Theories of Consumer Buying

Relate the 5 generic theories of buying that Jeff Bray suggests (economic, psychodynamic, behaviourist, cognitive and humanistic) specifically to the world of consumer purchasing of clothing and fashion in an area of your choice.

Consumers of given clothes and fashion possess a considerable preference to make independent and autonomous choices in regards to what they will purchase and what they will not purchase. Moreover, they will make a decision on whom they will buy from and not buy from. Such a purchasing power by the customers has left most of the competitive companies to adopt consumer orientation approaches (Freiheit and Overholser 1997, p. 79). These competitive firms have to concentrate on understanding their customers for the purpose of effectively fulfilling their needs. Clothing and fashion perform a number of functions in the life of people all over the world, far beyond being a basic necessity. Information and trends that have spread across the globe, have not only driven consumers to buy clothes but it has persuaded them to buy more clothes by offering them more preference to choice from (Bray 2008, p. 4). The research tries to relate the five Consumer Behaviour Theories by Jeff Bray to the consumer purchase of clothing and fashion in the casual wear. Among the theories we are going to look at in relation to clothing and fashion include economic, psychodynamic, behaviorist, cognitive and humanistic.

The psychodynamic concept

The first theory is the psychodynamic concept. Jeff Bray state that the concepts of psychodynamic concepts are greatly attributed to the work of Sigmund Freud (1939). Sigmund argues that the Behaviour of a consumer is subject to biological impacts through instinctive forces. The forces act outside the conscious thought (Bray 2008, p. 4). Further, Sigmund states that there are three elements to the psyche which include Superego, the Ego, and the Id. Consumers all over the world to buy the casual wares are affected by psychological factors. These factors include the personality features which significantly affects clients’ perceptions and purchasing behavior. The consumers’ personality, education, perception, impressionability and other features which vary from one consumer to another. This feature will affect an individual’s taste and preference of the type of casual wear to purchase. In the contemporary world, there is a strong relationship between particular personality type and the clothes or fashion they buy. Thus, it will be a significant element to figure out consumer behavior in regards to psychodynamics to affect buying of clothes and fashion in the world.

The economic theory

The second consumer buying Behaviour theory by Jeff Bray is the economic theory. Richarme (2007) argues that consumers are rational and self-interested when it comes to making consumption decisions (Bray 2008, p. 4). Consumers make decisions which are based on the capability of maximizing their utility while constraint by their minimum effort and budget. Besides that, the customers have to be aware of all the available consumption options so that they can be able to rate each of the alternatives. Then they will select the optimum alternative that will maximize their utility subject to the available resources. For an instant, consumers presented with the same t-shirt casual ware at different prices and all factors held constant. The consumers will definitely opt for the cheaper casual t-shirt. The orthodox economic assumption that the customer is always aware of all the true preference. They will then rank the preference as per their priorities. This is clear in the way consumers of clothes and fashion buy their products in this clothing industry. Nonetheless, this situation is no longer applicable as the consumers have limited information, resources and time to rank the available preference Nataraajan and Bagozzi (1999, p. 631). For an instant, the consumers with higher social relationship might buy a cloth a higher price while a consumer at a lower social relationship buys the same cloth at a lower price.

The behaviorist theory

The third theory highlighted by Jeff Bray is the behaviorist theory. A study by Watson and Rayner (1920, P. 1) provide a landmark into the Behaviour. They state that behavior could be learned due to the external situation by teaching the kid to fear otherwise harmless objects through the repeat related to loud noises. Therefore, the behaviorist theory argues that the conditioning of consumers’ behavior occurs as a result of external stimuli (Bray 2008, p. 5). These stimuli trigger responses and the same time feedback received from the environment as a result of the past behavior. For instance, in the Islamic culture, ladies and women will ware given clothes and maintain their religious culture (Freiheit and Overholser 1997, p. 81). They have been developed a behavior by their external stimuli. They cannot be in casual wear but put on their religious ware all through. Such behavioral stimuli significantly affect how consumers buy casual clothes.

The cognitive concept

The fourth theory highlighted by Jeff Bray is a cognitive concept. A study by Marsden and Littler (1996, p. 645) argue that the consumer behavior to cognitive processes which made use of information processing patterns of digital computers. They further state that it is a model for the mental process of decision making (Bray 2008, p. 6). They state the purchasing decisions of consumers being a five-step sequential process. The first step is the recognition of a need, second being a search of information, third being how to fulfill given needs, and fourth being an evaluation of the available alternatives and fifth step being decision to make purchases (Freiheit and Overholser 1997, p. 83). The significant of the cognitive theory is not a well-developed concept to affect the consumers buying behavior in the clothing and fashion sector.

The humanistic theory

Finally, the humanistic theory is the last theory on consumer buying behavior by Jeff Bray. A study by Natarajan and Bagozzi (1999, p. 631) state that people are in control of their life and it is the alternative of the behaviorist and the psychodynamic approach (Bray 2008, p. 25).They argue that consumers have control of their life and not controlled by other people perception and interpretation. Nataraajan and Bagozzi (1999, p. 643) state that Humanistic approach attributes consumer’s behavior to free will and consider them to be responsible for their actions. In regards to clothing and fashion, consumers of the casual wear have the freedom to purchase what they want (Freiheit and Overholser 1997, p. 85). They can buy anything without being affected by other people or environment. They don’t factor in what others say about them in buying casual wear.

Reference

Bray, J.P., 2008. Consumer behaviour theory: approaches and models.

Freiheit, S.R. and Overholser, J.C., 1997. Training issues in cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 28(2), pp.79-86.

Marsden, D. and Littler, D., 1996. Evaluating alternative research paradigms: A market‐oriented framework. Journal of Marketing Management, 12(7), pp.645-655.

Nataraajan, R. and Bagozzi, R.P., 1999. The year 2000: Looking back. Psychology & marketing, 16(8), pp.631-642.

Watson, J.B. and Rayner, R., 1920. Conditioned emotional reactions. Journal of experimental psychology, 3(1), p.1.

Freud, S., 1939. Contribution to the psychology of love. The Psychoanalytic Review (1913-1957), 26, p.430.