Everything you need to know about the consumer behaviour in marketing.

Consumer behavior is a process of complicated psychological research, as it ties together issues of communication (advertising and marketing), identify social status, decision-making, and mental and physical health. Corporations put the information to good use, and so should you in monitoring what, when, and why you buy.

Business dictionary defines consumer behavior as,” The process by which individuals search for, select, purchase, use, and dispose of goods and services, in satisfaction of their needs and wants.”

Learn about:- 1. Introduction to Consumer Behaviour 2. Definitions of Consumer Behaviour 3. Meaning 4. Determinants 5. Importance 6. Factors 7. Approaches 8. Major Influences on Consumer 9. Impact of Information on Buyer Behaviour 10. Importance of the Study of Consumer Behaviour.

Consumer Behaviour: Definitions, Meaning, Importance, Approaches and Impact


Contents:

  1. Introduction to Consumer Behaviour
  2. Definitions of Consumer Behaviour
  3. Meaning of Consumer Behaviour
  4. Determinants of Consumer Behaviour
  5. Importance of Consumer Behaviour
  6. Factors of Consumer Behaviour
  7. Approaches to Study Consumer Behaviour
  8. Major Influences on Consumer
  9. Impact of Information on Buyer Behaviour
  10. Importance of the Study of Consumer Behaviour

Consumer Behaviour – Introduction

The study of consumer behavior always focuses on the decision processes of the individual consumer or consuming unit, such as the family. It in­cludes all the efforts to describe and explain one or more acts of choice either at a given time or over a period of time.

In contrast, the study of consumption behavior is concerned with the description and explanation of the behavior of aggregates of consumers or consuming units, again at a given time or over a period of time. The subject matter of consumption behavior parallels at the aggregate level to that of consumer behavior at the individual level.

The area of consumer behavior includes activities of both ultimate and industrial consumers. The former is the end-user of the product/service whereas the further value to the product/service-before it is consumed by the end-user. When behavior of both the kinds of buyers is under reference, the term used to denote it is ‘buyer behavior’. When the behavior of only end-users is under reference, the term ‘consumer behavior’ is used to denote it.

The new millennium will be the most challenging era for most of the com­panies delivering goods and services to the consumers directly through their network. The increasing competition in the global markets will make the existence of the companies difficult as the consumers enjoy as the kingpin of their business. The increasing competition in the market for the goods and services will provide the best options to the consumers towards the customer value, satisfaction, and the delight chain.

Hence, it becomes the prime importance to the company to analyse the consumer behaviour in right perspective and develop customer care and relation­ship with a view to build the long term relationship in the business. The customers are the pillars in the contemporary business environment to build and retain the brands in the market apart from the corporate strategies.

In the developing economies and near monopoly markets the sellers do not pay adequate attention towards the buyers and make them in a disadvantageous position. On the contrary in the buyers markets the customers can choose the goods and services. This phenomenon can be explained in reference to the Indian markets also. Let us take an exam­ple of an Indian car market in the mid-seventies which was largely dom­inated by the Ambassador brand of Hindustan Motors for mass market and the Premier Automobiles Ltd., had Fiat for the class market.

During this period the car market had sellers’ dominance and enjoyed near monopolistic conditions. The car market scenario was in transition since mid-eighties after the market intervention of Maruti Udyog Ltd., and has become highly competitive after the introduction of the new economic policy in early 90’s. The current market for cars in India is a buyers’ market, which is very competitive in terms of quality, price, services, com­forts and value for the money.

It is in fact the buyers’ market where the consumer exercises his franchise to choose the brand and hence he plays key role in making the brands sustain in the market. The consumer behaviour is therefore a basic diagnostic tool for the companies to assess their entry into the market and sustain therein. It can be strongly stat­ed that in the coming days only customer-centred companies will win.

Those companies who can deliver superior value to the targeted customers will emerge as market leaders.


Consumer Behaviour – Definitions: Given by Bearden Ingram LaForge, Business Dictionary and American Marketing Association

Marketing is an art which aims at customer’s satisfaction. Rather, every business process now a days is striving for that goal and profit maximization is now a secondary objective. Profit maximization is achieved with the higher degree of sophistication. After sales services, free education about technologies, value based marketing is a popular trend in current business scenario. Company is more interested in supplying quality product and services rather than maximizing profits with inferior quality of product.

