Problem statement
Consumer behavior is not a simple concept. Consumers are very complicated and unique individuals who are not static and therefore always changing, what someone demanded last year is not the same thing he/she will demand today (Boone 2010). To add to this, highly complex and often ambiguous behavior of consumer competition between companies introduces another angle of complexity into this whole equation, is the often stiff competition that is witnessed between companies end up pushing companies to implement superior marketing mixes and strategies that make it more difficult and challenging to understand what a consumer may do next (Charles et al 2009). Therefore consequently commercial enterprises cannot go into business blindly because the process of production, marketing, and successful selling is not based on luck and hope, companies must therefore find mechanisms that will enable that operate with a kind of certainty. Therefore adopting planning and strategy becomes therefore paramount for those commercial enterprises that want to succeed and outshine others (Kourdi 2009). Companies that lack the entire capability and internal mechanisms of decrypting consumer behavior and purchase patterns often opt for consultancy and therefore such tasks are given to companies such as Lextant.
A critical well-structured analysis of the situation
As companies and commercial institutions such as Pepsi and others try to push up their sales and market share companies like Lextant must be faced with a highly complex process of gathering otherwise general information and then making useful information that points out any patterns that may arise from the research process (Kourdi 2009). Insignificant data and useless information need to be disposed of because they can negatively impact on results and recommendations that Lextant may decide to give to its clientele. Lextant researchers understand that consumer behavior is often considered as the process of studying and decoding the when, why, and how that is directly linked to why individuals and how they make any purchase and consumer products.
When companies find out that they cannot understand the exact motives that are linked to purchase and consumption Lextant comes in to assist them using their superior research techniques that will enable management of companies such as Motorola, PepsiCo, Microsoft, Hp dell and others to identify clear trends and patterns that are directly related to purchasing and consumption of their products (Charles et al 2009). The consumer purchase process and adoption process is not as simple as people think and therefore Lextant comes in to make it clear and understandable for marketers and those who make products. A simple consumer must go through the following processes before he or she can decide to purchase:
- Awareness
- Interest
- Evaluation
- Trial
- Adoption
While companies use massive marketing and communication techniques to make consumers or the general mass aware of their products it is also o important to know that consumers are governed by needs and wants which are bound by psychological factors, societal factors, anthropology and culture, demographics, and influence from groups (Boone 2010). Furthermore, relationship marketing binds the buyer the consumer, and the user together, therefore, creating a good avenue for Lextant to sufficiently carry out qualitative and quantitative research that will make it easier for companies to break the ice and do well in the market. In other words without the help of Lextant it will become somehow hard or inefficient to implement a good marketing mix for these companies, this is simply because knowledge is power and in the absence of knowledge, it becomes hard for companies that serve consumers to make decisions that are good for both the company and the consumer with precise certainty. Consequently when such information is unavailable the process of decision making becomes riskier and therefore more and more like gambling, sometimes products do not fail because they were bad products but simply because of the kind of planning and strategy that was formulated and implemented to assist these products to sell and gain markets share were simply miss-informed or constructed-in with a bad premise.
Competitive advantage enjoyed by market leaders does not come about as a result of wishful thinking but rather as a result of careful planning and efforts that arise from consultative research efforts that are done by a company like Lextant (Boone 2010). The consumer/customer is the fulcrum of the entire commercial process and therefore commercial enterprises should supply goods and services that satisfy all the needs and wants that they have (Lancaster & Withey 2006).
Psychology is the study of the mind and previous scholars like Sigmund Freud just illustrated beyond doubt how important the mind is too basic human decisions making today the world’s biggest trading companies use the findings that arose out of his studies to make marketing decisions, on the other hand, sociology is a study that empirically and critically tries to understand how human social activity defines human behavior, sociology goes ahead to look at issues like religion and social classes which also define human purchase and consumption patterns(Charles et al 2009). Lextant, therefore, does design research that provides useful information that will be used in decision-making processes that will target satisfying consumer needs.
Both qualitative research and quantitative research is very important for solving any ambiguities that are related to consumer behavior, while on one hand, qualitative research offers high-quality statements that explain why, when, and how and therefore researchers go ahead to understand a more in-depth understanding of human behavior and all the reasons that are attached to this behavior (Lancaster & Withey 2006). Conversely, quantitative research on the other hand is a type of research that launches a systematic and scientific investigation into quantitative properties that may exist between various phenomena. Quantitative research uses the help of arithmetical models, various theories, and not to forget hypotheses.
Quantitative research done by consultants such as Lextant creates a link between empirical observations that are related to consumer behavior and other marketing variables together with mathematical models, therefore, creating a relationship(s). Qualitative research is therefore a good discipline for deciphering any variables that may be linked to consumer behavior and how they impact purchasing and consumption behavior (Kothari 1985). Very often models such as regression/correlation analysis are used by researchers to find the degree of correlation between marketing variables (Kothari 1985). The fact that Hard Rock Café’s website turned out to be a hindrance to the sale of its products could have been arrived at as a result of both quantitative and qualitative techniques, therefore, making Lextant research efforts quite fruitful.
Articulated implementation strategy
Consumers will continue being complex and highly complicated and commercial enterprises will continue to demanding for assistance so that they will decide that influence consumer purchase patterns it, therefore, becomes the duty of Lextant to implement programs and strategies that will take their consultancy and design research activities to a whole new level. For example, Lextant can make a sole decision of hiring highly talented individuals who will therefore in turn provide the necessary manpower that will be needed to adequately handle the large volume of institutional consumers that they serve (Kourdi 2009). Apart from handling the large consumer base that they serve a good human workforce that is skillfully trained will go ahead and make sure that the quality of work done by the researchers is of high quality and therefore leads to better results when they are implemented by the commercial companies that they serve. Lexicon should therefore also go a step further to purchase the latest research tools in the market that will be used in carrying out both qualitative and quantitative research, this is because the process of collecting and analyzing a wide collection of data is highly complicated and therefore highly differentiated and advanced data collection and analysis tools are needed by Lextant to accurately analyze and interpret their data (Boone 2010).
Understanding the case process
Lextant’ case of offering design research services to renowned world commercial enterprises is a very important and vital part of commercial success. The fact is that management and company executrices may always assume that a market is always there and that they always know their needs and therefore this is wrong. There are more hidden and underlying factors that influence consumer behavior that at the end of the day decide whether a consumer will buy product A or B. It is therefore important that research is done so that all these factors are factored into a company’s marketing mix and other business strategies
References
Boone, L. (2010). Contemporary Business. NJ New Jersey: Wiley & Sons.
Charles et al, (2009). Essentials of Marketing. : Natorp Boulevard: South Western Learning.
Kothari, C.R., (1985). Research Methodology-Methods and Techniques, New Delhi: Wiley Eastern Limited.
Kourdi, J. (2009). Business Strategy: A Guide to Effective Decision Making, 2 edn. New York: Economist books
Lancaster, G. & Withey. F. (2006). Marketing Fundamentals’: CIM Course book. London: Oxford publishers.