 Consumer Behavior:

The buying behavior of final consumers,

individuals & households who buy goods
& services for personal consumption.
 Customers vs. Consumers:

Customer: customer means who purchases the

product from the marketer or from the retailer or
from the wholesaler. Here we don’t bother about
who uses the product.

Consumer: consumer means who uses the

product of course purchased by the customer.
Here we consider finally who is going to use the
product we call them as consumer.
 The Ultimate Consumer:
Those individuals who purchase for the
purpose of individual or household
consumption.

 
 Significance in Daily Lives:

 Much of our time spent directly in the

Marketplace, shopping or engaging in other
activities.

 A large amount of additional time is spent

thinking about products & services, talking to
friends about them.

 Seeing or hearing advertisements about them.

Consumers are often studied because
certain decisions are significant affected
by their behavior or expected actions. For
this reason, Consumer behavior is said to
be “Applied Discipline”.
Advertising Managers, product managers,
product designers and many others in
profit-oriented businesses are interested
in understanding consumers in order to
be more effective at their tasks and earn
more profit for their Organizations.
Consumers collectively influence
economic and social conditions
within an entire society.
Consumer purchases are highly influence by two
factors.
 Motivation

Motive or (drive) A
need that is
sufficiently pressing
to direct the person to
seek satisfaction of
the need.
 Perception

The process by which

people select,
organize and interpret
information to from a
meaningful picture of
world.
 Learning

Changes in an
individual’s behavior
arising from
experience.
 Beliefs

A descriptive thought
or conviction that a
person holds about
something.
 Attitude

A person’s relatively
consistent
evaluation, feelings
and tendencies
towards an object or
an idea.
Age and life
cycle
Occupation
Economic
Situation
 Culture

The set of basic

values,
perceptions, wants
and behavior by a
member of society
from family and
other important
institution
 Sub-Culture

A group of people
with shared value
system based on
common life
experiences and
situation.
Social Class

Relatively
permanent and
ordered divisions
in a society
whose members
share similar
values, interests
and behavior.
 The consumer market buy goods for their
personal consumption.

 Consumer vary tremendously in Age, Income,

Education, Taste & other factors.

 Buyers may pass quickly or slowly through

these stages and much depends on the nature
of buyer, the product, and the buying situation.

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 A new product, a good service or
idea that is perceived by some potential
customers as new.

 Adoption Process, the mental

process through which an individual
passes from first learning about an
innovation to final adoption

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 Awareness: Consumer becomes aware of
new product, but lacks information about it.

 Interest: Consumer seeks information

about the new product.

 Evaluation: Consumer considers whether

trying new product makes sense.

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 Trial: Consumer tries new product on
a small scale.

 Adoption: Consumer decides to make

regular use of the new product.

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 Innovators (2.5%): They try new product or
adopts a new idea.

 Early Adopters (13.5%):Opinion leaders in

their communities.

 Early Majority (34%):They adopt new idea

before average person.

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 Late Majority (34%):They adopt
idea after a majority of people have
tried it

 Laggards (16%):They adopt when it

becomes tradition.

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 Communicability Relative Advantage
Can results be easily
Is the innovation
observed or described
superior to existing
to others?
products?

Compatibility
Divisibility Does the innovation
Can the innovation fit the values and
be used on a experience of the
trial basis? target market?
Complexity
Is the innovation
difficult to
understand or use?

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 It is difficult enough for companies marketing
within the borders of a single country. For
operating in many countries, understanding &
serving the needs of consumers can be daunting.

 Although some countries may have some things in

common ,their values, attitudes and behaviours
often vary greatly. So, international marketers
must understand their differences and adjust their
products & marketing program accordingly.

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 Shaking heads from side to side means ‘NO’
in most countries but ‘YES’ in Bulgaria &
SriLanka.

 In South America, southern Europe & many

Arab countries ,touching another person is a
sign of warmth & friendship. In the Orient,
it is considered an invasion of privacy.

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 In Norway or Malaysia, it is rude to
leave something on your plate when
eating but in Egypt, it is rude not to
leave something on your plate..

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 Initiator

User Influencer

Buying
Decision

Buyer Decider

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The person who first suggests or thinks of the idea
of buying a particular product or service.

INFLUENCER
A person whose views or advice carry some
weight in making the final buying decision.

