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Student: Mert Akyüz
Instructor: Pınar Demir
Eng 102-50
24 Dec. 2024
The Illusion of Choice: How External Factors Affect Consumer Purchasing Decisions
Consuming is an inevitable action for the survival of all living things. The best way for
people to consume something is by purchasing that product. And the question of whether they are
free in these purchasing decisions has been the area of interest of philosophers, scientists, and even
psychiatrists for many years. When some people defend that they are completely free on their
buying decisions, they are not affected by anything when making these decisions and only use
their conscious free will. On the other hand, some say that people are not free when making these
purchasing decisions, and that eventually there are a number of factors that affect their final
decision. In today's world, consuming and buying are quite common and the source of people's
decision on purchasing may differ. Mostly, they are influenced or affected by external forces which
prevent them from making free decisions. Their environments such as their family, friends and
other environmental changes are one of the elements that can shape an people’s behavior. Also,
advertising strategies and psychological factors can change people’s buying decisions by affecting
their psychology.
It is a fact that people are influenced by their environments, including family, friends, and
other social connections, which affects their buying and purchasing decisions by shared
preferences. Consumer behavior is often shaped by environmental and social conditions rather
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than purely individual choices. This can also be seen in daily life, when people buy something,
they usually consult their close circle, namely family and friends. Also, an extraordinary change
in the usual environment can alter consumer behavior. For example, sudden changes in external
conditions can affect people's cognitive abilities and cause them to react emotionally rather than
logically. As Kum Fai Yuen also mentioned, changes in environmental stimuli significantly
influence consumer behavior. However, if these changes occur too fast or are too intense, they can
surpass an people’s capacity to manage. This can lead to some behaviors such as panic buying,
where individuals collect products during a crisis, or in expectation of rising prices or limited
availability (1). This highlights how external conditions such as natural disasters, economic crises,
and health crises can create a sense of urgency and fear in consumers. A change in environmental
stimuli can significantly affect consumer behavior, as seen in times of crisis. Sudden disruptions
to daily life, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, cause many people to fear scarcity and behaviors
such as panic buying. Emotional responses such as fear and anxiety overwhelmed rational thinking
processes, that leads to overbuying of specific items in consumers. Therefore, environmental
factors play a critical role in shaping consumer choices, especially when uncertainty or threats
affect decision making. Such scenarios emphasize the impact of environmental changes on
consumer behavior by underlining the interplay between external stimuli, emotional responses,
and purchasing patterns. Furthermore, Kurt explains that how people’s environment affects
consumer behavior in “The Influence of Friends on Consumer Spending: The Role of Agency–
Communion Orientation and Self-Monitoring" article. Four studies explored that how the presence
of friends affects consumers spending and buying. As a result, it was seen that shopping with a
friend may be more costly for consumers. When people are shopping with their friends, it was also
seen that purchasing context are altered from “spending for self” to “donating to a charity” (741).
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These results show that social environment has a significant impact on consumer behavior. When
people go shopping with their friends, they may feel a sense of encouragement to purchase stuff
they would not buy if they were alone. Moreover, the research clarifies that shopping with friends
can change the focus of shopping. Consumers may be influenced by their friends due to the sense
of approval or conforming to their behavior. This fact proves that social environment especially
presence of friends may change consumer’s behaviors and priorities.
