What Makes People Buy?

I was looking into buying patterns on the internet the other day for a couple of sales seminars that I am putting together and came across some very interesting information, which I will be passing along via my blog and tips.

Consumers buy for a myriad of different reasons, here are some of them, think of what categories your products would be most likely to fall into. According to a number of sites I looked at including Click Z, people buy for a whole host of reasons:

1. To fill basic needs such as food and shelter. Though the idea of basic does vary a bit from person to person. Because I love to read, I find books to be a basic need for me.
2. Something needs to be replaced or we want to replace that is getting old.
3. Finding something at a bargain price or something that we consider a great value will light up our desire to purchase.
4. A new or innovative product may also catch our attention. The newest iphone is released and all the early adopters and lined up outside the Apple store waiting to buy it.
5. Sometimes we feel we deserve a treat or a reward for something we have accomplished (even if it is just making it through a hard week). It doesn’t have to be anything big even a small reward can perk us up.
6. Here’s one I really like, “The Girl Scout Cookie Effect.” We know that the reason we buy Girl Scout cookies (especially Thin Mints and my favorite Samoas) is because we are so unselfish. After all we want to support a good cause.

There are lots of reasons why people buy and we will be delving into many of them over the next few blogs. We will also be looking at why people don’t buy and what we can do to help them get over that.

A tip of the glass from me to you