Holiday decision making Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Holiday decision making - Essay Example Background It is arguable that the largest intervening sub-sector in the decision-making process of consumers is family influence. Marketers exhibit interest in the relative influence and the roles that the wife, children, and husband have on how a large variety of services and products are purchased. A family tends to make joint decisions regarding its vacations and holidays. There has been a tendency for previous studies to focus on the making of decisions involving wife and husband, and spousal interpersonal conflict, instead of the family unit in entirety including children. Previous research conducted on holidays mentions a limitation in light of not considering what impact children can make on the decisions made by families, in addition to the great use they have in demographic segmentation. This is therefore an area of research that is particularly underexplored and requires some investigation. Research question What are the factors that influence a family’s decision ab out where to go on holiday, and what is the relative importance of these factors? Literature review Decision factor Individual family members regularly serve different decision roles that ultimately function to draw on shared family resources. Some of the individuals are information holders/gatherers, and see out information pertaining products that are of relevance to their family. Often, these individuals carry a great deal of power owing to the fact that they may ultimately pass on information that tends to favor the alternatives they have chosen. As such, influencers are one primal component that underpins the consumer decisions of the family regarding holiday decision making. It is not an ultimatum that influencers possess the power to make decisions between alternatives (Belch, Belch, & Ceresino 2005). They however make their wishes well known by requesting for specific products, or espousing embarrassing situations in the event that their demands are met. Decision makers poss ess the power of determining issues such as: Whether to purchase What product to purchase What brand to purchase When to purchase; and Where to purchase it It is however worth noting that the roles of the decision maker and the purchaser are separate. From the marketer’s point of view, this tends to introduce some problems in that the purchaser may be targeted by marketing efforts allied to the point of purchase (POP), which cannot be directed at the decision maker. It is also imperative to note that there might be a blurred distinction between the purchaser and the decision-maker: The decision maker can possibly specify the kind of product to purchase, but not the brand; There may be need for the purchaser to make a substitution in the event that the desired brand is out of stock; The purchaser might possibly disregard instructions (deliberately or by error). It is worth noting that decisions made by families are in most instances subject to a lot of conflict. The incumbent reality is that very few families possess sufficient wealth to avert strong tension between the demands pegged on a family’s resources. There is high likelihood of conflicting pressure in families that have children, or/and in the event that it is only one spouse who works outside the home (Chavda,, Haley, & Dunn 2005.). Most of the decisions are inherently associated with values, and an objective way of