Customer feedback is gaining keen attention from top management. It’s a deciding factor and very crucial in management decision making process. Online shopping is a recent development, and in which person purchases product after reading reviews from previous buyers. These reviews are gaining importance in purchase of consumer durable products.

Now, prospective customer can weigh each product on the basis of these reviews, expert opinions, product specifications and. his requirements. Buyer behavior is an integral part of marketing because whole business activities are solely dependent on the buyer and his final buying decision. At the most basic level, marketers want to know how business buyers will respond to various marketing stimuli. Customer behavior study is based on consumer buying behavior, with the customer playing the three distinct roles of user, payer and buyer.

Research has shown that consumer behavior is difficult to predict, even for experts in the field. Moreover greater importance is also placed on consumer retention, customer relationship management, personalization, customization and one-to-one marketing. Social functions can be categorized into social choice and welfare functions.

Thus we can say that, Consumer behavior is a process of complicated psychological research, as it ties together issues of communication (advertising and marketing), identify social status, decision-making, and mental and physical health. Corporations put the information to good use, and so should you in monitoring what, when, and why you buy.

So the basic concepts of buyer behavior and buying decision process are worth studying.

According to Bearden Ingram LaForge, “The mental and emotional processes and physical activities people engage in when they select, purchase, use, and dispose of products or services to satisfy particular needs and desires.”

“Individuals or groups acquiring, using and disposing of products, services, ideas, or experiences Includes search for information and actual purchase Includes an understanding of consumer thoughts, feelings, and actions.”

Business dictionary defines consumer behavior as,” The process by which individuals search for, select, purchase, use, and dispose of goods and services, in satisfaction of their needs and wants.”

American Marketing Association defines consumer behavior as, “The dynamic interaction of affect and cognition, behavior, and the environment by which human beings conduct the exchange aspects of their lives.”

After looking at the above definition we can deduce that consumer buying behavior is the decision processes and acts of people involved in buying and using products. It also includes psychology and mindset of customer in the process of buying decision. It is bunch of certain complicated elements which must be studied for learning trends and patterns of consumer buying behavior. It’s not a surprise at all that these patterns are so dynamic and change rapidly. So care must be taken to understand the mentality of the targeted customer.

Important thing is that these definitions are not exhaustive but new addition can be made in future with respect of changing business scenario and buyer behavior with respect to that.


Consumer Behaviour – Meaning

When person gets his pay-packet at the beginning of each month he sites down with his wife and prepares the family budget after carefully apportioning amounts to different items of expenditure.

However, after a trip to the market with his family, he finds that the whole exercise in rationality (budget) had been futile as the purchases made by him are not compatible with the budget items.

On recapitulation and analysis, he finds that it was his wife, son, daughter and even he himself if who were responsible for this deviation. All of them had made a contribution in making this budget upside down. The deviation was attributed to the arousal of new needs on account of new products displayed, better packages, better credit facilities, charming saleswomen/men ship and also because a nou-yeau riche neighbour was buying some particular article.

While making purchases, the son had her class teachers’ new lipstick in her mind, the wife was thinking of a particular sari she had seen at a party, and he himself was overawed by his neighbour’s choices. This whole behaviour of a person(s) while making purchases may be termed as consumer behaviour. It has been defined as “the process whereby individuals decide whether, what, when, where, how and from whom to purchase goods and services”.

In this process, the consumer deliberates within himself before he finally makes a purchase move. This deliberation relates to many variables and is aimed at solving consumption problems. Amongst these problems, the first and foremost is to decide whether to spend money or to save it.

Once a decision is taking to spend money, the second problem is to decide what to buy because the needs are multiple and resources scarce. Therefore, needs are to be ranked in terms of priority. The subsequent consumption problems relate to the place from where to buy, the mode of purchase— large/small quantities, cash/credit purchases and the like— and, last, the seller/shop from whom to buy.

This whole consumption behaviour consists of both physical and mental activities. The physical activities involve visiting a shop, examining product, selecting products or eating/drinking outside, that is, and the actual act of consumption.

