Essay On Consumer Psychology

The use of social media by organizations is growing immensely. Social media is used as a collective term for the applications and the websites that focus on the communication, sharing of content, interaction, collaboration, and community-based input. Businesses use different social platforms to promote and market their products and services, track the concern of the customers, and also to foster new businesses. The websites related to the business-to-consumers include the social components such as comment field for the users and there are a number of the tools that help the organizations to track, analyze, and measure the attention that a company gets from these social platforms including the perception of the brand and customer insights as well.

 

Brands, as well as marketers, have been finding new ways to offer and innovate the advanced experience for the consumers or customers. In an event of the cosmetic industry, A.S. Watson has explained the idea of the use of the online and offline mode which has now become the new standard for the retail industry, and this change is required for shaping the future. In recent trends, companies are using short-term videos usually 15 to 30 seconds to inform about the products and services of the business. Organizations must adopt these trends to remain in the competition. 

 

Marketing refers to the sum of the activities that are associated with the advertising, selling, buying, and distributing of the product and services in the market or attracting the target audience to the business. The company uses online as well as offline platforms to communicate the message and also to engage with the audience (Alshaketheep et al., 2020). The online platforms here refer to the use of the social media, interaction through the company’s website, and the use of email while the offline channels include the use of the magazines, outdoor advertisements, and television for informing about the company’s products to its target audience or its customers (Bobalo 2018).

 

It is identified that the modern journey of the customer includes both offline as well as online channels and it is termed an O+O strategy as per the CEO of A.S (Watson Group 2022). Watson group. O+O is one of the core strategies of this business that helps the business in creating an integrated experience to serve the needs of the customers in a better way and also enables the target audience to shop across these different channels without the limit of the time or the location. Traditionally, this organization uses the strategy of O2O which stands for online to offline or offline to online. This strategy of the company drives the customers from one to another channel, but the strategy of O+O contains an ecosystem that is powered by the use of big data, technology, and artificial intelligence (Al-Surmi et al., 2020). The strategy of O+O may spark concern over cannibalization in the spending of the customers in the physical stores. However, the figures of the business reflected that the O+O customers spend more than their instore. The physical stores of this group are then connected to the digital platforms, while the organization members are connected digitally with the social media (Dwivedi et al., 2021) and also with the digital platforms so that the customers can shop through the mobile app and the websites of A.S. Watson and also via WhatsApp, WeChat, and phone. This company also facilitate its customers to buy in-store and make payment via mobile app (Bayoude et al. 2018).

 

Social media is one of the powerful tools that is used by organizations to inform customers about the product and the services of the business. The company also uses the same to increase its share of the market (Bobalo 2018). The different social platforms that are widely used by the organizations include Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and others. These social platforms help the organization to understand the behavior of its customers as well as of its target audience because the more the business understands what drives the target audience or the customer to make a purchase, the more the business understands how to connect with them and also about their buying behavior (Al-Surmi et al., 2020). In addition to this, connecting through social media facilitate connecting to the audience emotionally which is beyond the price while making the purchase decision. The customers that are emotionally connected to the business and are loyal do not mind spending more on the products of the business and they also provide excellent referrals to their family and friend (Thomkaew et al., 2018). This is one of the main reasons due to why the business needs to understand what makes the business’s target audience tick. Four factors influence the purchasing behavior of the consumer and these factors impact whether or not the target audience buys the company’s product (Dwivedi et al., 2020). These factors are cultural, personal, social, and psychological.

 

The social and cultural factors play a major role in the product’s popularity. The groups of the industry spend a lot of the money to influence the customer’s popular opinion because these businesses know how influential culture can be in the sales of the industry. In addition to this, social factors also play a major role in influencing the purchasing behavior of consumers (Canestrino et al., 2020). The organization use uses several strategies to influence the decision of the consumers. While framing the policies related to the marketing of the products, the business needs to analyze the cultural and social environment of that nation and how a change in the related policies impacts these factors and also the sales of the business (Suleiman et al., 2020).

