My Consumer Behavior is Connected

I recently purchased a shirt from Express. Express is an American fashion brand mainly to young men and women. What motivated me to buy the shirt is I need to buy a shirt for the company’s annual gala celebration party at the end of the year. I think my consumer behavior is linked to my self-concept. According to the research, consumers tend to choose and use the brand personality consistent with their actual self-concept, although this matching may be based on consumers' ideal self-concept or even others' self-concept.

From my option, self-concept is how I see myself and how I want myself to be, both positively and negatively. In my case, because of the needs of specific scenes, I need to dress appropriately, but not too formally. So my ideal self-concept is what I want to see myself in that annual gala celebration, that is, to wear like a gentleman with a business casual shirt. The first brand came into my mind is Express.

First, Express is aimed at working young men and women. It wasn't expensive, so I was targeted. In my opinion, the brand of Express gives me a feeling of young, professional, energetic, reliable, sporty, imaginative and keeping pace with the times. Secondly, Express has run a 'NBA game changer' campion successfully in the 2017-2018 season. For a basketball fan, it caught my eye and arouse my good impression on this brand. Because I want others to see from my young, energetic, professional, reliable and other personal characteristics.

Based on the five dimensions of brand personality defined by Jennifer Aaker, the concept is that brands also have personalities, and consumers may choose a brand whose personality matches their own. Everyone has personality traits that influence their buying behavior. I can see my personalities are matched with three of them, which is excitement, competence and sophistication respectively.

In my opinion, brand personality means more than the keywords that used to describe the brand itself. It is the sum total of the influences you pass on to others after you combine with the brand when you use the products of this brand. Whether the brand can be a huge plus to your own personality after being used by you is one of the criteria to evaluate whether the brand positioning is successful. And this is how a successful brand's brand personality would consistently influence people's buying behavior.

Reference

1. Philip T. Kotler, Kevin Lane Keller, 15th Edition (2016). Marketing Management?
2. Wikipedia contributors. In Wikipedia. Retrieved January, 2010, from
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Express,_Inc.
4. M. Joseph Sirgy, “Self Concept in Consumer Behavior:A Critical Review,” Journal of Consumer Research 9 (December 1982), pp. 287–300.

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