Advertising and marketing strategies have an impact on consumer decisions, by shaping
purchasing behavior by exploiting emotional triggers and experience manipulation. Marketers
understand the power of feelings in purchase decisions and frequently use tactics designed to
awake positive feelings, such as the concept of "free" offers. For example, one common strategy
that attracts the emotions of consumers is the promotions like "buy one, get one free," which
creates an excitement on the consumer. As Department of Defense's Office of Financial Readiness
states, the word ‘free’ attracts the consumer more than everything in marketing and marketers get
benefits from this good feeling when consumers buy two items for the price of one. This sense of
getting something for anything plays directly into the emotional appeal that marketers rely on to
influence consumer behavior. The concept of acquiring a free item triggers satisfaction feeling in
consumers. Advertisements in this way, by exploiting people's instincts, cause consumers to act
impulsively and buy some things that they did not think about. These emotional responses are
carefully chosen by advertisers, who understand that people often make decisions based on
feelings than rational assessments of need or utility. However, these emotional manipulations can
also lead consumers to purchase products they do not really need. Marketers are skilled at creating
a sense of urgency and scarcity and encouraging consumers to buy more than necessary by
affecting their psychological tactics such as FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). This tactic has been
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used during sale events, like Black Friday, where consumers oversee advertisements that offer in
limited time deals. By emphasizing scarcity or exclusivity, advertisements make consumers to act
quickly, and this leads to excessive purchases. As mentioned, “It's human nature to want to save
money and get the best deal possible, but are you paying for something you don't need simply to
get an additional item for free?” (United States, Dept. of Defense's Office of Financial Readiness).
This is especially relevant in situations where people purchase items they do not need, since the
deal is too good to reject. The emotional attraction to getting something extra for “free” can
overwhelm rational considerations and pushes consumers to irrational and irrelevant purchases by
emotional satisfaction instead of genuine need. This behavior highlights how advertising can
manipulate consumer perceptions and decisions that eventually do not match with their actual
needs or preferences.
Furthermore, advertising’s and marketing's influence on consumer behavior are also
related to brand loyalty and perceptions. Research has shown that brand perception plays a crucial
role in shaping buying behavior. As Malik states, advertising has a positive impact on how
customers make their buying decisions. According to this, it can be concluded that when
consumers know a brand and have beneficial perceptions and associations tied to loyalty, the
brand's image will come to mind and, eventually becoming a key factor in their purchasing choices
(121). This situation emphasizes that how advertisements not only give information to consumers
about products but also build an emotional connection to a brand. When consumers develop a
strong association with a brand, by advertising or past experiences, they are more likely to prefer
that brand for future purchases. The repetition of brands that is gained by advertising and past
experiences of consumers build trust and loyalty, which makes it more likely that consumers will
choose familiar brands over other brands. This emotional attachment to a brand can lead to regular
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buying, as consumers are tend to prefer what they know and trust, even when other options might
be better. Moreover, advertising and marketing strategies affect psychological processes, such as
desire for social identity. Champniss states in “Why Your Customers’ Social Identities Matter”
that people tend to buy stuff that matches with their status and image of their social group. Many
advertisements sell not just products, also they sell a lifestyle that consumers want. This is
especially seen in industries like fashion, technology, and automobiles, where the branding of a
product is closely related to social values like success and luxury. In this way, advertising shapes
consumer behavior by aligning products with desired social identities, moreover, reinforcing the
connection between purchasing decisions and emotional desires. Therefore, advertising and
marketing strategies significantly influence consumer purchasing behavior by attracting emotions,
creating a sense of urgency, and the power of brand loyalty and social identity. By some tactics
such as emotional manipulation, FOMO and strong brands, marketers shape consumer behavior
and their buying decisions. This highlights consumer decision making, where external influences
like advertising can lead to choices influenced by emotions and social identity, than solely rational
thinking and choosing.
Psychological factors are also one of the important factors affecting consumers' purchasing
preferences. Examples of these psychological factors are primarily economic constraints and
addiction. Financial constraints are one of the elements that shape peoples’ buying decisions.
Mullainathan states that when consumers encounter constraint of source, they start to focus on that
scarce source and the cost of the stuff (qtd. in Hamilton 290). Moreover, Hamilton explains in
“How Financial Constraints Influence Consumer Behavior: An Integrative Framework” in an
experiment, it is seen that consumers with tighter financial constraint spend more time looking to
the prices than consumers who can spend more money (290). These results show how
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psychological factors, particularly economic constraints, affect consumers’ purchasing decisions.
Economic constraints may change consumers’ approach to buying. Especially, when they
encounter economic limitations, they start to focus on what they have and act accordingly. Also,
as seen in the experiment, people with increased economical limitations are likely to be more
sensitive on prices of goods, prioritizing price more than other factors since they need to decide
carefully about spending money. Therefore, these show that economic constraints are one of
factors that can affect consumers’ buying decisions.
