Consumer Behaviour: According To Engel, Blackwell, and Mansard
Consumer Behaviour: According To Engel, Blackwell, and Mansard
The term consumer behaviour, individual buyer behaviour, end user behaviour and consumer
buying behaviour all stands for the same. Consumer behaviour is the study of how individuals,
groups and Organisation select buy, use and dispose of goods and services, ideas or experiences
to satisfy their needs and wants.
Consumer behaviour may be defined as the decision process and physical activity individuals
engage in when evaluating, acquiring, using or disposing of goods and services.
According to Belch and Belch "consumer behaviour is the process and activities people engage
in when searching for, selecting,purchasing, using, evaluating and disposing of products and
services so as to satisfy their needs and desires".
Different for different products : Consumer behaviour is different for different products there are
some consumers who may buy more quantity of certain items and very low quantity of some
other items.
Vary across regions : The consumer behaviour vary across States, regions and countries. For
instance, the behaviour of urban consumers is different from that of rural consumers. normally
rural consumers are conservative (traditional) in their buying behaviour.
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Vital for marketers : Marketers need to have a good knowledge of consumer behaviour they
need to study the various factors that influence consumer behaviour of the target customers. The
knowledge of consumer behaviour enables marketers to take appropriate marketing decisions.
Reflect status : Consumer buying behaviour is not only influenced by status of a consumer coma
but it also reflect it. Those consumers who owned luxury cars, watches and other items are
considered by others as persons of higher status.
Result in spread effect : Consumer behaviour as a spread effect. The buying behaviour of one
person may influence the buying behaviour of another person. For instance, a customer may
always prefer to buy premium brands of clothing, watches and other items etc. This may
influence some of his friends, neighbours and colleagues. This is one of the reasons why
marketers use celebrities like Shahrukh Khan, sachin to endorse their brands.
Undergoes a change : The consumer behaviour undergoes a change over a period of time
depending upon changes in age , education and income level etc, for example, kids may prefer
colourful dresses but as they grow up as teenagers and young adults, they may prefer trendy
clothes.
Brand loyalty : Brand loyalty is another characteristic of consumer behaviour. Brand loyalty is
the tendency of a consumer to buy product products or services from a certain company that one
likes or equates with having high quality goods and services. For example, if Naina's first car
was a Honda as a teenager and the car lasted 200,000 miles, she might have a tendency to buy
hondas again in the future due to her previous positive experience. This brand loyalty may be so
strong that she forgoes the information search all together when considering for next vehicle.
1) Consumer behaviour and marketing management : Effective business managers realise the
importance of marketing to the success of their firm. A sound understanding of consumer
behaviour is essential to the long run success of any marketing program. In fact, it is seen as a
comerstone of the Marketing concept, an important orientation of philosophy of many marketing
managers. The essence of the Marketing concept is captured in three interrelated orientations
consumers needs and wants, company integrated strategy.
2) Consumer behaviour and non profit and social marketing : In today's world even the non-
profit organisations like government agencies, religious sects, universities and charitable
institutions have to market their services for ideas to the "target group of consumers or
institution." At other times these groups are required to appeal to the general public for support
of certain causes or ideas. Also they make their contribution towards eradication of the problems
of the society. Thus a clear understanding of the consumer behaviour and decision making
process will assist these efforts.
3) Consumer behaviour and government decision making : In recent years the relevance of
consumer behaviour principles to government decision making. Two major areas of activities
have been affected:
i) Government services: It is increasingly and that government provision of public services can
benefit significantly from an understanding of the consumers, or users, of these services.
ii) consumer protection: Many Agencies at all levels of government are involved with regulating
business practices for the purpose of protecting consumers welfare.
4) Consumer behaviour and demarketing: It has become increasingly clear that consumers are
entering an era of scarcity in terms of some natural gas and water. These scarcities have led to
promotions stressing conservation rather than consumption. In other circumstances, consumers
have been encouraged to decrease or stop their use of particular goods believed to have harmful
effects. Programs designed to reduce drug abuse, gambling, and similar types of conception
examples. These actions have been undertaken by government agencies non profit organisations,
and other private groups. The term "demarketing" refers to all such efforts to encourage
consumers to reduce their consumption of a particular product or services.
