The Economist Magazine

Introduction

Consumer behaviour is the practice that the individuals or groups are associated with the purchase, use or disposal of the goods and services. Consumer emotion, attitude and preferences affect the buying behaviour of the people, where they try to identify their requirements and search for the quality products. The study aims at analysing behaviour of the customers as well as exploring the factors that affect the buying behaviour among the customers. Through critical analysis of the purchase decision making practice, it is possible to analyse the perception of the customers and identify their needs and preferences for a particular product or service. The purchase behaviour of the customers for the Economist magazine will be evaluated further so that it would be possible to understand the purchase intension of the buyers in the market. Additionally, students seeking marketing dissertation help may find insights from this analysis beneficial for their research. The Differences between B2B and B2C decision making process will also be analysed for understanding the decision making behaviour among the consumers. The study will provide a scope to recommend some suitable marketing strategies in order to improve The Economist magazine’s readership.

Case study

The Economist is one of the most widely recognised and well-read current affairs publications, where in the recent era of globalisation, over 1.5 million circulations of the news including both print and digital. The paper is famous for its authentic news and articles which includes politics, business, science and technology, and books and arts, concluding each week with the obituary. There is also smartphone application named Economist Espresso, which is available in iTunes and App stores or Google Play, where the customers can download the application in their smartphone and access all the updates and daily news. The web only content also includes blogs, debates as well as audio visual programs on their website (Economist, 2021a). “The Economist says it has reached 1,122,000 subscribers with 9% growth in the end of March and on the other hand, 90,000 subscribers saw an uptick in print/digital subscriber revenues at the weekly current affairs magazine which accounts 6% in the financial year of the Covid-19 pandemic. Strong customer base is the major strength of the organisation of which the Economist is able to gain high competitive advantage as compared to other competitive newspaper firms in the market. The economist is also efficient in exploring how different channels can be used to deliver content in new ways so that new customer can be retained in the firm. In November, 2014 it launched its first-ever daily edition with the Espresso app, which provides international stories and latest current affairs to the public. It launched its first ever bi-lingual edition with The Economist Global Business Review app, where it is possible to transfer the content in different language. The organisation focuses on “multi-year investment programme for sustainable growth”, for expanding the business by strengthening their customer base. Overall Economist Group revenues were down 3% to £310.3 million due to intense competition and low profit margin as well as Covid-19 lockdowns and uncertainty in market (Economist, 2021b). Dig deeper into EU GMO Regulations and Industry Impact with our selection of articles.

Decision-making process of the consumers

The consumers are looking for the best quality products and services that are helpful to meet personal needs and preferences. Consumer decision making process is the systematic steps which are such as identifying their needs, gathering information, evaluating alternatives and then making their buying decision. Through the steps, it would be possible to understand the perception of the customers for the Economist magazines.

Need recognition

Need recognition occurs when a consumer exactly determines the products or service in the market and they feel that they require the basket of goods and services as per their personal preferences. The customers of the Economist magazine also find that there is requirement of the daily news and updates and it is helpful of them to be updated with latest news and international affairs. There are millions of customers looking for good magazine so that international affairs and news can be collected (Qalati et al., 2019). This improves the knowledge of the person and helps them to be aware about current affairs. The Economics is efficient to provide the magazine with attest news and international activities happens around the globe. The customers feel that it is helpful of them to read the magazine and acknowledge all the necessary information around them. The pictures and daily updates are useful for them to gather vast range of information and data. Hence, they recognise that the magazines and daily news published by the Economist is effective for them to be updated daily. In the recent of digitalisation, the Economist also provides a scope to access their website though smartphone and mobile application, which become very easy for the customers to get subscription and access all the news and international affairs. This feature also influences the client’s decision making practice towards purchasing the Economist (Economist, 2021a).

Search for information

Searching for information is the second step in customer purchase decision making practice, where customers can gather vast range of information and data related to product availability, substitute products, competitive firms manufacturing the basket of goods and services, quality and the prices of the products. Though internet search and reviewing specific corporate brand website, the customers are trying to gather information about the products and evaluate own needs and preferences (Géci, Nagyová and Rybanská, 2017). The commercial source, personal source, experimental and public sources are utilised to search for the quality products and services. This further helps them to understand their specific needs and match the requirements with the identified price category and price (Sama, 2019). The customers review the pricing offers and specific products in the market in order to justify their choices and preferences. In this regard, there are specific information and data on the official website of Economist, where the customers can go and search the daily activities successfully. Economist is the internal weekly newspaper printed in magazine format and also published digitally which mainly focus on current affairs, politics, technology and international business activities. The customer can review their website and the smartphone application named Economist Espresso for reviewing their day to day updates and justifies the validity and authenticity of the information published by Economist. Across their social media platforms, it reaches an audience of 35 million, as of 2016. In 2019, the circulation for printed news combined with its digital presence runs to over 1.6 million across the globe, which creates strong customers base and this information is beneficial for the clients to search further data and develop trust on the brand which influence them in making good purchase decision (Economist, 2021b).

