Consumer behaviour

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Consumer behaviour is the study of when, why, how, and where people do or do not buy a product. It blends elements

from psychology, sociology, social anthropology and economics. It attempts to understand the buyer decision making process, both individually

and in groups. It studies characteristics of individual consumers such as demographics and behavioural variables in an attempt to understand

people's wants. It also tries to assess influences on the consumer from groups such as family, friends, reference groups, and society in general.

Customer behaviour study is based on consumer buying behaviour, with the customer playing the three distinct roles of user, payer and buyer.

Relationship marketing is an influential asset for customer behaviour analysis as it has a keen interest in the re-discovery of the true meaning of

marketing through the re-affirmation of the importance of the customer or buyer. A greater importance is also placed on consumer retention,

customer relationship management, personalisation, customisation and one-to-one marketing. Social functions can be categorized into social

choice and welfare functions.

Each method for vote counting is assumed as social function but if Arrow’s possibility theorem is used for a social function, social welfare function

is achieved. Some specifications of the social functions are decisiveness, neutrality, anonymity, monotonicity, unanimity, homogeneity and weak

and strong Pareto optimality. No social choice function meets these requirements in an ordinal scale simultaneously. The most important

characteristic of a social function is identification of the interactive effect of alternatives and creating a logical relation with the ranks. Marketing

provides services in order to satisfy customers. With that in mind, the productive system is considered from its beginning at the production level,

to the end of the cycle, the consumer (Kioumarsi et al., 2009).

[edit]Black box model

ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS BUYER'S BLACK BOX

BUYER'S RESPONSE
Marketing
Environmental Stimuli Buyer Characteristics Decision Process
Stimuli

Economic Attitudes
Problem recognition Product choice
Product Technological Motivation
Information search Brand choice
Price Political Perceptions
Alternative evaluation Dealer choice
Place Cultural Personality
Purchase decision Purchase timing
Promotion Demographic Lifestyle
Post-purchase behaviour Purchase amount
Natural Knowledge

The black box model shows the interaction of stimuli, consumer characteristics, decision process and consumer responses.[1] It can be

distinguished between interpersonal stimuli (between people) or intrapersonal stimuli (within people).[2] The black box model is related to the black

box theory of behaviourism, where the focus is not set on the processes inside a consumer, but the relation between the stimuli and the response

of the consumer. The marketing stimuli are planned and processed by the companies, whereas the environmental stimulus are given by social

factors, based on the economical, political and cultural circumstances of a society. The buyers black box contains the buyer characteristics and

the decision process, which determines the buyers response.

The black box model considers the buyers response as a result of a conscious, rational decision process, in which it is assumed that the buyer

has recognized the problem. However, in reality many decisions are not made in awareness of a determined problem by the consumer.

[edit]Information search

Once the consumer has recognised a problem, they search for information on products and services that can solve that problem. Belch and Belch

(2007) explain that consumers undertake both an internal (memory) and an external search.

Sources of information include:

 Personal sources

 Commercial sources

 Public sources

 Personal experience

The relevant internal psychological process that is associated with information search is perception. Perception is defined as "the process by

which an individual receives, selects, organises, and interprets information to create a meaningful picture of the world".

The selective perception process

Stage Description

 Selective exposure consumers select which promotional messages they will expose themselves to.

 Selective attention consumers select which promotional messages they will pay attention to.

 Selective comprehension consumer interpret messages in line with their beliefs, attitudes, motives and experiences.

 Selective retention consumers remember messages that are more meaningful or important to them.

The implications of this process help develop an effective promotional strategy, and select which sources of information are more effective for the

brand.

[edit]Information evaluation

At this time the consumer compares the brands and products that are in their evoked set. How can the marketing organization increase the

likelihood that their brand is part of the consumer's evoked (consideration) set? Consumers evaluate alternatives in terms of the functional and

psychological benefits that they offer. The marketing organization needs to understand what benefits consumers are seeking and therefore which

attributes are most important in terms of making a decision.

[edit]Purchase decision

Once the alternatives have been evaluated, the consumer is ready to make a purchase decision. Sometimes purchase intention does not result in

an actual purchase. The marketing organization must facilitate the consumer to act on their purchase intention. The organisation can use variety

of techniques to achieve this. The provision of credit or payment terms may encourage purchase, or a sales promotion such as the opportunity to

receive a premium or enter a competition may provide an incentive to buy now. The relevant internal psychological process that is associated with

purchase decision is integration.Once the integration is achieved, the organisation can influence the purchase decisions much more easily.
[edit]Postpurchase evaluation

The EKB model was further developed by Rice (1993) which suggested there should be a feedback loop, Foxall (2005) further suggests the

importance of the post purchase evaluation and that the post purchase evaluation is key due to its influences on future purchase patterns.