 

In addition to the social and cultural factors, the personal factor also plays an important role in influencing the behavior of the final consumer (Trivedi ET AL., 2018). The taste of the consumer change over time and as per the experts the aging, the behavior of the senior consumers is highly variable. An organization must analyze the lifestyle, economic class, and personality that may influence purchasing behavior. The class impacts the level of education, occupation, background, and health (Canestrino et al., 2020). The change in these factors impacts the demand for the product by the customers in the market as well as the company’s market share.

 

Motivation, perception, learning, and the altitude or the belief are the four psychological factors that impact or influence consumer behavior (Thomkaew et al., 2020). Motivation speaks to the consumers’ internal needs and also understanding how to motivate a target audience is a powerful tool. The way the target audience of a specific business learns about the company’s product online or in-person can influence the behavior of the customer. The customers’ belief system also impacts the business demand in the market (Sinh 2022). For example, some people can learn visually and the professional images, as well as pictures of the product of the business, can communicate hundreds of words regardless of the belief system of an individual. This is the reason why the major of the companies use images and pictures in marketing to communicate about the product or service.

 

Decisions are taken by the consumers daily. Online consumer behavior is changing rapidly worldwide. In the segment of the business to consumer, sales through the business web have been increasing dramatically in the recent past years (Trivedi ET AL., 2018). Not only from the well-developed nation but customers from developing nations are also getting used to the new channels of shopping. Understanding the factors of psychology such as adoption, intention, and repurchase are some important factors that marketers should focus on (Suleiman et al., 2020). The attitude toward online shopping, subjective norms, risk aversion, perceived behavioral control, site commitment, and intentions are some of the psychological factors that are related to the three main elements that are adoption, intention, and continuance. 

 

 

Offline marketing is the traditional way to market the products of the business. The use of TV, print, and others helps marketers to boost the awareness of the brand and its product. The mode of offline marketing encompasses all the methods that have been used by the companies for a longer period (Sinh 2022).  No matter how good the advertising or marketing strategies of the business but there is always room for improvement. One of the ways to improve is to decide whether to focus on offline or online brand marketing (Bobalo 2018). Online brand marketing is a mode to market or advertises the products or services of the business through the use of various online modes such as social media, email, and other. Numerous online platforms are used by organizations to leverage brand marketing (Purcarea 2019). From social media adverts and email marketing to optimizing the business site and setting up the google ads, different brands use the strategy of online marketing to reach their target customer in the digital hotspot. Some of the benefits of online marketing include long-term exposure, easy of measure, affordable, ease to target the main audience, target mobile customers, greater reach, building relationships with the customers, and many more (Trudel 2019).

 

A.S Watson has set a new retail standard by integrating the offline and online platforms. This standard is known as O+O. This strategy effectively helps the supplier’s brand to introduce its products to the new market and stand out the same from the competition. This company has its presence in more than 8000 online and physical stores that are spanning 14 European and Asian markets. This O+O strategy of the company is capable of helping the overseas brands to expand their wings to the new market while helping the local brands to increase their share of the market as well as expand their businesses. This offline plus online retail model of the company is powered by big data, advanced technology, and artificial intelligence (Bayoude et al., 2018). Combined with the advanced digital platforms, the extensive physical store networks are helpful to serve as core touchpoints which is helpful in effectively establishing close connections with its audience and thereby increasing the value of the customer and sales as well. This innovative model has been based on the concept of the diffusion of theory (Lundberg et al., 2019). This concept describes the speed as well as the pattern through which this new model, O+O, spread through the population. This theory was applied by Watson to understand the adoption of the production through this O+O model and also to promote the same in the market. The main elements of the diffusion of innovations include innovation, communication channels, time, and social system.

