consumer behavior changes

1. Consumer Behaviour:
A Case study By:
Garima Keswani (030)
Kapil Bindal (035)

2. Case 1
• The moment an individual enters into wedlock, his/her partner influences his buying
decisions to a great extent. In most families, wife accompanies her husband for
shopping be it grocery, home appliances, furnishings, car etc.An individual would
always discuss with his/her partner before any major purchase. After marriage,
individuals generally do not like spending on himself/herself; rather they do it for their
partner or family. A young bachelor would not mind spending on alcohol, attending
night parties, casinos but the moment he has a wife at home, he would instead spend
on household and necessary items. No bachelor likes to invest money on mutual
funds, insurance policies, mediclaims etc but for someone who is married buying an
investment plan becomes his first priority. Women generally are inclined towards
buying toiletries, perfumes, dresses, household items, furnishings, food products
while men would rather love to spend on gadgets, cars, bikes, alcohol etc.Both have
different tastes but when they come together, they mutually decide on what to buy
and what not to buy.
• A Bachelor would never purchase Women’s Horlicks or Kellogg’s K special or a
female perfume but when he has a wife at home; he would love to purchase them for
his wife. A young girl who has never purchased shaving creams or men’s perfume all
through her life for herself would not mind purchasing for her husband, father or
father in law. A working woman would have different needs as compared to a
housewife

3. Summary
• SUMMARY
• The case talks all about the impact of family, friends & society on the buying behaviour of the
consumer. When a person single handedly goes for buying things, he/she acts according to
his/her personal choices & preferences. There is no other person to influence the buyer’s decision
except his/her own will.
• But, apart from will there are some abstract factors like Culture, habits of buying, orthodox mindset
etc acc to which one gets influenced.
• The case talks about people getting married & then the trend of changing buying behaviour.
Obviously, when a married man goes for buying stuff, he does not only buy what he wants, but he
priorizes what his spouse & children need. Also, if he was to buy a new mobile phone (say) after
only 6 months, being a bachelor, he would not do it after he is married. Thus, his buying frequency
of mobile phones decreases.
• Various such examples, not only in the case of spouse & children, but influence of relatives,
parents, grandparents etc. also determines what, why & how to buy for an individual.
• Thus, marketers need to keep in mind that the task is not only to sell the product to customer but
make it suitable for families to say a ‘yes’ to the same.

4. Relation of case with CB
• The above factors being the various factors affecting consumer behaviour, THE
SOCIO-CULTURAL FACTORS are the ones which are prominent in our case. i.e.
family, friends, relatives & their influence on the buying behaviour. Here, the person
after getting married is accompanied by her wife for shopping be it grocery, home
appliances, furnishings, car etc.
• An individual would always discuss with his/her partner before any major purchase.
After marriage, individuals generally do not like spending on himself/herself; rather
they do it for their partner or family. A young bachelor would not mind spending on
alcohol, attending night parties, casinos but the moment he has a wife at home, he
would instead spend on household and necessary items.
• No bachelor likes to invest money on mutual funds, insurance policies, mediclaims
etc but for someone who is married buying an investment plan becomes his first
priority.

5. answers
• Question 1) What are the ways in which family members influence the buying
decisions made by head of the family?
Answer 1) There are various roles that family members play:
• 1. Influencers: Those family members who provide information and advice and thus
influence the purchase. The housewife tells her family about the new eatery that has
opened in the neighborhood and her favorable description about it influences her
husband and teenaged children to also patronize the restaurant. Family member(s)
who provide information to other members about a product or service.
• 2. Gatekeepers: Those family members who control the flowof information about a
product/service thus influencing the decisions of other family members. The teenaged
son who wants a racing bicycle, may withhold from his father much of the relevant
information on all brands except the one that he fancies, thereby influencing his
father’s decision in favor of his preferred brand.

6. • ) Deciders: Family members who have the power to other spouse.
unilaterally or jointly decide whether or not to buy a product or service.
• 4. Buyers: Those family members who actually buy a behaviour of the other
spouse by offering a reward. particular product or service. A housewife may
be the person who actually buys all the foodstuffs, rations and laden
reaction to influence the other spouse’s behaviour. toiletries, which are
consumed by all the family members.Family member(s) who make the
actual purchase.
• 5. Preparers: Those family members who transform or prepare the product
into the form in which it is actually consumed. The housewife may prepare
the family meal using raw vegetables, lentils, spices, oil and other
ingredients. Family member(s) who transform the product into a form
suitable for consumption by other family type of family vacation.

7. • 6. Users: Those family members who use or consume a particular
product or service. All family members may use In a consumer
behaviour context, advertising or an in-store the car, watch the
television, and listen to the stereo music shopping experience (e.g.,
a point-of-purchase display or system Family member(s) who use or
consume a particular product or service.
• 7. Maintainers: Family member(s) who service or repair the
product so that it will provide continued satisfaction.
• 8) Disposers: Family member(s) who initiate or carry out the
disposal or discontinuation of a particular product or a service.

