INTRODUCTION - CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOUR -

 

INTRODUCTION - CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOUR

 Consumer behavior can be divided into three very distinct stages. These stages are as follows:

 Stage 1: pre-purchase stage

Stage 2: purchase stage

Stage 3: post-purchase stage

 Pre-purchase behavior depends on many factors. How critical the need is for a product and how urgent the time frame are often major factors in determining how much activity takes place in this stage. Other factors include whether the consumer is making a first time or repeat decision, and how taxing the purchase is on his or her monetary resources.

 Pre-purchase behavior

Ø  Awareness

Ø  Obtain information

Ø  Analyze the information Collected

 Although consumers have many needs that are basically similar, they try to satisfy them in quite  different ways, depending on how they perceive both their needs and the environment in which they operate. In fact, two people with identical needs may take different actions to fulfill them based on their perceptions of the situation.

 Scope of Consumer Behavior Field

The field of consumer behavior tries to find out the answers to the

following questions:

 What are the products people buy?

 Why they buy them?

 How they buy them?

 When they buy them?

 Where they buy them?

 How often they buy them?

 How is the decision process of the consumer?

 

Understanding consumers’ profile helps you to set appropriate prices and this can be

done effectively using consumer behavior knowledge and theories.

 To minimize the risk of faulty distribution decision you also need the knowledge of consumer behavior theories and their applications. Products  should be available to locations where consumers want them

 Why consumer behavior is important-

The products that you produce here in Indian may have markets well beyond our

national boundary. In order to be successful, marketers therefore, should have idea on  other cultures in addition to his own if he plans to market his products elsewhere.

 People belonging to a particular social class tend to have similar beliefs, life styles and buying patterns. They purchase similar products from same stores, and live in the same types of neighborhoods and houses. People conform to patterns of living and buying accepted by the other members. Although lifestyles are quite similar within a social

class, they vary considerably from class to class.

 Although consumers have many needs that are basically similar, they try to satisfy them in quite different ways, depending on how they perceive both their needs and the environment in which they operate. In fact, two people with identical needs may take different actions to

fulfill them based on their perceptions of the situation

 Marketing managers, therefore, face three micromarketing problems, and he may apply consumer behavior knowledge and theories in solving these micro marketing problems.

 Needs change everyday.

Whatever you produce and sell well today, may not be desired tomorrow even by the same

group of people.

 what happens if consumers do not favor such an act of the government. It is therefore,

imperative for the public policy planners to know the behavioral patterns of the consumers before any action to take and implement. The knowledge of consumer behavior, thus may help public policy makers to understand the minds of people and their reaction patterns

against different public policies.

 Examples

•  Why do we buy colorful sharees and ornaments for the bride? - From our culture we have learned that bride should put on colorful share and ornament on the wedding day and as a result we buy such things for the bride.
•  Why do you use a particular brand of toilet soap? You may have seen your parents to use that brand which influenced your decision.
•  Purely for the personality differences, two brothers may buy and use shirts of two different designs.
•  You may have gone to marketplace to buy a particular brand of a product, but may come back buying another brand? What influenced you to change your decision?
•  Suppose, you are planning to buy an apartment next year. What you will do until next year comes? You will probably look at the advertisements of different apartment sellers, visit few of them, inquire prices and terms and conditions of payments, compare locations, designs, and fittings. Why do you undertake these activities? if you intend to produce a new variety of tooth paste, you
• should analyze the nature of individual consumption behavior as to why consumer uses tooth paste (to whiten teeth/prevent tooth decay); which brand of toothpaste he buys (say Close-up or Aromatic); why he buys it (because he believes that it will whiten his teeth better than competing brands); how he buys it (cash/credit); when he buys it monthly/weekly); where he buys it (from retail or supermarket); how often he buys it (frequency of buying, say every fortnight) and how much he buys it (100 gram/200 gram)
•  The management of famous US company Procter and Gamble stated: “ Our business is based on understanding the consumer and providing the kind of products that the consumer wants. We place enormous emphasis on our product development area and our marketing area, and our people knowing the consumer
•  For example, putting on ear rings by males is not approved by our culture, but in the western culture it is not discouraged. That is why lot of males in western countries are found to use ear rings
•  Because of relaxed sexual mores certain products have very good markets in western cultures (such as mini skirts), and even certain products may be advertised through public media. Where in a traditional cultures these products cannot be sold and advertisedpublicly.
•  Use and purchase/consumption of certain products and services such as fresh flowers, mineral water, tissues (hand, toilet, facial), mobile phones, debit and credit cards, prepackaged/instant food items, e-mail, internet service, cable television are few of the examples of such changes taken place even in our culture.
•  Why some people buy sports cars and why others do not even if they can afford? The simple answer is the differences in their personalities.
• If, for example, you like a particular singer’s style (having positive attitude toward  him/her), you are likely to buy any new album released of that singer. If the attitudes are negative, that will also affect your decision, and it is very difficult to change attitude from a negative to a positive one.