G., Yiltay, S., & Ayaz, E. (2016). The effect of brand image on consumer behaviour: Case study of Louiss Vuitton-Moet hennessy. Internatonal Journal of Academic Value Studies, 2(1), p. 1-24.