Influencing Customer Purchase Decisions

1. Briefly describe the context and/or organizational background for the business problem.

The core objective of any form of marketing is to reach the potential customers at the moment when their purchasing decisions could be influenced to the most extensive measure. Baker (2014) has outlined these moments of particular influence imposition prospects on the purchasing decisions of the customers as touch points. The metaphor of a funnel is often applied regarding this process of marketing. Solomon (2014) has specified the actual thematic perspective behind such a metaphor in the manner of a perceptual structure through which consumers generally commence from the initial stage of the funnel to the culmination point. At the initial stage, the consumers have multiplicity of potential brands and this could be outlined to be the extended end of the funnel. At the final and narrow end of this hypothetical funnel, the customers select only one branded product after being subjected to consistent strategic marketing messages emanating from the different companies. However, the problem regarding this process lies in the fact that the current globalised markets are not linear but extremely convoluted regarding the overall process through which customers arrive at the purchasing decisions. Multiplicity of product availability has been responsible for such complications in terms of the purchasing journey of the customers. Thus, the context of the selected business problem lies in the fact that it has become necessary for the marketers of different companies such as the Asda Stores Ltd, to develop a sophisticated marketing strategy through which purchasing decisions could be influenced. In this context, the selection of the Asda Stores Ltd, known in the market as ASDA, has been predicated upon the fact that it is one of the leading supermarket retailing organisation of the UK and thus, it has been of utmost importance for the organisation to properly determine the influence of marketing strategy on the purchasing decisions of customers to achieve business success. Additionally, engaging in marketing dissertation help can provide insights into effective strategies for tackling these complex challenges.

2. Literature Review

a) Dependent variable

According to Taylor et al (2016), the dependent variable could be outlined in this context as that of the purchasing behaviours which could be influenced through upgraded as well as modified marketing strategies accordingly as per the changing trends and preferences of the market conditions. Model (2018) has suggested that the measuring process of the dependent variable could be the ascending volumes of sales of the products endorsed by ASDA by the customers of the existing market. According to Giles and Beattie (2018), the reliability of the measuring of such a dependent variable could be ascertained from the statistical scores obtained from analysis of the quantitative data which could be collected from the corresponding research process through the selection of a specific number of regular customers of ASDA retail store endorsed products as the identified research sample. This test could be formulated upon the development of Quantitative research questionnaire to inspect the change of purchasing frequency undertaken by the customers in tandem with the different marketing strategies which could be employed by ASDA. Spicker (2018) has propounded the perception that various validation points could be concentrated on in this regard and these could be the propensity of the customers to assess the online and offline reviews and average star ratings of ASDA products, gathering of product related information prior to arriving at the purchase decisions from both online and offline sources including from word of mouth based information circulation, the inclination on part of the customers to prefer products and services which others of the same community or locality could suggest and whether social media based marketing could influence the purchase decisions of such customers more than any other platform of marketing.

In this context, Hulland, Baumgartner and Smith (2018) has observed that the gathered data from the sample of research respondents could be analysed statistically so as to determine the frequency of different aspects such as the particularities of purchasing decisions which are directly associated with the previously outlined points of validation. The ultimate objective of any such research approach, as has been observed by Eisend (2015) could thus be considered as the deducing of generalisation trends through which different aspects, which, underscore and direct purchasing tendencies of customers. The deduced frequency could be validated against the perspectives of cognitive fluency such as brand loyalty and previous experience based influence on the purchasing decision.

George et al (2016) have stated that this specific aspect of the behaviour of the customers is indicative of the property of reliability regarding the determination of the validity of the dependent variable since this variable is considered and measured as a particular aspect of the behaviour of the research participants through which the research findings could be generated. The reliability property of the dependent variable would be determined through the repetition of the response frequency of the research participants as the Quantitative data could be collected by the Researcher. According to Katsikeas et al (2016) this form of reliability is known as the Intra-rater reliability. The accuracy of the reliability could be effectively determined through the measuring of the mean, median, mode and standard deviation of the statistical outcomes of the gathered participant responses gathered through the quantitative questionnaire based survey.

Furthermore, the factor of validity regarding the dependent variable could be outlined from the perspectives of Content and Empirical validity. Heale and Twycross (2015) has specified that the context of the Quantitative survey could be measured for Content based validity through the examination of the appropriateness of the data collection and analysis instruments and methods. The research philosophy, research design, research approach and the sampling methods would be selected as per their validity and ability to perform Quantitative data collection and analysis properly.

