Factors influencing on the consumer buying behavior and consumer’s preference

RESEARCH PROPOSAL
FACTORS INFLUENCING ON THE CONSUMER BUYING
BEHAVIOR AND CONSUMER’S PREFERENCE

SUBMITTED BY:
IFRA AFZAL (43037)
TEHREEM (41178)
BISMAH KHAN (43002)
WAJIAH IMRAN (43045)
HUZAIFA (43046)

COURSE: RESEARCH METHODS AND SKILLS (Friday 6:30)

SUBMITTED TO:
Muhammad Hamza Farooqui, Sajid Ali, Dr. Hafiz waqas Kamran,
Dr. Rana Zeeshan Mubarak, Asif Z. Warsi

DATED:
15th January, 2021

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 Factors influencing on the consumer buying behavior and consumer’s preference

S. # TABLE OF CONTENT Page #

1. Introduction………………………….………….....................
1.1 Background of the Study…………………………………........ 7
1.2 Problem Statement………………………………………........... 7
1.3 Research Gap…………………………………………………… 7

2. Research Questions

3. Justification for the Proposed Research…………………..................

3.1 The size of the industry/area 12
involved………………………………. 12
3.2 The gaps in the literature that demand 12
attention……………………. 13
3.3 The unusual or improved methodology being
used………………….
3.4 The benefits in terms of policy and
practice…………………………

4. Preliminary Literature Review

5. Theoretical Framework

6. Contribution

7. Chapter 4: Data Analysis

4.1 Demographics 24
4.2 Descriptive Analysis 24
4.3 Correlation Analysis 26
4.4 Regression Analysis
4.5 Hypotheses Summarized Results

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 Factors influencing on the consumer buying behavior and consumer’s preference

Research Method…………………………………..................
3.1 Introduction………………………………..................................
3.2 Research Design…………………………………......................
3.3 Population & Sampling (Sampling Unit, Technique, Size) …
3.4 Research Instrument………………………………………….
3.5 Statistcal Technique……………………….............................
3.6 Reliability…………………………………………………….
3.7 Chapter
summary.......................................................................Chapter 5:
Discussion, conclusion and recommendations
5.1 Discussion
5.2 Conclusion
5.3 Recommendations
References 26
Appendices-A: Questionnaire, LR table 28-42

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 Factors influencing on the consumer buying behavior and consumer’s preference

1. Introduction
1.1 Background
While studies have been conducted on business to customer relationship one area business to
customer remain under-studied, we are studying the various factors that influence in the context
of consumer buying behavior or consumer preference. Therefore, marketing managers should
have knowledge and information about their consumer’s taste and preferences as they perform an
important part in making buying decisions. Although this information will help them to enrich
their competitiveness and better way of long-term survival. Michael [Link]. (1998, p. 31)
said that nowadays companies are depended on the behavior of an each individual consumer and
it helps the companies to gather information about the consumer attitude towards their product
like how they think, feel and select their products while he think that each individual is
consumer. Soloman et al (2014) the study of consumer behavior helps market researcher to
improve their marketing strategies in recent decades.

Nowadays continuously changing in trend as well as in business markets so it has being essential
for the managers to clearly know and predict that how consumers behave when purchasing
different types of products and services to satisfy their needs and desires. Hence, to establish a
competitive advantage in this business world whereas many retailers have focused on brand
positioning strategies to influence the consumer buying behavior by establishing image in the
minds of consumers about their products (Shamsher, 2015). Jones Christensen et al (2015) state
that consumer buying behavior process is a key of company because of the globally complex
growth in all aspects that’s why this innovation forced the marketers to make the good marketing
strategy for the purposeful works. In this paper it discusses and highlights the impact of
awareness, price, availability and eco-labeling and packaging on the consumer buying behavior.

