Q1 Consumer Behaviour is a branch which deals with the various stages a

consumer goes through before purchasing products or services for his end use.
It refers to the actions of the consumers in the marketplace and the underlying
motives for those actions.
● Study of consumer behaviour includes What they buy, Why they buy it, How they
buy it, When they buy it, Where they buy it and how often they buy it.
C.B Important for marketer
1.Production & Product policies: The study of consumer behavior affects the
production policies of the enterprise. Consumer behavior discovers the habits,
tastes, and preferences of consumers and such discovery enables and enterprise to
plan and develop its products according to these specifications.
2.Price policies: Buyer behavior is equally important in having price policies. The
purchase decisions taken by the buyers can be understood in better way with
knowledge of consumer behaviour.
3.The decision regarding channels of distribution: Making the product available
to the consumer is vital and to select the right channel to reach the customer and
other ways and means of the logistics function it is important to know consumer
behaviour.
4.A decision regarding sales promotion: Study of consumer behavior is also vital
in making decisions regarding sales promotion. It enables the producer to know
what motives prompt consumers to make purchases and the same are utilized in
promotional campaigns to awaken a desire to purchase.
5.Exploiting marketing opportunities: Study of consumer behavior helps the
marketers to understand the consumer‟s needs, aspirations, expectations, problems,
etc. This knowledge will be useful to marketers in exploiting marketing
opportunities and meeting the challenges of the market.
6. Consumers do not always act or react predictably: The consumers of the past
used to react to price levels as if price and quality had positive relations. Today, the
consumer‟s response are dynamic in nature and need detailed study.
7.Highly diversified consumer preferences: Due to availability of more choice
consumer now a days spend a good time in evaluation the alternatives. Thus the
study of consumer behavior is important to understand the changes.
8. Rapid introduction of new products: Rapid introduction of new
products with technological advancement has made the job of studying
consumer behavior more imperative.
Q2..Interdisciplinary Nature of Consumer Behaviour
1.Psychology:
● The psychology of how consumers think, feel, reason, and select between
different alternatives (e.g., brands, products, and retailers)
● The psychology of how the consumer is influenced by his or her environment
(e.g., culture, family, signs, media)
● The behavior of consumers while shopping or making other marketing
decisions
2.Social Psychology:
⚫ Social psychology is the study of how individual or group behavior is influenced
by the presence and behavior of others.
● External forces influencing consumer behaviour are mostly part of social
psychology.
⚫ Social psychologists study how social influence, social perception and social
interaction influence individual and group behavior
3.Economics
● Economics is a study of market that comprise a group of buyers and seller of a
particular product or service.
● The working of the market system is governed by two forces, demand and supply.
● Demand is the rate at which consumers want to buy a product. Economic theory
holds that demand consists of two factors: taste and ability to buy.
4.Anthropology
The core concept in anthropology is culture.
● The anthropological approach focuses on the influences of culture and society on

the individual consumers' behavior; it emphasizes the participated observation and

analysis of consumer behavior.

Consumer Involvement is defined as a state of mind that motivates consumers to identify

with product/service offerings, their consumption patterns and consumption behavior.

1. It is an inner urge that creates within an individual an interest/desire to hold certain

product/service offerings in greater relevance/importance.

2. Involvement possesses certain properties: (a) It has a level of strength and intensity that
determines the degree of involvement that a consumer possesses. (b)The length of time that
the consumer remains in this heightened state determines the level of persistence. (c) It is
directed towards any or all of the elements of the marketing mix.

