Consumer Behavior of International Students

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Stages of International Consumer Behavior
Types of Consumer Buying Behaviors
Factors Influencing Types of Consumer Buying Behaviors
Factors Influencing Consumer Buying Behavior
Conclusion
Reference List

Introduction

When students immigrate to foreign countries in pursuit of higher learning, they find things very strange in their host country. This forces their purchase behavior to undergo radical changes in order to get used to the new dwelling place. The changes occur because they find different commodities from the ones they are used to back at home. This paper will address these changes and their underlying causes with regards to grocery shopping.

Relocating from one geographical location causes the purchase behavior of international students to change drastically. According to Pride, Hughes and Kapoor, this is because they are far away from home and when they buy items they prefer the ones that remind them about their origin (1).

When they go shopping they select the items they want to purchase depending on their taste. Sometimes this is difficult because the kind of food stuff in most grocery stores may not be familiar to them but then they have to buy something because they cannot survive without food.

At times, the item that they are used to could be available but at a very high price. In such a case the students have to find an alternative item that is pocket friendly. For instance, a student from Japan may see food to be very expensive in America compared to its price in Japan, and thus the student may opt to go for chicken instead because it is relatively cheap.

There are some students who become home sick in the first few days of arrival and hence they opt to drive a few kilometers just to have that home feeling when they buy products from their countries. Others prefer to buy products from their mother country simply because they feel obligated to help their home industries grow by promoting them.

Stages of International Consumer Behavior

Before an international student buys an item, he or she goes through several steps and in fact the act of buying is among the steps of making that decision. It is important to note that the steps are not always the same for all products because some require simple analysis.

The first step is the acknowledgement of the requirement of a particular item. Doole and Lowe outline that the acknowledgement could be induced by either internal pressure or external pressure (2). Internal pressure is limited body requirements such as the need of water which may cause someone to be thirsty and hence buy a drink to quench the thirst. External pressure is normally brought by the things happening around us, such as the commercials about certain outfits that may induce the urge to buy a new pair of trousers or even a dress.

This means that the thoughts of buying must be invoked because they do not just come from nowhere. When the students are walking around, they actually see the items of trade being displayed but the thoughts of even making an inquiry about those items will only come when there is a need that has to be attended to.

The second step involves the searching of information about the item that is required by the consumer. The consumer has two options; the first one being to consult his experience and secondly, seek information from other persons. In the first option the consumer will visualize in the mind about the places that he or she knows that might be selling a particular product or service. Alternatively the consumer may consider the sellers that are most popular among his or her peers.

In this case the peers are people who share a common nationality with the foreign student because the locals may not know why a particular item is preferred by students from a given region. For instance, a female Muslim student from Saudi Arabia can only consult fellow Muslims about the genuine food joints while in America because they are the only ones who share the common cultural background with her and in any case if she consults American Christians they may not know anything about Islamic dietary laws.

The third step in consumer behavior involves gauging the options provided. In this step the student goes for the item that fully satisfies his or her needs. This implies that the consumer will buy the item that is tailor made to meet his or her needs. This is one of the areas where many organizations fail because majority of them do not consider international markets hence they fail to capture such markets.

For instance, when Arabs go to restaurants they prefer the ones that offer halal (certified) meat products because according to their religious teachings it is a sin to eat meat that has not been slaughtered by one of their own. If the consumer does not find what he or she is looking for he or she goes back to the drawing board to identify other possible options.

The fourth step involves buying the item which is determined by various factors such as the location of the grocery store, packaging of the item, and method of payment. After having analyzed the available choices the international student may decide to buy from the store that is conveniently located. The choice of grocery store could be determined by the people who work in that store, that is, how they interact with the foreign students.

If the student is received warmly he or she will spread the word about the outlet among his or her fellow nationals. Foreigners trust the counsel that is offered by people who share a common background with them. Besides, foreign students may prefer to buy from less crowded shops because they want to feel safe while moving around. The student may opt to buy from the seller who best understands his or her needs without compromise (2).

The choice of grocery store is also determined by observing the behavior of the locals because they are the ones who are much informed. Foreign students are likely to flood an outlet that is frequented by many locals because that way, they can be sure that they will buy items at the same price with the locals. Foreign students tend to be loyal to one shop or outlet.

Packaging of the product could also influence the buying behavior. Students prefer to buy items that look attractive from the outside because they are still young hence they want other students to notice their new purchase. This is common among young students. In addition to that the mode of payment could influence the buying behavior.

Furthermore, Kapoor asserts that international students prefer to buy items from shops that offer convenient mode of payment. This implies that they cannot buy from stores that use sophisticated methods of payment because they are always busy with their studies (3). Foreign students like to buy items that have been endorsed by local or international stars because they assume they are of high quality.

The fifth step may sound similar to fourth step because it also entails purchasing. In this step the student considers the availability of the item while deciding the one that he or she wants to buy. A locally available item could be bought just to satisfy the need of the student temporarily as he or she waits for the arrival of the items that have the features that he or she is interested in.

This is because the student considers the expenses that could be incurred in shipping the commodity and thinks otherwise. Lastly, the student examines his or her buying behavior. In this last step international students gauge the item to see if it is worth the price they have paid for.

