Chapter 2 : Literature Review The official definition of consumer behaviour is given by the American Marketing Association as: the

dynamic interaction of the affect and cognition, the behaviour and environment through which people carry out transactions in their life. (Bennett 1995, page 59). Consumer behaviour reflects consumers decisions with respect to: the acquisition, consumption, and disposition of goods and services, time, and ideas By (human) decision making (over time).

(Prof. Dr. Maggie Geuens, Consumer Behaviour, 1999) Consumer Buying Behaviour is a vast subject, but to make it simpler and easier, it is the basic route which consumers take to search for, select, purchase, use and dispose off goods and services, and by this process consumers satisfy their basic needs or wants. Consumer behaviour is the process a person, group, or business use to opt for, secure, make use of, and discard off, products, services, experiences, or ideas to satisfy needs and the impacts that these processes have on the consumer and society. Consumer behaviour also involves a persons emotions and reflection of the experience he has attainted from the product or service, or during the phase of utilization. The consumer also provides a feedback by using the product or service again or discontinuing it.

This part is based on theories to broaden the view of consumer buying behaviour. The choices made are not completed by the individual in segregation, instead it is a series of interaction linking the person in need or want of a particular product with reference groups, information search, self concept, the surroundings etc. In regard to the female youth of Dubai, purchasing behaviour requires familiarity of consumer with respect to above factors and how these factors interfere with each other in course of purchasing. Consumer decision making process has been described by various models and theories have been developed to describe consumer decision making, which helps marketer to reach target consumer. Standard consumer theory concept is, consumer decision making comes through processing of series of stages. Few researcher have developed five stage purchasing process while few have developed multi stage purchasing models. All the process or models are basically deals with knowledge, motivation, attitude and experiences. However, Stylized stage model seems more promising to study consumer decision making process. This model consists of five stages which provides a convenient way to organise ladies consumer decision making.

Five-Stage Model of the buying process:

(Kotler 1993, p. 182)

This model implies that consumers pass through all five stages in buying a product. This may be the case in high-involving purchases or In low-involvement purchases because a choice has to be made between choosing an American brand or European brand. Consumers may skip or reverse some of these stages. This model shows the full range of considerations that arise when a girl faces a highly involving new purchase between an American brand or European Brand, According to this model, Need Recognition: the consumer decision making is triggered arousal of a need, the need may have been arisen due to various circumstances such as; personal circumstances (e.g., new job or party), marketing circumstances (e.g., advertising, price promotions), or social comparison (e.g., witnessing other girls enjoying a particular product in apparels). Information Search: Once this problem or need is recognised, then search for information starts and consumers information search can be extensive, internal or external based on knowledge or environment or even previously used brand. Eg: American brands are chosen and evaluated for the pros and cons. A detailed study is done on the brands that belong to the American category. Evaluation of alternatives: If a girl only considers American brands, she would still consider additional informational search on European brands holding number of attributes constant for both the catagories. This is the most common stage in purchasing of apparel, it is used in the choice of one alternative. This choice process depends on: Rules that are used to filter alternatives, inclusion or exclusion of other alternatives.

Decision makers attitude towards risk, eagerness and new product, but this has a greater risk because the consumers attitude towards a new perspective is still unknown. Purchase Decision: Based on the gathered information, consumer tries to narrow down available set of options, which she consider seriously when making a purchase decision and this is considered as set formation. Afterwards consumer follows evaluation of alternatives and goes with the alternatives which are attractive, desired benefits (e.g., luxury, sensory satisfaction, and visual). Post purchase : consumer experience product and out come may be satisfaction or dissatisfaction or experiences desirable / undesirable. This would lead to buying the alternative brand at the next purchase and evaluating it too.

Consumers purchase process is affected by a number of different factors, some of which marketers can not control, such as cultural, social, personal, and psychological factors. However, these factors must be taken into consideration in order to reach target consumers effectively (see figure 3) (Kotler et al. 2005). The next section focused on factors which leaves considerable impact on consumers purchase.

CULTURAL FACTORS

Cultural factors exert the broadest and deepest influence on consumer behavior. The roles played by the buyers culture, sub culture and social class are particularly important.

CULTURE- Culture is the most fundamental determinant of a persons wants and behavior. The growing child acquires a set of values, perceptions, preferences, and behavior through his or hr family or other key institutions.

SUB-CULTURE- Sub-culture includes nationalities, religions, racial groups, and geographical regions. Many sub-cultures make up important market segments, and marketers often design marketing programs tailored to their needs.

SOCIAL CLASS- Social classes are relatively homogenous and enduring divisions in a society, which are hierarchically ordered and whose members share similar values, interests, and behavior. Social classes do not reflect

income alone but also other indicators such as occupation, education, and area of residence.

SOCIAL FACTORS

REFERNCE GROUPS- A Persons reference groups consist of all the groups that have a direct or indirect influence on the persons attitudes or behavior. Groups having direct influence on a person are called membership groups.

FAMILY- The family is the most important consumer buying organization in society, and has been researched extensively. Family members constitute the most influential primary reference group.

ROLE AND STATUSES- A persons position in each group that he participates throughout his life family, clubs, and organizations can be defined in terms of role and status. A role consist of activities that a person is expected to perform. Each role carries a status. Marketers are aware of the status symbol potential of products and brands.