5) Consumer behaviour and consumer education: Consumer also stands to benefit directly from
orderly investigations of their own behaviour. This can occur on an individual basis or as part of
more formal educational programs. For example, when consumers learn that a large proportion
of the billions spend annually on grocery products is used for impulse purchases and not spend
according to pre planned shopping list, consumers may be more willing to plan effort to save
money. In general, as marketers that can influence consumers' purchases, consumers have the
opportunity to understand better how they affect their own behaviour.
2) Price policies: The buyer behaviour is equally important in having price policies. The buyers
of some products purchase only because particular articles are cheaper than the competitive
articles available in the market.
3) Decision regarding channels of distribution: The goods, which are sold and solely on the basis
of low price mast and economical distribution channels. In case of those articles, which week
T.V. sets, refrigerators etc. Must have different channels of distribution. Thus, decisions
regarding channels of distribution are taken on the basis of consumer behaviour.
4) Decision regarding sales promotion: Study of consumer behaviour is also vital in making
decisions regarding sales promotion. It enables the producer to know what motive prompt
consumer to make purchase and the same are utilised in promotional campaigns to awaken desire
to purchase.
6) Consumer do not always act or react predictably: The consumers of the past used to react to
price levels as if price and quality had positive relation. Today, week value for money, lesser
price but with superior features. The consumers response indicates that the shift had occurred.
7) Highly diversified consumer preferences: This shift has occurred due to availability of more
choice now. Thus study of consumer behaviour is important to understand the changes.
8) Rapid introduction of new products: Rapid introduction of new product with technological
advancement has made the job of studying consumer behaviour more imperative. For example,
the information Technologies are changing very fast in personal computer industry.
9) Implementing the "Marketing concept": This calls for studying the consumer behaviour, all
customers need have to be given priority. Thus identification of target market before production
becomes essential to deliver the desired customer satisfaction and delight.
1) Analysing market opportunity: Consumer behaviour study help in identifying the unfulfilled
needs and wants of consumers. This requires examining the friends and conditions operating in
the Marketplace, consumers lifestyle, income levels and energy influences. This may reveal
unsatisfied needs and wants. Mosquito repellents have been marketed in response to a genuine
and unfulfilled consumer need.
2) Selecting target market: Review of market opportunities often helps in identifying district
consumer segments with very distinct and unique wants and needs. Identifying these groups,
behave and how they make purchase decisions enable the marketer to design and market
products or services particularly suited to their wants and needs. For example, please sleep
revealed that many existing and potential shampoo users did not want to buy shampoo fax price
at rate 60 for more and would rather prefer a low price package containing enough quantity for
one or two washers. This finding LED companies to introduce the shampoos sachet, which
become a good seller.
3) Marketing-mix decisions: Once unsatisfied needs and wants are identified, the marketer has to
determine the right mix of product, price, distribution and promotion. Where too, consumer
behaviour study is very helpful in finding answers too many preplexing questions. The factors of
marketing mix decisions are:
i) product ii) price iii) promotion iv) distribution
4) Use in social and non profits marketing: Consumer behaviour studies are useful to design
marketing strategies by social, governmental and not for profit organisations to make their
programmes more effective such as family planning, awareness about AIDS.
Factors Influencing Consumer Behaviour
The Various factors influencing Consumer Behaviour can be classified into 4 categories:
Economic Factors
Personal Factors
Psychological Factors
Economic Factors influencing consumer behaviour:
Discretionary Income –Income available to a consumer after deducting taxes and basic cost of
living.
Disposable Income –Income available with consumer to spend according to his wishes
Family Income –Income of the family. Lower income families have less demand than
prosperous families.
Level of Standard of Living -A consumer demands more and spends more with increase in his
income or expectations of future profits or availability of liquid cash or availability of credit but
saves and demands less in its absence. The nature of consumption and buying pattern of a
consumer is also affected by the income of the family and the level of standard of living.