As little known about consumer buying behavior and their preferences, understanding consumer
behavior is the study of how each individual make decision what they select, buy, use, want and
desires in regards to a product, service, experiences or company to fulfill their needs. Basically
consumer behavior is the process of how people utilize their own resources to consume for the
related products which includes the research of what the product or services they want to buy,

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 Factors influencing on the consumer buying behavior and consumer’s preference

why the product or services they need to buy it, when the product or services they buy it, where
they will buy those product or services, how frequently they buy those product or services and
how many times they use those product or services (Schiff man & Kanuk, 1996, cited in Saha et
al., 2010, p. 40).

Due to the various determining factors of each individual’s behavior as well as attitude towards
buying product because of this there is difference in consumer behavior. There are many
different consumer groups exists for the markets of a product which indicates huge variation. In
this time consumer are the part of company’s profit or loss (Kardes et al., 2014). The consumer
attitude roll of marketing mix in buying intention and relationship between consumer attitude
and buying intention towards marketing promotion had significant correlation with buying
intention of products. Consumers were ready to pay high price for eco-friendly as well as e-
commerce products which cause less pollution to the environment were consumer ready to
compensate quality of the product for the benefit of the environment (Purohit, 2011).

1.2 Research Gap

In the past, many researchers have focused on studying the factors influencing the consumer
buying behavior during COVID, factors affection the buying behavior in online platform, factors
affection the consumers buying behavior of consumers towards local markets during COVID
situation etc. However, it is found that a limited number of studies have focused on factors
affecting consumers buying behavior. So, this is the identified research gap, which formed the
basis of the study.

1.3 Problem Statement

Through different research in consumer buying behavior examines that every business products
and services purpose is to fulfill customer expectation happily and attached or loyal with the
product which is consumer driven society. It is needed to find out about the preferences that what
consumers have in their mind while making a purchase decision about products or services, it
will give long time benefits and it will sustain in the market and it will help globally to
understand why good quality products are important to manufacture and consume. This study
seeks to find out the main problem in the the consumers buying behavior and consumer’s

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 Factors influencing on the consumer buying behavior and consumer’s preference

preferences with respect to independent variable (social, economic, cultural, personal and
psychological).

2. Research Question of this Study

The major research questions were focused on exploring the relationship of various buying
behavior dynamics. This entails the consumer perception of buying behavior regarding products.
So, the relevant questions of this research answered these following questions;

What extent does factor influence the consumer buying behavior and consumer’s preferences?

How does availability of product is concerned with buyer’s buying behavior?

Discuss about the effect of five factors on consumer buying behavior and their preferences?

What is the impact of personal factor on consumer buying behavior and consumer’s preferences?

What was the issue regarding economic condition on consumer buying behavior and their
preferences?

How to retain the sales by identifying the factors that influence consumer buying behavior and
their preferences?

What is the relationship between psychological factor and consumer buying behavior and their
preferences?

3. Justification for the Proposed Research

3.1 The Size of the Industry/Area Involved

This research aims to focus on consumer buying behavior and their preferences. This study find
out the answer of our problems where data is analyzed carefully and processed so it is limited to
Karachi. The relevant data is collected to work for this research. The topic has been selected on
the basis of the factors for consumer buying behavior and their preferences and it’s relation with
these factors.

3.2 The Gaps in the Literature That Demand Attention

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 Factors influencing on the consumer buying behavior and consumer’s preference

While some research has examined the effects of factors on consumer buying behavior and their
preferences in the past, (Arndt, 1986; Battalio et al., 1974; Belk et al., 2012; Hameed, Waqas,
Aslam, Bilal, & Umair, 2014; Hawkins & Mothersbaugh, 2009; Howard & Sheth, 1968;
Robertson & Kassarjian, 1991; Solomon, 2013). But still little is unknown in regard to factors
that influence consumer buying behavior and their preferences and its relation with it. By
reviewing the literatures, there is the gap in their literature that need to focus on the
characteristics of factors that’s why we address this research to conduct successful analysis.

3.3 The unusual or improved methodology being used

However, to gathered the information or data about the buying behavior of the consumers and
their preferences so we conducted a research study via a questionnaire survey. Through survey
we can obtain primary data from the consumers about their behavior and preferences for the
product. That survey depends on the consumer’s satisfaction and customer loyalty with respect to
their preferences about the product and services.

