The buying behaviour of Harley Davidson's customers

The buying behaviour of Harley-Davidson’s customers

Factors that have an effect on the buying behaviour:

Cultural factors:

As a consumer the society around you and the culture you are coming from affects you in the way you are buying products. If you are grown up in a neighborhood with special traditions and norms, then you will naturally have a different buying behavior than if you come from different traditions and norms. If you are grown up in a family who are driving Harley Davidson, and who thinks that is the best brand in the motorcycle industry, then you are more likely to buy a Harley Davidson. Because you are grown up with them, as the best brand. If you divide culture into a subculture, it is mostly motorcycles enthusiasts and bikers who buy a Harley Davidson. If you divide culture into social classes, then it is people in the middle class and up who is buying and can afford a Harley Davidson.

Social factors:

Reference groups as friends or family can affect the buying process. If you are a part of a group of friends who are all driving Harley Davidson, then you are more likely to buy a Harley Davidson too, because you are identifying yourself with them.  

Personal factors:

People who are interested in Harley Davidson motorcycles are mainly middle-aged men. People with a low income in America are not so likely to buy a Harley Davidson motorcycle because they are expensive. The high prices make it more possibly to buy for people with a middle or high income.

Psychological factors:

Everyone has a need to cover. According to Maslow´s Hierarchy of Needs buying a motorcycle is a psychological need, when you have your physical, safety and social needs covered then comes the ego need, where buying a Harley Davidson belongs. If you want a motorcycle in the social need, you don't care so much about which one it is and all the details about the product. What you care about here is to be a part of something social, a motorcycle group as an example, and what kind of motorcycle it is, is not so important. But in the ego need, you want something special, you want to show confidence and have a status in the group, it is here you feel the need to buy a more exclusive motorcycle, a Harley Davidson. In some cases, men are actually buying a Harley Davidson, just because of the way it looks and not because of the technology. Some men just want a special product and a cool design and then the technology comes as secondary importance.

Buying motives:

When you buy a Harley Davidson it is both a functionally and a social buying motive. It is a functionally buying motive because the Harley Davidson is so expensive, so it is naturally to consider the product before you buy it. Buying a Harley Davidson is for some a buying they have been saved money for in a long time. A Harley Davidson is not a product you just buy. It is a social buying motive because it is the snob-effect. It is the snob-effect because many people who are buying a Harley Davidson wants to buy something that everyone does not have, and at Harley Davidson, the consumers have the opportunity to customize their motorcycles.

Buying behaviour process:

When buying a Harley Davidson motorcycle, the buyer is very involved. When buying a Harley-Davidson, it definitely a buy you have been considered about in some time. It is called a complex behaviour when buying a motorcycle because this product is in huge interest for the buyer and their self-image and it is an expensive product. When the buyer is showing a complex behaviour, the person has been searching for information in the form of brochures, the internet, magazines, and advertisement.  

Decision process:

First the consumer finds it a problem that he or she doesn't have a Harley Davidson, or if he or she already have one, then the newest one. The consumer begins to search for information and alternatives to make the right decision. The consumer now has to decide whether he or she wants to buy or not buy. If the person chooses to buy, he or she must decide where to buy the motorcycle, which one and how to pay.