8. Question 2) Discuss the impact of family on the
consumer buying.
• Answer 2) Many factors influence purchasing. A consumer's family is one of
the most significant factors because a family helps shape an individual's
attitudes and behaviors .
• One way to understand the family's impact on consumer behavior is to
identify the decision maker for a purchase. A decision maker for a
purchase can be a husband, wife, or even a child, and sometimes decisions
are made in collaboration. Often, the decision maker changes based on the
type of purchase or the size of the purchase. A new refrigerator, for
example, is likely to be a joint decision, while a week's groceries might be
selected by a single member of the family.
•

9. • Influence of Family on Consumer Behavior
• Families influence purchases in many ways.
• At first, the influence of parents is significant because of how
parents help their children to develop political and religious beliefs,
lifestyle choices, and consumer preferences. Most people are who
they are because of their parents.
• A spouse and children, however, can exert an even more significant
force on a consumer's purchases. Interaction between spouses and
the number and ages of children play a particularly powerful role on
buying behaviors. These family influences affect how consumers
look at purchases more directly than most other social influences on
consumer purchasing.

10. • Family Life Cycle
• Another aspect of understanding the impact of families on buying
behavior is the family life cycle. Most, though certainly not all,
individuals and families pass through an orderly sequence of life
stages that can be used to understand their purchasing patterns.
• A typical adult starts in the bachelor stage of being young and single
and then moves to being part of a married couple without children.
• Then the married couple transition to Full Nest stages, where the
family has dependent children living at home.
• Finally, the individual reaches the "solitary survivor" stage of being
an older single person. Consumer behavior and purchasing is
different in each of these stages. Understanding the family life cycle
is beneficial for marketers because it helps in
defining target customers.

11. Question 3) What are the resulting
implications for marketers?
• Answer 3) Marketers are interested in understanding and influencing consumer behavior to
increase demand for their products and services and, ultimately, to increase sales. Consumer
behaviors have a number of implications on marketing strategy. It is important for organizations to
thoroughly understand the markets they are attempting to influence and how consumer
behaviours impact consumers' buying decisions.
Psychographics of Consumers
• Psychographics are consumer attributes that serve to identify consumer activities, interests and
opinions (AIOs). Studying consumer behaviors to understand the types of activities consumers
engage in, the things they're interested in and the opinions they have can help marketers in two
key ways: First, understanding AIOs can help marketers identify the appropriate communication
tools to connect with target consumers. In addition, understanding AIOs can help marketers craft
messages designed to influence or capitalize on their existing opinions.
• Reference Groups -- Influence and Opinion
• Consumers are influenced by others, and savvy marketers know this. The use of testimonials and
spokespeople to strengthen a brand is common among many marketers -- consider the use of
sports figures such as Tiger Woods to Peyton Manning to endorse products from golf clubs to cars
to apparel. Word-of-mouth can be a powerful influence on buying behavior, and marketing
strategies are often designed to leverage word-of-mouth. The increasing popularity and use of
social media help marketers to take even more advantage of reference groups in helping to
spread messages about their products and services.

12. • The Elaboration Likelihood Model
• The elaboration likelihood model (ELM) is a popular model used in marketing circles that helps
marketers determine whether a central or peripheral route of communication would be most
appropriate for a given audience based on their level of loyalty or connection to a product, service
or cause. A central route is popular for communicating with consumers who are more highly
involved with the product or issue, while peripheral means of communication (a combination of
multiple approaches) are suitable for influencing less-involved consumers. An effective illustration
of ELM is political campaigning. Party-to-party communication can take a central route; while
attempts to influence a change in parties or among independents require peripheral
communications.
• Consumer Decision-Making
• Consumer decision-making determines the likelihood that a consumer will consider or purchase a
particular product. In general, consumers seek to increase pleasure and avoid pain. They wish to
minimize the risk of decisions they make and will invest more time in researching purchase
decisions that represent a higher level of risk. For instance, low-cost, low-involvement products
like shampoo will require less effort and consideration on the part of consumers than high-cost,
high-involvement products like cars, computers or homes. Knowing this, marketers will spend
more effort to communicate in more detail with consumers whose choices represent a higher level
of risk

13. Conclusion
• Marketers make decisions for their marketing strategies based on the
consumers demographics like income, education level, occupation, age &
location. This is known as segmenting the market.
• Marketers must also understand the values of the consumer, this will
provide them with more success in their marketing campaigns.
• They will be unsuccessful in any marketing campaign that does not take into
account & reflect the value of the consumer. Values impacting consumer
choices are their knowledge, beliefs, morals & customs, it has a significant
impact on the products that consumer seek & purchase.
• Thus, it becomes all the more important that along with customers values,
values of the family & people related to the consumer be considered.
• Thus, considering the family influence is equally important, since MAN is a
SOCIAL ANIMAL & cannot live in solace. So, family & friends are bound to
influence him & hold importance.
• Thus, not one but more factors need focus w.r.t marketers.
•
• SO, MARKETERS, BUCK UP!!