Why study Consumer Behaviour: (Importance of CB)

The term Consumer Behaviour (CB) focuses on how individuals make decisions to spend their
available resources (time, money, effort) on consumption related items. The subject of Consumer
Behaviour is viewed as the edifice of the marketing concept, an important orientation in
marketing management. The knowledge of Consumer Behaviour helps the marketer understand
and predict the consumption patterns and consumption behaviours of people. It helps them gain
insights as to why a consumer behaves differently to another consumer; as well as, why a
consumer behaves differently in different times and buying situations. The study helps them
understand the internal (individual determinants) and external (environmental factors) forces that
impel people to act out different consumption patterns and behaviours. The study helps the
marketer in:

 Analyzing the environment: identifying opportunities and fighting threats.

 A part of our lives.

 Application to decision making.

 Implementation of the Marketing Concept.

 Designing the marketing-mix.

 Designing the marketing strategy.

 Governmental and Non-profit Organization and Social Marketing.

 Some additional important reasons that also influence marketer to study Consumer
Behaviour:
o To understand the factors influencing Consumer's buying Behaviour.
o To increase the knowledge of sales person influence consumer to buy
product.
o To understand the consumer's decision to dispose a product or services.
Describe the Application to decision making?

Consumers are often studied because certain decisions are significantly affected by their
behavior or expected actions. For this reason, consumer behavior is said to be an applied
discipline.

Such application can exist at two different level of analysis:

 Macro Perspective: The macro perspective applies knowledge of consumers to aggregate

level problems faced by lager group or a society as a whole. Thus understanding
consumer behavior from a macro perspective may suggest ways to increase the efficiency
of the market system and improve the wellbeing of people in society. For instance:
consider the overall impact of consumer’s strong desire for housing apartment. Thus
Government has taken steps and vast amount of resources have been used to develop
apartment business.

 Micro Perspective: The micro perspective seeks application of this knowledge to solve
problems faced by the individual firm or organization. Advertising managers, product
designers and many others in profit oriented business are interested to understand
consumers in order to be more effective at their tasks.