Consumer's Personality Traits and Buying Behaviour

Consumer's Personality Traits and Buying Behaviour

Introduction

Personality is a unique psychological makeup of an individual that consistently influences how that person responds to his/her environment. The personality of a consumer guides and directs their behavior to achieve different goals in different situations. There are many theories of personality which are based on two basic premises: 1. individuals have internal characteristics or traits and 2. There are no consistent differences between individuals on these characteristics and traits that can be measured, most theories assume that the features are formed at an early age and remain relatively unchanged over the years. The Marketers and Advertisers have always found fascinating the symbiotic relationship between the subject (consumer) and the object (product). If we carefully analyze the persona of the brands or products we buy, we will see that in many cases, they are considerably aligned with our own personality traits (real or ideal). Researchers have long established that by buying a particular brand, consumers actually choose the extensions of their own self. The theory of consumer behavior notes that "the consumption of products and services contributes to the definition of the self; the personal possessions of a consumer place him in a social role that serves to answer the question of who I am now". Consumers make their decision to choose a particular product or service when its attributes match some aspect of their own self. This connection always leads marketers to consider in their marketing campaigns the role of personality as a psychological variable in consumption decisions on the part of consumer (Luchs & Mooradian, 2012, Pp. 127).

Discussion

Personality traits of consumers predispose them to what they choose, or prefer to consume. It works the same way as cliché “we are what we eat”. If consumers love adventure and extroversion, they will prefer to go in search of adventure tourism, adventure sports, expansion activities and movement within the city (races, sprints, etc.). Do consumers choose a brand because it is just aesthetically appealing to them, or they choose a particular brand because they want it but they seem quite far from relating themselves to it? We buy a product or services because we identify with them as we tend to identify with people, objects and situations and then rationalize this taste alluding to shared features.

One of the best examples in how alignment of brand's personality can be a determining factor to create customer loyalty and keep customer “locked in” is the brand of Marlboro. For many of its intensive consumers (heavy users), this brand embodies the virile man, very masculine, strong and determined personality. In a way, they want to emulate and / or strengthen their own self-esteem by smoking the Marlboro cigarettes. The difference between an ordinary cigarette smoker and Marlboro smoker is; Marlboro consumer really smokes an image, the image of the character Marlboro (American cowboy) and everything he represents and smokers of an ordinary brand smokes a cigarette. What is the advantage of aligning the brand personality ...