Introduction to consumer behaviour

With the increase in per capita income and wide range of choices being available, consumers are main focus for many detergent producing organizations. With competition at its all time peak and with changing trends in de mand the companies are finding it hard to survive or to retain their market share. In order to lure the consumers, companies study the quantity being purchased by consumers and at what price. We here try to find out how these factors, confining ourselves to detergent market of India, and many other factors effect the demand of consumers for detergents. Buyers needs, characteristics and decision making process interact with the stimuli created by the environment and marketers and buying decisions are made by the buyers. Hence marketers have to understand what happens in the buyers consciousness between the arrival of outside stimuli and the buyers purchase decision. They must answer two questions: How do the buyers characteristics socio-cultural (sociological), personal, and psychological influence buying behaviour? How does the buyer make purchasing decisions? Consumers buying behaviour Habitual buying behaviour In this buying situation, the purchaser is not involved in the product and there is not much risk and there is no appreciable difference between various brands available. He buys the brand by habit. Variety seeking buying behaviour In this buying situation also, the purchaser is not that much involved, but likes to try various brands. Complex buying behaviour In this buying situation, the buyer is very involved and spends some time to learn about various alternatives available and buys the product/brand.