Consumer behavior

Introduction
When defining the nature of anything, it means we have to state as to what are the things included in it. Similarly, when it comes to defining the nature of consumer behavior, means that what are the points to be included in consumer behavior. They are: Who are to be considered as consumer? What are the factors involved while making the buying process?

Who is a consumer?
An individual who buys products or services for personal use and not for manufacture or resale. A consumer is someone who can make the decision whether or not to purchase an item at the store, and someone who can be influenced by marketing and advertisements. Any time someone goes to a store and purchases a toy, shirt, beverage, or anything else, they are making that decision as a consumer.

What is a decision process?

As the term states, it is a whole process before the final decision is made for the purchase of any item. There are a lot of factors which plays an important role in the decision of anything and only after a proper analysis is being done any final decision is being made.

Scope of consumer behavior

Consumer behaviour deals with the psychological process of decision making by consumers in a social context which also exerts group pressures on them. According to Walter and Paul, consumer behaviour is the process whereby individuals decide whether, what, when, where, how and from whom to purchase goods and services. In this process, the consumer deliberates within himself before he makes any purchase decisions. The buying behaviour involves several psychological factors like: individual thinking process (motivation, personality, perception and attitude), decision making process in marketing, interaction of the consumer with several groups like friends, family and colleagues (group oriented concepts) and selection of the brand and outlet depending on price and features and emotional appeal (marketing mix elements in a given environment). Consumer behaviour may be influenced by both internal and external influences. Internal influences are: demographics, psychographics (lifestyle), personality, motivation, knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and feelings. Again external influences are: culture, ethnicity, family, social class, reference groups, and market mix factors.

DECISION PROCESS

Problem Recognition

Information Search

Evaluation of Alternatives

Purchase Decision

Post-Purchase Behavior

Six stage to the consumer buying decision process. Actual purchasing is only one state of the process. Not all decision processes lead to a purchase. All the consumer decision do not always include all six stages, that are mined by that degree of complexity. Six stages are: Problem Recognition in this stage, a consumer realizes or recognizes that their desired state is different from their actual condition. This could be a simple as Im naked, I need clothing, or Im hungry, I need food. Information Search in this stage, a consumer recognizes their need (or want) and sets forth to find a solution. If it is clothing they need to solve their problem, the look for clothing, if it is food, they look for food.

Evaluation of Alternatives in this stage, a consumer has a good idea of what they want, now they are looking at the options that exists. They are evaluating the features of products and brands. Purchase Decision in this stage, a consumer is processing the information from the information search and deciding on the products, store, payment options. More importantly, they are making the decision to move forward with the purchase or not. Purchase this is the stage that the transaction is completed. The actual problem that was recognized is solved! Post-Purchase Evaluation in this stage, the consumer determines if they are satisfied or dissatisfied with the purchasing outcome. Here is where cognitive dissonance occurs, Did I make the right decision.

Meaning of consumer behaviour

Consumer behaviour can be defined as the decision-making process and physical activity involved in acquiring, evaluating, using and disposing of goods and services. This definition clearly brings out that it is not just the buying of goods/services that receives attention in consumer behaviour but, the process starts much before the goods have been acquired or bought. A process of buying starts in the minds of the consumer, which leads to the finding of alternatives between products that can be acquired with their relative advantages and disadvantages. This leads to internal and external research. Then follows a process of decision-making for purchase and using the goods, and then the post purchase behaviour which is also very important, because it gives a clue to the marketers whether his product has been a success or not.

Major Factors affecting consumer buying behavior

Cultural factors affecting consumer buying behaviour: Cultural factors have a significant impact on customer behavior.Culture is the most basic cause of a persons wants and behavior. Growing up, children

learn basic values, perception and wants from the family and other important groups. Marketers are always trying to spot cultural shifts which might point to new products that might be wanted by customers or to increased demand. Social factors affecting consumer buying behaviour: A customers buying behavior is also influenced by social factors, such as the groups to which the customer belongs and social status. Each culture contains sub-cultures groups of people with share values. Sub-cultures can include nationalities, religions, racial groups, or groups of people sharing the same geographical location. Sometimes a sub-culture will create a substantial and distinctive market segment of its own. For example, the youth culture or club culture has quite distinct values and buying characteristics from the much older gray generation Similarly, differences in social class can create customer groups. In fact, the official six social classes in the UK are widely used to profile and predict different customer behavior. In the UKs socioeconomic classification scheme, social class is not just determined by income. It is measured as a combination of occupation, income, education, wealth and other variables.