Empirical validity would be ensured through the categorical analysis of the statistical response related data which would be generated through the questionnaire based responses of the participants. The percentage based responses would be analysed to determine to what extent these research findings could be aligned with the identified research hypotheses of this research project. The yielded scores of data responses are considered to be the performance measure of the research process efficacy, in terms of accuracy and reliability.

b) Independent variable

The independent variable, according to Pyrczak (2016) could be considered to be the marketing strategies which could be formulated by ASDA to influence the dependent variable of purchase decisions of the targeted customers. The independent variable, in this context, could be measured in the similar manner of measuring the dependent variable. The data generated could be correlated in this regard to the research hypotheses to quantify the actual measure of the research findings. However, the difference could be understood in the scores which could be put to measurement. In case of the measurement of the independent variable, the measuring of reliability would be undertaken to gather information through the Qualitative research process, through the utilisation of open ended interview questionnaire and these would be put to the selected sample of the ASDA managerial personnel by the Researcher. According to Kackere et al (2016), the two different sets of test scores, one Quantitative and the other Qualitative, could be correlated on the basis of the research objectives and the also on the premises of the research hypotheses. The most accurate degree of correlation could attest to the fact of the reliability of the Intra-rater in terms of research relevance. To achieve the necessary Empirical validity of the Qualitative score, the correlative comparison with the gathered secondary literature would also be required.

Mediator variable

According to Shah et al (2019) the variable which could cause a mediation effect in between the independent and the dependent variables could be understood as the mediator variable. This variable establishes the dynamics of the relationship and the mutual influence in between the dependent and the independent variables. Seawright (2016) has observed that, in case of the ASDA products based purchasing decision influencing through specific marketing strategies, the mediating variable is the exposure of the targeted customers to the online and offline mode of marketing by ASDA. The complete intervention which could be caused by the mediating variable, could lead to the profoundness of effect of the independent variable on that of the dependent variable. This could be better comprehended in the manner of observing the level of changes in purchasing decisions of the ASDA customers, both existing and potential, through their exposure and interest in the marketing media utilised by ASDA, both online and offline media. In such a process, the validity of the mediating variable could be ascertained through correlation of the Quantitative and Qualitative data collection and analysis scores with those of the actual sales improvement statistics of ASDA retail products. According to Patten (2016) this is known as the Predictive Validity.

In context to the reliability of the Mediating variable, the Inter-rater reliability could be acknowledged to be associated with such a variable. This form of reliability could be determined through the correlation of the different sets of data analysis scores gained from the Quantitative and Qualitative surveys and the greater the similarity of such data structure outcomes could be in a mutual effect, the greater Inter-rater reliability could be associated with the mediating variable outlined in the above study.

3. Research hypotheses and conceptual model diagram

In this context, it is necessary to prepare the enlistment of the research hypotheses concerning the effect of the identified Independent variable on the dependent variable.

H0: Strategic marketing processes have definite influence in changing the purchasing behaviour of ASDA customers. (Alternate hypothesis)

H1: Strategic marketing processes do not have any definite influence in changing the purchasing behaviour of ASDA customers. (Null hypothesis)

In this context, the application of the Utility based theory of purchase decision making could be identified to be relatable to all of the variables under consideration. Kochenderfer (2015) has argued that this theory propagates the notion that consumers formulate their purchase decisions on the basis of expectations of particular outcomes of such decisions. This theoretical construct provides the perception that consumers could be considered to be rational personnel who could formulate accurate estimates regarding the probabilistic results of their purchasing decisions. This estimation then leads to the weeding away of the associated uncertainty of outcomes and culminates in the maximisation of value which could be attained from the purchase of particular products or services endorsed by the retail shops of ASDA. However, Andersen et al (2018) have enumerated that it is literally impossible for the consumers to be aware of all of the elements which could influence the decision formulation scenario. Apart from this, consummate ability to estimate relative frequencies of marketing messages and opportunities could not suffice for the relative dearth of the capability to translate the information gained from such frequencies into probabilities and actual decisions based on the realisation of such probabilities. Thus, the dependent variable has an extended paradigm in terms of decision making which can be consistently influenced by the different marketing strategies such as word of mouth based marketing, online marketing involving the official website and the online retail information provisioning platforms of ASDA, newspapers and other print media, social media based platforms, electronic mail based marketing operations and personal sales operations. The extent of exposure to any of these strategic marketing processes could as well determine the overall efficacy of the influence of the mediating variable on the dependent variable, as has been explained previously within the study structure.