Addiction is, also, one of the psychological factors that influence consumer behavior
towards purchasing. Being addictive to something is directly related to human psychology.
Moreover, humans due to their addictions feel they strongly need to access the stuff that they are
addicted to every time. Lo states that compulsive shoppers are buying more materialistic stuff,
they tend to spend money much but do not tend to realise this overspending or react emotionally
to the consequences of it (169). This statement explains that people who are addicted to stuff
tend to acquire good by prioritizing their personal desires and pleasures more than their actual
needs. Also, they cannot recognize the negative consequences of their actions such as economic
issues. In addition, Black supports that by saying that last research demonstrates that compulsive
buyers are likely to lose their control of their shopping and end the shopping with a vast amount
of debt (qtd. in Mrad 401). These imply that buying decisions are affected by psychological
factors. Furthermore, Mrad adds “Brand addicts' involvement in positive affectivity and
gratification reflects the highest level of self-relevant benefits. Hence, it is unlikely for brand
addicts to be in a positive psychological state if they are in stressful financial debts situations”
(401). It can be understood that people who are addicted to brands are not in a good
psychological mood when they encounter financial issues. When the economic constraints get
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tighter, this lowers the desire that is got from buying addicted brands. Eventually, these show
that consumers’ decisions on purchasing are not totally free, psychological factors such as
addiction and financial constraints affect it.
Although it may be thought that people are free when they are making decisions on
buying, it is not. There are some factors that affect consumers’ buying decisions such as
environmental factors, advertisement/marketing strategies and psychological factors.
Environmental factors, such as friends and pandemic, may lead consumers to make decisions
otherwise they would not make. Advertising and marketing strategies manipulate consumers’
buying decisions by creating urgency and emotional triggers. Psychological factors, such as
addiction and financial limitations, also have an impact on buying choices since consumers
prioritize feeling of satisfaction. These factors show that buying decisions are not totally free,
they are influenced by external factors and internal desires. Debates on this topic have been
discussed for years. In the future, there will be more precise and reliable results to decide
whether these choices are free or not.
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Works Cited
Champniss, Guy, et al. “Why Your Customers’ Social Identities Matter.” Harvard Business
Review, 3 May 2024, hbr.org/2015/01/why-your-customers-social-identities-matter.
Hamilton, Rebecca W., et al. “How Financial Constraints Influence Consumer Behavior: An
Integrative Framework.” Journal of Consumer Psychology, vol. 29, no. 2, Oct. 2018, pp.
285–305. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcpy.1074.
Kurt, Didem, et al. “The Influence of Friends on Consumer Spending: The Role of Agency–
Communion Orientation and Self-Monitoring.” Journal of Marketing Research, vol. 48,
no. 4, July 2011, pp. 741–54. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkr.48.4.741.
Lo, Hui-Yi, and Nigel Harvey. “Effects of Shopping Addiction on Consumer Decision-making:
Web-based Studies in Real Time.” Journal of Behavioral Addictions, vol. 1, no. 4, Nov.
2012, pp. 162–70. https://doi.org/10.1556/jba.1.2012.006.
Malik, Muhammad Ehsan, et al. “Impact of Brand Image and Advertisement on Consumer Buying
Behavior.” World Applied Sciences Journal, vol. 23, no. 1, Jan. 2013.
Mrad, Mona, and Charles Chi Cui. “Comorbidity of Compulsive Buying and Brand Addiction: An
Examination of Two Types of Addictive Consumption.” Journal of Business Research, vol.
113, Oct. 2019, pp. 399–408. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.09.023.
United States, Department of Defense's Office of Financial Readiness. How Marketing Affects
Your
Purchase
Decisions.
finred.usalearning.gov/Consumer-
Protections/MarketingDecisions. Accessed 23 Dec. 2024.
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Yuen, Kum Fai, et al. “Panic Buying During COVID-19: Survival Psychology and Needs
Perspectives in Deprived Environments.” International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction,
vol. 62, June 2021, p. 102421. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2021.102421.