3. A mechanism underlies the very process of involvement. As a process, involvement is

impacted by certain ―”antecedents” that get restrained by ―”moderating factors”, and
finally affect its degree of intensity and level of persistence.
Q3…Profiling of consumer
● Consumer Profiling is a method of providing detailed information about a target
market, and helping businesses to gain an in-depth insight into their customers, so
they understand their market much better.
● Consumer profiling is summarizing consumer data which include their shopping
habits, lifestyles, income level, preferences, demographics, and psychographics and
purchase behavior patterns.
Three methods of profiling customers based on their d.m styles:
1)The Psychographic Approach:- Major components of this approach are………….
(i) Lifestyle and demographics: - These are factors that include age, Locations and
gender.
(ii) Activities, interests and opinions - These are a subset of lifestyle, focusing on
your customer's activities, interests, and opinions
iii)Valles, attitudes, and social class: pertain to how people were brought up.
These affect how they spent their money and what they choose to spend their
money on.
2.The consumer Typology approach: There are usually four types of consumers..
i) Loyal consumers: They are rare, but Valuable. They tend to remain loyal to a
brand and promote these brands through word of mouth.
ⅱ) Discount consumers: - They don't prefer one brand over another. They will
only make a purchase if there is a discount on sale.
iii) Impulsive consumers: They don't shop anything specific in mind & They are
more emotionally driven rather than Logically driven when making decisions.
iv)Need-based consumers: They are the opposite of impulsive ones, as they will
only purchase a product or service to fulfil a need..
3) The consumer. characteristics Approach.
i)convenience-driven - It refers modern consumers. They are the customers who
may- not have much time on their hands, so they order products or services online
so These arrive faster.
ii)connectivity driven. consumers want to feel part of a community; They feel-
connected to someone else if both purchase the same product.
iii)personalization-driven - consumers would prefer a customer experience that is
- customized for them - specifically.
Q4…Consumer Decision Making Process ……
Step 1- Need recognition/Problem recognition
● Need is the most important factor which leads to buying of products and services..
● Finding out what the customer needs is the first milestone towards evaluating the
Consumer Decision Making Process.
Step 2: Information search
● When an individual recognizes his need for a particular product/service he tries to
gather as much information as he can.
● During this phase of the Consumer Decision Making Process, the consumer
evaluates the entire positive and negatives aspects of the purchase
Some Sources of information are mentioned below……
i) Personal Contacts ….ex friends, family, colleagues
ii) Commercial Information Sources Electronic media, TV Ads,Newsletters,
iii) Printed Sources : Newspapers and Magazines
Step 3: Evaluating the Alternatives
● The next step is to evaluate the various alternatives available in the market
● The Consumer at this stage evaluates different options based upon product price,

product quality, product quantity, and value-added features of a product or other

important factors.
Step 4:Actual Purchase of the Product or the Service
● After going through all the above stages, customer finally purchases the product.
● In this stage, the customer decides what to buy, where to buy after going
through all the above stages. After proper assessment of all the facts, the
consumer makes a logical decision to buy a product based upon his needs and w.
Step 5:Post Purchase Evaluation
● In the final stage of the consumer decision-making process the consumer
evaluates or analysis the purchased product,
● If the consumer feels that the product bought delivered the value and has met the
expectation they will become the loyal customers of the product.

Some Consumer Behaviour Roles

● Initiator:The person who determines that some need or want is not being met.
● Influencer : The person who intentionally/unintentionally influences the decision

to buy the actual purchase and/or use of product or service.

