Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
Assignment No.1
Before understanding the consumer behavior firstly i have to know about who is a
consumer because it will help me to find out how they take decisions before
purchasing a product. So, consumer is any individual who consume good and
services that are available in the market. It can be individual or in group form.
Consumer purchases goods and services from the market for his/her end-use is called
a consumer. For e.g. Person A might purchase a bicycle for her daughter or Person
B might buy a kurta for herself. In both cases person A and B are consumers. So
services as per their taste, need and of course pocket. For example: Person A and B
went to the shopping mall to buy denim for themselves. The store manager showed
them the best denim available with him. Person A immediately purchased two
denims but B returned home empty handed. The denims were little too expensive
for B and she preferred simple and subtle designs as compared to designer wears
available at the store. In this example person B and A had similar requirements but
there was a large difference between their taste, mind set and ability to spend. So
both person have different interest. Both consumer and their interest will help the
thought which were highly descriptive and relied heavily on case study approaches.
At the end of 1950s marketing methodology was criticized. After this marketing has
motivation research so marketing researcher use techniques like depth interview and
marketing kept its focus on individual consumer and understand their behavior after
(Peter & Olson, 2008) Consumer behaviour is the study of psychological, social and
physical actions when people buy, use and dispose products, ideas, services and
practices.
and physical activity involved in acquiring, evaluating, using and disposing of goods
(Belch & Belch, 2001) consumer behaviour is a process and activities of people
engage when searching for selecting, purchasing, using, evaluating and disposing of
(Kottler & Keller, 2011) Consumer buying behaviour is the study of buying and
(Stallworth, 2008) It is a set of activities which involves the purchase and use of
goods and services which resulted from the customer emotional and mental needs
“Consumer Behaviour is a branch which deals with the various stages when
consumer goes through before purchasing products or services for his end use” or
we can say that Consumer behaviour is the study of how individual customers,
groups or organizations select, buy, use, and dispose ideas, goods, and services to
satisfy their needs and wants. Marketers expect that by understanding the behaviour
of consumer they will be able to determine which products are needed in the
marketplace, which are obsolete, and which can satisfy the consumers. The study of
consumer behaviour assumes that the consumers are actors in the marketplace.
provider, from the user to the payer and to the disposer. Consumers play these roles
when they take decision for purchasing a product. The roles also vary in different
child’s purchase process, whereas she plays the role of a disposer for the products
consumed by the family. An individual buys a product to fulfill his need, Social
Status and for Gifting Purpose. An individual does not buy a product because there
is no requirement, due to financial constraint, and different taste. There are several
factors (age, gender, education and income level), Psychological factors (buying
motives, perception of the product and attitudes towards the product), Situational
factors (physical surroundings at the time of purchase, social surroundings and time
factor), Social factors (social status, reference groups and family) and Cultural
Consumer behaviour is not static. It changes over a period of time. It depends upon
the nature of products. For example, kids prefer colorful and fancy footwear, but as
they grow up as teenagers and young adults, they prefer trendy footwear, and as
middle-aged and senior citizens they prefer more sober footwear. The change in
buying behaviour may take place due to several other factors such as increase in
All consumers do not behave in the same manner. Different consumers behave
differently. The differences in consumer behaviour are due to individual factors such
The consumer behaviour varies across states, regions and countries. For example,
the behaviour of the urban consumers is different from that of the rural consumers.
Marketers need to have a good knowledge of the consumer behaviour. They need to
study the various factors that influence the consumer behaviour of their target
Consumer behaviour is different for different products. There are some consumers
who may buy more quantity of certain items and very low or no quantity of other
items. For example, teenagers may spend heavily on products such as cell phones
and branded wears for snob appeal, but may not spend on general and academic
reading. A middle- aged person may spend less on clothing, but may invest money
The buying behaviour of the consumers may lead to higher standard of living. The
more a person buys the goods and services, the higher is the standard of living. But
if a person spends less on goods and services, despite having a good income, they
In marketing concept the firms analyze the needs of their customers and then take
decisions to satisfy those needs. It is a strategy that firms adopt and implement to
satisfy need, increase sales, maximize profit and beat the competition. To understand
the marketing concept firstly we need to understand the other concepts i.e.
Product
concept
Selling Concept
Marketing
Concept
The term production concept was coined by the Henry Ford. According to this
concept consumers will prefer products that are widely available and highly
affordable. Firms use this concept to achieve high production efficiency, low costs,
and mass distribution. But production concept sometime lead to marketing myopia.
