Marketing Research Paper on Consumer Needs

Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, many more firms, start-ups, and companies have been discovered and have gained prominence. Outside, there are supermarkets, shops, and services in abundance. That is, these businesses are "competing" with one another to attract more customers and make more money than the competition. Consumers are all humans, and while their product and service preferences are similar, some aspects influence their selections. Companies can then determine the demand of their clients based on psychological, social, economic, cultural, and personal factors. A marketer should make an effort to comprehend the aspects that drive consumer behavior. This research is conducted on chain fast-food restaurants which involves the likes of McDonald’s and KFC.

As introduced before, there are several factor that defines the needs of consumers.

1. Psychological factor(motivation, perception, learning, attitude and beliefs)-Human psychology is a major determinant of consumer behavior. 

2. Social factor(family, reference groups, roles and status)- Humans are social beings who are surrounded by a large number of others who impact their purchasing decisions. Humans seek to imitate other humans in order to fit in with society, and they also want to be socially accepted. As a result, others around them influence their purchase decisions.

3. Cultural factor(subculture, social class)- A collection of ideas and ideologies that belong to a specific community are connected with a group of people. When a person originates from a certain community, the culture connected with that community has a profound influence on his or her behavior.

4. Personal factor(age, income, occupation, lifestyle)- Consumers' purchasing decisions are influenced by personal factors. These personal attributes differ from one another, resulting in a wide range of perceptions and purchase behavior.

5. Economic factors (personal income, family income, consumer credit, liquid assets, savings)- Consumer purchasing habits and decisions are heavily influenced by a country's or market's economic state. Economic factors greatly influence consumer purchasing decisions.

McDonald's and KFC are two of the most well-known fast food chains in the world. McDonald's is always the first place that comes to mind when it comes to hamburgers, while KFC is always the first place that comes to mind when it comes to fried chicken. The reason for this is that these two businesses' products have become their trademarks and, as a result, their identities. There are about 37,000 McDonald's outlets in around 120 countries worldwide. The chain serves more than 70 million people. McDonald's profits are derived from restaurant sales, royalties, and franchisee fees and rents. On the other hand, there are over 24,000 KFC outlets and more than 145 countries and territories around the world and serves more than 12 million customers daily. This data shows that McDonald's is far ahead of KFC in terms of statistics; but, what makes this restaurant more popular than KFC? A recent comparative survey consisting of  male and female surveyors shows that 59.5% of male, 61.7% of female consumers, in total approximately 60% of the respondents prefer McDonald’s over KFC. Aside from the primary five elements that impact consumer decisions, there are also newly introduced aspects such as quality and flavor, location, delivery services, item selection, advertisement, and personnel when it comes to fast food restaurants. Furthermore, the McDonald's franchise has more places and serves 6 times the customers daily than KFC even though both has a reasonable pricing. This statistic of quantity proves the superiority of McDonald’s in the comparative survey above.

Conclusion: 

When determining what object or service to purchase, psychological, social, cultural, personal, and economic variables all play an important influence. However, in different product and service categories, such as convenience goods, shopping goods, specialist products, and unsought goods; business services, social services, and personal services—decision-making variables differ.