● Buyer : The person who actually makes the purchase.
● User : The person who actually uses or consumes the product or service.
Q5…Attitude
⦿Consumer attitude may be defined as a feeling of favorableness or
unfavorableness that an individual has towards an object. As we, all know that an
individual with a positive attitude is more likely to buy a product and this results in
the possibility of liking or disliking a product.
Function of Attitude
◉Adjustment Function − Attitudes helps people to adjust to different situations
and circumstances.
◉Ego Defensive Function − Attitudes are formed to protect the ego. We all are
bothered about ourself-esteem and image so the product boosting our ego is the
target of such a kind of attitude.
◉Value Expression Function − Attitudes usually represent the values the
individual posses. We gain values, though our upbringing and training
◉Knowledge Function −Individuals‘ continuously seeks knowledge and
information.
Components of Attitude
According to the tri component attitude model, attitudes consist of three major
components: cognition, affect, and conation.
◉Cognitive Component − The first component is cognitive component. It consists
of an individual’s knowledge or perception towards few products or services
through personal experience or related information from various sources.
◉Affective Component − The second part is the affective component. This
consists of a person‘s feelings, sentiments and emotions for a particular brand or
product
◉Conative Component − The last component is conative component, which
consists of a person‘s intention or likelihood towards a particular product. It
usually means the actual behavior of the person or his intention.
Attribution theory
⦿Attribution theory is concerned with how individuals interpret events and how
this relates to their thinking and behavior.
⦿Attribution theory assumes that people try to determine why people do what
they do, i.e., attribute causes to behavior. A person seeking to understand why
another person did something may attribute one or more causes to that behavior.
Cognitive dissonance theory
⦿The term cognitive dissonance is used to describe the feeling of discomfort that
results from holding two conflicting beliefs. When there is a discrepancy between
beliefs and behaviors, something must change in order to eliminate or reduce the
dissonance.
Q.6..Learning
According to Kotler‘s Definition, learning involves changes in an individual‘s
behavior arising out of the experience. Most of the human behavior is learned
over time, out of the experience.
Elements of consumer learning
1.Motivation "It is the processes that lead people to behave as they do".
⦿It occurs when a need arises that a consumer wishes to satisfy. Motivation is
based on needs and goals. It acts as a spur of learning
2.Cues:It is a stimulus that suggests a specific way to satisfy a silent motive".
⦿If motives serve to stimulate learning, "It is a stimulus that suggests a specific
way to satisfy a silent motive". are the stimuli that give direction to these motives.
3.RESPONSE:Response means how individuals react to a drive or cue or how
they behave".
⦿Learning can occur even when responses are not overt. The automobile
manufacturer that provides consistent cues to a consumer may not always
succeed in stimulating a purchase
4.Reinforcement:A positive or negative outcome that influences the likelihood
that a specific behavior will be repeated in the future in response to a
particular cue or stimulus”.
Theories of Learning
#Classical Conditioning theory refers to learning through repetition. This is
referred to as a spontaneous response to particular situation achieved by
repetitive exposure. It is such a kind of a behavioral theory which says, when a
stimulus is connected to or paired with another stimulus, it serves to produce
the same response even when used alone.
#Cognitive theories believe that a person‘s learning is a complex mental
process. It takes place as a result of a conscious and deliberate information
processing and storage activity that takes place within living beings. Living
beings make active use of creativity, insight, and information processing to
solve issues and problems. The focus of cognitive theorist is on the ”thinking”
rather than the “doing” of the behavioral scientists.
Q7.Define personality
personality is the combination of traits and patterns that influence their
behavior, thought, motivation, and emotion. It drives individuals to
consistently think, feel, and behave in specific ways; in essence, it is what