Evaluation of alternatives

Evaluating the alternative products and services available in the market is the next step, where the customers try to review other products and services. Before choosing the best quality basket of products and services, the customers review the competitive brands and the substitute products in the market so that they can compare and contrast the quality of the products and services (Chan-Olmsted and Xiao, 2019). On the other hand, for pricing comparison, the customers also review the price list and offers that they can get on buying a specific products and services. In this context, the customers can review the competitive firms of Economist magazine, which are Forbes, Oxford University Press, SAGE Publishing and Alm Media. Forbes is the main competitor of Economist, where it is an American business magazine that features original articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. The pricing options can also be reviewed well through their website. The customer also reviews the data and information provided by Economist and Forbes before making their purchase decision for the newspaper magazines. This further help the customers to seek different options of products and services and choose the bets option which meet their personal choice and preferences for the newspaper magazines.

Purchase decision

Making purchase decision is important step, where the customers chose the basket of goods and services after searching information, specifying own needs and preferences and evaluating alternative options in the market. The customers choose the basket of products or services as per their personal requirements and budget constraint, so that they can afford the products which satisfies their needs (Ali and Anwar, 2021). The customers arrive to the logical conclusion which is based on the previous steps where the organisational activities also influence their purchasing behaviour, such as marketing campaigning and developing emotional connection with the customers. The customers choose Economist for the quality news and day to day latest updates published in their printed magazine and also digital platform, from where the customer can gather vast range of information. The Economist covers different areas of news including current affairs, international business, politics, and technology, so that the customers can gather vast range of information from different field. The international news and daily affairs can also be gathered through Economist, which further influence the customers to make effective purchase decision for the magazines published by Economist and the digital application Economist Espresso (Economist, 2021c).

Post purchase evaluation

The purchase of the product is followed by post-purchase evaluation, where the customers analyse whether the product or service are useful to them or not. It is helpful to examine whether the product matches the expectation of the buyers (Duralia, 2018). The post purchase evaluation also provides a scope to the customer to share their reviews with the organisation so that the company can identify the customers feedback and work on it for further future improvement hence, post purchase evaluation is beneficial for Economist to understand client review and acknowledge the market trend about the news and daily updates.

Differences between B2B and B2C decision making process

There are different marketing process and customer’s decision making behaviour in B2B and B2C process. While B2B marketing is the practice of building relationships and proving the ROI of a product or a service, B2C marketing mainly focuses on enjoyable content and quick solutions. Under B2B, the decision to buy a product or service has commercial purposes where sales need is a rational analysis with longer consideration time and on-going assistance by the seller. On the other hand, B2C is related to the practice of sale is usually less rational and it is more based on the impulse of the customers. Shorter decision making process of the customers further helps the brand to generate profitability in long run through client retention. Under B2B practice, the customers buying decision making process are such as identifying the needs for a particular product or service, ne dos described and quantified, searching for potential suppliers and purchase routine is established (Mahmud et al., 2018). On the other hand, B2C customers buying practice is the process of selling products and services directly between a business and consumers, where the brand directly provide information and data to the customers to influence their buying process. B2C is more flexible process than B2B process. The Economist focus on B2C buying process to influence the customers directly to get subscription for their online application and also get the published magazine for reading the news and daily updates. The company focus on quality news and actual data with authentic sources so that the customers can rely on the database published by the Economist (Chauhan and Shah, 2020). On the other hand, the marketing campaign as well as the customer’s reviews through social media sites of Economist is also influential for the customers to make effective purchase decision for the Economist. For the B2C buying process, the online activities, customer’s feedback and the marketing campaign are hereby the bet strategies to influence the customers, so that the clients can recognise own needs, review the products and services, evaluate the alternatives and make effective buying decision for the particular products or services.