According to this concept consumer will prefer product that offer most in quality,
performance and innovative features. It mainly focus on product that are improving
over time. However, managers are sometimes caught up in a love affair with their
product and do not realize what the market needs. Product concept sometime also
Assume that consumer are not interested to buy a product unless they are
aggressively persuaded to it. In this time company use promotional tools to stimulate
more buying because selling is not only tactics to sell your product. But most firms
practice the selling concept when they have overcapacity. Their aim is to sell what
and wants of target market and delivering the desired satisfaction better than
competitors. Four pillars of marketing concept are: target market, customer needs,
integrated marketing and profitability. When firms first began to adopt the marketing
concept, they set up separate marketing departments whose objective it was to satisfy
customer needs. The marketing concept relies upon marketing research to define
market segment, their size, and their needs. To satisfy those needs, the marketing
behaviour, when company decides to launch a new product into the market.
Companies conduct market research to better understand the consumers, their needs
and their satisfaction level. For research Purpose Company conduct surveys, in
depth interview etc...After analyzing the result company make decisions about
design, quality, and price of product. There are two type of consumer research
Qualitative research mainly focus on what it is and why customers think and feel as
research. Consumer research process can be broken down into following steps:
being conducted.
2. Collect Secondary data: In second step collect secondary data first, it helps
in understanding if research has been conducted earlier and if there are any
their own data. This research make use of various data collection methods
hand.
method that uses open ended questions, to gain meaningful data from
meaningful insights.
can take more than one attempt to get the desired results.
take decision.
businesses have become today. With just one questions companies are
able to collect data that question has the power to make or break a
company.
data so that organizations are able to make informed decisions and understand
Consumer Decision Making Process means the process of Identifying and verifying
the decision making of the consumer by the business leaders or the marketers. End
user is a term that is used in the business to describe the consumer that ultimately
consumes the goods. End Consumer is the heart and soul of any business stability.
people and the process from which the individuals, organization or groups of people
order to satisfy the needs. A consumer goes through several stages before purchasing
a product or service and that stages helps the consumer to take decision.
NEED RECOGNITION
INFORMATION GATHERING/SEARCH
EVALUATION OF ALTERNATIVES
PURCHASE OF PRODUCT/SERVICE
1. Need Recognition
The first step in the consumer decision making process is identifying the need.
The need is the most important element which leads towards the actual buying
of the product or service. Finding out what the customer needs is the first step
‘actual state type of problem’. This type of problem may occur when
‘desired state consumer’. In this state consumer may experience the desire for
something new. The desired state is the starting point for the consumer to
become involved in the decision making process. Determining the needs and
individual who buys cold drink or a bottle of mineral water identifies his/her
need as thirst.
The potential consumer after identifying his needs moves on to the second
stage i.e. searching & gathering information. Consumer need all the
information about the product before spending their money. During this phase
from many different sources like prints or electronic media or from people
mentioned bellow.
Personal Contacts: This is a very strong source of information and has the
greatest influence over the mind of the consumer. The Consumers tend to
colleagues and acquaintances and make purchase decisions based upon their
recommendations.
The Consumers begin to search out for the best alternatives or options
available after he/she identifies the need and the source to satisfy that need.
At this stage consumer evaluates different options based upon product price,
other important factors. The Customers reviews and compare prices for the
substitute products before choosing the product are very important to satisfy
the need in the best possible manner. The consumer after need recognition and
collecting useful information choose the best product available in the market
based upon his taste, style, income or preference. But in such cases steps such
After proper assessment of all the facts the consumer makes a logical decision
satisfaction delivered from the product, Value of the product with respect to
the need fulfillment of the consumer. If the consumer feels that the product
bought delivered the value and has met the expectation they will become the
when being involved. There are three possible outcomes when consumer
satisfaction.
The degree of post-purchase analysis that consumers undertake will depend on the
importance of the production decision and the experience in using the product.
Feedback is an indication for the marketer that consumers likes the product. If the
buy it again. Consumer Decision making Process is very important for marketers to
successfully market their products and product line. Understanding the targeted
market fully increases the efficiency of a marketing plan and yields better result from
promotional plan.