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The person who ultimately makes a buying decision
or any part of it- whether to buy, what to buy, how to
buy or where to buy .

Buyer
The person who makes an actual purchase.
User
The person who consumes or uses a
product or service.
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 Purchase
Decision
Evaluation Post purchase
of Alternatives Behavior
Information
Search
Need
Recognition
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The first stage of the buyer decision in which
the consumer recognizes a problem or need.

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The stage of the buyer decision process
in which the consumer aroused to
search for more information; the
consumer may simply have heightened
attention or may go into active
information search.

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 Personal Sources:
(family, friends, neighbors etc)

 Commercial Sources:
(Advertising, Sales people, Dealers etc)

 Public Sources:
(Mass Media, Consumer Rating Organization)

 Experimental Sources:
(Handling, Examining, Using the product)
 The stage of the buyer decision process
in which the consumer uses information to
evaluate alternative brands in the choice set.

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The stage of the buyer
decision process in which the
consumer actually buys the
product.

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The stage of the buyer decision process in
which the consumer take further action after
the purchase, based on their satisfaction or
dissatisfaction.

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 Sigmund Freud(1856-1939)

sought to explain:
 People are largely unconscious about the
real psychological forces shaping their
behaviour

 As persons grows, repressing many urges

 Urges are never eliminated or under

perfect control Why?

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 B/c they emerge:

• in dreams

• in slips of tongue

• in neurotic – worried about smthg.

• obsessive behaviour – mind is filled with one particular

thing

• ultimately in psychoses – mental illness that effects the

whole personality

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 Various ‘project techniques’ to throw the
ego off guard for e.g.,

 1) word associations

 2) sentence completion

 3) picture interpretation

 4) role playing

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• Interesting & odd conclusions from
researchers about buyer’s mind regarding
certain purchases

For e.g.,
• A/c to one classic study concluded:
• Consumer resist ‘prunes’ b/c they’re wrinkled
• and remind people of sickness and old age

- Motivation research remains a useful tool for

marketers seeking a deeper understanding of
consumer behaviours

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 Abraham Maslow(1908-1970 )
sought to explain:

 Why people are driven by particular

needs at particular times?

 Why does one person spend much

time and energy on:

 Personal safety ?

 On gaining the esteem of others?

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 Human needs are
arranged in Hierarchy

i.e.

“From the most

pressing to the
least pressing”

From Bottom to Top

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 In order of importance they are:
1. Physiological needs (hunger, thirst)
Daily usage commodities, for e.g.*wheat *milk
*water etc.

2. Safety needs (security, protection)

* Health Protection *Insurances *Provident
Funds etc.

3. Social needs (sence of belonging, love)

How s/he is seen in:
* Get togethers * Festivals * Attending
Parties

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4. Esteem needs: (self-esteem, recognition,
status)

• Occupation & Designation?

• Part of organization & his/her performance?

• Shaping Livings standards accordingly

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5. Self-actualization needs:
(Self-development & realization)

Self-development
• Latest happenings in the art world?
• Do I invest my money in starting a business?
• What are the trends to make ROI’s?

Realization
• How to minimize risks?!
• Why not to invest in a running business?

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 Perception:
“To form a meaning full picture of the world”
Two people with similar motivation might act quite
differently
For e.g.
* Buyer A of Stereo System considers a fast talking sales person loud or
insincere.

* Buyer B of Stereo System considers the same person intelligent & helpful.

Why perceptions are different of Buyer A & B?

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 B/c of the Flow of Information through our five
senses:
• Sight
• Sound
• Smell
• Touch
• Taste

These five senses receives in an

individuals way using:

* Short-term memory * Long-term memory

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 Three perceptual processes:

1. Selective exposure - consumer’s attention

For e.g., a person exposed to more than 1500 ads a day – be
precise/specific.

2. Selective distortion – understanding

consumer’s mindsets
For e.g., Nike Australia’s Annual sales from 500K to 1.3M in
reducing their joggers prices.

3. Selective retention – retain info. that

supports people’s attitude & beliefs.
For e.g., Nokia makes mobile sets for all age, group peoples.

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SUBLIMINAL PERCEPTION – CAN CONSUMERS
BE AFFECTED WITHOUT KNOWING IT?

Lets watch a case study!

This case study is available on YouTube as well:

http://www.youtube.com/cssubliminalads

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