Consumer Behaviors

An Introduction
 What is Consumer Behaviour?
In very simple term CB is process of understanding
why a consumer makes a purchase, when he buys it,
where he buy the product and the frequency of the
purchase. Thus it help us understand the why where
and how often of a purchase decision.
Those activities directly involved in obtaining ,
consuming and disposing of products and services.
 Why there is a need to study CB
Consumer behaviour refers to the actions of
consumers in the market place & underlying motives
for those actions.
Marketers need to understand why customer buy
a particular goods & services they will be able to
determine-
Which products are needed in the market place,
Which are obsolete,& How best to present the goods
to the consumers.
It attempts to understand the buyer decision
making process, both individually and in groups.
 It also tries to assess influences on the consumer from groups
such as family, friends, reference groups, and society in general
‘ You cannot take the consumer for granted any more’
Therefore a sound understanding of consumer behaviour is
essential for the long run success of any marketing program
 It studies characteristics of individual consumers such as
demographics and behavioural variables in an attempt to
understand people's wants.
 Understanding and adapting to consumer motivation and
behaviour is not an option – it becomes a necessity for
competitive survival

•
Customer decision making
process
 Problem recognition
• The given process is very complicated though on
first sight it does not look so. Process starts with
problem recognition or with an unsatisfied need.
Something that a consumer would like to have
or purchase in order to attain satisfaction. This
need can be Psychological, attitudinal or
Physiological but yes it should have the capacity
to be fulfilled by consuming a particular product
or service.
 Information search
• To satisfy the given need what all are the
components that should be taken into
consideration and how we can maximize the
satisfaction is the next stage. In this stage, we
will cover ability to purchase, level of
involvement, people whose opinion will count
and other relevant details that will help us in
optimizing satisfaction
 Generation of alternatives

• Based upon information search we will

generate various alternatives i.e. which brand
or product is affordable for me, where will it
be available comfortably and above all in
comparison to other brands or products how
better or economical it is
 Evaluating the alternatives
• Evaluation stage will look like cost benefit
analysis and based upon maximum value or
utility per rupee spend, we will decide or
shortlist the product or brand. This is the
decision and confirmation stage where the
consumers prepares himself for the purchase of
a particular brand and give preference to one
and only one over and above the others
 Purchase decision
• Next comes the purchase when the consumer
will finally go to the market and look for the
brand or the product, physically verifies it and
purchases it
 Post purchase behaviour
• Last is the post purchase Evaluation in which
the customer wants to justify his consumption
or purchase decision. He tries to find out
whether his purchase decision was right or
not. Companies make lot of effort to tackle
this situation successfully and they want the
customer to be satisfied with their product
• This stage may result into three situations, first is
satisfaction where customer is satisfied and he
got expected results but this does not
necessitates the repeat purchase by the
consumer. Second is dissonance where the
consumer is not satisfied as he got less utility or
less than expected result from the consumption
or product performance. Third is Delight, here
the consumer gets more than expected
satisfaction and utility and this will assure the
repeat purchase and creation of brand loyalty .