Consumer Behaviour: Definition, Factors, Stages. Marketing Lesson Note

Lesson Note

Subject: Marketing

Topic: Types of market

Lesson Objective: by the end of the lesson, the learners should be able to:

Define consumer behaviour;
Explain the factors that influence consumer behaviour;
List the stages in consumer decision process;
Construct a model of consumer buying behaviour.

Lesson Summary/DiscussionMEANING OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOURConsumer behaviour is the study of individuals, groups, or organizations and the process 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.
Customer behaviour study is based on consumer buying behaviour, with the
customer playing the three distinct roles of user, payer and buyer.The study of consumers 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, and retailers).

The psychology of how the consumer is influenced by his or her environment (e.g., culture, family, signs, media);

The behaviour 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.

Consumer behaviour holds a great
important in marketing field because it is said that in the modern philosophy of marketing that CUSTOMER is treated as the KING, his needs and wants are being studied for making any product, and above
that it is always being seen while looking for opportunities for a
product development, that whose product is brought most and what are the factors that result in purchase of a product. We can easily understand its importance if we look around our environment. consumer behaviour is made up of two words consumer and behaviour. Consumer is the person who consume the product, he may or may not be a buyer and behaviour means the aggregate of all the responses made by an organism in any situation. So consumer behaviour means the aggregate of response made by the consumer. It make us know the reasons behind the purchase of a product, and about the various feelings of the customer that are being attached with the purchase of the product. Hence we can say that it is very importance to study the behaviour of your consumers whom you are going to serve through your product.

The Consumer Behaviour Model

FACTORS INFLUENCING CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR1. Cultural factors: Culture is defined as the patterns of behaviour and
social relations that characterize a society and separate it from others. Culture conveys values, ideals, and attitudes that help individuals communicate with each other and evaluate situations. Cultural
factors comprise set of values and
ideologies of a particular community or group of individuals.
It is the culture of an individual which decides the way he/she behaves. In simpler words, culture is nothing but values of an individual. What an individual learns from his parents and relatives as a child becomes his culture. Cultural factors have a significant effect on an individual’s buying decision. Every individual has different sets of habits, beliefs and principles which he/she develops from his family status and background. What they see from their childhood becomes their culture2. Social factors: A consumer’s
behaviour also is influenced by social
factors, such as the Groups, Family, Roles and status.
i. Groups: Two or more people who
interact to accomplish individual or
mutual goals. A person’s behaviour
is influenced by many small groups. Groups that have a direct influence and to which a person belongs are called membership groups.ii. Family: Family members can
consumer buying organization society and it has been researched extensively. Marketers are interested in the roles, and influence of the husband, wife and children on the purchase of different products and services.iii Roles and Status: A person
belongs to many groups, family, clubs, organizations.Ihe person s position in each group can be defined in terms of both role and status. For example. “M” & “X” plays the role of father, in his family he plays the role of husband, in his company, he plays the role of manager, etc. A Role consists of the activities people are expected to perform according to the persons
around them.3. Personal factors: Consumer
behaviour deals with why and why not an individual purchases particular products and services.
Personal factors play an important role in affecting consumers’ buying behaviour.i. Occupation: The occupation of an
individual plays a significant role in
influencing his/her buying
decision. An individual’s nature of
job has a direct influence on the
products and brands he picks for
himself/herself.Let’s take for instance, Mr Edward was working with an organization as a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) while his friend now a retired professor went to a nearby school as a part time
lecturer. Mr Edward always looked out for premium brands which would go with his designation whereas his friend preferred brands which were not very expensive. Mr Edward was really conscious about the clothes he
wore, the perfume he used, the
watch he wore whereas his friend
never really bothered about all
these.That is the importance of one’s
designation. As a CEO of an
organization, it was really essential
for Mr Edward to wear something
really elegant and unique for others
to look up to him. A CEO for that
matter and a senior professional can
never afford to wear cheap labels
and local brands to work. An
individual’s designation and his
nature of work influence his buying
decisions. You would never find a
low level worker purchasing business suits, ties for himself. An individual working on the shop floor cannot afford to wear premium brands everyday to work.ii. Age and Life cycle Stage: People
change the goods and services they
buy over their lifetimes. Tastes in
food, clothes, furniture, and
recreation are often age related.
Buying is also shaped by the stage
of the family life cycle.A bachelor
would prefer spending lavishly on
items like beer, bikes, music, clothes, parties, clubs and so on. A young single would hardly be interested in buying a house, property, insurance policies, gold, etc. An individual who has a family, on the other hand would be more interested in buying something which would benefit his family and make their future secure.4. Economic situation: The buying
tendency of an individual is directly
proportional to his income/earnings
per month. How much an individual brings home decides how much he spends and on which products 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. You would hardly find an individual from a low income group spending money on designer clothes and watches. He would be more
interested in buying grocery items
or products necessary for his survival.5. Personality: An individual’s
personality also affects his buying
behaviour. Every individual has
his/her own characteristic personality traits which reflect in his/her buying behaviour.A fitness freak would always look for fitness equipment whereas a music lover would happily spend on musical instruments, CDs, concerts, musical shows, etc.6. Psychological factor: It includes
these factors:

Motivation
Perception
Learning
Beliefs
Attitudes.

Motivation: Motive (drive) a need that is sufficicntly pressing to direct the person to seek satistaction of the need.Perception: The process by which
people select, Organize, and interpret information to form a meaningful picture of the world.
Learning: Changes in an
individuals behaviour arising from
experience.
Beliefs and attitudes: Belief is a
descriptive thought that a person
holds about something. Attitude, a
Person’s consistently favourable or
unfavourable evaluations, feelings,
and tendencies towards an object or
idea.STAGES OF THE CONSUMER
BUYING PROCESS
There are six stages to the Consumer
Buying Decision Process. Actual
purchasing is only one stage of the process. Not all decision processes lead to a purchase. All consumer decSions do not always include all the stages, determined by the degree of complexity. These stages are:1. Problem Recognition: This can
also be called awareness of need.
Need is the most important factor
which leads to buying of products
and services. Need infact is the
catalyst which triggers the buying
decision of individuals. Individual who buys a cold drink or a bottle of
mineral identifies his/her need as
thirst. The marketer must recognize
the needs of the consumer as well as
how these needs can be satisfied.2. Information search: In consumer
buying decision process, information search comes second.
In this stage, consumer searches the
information about the product either from family, friends, neighborhood, advertisements, whole seller, retailers, dealers, or by examining or using the product. A successful information search leaves a buyer with possible alternatives.3. Evaluation of Alternatives: This
is where consumers start cutting
down the possible options by
comparing it with their criteria and
what they want from the product/service. They evaluate the various alternatives available in the market. An individual after gathering relevant information tries to choose the best option available as per his need, taste and pocket.4. Purchase decision: The purchase
of a product or service is the fourth
step in the consumer buying process. At this point, the consumer has considered all of the factors relating to the product, and has shopped around for the best deal or option. Customers have typically made up their minds about what they want to spend and where to spend it.5. Post purchase behaviour: The last
phase of the buying process is an
evaluation process, during which
consumers determine if their
purchasing decision was the right
one. This may or may not be a
conscious thought process. For
many advertisers, the goal is to elicit
positive results with a product or
service, with the hope that customers will review or talk positively to others about the product or service they have used.Lesson Evaluation/Test