CONSUMER MARKETS

AND CONSUMER BUYING

BEHAVIOUR

THE STIMULUS RESPONSE MODEL

FACTORS AFFECTING CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR -CULTURAL -SUB CULTURAL -SOCIAL CLASS

SOCIAL FACTORS

FAMILY
REFERENCE GROUP ROLES AND SOCIAL STATUS

PRIMARY SECONDARY

PERSONAL FACTORS

AGE AND STAGE IN THE LIFE CYCLE -Age -At what point of time -Occupation -Economic conditions

OCCUPATION AND ECONOMIC CONDITION Buying greatly influenced by economic conditions, earnings, savings
capacity ,debt, income stability etc LIFESTYLE Totality of ones living Activities Interest Opinions

interact with the environment

 PERSONALITY AND SELF CONCEPT Personality is a combination of distinguishable psychological

characteristics that lead to relatively consistent response to the environment

Strong co-relation between personality and consumer behavior People belonging to same class, with relatively similar personalities,
may have different self image. Marketers need to understand the self image of the consumers and offer brands accordingly

PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS

Motivation

Perception
Learning Beliefs and Attitudes

Motivation People have multiple needs at any given point of time .A need
becomes a motive when the intensity of the need is raised sufficiently.

Maslows Hierarchy of needs

PERCEPTION
SELECTIVE ATTENTION

--Stimuli related to present need

--Stimuli that is anticipated

-- Stimuli varying significantly from normal stimuli

SELECTIVE DISTORTION

SELECTIVE RETENTION

LEARNING BELIEFS AND ATTITUDES

,responses and reinforcements.

LEARNING Behavioral changes based on experience is called learning. Human learning occurs due to mix of stimuli, drivers, cues A strong internal stimulus causing action is called a driver. BELIEFS AND ATTITUDES Beliefs A descriptive thought or image a person has about
something. Beliefs and attitudes are acquired thru learning and doing. Beliefs may be based on knowledge, faith or opinion.

ATTITUDES
Peoples attitude towards products is based on their attitude
towards the country of their origin.

--Impact of manufacturing countries varies with the product.

--Different countries enjoy different reputations for different
products.

--A buyers perception of country affects his perception of the

products of that country.

--Attitudes can change over a period of time.

BUYING ROLES
INITIATOR-The person who initially suggest the idea of purchase

INFLUENCER-The person whos views are sought in decision making

process

DECIDER-The person who decides on any aspect of purchase

decision-when, where, how much, at what cost etc

BUYER-The person who actually buys the product

USER- The person who actually uses the product

BUYING BEHAVOUR
THERE IS A DIRECT RELATION BETWEEN BUYING DECISION AND
THE END CONSUMER BEHAVOUR

COMPLEX--CUSTOMER DEVELOPS A BELIEF ABOUT A PRODUCT

--AN ATTITUDE DEVELOPS AROUND THIS BELIEF

--FINALLY, A DECISION IS ARRIVED AT AFTER CAREFUL CONSIDERATION

USUALLY NOTICED FOR PRODUCTS WHICH ARE EXPENSIVE,

RISKY AND PURCHASED RARELY.

DISSONANCE REDUCTION

This happens when a buyer is highly involved in a purchase but sees

little difference among various brands

The buyer looks around and settles for price and convenience of
shopping-dosent pay attention to technical details

After the purchase, the buyer comes across reports on technical

aspects or price ,favorable reports of other products which cause some discomfort

The buyer is then alert to ther cues and information, reinforcements

which reduce the feeling of discomfort.

Marketers must therefore work to reduce the area of discomfort.

BUYER BEHAVIOR-HABITUAL
There are several products that consumers buy without much
involvement

They are generally not brand conscious towards products purchased

frequently and which are low priced.

If they are buying a particular brand, it is only because of habit Marketers ,therefore ,believe that price and sales promotions are
quite effective in pushing such products

 The marketing strategy therefore revolves around a) Linking products to a specific issue Colgate for bad breadth b) Linking the product to a personal situation-Bournvita to childrens
health

c) Designing ads which evoke strong emotions d) Adding new features to the existing product

BUYING BEHAVIOR-VARIETY SEEKING

In many situations while the involvement is low, there may be a lot
of brand differentiation.

The consumer has a general idea about the product. He buys the
product without much forethought and evaluation.

He then tries the product and evaluates it accordingly.

He may continue with the product or may experiment with another.

His decision to switch may be a) Based on dissatisfaction with the product b) Need for variety.

STAGES IN BUYING DECISION PROCESS --PROBLEM RECOGNITION

--INFORMATION SEARCH
--EVALUATION OF ALTERNATIVES

--PURCHASE DECISIONS
--POST PURCHASE BEHAVIOR

-- POST PURCHASE SATISFACTION

-- POST PURCHASE ACTIONS --POST PURCHASE USE AND DISPOSAL

PROBLEM RECOGNITION
The process begins when the consumer realizes that he has a need
.Not satisfying that need is causing a problem to him.

This need can be triggered by

External Stimuli

Internal Stimuli

Marketers must therefore know what type of needs are triggered

by various situations and stimuli.

INFORMATION GATHERING
The consumer would then like to collect all the information
necessary to satisfy the need. He will collect all the information he can about the prospective need.

--To know about the product category --To know all the products in the category --To compare various attributes of different brands. --As the consumer cannot possibly gather ALL the information about
Set;from these the consumer selects a smaller group of brands called Consideration Set.

All the brands, he concentrates on a set of brands called Awareness

EVALUATION OF ALTERNATIVES
There is no set model for evaluation of alternatives Broadly speaking Consumer wants to satisfy a need Looks for certain benefits from the product Seeks a set of attributes that can maximize the benefit These attributes may be different for different products; different
customers may look for different attributes.

Consumers attach different importance to different attributes. Consumers generally go for those brands that have maximum attributes. Consumers develop some beliefs about the product and this constitutes
the brand image.

PURCHASE DECISIONS
At this stage the consumer is at a transition stage from PURCHASE
INTENTION to PURCHASE DECISION

He may be affected by two factors --Attitude of others Intensity of negative feelings

of others

His own inclination to be influenced by others

--Totally unanticipated factors e g accident, loss of job, financial mishap sharp price rise. The consumers decision to delay, avoid ,a purchase decision varies
directly with the perceived risk, which in turn varies with the amount of risk involved.

POST PURCHASE BEHAVOUR,POST PURCHASE SATISFACTION, POST PURCHASE ACTIONS

The marketers job does not end with sales.He has to know about
the reaction of the consumer

Greater the extent to which the products perceived performance

meets the consumers expectation, greater is the satisfaction with the product.

If the performance exceeds the expectation, the customer is

delighted

Marketers therefore have to attend to the post purchase reactions

of the customer.