Mental activities, on the other hand, involve deliberations within and forming of attitudes, perceiving communication material and learning to prefer a particular brand of product.

(i) Consumer Behaviour and Consumption Behaviour:

Consumer behaviour relates to an individual person (micro behaviour), whereas consumption behaviour relates to the mass or aggregate of individuals (macro behaviour). “The study of consumer behaviour always focuses on the decision processes of the individual consumer or consuming unit, such as the family.”

It includes all the efforts to describe and explain one or more acts of choice either at a given time or over a period of time. In contrast, the study of consumption behaviours is concerned with the description and explanation of the behaviour of aggregates of consumers or consuming units, again at a given time or over a period of time. The subject matter of consumption behaviour parallels at the aggregate level to that of consumer behaviour.

(ii) Consumer Behaviour and Buyer Behaviour:

The area of consumer behaviour includes activities of both ultimate and industrial consumers. The former is the end-user of the product/ service whereas the latter is only an intermediate user who adds further value to the product/service before it is consumed by the end-user.

When behaviour of both the kinds of buyer is under reference, the term used to denote it is “buyer behaviour”. When the behaviour of only end-users in under reference, the term ‘consumer behaviour’ is used to denote it.


Consumer Behaviour – Determinants: Internal and External Determinants

The determinants of consumer behaviour can be classified into:

1. Internal determinants, and

2. External environmental determinants.

The internal or individual factors that influence consumer behaviour are:

i. Motivation

ii. Needs

iii. Personality

iv. Self-Concept

v. Perception

vi. Learning

vii. Attitudes.

The external environmental factors are:

i. Culture

ii. Reference groups

iii. Family

iv. Social class.

1. Internal Determinants:

i. Motivation:

Motivation is the driving force within individuals that impels them to action. Motivation is the reason for behaviour. Consumer motivation can be described as a process through which wants are satisfied – Human behaviour is goal oriented. Goals are the sought after results of motivated behaviour.

Goals are of two types – Generic goals and product-specific goals. A generic goal is a general category of goal that may satisfy a certain need. A product specific goal is a specifically branded product that the consumer sees as a way to fulfill a need.

ii. Every Person has Needs:

Some are innate, others are acquired. Innate needs are physiological (biogenic). They include the needs for food, water, clothing, shelter and sex. Acquired needs are those an individual develops after birth. They are primarily psychological (psychogenic) and they include love, acceptance, esteem and self- fulfillment.

Maslow’s hierarchy-of-needs theory proposes five levels of human needs: physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, and self- esteem and self-actualisation needs. Maslow’s theory is a useful tool for understanding consumer motivation and is readily adaptable to marketing strategy.

iii. Personality:

The term ‘Personality’ can be defined as those inner psychological characteristics that determine and reflect how a person responds to his or her environment. The prominent theories of personality in the study of consumer behaviour are – Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, Neo-Freudian theory and trait theory. Freud’s theory operates on the premise that human needs are largely unconscious in nature.

Researchers, therefore, believe that consumers are primarily unaware of the true reasons for their buying behaviour. For example, a car can attract someone who seeks status. Neo-Freudian theory attempts to emphasise the role of social relationships in the formation and development of personality. For example, some marketers position their products or services as providing opportunity to be appreciated by others.

Trait theory focuses on the measurement of personality in terms of specific psychological traits. Trait researchers have found that a consumer’s personality is linked to the purchase of a broad product category rather than a specific brand. Products generally have personalities which help shape consumer preferences and loyalties.

iv. Self-Concept:

Self-concept is related to personality. Marketers attempt to develop brand images that match the target customers’ self-image. Consumers attempt to maintain, enhance or modify their self-images by purchasing products and shopping at stores they perceive as consistent with their perceived self-concepts.

v. Perception:

Perception is the process by which an individual selects, organises and interprets information inputs to create a meaningful picture of the world. Perception has strategy implications for marketers. Consumers make decisions based on what they perceive. They generally evaluate the quality of a product or service on the basis of a variety of informational clues such as – colour, size, price and store image.

Products that are perceived positively have a much better chance of being purchased than products with negative images. Consumers often rely on price as an indicator of quality. How consumers perceive a price has a strong influence on purchase decisions.