Factors affect the purchase decision of the managing

There are several factors that influences the buying decision of the customers, where the clients depend on the market rend and different factor before choosing the products and services. The economic factor is the most important part, where the customers review the price level of the products and services. This is the main factor in deciding to purchase a specific basket of goods and services. The people can buy the product if they can afford the same and hence, the price level and offers and discounts are crucial factors that influence the buying decision of the customers (Popadynets, Shults and Barna, 2017). The customers make their purchase decision for particular products according to their personal needs and budget constraint. The economic growth and purchasing power parity of the individuals in the economy also determines the purchase decision making practice of the customers. If the people can afford the products due to secure employment and high purchasing power parity of the individuals in the market, the demand for the Economist for both magazine and the digital application will be high in the market (Walters, 2020). The personal factors include age, occupation, lifestyle, social and economic status and the gender of the consumer which also affect the decision making behaviour. There are diverse customers who prepare the Economist, as the company is successful to manage equality and diversity. The aged group of people prefer to read the magazines as compared to younger generations, where the teenagers and young people prefer to get subscription of the Economist Espresso in order to utilise their online application for gathering vast information and latest affairs (Mustafa and Al-Abdallah, 2020). Psychological factors include perception, motivation, learning, beliefs and attitudes where the customer’s perception towards the brand and their belief are mandatory to make the final purchase decision. The customer’s base of the Economist is strong due to good branding and the trustworthy clients across the international markets, where the clients are satisfied with the magazines and mobile application of Economist for their authentic information and latest news updates (Economist, 2021c).

On the other hand, Social factors include reference groups, family, and social status also influence the buying behaviour of the customers. The family members are satisfied with the magazines published by the Economist though there are other competitive media houses in the market. The bachelors and the college students prefer to have subscription to access all the news and acknowledge the international affairs to improve their performance in personal and professional careers. Cultural factors have a subtle influence on a consumer’s purchasing decision process, where consumer’s behaviour is towards equality and fairness in choosing the products or services. The Economist is efficient to create values for the customers and also contribute in the society through educational investment and social developmental projects. Additionally, the Marketing Mix Factors are crucial to determine the products and make effective buying decision (Auf et al., 2018). The customers review the pricing, product quality, placing options and promotional activities. The Economist is efficient to make good magazine with creative content and continuous provide attest information and international affairs on diverse field which further improve the quality of their reports, both in print magazine and the digital application. Additionally, Creating email campaigns, landing pages, product decks tutorials and direct mail collateral, making announcement through social media page as well as designing marketing campaign are effective for Economist to create trust and bonding with the customers and retain them for long run to make effective purchase decision for their quality magazines and digital application (Walters, 2020). They are honest, fair and fearless in gathering, reporting and interpreting information as well as they are accountable to our readers, listeners, viewers and each other which further attract more customers to read the published news of Economist and get subscription for their mobile application. All the editorial output is fact-checked, which improves quality and validity of the data and information. Promoting equality and diversity as well as sustainable solutions towards social communities are effective for the brand to retain the customers and strengthen their client base in long run (Economist, 2021c).

Recommending marketing tactics to improve the Economist magazine’s readership

It is important for the Economist to improve readership of their magazines and news in order to strengthen their customer’s base and generate profitability in long run through maximising circulation rate of their magazines and latest news articles. The organisation must focus on quality of the product with diverse research topics. The economist must include other field of information such as finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics as well as international business topics, in order to influence the young generation to read and understand the current affairs across the globe. Hence, product diversification is the major strategy through which, the Economist would be able to maximise their readership where the customers can find the digital application effective to gather vast range of information in different topics. On the other hand, the magazines format must be clear and easy to read with creative headline so that the clients can understand the prices and develop own perception through reading the authentic news and valid data. On the other hand, the Economist must set afford price for their magazines, so that the individuals can afford the magazines across the international markets. Along with this, for getting digital subscription, there would be effective pricing offers to attract the customers. the economist must set effective subscription rate as for the college students and young generations, so that they can afford the application and additionally, there must be discount for the getting family subscription, so that the family members can enjoy reading the new and getting daily updates though the online application. Social media marketing campaign must be arranged efficiently in order to engage the customers and enhance market communication through online platforms.

Conclusion

The Economist is efficient to gain high market share by promoting their quality magazines across the international markets and launching the Economist Espresso to provide subscription to the online new readers. The customers purchasing behaviour is quiet rational, as they prefer to choose the magazines and the online application of Economist as per their personal choice and preferences as well as the budget constraint, so that they can afford the services. For improving the readership in near future, the Economist must focus on product diversification by including diverse new and information on different field such as investment, finance and international business affairs as well as set affordable price of magazine and online subscription.

Reference list

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