Consumer Me

In my new course, Consumer Behavior a blog post assignment is required. As you will remember this has been part of my college experience and I chose long ago to integrate my long time personal blog into these assignments.

In this assignment we are exploring me as a consumer and I must answer these following prompts:

• What type of consumer are you? 
  I'm an impulse consumer. For example, I pretty much cook for myself now and go to the grocery store two to three times a week to buy something to cook, depending on my mood. Maybe one day it's a casserole, the next red beans and rice, grilling on the weekend. It all depends on what my current impulses are. 
  
  
• What influences your buying decisions, and how? 
  Easy, hunger and comfort are my biggest influences when purchasing something. I've been blue collar my entire working career and I feel I've worked pretty hard to get where I'm at in life and if I want to eat something such as rib-eye steak, I'll go get a really good one. If I'm wanting to see a certain movie to pass the time after the evening's homework is completed after work, then I'll buy it or maybe subscribe to a streaming channel that has it. Again impulse decisions that are influenced by two driving forces. 
  
  
• Which stage actually leads to your purchasing decisions? 
  Hunger or relaxation. When I'm out of something I'll go buy to refill it. I subscribe to a pet food service that sends regular shipments of foods that my pets enjoy so that is planned but saves me the time in the grocery store. Not to mention that I might go to buy more pet food and they might be out of that specific brand or flavor which would mean I'd have to go to another store to find what they like. It's very convenient to just have it delivered on a regular basis.
  
  
• When making a buying decision, how are you influenced by marketing research and marketing design? 
  Most of the times I'm not easily influenced by marketing. I tend to read about a major purchase product before purchasing which I realize flies in the face of my earlier stated impulse consumer behavior. I tend to read reviews, watch unboxing videos, or consumer views on an expensive product before purchasing. None of that is generally part of the company's marketing plan as most reviewers are uncompensated.
  
  
• Do you experience any post-purchase behavior? 
  Not so much although I'm not a big believer in recycling I have started saving my empty beer cans. I consume, move on and usually discard the packaging.