Consumers often perceive risk in making purchase decisions. Consumers seek increased information and search for well-known brands in order to reduce their perceived risk. They also seek reassurance through money-back guarantees, laboratory test results and pre purchase trial.

vi. Learning:

Learning involves changes in a person’s behaviour due to past experience. Learning is produced through the interplay of drives, stimuli, cues, responses and reinforcement. If a consumer’s experience with a BPL colour television is rewarding, his response to other products of BPL will be positively reinforced. Some of the measures of consumer learning are – recall and recognition tests, attitudinal and behavioural measures of brand loyalty.

vii. Attitudes:

As consumers we have much number of attitudes toward products, services and advertisements. Attitudes are relatively consistent. But they are not necessarily permanent; they do change. Marketers are interested to understand how consumer attitudes are formed and how they are changed. Attitude research attempts to study a wide range of marketing questions such as whether consumers will accept a new product idea, or to know how the customers are likely to react to proposed change in the firm’s pricing policy.

2. External Determinants:

i. Culture:

Culture is the most fundamental determinant of a person’s behaviour. Culture is acquired as part of social experience. In the context of consumer behaviour, culture is defined as the sum total of learned beliefs, values and customs that serve to regulate the behaviour of consumers of a particular society.

The elements o/culture are transmitted by three important social institutions – the family, the place of worship (e.g., church), and the school. A fourth social institution that plays a major role in the transmission of culture is the mass media, both through news and through advertising.

Each culture consists of smaller subcultures such as – religions, castes and geographic regions. In India, regional cultures with their local variants stand out distinctly.

ii. Reference Groups:

From a marketing perspective, reference groups are groups that serve as frames of reference for individuals in their buying decisions. Customers interact with reference groups such as – family, friends, neighbors, co-workers and religious and professional groups. The concept of consumer reference groups has been broadened to include groups with which consumers have no direct face-to-face contact such as – celebrities and sports people. Marketers are interested to identify the reference groups of their target customers.

iii. Family:

Family is a fundamental reference group for many consumers. In fact, it is the target market for most products. Marketers distinguish between two types of families in the customer’s life. The family of orientation consists of one’s parents and siblings. On the other hand, family of procreation namely, one’s spouse and children will have a more direct influence on everyday buying behaviour.

The research studies classify family consumption decisions as husband-dominated, wife-dominated, joint, or autonomic decisions. The concept of family life cycle (FLC) gives valuable insights into buying behaviour of a family. In recent times, the Indian marketers have seen the emergence of a new woman – one who is career-oriented, more assertive and is very much aware of herself and her family needs.

iv. Social Class:

Social classes are relatively homogeneous divisions in a society. Each social class exhibits similar product and brand preferences. Social classes reflect not only income but other indicators such as – education, occupation and residential area. Social scientists divide the society into upper; lower upper, upper middle, lower middle, and upper lower, and lower, lower classes.

For instance, upper middle class comprises of people who have attained reasonable heights in their careers. They believe in good things of life. Lower middle class comprises small businessmen and non-managerial workers. They generally buy bulk of mass marketed products.


Consumer Behaviour – Importance

When a person gets his pay-packet at the beginning of each month he sits down with his wife and prepares the family budget after carefully apportioning amounts to different items of expenditure. However, after a trip to the market with his family, he finds that the whole ‘exercise in rationality’ (budget) had been futile as the purchases made by him are not compatible with the budget items. On recapitulation and analysis, he finds that it was his wife, son, daughter and even he himself who were responsible for this deviation.

All of them had made a contribution in making this budget upside down. The deviation was attributed to the arousal of new needs on account of new products displayed, better packages, better credit facilities, charming saleswomen/menship and also because a new rich neighbour was buying some particular article. While making purchases, the son had a friend’s dress in his mind, the daughter had her class teachers’ new lipstick in her mind, the wife was thinking of a particular sari she had seen at a party, and he himself was overawed by his neighbour’s choices. This whole behaviour of a person (s) while making purchases may be termed as consumer behaviour. It has been defined as “the process whereby individuals decide whether, what, when, where, how and from whom to purchase goods and services’.

