Marketing Management

1. Marketing Management- Consumer buying
behavior
By- Prachi Agarwal

2. Consumer buying behavior is the sum total of a
consumer's attitudes, preferences, intentions, and
decisions regarding the consumer's behavior in the
marketplace when purchasing a product or service. The
study of consumer behavior draws upon social science
disciplines of anthropology, psychology, sociology, and
economics.

3. Importance of Consumer
Behaviour
 To design the best possible product or service that fully
satisfies consumer's needs and demands.
 To decide where the service or product would be made
available for easy access of consumers.
 To decide the price at which the consumers would be
ready to buy that product or service.
 To find out the best method of promotion that will
prove to be effective to attract customers to buy a
product.
 To understand why, when, how, what and other factors
that influence buying decision of the consumers.

4. Characteristics of Consumer
Behavior
 Psychology Plays a Role-Consumers choose businesses
and brands based on how they think, feel and reason.
Analyzing what drives consumers’ emotions and responses
through research can help companies position their
products or services to be chosen more often.
 Environmental Influences-A consumer buys based on
what they see and hear. Factors like culture, family,
advertising and media messages shape decisions. For
example, teenagers want to buy clothes like their friends
wear. Or, if a consumer grows up using a particular soap or
laundry detergent that their family prefers, they might be
more apt to buy those same brands as an adult.

5.  Goods and Services Matter-Consumers don’t just
buy items. They also purchase services. Whether it is a
tangible product like a household cleaner or a service
like preparing an income tax return, consumers base
their decisions on the same values and variables.
 Consumer Behaviour Impacts Society-Consumers
become what they buy. If, for example, consumers buy
healthier food then overall wellness could improve. Or,
conversely, if people consume more alcohol, tobacco or
junk food, then overall health care costs could rise due
to problems like obesity, cancer or heart disease.

6.  Convenience is Desired-Consumers crave convenience
because technology has made everything easier. Whether
consumers are buying cars, booking trips or
communicating with friends online, a business can benefit
by capitalizing on the quest for more efficiency.
 Companies Matter-One of the most important
characteristics of consumer behavior is that they often care
as much about who they buy from as what they buy.
Consumers like cool brands. Businesses that offer a
compelling reason to buy from them, like cutting-edge
technology, leading fashion or social consciousness, can
score big.

7.  To understand Buying Behaviour of consumers
 To create and retain customers though online stores
 To Understand the factors influencing Consumer's
buying Behaviour
 To understand the consumer's decision to dispose a
product or services
 To increase the knowledge of sales person influence
consumer to buy product
 To help marketers to sale of product and create
focused marketing strategies

8. Consumer Buying Decision Process
Consumer buying behavior is the sum total of a
consumer's attitudes, preferences, intentions, and decisions
regarding the consumer's behavior in the marketplace when
purchasing a product or service. The study of consumer
behavior draws upon social science disciplines of
anthropology, psychology, sociology, and economics.
 Problem recognition - The first step is problem
recognition. During this step, the consumer realizes that
she has an unfulfilled need or want. Let's use the example
of a consumer who has just been informed by her mechanic
that fixing her car will cost more than it's worth. Our
consumer realizes that she now has a transportation
problem and wants to fulfill that need with the purchase of
a car.

9.  Information search - The next step is to gather
information relevant to what you need to solve the
problem. In our example, our consumer may engage in
research on the Internet to determine the types of
vehicles available and their respective features.
 Evaluation - After information is gathered, it is
evaluated against a consumer's needs, wants,
preferences, and financial resources available for
purchase. In our example, our consumer has decided
to narrow her choices down to three cars based upon
price, comfort, and fuel efficiency

10.  Purchase- At this stage, the consumer will make a
purchase.The decision will be based on pricing and
availability.
 Post Purchase Evaluation- At this stage the
customer will evaluate if the product has met with his
expectations or not.

11. Types of Buying Decision Behaviour

12.  High involvement:- the term means when the consumer
is highly involved while buying a product. Generally this
situation happens in case of expensive or luxuries goods.
Like while buying a diamond necklace a consumer is highly
involved.
 Low involvement:- this term means when the consumer is
not highly involved while buying a product. It happens in
case of low price goods. Like while buying toothpaste a
consumer is not highly involved.
 Significant differences between brands:- it means when
there are significant differences between brands.
 Few differences between brands:- it means when there
are very little differences between brands.

13.  1) Complex buying behavior:- when the consumer is highly involved in the buying
and there is significant differences between brands then it is called complex buying
behavior. So in this case the consumer must collect proper information about the product
features and the marketer must provide detailed information regarding the product
attributes. For eg. Consumer while buying a motor cycle is highly involved in the
purchase and has the knowledge about significant differences between brands.
 2) Variety seeking behavior:- in this case consumer involvement is low while buying
the product but there are significant differences between brands. Consumers generally
buy different products not due to dissatisfaction from the earlier product but due to seek
variety. Like every time they buy different washing detergent just for variety. So it is the
duty of the marketer to encourage the consumer to buy the product by offering them
discounts, free samples and by advertising the product a lot.
 3) Dissonance buying behavior:- here consumer is highly involved in the purchase
but there are few differences between brands. Like consumer while buying a floor
tiles buy them quickly as there are few differences between brands.
 4) Habitual buying behavior:- in this case there is low involvement of the consumer
and there are few differences between brands. The consumer buys the product quickly.
For eg. Toothpaste.