Life Cycle Stage –Newly born, Teenager, Bachelor, Married, Parent, Grand Parent
Culture–Culture is basically the way of living and thinking pattern that is followed from
generation to generation in a society. It includes knowledge, belief, traditions, morals, values,
customs and other such habits that are acquired by people as members of a society.Eg. Indian
culture is entirely different from cultures of other Asian, Arabic and Western countries.
Social class–Social class segments the market on the basis income criteria and standard of
living. It refers to divisions of members of a society on the basis of education, occupation,
income etc. Usually people belonging to the same social class have similar preferences in case of
choice of residence, entertainment, luxary products etc.E.g. Buying behaviour of the upperclass
can be easily differentiated from the middle and lower class.
Social Group –A group is any collection of individuals with similar interests, opinions and
activities. An individual draws cues regardingconsumption and disposal of products from various
social groups he belongs to.
Reference Group–It refers to all those people which directly affect the purchase pattern and
decision of a consumer as they serve as a point of reference or comparison for the consumer
while making a purchase decision.
Contractual Group–It includes friends, family, peers who have a direct and daily face to face
interaction with an individual. They are the most important source of influence on consumer
behaviour.
Avoidance Group–A group of people that have a negative impact on a consumer. A consumer
disassociates himself from such a group and avoid using products and services used,
recommended or promoted by the avoidance group.
Aspirational Group–It includes film stars, TV celebrities, Sport stars etc. whom a consumer
aspires to be. A consumer wants to associate himself with people he aspires and uses products
and services used, recommended and promoted by them.
Opinion Leaders –It refers to a key individual in a group which influences the behaviour of
members of the group by providing them relevant information about new trends and products in
the market.
Role and Status –Every person plays many roles in the society i.e. employee to his boss, parent
to his children, referrer for young ones, advisor to peers etc. and their buying pattern depends
upon the role they play in the society. People also select and buy products according to their
status in the society.Social status of a person refers to his/her position in the society depending
upon his income, occupation, education etc.E.g. CEO of a company would prefer to buy branded
products from big stores, while a worker in the same company may prefer value for money
products from nearby stores.
Psychological Factors affecting Consumer Behaviour:
Customers behave differently towards the same marketing mix (product) due to their respective
psychological makeup. The psychological factors that affect consumer behaviour are:
Motivation –A motive is an internal force that drives a person to do something i.e. fulfill a
need, achieve a goal, solve a problem. Different motives of a consumer can be understood
through Maslow Hierarchy of needs. All consumers react differently towards a product
depending upon their position in the hierarchy. i.e. an individual will first satisfy his basic needs
and then move upward in the hierarchy with satisfaction of each want.
Involvement –It refers to the amount of interest or importance a consumers shows towards a
product. A consumer may have high or low involvement in a product.For e.g.a cricketer will give
very high importance and will be highly involved while purchasing a cricket bat while he may
have very low involvement and interest when purchasing luggage bags.
Learning –It is a process which brings a permanent change in the behaviour of a person.
People generally learn through past experiences and develop a certain behaviour towards a
product or service.
Personality –It refers to the total of all physical, mental and moral characteristics of a person.
Customers buy products that suit their personality, for example some people prefer wearing
formal clothes some like to wear casual clothes depending upon what suits their personality.
Lifestyle–A person`s lifestyle is made up of his activities, opinions and interests. Lifestyle of a
person also depends upon his position in the life cycle stage i.e. Teenager, Bachelor, Married
etc.E.g. while teenagers or children are care free and majorly spend on recreation activities and
Parents are more money conscious and majorly spend on consumer durables.
Marketing is the entire process of researching customer needs and preferences, developing
product and service solutions to match, and promoting the benefits to targeted customers.
Understanding basic buyer behavior and the steps consumers follow in making purchase
decisions helps significantly in developing effective marketing plans.
1. Companies that introduce new products must be well financed so that they can stay afloat
until their products become a commercial success and It is important to please initial customers,
since they will in turn influence many subsequent customers brand choices.