[edit]Internal influences

Consumer behaviour is influenced by: demographics, psychographics (lifestyle), personality, motivation, knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and

feelings. Consumer behaviour concern with consumer need consumer actions in the direction of satisfying needs leads to his behaviour of every

individuals depend on thinking

[edit]External influences

Consumer behaviour is influenced by: culture, sub-culture, locality, royalty, ethnicity, family, social class, past experience reference groups,

lifestyle, sex and allEach method for vote counting is assumed as social function but if Arrow’s possibility theorem is used for a social function,

social welfare function is achieved. Some specifications of the social functions are decisiveness, neutrality, anonymity, monotonicity, unanimity,

homogeneity and weak and strong Pareto optimality. No social choice function meets these requirements in an ordinal scale simultaneously. The

most important characteristic of a social function is identification of the interactive effect of alternatives and creating a logical relation with the

ranks. Marketing provides services in order to satisfy customers. With that in mind, the productive system is considered from its beginning at the

production level, to the end of the cycle, the consumer (Kioumarsi et al., 2009).THIS WAS DONE BY FRANCIS MUGEBE FROM THE

UNIVESITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY ZIMBABWE (NUST)

Factors influencing consumer behaviour

Consumer purchases are influenced strongly by or there are four factors.

01. Cultural Factor

02. Social Factor

03. Personal Factor

04. Psychological Factor.

01. Cultural Factor :-

• Cultural factor divided into three sub factors (i) Culture (ii) Sub Culture (iii) Social Class
○ Culture:-
 The set of basic values perceptions, wants, and behaviours learned by a member of
society from family and other important institutions. Culture is the most basic cause
of a person’s wants and behaviour. Every group or society has a culture, and cultural
influences on buying behaviour may vary greatly from country to country.
○ Sub Culture :-
 A group of people with shared value systems based on common life experiences and
situations.
  Each culture contains smaller sub cultures a group of people with shared value system
based on common life experiences and situations. Sub culture includes nationalities,
religions, racial group and geographic regions. Many sub culture make up important
market segments and marketers often design products.
○ Social Class:-
 Almost every society has some form of social structure, social classes are society’s
relatively permanent and ordered divisions whose members share similar values,
interests and behaviour.
02. Social Factors :-

• A consumer’s behaviour also is influenced by social factors, such as the (i) Groups (ii) Family (iii) Roles
and status
○ Groups :-
 Two or more people who interact to accomplish individual or mutual goals.
 A person’s behavious is influenced by many small groups. Groups that have a direct
influence and to which a person belongs are called membership groups.
 Some are primary groups includes family, friends, neighbours and coworkers. Some
are secondary groups, which are more formal and have less regular interaction. These
includes organizations like religious groups, professional association and trade
unions.
○ Family:-
 Family members can strongly influence buyer behaviour. The family is the most
important 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.
○ 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.
 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.
03. Personal Factors :-

• It includes
• i) Age and life cycle stage (ii) Occupation (iii) Economic situation (iv) Life Style (v) Personality and self
concept.
○ Age and Life cycle Stage:-
 People changes 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.
○ Occupation :-
 A person’s occupation affects the goods and services bought. Blue collar workers tend
to buy more rugged work clothes, whereas white-collar workers buy more business
suits. A Co. can even specialize in making products needed by a given occupational
group. Thus, computer software companies will design different products for brand
managers, accountants, engineers, lawyers, and doctors.
○ Economic situation :-
 A person’s economic situation will affect product choice
○ Life Style :-
 Life Style is a person’s Pattern of living, understanding these forces involves
measuring consumer’s major AIO dimensions.
 i.e. activities (Work, hobbies, shopping, support etc) interest (Food, fashion, family
recreation) and opinions (about themselves, Business, Products)
○ Personality and Self concept :-
  Each person’s distinct personality influence his or her buying behaviour. Personality
refers to the unique psychological characteristics that lead to relatively consistent and
lasting responses to one’s own environment.
04. Psychological Factors :-

• It includes these Factors.

• i) Motivation (ii) Perception (iii) Learning (iv) Beliefs and attitudes
• Motivation :-
○ Motive (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 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