makes each individual unique
Three theories of personality ……….
1.Freudian Theory: Sigmund Freud‘s psychoanalytic theory of personality is
the cornerstone of modern psychology. This theory was built on the premise
that unconscious needs or drives, especially biological and sexual drives, are at
the heart of human motivation and personality
2.Neo-Freudian Personality Theory : Several of Freud‘s colleagues disagreed
with his contention that personality is primarily instinctual in nature.
1. They argued that social relations are fundamental to personality
development.
2. Alfred Adler viewed human beings as seeking to attain various rational
goals, which he called style of life, placing emphasis on the individual‘s efforts
to overcome feelings of inferiority.
3. Harry Stack Sullivan stressed that people continuously attempt to establish
significant and rewarding relationships with others, placing emphasis on
efforts to reduce tensions
Trait Theory
1. Trait theory is a significant departure from the earlier qualitative measures
that are typical of Freudian and neo-Freudian theory.
2. It is primarily quantitative or empirical, focusing on the measurement of
personality in terms of specific psychological characteristics called traits.
a)A trait is defined as any distinguishing, relatively enduring way in which one
individual differs from another.
3. Selected single-trait personality tests increasingly are being developed
specifically for use in consumer behavior studies
Q.8..Self Concept in Consumer Behaviour
Self-concept can be described simply as how one perceives himself and his
behavior in the market place. It is the attitude one holds towards himself. What
one thinks of himself. The self concept is not very realistic because an
unconscious component is always present.
It can be divided into six types, as given below:
Actual self: How a person actually perceives himself.
Ideal self: How a person would like to perceive himself.
Social self: How a person thinks others perceive him.
Ideal social self: How a person would like others to perceive him.
Expected self: An image of self somewhere in between the actual and ideal self.
Situational self: A person's self image in a specific situation.
Major aspects of Self-concept
1.Self concept is organised: People have various views about ourselves. We
all may think we are kind, calm, patient, selfish, rude and what not. It doesn‘t
matter what perception you have about yourself, but the one perception that
facilitates all these insights is organized self concept. When a person believes
in something that matches his self concept he sticks to his view and does not
agree to change the same and even if does, it takes a lot of time.
2.Self Concept is Learned :It is believed that self concept is learned and no
person is born with a self concept. It develops as and when we grow old. Our
self concept is built when we meet people socially and interact with them. We
are the ones who shape or alter our self concept and its quite natural that we
may have a self concept different for ourselves as compared to what people
think about us.
3.Self Concept is Dynamic: Self concept in life is not constant and it may change
with instances that take place in our lives. When we face different situations
and new challenges in life, our insight towards things may change. We see and
behave according to the things and situations.
Q.9..Customer Perception
customer Perception is a marketing concept that tells us what customers think
about a brand or a company or its offerings. It can be positive or negative
feelings, perceptions, inhibitions, predispositions, expectations or experiences
that a customer has.
discuss#threshold of perception The point at which a stimulus causes a
sensation within an individual; below the sensory threshold, there will be no
sensation. ⦿stimulus: Anything effectively impinging on any of the sensory
apparatuses of a living organism, including physical phenomena both internal
and external to the body.
Threshold establishes or sets forth the minimum level for any event to take
place.
discuss#Subliminal perception will be experienced by a consumer when
they perceive a marketing message without their conscious awareness.
Subliminal messages, despite all the hype surrounding them, don't influence
consumers under all conditions. The word ―”subliminal” itself means
something that is ―”below the threshold”
Subliminal perceptions, also known as subliminal messages, are
messages, either visual or auditory, that are presented just beyond the
threshold of human perception

