CHAPTER four

BUYER BEHAVIOR

Yalew Gorfu
Mkg Mgt GIC
 Discussion Questions

• How do consumer characteristics influence buying

behavior?
• How do consumers make purchasing decisions?
• How do business customers make purchasing
decisions?

Yalew Gorfu
Mkg Mgt GIC
 3.1. Consumer Markets and Consumer Buying
Behavior
• Consumer behavior refers to the buying behavior of final
consumers- individuals and households that buy goods
and services for personal consumption.
• The term consumer behavior is defined as the behavior
that consumers display in searching for, purchasing,
using, evaluating, and disposing of products and
services that they expect will satisfy their needs.

Yalew Gorfu
Mkg Mgt GIC
Consumer Markets and Consumer Buying Behavior
• Marketers spend more money than ever to study
consumers, trying to learn more about consumer
behavior.
– Who buys?
– How do they buy?
– When do they buy?
– Where do they buy?
– Why do they buy?
• The central question for marketers is; how do
consumers respond to various marketing stimuli that
the company might use.

Yalew Gorfu
Mkg Mgt GIC
 Factors Aftfecting Consumer Behavior

• Marketers cannot control such factors, but they must

take them into account.
Yalew Gorfu
Mkg Mgt GIC
 The Buyer Decision Process
 The buyer decision process consists of five stages. Generally the
buyer passes through six stages in taking a decision for purchasing

a particular commodity.
 Starting with problem recognition,

 Information Search,

 Evaluation Of Alternatives,

 Purchase Decision, And

 Consumption and evaluation

 Post-purchase behavior.
 Level of satisfaction
Yalew Gorfu
 Repurchase intention Mkg Mgt GIC
 Purchase decision
In deciding a purchase, the consumer may make up to five
sub decisions:
• Brand ( what)
• Dealer ( where)
• Quantity (No.)
• Timing ( weekend)
• Payment method (credit card or cash)

Yalew Gorfu
Mkg Mgt GIC
 Types of Decision Process
• The thoroughness in the decision process depends on:
– the amount of experience,
– the importance of the purchase, and
– time pressure.

• 3 types are indicated here:

A. Extensive decision-making: Occurs when a consumer makes

full use of the process.
 It is used for expensive, complex items with which the
consumer has little or no experience.
 Perceived risk is high and time pressure
Yalew Gorfu
Mkg Mgt GIC
is low.
 Types of Decision Process

B. Limited decision making: takes place when each step of the

process is used, but the consumer does not need to spend a great
deal of time on any of them.
 The consumer has some experience.

C. Routine decision-making: involves habitual behavior and skips

steps in the process.
 Regularly purchased items are bought in this manner.

 Information search, evaluation, and post purchase behavior are

normally omitted
Yalew Gorfu
Mkg Mgt GIC
 3.2. Business Market and Business Buyer Behavior
 The business market consists of all of the organizations that acquire
goods and services used in the production of other products or
services that are sold, rented, or supplied to other customers.
 Business market is a market for products and services bought by
businesses, government bodies and institution for incorporation,
consumption, for use or for resell.
 This market includes:
 industrial buyer,
 reseller,
 government agencies and
 other institutions and agencies.
Yalew Gorfu
Mkg Mgt GIC
Major influences on business buyer behavior

Buying Centre

Environmental

Organizational

Individual
Yalew Gorfu
Mkg Mgt GIC
Yalew Gorfu
Mkg Mgt GIC
 Business Buying Situations
 Business buyers in companies, institutions, and government
organizations face many decisions in the course of making a
purchase.
 The number of decisions depends on the type of buying situation.
 Robinson and others distinguish three types of buying situations:

 The Straight re-buy,

 The Modified re-buy, and
 The New task.

Yalew Gorfu
Mkg Mgt GIC
 Stages in the org. Buying Process: Buy phases

• Problem recognition
• General need description and product specification
• Supplier search
• Proposal solicitation- inviting qualified suppliers
• Supplier evaluation and selection
• Order-routine specification - negotiating the final
order, listing the technical specifications
• Performance review

• Further reading on pp-95

Yalew Gorfu
Mkg Mgt GIC
Buy-grid Framework: Major Stages (Buy-phases) to Major Buying
Situations (Buy-classes)

Yalew Gorfu
Mkg Mgt GIC
CHAPTER ENDED

Yalew Gorfu
Mkg Mgt GIC