In this process, the consumer deliberates within himself before he finally makes a purchase move. This deliberation relates to many variables and is aimed at solving consumption problems. Amongst these problems, the first and foremost is to decide whether to spend money or to save it.

Once a decision is taken to spend money, the second problem is to decide what to buy because the needs are multiple and resources scarce. Therefore needs are to be ranked in terms of priority. The subsequent consumption problems relate to the place from where to buy, the mode of purchase —large/ small quantities, cash/credit purchases and the like —and, last, the seller/shop from whom to buy.

This whole consumption behaviour consists of both physical and mental activities. The physical activities involve visiting a shop, examining product, selecting products or eating/ drinking outside; that is, the actual act of consumption. Mental activities, on the other hand, involve deliberations within and forming of attitudes, perceiving communication material and learning to prefer a particular brand of product.

Consumer Behaviour and Consumption Behaviour:

Consumer behaviour relates to an individual person (micro behaviour), whereas consumption behaviour relates to the mass or aggregate of individuals (macro behaviour). The study of consumer behaviour always focuses on the decision processes of the individual consumer or consuming unit, such as the family.

It includes all the efforts to describe and explain one or more act of choice either at a given time or over a period of time. In contrast, the study of consumption behaviour is concerned with the description and explanation of the behaviour of aggregates of consumers or consuming units, again at a given time or over a period of time. The subject matter of consumption behaviour parallels at the aggregate level to that of consumer behaviour.

Consumer Behaviour and Buyer Behaviour:

The area of consumer behaviour includes activities of both ultimate and industrial consumers. The former is the end-user of the product/service whereas the latter is only an intermediate user who adds further value to the product/service before it is consumed by the end-user. When behaviour of both the kinds of buyer is under reference, the term used to denote it is “buyer behaviour’. When the behaviour of only end-users is under reference, the term ‘consumer behaviour’ is used to denote it.

The relevance and importance of understanding consumer behaviour is rooted in the modern marketing concept. In order to operationalise this concept, management attempts to solve some consumption problems of consumers. However, no business can possibly help consumers solve their consumption problems unless he understands them and unless he makes an attempt to comprehend the buying process and the factors influencing it.

Consumer behaviour is dynamic. Therefore, it is necessary to continuously study, analyse and understand it and monitor this understanding to the marketing management so that effective decisions can be taken in respect of products, price, promotion and distribution. The profit position of a product hinges on the kind of predisposition-positive/negative —that a consumer has developed towards it. It is essential to study and analyse it in order to understand why he/she has developed such a predisposition?

Besides, the Indian marketing conditions in particular the role of the Government and the steadily emerging consumer movement, necessitates that marketers in India must understand consumer behaviour —their needs, aspirations, expectations and problems. It will be extremely useful in exploiting marketing opportunities and in meeting the challenges that the Indian market offers.

Thus, in substance, it may be said that in the interest of effective marketing decisions, marketers must develop an understanding of their consumer’s behaviour, the buying process and the factors influencing this process.


Consumer Behaviour – Factors

i. Seller Characteristics that can Influence Purchase Decision:

Another form of influence is how the prospect perceives your offering and/ or enterprise. If you can determine the characteristics your prospects most value in an enterprise they purchase from, you can identify those your organization possesses and promote them to the prospect.

ii. Unique Employee Skills, Knowledge:

Extensive experience with a specific market segment or field of scientific inquiry can be a powerful promotional tool. For example if an enterprise could sat, “Our scientists knows more about corn silk genetic structures than anyone in the world” they would have a strong sales statement.

iii. Special Relationships with Distribution Channels:

Product or service accessibility is a critical factor in sales success. If an enterprise could say, “Due to a unique relationship, the XYZ video stores give us more shelf space than any competitor” prospects will likely re­spond positively.

iv. Customer Service Capabilities:

Prospects like to know that they can depend on post sale support from the product or service provider. A statement like, “We have more service out­lets in New Hampshire than any competitor” will help secure sales.

v. Unique Product Forms:

Credible uniqueness such as, “Our product is the only one that offers dynamic digi-whirling” is appealing to the market.

vi. Manufacturing Expertise:

The market is always interested in purchasing from the “best”. If an enter­prise can confidently state, “We are the only enterprise that can manufac­ture molecular engineered widgets”, they have created an image of being the “best”.

vii. Longevity:

Reliability is important. A statement like, “We have been in business for – 50 years, so you can count on us to be there when you need us” is usually a strong selling point.