2. A second application is public policy. In the 1980s, Accutane, a near miracle cure for
acne, was introduced. Unfortunately, Accutane resulted in severe birth defects if taken by
pregnant women. Although physicians were instructed to warn their female patients of this, a
number still became pregnant while taking the drug. To get consumers’ attention, the Federal
Drug Administration (FDA) took the step of requiring that very graphic pictures of deformed
babies be shown on the medicine containers.
3. Social marketing involves getting ideas across to consumers rather than selling
something. Marty Fishbein, a marketing professor, went on sabbatical to work for the Centers for
Disease Control trying to reduce the incidence of transmission of diseases through illegal drug
use. The best solution, obviously, would be if we could get illegal drug users to stop. This,
however, was deemed to be infeasible. It was also determined that the practice of sharing needles
was too ingrained in the drug culture to be stopped. As a result, using knowledge of consumer
attitudes, Dr. Fishbein created a campaign that encouraged the cleaning of needles in bleach
before sharing them, a goal that was believed to be more realistic.
4. As a final benefit, studying consumer behavior should make us better consumers. Common
sense suggests, for example, that if you buy a 64 liquid ounce bottle of laundry detergent, you should
pay less per ounce than if you bought two 32 ounce bottles. In practice, however, you often pay a size
premium by buying the larger quantity. In other words, in this case, knowing this fact will sensitize you
to the need to check the unit cost labels to determine if you are really getting a bargain.
Definition Of Consumer
Customer and consumer can be used interchangeably – quite simply because a customer and
consumer can be the same person. Buying groceries for oneself is a great example.
A person buying groceries from the supermarket for himself becomes the customer of the
supermarket – they are paying for the groceries provided by the supermarket. Upon consuming
the groceries, the customer also becomes the consumer.
But this is just one case where an individual can be both, the customer as well as the consumer.
But they differ – hence why there are two terms, customer and consumer.
Consumer Decision making is a process through which the nmmmmmcustomer selects the most
appropriate product out the several alternatives.The Consumerdecision making process consists
of a series of steps that a buyer goes through in order to solve a problem or satisfy a need. They
are as follows:
(1) Need/Problem Recognition–A purchase process starts with a need, a problem or a motive
within a consumer`s mind. Any internal or external stimulus may drive a customer to believe that
he lacks something and motivates him to look for something that will satisfy his need or solve
his problem.
(2) Information Search –When a need/problem receives heightened attention from a buyer, he
become more receptive about information that may solve his problem and starts gathering data
about products/services that will satisfy this need. He uses his personal sources (friends, family,
peers etc.) and commercial sources (radio, T.V., newspapers, internet etc.) to look for relevant
information.
(3) Evaluation of Alternatives –After collecting information from various sources, the customer
evaluates the benefits and disadvantages of various product alternatives and develops a set of
choices regarding the product attributes, brand, store etc. that suit his/her needs, taste &
preference, personality, lifestyle etc.
(4) Selection and Trial –After keeping a set of choices in mind the customer makes the first
product trial. He may buy different products in small quantities (1 kg, 1 packet, 1 bottle) or
actually use products individually for some time (tasting food, inspecting phones, taking a test
drive) to form an opinion and develop an attitude towards the product.
(5) Purchase Decision –When the customer believes that a product or service offers the best
solution to his need or problem, he makes the actual purchase. This includes making a product
choice, choosing a brand, a dealer and deciding the amount and time of purchase.
(6) Post Purchase Dissonance/Behaviour –A person seeks reassurance after making a purchase.
A purchase generally has the following three outcomes:
Actual Performance is less than expected performance –The customer is dissatisfied as the
product did not meet his expectations and hence he rejects the product.
A simplified framework for studying consumer behavior gives in detail the shaping of consumer
behavior, which leads a consumer to react in certain ways and he makes a decision, keeping the
situations in mind. The process of decision-making varies with the value of the product, the
involvement of the buyer and the risk that is involved in deciding the product/service.