Abstract
Current research on macro trends that influence customer decision-making strategy focuses on product presentation and the role of social media. Factors, including the economic status of the surrounding population, culture, consumer behavior, and demographics, play a critical role in determining the purchasing decision that consumers can make. Social media advertisements attract the consumer, in that, by the end of the promotion process, the consumers find themselves developing affiliation to the specific brand and product. Features on product presentations are paramount as they help the customer comprehend the product better, making purchase decisions quickly. In addition, researchers need to explore further the impact of the present phenomenon, including Covid-19, and how it will impact the customer’s purchasing decisions in the future. Equally, researchers should explore further the relationship between decision-making the technological advancements. Studies project that the future market will go cashless, and researchers have the task of investigating how the progressions will affect decision-making strategies among the target consumer.
Introduction
The current research state in customer decision-making macro trends project on how product presentation dictates or influences consumer decision-making and diversity among different age groups. Research has found that high product presentation rates lead to increased affective, visuals, and cognitive responses because consumers want much visual-related data to make excellent purchase decisions (Boardman & McCormick, 2019). The current research focuses on discovering the different behaviors that consumers across ages exhibit when various products are visually presented. According to Boardman and McCormick (2019), consumers who are in their 20s spend relatively less time intermingling and observing the merchandise exhibition features than those in their 30s-50s. Similarly, the existing decision-making macro trends focus on social media’s actual impact on critical consumer behaviors. Voramontri and Klieb (2018) mention that social media impacts client approval in different information search stages and alternative evaluation. Social media amplifies gratification as the customers move close to the purchase decision.
There are several significant themes that researchers are finding regarding the macro trends that influence customer decision-making. According to Wirtz and Chung (2015), economic, cultural, and equally consumer behavior determines customers’ decisions towards different products. Technology is also another theme that dictates how customers make decisions regarding different brands and products to purchase (Stankevich et al., 2017). Most people who form a part of the consumer market use different technological devices, accessing the internet and company websites frequently. Researchers predict that in the next twenty years, the consumer decision-making factors are likely to shift towards understanding how new consumers interact with the existing consumers over time and how this affects decision-making (Malter et al., 2020). Also, researchers recommend studying the same topic but at finer levels in the future, and equally, the impact of the present impeding crises like Covid-19 and how they will affect future consumer decisions towards different products and brands (Malter et al., 2020).
Annotated Bibliography
Boardman, R., & McCormick, H. (2019). The impact of product presentation on decision-making and purchasing. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal. Web.
This study investigates how apparel product presentations critically impact consumers’ decision-making approach and whether there are distinct age group differences. The research employs mixed methodologies commencing qualitative in-depth interviews and eye-tracking, with a purposive sample of fifty subjects aged between 20-70 years. The discovered findings are that the more features in products presented resulted in increased positive visual, practical, and cognitive responses since consumers wanted more features and visual information to make purchase decisions. Participants in their 20s spent less time interacting and viewing product presentation features than the middle-aged groups, between the age of 30-50 years. Moreover, the 20s groups were quick to make purchase decisions. The researchers reiterate that this study informs retailers that product presentation features are paramount for making purchase decisions. The authors champion the idea that this study contributes to the consumer decision-making literature by incorporating authentic approaches than the previous studies into the actual effects of online product presentation on client decision-making by using eye-tracking and qualitative research methods.
Malter, M. S., Holbrook, M. B., Kahn, B. E., Parker, J. R., & Lehmann, D. R. (2020). The past, present, and future of consumer research. Marketing Letters, 1-13. Web.
This study documents the research trends evolution in the consumer behavior field, from the time of development to the present time, as a critical multidisciplinary research sphere within marketing. The researchers describe the current retailing and real-world consumption changes and simultaneously suggest how to embrace consumption phenomena observations to generate authentic and engaging consumer research questions. The article states that market consumption continues to shift due to advancements in technology and equally shift in the consumer’s goals and values. This study projects that in the future, consumer behavior and decision-making need to focus on the impacts of the present obstacles, including Covid-19, on the consumer market and customer preferences. Future research has to elaborate on how the consumer will embrace a cashless world and subsequent technological advancements.
