KMBN105

Marketing Management

Unit-1

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 Understanding Consumer Behavior:
Buying motives
Buying Motives of Consumers:
• Every human activity has a motive behind it. So also, the buying activity
of every buyer has a motive behind it.
• A buyer does not simply purchase something. He takes a decision to
purchase something only when a motive (i.e., inner feeling or urge)
make him to buy it.
• Buying motives of a buyer refers to the influences or motivations forces
which determine his buying.
• In other words, a buying motive is the inner feelings, urge, instinct,
drive, desire, stimulus, thoughts, or emotion that makes a buyer buy a
certain product or service to satisfy his needs.
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Types of Buying Motives:

1. Product Buying Motives:

• Product buying motives refer to those influences and reasons which
prompt (i.e., induce) a buyer to choose a particular product in
preference to other products.
• Product buying motives may be sub-divided into two groups, viz.,
emotional product buying motive, and rational buying motive

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Emotional Product Buying Motives:

a) Pride or Prestige:
• Many buyers are proud of possessing some product (i.e., they feel that the
possession of the product increases their social prestige or status).
• In fact, many products are sold by the sellers by appealing to the pride or
prestige of the buyers.
b) Emulation or imitation:
• emulation i.e., the desire to imitate others, is one of the important
emotional buying motives.
• For instance, a housewife may like to have a silk saree for the simple
reason that all the neighbouring housewives have silk sarees.
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c) Affection:
• Many goods are purchased by the buyers because of their affection
or love for others.
• For instance, a father may buy a costly watch for his son or daughter
out of his affection or love
d) Comfort or desire for Comfort:
• Many products are bought because of the desire for comfort.
• For instance, fans refrigerators washing machine, cushion beds, etc.
are bought by the people because of their desire for comfort.

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f) Ambition:
• Ambition refers to the desire to achieve a definite goal. It is because
of this buying motive that, sometimes, customers buy certain things.
• For instance, it is the ambition that makes many people, who do not
have the facilities.
g) Desire for distinctiveness or individuality:
• Customers buy certain things because they want to be in possession of
things which are not possessed by others.
• Purchasing and wearing a particular type of dress by some people is
because of their desire for distinctiveness or individuality.

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h) Desire for recreation or pleasure:
• Desire for recreation or pleasure is also one of the emotional buying
motives.
• For instance, radios, musical instruments, etc., are bought by people
because of their desire for recreation.
i) Hunger and thirst:
• Hunger and thirst are also one of the important emotional buying
motives. foodstuffs, drinks, etc., are bought by the people because of
their motive.

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Rational Product Buying Motives:

1. Safety and Security:

• Desire for safety or security is an important rational buying motives
influencing many purchases.
• For instance, iron safes or safety lockers are bought by the people
because of this motive.
• Similarly, vitamin tablets, tonics, medicines, etc. are bought by the
people because of this motive, i.e., they want to safeguard their health
and protect themselves against diseases.

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2. Economy:
• Economy, i.e., saving in operating costs, is one of the important
rational buying motives.
• For instance, maruti Suzuki cars are preferred by the people because
of the economy or saving in the operating costs.
• 3. Relatively low price: most of the buyers compare the prices of
competing products and buy things which are relatively cheaper.

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4. Suitability:
• intelligent buyers consider the suitability of the products before
buying them.
• For instance, a buyer who has a small dining room, naturally, goes in
for a small dining table that is suitable
5. Utility :
• versatility or the utility of a product refers to that quality of the
product which makes it suitable for a variety of uses.
• People, often purchase things which have utility.

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6. Durability of the Product:
• Durability of the product is one of the most important rational
buying motives.
• Many products are bought by the people only on the basis of their
durability.
7. Convenience of the product:
• many products are bought by the people because they are more
convenient to them.

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 Major Factors Influencing Consumer Behaviour

1. Psychological Factors
2. Social Factors
3. Cultural Factors
4. Personal Factors
5. Economic Factors

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1. Psychological Factors:
• Human psychology is a major determinant of consumer
behaviour.
• These factors are difficult to measure but are powerful enough
to influence a buying decision.

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i. Motivation
• When a person is motivated enough, it influences the buying
behaviour of the person.
• A person has many needs such as social needs, basic needs, security
needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization needs.
• Out of all these needs, the basic needs and security needs take a
position above all other needs.
• Hence basic needs and security needs have the power to motivate a
consumer to buy products and services.

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ii. Perception
• Consumer perception is a major factor that influences consumer
behaviour.
• Customer perception is a process where a customer collects
information about a product and interprets the information to make a
meaningful image of a particular product.
• When a customer sees advertisements, promotions, customer
reviews, social media feedback, etc.
• Relating to a product, they develop an impression about the product.
• Hence consumer perception becomes a great influence on the buying
decision of consumers. 

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iii. Learning
• When a person buys a product, he/she gets to learn something more
about the product.
• Learning comes over a period of time through experience.
• A consumer’s learning depends on skills and knowledge.
• While skill can be gained through practice, knowledge can be
acquired only through experience.

