Individual Factors Affecting Consumer Behaviour

The Personal Factors are the individual factors to the consumers that strongly influences their buying behaviors. These factors vary from person to person that results in a different set of perceptions, attitudes and behavior towards certain goods and services.

Some of the important personal factors are:

1. Age

The consumer buying behavior is greatly influenced by his age, i.e. the life cycle stage in which he falls. The people buy different products in different stages of the life cycle. Such as the purchase of confectionaries, chocolates is more when an individual is a child and as he grows his preferences for the products also changes.

Age and human lifecycle also influence the buying behaviour of consumers. Teenagers would be more interested in buying bright and loud colours as compared to a middle aged or elderly individual who would prefer decent and subtle designs.

A bachelor would prefer spending lavishly on items like beer, bikes, music, clothes, parties, clubs and so on. A young single would hardly be interested in buying a house, property, insurance policies, gold etc. An individual who has a family, on the other hand would be more interested in buying something which would benefit his family and make their future secure.

2. Income

The income of the person influences his buying patterns. The income decides the purchasing power of an individual and thus, the more the personal income, the more will be the expenditure on other items and vice-versa.

3. Occupation

The occupation of the individual also influences his buying behavior. The people tend to buy those products and services that advocate their profession and role in the society. For example, the buying patterns of the lawyer will be different from the other groups of people such as doctor, teacher, businessman, etc.

4. Lifestyle

The consumer buying behavior is influenced by his lifestyle. The lifestyle means individual’s interest, values, opinions and activities that reflect the manner in which he lives in the society. Such as, if the person has a healthy lifestyle then he will avoid the junk food and consume more of organic products.

Lifestyle, a term proposed by Austrian psychologist Alfred Adler in 1929, refers to the way an individual stays in the society. It is really important for some people to wear branded clothes whereas some individuals are really not brand conscious. An individual staying in a posh locality needs to maintain his status and image. An individual’s lifestyle is something to do with his style, attitude, perception, his social relations and immediate surroundings.

5. Personality

An individual’s personality also affects his buying behaviour. Every individual has his/her own characteristic personality traits which reflect in his/her buying behaviour.A fitness freak would always look for fitness equipments whereas a music lover would happily spend on musical instruments, CDs, concerts, musical shows etc.

6. Economic Condition

The buying tendency of an individual is directly proportional to his income/earnings per month. How much an individual brings home decides how much he spends and on which products?

Individuals with high income would buy expensive and premium products as compared to individuals from middle and lower income group who would spend mostly on necessary items. You would hardly find an individual from a low income group spending money on designer clothes and watches. He would be more interested in buying grocery items or products necessary for his survival.

These are some of the personal factors that influence the individual’s buying behavior, and the marketer is required to study all these carefully before designing the marketing campaign.