3.4 The Benefits In Terms Of Policy and Practice

The purpose of this research was to study the different behaviors faced by the consumers during
buying decision and reveals the effect of the factor on the consumer buying behavior. The results
of this analysis may conclude whether an organization can have an edge in the market
considering the health and consumer will experience new innovation in the product. Through this
study we analyze the purchasing power of a consumer because an individual income was
effected in this pandemic so if the product is expensive then consumers are less likely to buy the
product.

4. Literature Review
There are many factors that can affect consumer’s buying behavior which can be Intrinsic or
extrinsic factors. In today’s world people are more likely to be brand conscious they push
themselves to buy expensive products and services even ignoring their economic status and that
is due to extrinsic factors just so that they can stand out in public. According to N Ramya, SM
Ali - International journal of applied research, 2016 article there are five factors that affect
consumer buying behavior.

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 Factors influencing on the consumer buying behavior and consumer’s preference

4.1 Pandemic Effects on Consumer Buying Behavior

Many businesses faced loss during this situation of pandemic but those who thoughtfully moved
to online business this year was even more profitable for them. According to New York Times
newspaper article By Britany Robinson Dec. 28, 2020 ‘At the start of Covid-19 shutdowns, total
consumer spending dropped, but online shopping spiked. And despite the cascade of job losses
and waves of financial insecurity, there was about a 7 percent increase in consumer spending of
goods from January to September. (Loungewear, workout equipment, robot vacuums and
vibrators are some of the products that sold well this year.)’ this clearly shows online shopping is
now a new trend and need of people and they find I easier, some of the consumer still face trust
issues while buying online so the retailers with quality they have to build customer satisfaction
they post reviews and 5star ratings to build everybody’s trust over them.

4.2 Affective Advertisement for Consumer

It is argued that emotional advertisements are more appealing for the viewers, they are more
likely to become consumers because it remains in their minds for greater period of time and
sometimes they feel relatable to that according to a recent article from University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign, News Bureau on January 7, 2021 in that article it is been argued that
emotional advertisement are a good source to be in viewer’s long term memory but it doesn’t
always works some time due to emotional addition the purpose of product or service or their
benefits are unclear that they remember the ad but not the product.

4.3 Celebrity Endorsement Effect on Buying Behavior

Celebrity endorsement has been very effective towards marketing strategy in most of the
countries people really follow the footsteps of their favorite celebrity and believes in whatever
their favorite celebrity says with their eyes closed and marketers really use this as their business
technique and spends a lot of money on celebrity endorsement of their products or service
according to an article published on 28th-sep-2015 by Rizwan Raheem Ahmed, Sumeet Kumar
Seedani, Manoj Kumar Ahuja, Sagar Kumar Paryani, People tend to follow those people who are
unique in their own way and have ability to do things differently and can create charm in
everything, they are being followed be a huge number of people what concisely can be said

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 Factors influencing on the consumer buying behavior and consumer’s preference

about them is they are different from common people. Celebrity endorsement is usually used to
create attraction for the product because by this process company ends up getting good image
about the product and having more customers. This way of advertising is mainly used so that the
message about their product gets the most attention and it is clear. In that way the company gets
successful in developing proper awareness about them.

4.4 Impact of Sales Promotion on Consumer Buying Behavior

One of the factor that drag consumers towards the product/service is any kind of sale, putting big
banners of sales and promoting the product on social media platforms with sale on them really
attracts the consumer and as they think they are getting more benefit from buying things on sale
they tend to buy more products then they need. According to an article by Pathmini in 2016 sale
promotion always increases the company’s sale be it price discount, buy one get one free, free
sample or loyalty cards they all forces customers for impulsive buying and increase the profit of
the company.

