Introduction
Consumer buyer behavior refers to patterns of behaviors that buyers display towards consumption of certain goods and/ or services based on factors such as price adjustments tastes and preferences, taxation, and seasonality. Basically, if the prices of products are adjusted upwards, there will follow a decline in the purchasing rate by the buyers. High taxation rates either on the goods themselves or on the buyers also plummet the rate of buying a product. Other products are highly susceptible to the tastes and preferences of the public, mostly if these goods have other rivaling brands. Other goods such as umbrellas are gain high selling prospects during the rainy seasons. People buy goods because goods are habitual, insatiable, and competitive (Stone and Desmond, 2007 pp. 87).
Buyers characteristics and consumer buying behavior
A buyer’s judgment can hugely influence consumer behavior. A positive judgment from a buyer who has already purchased and used a product is likely to auger positively with the demand of the product. On the other hand, negative perceptions about a product will affect negatively even the rest of the potential buyers. This factor springs from the principle of the interconnectivity of social networks.
The three clothing brands that are to be analyzed herein are the; Fubu clothing company, Pierre Cardin and Ecko.
The Fubu clothing company
The Fubu clothing company normally targets youthful groups and therefore specializes in the production of sportswear. The Fubu clothing company targets this population by coming up with fancy designs of casual and sportswear. Some of these outfits include; designer jeans, jackets, headgears, jerseys, caps, and shirts. The Fubu company spruces this up by coming up with a distinct type of perfume that is sometimes offered as part of a quantity discount to a customer who has made bulky purchases of Fubu products.
In addition to the above, the Fubu clothing company has made for itself a good name having been known for its classy designs. The company was started in 1992 by John Daymond and has ever since been one of the top three leading clothing companies in the US. The Fubu clothing company has also established a website for comments from Fubu fans and customers.
To ward off competition, Fubu brags of having established a nearly global market through which it is able to penetrate the vast world of the youth. To accompany huge volumes of purchases that exceed 50, 567 American dollars, the Fubu company packages the products for the customer, in Fubu branded bags- although this type of quantity discount is mostly active in the US (Ibid, pp. 34). The Fubu clothing company products are distinguished by the FB. a logo that is always emblazoned on all Fubu products.
The Pierre Cardin clothing company
The Pierre Cardin on the other hand is a clothing brand that specializes in the manufacturing of formal types of clothing, and therefore majors in the production of suits. To this end, it majors on the working class as its chief source of market. Pierre Cardin manages to maintain its market by making classic and fancy designer suits. In addition to this, it has a website for the customers to log in and check out the latest designs. Apart from the US, France, and Britain, the company instead of having its own stores distributes its merchandise through other supermarkets. The Pierre Cardin clothes remain distinguished from other brands by their italicized Pierre Cardin logos.
The Ecko clothing company
The Echo clothing company mainly majors in the production of jeans and jeans outfits. The company targets the youth as the chief customer. This company manages to reach the youth by coming up with baggy jeans that do not fade easily. In addition to this, the company has established websites that allow customers to log in and give their comments on Ecko clothing designs. In the bid to consolidate its huge market, the Ecko jeans company has opened up departmental stores throughout the US states to enhance the accessibility of its products. Closely related to this is the fact that Ecko company has also taken to coming up with full jeans wear ( comprising both a pair of trousers and a jacket). The Ecko jeans clothing company products remain distinguishable from the rest of the other brands by the virtue that all products of this company are always branded boldly with the Ecko labeled logo, accompanied with an image of a rhinoceros.
Importance of marketing research
Marketing research helps business people identify the demand patterns of a certain good. This means that the business person will be able to tell when to sell and where to do the sales. Conversely, marketing research facilitates the identification of customer preferences and tastes, thus equipping the business world with enough knowledge on what to do to meet customer needs (Stanton, 1998 pp. 121). Having taken to carrying out marketing research, and having obeyed the recommendations, the business world is bound to make more sales.
Steps to marketing segmentations
A market segment is a sub-group of persons with characteristics that cause them to have product needs that are similar. This means that marketing segmentation is the processing of marketing market characteristics into specific segments that have similar needs that resemble (Taylor, 1991 pp. 90). Marketing segmentation, therefore, entails the identification of the market segment, and the analysis of the segments’ characteristics. After this, there is the evaluation of the segment characteristics to confirm if they are conducive for effective marketing or not. Finally, the business person gets to complete this process by selecting a segment.
References
Stanton, W.(1998). The fundamentals of marketing. New York: McGraw Hill.
Stone, MA. and Desmond, J. (2007). Marketing fundamentals. London: Routledge.
Taylor, L. J. (1991). Dimensions of fundamentals of marketing. New York: McGraw Hill.