How Technology Influences Consumer Behavior?

There are so many new technologies that are finally getting on board.  After years of foretelling and testing, many are now a prevalent part of multiple services. 

There still is so much new tech surfacing, and it would take another 10-15 years to get mainstream. Almost every technology has changed the course of certain dimensions of a provider-consumer relationship. 

There is no doubt that technology has changed companies’ approach to conducting business. It’s hard to believe that in the past ten years, the significance of so many things have changed almost too quickly. 

How the technology is exerting its influence on consumer behavior

Discussion forums like Quora, WikiAnswers, StackExchange, Facebook Questions, Reddit, Twitter, Instagram, and even LinkedIn Answers (oriented around professionals) are helpful in gauging your audience’s views. 

You need to be quick to work with all kinds of feedback on your product or services. Just ‘replying’ to the query is not enough. 

A negative response needs to be addressed and elucidated immediately. Just making a feedback forum and watching over your user base won’t solve anything. 

With everyone now connected, it is easy to be cornered on that one weak point of your business. Note that one user’s experience may crumble up your loyal customer base. 

Return with a proper solution; apologies not just with words but also compensate them for their negative experience. Reaching out to your customers with solutions is a perfect way to win loyalty. 

Remember to ‘act’ on feedback because if you don’t, they sure will. These online responses possess the power to change the consumer’s buying behavior to a considerable extent.

3. Mobile devices and payments

It’s essential to create your online presence on mobile-friendly websites and even app stores. Everything is accessible. 

Not only that but not being available through their phones gives a wrong impression of not being authentic or an excellent service or product provider. 

A person in Walmart or Target with a mobile in their hand is readily browsing around the product’s details and reviews and buys the product that fits their need. 

Being online is now way simpler and helps keep consumers and companies informed about each other, and it isn’t a brand-new thing. 

Moreover, increased mobile payment security has heightened online buying activities. People are now more comfortable going window shopping on their smartphones. 

The online buying trend has climbed drastically in the past few years. Consequently, according to Gartner, retailers are investing heavily in digital techniques to meet their customers’ expectations.

IoT is not something you can ignore now. From Alexa to multiple wearable devices to everything through the cloud, things are getting connected; this, in turn, gives you the IoT phenomenon. 

The cloud allows companies to monitor consumer behavior like never before. 

With only more progress to come its way, the big data and IoT will be able to produce more personalized services to customers. 

New product ideas and defining the user base are only getting more explicit with everything surfboarding the cloud. 

Sharing, storing, and outsourcing have become drastically easier in the past few years. 

Data on the cloud allows companies with access to full-scale data to analyze buying behavior and improve algorithms to assist them in serving their customers better.

5. Augmented Reality

Now, many brands have taken a few more steps forward into Augmented and Mixed Reality across industries. AR and VR have marked their influence in domains such as real estate, e-commerce, fashion, food, and others. Top examples are: 

• IKEA 

To solve the problem of how a sofa or a Shelf Unit is going to look in your room, the furniture retailer IKEA brought in an AR app to help visualize e-commerce consumers how an item might look in their area. 

• H&M 

In January 2022, the global fashion giant integrated augmented reality to promote its latest garment collection alongside a competition. In the contest, people were asked to share their pictures and experience wearing H&M clothes virtually using AR. Such activity influenced customers to make buying decisions and spend on the latest collection of the brand.  

Many other brands like the following have also been providing their customers with Augmented Reality techniques as an easygoing way to understand their products and with fun AR experiences: 

• Mercedes 
• BMW 
• Lego 
• Converse 
• Ray-Ban 
• Cadbury 
• Patron Tequila 
• Tesco 
• Lacoste 

These technologies have proved to influence the user’s purchase intention positively. A study in International Marketing has shown how exactly the use of AR has favorably changed the customer’s shopping behavior. 

Moreover, they achieved positive outcomes by augmenting product knowledge with a positive attitude toward the brand, thus leading to higher purchasing intentions. 

Concluding Remarks:

Technology has doubtlessly left its impact in every sector alongside influencing consumer behavior. Currently, customers are more exposed to the offerings of a company so that they can compare and choose the more convenient ones.  

The technological wave is progressing fast, which has allowed people to integrate innovation in making buying decisions. Therefore, businesses need to make sure to adopt innovation and technology to gain a competitive advantage. Read our blogs to stay current with the latest tech trends.

Also, Read Below: Other tech advances that are affecting Consumer behavior