DECISION MAKING
major components:
1. Input
2. Process
3. Output
1. Input:
The input component comprises of the external and internal factors that
includes the marketing mix elements i.e. the various marketing stimuli used
a) Marketing Stimuli:
Marketing mix efforts will consist of the four P’s i.e. Product, Price,
ensure the availability of the product at the market place) are used.
source and all the other non-commercial sources. The family members
etc. Social class influences can be seen in consumer choice of the retail
outlets, exposure to media etc. There are certain unwritten things that
product; whereas, the marketing efforts will induce and motivate them
2. Process:
The process component of the model starts with the psychological field i.e.
needs or wants, their knowledge about the various product choices, how
they gather more information about product and how they evaluate
information i.e. a) The Evoked Set is the one in which consumer make a
list of brands from which they plan to make their selection b) The Criteria
based in which consumer set criteria for evaluating each brand. The evoked
set will vary from consumer to consumer and marketer must use different
3. Output:
purchase Behaviour.
The buyer’s black box model contains two sub components i.e. the buyer’s
characteristics and the buyer decision process. The buyer’s characteristics could
a) Personal:
Personal factors are age & life-cycle stage, occupation (occupation affects
a) Psychological:
situation).
c) Cultural:
Culture includes subculture, social class, and reference group. Culture is a sum
that govern a society. Culture influence the consumer decision e.g. Influences
culture with shared value systems within the group but different from other
upper and middle lower classes. Members in these classes share similar
After this consumer take decision, he can gather information after identifying the
need and evaluate alternatives. Buyer responses is also an important part in black
box model, the buyer also takes a decision with respect to the product, brand,
As per the stimulus response model, there are marketing and other stimuli which
enter the consumer black box and subsequently produces certain buyer responses.
of information which inform and educates him or her on the product’s existence,
price to match the product features, availability at the various outlets, ably
awareness. This combined with the other stimuli will make the product respond
Assaell’s model on consumer decision making as seen in figure indicates that the
the type of purchase involved. Decision is of two type i.e. simple one and complex
one. In case of high involvement purchases (or complex decisions) the decisions
making process will involve information search and evaluate brand alternatives.
Whereas, in case of low involvement purchases the consumer make seek little or no
Fig indicates the various individuals and environmental factors, which can influence
consumers purchase decisions. Product features and design, benefits sought from the
product (or brand), suitable pricing and ideal location are the number of factor that
it will induce adoption and loyalty. Whereas post purchase dissatisfaction could
result in the discontinuing usage of the product. Ultimately the post purchase
Consumer behavior is important for businesses because it helps them anticipate what
customers want, learn how to attract customers, and understand how to best present
their products and services. In today competition it is very important for business
managers to understand the behavior of consumer, their interest, their perception
because these all things play an important role when consumer take purchasing
decision. Technological innovations and new financial models have driven
consumerism, and with it the global spends. Consumer attitude and behavior shifted
with the extensive use of mobile technology and internet will continue to cause
disruptions for businesses all around the world. However, not all consumers are
the same, some want the hi-fi lifestyle, whereas some are looking back to the
prehistoric era and promoting organic living. Now consumer want to live clean
apart from marketing, fear of diseases such as cancer has pushed them to adopt a
more chemical and toxin-free lifestyle. So consumer adopt organic food. The
concept of ride sharing, clothing rentals, and equipment rental has boosted the
sharing economy, forcing companies to rethink their business.
Corporate example
Today Reliance Jio is top company they can understand consumer behavior and it
will help in increasing their sales and market share. Reliance Jio launched the fourth-
generation mobile phone service for public on September 5th 2016. The company
promises free voice calling for lifetime. Basically Reliance Jio is tapping on the
consumer’s interest by marketing it’s free voice and data plans till 31st December.
What the consumers don’t know is that Reliance Jio is earning money through other
sources like their newly launched phone – LYF! Reliance Jio claims to achieve 100
million customers as soon as possible but that doesn’t seem likely till 2018 according
to trade experts. This, I feel, is because changing the consumers’ mindset is not that
easy. For a product like Reliance Jio, 4G enabled handsets have to be purchased and
data penetration itself is pretty low in India. Also the fact that only phones enabled
with VoLTE can have access to free voice calling through Reliance Jio. Keeping all
these factors in mind, the wave of change they want to bring in, doesn’t seem like
any time soon.
Reliance Jio run on the principle that ‘Indians are cost-sensitive’. Even though they
may have money, if they find something cost effective they will go and try it, it is in
the DNA.’ Cheapest LTE phones are being offered in association with Reliance Jio
to attract consumers on a large scale, but customers should read all the terms and
conditions carefully before purchasing.