CHANGES IN CONSUMER PURCHASING DECISIONS: TRADITIONAL AND EMERGING FACTORS IN THE DYNAMIC MARKETING LANDSCAPE OVER 15 YEARS

: This paper summarises the factors influencing consumer purchasing decisions and the changes that these factors have undergone over the last 15 years. The research aimed to determine what changes have occurred in the intensity of the traditional factors influencing consumers’ purchasing decisions over the past 15 years and to identify the new factors currently shaping consumers’ purchasing decisions. The research was carried out by means of a questionnaire survey conducted in the Czech Republic (N = 686). The survey results were subjected to descriptive statistics combined with multivariate exploratory factor analysis. The paper presents the results of an empirical analysis that showed that between 2007 and 2022, there were no significant changes in consumers’ perceived importance of traditional factors influencing their purchasing decisions in different categories of consumption. The research has confirmed that consumers perceived quality, price and necessity as the most important factors across the different categories


Introduction.
Consumers are constantly influenced by many factors that determine their final purchasing decisions.The effects of these factors may vary across consumption categories.These are both traditional marketing tools and new consumption determinants that are emerging in relation to current trends related to consumer behaviour, which are mainly digitalisation (Rodrigue, 2022), sustainability (Rita & Ramos, 2022) and the increased interest in health after the pandemic (Springmann et al., 2020) and the associated change in life values.The perception of traditional factors determining consumers' purchasing decisions has already been investigated by Stavkova et al. (2008).This study builds on this research and compares consumers' perceptions of the factors influencing their purchasing decisions 15 years later.The paper aims to identify changes in the factors influencing the consumer's purchase decision-making process in consumption categories according to the international COICOP classification.These are changes in the intensity of the traditional and the identification of newly formed factors that shape consumer purchasing decisions.The study compares the effects of the factors over time (between 2007 and 2022).
2. Literature Review.Consumer purchasing decision-making and consumer behaviour are complex processes.The traditional determinants of consumer purchase decisions are price (Toncar et al., 2010;Nasiri & Shokouhyar, 2021) and marketing tools, particularly advertising, which, according to Martins et al. (2019), should primarily be informed and trustworthy.Price is shaped by discounts, which also drive impulse purchases and change dynamically in online shopping (Sheehan et al., 2019;Kim & Tanford, 2021).When consumers purchase essential products, necessity reduces the importance of price, and consumers are willing to spend more (Larson & Shin, 2018).For many consumers, a product's brand is crucial, making it another powerful marketing tool.Hanaysha (2022) concluded that brand trust is central to purchase decisions.The brand is associated with different perceived values and lifestyles that shape consumer segments (Akkaya, 2021).The perceived value of a product is cocreated by experience, which is essential in building long-term relationships with customers (Busalim et al., 2021).Experience codetermines product parameter-based consumer preferences, with the essential factors being product function and appearance (Nasiri & Shokouhyar, 2021).Nerurkar et al. (2023) verified that comparing product parameters versus cost is crucial for consumers when making a purchase.The cost of producing a product is related to the achieved quality of the product.Bartkova & Veselovska (2023) highlighted dual-quality production across EU countries, while consumers do not demand a ban on dual quality but a detailed description of the product composition.
Past experience suggests that consumers weigh the alternatives of trying something new or sticking to a habit when making their next purchase (Majid et al., 2023).Kim et al. (2019) recommended innovating product design, as it reportedly increases the likelihood of purchase.If consumers are to learn new shopping habits, they need to be persuaded why the new way of shopping is preferable.This also applies to shopping methods, such as switching from brick-and-mortar to online shopping (Zolfaghari et al., 2022).Trying something new is often supported by expert recommendations because they reduce consumer uncertainty (Wranik et al., 2020). However, Schneider et al. (2021) pointed out that there was hidden information that experts did not mention when making recommendations.Wranik et al. (2020) explained the importance of expert advice when purchasing medicines.Recommendations from family and friends also played an important role in the purchasing decision-making process.Pan et al. (2018) reported that reviews and recommendations from friends had a greater influence on consumers than reviews from strangers, such as other users on the internet.Sanchez-Fernandez & Jimenez-Castillo (2021) pointed out influencers' power and positive word-of-mouth towards brands.According to Liu et al. ( 2021), emotional intensity is crucial in wordof-mouth and online reviews.
