Introduction
There has been extensive use of human behaviors as an indicator of their consumer habits, in the recent years consumers go beyond the quality of the product but other factors like production practices, company’s social responsibility amongst others come into play.
Satisfaction and Emotions
Satisfaction is one key element that is used in assessing consumer’s post purchase period which can be characterized by anger, bitterness, guilt or sadness, all these depend on the consumer’s attitude towards the purchased item. This does not only emanate from the actual product alone, the company’s image comes to play. This brings to the picture a situation where an emotion, which is the primary source of human memory, and come into play in determining the pattern a consumer, is likely to take in future purchases.
According to Westbrook and Oliver (1991), consumer behavior is largely influenced by previous experiences. The attitude consumers have towards any product in the market is as a result of either satisfaction or dissatisfaction from the previous purchases. A consumer who in a previous transaction purchased an item but later felt dissatisfied will not go for that item any other time and is likely to influence others in rejecting the same.
This also applies in line with the image the company has cultivated amongst consumers. This study is important as it portrays consumer treads which have an effect on a products performance in the market; it is employed by researchers to come up with hypothesis on performance of various products.
Animal Friendly
There has been an increased activities around the world centered on preservation and conservation of animal welfare, this has brought about the emergence of a clique of consumers who base products purchases with how animal friendly the products are. There has emerged a group of conservationists who on top of emphasizing on anti cruelty laws which protect animals from abuse and neglect, this group has its focus on curtailing the use of animals in provision of cheap food and textiles.
Changes in laws governing animal welfare especially in Europe has seen a rise in market demand for animal friendly products. Research has found out that after the European Union increased the size of laying cages, more consumers are insisting on eggs produced under the new set standards. (Saneddon at el 2010)
In Australia, there have been vibrant campaigns aimed at ending mullesing an old husbandry act, practiced by the framers for centuries. Part of skin on the breech area of lambs is surgically removed allegedly to prevent fly strike a common problem occurring in sheep across the globe. There has been mounting activism in the recent past on the boycott of all animal products whose producers fail to abide with the new set regulations.
The activists are demanding an end to what they are calling brutality on livestock. This wave is gaining popularity and consumers are keener on production processes and they are putting more emphasis on methods perceived to be less painful ton the animals. The impact is now being felt as leading apparel makers across the globe like Hugo Boss, Hennas, and Matalan amongst others have boycotted wool from muellesed sheep. (Sneddon at al 2010)
Ethical consumerism
Ethical consumerism is a new phenomenon and this is buying and consuming products that are made under humane labor and production practices, there are set guidelines that set the thresholds that prescribe the minimum working conditions that workers are entitled to for their goods to be accepted in the markets, this ranges from the early stages of production of raw materials to the processing and marketing stage.
In the formative years there were complains about profit driven companies who worked in total disregard of the welfare of the employees. They were said to exploit their workers in total disregard of their basic rights.
Consumers are also increasingly identifying with those empathetic producers who are known to participate in charity work, and champion for the freedoms and welfare of their staff and surrounding communities. Corporate social responsibility is the channel through which organizations show concern for those who are not core to its activities, especially the disadvantaged.
In many situations organizations mostly take the materialistic approach by donating material things that will elicit public approval. (Webb, Khoo 2010) These donations are informs that arouse a huge public interest, this is a method used to hoodwink the masses into further recognizing the organizations efforts and the consumers are hoodwinked by the kindness gesture.
Conclusion
All the writers are drawing a close between consumer habits and welfare. All producers must realize that having quality products alone will not do in the market , but there is need to adhere to the set regional or global production patterns and processes in order to gain acceptability. There is increased emphasis on environmental, impact, social welfare, and human as well as animal rights and their plight.
With the proliferation of consumer, animal and human rights bodies on the market arena, a producer must not be seen as hurting any of these aspects in the course of their production. These bodies seek do set thresholds of acceptable trade practices, in a quest to conserve nature and uphold animal and human dignity.
References
Sneddon J, Lee J, Souter G (2010) An Exploration of Ethical Consumer’s response to animal friendly apparel labeling. Web.
Webb D, Khoo V (2010) Exploring Singaporean Giving Behavior to Different Charitable Causes. Web.
Westbrook R, Oliver R (1991). Dimensionality of Consumption Emotion Patterns and Consumer Satisfaction. Journal of Consumer Research. Web.