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iv. Attitudes and Beliefs
• Consumers have certain attitudes and beliefs which influence
the buying decisions of a consumer.
• Based on this attitude, the consumer behaves in a particular
way towards a product.
• This attitude plays a significant role in defining the brand
image of a product.
• Hence, marketers try hard to understand the attitude of a
consumer to design their marketing campaigns.

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2. Social Factors

• Humans are social beings and they live around many people who
influence their buying behaviour.
• Humans try to imitate other humans and also wish to be socially
accepted in the society.
• Hence their buying behaviour is influenced by other people around
them.
• These factors are considered as social factors. Some of the social
factors are:

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i. Family
• Family plays a significant role in shaping the buying behavior of a
person.
• A person develops preferences from his childhood by watching family
buy products and continues to buy the same products even when they
grow up.
 
ii. Reference Groups
• A reference group is a group of people with whom a person associates
himself.
• Generally, all the people in the reference group have common buying
behaviour and influence each other.
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iii. Roles and status
• A person is influenced by the role that he holds in the society.
• If a person is in a high position, his buying behaviour will be
influenced largely by his status.
• A person who is a Chief Executive Officer in a company will buy
according to his status while a staff or an employee of the same
company will have different buying pattern. 

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3. Cultural factors
• A group of people is associated with a set of values and ideologies that
belong to a particular community.
• When a person comes from a particular community, his/her behavior
is highly influenced by the culture relating to that particular
community.
• Some of the cultural factors are:

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i. Culture
• Cultural Factors have a strong influence on consumer buying behavior. 
• Cultural Factors include the basic values, needs, wants, preferences,
perceptions, and behaviors that are observed and learned by a consumer
from their near family members and other important people around
them.
ii. Subculture
• Within a cultural group, there exists many subcultures.
• These subcultural groups share the same set of beliefs and values.
• Subcultures can consist of people from different religion, caste,
geographies and nationalities.
• These subcultures by itself form a customer segment.

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iii. Social Class
• Each and every society across the globe has the form of social class.
• The social class is not just determined by the income, but also other
factors such as the occupation, family background, education and
residence location.
• Social class is important to predict the consumer behaviour.
 

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4. Personal Factors
• Factors that are personal to the consumers influence their
buying behaviour.
• These personal factors differ from person to person, thereby
producing different perceptions and consumer behaviour.
• Some of the personal factors are:

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 i. Age
• Age is a major factor that influences buying behaviour.
• The buying choices of youth differ from that of middle-aged people.
Elderly people have a totally different buying behaviour.
• Teenagers will be more interested in buying colourful clothes and
beauty products.
• Middle-aged are focused on house, property and vehicle for the
family.

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ii. Income
• Income has the ability to influence the buying behaviour of a person.
Higher income gives higher purchasing power to consumers.
• When a consumer has higher disposable income, it gives more
opportunity for the consumer to spend on luxurious products.
• Whereas low-income or middle-income group consumers spend most
of their income on basic needs such as groceries and clothes.

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iii. Occupation 
• Occupation of a consumer influences the buying behaviour.
• A person tends to buy things that are appropriate to this/her profession.
For example, a doctor would buy clothes according to this profession
while a professor will have different buying pattern.
iv. Lifestyle 
• Lifestyle is an attitude, and a way in which an individual stay in the
society.
• The buying behaviour is highly influenced by the lifestyle of a
consumer.
• For example, when a consumer leads a healthy lifestyle, then the
products he buys will relate to healthy alternatives to junk food.
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5. Economic Factors:
• The consumer buying habits and decisions greatly depend on the economic
situation of a country or a market.
• When a nation is prosperous, the economy is strong, which leads to the
greater money supply in the market and higher purchasing power for
consumers.
• When consumers experience a positive economic environment, they are
more confident to spend on buying products.
• Whereas, a weak economy reflects a struggling market that is impacted by
unemployment and lower purchasing power.
• Economic factors bear a significant influence on the buying decision of a
consumer.
• Some of the important economic factors are:
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i. Personal Income
• When a person has a higher disposable income, the purchasing
power increases simultaneously.
• Disposable income refers to the money that is left after spending
towards the basic needs of a person.
• When there is an increase in disposable income, it leads to higher
expenditure on various items.
• But when the disposable income reduces, parallelly the spending on
multiple items also reduced.

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ii. Family Income
• Family income is the total income from all the members of a
family.
• When more people are earning in the family, there is more income
available for shopping basic needs and luxuries.
• Higher family income influences the people in the family to buy
more.
• When there is a surplus income available for the family, the
tendency is to buy more luxury items which otherwise a person
might not have been able to buy.

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iii. Consumer Credit
• When a consumer is offered easy credit to purchase goods, it
promotes higher spending.
• Sellers are making it easy for the consumers to avail credit in the form
of credit cards, easy instalments, bank loans, hire purchase, and many
such other credit options.
• When there is higher credit available to consumers, the purchase of
comfort and luxury items increases.