 

The traditional O2O (Online to offline/ offline to online) model drives the company’s customer from one channel to another, this method is now no longer feasible to serve the needs of the customer (Watson Group 2022). The pandemic has also created a “new normal” which has given rise to a new retail model, O+O. Through this platform, This company is now able to increase its daily touchpoints between its audience and the brands with the help of this O+O platform. Leveraging the deep insights of the customers, this company is helping the brand to understand the customers, and also helpful in building the stronger relationship, and increasing their exposure that will ultimately drive their growth in the sales (Trudel 2019). In April, Watson partnered with Dr. Yu, to drive the growth of the brand through the shopping experience of O+O. As per this new model, customers received Dr u’s coupons through the cloud storage of Watson to enjoy the exclusive experience of skincare in the store (Whatsson Group, 2022). This model has benefited to successfully stimulated the business growth by using its online platforms and offline stores.  

 

Online marketing is widely used in all the rages. Promoting the goods and services of the business online through the use of social media and online ads or sites, it seems like the marketing has gone digital. But the traditional way of marketing, offline marketing, can be just effective in helping a company to grow its reach and also to increase the business brand awareness. Offline marketing strategies are more effective if the target audience is an older group (Purcarea 2019). Since the internet has become an essential source of the information for several people and this is one of the major reasons which it became challenging for offline marketing to compete with its online foils. 

 

 

A.S Watson is majorly focusing on the online marketing method to market its products and services in the market (Watson Group 2022). Digital marketing channels are the platforms that are used by businesses to target the audience and increase the reach of the products (Saura et al., 2019). The information related to the product or brand is communicated to the targeted audience with the use of digital channels. Utilizing the digital channels in an efficient as well as an effective manner allows the business to help its audience with any question or the challenge that the customers may face while positioning the business well. This help the businesses to reach a step closer to achieving the goals of the marketing (Dash and Chakraborty 2021). Not all the channels of digital marketing are cut for every objective of the business though. Some channels are suitable for a specific audience while others are for a different set of audiences. The different types of digital marketing channels that are used by this organization include websites, email, social media, organic search, mobile apps, display ads, affiliated marketing, and video marketing (Saura et al., 2019). The strength of the online marketing channels-

 

a. It helps reach the large base of the audience

 

 

b. Different digital channels can be used for the different sets of the customers

 

 

c. This technique is very easy to target the groups of people. 

 

 

d. Access to the data on the behavior of the audience to understand the target market in a better way

 

 

e. It offers cost-effective as well as larger budget options (Dash and Chakraborty 2021). 

 

 

The cultural and social factors are the main factors that a business needs to analyze as they influence the behavior of the consumers heavily. Social class, culture and subculture, family, and the reference group impact the demand for the company’s product in the market. One of the major factors that influence the business is the changing preference of the customers (Canestrino et al., 2020). The business must introduce the changes in the business as per the preference of its target audience because its impacts on their engagement as well. Organizations must be aware of these changing preferences of the customers while creating or launching new products or services in the market (Trivedi et al., 2018). Change in the demographic factor is one of the significant factors that create impact in the business world. While promoting the products or services, the business should understand the demographic of the prospective buyers.

 

The online marketing strategies are more effective in the current business trends or environment in comparison to the offline marketing strategies (Trudel 2019). The advantage of using the method of digital marketing over the traditional method of marketing, offline marketing, is to primarily pertains to reach, customer communication, information, and the measuring of the ad effectiveness. The benefits that an organization will get by using the online method include greater audience potential, better customer contact, better tracking, and the availability of information.

 

This report has revolved around the different channels of marketing that the used by the organizations. The first part of this report has included the online and offline channels of the marketing and how these channels engage customers in different psychological perspectives including motivation, learning, perception, attitude, and personality. The effectiveness of offline and online channels and their influence on the consumer decision journey has reflected in the same part. The second part of this report reflected on the new retail model, O+O, used by the A.S Watson group and its marketing strategies as well. The concept of the diffusion and the effectiveness of the marketing strategies of this company have been covered in the same head. In the era of the internet, online marketing is widely used by organizations to target the audience and grow the share of the market. The third part of this report reflected on the strength of online marketing in engaging with its audience over the offline marketing channel,

 

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