shopping trip

 shopping trip

On the first shopping trip, I took my teenage sister out shopping at a convenience store in our neighborhood. I accompanied my younger sister to the store to pick a few items for her school trip that was coming up in two days. Once we arrived at the store, using her short shopping list, I observed as my sister picked out the products she needed and seemed to focus on a particular category of snacks, food, confectionery, and toiletries. I once noticed her standing at the magazine aisle, going through the titles and put one magazine in her cart. She also seemed to linger over some makeup items at the shelf but did not pay much attention to any particular one. Our trip did not last more than 20 minutes even though we were not in a rush; the prices were a little higher, but we did not mind given the convenience of quick shopping, we did not care. As soon as I paid for the items at the counter, we were already on our way back home.

Second Shopping Trip

Now that my sister had the few items she needed for the trip from the convenience store, she also needed to pick some new cloth items the next day. For this particular shopping trip, we had to drive several kilometers to the mall. It was the first time I was taking her shopping without my parents. We visited a popular clothing store in which my sister instead has excellent bargains and the best accessories. Walking into the store, she immediately rushed towards the summer wear aisle, looking through shorts, dresses, skirts, and crop tops. There were accessories such as bags, sunglasses, hats, and jewelry that seemed to impress her highly. At this store, she seemed to know what she wanted and only asked for my opinion on whether to take a smaller or bigger size of a dress she was fitting. As I waited for her to pick the items she had listed on her shopping list, I observed her sense of style, the need to select items on the trend regardless of the price, and the obsession with designer labels. Halfway through her shopping, she attempted to convenience to let her buy two items that were clearly out of budget simply because she had seen a similar piece trending online. However, I had been instructed by my mother to stick to the budget. She unwillingly put the items back on the shelf. After almost two hours, I finally paid for the things my sister had picked that mostly consisted of bold colors of shorts, branded tops, sunglasses, pink lip gloss, and two flowery dresses. The prices were on the higher end, given the store’s popularity, but my sister seemed to believe that they have the best bargains. On our drive home, I was exhausted from all the shopping, but my teenage sister was very excited and happy.

Analysis of the Consumer Behavior

Identify, reflect, and compare motivational factors for the purchase of both shopping trips.

Many factors come to play to motivate a customer to purchase a product. Although in most cases, our motivations vary on how we consume certain products, some standard themes drive us to make a purchase regardless. However, teenage consumers are the most elusive yet valuable type of consumers due to their fickle nature, to adopt, rebel quickly, or go with the flow (). Given that teenagers form a critical demographic in the consumer market, various aspects motivate them to make purchasing decisions. In the first shopping trip, my teenage sister was able to purchase several convenience products. From my observation, the following were the motivational factors that influence her purchase at the convenience store;

• The need for the products even though she did not necessarily want them. For example, she bought the magazine just because it was displayed.
• The convenience that the products give her given that she will need them for her school trip. The idea is to buy products that can make life easier and comfortable, such a snack food.

On the other hand, motivational factors that influenced her purchase at the clothing store include

• The idea of choice optimization because she could be able to go through so many different brands of clothing, in search for that right item that she wants. This mechanism of searching for a product of choice () describes it as a driving factor to consumer purchasing decisions and behavior.
• The pursuit of social interaction is also a motivating factor that involves the need to seek pleasure by interacting with others in a social atmosphere (). For my sister, the idea of shopping at a clothes store in the mall elicited excitement. The social aspect and the ability to share experiences, information, and knowledge about different brands with her peers seemed to motivate her to pick items that would enable her to bond with others.

Type of involvement and Resources to Make a Purchase;

Numerous factors influence consumers buying decisions. () notes that each consumer is different when making a purchasing decision; some consumers can make quick purchasing decisions while others take a long time when buying a product as they seek additional information. The difference is involvement depends on a consumer’s knowledge and experience that determines how involved they are in decision making before they purchase a product (). In the first shopping scenario, my teenage sister showed low-involvement when purchasing convenience products. It was effortless for her to pick products off the shelf without thinking much or comparing different products. It was a matter of replacing products, and it did not require her to have additional information. As a buyer, I observed that she had very little interest in the products she needed to pick.

In the second shopping scenario, I noticed the level of interest and commitment to the shopping was extremely high. My teenage sister was highly involved in the purchase of the clothing products, taking her time to compare brands, colors, trends, and so on. She went through a dozen if items before deciding to purchase one of the products. Comparing the two scenarios, I figured that as a teenage consumer, my sister indulged in high involvement purchasing decisions because of the benefits she could reap from such purchases. The amount of attention she gave to the clothing products that carried a higher price tag was high in contrast to the conventional products. That means these clothing products were essential and relevant to her. In both cases, the resource available also limited my sister’s purchasing decisions because she had to buy what she needed on a budget. It meant making important decisions on what products to pick and which to forego.

Exposure, perception and stimuli elements that Influence Buying Decision

Understanding a consumer’s perceptions towards shopping for specific items is essential because it reflects the shopper’s deeper motivation, needs, and reasons for the continued consumption of certain products (). When a shopper has a positive perception towards a product or store, he/she develops a positive attitude (), which significantly influences consumer purchasing behavior. According to a study by (), adolescent by exposure, and perceptions of their consumption choices. For example, my teenage sister has little exposure to the consumption of convenience products, and she asked for my opinion on what brands of toiletries to pick, yet, during cloth shopping, she seemed to have significant exposure and positive perception of what she was purchasing. She seemed sure of what she wanted, unlike at the convenience store. It can also be accompanied by sensory stimuli that propel young consumers to seek novelty and trends in the market for certain products such as clothing items. Given that a shopping store full of clothes busts with various sensory stimuli (), the store seemed to allow my teenage sister to gain new information and exposure to new trends in a direct manner.