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iv. Savings
• A consumer is highly influenced by the amount of savings he/she
wishes to set aside from his income.
• If a consumer decided to save more, then his expenditure on buying
reduces.
• Whereas if a consumer is interested in saving more, then most of his
income will go towards buying products.

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 Consumer Decision-Making Process

• The consumer decision-making process involves five basic

steps.
• This is the process by which consumers evaluate making a
purchasing decision.
• The 5 steps are problem recognition, information search,
alternatives evaluation, purchase decision and post-purchase
evaluation.

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5 steps of the consumer decision making process
• Problem recognition: Recognizes the need for a service or product
• Information search: Gathers information
• Alternatives evaluation: Weighs choices against comparable
alternatives
• Purchase decision: Makes actual purchase
• Post-purchase evaluation: Reflects on the purchase they made

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1. Problem recognition
• The first step of the consumer decision-making process is
recognizing the need for a service or product.
• Need recognition, whether prompted internally or externally, results
in the same response: a want.
• Once consumers recognize a want, they need to gather information
to understand how they can fulfill that want, which leads to step two.
• But how can you influence consumers at this stage?

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Example: Winter is coming. This particular customer has several
light jackets, but she’ll need a heavy-duty winter coat if she’s going
to survive the snow and lower temperatures.

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2. Information search
• When researching their options, consumers again rely on internal
and external factors, as well as past interactions with a product or
brand, both positive and negative.
• In the information stage, they may browse through options at a
physical location or consult online resources, such as Google or
customer reviews.
• Your job as a brand is to give the potential customer access to the
information they want, with the hopes that they decide to purchase
your product or service. Create a funnel and plan out the types of
content that people will need.

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• Another important strategy is word of mouth—since consumers trust
each other more than they do businesses, make sure to include
consumer-generated content, like customer reviews or video
testimonials, on your website.
• Example: The customer searches “women’s winter coats” on Google
to see what options are out there. When she sees someone with a cute
coat, she asks them where they bought it and what they think of that
brand.

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3. Alternatives evaluation
• At this point in the consumer decision-making process, prospective
buyers have developed criteria for what they want in a product.
• Now they weigh their prospective choices against comparable
alternatives.
• Alternatives may present themselves in the form of lower prices,
additional product benefits, product availability, or something as
personal as color or style options.
• Your marketing material should be geared towards convincing
consumers that your product is superior to other alternatives.
• Be ready to overcome objections—e.g., in sales calls, know your
competitors so you can answer questions and compare benefits.

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Example: The customer compares a few brands that she likes. She
knows that she wants a brightly colored coat that will complement
the rest of her wardrobe, and though she would rather spend less
money, she also wants to find a coat made from sustainable
materials.

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4. Purchase decision
• This is the moment the consumer has been waiting for: the purchase.
Once they have gathered all the facts, including feedback from
previous customers, consumers should arrive at a logical conclusion on
the product or service to purchase.
• If you’ve done your job correctly, the consumer will recognize that
your product is the best option and decide to purchase it.
• Example: The customer finds a pink winter coat that’s on sale for 20%
off. After confirming that the brand uses sustainable materials and
asking friends for their feedback, she orders the coat online.

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5. Post-purchase evaluation

• This part of the consumer decision-making process involves

reflection from both the consumer and the seller. As a seller,
you should try to gauge the following:
• Did the purchase meet the need the consumer identified?
• Is the customer happy with the purchase?

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How can you continue to engage with this customer?
• Remember, it’s your job to ensure your customer continues to have a
positive experience with your product.
• Post-purchase engagement could include follow-up emails, discount
coupons, and newsletters to entice the customer to make an
additional purchase.
• You want to gain life-long customers, and in an age where anyone
can leave an online review, it’s more important than ever to keep
customers happy.

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• Understanding the consumer decision-making process is key if
you want to attract more customers and get them to make that
crucial purchase.
• Use this process and the tools above to tune in to consumers and
genuinely understand how to reach them.

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 Types of consumer behaviour

1. Complex buying behavior

• This type of behaviour is encountered when consumers are
buying an expensive, infrequently bought product.
• They are highly involved in the purchase process and
consumers’ research before committing to a high-value
investment.
• Imagine buying a house or a car; these are an example of a
complex buying behaviour.

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2. Dissonance-reducing buying behaviour
• The consumer is highly involved in the purchase process but has
difficulties determining the differences between brands.
• ‘Dissonance’ can occur when the consumer worries that they will
regret their choice.
• Imagine you are buying a lawnmower.
• You will choose one based on price and convenience, but after the
purchase, you will seek confirmation that you’ve made the right
choice.

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3. Habitual buying behaviour
• Habitual purchases are characterized by the fact that the consumer
has very little involvement in the product or brand category.
• Imagine grocery shopping: you go to the store and buy your
preferred type of bread.
• You are exhibiting a habitual pattern, not strong brand loyalty.

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4. Variety seeking behaviour
• In this situation, a consumer purchases a different product not
because they weren’t satisfied with the previous one, but because
they seek variety.
• Like when you are trying out new shower gel scents.

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