Online shopping behaviour, i.e., choosing a product, reading or writing reviews or following influencers, has been enabled by digital adoption, which has shaped modern shopping trends.Consumers also use digital platforms to meet their everyday needs (Wang et al., 2022).The increase in consumer use of e-commerce has been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic (Gu et al., 2021).Many product categories are purchased online, ranging from food to furniture (Rangaswamy et al., 2022).According to Eger et al. (2021), it was mainly the convenience of shopping from home that brought consumers to online shops during the pandemic.For these reasons, the importance of the online presentation of products and services, online communication with customers, and online customer references is growing (Psurny et al., 2022;Rajani & Nakhat, 2019).According to Niu et al. (2022), consumers are most influenced by review-based recommendations when shopping online.
Another recent trend is sustainable consumption (Rita & Ramos, 2022;Wojciechowska-Solis & Barska, 2021).Kielczewski et al. (2017) reported that the quality of consumption and ecological living conditions were crucial for the sustainable development of society.According to Wojciechowska-Solis & Barska (2021), consumers consider sustainable consumption to include organic products and to be associated with health benefits for the consumer and favourable environmental conditions.Consumers pay attention to sustainable packaging when choosing a product.However, Rossi & Rivetti (2023) pointed out that many sustainability labelling schemes for products were confusing for consumers.Prieto-Sandoval et al. (2022) pointed out that new aspects related to sustainable consumption and environmental awareness must be included in marketing communication with consumers, and educational campaigns must be developed.Consumer education has also been supported by Puntiroli (2022), who argued that learned sustainable behaviour in the present encouraged such behaviour in the future.
The perceived importance of sustainable consumption also feeds into consumers' preferred lifestyles (Binder & Blankenberg, 2017).According to Buyukdag & Kitapci (2021), lifestyle is a critical variable for identifying a consumer with a brand.According to Krishnan et al., social status in conjunction with the brand consumed is another factor influencing consumer purchasing decisions.When developing brand communication in the context of segmentation, it is necessary to take into account the subjectively perceived values that shape consumers' lifestyles (Akkaya, 2021).Prokopenko (2011) proposed the concept of ecoattribute consumer choice, in which the consumer recognises the environmental properties of goods as significant.She proposed distinguishing between zero, single, double and multiple eco-attributes of consumer choice.Springmann et al. (2020) promoted a sustainable healthy dietary lifestyle by concluding that sustainable plant-based foods led to improved nutritional intake of people.Consumer preferences may change over time.After the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers placed greater importance on health in their value hierarchy (Antosova et al., 2022).According to Letunovska et al. (2021), the determinants of healthy behaviour included (2021) price, taste and trust in producers.
3. Methodology and research methods.The primary data to meet the objectives of this paper were obtained through a questionnaire survey conducted in 2022.The data respect the consumption categories of the international COICOP classification.The representativeness of the sample (N = 686) was ensured by quota selection of respondents according to highest educational attainment, gender and size of the municipality of residence.The structure of the sample relative to the baseline sample (Table 1) was verified against the representative EU-SILC (European Union -Statistics on Income and Living Conditions) microdata set.The following table shows the detailed structure of respondents in terms of other demographic factors.Sources: developed by the authors based on their own processing of questionnaire survey data (N = 686).
Respondents to the survey indicated on a scale of 1-10 how important they perceived the factors that influenced their purchasing decisions in different consumption categories.A value of 1 indicated the lowest importance and a value of 10 the highest importance of a factor.Based on the literature review, the following hypothesis is identified: The mean values of the consumer perceptions of price in the purchasing decisionmaking process are the same in 2007 and in 2022.The hypothesis is verified using a paired T test.In processing the primary data, descriptive statistics and exploratory factor analysis were used to reduce the observed factors and determine the resulting determinants of consumer behaviour.KMO and Bartlett's test were used to evaluate the appropriateness of applying factor analysis.If the KMO value was greater than 0.8, the result was considered excellent, and the data were suitable for applying factor analysis (Watkins, 2021).According to Bartlett's test, factor analysis was appropriate when the null hypothesis of the test that the questionnaire variables were independent was rejected (Watkins, 2021).The first stage of factor analysis is principal component analysis, which determines the number of resulting components.The next stage is factor rotation, followed by the calculation of factor loadings, which allocates individual factors to components (Hebak et al., 2013).All statistical analyses were performed using IBM SPSS Statistics, Version 29.

