Consumer Behavior: The of GoodGuide Application - Case Study Example

 Consumer Behavior The consumer is faced with different pieces of information that may impact her decision making in this situation. Briefly describe what these different pieces of information are. In the decision making of the consumer, information definitely affects how the customer goes about before buying a particular product. In this case, through the GoodGuide app, the consumer is forced to reevaluate her product preference because the product that she usually buys has scored poorly, to be modest, on the GoodGuide app. The GoodGuide is basically an application that provides the user with ratings on products in three categories such as health (nutritional facts of products), environment (impact to the environment), and society (ethical policies and performances). Hence, the customer widens her knowledge about the particular product. The consumers of the modern society are very health conscious, thus, by providing the customers with information regarding health contents of a particular product enormously influences the purchase decision of the customer. The customers are made aware of the products that have poor health benefits and would even potentially post health issues. In the environmental aspect, the customer gains knowledge and the application even promote companies that have non-damaging practices to the environment. Thus, the buying experience is not only limited to just the product but also the customer is made to feel responsible in aiding and promoting companies to use environmentally friendly options in their operations. For the society, this information is about the ethical practices of the company. Such criteria further broadens the decision complication of the customer since she does will now not only look for products that will just satisfy here but also rather look for products that score well in the above mentioned criteria. What theoretical approach(es) best explain(s) this situation and how the consumer might cope with it? Remember to cover the main aspects of the theory/theories you use and explain how exactly they apply in this case. One approach would be about the “Consumer Culture”. Culture is the commonly held societal beliefs that dictate what is gratifying (Helm). Since the trend for individuals now is about being health conscious and environmentally aware, this is taken advantage by GoodGuide. The cultural norm now is to be aware and consciously choose ways and products that will be for the betterment of mankind. Healthy and environmentally friendly products and companies are the way to go if this is the case. Therefore, the consumer doesn’t really have cope with it since it has turned to be an established norm in the present. Another approach that could explain this case would be about the Group Influence. The GoodGuide acts as a “reference group” wherein it entails a significant influence and relevance to the decision making process of individuals. The reference group influences the consumers by being “informational, utilitarian (preferences of others influence consumer’s decision to buy, and value-expressive (the image others have of the consumer will be influenced by what he or she buys)” (Helm). The reference group, GoodGuide, have a credible pool of information to influence the consumers. GoodGuide also acts as the Opinion leader since they are good information sources because they have hired experts to do the evaluation, and thus they are also unbiased and credible, and they evaluate the things that the customers frequently buy themselves so essentially they are also consumers but they provide much educated information for the selection of the products. For the health aspects, they have hired toxicologists, chemists, nutritionists, and the like, to examine the products. Thus consumers who consult this app will also follow what the GoodGuide will deem good products and avoid those who do not meet their criteria. It can be said that it also is a negative reference group since it ostracizes products and companies that will end in the bad favor of their rating scheme. Observing the group dynamics in this case, the entity would be the GoodGuide and the members of the group are the people who use the application. The group members share common goals and interests (Helm). Here, it is about being conscious on the health aspects of the product, its impact to the environment, and to society. The GoodGuide takes advantage of the fact that consumers of the modern age do not only look for satisfaction in their products just by self-preference alone but also because they are health and environmental conscious individuals They share a common set of expectations that should be followed in purchasing goods. This is evident as to how the customer is now in a dilemma of choosing another product that the one that she preferred before since her preferred product didn’t have a good rating. Based on the theoretical reasoning you provided, what could be the implications for the retailer (store) in this case? The effect of GoodGuide does not only cover the actions of the consumers. In turn, since the consumers create the need for the market, the retailers must also manage to adjust accordingly to such demand. Retailers are essentially also consumers and customers of the companies, only just in a much larger scale. With that being said, this implies that retailers should also employ and use the said application for the forecasting and decision making of their inventory purchases. In the advent of the customers wanting healthier products which also has positive impacts to the environment and society, the retailers must also shift their gears towards these criteria in choosing which products are to be sold in their stores. The management should also consider allotting lesser inventory and space on products which scored poorly based on the GoodGuide and should even plan to phase-out such products in the light of introducing new products which scored best in the GoodGuide. The burden does not really lie on the end consumers but rather this lies on the middle ones like the retailers for they must support the culture and trend that is only being made evident by the GoodGuide. Retailers must subject and subscribe themselves to what group dynamics their customers are engaged into in order to have better success in their retailing endeavor. Work Cited Helm, Sabrina V. “ROSC 340: Consumer Behavior in Retailing”. The University of Arizona. (2012). Slides Read More