5. Research plan

The research population of interest would be the most frequent ASDA retail shop visitors and existing customers within London. The targeted sample size would be a 100 research participants for the purpose of infusing the data collection process with utmost wide scope of inclusivity of research participants regarding the various categorical segments. This would also be helpful to generate greater variation in the generated data. Randomised Snowball sampling process would be utilised to select the research sample. The research population would be defined and listed as per the categories of age, demographics, ethnicity and gender. Then numbers from 1 to N would be provided to the research population and random numbers would have to be selected. This would lead to the selection of the research participant sample.

The Quantitative research questions would be close ended and semi-structured questions which would be presented to the research participants through email and the responses would be also collected through this mode of survey. This would assist the Researcher to conduct simultaneous survey from all of the participants and would save time as well. The data demonstration table of Likert’s Five Point scale based measurement and the percentage based outcomes of the responses to such questions would be demonstrated through accompanying charts and graphs to properly highlight the various scores which could be generated and for analytical purposes. Furthermore, the regression and bivariate Pearson Correlation process would be utilised through application of SPSS software to measure the degree of association in between the two primary variables.

The ethical implications involved in the research project would be the compliance with the stipulations of the Data Protection Act (1998) which would be associated with the protection of the personal information and related data of the research participants. The Researcher would provide legal affidavit in this context of not sharing the gathered data from such personnel prior to their approval with any third party and prior intimation to the research participants regarding the entire research project would be provided regarding the research process. The Researcher would seek no objection notifications and consent letters on part of the identified participants prior to involving them in the research survey.

Reference List

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Baker, M.J., 2014. Marketing strategy and management. Palgrave Macmillan.

Eisend, M., 2015. Have we progressed marketing knowledge? A meta-meta-analysis of effect sizes in marketing research. Journal of Marketing, 79(3), pp.23-40.

George, G., Osinga, E.C., Lavie, D. and Scott, B.A., 2016. Big data and data science methods for management research.

Giles, D.E. and Beattie, M., 2018. Autocorrelation pre-test estimation in models with a lagged dependent variable. In Specification analysis in the linear model (pp. 99-116). Routledge.

Heale, R. and Twycross, A., 2015. Validity and reliability in quantitative studies. Evidence-based nursing, 18(3), pp.66-67.

Hulland, J., Baumgartner, H. and Smith, K.M., 2018. Marketing survey research best practices: evidence and recommendations from a review of JAMS articles. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 46(1), pp.92-108.

Kacker, M., Dant, R.P., Emerson, J. and Coughlan, A.T., 2016. How firm strategies impact size of partner‐based retail networks: Evidence from franchising. Journal of Small Business Management, 54(2), pp.506-531.

Katsikeas, C.S., Morgan, N.A., Leonidou, L.C. and Hult, G.T.M., 2016. Assessing performance outcomes in marketing. Journal of Marketing, 80(2), pp.1-20.

Kochenderfer, M.J., 2015. Decision making under uncertainty: theory and application. MIT press.

Patten, M.L., 2016. Proposing empirical research: A guide to the fundamentals. Routledge.

Pyrczak, F., 2016. Writing empirical research reports: A basic guide for students of the social and behavioral sciences. Routledge.

Shah, I.A., Rajper, Z.A., Ghumro, I.A. and Mahar, S.W., 2019. Experiential value mediates relationship between Experiential Marketing and Customer Satisfaction. Sukkur IBA Journal of Management and Business, 5(2), pp.45-61.

Solomon, M.R., Dahl, D.W., White, K., Zaichkowsky, J.L. and Polegato, R., 2014. Consumer behavior: Buying, having, and being (Vol. 10). Pearson.

Spicker, P., 2018. The real dependent variable problem: the limitations of quantitative analysis in comparative policy studies. Social Policy & Administration, 52(1), pp.216-228.

Taylor, J.M., Macpherson, T.W., Spears, I.R. and Weston, M., 2016. Repeated sprints: an independent not dependent variable. International journal of sports physiology and performance, 11(5), pp.693-696.

Appendices

Appendix I