Consumer Behavior and Marketing Strategy

The study of consumer helps firms and organizations improve their marketing strategies by understanding issues such as how: The psychology of how consumers think, feel, reason, and select between different alternatives (e.g., brands, products); 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; Limitations in consumer knowledge or information processing abilities influence decisions and marketing outcome; How consumer motivation and decision strategies differ between products that differ in their level of importance or interest that they entail for the consumer; and How marketers can adapt and improve their marketing campaigns and marketing strategies to more effectively reach the consumer. Significance of consumer behavior Understanding these issues helps us adapt our strategies by taking the consumer into consideration. For example, by understanding that a number of different messages compete for our potential customers attention, we learn that to be effective, advertisements must usually be repeated extensively. We also learn that consumers will sometimes be persuaded more by logical arguments, but at other times will be persuaded more by emotional or symbolic appeals. By understanding the consumer, we will be able to make a more informed decision as to which strategy to employ. Consumer behavior may be defined as: "The study of individuals, groups, or organizations and the processes they use to select, secure, use, and dispose of products, services, experiences, or ideas to satisfy needs and the impacts that these processes

have on the consumer and society." Although it is not necessary to memorize this definition, it brings up some useful points: Behavior occurs either for the individual, or in the context of a group (e.g., friends influence what kinds of clothes a person wears) or an organization (people on the job make decisions as to which products the firm should use). Consumer behavior involves the use and disposal of products as well as the study of how they are purchased. Product use is often of great interest to the marketer, because this may influence how a product is best positioned or how we can encourage increased consumption. Since many environmental problems result from product disposal (e.g., motor oil being sent into sewage systems to save the recycling fee, or garbage piling up at landfills) this is also an area of interest. Consumer behavior involves services and ideas as well as tangible products. The impact of consumer behavior on society is also of relevance. For example, aggressive marketing of high fat foods, or aggressive marketing of easy credit, may have serious repercussions for the national health and economy. Main applications of consumer behavior There are four main applications of consumer behavior: The most obvious is for marketing strategyi.e., for making better marketing campaigns. For example, by understanding that consumers are more receptive to food advertising when they are hungry, we learn to schedule snack advertisements late in the afternoon. By understanding that new products are usually initially adopted by a few consumers and only spread later, and then only gradually, to the rest of the population, we learn that (1) companies that introduce new products must be well financed so that they can stay afloat until their products become a commercial success and (2) it is important to please initial customers, since they will in turn influence many subsequent customers brand choices. A second application is public policy. For example, in the 1980s of the US, Accutane, a near miracle cure for acne, was introduced. Unfortunately, Accutane resulted in severe birth defects if taken by pregnant women. Although physicians were instructed to warn their female patients of this, a number still became pregnant while taking the drug. To get consumers attention, the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) took the step of requiring that very graphic pictures of deformed babies be shown on the medicine containers. Social marketing involves getting ideas across to consumers rather than selling something. Marty Fishbein, a marketing professor, went on sabbatical to work for the Centers for Disease Control trying to reduce the incidence of transmission of diseases through illegal drug use. The best solution, obviously, would be if we could get illegal drug users to stop. This, however, was deemed to be infeasible. It was also determined that the practice of sharing needles was too ingrained in the drug culture to be stopped. As a result, using knowledge of consumer attitudes, Dr. Fishbein created a campaign that encouraged the cleaning of needles in bleach before sharing them, a goal that was believed to be more realistic. As a final benefit, studying consumer behavior should make us better consumers. Common sense suggests, for example, that if you buy a 64 liquid ounce bottle of laundry detergent, you should pay less

per ounce than if you bought two 32 ounce bottles. In practice, however, you often pay a size premium by buying the larger quantity. In other words, in this case, knowing this fact will sensitize you to the need to check the unit cost labels to determine if you are really getting a bargain. Conclusion Consumer behaviour is an integral part of our daily lives. The psychological and social processes involved in buying and consuming goods and services form the subject matter of this text. The objective positivist approach to studying cause and effect in consumer behaviour (as in any other kind of behaviour), will be combined with the interpretivist emphasis on trying to understand the emotional, nonrational aspects of the process. The environment which the consumer operates in, including the nature of the market place for goods and services, also needs to be considered. Finally, the change from a production orientation to a marketing concept has been instrumental in fostering the study of consumer behaviour over recent decades.