The power of OTHERS There are three factors that impact on decision making as it related to purchase behaviour: Prior knowledge Marketing information Information from other sources Nothing surprising here. What might surprise some, however the fact is, that over recent years the relative importance of these three factors has changed significantly. The importance of prior […]

The power of OTHERS There are three factors that impact on decision making as it related to purchase behaviour: Prior knowledge Marketing information Information from other sources Nothing surprising here. What might surprise some, however the fact is, that over recent years the relative importance of these three factors has changed significantly. The importance of prior knowledge has diminished a little while the importance of marketing information has diminished substantially and the influence of other sources or more specifically – OTHER PEOPLE – has increased markedly. The influence of loyalty (as an element of prior knowledge) and branding (as an element of marketing) are both declining, along with a range of other factors that make up prior knowledge and marketing information. Research has shown that information provided by other people through blogs, forums and other online and offline avenues are more important than either prior knowledge or marketing information. What is…