Stankevich, A., Akhunjonov, U., & Obrenovic, B. (2017). Explaining the consumer decision-making process: a critical literature review. Journal of International Business Research and Marketing, 2(6), 7-14.
The article starts by acknowledging that research surrounding consumer behavior and subsequent product-purchase decision-making progressions has advanced, becoming a crucial topic in literature and marketing society. Thus, to expound on the existing research, this study develops an extensive literature review of diverse academic publications regarding the decision-making process topic in marketing and its current status. Different marketing approaches including advertisement dictate the consumer’s decision-making strategy. Moreover, the authors present the latest themes and trends in decision-making among product consumers (Malter et al., 2020). The study further elaborates on the fundamental factors that influence customers’ decision-making, including customs, advertisement, and product quality. According to the presented research, the advertisement makes the target audience interested in the products and equally makes the existing consumers loyal to the brand. Customers prefer being associated with different specific big brands, and it is through commercials that the consumers understand the features of the diverse products. The researchers recommend that marketers comprehend consumers’ behaviors and their purchasing strategies to sanction advertising campaigns and, consequently, embrace success and future prosperity in the market.
Voramontri, D., & Klieb, L. (2019). Impact of social media on consumer behavior. International Journal of Information and Decision Sciences, 11(3), 209-233.
This study aims to empirically develop an understanding of the role that social media plays in the consumer decision-making process in the ‘complex purchases.’ This research defines complex purchases as products characterized by critical brand differences, infrequent and expensive, and equally those products with high consumer risk and involvement (Voramontri & Akhunjonov, 2019). The model uses the alternative evaluation, information search, and purchase stages of decision-making from the classical EBM model. The authors employ a quantitative survey that investigates the degree to which social media rehabilitate experiences. The study results indicate that the use of social media influences that the rates of customer satisfaction exponentially in the alternative evaluation and information search stages. This research also highlights that the client satisfaction rate increases as the consumer moves along the whole process towards the final decision to purchase a product and post-purchase evaluation. This research was conducted among the South-Asia internet-savvy customers, primarily considering consumers’ purchases, thus not including the abandoned searches.
Wirtz, J., & Chung, L. M. (2015). Singapore: Macro Trends and their Implications for Consumer Marketing. In Proceedings of the 1997 World Marketing Congress (pp. 441-443). Springer, Cham. Web.
This study focuses on the Singapore marketing environment trends from a cultural, consumer behavior, demographic, and economic perspective. The investigation presents a picture of a society that is relatively wealthy and with excellent prospects. The primary demographic trend is affiliated to more developed countries, with low population growth, smaller household sizes, and rapid aging (Wirtz & Chung, 2015). Singapore has diverse culture mixed with distinct customs, religions, and languages. The macro trends reflection occurs in consumption behaviors with growing higher-level goods shares, including health services, educational, recreational, and changing consumer lifestyles and values, hence showing that Singaporeans are more status and brand conscious, health-conscious, quality-oriented, and more discerning. The authors depict that the marketing mix trends are an unswerving macro-environment reflection. The study concludes by stating that service and product trends emphasize the upmarket shift. The pricing approach reflects the goods’ higher quality. The non-monetary price lessening strategies are critically attracting more customers. The study demonstrates that promotion increases a sense of belongingness among the target market, hence triggering the attitude of clients positively.
References
Boardman, R., & McCormick, H. (2019). The impact of product presentation on decision-making and purchasing. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal. Web.
Malter, M. S., Holbrook, M. B., Kahn, B. E., Parker, J. R., & Lehmann, D. R. (2020). The past, present, and future of consumer research. Marketing Letters, 1-13. Web.
Stankevich, A., Akhunjonov, U., & Obrenovic, B. (2017). Explaining the consumer decision-making process: a critical literature review. Journal of International Business Research and Marketing, 2(6), 7-14.
Voramontri, D., & Klieb, L. (2019). Impact of social media on consumer behavior. International Journal of Information and Decision Sciences, 11(3), 209-233. Web.
Wirtz, J., & Chung, L. M. (2015). Singapore: Macro Trends and their Implications for Consumer Marketing. In Proceedings of the 1997 World Marketing Congress (pp. 441-443). Springer, Cham. Web.