External Factors Influencing Consumer Purchase Decision By Home Furniture Buyers: Case Of Victoria Courts Kenya

ABSTRACT

Consumer behavior is affected by many factors, and characteristics, influencing the consumer in their decision making, purchase behavior, brand loyalty and even their choice of retailer. The factors influencing consumer behavior include; the psychological factors like perception, motivation, attitudes and beliefs, social factors like reference, family, status and role, cultural factors like own cultural beliefs and habits, sub culture and social class. In addition, there are also the economic factors for instance, family income, personal income, savings, liquid assets and government policy, as well as personal factors like personality, age, life style and occupation. This study sought to establish external factors influencing consumer purchase decision of home furniture buyers in Kenya through a case analysis of Victoria Courts (Kenya). The specific objectives were; to determine the effect of economic factors on consumer purchase decisions in Kenya’s home furniture industry, to determine how psychological factors influence consumer purchase decisions in Kenya’s home furniture industry and to determine how social-cultural factors affect consumer purchase decisions in Kenya’s home furniture industry. The study was based on two theories namely the theory of reasoned action and the theory of planned behaviour. A descriptive case study research design was adopted. Using simple random sampling technique, 367 respondents were selected from a population of 8152 customers who visited Victoria Courts in 2018. Descriptive, correlation and regression analysis were conducted to establish the influence of external factors on consumer purchase decision of home furniture buyers in Kenya; a case of Victoria Courts. The study found that eeconomic factors, psychological factors and social cultural factors exhibited a positive and a significant relationship to decision-making process of home furniture buyers. The multiple regression findings indicate that these factors influenced consumer purchase decision by 74% which was statistically significant. The results revealed that psychological factors had the greatest influence on consumer purchase decision of home furniture buyers at Victoria Courts followed by social-cultural and economic factors. The study therefore concluded that the external factors significantly and positively influence the consumer decision-making process. To the furniture retailers, the recommendations were to ensure they understand the perceptions, attitudes of their customers as well as know that their customers are price sensitive.