Types of Consumer Buying Behavior

Types of consumer buying behavior are determined by:

• Level of Involvement in purchase decision. Importance and intensity of interest in a

product in a particular situation.
• Buyer’s level of involvement determines why he/she is motivated to seek information
about a certain products and brands but virtually ignores others.

High involvement purchases--Honda Motorbike, high priced goods, products visible to

others, and the higher the risk the higher the involvement. Types of risk:

• Personal risk
• Social risk
• Economic risk

The four type of consumer buying behavior are:

• Routine Response/Programmed Behavior--buying low involvement frequently

purchased low cost items; need very little search and decision effort; purchased
almost automatically. Examples include soft drinks, snack foods, bread, milk etc.
• Limited Decision Making--buying product occasionally. When you need to obtain
information about unfamiliar brand in a familiar product category, perhaps. Requires
a moderate amount of time for information gathering. Examples include Clothes--
know product class but not the brand.
• Extensive Decision Making/Complex high involvement, unfamiliar, expensive and/or
infrequently bought products. High degree of economic/performance/psychological
risk. Examples include cars, homes, computers, education. Spend a lot of time seeking
information and deciding.
Information from the companies MM; friends and relatives, store personnel etc. Go
through all six stages of the buying process.
• Impulse buying, no conscious planning.

The purchase of the same product does not always elicit the same Buying Behavior. Product
can shift from one category to the next.

For example:
Going out for dinner for one person may be extensive decision making (for someone that
does not go out often at all), but limited decision making for someone else. The reason for the
dinner, whether it is an anniversary celebration, or a meal with a couple of friends will also
determine the extent of the decision making.

1 Compiled by: Saroj Tamrakar

International School of Management & Technology
The Ultimate Consumer:

Individual or a group which actually consumes or uses a good or service, as distinct from
the buyer who may only be a purchasing agent. Marketers try to identify the ultimate
consumers to aim their promotional efforts at them

Manufacturers and professional entertainers target ultimate consumers when making or

producing their goods. They use professional marketers to make sure their message reaches
their market.

Ultimate Consumers are the true drivers of the world economy and should not be ignored. No
business can hope to survive and prosper if their product or service has no appeal to the end
user (The Ultimate Consumer).

Health, wealth and entertainment are benefits consumers seek. They want the best of
everything.

Best Food, Best Tennis Racket, Best Face Cream, Best Home Loan, Best House, Best
Holiday, Best Golf Clubs, Best Credit Card, Best Romance, Best Partner, Best Business

Behavioral Science:

• actions a person takes in purchasing and using products and services

• includes the mental and social processes that precede and follow these actions.

The behavioral science help answer questions such as:

• Why people choose one product or brand over another

• How they make these choices, and
• How companies use this knowledge to provide value to consumers

2 Compiled by: Saroj Tamrakar

International School of Management & Technology
I. CONSUMER PURCHASE DECISION PROCESS
Behind the visible act of making a purchase lies a decision process that must be
investigated.

The purchase decision process is the stages a buyer passes through in making choices
about which products and services to buy. :
problem recognition,

information search,

Six Stages alternative evaluation,

of
Consumer Behavior purchase decision,

purchase and

post-purchase behavior.
1. Problem Recognition: Perceiving a Need
Perceiving a difference between a person's ideal and actual situations big enough to
trigger a decision.

Can be as simple as noticing an empty milk carton or it can be activated by marketing

efforts.

2. Information Search: Seeking Value

The information search stage clarifies the options open to the consumer and may
involve
Scanning one’s memory to recall previous
Internal experiences with products or brands.
search
Often sufficient for frequently purchased products.
When past experience or knowledge is insufficient

The risk of making a wrong purchase decision is

high
two steps of
information search The cost of gathering information is low.
External The primary sources of external information are:
search Personal sources, such as friends and family.

Public sources, including various product-rating

organizations such as Consumer Reports.

Marketer-dominated sources, such as advertising,

company websites, and salespeople

3 Compiled by: Saroj Tamrakar

International School of Management & Technology
3. Alternative Evaluation: Assessing Value
The information search clarifies the problem for the consumer by
(1) Suggesting criteria to use for the purchase.
(2) Yielding brand names that might meet the criteria.
(3) Developing consumer value perception.
A consumer's evaluative criteria represent both

the objective attributes of a brand (such as locate speed on a portable music player)

the subjective factors (such as prestige).

These criteria establish a consumer's evoked set

the group of brands that a consumer would consider acceptable from among all the
brands in the product class of which he or she is aware

4. Purchase Decision: Buying Value

which depends on such considerations

Terms of sale
From whom to buy
Past experience buying from the seller

Return policy.
which can be influenced by
Three possibilities
store atmosphere

When to buy time pressure

a sale

pleasantness of the shopping experience.

Do not buy
5. Purchase
Based on purchase decision being made, Consumers actually make the purchase.

Normally for a layman this is the only step buying a product/service but as a
Bachelor level student studying Marketing we need to understand that this is the most
simple step out of all the others.

Transfer of goods/services takes place in return for the value of the commodity.

Transaction takes place either physically, electronically, online etc

4 Compiled by: Saroj Tamrakar

International School of Management & Technology
6. Postpurchase Behavior: Value in Consumption or Use
After buying a product, the consumer compares it with expectations and is either
satisfied or dissatisfied.

Satisfaction or dissatisfaction affects

consumer value perceptions

consumer communications

repeat-purchase behavior.

Many firms work to produce positive post-purchase communications among

consumers and contribute to relationship building between sellers and buyers.

Cognitive Dissonance. The feelings of post-purchase psychological tension or anxiety

a consumer often experiences

Firms often use ads or follow-up calls from salespeople in this post-purchase stage to
try to convince buyers that they made the right decision.

Involvement and Problem-Solving Variations

Consumers may skip or minimize one or more steps in the purchase decision process
depending on

the level of involvement

the personal, social, and economic significance of the purchase

Three characteristics of high-involvement purchase

is expensive,

can have serious personal consequences, or

Could reflect on one’s social image.

5 Compiled by: Saroj Tamrakar

International School of Management & Technology