Results.
The results compare findings from the 2007 survey and the current 2022 survey.In general, we can say that quality is crucial for consumers (with an average value of 7.9 across consumption categories).On the other hand, consumers perceived the importance of influencer recommendations (average value 4.0) and the environmental aspect (average value 4.0) less.Differences could be observed between the categories; for example, for the food and nonalcoholic category, the necessity of need was decisive, whereas for the alcoholic beverages and tobacco category, this factor was one of the less important ones.Similarly, the latest trends played a much more important role in the clothing and footwear and furnishing categories than in purchasing health, pharmaceuticals and vitamins or transport.For the recreation and culture category, the importance of being able to try something new was higher than average compared to other consumption categories.In the food and nonalcoholic beverages category, the perceived importance of each factor changed the least between 2007 and 2022 (Figure 1).For consumers, the necessity of need and the quality of food were still decisive.Respondents also ranked quality first for alcohol consumption, with the brand coming second in importance (Fig 1), while respondents reported not being influenced by advertising.When purchasing medicines and vitamins, necessity and quality are the most important factors for consumers.This has not changed over the past 15 years (Figure 2).In contrast, consumers did not follow the latest trends but, of course, the experts' recommendations.Quality and necessity were again most important when buying clothes, along with product parameters.The most significant change over the 15 years (Figure 2) was the increased perceived importance of the chance to try something new (new option) and recommendations from relatives (i.e., family and friends).The results for the clothing and footwear category developed similarly to those for the furnishings category, with quality being equally important in both survey iterations.The importance of the chance to try something new (a new option) and recommendations from relatives grew (Figure 3).When making transport-related purchasing decisions, the necessity of the need and the price have still been most important for consumers.The latest trends or design were not significant for consumers compared to other factors in this consumption category (Figure 3).
For the perceived factors influencing decision-making when purchasing education services, there has been a significant increase in the importance of the new options factor, indicating that consumers have been looking for new education options (Figure 4).The perception of other factors in this category has remained almost unchanged.There has been a noticeable increase in consumer sophistication in communication (internet, postal services, etc.), which may be related to the demands of internet connectivity in the digital age (Figure 4).When buying recreation and culture-related services, as well as food and accommodation services, consumers now value the chance to try something new more.Price and quality have proven to be the most important factors in both consumption categories (Figure 5).The null hypothesis of equal mean values of perceived price by consumers in the purchase decision process between 2007 and 2022 is rejected (p value < 0.001) in the categories of clothing, furnishings, education, communication, recreation, and food and accommodation services.The largest difference in the perceived importance of price is observed in the communication and food and accommodation services category, where the importance of perceived price increased by almost a full unit on a ten-point scale.
New factors influencing consumer purchasing decisions are the mode of purchase (online or in-store), influencer recommendations, discount codes and extended return options that emerged with the rise of online shopping.In the context of sustainable consumption, the focus is on the product's country of origin and the ecological aspects of production, purchase and subsequent consumption.An overview of the perceived impact of the new factors on the consumer's purchase decision (Table 2) shows that discount codes have the greatest influence on consumers, followed by the purchase method in the categories of food, clothing, furnishings, recreation and food services.Sources: developed by the authors based on their own processing of questionnaire survey data (N = 686).
As the perceived importance of the emerging factors was strongest in the clothing and footwear category, this category has been subjected to a more detailed analysis of the determinants of consumer buying behaviour.According to the results of the KMO test and Bartlett's test, the data are suitable for the application of factor analysis using the principal component method (Table 3).<,001 Sources: developed by the authors based on their own processing of questionnaire survey data (N = 686).
The results of the principal component analysis with Varimax rotation with Kaiser Normalisation (Table 4) show that the new model constructed five determinants influencing consumers' purchase decision process (five components) and explained 68% of the variability of the original 20 factors.Sources: developed by the authors based on their own processing of questionnaire survey data (N = 686).
Table 5 shows how the original 20 factors (i.e., 20 components) were assigned to the five newly formed determinants of the consumer purchasing decision process.The highest factor loadings within each component are highlighted in bold.These highlighted values are crucial for identifying to which determinant the factor (i.e., the original component) is assigned.Sources: developed by the authors based on their own processing of questionnaire survey data (N = 686).
