Factors Affecting Customer Behaviour- PERSONAL and

PSYCHOLOGICAL

INTRODUCTION
Consumer Buying Behavior refers to the buying behavior of the ultimate consumer. Consumer Behavior helps us understand the buying tendencies and spending patterns of consumers The determinants of Customer Buying Behavior are Cultural Social Personal psychological

PERSONAL FACTORS
Personal factors may also affect consumer behavior. Some of the important factors that influence personal buying behavior are:
Age and stage in the life cycle Occupation Economic circumstances Lifestyle Personality and self concept

1)Age and stage in the life cycle

Age and life-cycle have potential impact on the consumer buying behavior. Consumers change the purchase of goods and services over time Peoples taste in recreation, clothes etc Family life-cycle consists of different stages such young singles, married couples, unmarried couples etc which help marketers to develop appropriate products for each stage.

2)Occupation
An individuals nature of job has a direct influence on the products and brands he picks for himself/herself. Eg: a marketing manager of an organization will try to purchase business suits, whereas a low level worker in the same organization will purchase lower cost clothes A company can specialize its products for certain occupational groups Eg: computer software

3)Economic circumstances
Product choice is greatly affected by ones economic circumstances. Economic circumstances-spendable income, savings and assets, debts, borrowing power, attitudes towards spending versus savings. Individuals with high income would buy expensive and premium products as compared to individuals from middle and lower income group who would spend mostly on necessary items.

4) Lifestyle
Lifestyle refers to the way a person lives in a society and is expressed by the things in his/her surroundings. It is determined by customer interests, opinions, activities. some people to wear branded clothes whereas some individuals are really not brand conscious. An individual staying in a posh locality needs to maintain his status and image.

5) Personality and self concept

An individuals personality also affects his buying behavior Every individual has his/her own characteristic personality traits which reflect in his/her buying behavior.

A fitness freak would always look for fitness equipments whereas a music lover would happily spend on musical instruments, CDs, concerts, musical shows etc.

PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS
A persons buying choice are influenced by four major psychological factors
Motivation Perception Learning , and Belief and Attitudes

1) MOTIVATON
Motivation is defined as the drive to satisfy a need. a need becomes a motive when it is most urgent to lead the individual to seek satisfaction.

Psychologists have developed theories of human motivation

Freuds theory of motivation Maslows theory of motivation Herzbergs theory of motivation

Freuds theory of motivation

According to Freud the psychological forces that help in forming a persons behavior are unconscious. Thus a person cannot fully understand hid/her own motivation

Eg: buying a laptop the reason said may be to work while travelling but deeper level it is to impress others still in deeper it helps to feel smarter.

Maslows theory of motivation

Explains why people are driven by particular needs at particular time Why people spend considerable time and energy on personal safety and another pursuing the high opinion of others. Helps marketers to understand how various product fit into their plan, goals and lives of potential customers.

Perception
What an individual thinks about a particular product or service is his/her perception towards the same There are three different processes which lead to difference in perception:
Selective Attention - Selective attention refers to the process where individuals pay attention to information that is of use to them or their immediate family members. Selective Distortion - Consumers tend to perceive information in a way which would be in line to their existing thoughts and beliefs. Selective Retention - Consumers remember information which would be useful to them, rest all they forget in due course of time.

Learning
Learning is defined as changes in an individuals behaviour arising from experience. If the experience with the product is generally positive, the likelihood of repeat purchase is increased. a negative experience will not result in repeat purchase but in a negative attitude. Advertising and sales promotions can aid consumer learning

Belief and Attitudes

Client has specific beliefs and attitudes towards different products. Because such beliefs and attitudes shape the brand image and affect consumer buying behavior so traders are interested in them. Marketers can change beliefs and attitudes of customers with special campaigns in this regard.

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