How Do Culture, Personality, and Experience Influence Buyer Behavior?

How Do Culture, Personality, and Experience Influence Buyer Behavior in Taiwan?

Start with the culture, each different country and race have their own culture. From where they lived, what they want, to how they think. Cultures can be changing over time, but it takes a very long period. When a culture has been built, it is hard to change it at short notice. Before 1979, there are no 24/7 open convenience stores in Taiwan. After Uni-President Enterprises start to operate more and more 7-11 in Taiwan, the consumer behavior and the retailers have been changed. For instance, during New Year's Eve and vacations, most of the traditional retailers are close, you must purchase all your necessities before New Year. However, with more and more 7-11 stores around the country, people don't have to worry about this issue anymore since 7-11 is always open. That means they can make their purchasing decisions just when they need them rather than plan ahead. This change may lead to some impulse purchases because they have more opportunities to walk into retail stores or put some spending backward since they don't have to purchase them too early.

Obviously, different personalities lead to very different purchasing decisions. For instance, people with open minds tend to try new things such as being one of the early electric car owners even though they know Tesla's superchargers are rare in Taiwan for now and the bonus for driving electric cars is also less than in developed countries. 

Experience also badly influence the purchasing behavior in Taiwan real estate. Taiwan experienced a demographic dividend after World War 2, and the government always want to stimulate the economy, plus mostly the prices are going up. Therefore, they think real estate is the best option to protect their purchasing value. As a result, the housing prices are incredibly high compare to the average income in Taiwan. A 40-year old apartment in Taipei can cost you nearly NT$ 20,000,000 or even one hundred million Taiwan dollars. They can eat less and cut down many other spendings just for their houses since they think the housing prices are always going up. The experience teaches me that if you see the same products with a different aspect such as see it as an investment, you are more willing to spend more on it. With budget constraints, they may tend to reduce other expenditures. So, in Taiwan, the brokers always tell their customers that the house they are selling is worth to invest rather than telling them it worth the cost when you live inside the house.

Conclusion

Although each of these factors has apparent effects on consumer behavior independently, they also influence each other. For instance, experience in the Taiwan housing market can also influence the culture. Now, many parents love their children to buy their own houses rather than buy cars. When it becomes a spreading culture, our purchasing decisions are not as free as we want.

Reference

Principles of Marketing. (2015). University of Minnesota Open Textbook Library. Licensed under a Creative Commons by-nc-sa.