5. Theoretical Framework
In this section, research shows the conceptual framework is based on the review the different
theoretical literature and relevant empirical researches and the main subject of this research is to
conduct a comparison between factors affecting consumer buying behavior and their preferences.
Independent variables

Economic factors

Social factors Cultural factors

Psychological Personal factors

factors

Consumer Buying Behavior

and Consumer Preferences
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 Factors influencing on the consumer buying behavior and consumer’s preference

Dependent variables
5.1 Variables
Here independent variable are factors that affect the dependent variable (social, economic,
cultural, personal and psychological). There is a significant relationship of these independent
variable with dependent variable consumer buying behavior and consumer preference which this
research is based on.

5.2 hypothesis

Economic factors
H6
H5 H1

Personal factors H7
Consumer
Buying
H2 H8 Behavior and
Cultural factors Consumer’s
Preferences
H3
H9
Social factors

H4 H10

Psychological factors

1) H1: Economic factors has significant effect on personal factors.

HO: Economic factors has no significant effect on personal factors.
2) H2: Personal factors has significant effect on cultural factors.
HO: Personal factors has no significant effect on cultural factors.
3) H3: Cultural factors has significant effects on social factors.

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 Factors influencing on the consumer buying behavior and consumer’s preference

HO: Cultural factors has no significant effects on social factors.

4) H4: Social factors has significant effects on psychological factors.
HO: Social factors has no significant effects on psychological factors.
5) H5: Economic factors has significant effects on psychological factors.
H0: Economic factors has no significant effects on psychological factors.
6) H6: There is an impact of economic factors on consumer buying behavior and
consumer’s preferences.
HO: There is no impact of economic factors on consumer buying behavior and
consumer’s preferences.
7) H7: There is an impact of personal factors on consumer buying behavior and consumer’s
preferences.
H0: There is no impact of personal factors on consumer buying behavior and consumer’s
preferences.
8) H8: There is an impact of cultural factors on consumer buying behavior and consumer’s
preferences.
H0: There is no impact of cultural factors on consumer buying behavior and consumer’s
preferences.
9) H9: There is an impact of social factors on consumer buying behavior and consumer’s
preferences.
H0: There is no impact of social factors on consumer buying behavior and consumer’s
preferences.
10) H10: There is an impact of psychological factors on consumer buying behavior and
consumer’s preferences.
H0: There is no impact of psychological factors on consumer buying behavior and
consumer’s preferences.
6. Contribution of the Research
The research will make changes in various ways firstly it helps us to build a better market
position. It will also make an understanding between an organization and its consumer so that we
can update with current trends and innovations in the market. The research also maintains
communications with present and future customers in a good way. after analyzing which factors
influence the consumer's buying behavior the organization will easily identify the problems and

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 Factors influencing on the consumer buying behavior and consumer’s preference

using this information and make decisions easily. The organization tackles its competitors
through this research. Managers are going to maintain their strategies through the research to the
efficient way of services and target their audience with social media and developing a clear
understanding. The marketing manager makes strategies of promotion like how they create
positive feedbacks about their products and how to attract consumers through product packaging
The market also takes benefit from this research because they identify the problems and tackle
them the study of the research because research may upgrade the process, not for today’s
organization but futures organization to like those organizations that freshly enter in the market
and the one who is thinking of entering in the market and the general public also take knowledge
from this.

7. Proposed Research Methodology

Using the exploratory purpose of the research because it is a new problem and covid19 effect on
the consumer's buying decision regarding to some factors the approach of the research is
qualitative for collecting the data.

7.1 Research Design

By using a qualitative study to get an idea of the factors which influence the buying behavior of
the consumers then we take the interview from the different type of people the research design
was made to gain a broader perspective and different type of the problem we have to identify in
the research design also from where you have collected the data and in the research design we
have to interpret the data in the research design also. And in the research design, we will review
our literature review. The main focus of the research due to COVID is a personal factor and
economic factor because due to COVID everybody facing the income issue and the product
selling is very low due to low income the sale of the products are going to down.

7.2 Study Variables

7.2.1 Independent Variables
An independent variable is a variable that is changed or controlled in a scientific experiment to
test the effects on the dependent variable. The factors which influence the consumer's buying
behavior are the independent variables. Whereas, here

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Psychological Factor
Psychological factors impact the decision of consumer buying behavior because it is known as
an internal factor which includes motivation, perception learning, and memory (Ali & Ramya,
2016).