Types of Consumer Buying Behaviors

The first kind of behavior is called impulse buying which is common among foreign students from wealthy families. Such students buy an item that they come across even when they do not actually need it. But some foreign students buy on impulse because they feel that they need enough reserves of items such as food stuffs in their houses. To rich students shopping is a hobby hence they feel incomplete when they return to their rooms empty handed.

On the other hand foreign students who come from middle class families are very careful when buying items because they know that their parents and sponsors did them a big favor by sending them abroad. It is in this regard that they buy items once in a while. This implies that they buy items that can last them until a given duration after which they will buy more items. Such students buy items of low cost and they have it in their mind that on certain days of the month they must buy some items.

There is also a behavior of buying items occasionally especially the ones that require limited consultations. These items include clothes and accessories like cosmetics. Students who exhibit such behavior buy brands that they are used to and hesitate to buy newer brands unless they have been verified by their peers.

When students are buying complex items such as computers they consult widely through friends because they want to be sure that what they are buying is durable and genuine. This is because such deals entail transactions of huge amounts of money. Such items are bought once after a few years (2).

Factors Influencing Types of Consumer Buying Behaviors

There are various types of consumer buying behaviors that are exhibited by international students. However, the types are determined by the level of involvement in buying the items by the student. The intensity of participation influences the buyer’s interest in gaining knowledge about the item. This implies that if the student buys the commodity through another person he/she may not pay attention to details of the item because he/she knows there is someone to play that role.

The level of participation also depends on the risks that come with it. If the risks are worth the usefulness of an item the international students will dare to risk compared to when the item being sought for has less importance. The risks include personal risks such the effects of an item to the consumer. For instance, an African foreign student could cease from buying American beef if he/she knows that their growth is induced by antibiotics for fear of becoming obese.

Factors Influencing Consumer Buying Behavior

Consumer buying is mainly influenced by three factors namely social, Psychological, and personal (1, 2). In personal aspects, the students’ behavior is determined by their gender, age, and race among many others. Depending on the foreign student’s age the older ones tend to be more conservative when buying items. This is because they feel that being away does not mean that they can be absorbed by foreign cultures. For instance, an Arab may find it difficult to put on his kanzu in a Christian dominated region.

When it comes to gender women tend to be more aggressive compared to men when they are in a host nation. Women are said to be fast learners compared to males because they easily get used to strange markets. Ladies are normally the first to know where the cheapest groceries are because they are able to move around places unlike males who settle for what they come across.

Female students usually want to be ahead of the trends in their neighborhood and thus may concentrate on foodstuffs that are low in calories because most of them want to retain their body figure. Ladies are very choosy and sensitive and thus they prefer to buy from people who tolerate them.

Men on the other hand like to buy stuffs that are consumed without leaving the remainder for the next day. Female students can at times sound stubborn because they complain about very minor things unlike men who are comfortable with almost everything. Besides, female students are very sensitive to smells hence any foul smell to them means the fruits are not fresh.

In some instances the gender may determine the reason for buying a given item. For instance, a female student may buy an expensive fruit simply because she likes its color unlike men who settle on quantity. Male students are fond of visiting groceries that offer items in large quantities and convenience. For instance, male students may prefer to buy potatoes that are already chopped than their female counterparts who like to chop the potatoes personally because they know they can spare a few for the next day.

Religion plays an important role in consumer buying behavior. This is because when international students are buying food stuffs they are influenced by their religions. This implies that they will buy items that are acceptable in their religion. For instance, students from India may not buy beef because according to their religious teachings the cow represents a god. Some food stuffs are thought to be meant for specific religious festivals hence purchasing them in other days may not look appropriate.

Buyers are also thought to be affected by their immediate friends because they like buying things that would be acceptable by their friends even if it is of poor quality. But this happens to students who are not principled and tend to poke their noses into other people’s affairs. This means a student can cease from buying from a particular grocery because his/her friends have said that they sell poor quality goods just to retain his/her friendship with the other students.

Culture also influences buying habit and this is because in international learning institutions, the learners come from various backgrounds and thus they have diverse cultures. For instance, African students would find it difficult to have only bananas for lunch because in most African communities bananas are taken during leisure time. Thus, they can opt for other foodstuffs that can satisfy their needs.

Psychology also influences the buying behavior of foreign students and this is determined by their attitudes, perceptions, learning and personality. If the foreign student is bright enough he/she will not argue about the lack of certain items because his/her understanding says that the seller can not sell what is missing.

Conclusion

Consumer buying behavior determines the types of products and services that a certain population of customers can use. International students are in many instances challenged by the need to purchase satisfactory food products from groceries. This paper has discussed the buying behavior of international students while grocery shopping.

Factors that influence the buying behavior of this category of consumers include culture, religion, psychology, personal, and social. Therefore, international students should get used to foreign groceries because they are only there for a short while and furthermore cross cultural interaction fosters interpersonal skills.

Reference List

Pride WM, Hughes RJ, Kapoor JR. Business. Mason, Ohio: Cengage Learning; 2009.
Doole I, Lowe R. International marketing strategy: analysis, development and implementation. Mason, Ohio: Cengage Learning; 2008.
Kapoor N. Television advertising and consumer response: children buying behavior. New Delhi: Mettal Publications; 2003.

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