14. Buying Motives
 Buying Motive-Buying motive is the motive to
persuade the desires of people so that they buy a
particular good or service. Buying motive relates to the
feelings and emotions of people which generates a
desire to purchase. Any person does not buy a product
or service just because of excellent salesman pitch but
he does also due to the desire generated within him
towards the product or service.

15. Importance of buying motive
 Understanding the buying motive of a customer is essential for a company as it helps the
company to target the customer better. Buying motive means that the customer requires
a particular product to fulfill a certain need. No matter how good a product is or how
good the marketing is, unless the customer has a need it would not matter. This
makes buying motive extremely important in business.
 Motive and instincts are completely different keywords. Motives are voluntary made such
that a particular stimulus will take place where as instincts are involuntary and generally
inborn quality of a person. Ex: Thirst is an instinct but aspire to buy a bottle of mineral
water to quench thirst is a motive.
Types of Buying motives
 1) Product Buying Motives
 2) Patronage Buying Motives

16.  Product Buying Motives-Product buying motives are the factors or
characteristics of a product that persuade a person to purchase only that
product instead of other products available in the market. The factors can be
physical appearance like design, size, color, price, shape etc. or can be
psychological features like status, desire to reduce danger etc. Product buying
motives is divided into two categories: Emotional and Rational.
 Emotional Product Buying Motives-If a person purchases a product
without thinking much rationally (i.e. with less reasoning) then he or she is
said to have persuaded by emotional product buying motives. There are around
ten kinds of emotional product buying motives: prestige, imitation, affection,
comfort, ambition, distinctiveness, pleasure, hunger and thirst, habit.
 Rational Product Buying Motives-If a person purchases a product after
thinking rationally (i.e. logically deciding) then he or she is said to have
persuaded by rational product buying motives. There are around eight kinds of
rational product buying motives: security, economy, low price, suitability,
utility, durability, convenience.

17.  Patronage Buying Motives-Patronage buying motives are the factors
or characteristics that influence a person to purchase a product from
particular shop instead of purchasing from other shops selling the
same product. It can be divided into two categories: Emotional and
Rational
 1. Emotional Patronage Buying Motives-If a person purchases a
product from a particular shop without thinking much about other
shops, then he or she is said to have persuaded by emotional patronage
buying motives.There are around six kinds of emotional patronage
buying motives: ambience of shop, showcase of products,
recommendations by others, prestige, habit, imitation.
 2. Rational Patronage Buying Motives-If a person purchases a
product from a shop after complete analysis and reasoning then he or
she is said t have persuaded by rational patronage buying
motives.There are around eight rational patronage buying motives:
convenience, low price, credit availability, more services, efficiency of
the seller, wide variety, treatment, reputation.

18. Buyer Behaviour Models
 Economic model
 Learning model
 Psychoanalytic model
 Sociological model
 Economic model-According to the economic model of buying
behavior, the buyer is a rational animal and his buying decisions are
totally depended on the concept of utility. In other words, it explains an
economic perspective of the customer. Here, consumer analyzes the
pros & cons of purchasing a product. He considers the price, utility,
quality, durability, reliability, service etc., of the product and then takes
a decision. He purchases only those goods and services which are
useful to him and available at reasonable prices. Thus, this type of
model is also known as rational product buying motive.

19.  Learning model-Learning is an act of perception, reasoning,
thinking and information processing about a particular product.
It refers to the changes in consumer behavior and also the central
topic in the study of human behavior. All theories of buyer
behavior have been basically based on learning model
namely, Stimulation- Response (or more popularly known
as SR model). The SR theory is very useful to modern marketing
and marketers. According to the SR theory, learning depends on
drive, cue (stimulus), response and reinforcement. People have
needs and wants. They are driven towards products and services
(stimuli and cues), which they purchase (response); they expect
a satisfying experience (rewards and reinforcements) and repeat
behavior would depend on reinforcement received. The model
is also called as psychological model or Pavlovian learning
model

20.  Psychoanalytic model-This model draws from Freudian psychology. It
states that the individual consumer has some deep motives that drive him to
make certain buying decisions. The buyer has some hidden fears, hidden
desires and subjective longings (personal wishes). His buying action can be
affected by appealing to these desires. The psychoanalytical theory is credited
to the work of noted psychologist Sigmund Freud. Freud introduced
personality as a motivating factor in human behavior. According to this theory,
the mental framework of a human being consists of three elements, namely:
ID, super ego and ego.
 The id (or the instinctive or pleasure seeking element): It is the group of
inborn desires that a man is born with. It includes the aggressive, destructive
and sexual drives of man.
 The superego (or the internal filter): It presents to the individual the
behavioral expectations of society.
 The ego (or the control device): It maintains a balance between the id and
the superego. The theory believes that a person is not able to satisfy all his
needs within the boundaries of the society.

21.  Sociological model-According to the sociological model, the
individual buyer behavior is influenced by society, close groups,
social classes, population, income, castes, communities, family
life cycle and other cultural aspects. The buying decisions of
individuals are not totally based on utility; he has a desire to
follow the environment. Thus, as a part of sociological model the
two important models are Nicosia model and Howard Sheth.
The Nicosia Model and the Howard Sheth Model belong to the
category of systems model, where a human being is analyzed as a
system with stimuli as the input to the system and behavior as
the output of the system. The Nicosia model of buyer behavior
was presented in 1966 by motivation and behavior expert Mr.
Francesco Nicosia. The Howard Seth Model was presented in
1969 by John Howard and Jagdish Seth.