Component 1 can be labelled Current Trends in the market.This consumer purchase behaviour determinant includes currently available brands in the market, design trends and other current purchase attributes, such as the method of purchase (i.e., online or brick-and-mortar store) or extended return period for unsatisfactory goods, which alleviates purchase concerns.Component 2 mainly includes recommendations linked to the factor of the chance to try something new (new option).When deciding on trying something new, recommendations and advertising have proven to be the main influencing factors.The third group of determinants, labelled Experience, includes the factors of habit, previous experience, and the necessity of need; these cocreate the preferred parameters of a desired-quality product.The fourth group of purchase determinants relates to pricing, as it includes the elements of price, discounts and almost also discount codes, which were at the borderline between the first and fourth components.The last group of determinants of purchasing behaviour is sustainability; it includes the environmental aspect and the country of origin.
5. Conclusions.The consumer behaviour surveys conducted in 2007 and 2015 showed that consumers became slightly more demanding in all consumption categories surveyed and attached slightly more importance to almost all factors influencing their purchasing decisions.In both surveys, quality, price and severity of need turned out to be the most important factors influencing consumer purchasing decisions.The key role of price has been confirmed by Nasiri & Shokouhyar (2021) and Achar et al. (2016).According to these authors, many factors influenced consumers, but it was still the wallets that had the final say.Price is currently given higher importance by consumers, as confirmed by the rejection of the null hypothesis of equal means of perceived price between 2007 and 2022.In the context of price, the role of discounts has been significant, with consumers currently giving more importance to them in all categories of purchases compared to the situation in 2007.The importance of discounts has also grown with the development of online shopping, where as noted by Sheehan et al. (2019), prices have been constantly changing due to temporary discounts.
Changes in the perceived importance of factors influencing purchasing decisions have occurred in the Communications category, where the nature of products has also changed over time.In 2007, it was mainly postal and telephone services; in 2022, the weight in this category shifted to internet access.For the analysed factors, there was a significant increase in the perceived importance of discounts and past experiences.The second category where the most significant changes have occurred is transport, where consumers have realised the growing power of advertising and discounts.In summary, we can say that consumers themselves do not attach much importance to advertising, even though, according to Martins et al. (2019), advertising is the main source of information.
The smallest changes were recorded in Food and nonalcoholic beverages, where consumers felt similarly influenced by the individual factors as before.The reason may be the necessity of these products.Although there have been no significant changes in the importance of the factors perceived by consumers over the past 15 years (only minor deviations or a slight increase in the importance of some factors), the newly emerging factors ought to be considered in marketing management.The new factors are related to the development of e-commerce and other current trends, such as sustainability or a healthy lifestyle.
The category of clothing and footwear was chosen for a detailed factor analysis because consumers assigned more importance to the emerging factors here than in other purchase categories.Factor analysis revealed five determinants of the consumer decision-making process when purchasing clothing and footwear: current trends, recommendations, experience, pricing and sustainability.These determinants, consisting of groups of factors, should be considered when developing a marketing strategy, especially marketing communication with consumers.These are the actual areas that consumers are both influenced by and interested in, as consumers themselves rated on a scale of 1 to 10 how important they assigned the factors in making purchasing decisions.Consumers attached importance to the current trends driven by the market offer, which formed the first purchase determinant according to the factor analysis results.
As revealed by the survey, it is necessary to include new influencing factors when analysing the factors influencing consumer purchasing decisions.The penetration of digital adoption into everyday activities, as also described by Wang et al. (2022), is evident in purchase choices and provides opportunities for online shared recommendations not only from influencers (see Sanchez-Fernandez & Jimenez-Castillo, 2021, who talk about the importance of influencers), which is in line with Liu et al. (2021).According to the survey, however, consumers attach low importance to influencer recommendations (4.0 on average).However, the influence may be unconscioussimilar to advertising, where consumers are unaware of its impact on their behaviour.Not only influencer recommendations but also recommendations from family and friends and expert recommendations, along with the chance to try something new, create the second current determinant of purchase.

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Food and nonalcoholic beverages (left) and alcoholic beverages and tobacco (right) Sources: developed by the authors based on their own processing of questionnaire survey data (N = 686).

Figure 2 .
Figure 2. Health, pharmaceuticals, vitamins (left) and clothing and footwear (right) Sources: developed by the authors based on their own processing of questionnaire survey data (N = 686).

Figure 3 .
Figure 3. Furnishings (left) and Transport (right) Sources: developed by the authors based on their own processing of questionnaire survey data (N = 686).

Figure 4 .
Figure 4. Education (left) and Communication (right) Sources: developed by the authors based on their own processing of questionnaire survey data (N = 686).

Figure 5 .
Figure 5. Recreation and culture (left) and food and accommodation services (right) Sources: developed by the authors based on their own processing of questionnaire survey data (N = 686).

Table 1 .
Characteristics of survey respondents

Table 2 .
New factors influencing consumers' purchasing decisions in 2022

Table 4 .
Principal Component Analysis (Total Variance Explained)

Table 5 .
Rotated component matrix (five determinants of purchase)