Social Factor
The social factor is one of the most affected factors which influence consumer buying behavior
this factor include reference group, role &status, family(Kotler & Keller, 2016).

Cultural Factor
This factor has the deepest impact on consumer buying decisions this factor has two parts culture
and subculture (Gajjar, 2013).

Personal Factor
Personal factors additionally impact consumer buying behavior. The significant personal factors,
which impact consumer buying behavior, are age, occupation, and lifestyle (Chandan, 2019).

Economic Factors
The consumer buying behavior and decisions significantly impact economic factors. It includes
personal income, family income, savings, income expectation (Ali & Ramya, 2016).

7.2.2 Dependent Variable

A dependent variable is a variable being tested and measured in a scientific experiment. Hence,
here consumer buying behavior is our dependent variable.

7.3 Population and Sampling

The sampling defines the target population such as age gender and geographic area and
convenient sampling techniques were used by getting information through online research and
questionnaire because due to covid19 we can’t go for an interview and some personal survey
techniques. According to the Krejcie and Morgan (1970) table for sample size determination, if
the sample size is even as large as 10 lakhs then the optimal sample size is only 384. Since the
population of this study is unknown but not expected to be greater than 10 lacks. Therefore, to

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have a more careful approach, a sample size of 384 is considered optimal for our research
purpose.

7.4 Data Collection and Analysis

Data collection can be collected can be explained as follow qualitative data is collected through
questionnaire and various other sources. The main source of our data collection is through the
survey to understand the general characteristics or opinions of different peoples we distribute a
list of questions to our relatives and friends to observe what their thinking is most of them
mentioned quality and price is the main factor that matter while purchasing. Many of them
mentioned the price because of the pandemic situation because a lot of peoples are kicked from
the job and also a lot of people mentioned price because of the pandemic situations that
nowadays people have lost their jobs their financial condition is not good so the price is also the
main factor.

8. Research Plan
For future studies, some aspects have been highlighted. First, the researchers need to explore the
underlying variables of buying behavior in general. This is due to the fact that buying behavior is
an extreme complex process and there is a gap. Thus, future studies may fulfil this gap. Second,
future studies need to focus on consumer’s preferences. The addition of these aspects will surely
be fruitful efforts in adding general body of literature and knowledge.

9. Timetable of Proposed Research

S no Topic Percentage Words Month/days

1. Introduction 21.6 749 1 month
2. Research Question 3.98 138 7 days
3. Justification 10.61 368 25 days
4. Literature Review 19.06 661 1 month
5. Theoretical Framework 11.24 390 1 month
6. Contribution 6.05 210 10 days
7. Methodology 17.96 623 1 month
8. Research Plan 2.249 78 3days
9. Reference 7.21 250 17 days
Total 3467 6 months

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change at the base of the pyramid: Bridging the gap between for‐profit and social
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 Kardes, F., Cronley, M., & Cline, T. (2014). Consumer behavior. Cengage Learning.
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St .Johns University, New York, USA.
 Pathmini,[Link](2016).Impact of sales promotion on consumers impulse buying behavior,
International Research Symposium Rajarata University of Sri Lanka,321-329.
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 Hawkins, D., & Mothersbaugh, D. (2009). Consumer behavior: Building marketing strategy.
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 Helgeson, J. G., Kluge, E. A., Mager, J., & Taylor, C. (1984). Trends in consumer behavior
literature: A content analysis. Journal of Consumer Research, 10, 449-454.
 Howard, J., & Sheth, J. N. (1968). The theory of buyer behavior. New York, NY: John
Wiley.
 Arndt, J. (1986). Paradigms in consumer research: A review of perspectives and approaches.
European Journal of Marketing, 20, 23-40.
 Battalio, R. C., Kagel, J. H., Winkler, R. C., Fisher, E., Jr., Basmann, R. L., & Krasner, L.
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Journal of Consumer Research, 1, 52-60.

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