Purchase Drivers of Individual Customer Segments

“One way to be predictive about buying behaviour is by gaining deeper insights into value drivers. Choice is a powerful element into why buyers make purchase decisions,” – Tony Zambito

Modern commerce comprises brands, businesses, entrepreneurs, and enterprises that rely increasingly on streams of complex data and market information to achieve key business objectives. One of the aims of such commercial enterprises is to isolate and examine the purchase drivers that drive consumer behaviour, purchase decisions, and customer choices. These drivers act as key motivators and propellants that enable customers to assess a product or service, negotiate the pros and cons of the same, and arrive at a purchase decision. Therefore, every industry must closely analyse the factors that drive purchase drivers in order to create the publicity and advertising campaigns that are designed for different customer segments. We must note that these drivers are distinct from each other and should be studied closely, in an attempt to decode the motivations, requirements, choices, and preferences that populate individual customer segments.

Repeat customers represent an interesting sub-set of modern customers. These individuals have experienced the promise delivered by a brand or product and therefore, should be prized by all businesses. When we examine the purchase drivers that animate this segment, we find that tangible business value lies at the core of their transactional activities. Repeat customers represent the success of a business enterprise in terms of consistently making good on its delivery promises. Every firm or enterprise must treat such customers as a business asset because the continued custom from such entities enables the business to boost its bottom line. This customer segment is less likely to consider options in terms of a product or a service and therefore, businesses must exert themselves to retain the custom of such individuals. Repeat customers are motivated also by the probability of receiving preferential treatment from a business enterprise. This represents one of the important purchase drivers; such treatment is likely to boost the customer’s confidence in the brand or business. We must bear in mind that the quality of the product or service figures prominently among the motivations that govern the behaviour of the repeat customer.

The very nature of certain businesses imposes a restricted market on such enterprises in terms of the gender profile of their key customers. For instance, the cosmetics and beauty products industry predominantly caters to women customers, and are guided by the preferences and tastes that illuminate this customer segment. The purchase drivers that attend this industry will typically include the quality of marketing communications devised and deployed by a particular industry.  The quality of the fine chemicals that constitute cosmetics and beauty products, the level of persuasion that can be brought to bear on individual customers by sales staff, the word-of-mouth publicity , social proof deployed by the industry, and the public perception of brands that operate in said industry prove indispensable. Consequently, the industry needs to maintain a fine balance in terms of actively wooing its customers, presenting a definitive value proposition that transcends generations of women, creating new product lines, educating customers on the need to adopt a wider range of cosmetics and beauty products, etc. We must note that the purchase drivers should be mapped consistently by said industry so that it can offer multiple product and service choices to its customers under each of the mentioned drivers. It must be noted that purchase drivers can vary according to geography and climate; this holds true for the cosmetics and beauty products industry. For instance, deodorants and perfumes may find significantly large market traction in equatorial countries and regions that have warm climate. Similarly, purchasing power can govern certain aspects of purchase drivers because affluent nations are more likely to offer deeper markets for top quality cosmetics when compared to other markets.

The impulse shopper is driven by a particular set of purchase drivers that may be exclusive to this class of consumers. Impulse shoppers typically make purchase decisions guided by the moment and this behaviour buckets such customers as an unpredictable marketing segment. The motivations for such a customer segment may include an element of pure whimsy, a need to conform to certain social constructs, a depressed role of logic and reason in making the purchase decision, an immediate response to a crafted promotional message, the recommendations from friends and colleagues, casual disregard for budgets, among others. These attributes make the impulse shopper a creature of exuberance and excitement, which can be adroitly leveraged by marketing departments to further their commercial objectives. The purchase drivers of this customer segment sets it apart from other segments and this should be acknowledged by marketing and business development teams. We must note that impulse shoppers are more likely to capitulate to ambush marketing techniques, thereby gaining deeper significance in the development and construction of marketing campaigns. In light of the above, we may state that business enterprises should work to convert the impulse shopper into a regular customer and must devise the means to enable a smooth transition in the wider interests of the business enterprise. A successful conversion may see the said shopper expending significantly higher volumes of customer dollars, thereby accelerating the achievement of immediate business goals.

Young citizens and young adults comprise the youth among customer demographics and are motivated by a different level of purchase drivers. For instance, this group of customers is more likely to be influenced by peer pressure and relies increasingly on modern technology (such as social media). They also prefer to opt for group discounts, are more amenable to the idea of trying new products and services, are exploratory in its approach to market offerings, considers social proof as sacrosanct, and is more likely to indulge in binge buying. Clearly, this customer segment offers an exciting proposition to business planners and marketing groups. Therefore, brands and businesses should create specific campaigns to cater to the tastes and choices of this customer segment. This course of action is highly recommended because this particular demographic (or customer segment) will mature in the future and may heavily focus its custom on brands that made an early impression. For instance, a bicycle manufacturer can lock on to young citizens as regular customers and be assured of a steady stream of revenue as the said demographic matures. This can be appended to the fact that early converts will recommend their brand choices to their friends and other constituents of their peer group, thereby igniting a virtuous cycle of sales and servicing requirement for the said business operator. We must note that these outcomes are the product of a deep analysis of the purchase drivers that animate the mentioned customer segment.

In the preceding paragraphs, we have examined a section of the key motivations that spur consumer decisions across individual customer segments. Businesses and markets must realise that each customer segment is a different creature and is animated by a variety of wants, requirements, preferences, and tastes. The sticker price may not be a factor for the well-heeled customer in any market, but may be a primary concern for a different customer segment. Similarly, product quality can be a key consideration for some customers, but may be take second place in certain markets that prize value for money. These differences need careful monitoring and acknowledgement by the enterprise, which chooses to operate in the heavily competitive markets available today.

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