Consumer Behaviour – Approaches: The Motivation Researchers and the Learning Theorists

Consumers can be illogical, irrational, and their behavior can be very difficult to comprehend. However, a good marketer should be able to understand the buying motives of customers and plan her strategies accordingly. Therefore, the study of consumer behavior becomes an important job. The study of consumer behavior has its origin in the development of the marketing con­cept itself.

When manufacturers in the U.S. were faced with the problem of huge inventories of products which were not needed by customers, they started giving importance to the study of buyers – why they buy, how they buy, and so on. This happened immediately after World War II, when there were no marketing theories to explain product failures in the market-place.

Since psychology deals with the study of the human behavior, and it was a considerably developed subject then, the task of probing the consumer was entrusted to psychologists. There were two schools of thought in psychology, namely, the Freudian school and the Skinner’s or Pavlovian school. Subsequently, anthropolo­gists, sociologists and even management scientists started studying the behavior of consumers.

The Motivation Researchers:

The Freudian concept includes the constructs of drive, motiva­tion, beliefs and values. Motivation researchers use these con­structs to emphasize both the conscious and unconscious motiva­tion of consumers. They explain all kinds of behavior—dreaming, the accidental breaking of a dish, the purchase of a particular brand of toilet soap—using the individual’s psyche constituted by the id, ego, and superego. A very simplified explanation of these three terms will be as follows.

The id is the animal instinct with which we are born. Left to ourselves, we would probably behave like uninhibited animals. The superego represents the societal restrictions imposed on us from our childhood, which suppresses some of our basic desires. The ego is the mechanism which bal­ances these two opposing forces. If this balance is lost, either due to excess of the id or excess of the superego, people become mental patients, according to the Freudian concept.

Motivation researchers probe the buying motives of consumers. They typically see a consumer as a bundles of day-dreams, hidden yearnings, guilt complexes, and irrational emotional blockages. Thus, according to them, people satisfy some of these suppressed desires by socially acceptable products. Some of the earlier findings about the motives of consumers for buying products are startling and still valid.

A few findings were as follows:

1. On Shaving:

For some men, the act of cutting the beard, a manly attribute, is symbolic of the act of castration. Thus, it is unwise to show the act in advertisements for blades. Some advertisements show a woman feeling the cheek of a man, thereby bringing in the concept of being attractive to the opposite sex, to overcome the feeling of castration.

2. On Smoking:

Smoking is done to satisfy the primary impulse and need of oral comfort. Smoking, in general, serves to relieve tension, impatience, anger and frustration, just as sucking does for the infant. This explains the widespread use of chewing gums, cigars, pan masala, etc., among different races across the world.

3. On Selling Soaps and Detergents:

Many housewives feel that they are engaged in unrewarded and unappreciated drudgery when they clean. The advertiser should, thus, foster a feeling of ‘worth and esteem’ in the housewife. His advertising should exalt the role of housekeeping, not in self-conscious, stodgy, ways, but by implying that housekeeping is an important job and one that the housewife should be proud of.

4. Why Old Women Like Gardening:

Gardening gives old women a chance to keep on growing things after they have passed the child-bearing stage.

5. Why Women Buy Makeup Items:

A woman first (and fore­most) wants to be able to look at herself approvingly and feel assured that she is fully feminine. Second, she wants the ap­proval of other women. Approval of the male, as typified in adver­tisements by the admiring glance of a romantic-looking male, comes third; thus it is the least effective way of selling cosmetics. Therefore, an advertisement that simply shows a woman using a particular cosmetic in front of a full-length mirror will be a very effective method.

6. Why Cone Ice-Creams are Popular:

People like to sink their mouth right into the ice-cream and get the full taste of it.

7. Symbolism of Soup:

Soup is unconsciously associated with a person’s deepest need for nourishment and reassurance. It takes people back to their earliest sensations of warmth, protection, and feeding. Its deepest roots may lie in prenatal sensations of being surrounded by the amniotic fluid in the mother’s womb.