PERSONAL FACTORS A buyers decisions are also influenced by personal characteristics. These include the buyers age & stage in the life cycle, occupation, economic circumstances, lifestyle, personality & self concept.

AGE & STAGE IN THE LIFE CYCLE- People buy different goods & services over their lifetime. They eat baby food in the early years, most foods in the growing & mature years & special diets in the later years. Peoples taste in clothes, furniture & recreation is also age related.

OCCUPATION- A persons occupation also influences his or her consumption pattern. Marketers try to identify the occupational groups that have above average interest in their products and services. A company can even specialize its products for certain occupational groups.

ECONOMIC CIRCUMCTANCES- Product choices are greatly affected by ones economic circumstances. Economic stability consist of their spend able income (its level, stability andtime pattern), saving and assets (including the percentage that is liquid), debts , borrowing power, attitude toward spending versus saving.

LIFESTYLE- People coming from the same subculture, social class & occupation may lead quite different lifestyles. A persons lifestyles the persons pattern of living in the world as expressed in the persons activities, interests & opinions.

PERSONALITY AND SELF-CONCEPT- Each person has a distinct personality that influences his or her buying behavior. By personality, we mean a persons distinguishing psychological characteristics that lead to relatively consistent and enduring responses to his or her environment. Personality can be a useful variable in analyzing consumer behavior, provided that personality type can be classified accurately and that strong correlations exist between certain personality types and product or brand choices.

PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS A persons buying choices are influenced by four major psychological factorsmotivations, perception, learning, beliefs and attitudes.

MOTIVATION- A person has many needs at any given time. A need becomes motive when it is aroused to a sufficient level of intensity. Motivational researchers hold that each product is capable of arousing a unique set of motive in consumers. Motivations are the processes that start, maintain and aim behaviour. Theories about motivation can explain why we act and why we do certain things rather than others, together with a need that the consumer wants to satisfy. This need can be both utilitarian and hedonic. The end state that the consumer has the intention to reach, is the goal. How urgent the consumer wants to reduce the need depends on whether the need is hedonic or utilitarian; this is called the consumers drive. One indication of a need is a persons want, which is created by a combination of cultural and personal factors. (Solomon, 2008) There are several reasons why people wear clothes. A fundamental motive is related to the function of clothing. Furthermore, most researchers agree on four main motivations for buying fashion today; modesty, immodesty, protection, and adornment. The modesty theory means that a person wears clothes to cover private parts of the body. The immodesty theory involves the reason to draw attention to parts of the body; womens fashion both arouses and covers. The protection theory has the purpose of protecting people from elements such as insects and weather, to work as a barrier between the environment and the body. The adornment theory, which is an aesthetic expression and personal decoration, can be the most common function of clothing. Adornment influences a persons identity and raises the selfesteem. (Solomon & Rabolt, 2009) A consumer motive cannot be seen or noted, what is noted is the behaviour itself. The concept of motivation is complex as similar motives might find expression in different behaviour. People may buy the same product, but for different motives.

Consumers might not always be aware about all the different motives leading to the final choice. Sometimes people may be unaware or even unwilling to admit the motives that cause them to buy or not buy a certain garment. Maslows classification system for motivation is widely cited. According to Maslow, motives are organized in a hierarchy and it is only when lower level needs are satisfied that higher level needs become important. (Easey, 2009)

LEARNING- When people act they learn. Learning involves changes in an individuals behavior arising from experience. Learning theory teaches

marketers that they can build up demand for a product by associating it with strong drives, using motivating cues and providing positive reinforcement.

PERCEPTION- Perception is the process by which an individual selects, organizes, & interprets information inputs to create a meaningful picture of the world. A motivated person is ready to act. How the motivated person actually acts is influenced by his or her perception of the situation.

BELIEFS & ATTITUDES- A belief is a descriptive thought that a person holds about something. Through doing & learning, people acquire beliefs & attitudes. These in turn influence their buying behavior. Particularly important to global marketers is the fact that buyers often hold distinct disbeliefs about brands or products based on their country of origin. An attitude is persons enduring favorable or unfavorable evaluations, emotional feelings, and action tendencies towards some object or idea. People have attitude toward almost everything: religion, politics, clothes, music, food, and so on. Attitude put them into a frame of mind of liking or disliking an object , moving toward or away from it. Attitudes exist because they serve some function for the individual. (Solomon, 2008) These functions depend on the underlying motives of the

individual, meaning that attitudes are based on the motivational pattern supporting attitudes. (Lund & Korgaonkar, 1985) There are four primary functions of attitudes; utilitarian, ego-defensive, value-expressive and knowledge function. The utilitarian function explains attitudes towards a product based on if they result in pain or pleasure. The value-expressive function involves attitudes that an individual form due to how the product describes the individual as a person. The ego-defensive function concerns attitudes that a person form to protect oneself from internal feelings or external threats. The fourth function, the knowledge function, affects attitudes an individual form due to need, structure or meaning. (Solomon, 2008) .Attitude is an enduring approach that is being build up through experiences. Consumers have different attitudes towards a broad selection of attitude objects, from consumption-related behaviours (such as how much a person dislikes or enjoys shopping for clothes) to more product-specific behaviours (such as shopping at H&M rather than Zara). (Solomon & Rabolt, 2009) The attitude is affected by what a person thinks or knows about something (cognition), how strongly the person takes position for or against the object (affection), and finally the intention to act regarding the object (behaviour).