MODELS OF CONSUMER BUYING

BEHAVIOUR
Black Box Model of Consumer Behavior

Marketing and Other Stimuli

Buyer’s Black Box

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Buyer’s Response

Rs.
Basic Model of Consumer Behavior

Buyer’s Decision
Marketing Other Buyer’s
stimuli stimuli characteristics Process

Product Economic Cultural Problem Recognition

Price Technological Social Information Search
Place Political Personal Evaluation
Promotion Cultural Psychological Decision
Post-Purchase Behaviour

Buyer’s decisions
Product choice
Brand choice
Dealer choice
Purchase timing
Purchase amount
THE ECONOMIC MODEL
• Under economics it is assumed that man is a
rational human being who will evaluate all the
alternatives in terms of cost and value received
and select that product / service which gives
him/her maximum satisfaction(utility).
• Consumers with the limited purchasing power
and a set of needs and tastes will allocate the
amount in a rational way with the intention of
maximizing utility or benefits
THE LEARNING MODEL
• Most of the human responses are learned.
• The model rests on mans ability of learning,
forgetting and discriminating
• According to Pavlovian stimulus response theory
buyer behaviour can be influenced by
manipulating the drives, stimuli and responses of
the buyer
• This theory may be traced to pavlov and his
experiments on salivating dogs
– Behaviour producing stimulus (bell ringing)
– Behaviour response ( salivation)
• In terms of consumer behaviour an advertisement
would be a stimulus whereas purchase would be a
response
• Thus Persons learning is an outcome of interplay of
drives, stimulus, cues, responses and reinforcement
– Drive: strong stimulus that initiates action
– Cue: any object in the environment perceived by the
individual. when a person is hungry his need is activated.
He searches out any restaurant for fulfilling the hunger
need. A restaurant is a cue
– Response: is an answer to a given drive or cue. In the
example, his response would be to enter the restaurant
and consume
– Reinforcement: means reduction in drive or cue. positive
reinforcement occurs when the individual experiences a
reduction in the strength of the drive such as reduction of
hunger.
THE PSYCHOANALYTICAL MODEL
• Drawn from Freudian psychology given by
Sigmund freud.
• Acc to this model, the individual consumer has
a complex set of deep seated motives which
drive him towards certain buying decisions
• The buyer has a private world with all his
hidden fears, suppressed desires and totally
subjective longings. His buying behaviour can
be appealed to these desires and longings
• The mental frame work is composed of three
elements
– Id: the source of psychic energy which drives us
into action
– Super ego: the internal representation of what is
approved by the society
– Ego: control device that maintain a balance
between id and super ego
• A young business executive Mr. Vital Rao on
his way from office stops at a store dealing in
readymade garments. He needs necktie to
match his recently bought shirt. He gets an
appropriate match and buys one necktie .
While getting out of the store woolen suit
catches his attention He stops to examine it
• He finds that the colour, style and texture
matches his needs and taste. He takes a trial
and find the suit fits him perfectly and also
make him look very elegant and impressive
• He believes that the suit would impress his wife,
friends and colleagues (the id is aroused) . But at
this time , he is reminded that his wife needs a
sari and his son have been asking for tricycle.
• Besides his disposable income is also limited. His
instinct says that the purchase of the suit would
deprive his wife and son of their requirements
(super ego intervenes)thus his conscience (moral
and ethical element) restrains him from buying
the suit because in his opinion it is not the right
thing to do
• Here id and super ego is in conflict, ego
intervenes and helps to resolve this conflict and
provide appropriate solution
• The ego has 2 alternatives
– Purchase the suit to impress boss and others, be
more confident when dealing with people, may
result in early promotion or a raise. Moreover the
needs of his son and wife may still be met by
buying their requirements on credit.
– Alternatively he may abstain from purchasing due
to budgetary constraints
 THE SOCIOLOGICAL MODEL
• According to this model an individual buyer is
the part of the Institution called Society. Since he
is living in society he gets influenced by it and in
turn also influences it in its path of development.
• Interaction with intimate group comprising of
family, friends close colleague exercise a strong
influence on the life style and buying behavior of
an individual member
• Thus the buying decisions are not totally
governed by utility, he has a desire emulate,
follow and fit in with his immediate environment
and several of buying decisions may be governed
by societal compulsions
 THE STOCHASTIC MODEL
• This model is based on the assumption that
earlier observed behaviour forms a valid basis
for predicting the future, for example, a
consumer who has bought Pepsodent
toothpaste on 8 out of last 10 occasions will
be assumed a probability of 0.8 of purchasing
it on future shopping trips under the same
necessity situations(i.e want for toothpaste)
 THE SYSTEMS MODEL
• In this model human being is analyzed as a
system with stimuli as the input to the system
and behaviour as the output of the system.
• Nicosia model and Howard sheth model are
the two important models in this category
• Howard sheth model provides the framework
for including various concepts like learning ,
perception, attitudes netc.. Which play a vital
role in influencing consumer behaviour
• Nicosia model tries to explain buying behaviour
by establishing the link between the organisation
and prospective consumer. the model suggest
that message from the firm first influences the
predisposition of the consumer towards the
product or services. Based on the situation, the
consumer will have certain attitude toward the
product. This may result in search for the prodcut
or an evaluation of the product attributes by the
consumer. If the above steps satisfies the
consumer, it may result in a positive response
with adecision to buy a product otherwise the
reverse may occur