8. Colors to be Used for Packaging:

Red and yellow are helpful in creating a hypnotic effect. A woman’s eye is most quickly at­tracted to items wrapped in red; a man’s eye is attracted to items wrapped in blue.

9. Instant Foods:

A women is very serious when she is baking a cake because, unconsciously, she is going through the symbolic act of giving birth. She dislikes easy-to-use cake mixes because the thought of an easy life evokes a sense of guilt.

In another occasion, when instant coffee was introduced into the market there was tremendous resistance from consumers. In order to find out the underlying problem, researchers con­structed two identical shopping lists with the only difference being that shopping list 1 had ‘ground coffee’ and shopping list 2 had ‘instant coffee’.

These two lists were given to housewives who were asked to give their opinion on, ‘What type of a housewife would have prepared shopping list 1 and what type of a house­wife would have prepared shopping list II?’ They invariably said that shopping list 1 was prepared by a home-loving, caring and a good housewife, and shopping list II was prepared by a woman who spends most of her time outside the house (e.g., in clubs) and who does not care for her family. This clearly established the per­sonalities people associated with product use.

However, all findings cannot be translated directly to Indian conditions. For example, a white dress is supposedly very auspi­cious for many westerners, as it is worn during important func­tions, particularly weddings. On the contrary, in India widows usually dress in white. It is also false to assume that there is any single or major reason that makes people buy or not buy a prod­uct. A host of factors are at play, such as the quality of the prod­uct, shelf position, and the sheer volume of advertising.

So we have to take the findings of motivational researchers with a pinch of salt. However, they do bring to light how people make decisions on both rational and irrational bases. Some companies pitch on the irrational base and some choose to use the rational base. Products like cigarettes do not have much of a physical dif­ferentiation, with the possible exception of the filter vs. non-filter, or white body vs. brown body.

Thus, many companies use the appeal of life-style, status, masculinity and prestige to sell their product. Hindustan Lever has been consistently using a logical appeal to promote their detergent powder, Surf. Lalitaji, the cen­tral, female, character shown in their advertisements, is identi­fied with rational decision-making.

The Learning Theorists:

The second approach to study consumer behavior is the Skin­ner’s or Pavlovian school of thought, represented by the learning theorists. These people use the reward-reinforcement concept to learning. They believe that the entire human behavior is acquired through learning. As a child grows, through a system of reward and punishment, it is taught what is good and what is bad behavior. The famous Pavlov’s dog itself was conditioned to respond to a bell.

A dolphin can be trained to kiss a trainer, a monkey to jump around and salute people, a dog to sit and beg, and so on. The learning theorists extend the same concept to train human beings to make them use a particular brand or a product. Why do people like beer, a foul smelling liquid? It is a learned behavior.

One can see the restlessness in smokers if they go out of stock of their favorite brand of cigarette at night when all shops are closed. It is the effect of conditioning, which the marketers are able to achieve through repeated runs of their advertisements.


Consumer Behaviour – Major Influences on Consumer (Buying Influences)

A multitude of influences come into play in shaping the buying behavior of the various participants in a buying decision. Returning to the earlier illustration of Betty Smith’s purchase of a camera, we can short the vari­ous influences on her decision into four major groups.

There are influences associated with the buyer (here Betty Smith), the product, the seller, and the situation:

1. Buyer Characteristics:

We would first need to know several things about Betty Smith to understand how she came to buy a Nikon camera. The various things could be grouped into cultural, social, personal, and psychological characteristics.

2. Product Characteristics:

Various product characteristics will influence the buying decision. Betty Smith will pay attention to the Nikon’s features, styling, quality, price, and backup services in making her decision, the marketer have control over these product attributes and can design them in such a way that they will maximize the product’s appeal to the target market.

3. Seller Characteristics:

Various seller characteristics will influence the buying outcome. In this case Betty Smith will form an opinion about the manufacture, Nikon, and the retail outlet, say the ABC Camera Company. Betty will have a certain image of Nikon’s reliability and service as a manufacturer.