#.....Q….REFERENCE GROUP INFLUENCE

Reference groups are considered a social influence in consumer purchasing.
They are often groups that consumers will look to to make purchasing
decisions. So if a reference group endorses a product, either through use or
statements about the product, those that look to the group will often purchase
that product.
A reference group may be a person or a group to which an individual looks
up as a frame of reference for his general and specific acts of behavior, values,
opinions, attitudes etc. The reference person or the reference group exercises
tremendous influence on an individual. This is true for consumer behavior as
well. A consumer always has with him in his conscious and sub-conscious
state, a person or a group that he looks up to as a reference point.
Q.10….Define Family Life Cycle. Elaborate the 5 stages of Family Life Cycle.
The family life cycle has been defined as a series of stages through which most
families’ progress, with varying characteristics across varies stages; these
characteristics relate to marital status, size of the family, the age profile of the
family members (focusing on the age of the oldest and/or youngest child), the
employment status of the head of household, the income level and the
disposable income at hand.
FLC can be synthesized into five basic stages,……….
Stage I: Bachelorhood: The stage comprises a young single adult
(male/female) living apart from parents and into a livelihood. While incomes
are low as they have just started a career, financial burdens and
responsibilities are also low. As such bachelors have a high level of disposable
income
Stage II: Honeymooners: The stage comprises a newly married couple and
continues till the first child is born. One of the spouses may be working or both
may be working. They are 8 financially better off than they would be in the
next stages
Stage III: Parenthood: The stage comprises married couple with children. This
stage extends for about a long 20-25 year period; and could be further broken
up into three stages, viz., Full Nest I, Full Nest II and Full Nest III.
Stage IV: Postparenthood: This is a stage that occurs once children have left
home. They leave home first for education, and then for employment. As they
complete their education, and find employment, they gradually leave home
one by one, thus, leaving the nest
Stage V: Dissolution: This stage in the FLC occurs when one of the couple dies,
and leaves behind the other surviving spouse. Priorities and Preferences of
Purchase: When one of the spouses is still earning, or earns money from
savings and investments, things are little easier.
TRADITIONAL MODELS
1.ECONOMIC MODEL It is assumed that man is a rational human being, who will
evaluate all the alternatives in terms of cost and value received and select that
product/service which gives him/her maximum satisfaction (utility).
The model is based on income affect, substitution affect & price affect.
INCOME AFFECT: when a person's earning are more it is a general tendency to
spend more.
SUBSTITUTION AFFECT: if a substitute product is available at a cheaper cost, the
demand of the product in question will reduce.
PRICE AFFECT: When price of a product is less consumer tends to purchase it in
more quantity.
2. LEARNING MODEL The theory is mainly based on Pavlovian theory of learning.
Human behaviour is also conditioned, it is important to identify the cues that
trigger a certain behaviour
Learning is considered as a process that modifies the memory by which
behaviors are linked with stimuli and can therefore be induced.
3.PSYCHOANALYTIC MODEL The psychoanalytical model takes into consideration
the fact that consumer behavior is influenced by both the conscious and the
subconscious mind.
The three levels of consciousness discussed by Freud (id, ego and superego) all
work to influence one's buying decisions and behaviors.
4. SOCIOLOGICAL MODEL:The sociological model primarily considers the idea
that a consumer's buying pattern is based on his role and influence in his
society.
These influence group can be classified into primary & secondary
Primary: consist of close acquaintances, friends relatives & family members.
Secondary: may consist of any member in the society, personality of the
individual etc.
Nicosia Model :This model focuses on the relationship between the firm and
its potential consumers. The model suggests that messages from the firm
(advertisements) first influences the predisposition of the consumer towards
the product or service. Based on the situation, the consumer will have a certain
attitude towards the product. This may result in a search for the product or an
evaluation of the product attributes by the consumer.
If the above step satisfies the consumer, it may result in a positive
response, with a decision to buy the product otherwise the reverse may occur.
It explains consumer behaviour on the basis of four fields………..
Field 1: The firm's attributes and the consumer's attributes ..
….The first subfield deals with the firm's marketing environment and
communication efforts that affect consumer attitudes, the competitive
environment, and characteristics of target market.
….Subfield two specifies the consumer characteristics e.g., experience,
personality, and how he perceives the promotional idea toward the product in
this stage the consumer forms his attitude toward the firm's product based on
his interpretation of the message.
Field 2: Search and evaluation. The consumer will start to search for other
firm's brand and evaluate the firm's brand in comparison with alternate
brands. In this case the firm motivates the consumer to purchase its brands.
Field 3: The act of the purchase. The result of motivation will arise by
convincing the consumer to purchase the firm products from a specific
retailer.
Field 4: Feed back of sales results. This model analyses the feedback of both
the firm and the consumer after purchasing the product. The firm will benefit
from its sales data as a feedback, and the consumer will use his experience
with the product affects the individuals attitude and predisposition's
concerning future messages from the firm.
The Engel Kollad Blackwell (EKB) Model
It consists of four components: Information Processing, Central Control Unit,
Decision Process, Environmental Influences
1.The information processing: consists of exposure, attention, comprehension and
retention of the marketing and non marketing stimuli.
For successful sales the customer must be properly and repeatedly exposed to the
message.
His attention should be drawn, such that he understands the meaning and retains it
in his brain.
2.Central Control Unit:The stimuli processes and interprets the information
received by an individual. This is done with the help of four psychological factors.
a)Stores information and past experience about the product,which serves as a
standard for comparing other products and brands.
b)Evaluative creteria which could be different for different individuals
c)Attiudes or state of mind which might change from time to time.
d)The personality of the consumer which guides him to make a choice .
3.Decision Process This consists of problem recognition, internal and external
search, evaluation and the purchase outcome. The decision process may involve
extensive problem solving, limited problem solving or routinised response
behaviour which depends on the type and value of the product to be purchased.
4.Environmental Influences Factors like income,social class,family influences
may favour or disfavour the purchase decisions.
Sheth Model of Industrial buying
In 1973, Professor Jagdish N Sheth developed the Sheth model of Organizational
Buying. This model highlights the decision-making by two or more individuals
jointly, and the psychological aspects of the decision-making individuals in the
industrial buying behavior.

The differences among the individual buyers expectations

(Component 1) are caused by the factors: background of individuals;
information sources; active search; perceptual distortion; and satisfaction with past
purchases. The background of individuals depends upon their education, role in the
organization, and life style.

In Component (2), there are six variables, which determine whether the buying
decisions are autonomous or joint. According to the Sheth Model, larger the size of
the organization and higher the degree of decentralization, more will be possibilities
of joint-decis ion making.

The methods used for conflict resolution in joint decision making process are
indicated by the Component (3) in the model.
Problem-solving and persuasion methods are used organizational objectives. If
there is no when there is an agreement about the such agreement, bargaining takes
place. Conflict about the style of decision-making is resolved by politicking.
Situation factors can be varied like economic conditions, labour disputes, mergers
and acquisitions.