consumer behavior

CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR

mental and physical activities of individuals who actually use the purchased goods and services is called as consumer behavior.

  Consumer purchases are influenced strongly by cultural, social, personal, and psychological characteristics, as shown in Figure For the most part, marketers cannot control such factors, but they must take them into account.

Factors influencing consumer behavior

a. Cultural

b. Social

c. Personal

d. Psychological

a. Cultural Factors

I. Culture

Culture is the most basic cause of a person's wants and behavior. Human behavior is largely learned. Growing up in a society, a child learns basic values, perceptions, wants, and behaviors from the family and other important institutions.

II. Subculture

Each culture contains smaller subcultures or groups of people with shared value systems based on common life experiences and situations. Subcultures include nationalities, religions, racial groups, and geographic regions.

III. Social Class

Almost every society has some form of social class structure. Social Classes are society's relatively permanent and ordered divisions whose members share similar values, interests, and behaviors.

b. Social Factors

I. Groups

Many small groups influence a person’s behavior. Groups that have a direct influence and to which a person belongs are called membership groups.

II. Family

Family members can strongly influence buyer behavior. The family is the most important consumer buying organization in society, and it has been researched extensively.

III. Roles and Status

A person belongs to many groups—family, clubs, organizations. The person's position in each group can be defined in terms of both role and status. A role consists of the activities people are expected to perform according to the persons around them.

c. Personal Factors

I. Age and Life-Cycle Stage

II. Occupation

III. Economic Situation

IV. Lifestyle

V. Personality and Self-Concept

d .Psychological Factors

I. Motivation

II. Maslow's Theory of Motivation

III. Perception

IV. Learning

V. Beliefs and Attitudes

Types Buying Behaviors:

 Complex Buying Behavior

Consumers undertake complex buying behavior when they are highly involved in a purchase and perceive significant differences among brands. Consumers may be highly involved when the product is expensive, risky, purchased infrequently, and highly self-expressive.

 Dissonance-Reducing Buying Behavior

Dissonance reducing buying behavior occurs when consumers are highly involved with an expensive, infrequent, or risky purchase, but see little difference among brands. .

 Habitual Buying Behavior

Habitual buying behavior occurs under conditions of low consumer involvement and little significant brand difference.

Variety-Seeking Buying Behavior

Consumers undertake variety seeking buying behavior in situations characterized by low consumer involvement but significant perceived brand differences.

Buyer Decision Process

• Need Recognition

• Information Search

• Evaluation of Alternatives

• Purchase Decision

• Post purchase Behavior

• The Buyer Decision Process for New Products