Betty will also form an impression of the retailer’s knowledge ability, friendliness, and service. Thus the manufacturer and the retailer will want to consider the seller characteristics that make a difference to whether Betty buys the camera.

4. Situational Characteristics:

Various situational factors also influence the buying decision. One such factor is the time pressure felt by Betty Smith to make a decision. Under great time pressure, she might make the decision with less information and rely more time to investigate. Other factors include the time of year, the weather, chance meeting who have opinions about cameras, the current economic outlook and so on.


Consumer Behaviour – Impact of Information on Buyer Behaviour

The buyer today is exposed to a veritable flood of information. There is a deluge of information unleashed on him from different sources. These sources inform him about new products and services, improved versions of existing products, new uses for existing products and so on. The informa­tion sources that persuade people to try a product include- “advertising, samples and trials, display in shops and salesmen’s suggestion.

Each of these sources provides some information to the buyer about the products. When the buyer sees an advertisement for a product, he is informed about the existence of the product. Later on, he may develop a positive attitude towards the product or a negative attitude or he may even remain neutral. In any case, a piece of information about the product is made available to him and it has some influence .on his buying behaviour.

Delivering a free sample of the product to a prospective buyer may also create in his mind an idea about the product. Making available a free sample does not ensure that he would try it. Whether he will try it or not depends on several factors. But if the sample is tried, it generates some information, positive or negative, which in turn influences the buying behaviour.

Often salesmen serve as a source of information to buyers. The salesman may inform the prospects about a product, explain its advantages, and may even suggest a trial purchase. In cases where a rapport has already been established between the buyer and the salesman, the salesman’s suggestions are normally taken as reliable.

Purchase Decision Makers:

Finally, a point to consider is, given the characteristics of your offering, what type of decision maker will most likely be interested in purchasing from you. It may be beneficial to rank your prospects based on the follow­ing classifications. While you may not be able to make this classification of the prospect prior to the first contact, if your sales personnel are sensitive to these characteristics it can strongly influence your sales strategy.

Conservatives – are willing to change, but only in small increments and only in a very cost effective manner.

i. Will consider new products/services but only if related concept has been proven to be effective. More likely to purchase improvements to existing offerings.

ii. Will probably want to review competitive offerings, but will gravitate to best known offering with lowest risk decision.

iii. Negative to neutral when considering technically complex offerings or offerings requiring extensive user education.

iv. Strongly influenced by cost effective offerings and/or ‘best price’ opportunities

Liberals – regularly looking for new solutions, willing to make change (even major change) if the benefit can be shown.


Consumer Behaviour – Importance of the Study of Consumer Behaviour

A study of the consumer behaviour stems from the concept of marketing—that is, to look at the product from the point of view of the consumer. This means, the marketing manager should find out what the consumers really need, rather than offer them what the company thinks that they need.

Consumers are human beings and human behaviour is very complex. To determine what people really want calls for a well- informed and a well-founded perspective of consumer behaviour.

Consumer behaviour is concerned with the activities of individuals who buy goods and services. It also concerns the decision-making processes that go to determine these purchases. A study of consumer behaviour covers not only the reasons why people buy but also where, how often, and under what circumstances they buy goods and services.

Another important consideration is that a person who uses the product may not be the same person who actually buys it. To study and understand consumer behaviour is not the same thing as to control it. A knowledge of consumer behaviour provides the marketing manager with a competitive advantage to formulate his policies and responses to the market. It also helps him to penetrate the market below the surface and to understand the complex processes operating in it.

It is very difficult to explain consumer behaviour at any given moment, for man is subject to various influences, stimuli and forces. If the marketing manager acts hastily or on inadequate data or on improper assumptions about consumer activities, he may be confronted with complete failure.

Many an experienced and expert marketing manager has failed in his strategies. In exploring consumer behaviour, he can get a better idea of how consumers buy and how they make specific choices. This enables him to describe the consumer decision-making process in general.

The description of the decision-making process, in turn, enables him to infer or to arrive at the reasons why the consumers make their specific choices. Finally, the ability to explain why consumers make certain choices enables a manager to formulate effective marketing strategies and programmes. It is evident from this that a study of consumer behaviour helps the marketing manager immensely to determine which consumer decision-making process should be monitored.