This document provides an overview of consumer behavior, including definitions, characteristics, scope, and the need to study consumer behavior. It discusses understanding the consumer/shopper behavior and the buying process, which involves stages from need recognition through post-purchase evaluation. It also covers buying motives, including classifications of product and patronage motives. Finally, it outlines the key factors that influence buyer behavior, such as buying power, internal/individual factors, and social/cultural factors.

1. UNIT 3
Unit 3 – Consumer Behaviour 1

2. UNIT 3: CONSUMER
BEHAVIOUR
Buying Motives; Factors
influencing buying
behaviour; the buying
decision process, stages of
the buying decision
process. Unit 3 – Consumer Behaviour 2

3. CONSUMER (BUYER) BEHAVIOUR
Introduction:
 Consumer behaviour is a dynamic, multi – disciplinary
process.
 It is discover the product attributes and design a product to
meet consumer’s needs.
 Customer analysis addresses the needs of consumers and
determines current products satisfy or fail to satisfy those
needs.
 Customer analysis is also called buyer behaviour analysis.
 Consumer behaviour builds upon understanding of human
behaviour in general.
 It understand and predicts human actions in buying role.
Unit 3 – Consumer Behaviour 3

4. Definition:
“Consumer (Buyer) behaviour is defined as all
psychological, social and physical behaviour of potential
customers as they become aware of, evaluate, purchase,
consume and tell others about products and services.”
“It is decision process and physical activity individuals
engage in when evaluating, acquiring, using or disposing of
goods and services.”
It involves –
i) buyer’s both individual (psychological) process and group
(social) process.
ii) reflected from awareness right through post – purchase
evaluation.
iii) communication, purchasing and consumption behaviour.
iv) basically social in nature. 4

5. Characteristics of Consumer behaviour:
- it indicate the behaviour of buyer who behave on response
to their particular product at time of purchasing.
i) Organizational buyer concentrates to their essentialities
according to demand.
ii) Buyer decision depends on the total market demand and
value of goods.
iii) Policies is the another characteristics of buyer who
purchase the goods for their organization is definitely by
the policies.
iv) Level of demand and technological development is also
affecting the buyer behaviours who have perfect estimate
and situation of technology according to product.
Unit 3 – Consumer Behaviour 5

6. Scope of Consumer behaviour:
- it deals with psychology the study of individuals,
Sociology the study of groups, Social-psychology, cultural
anthropology the influence of culture and society,
Economics dealing with relationship between demand and
supply of goods.
Marketers undertook to study consumer behaviour –
 To determine as to why consumers made the purchase
decisions.
 To understand how consumers would react to promotional
messages.
- the success of organization depends on a constant effort to
meet the needs of customers.
Unit 3 – Consumer Behaviour 6

7. Need to study Consumer behaviour:
- there are no. of reasons why study of consumer behaviour
developed as separate marketing discipline.
- the primary purpose is to understand why and how
consumers make their purchase decisions.
Some of the important reasons are:
a) Consumer preferences are changing and becoming highly
diversified:
- preference of consumer has been shifted based on
availability of more choice and different brands for same
product category.
(E.g.) Different brand in bath soap – Lux, Liril, Santoor,
Human, etc.
Unit 3 – Consumer Behaviour 7

8. b) Consumer prefer differentiated products:
- consumers dislike using identical products but prefer
differentiated products to reflect their needs and life styles.
(E.g.) Advertisement of ‘Raymond’ is to indicate lifestyle of
‘A complete Man’, who takes care of his family members,
well groomed person for best and performs all activities.
c) Meeting special need of customer requires:
- there is no single product equally appeal to all consumers.
- today marketers are focusing towards differentiated
marketing to survive in market.
(E.g.) LIC provides insurance to cover the needs of different
types of customers like jeevan shree, asha deep, etc with
caption “You have a Need, We have a Policy”.
Unit 3 – Consumer Behaviour 8

9. d) Rapid Industrialization of new products with
technological advancement has made job of studying
consumer behaviour more imperative:
- due to advancement of technology it becomes necessary
for organization to upgrade’s its products to sustain in
market.
- rapid change of customer taste can seen in product
category like mobile phone, gadgets, etc.
e) Implementation of “Marketing Concept’ calls for
studying the consumer behaviour:
- generally consumer would buy products which satisfies
needs and wants.
- identification of target markets before production is
essential, in order to deliver the desired customer
satisfaction and delight. 9

10. UNDERSTANDING THE BUYER
BEHAVIOUR
Consumer / Shopper Behaviour:
- behaviour of customer while shopping.
- decisions taken (When, where, what to buy).
- behaviour has great impact on retail business.
* Need for understanding Shopper Behaviour:
- to identify customer product, target area, needs.
- based on external & internal factors like -
* understanding how need of product.
* how information sought by customer.
* process of evaluation of different product. 10

11. BUYING PROCESS
Stages:
Recognize needs
Search for
information about
retailers
Evaluate retailers
and channels
Select a retailer and
channel
Visit store or
internet site or
catalog
Repeat patronage at
retailer
Recognize needs
Search for
information about
merchandise
Evaluate
merchandise
Select merchandise
Purchase
merchandise
Post purchase
merchandise
Need recognition
Selecting a retailer and channel Selecting Merchandise
Information
search
Evaluation
Choice
Visit
Loyalty
Unit 3 – Consumer Behaviour 11

12. 1. Need Recognition:
* Types of needs:
i) Utilitarian needs – buy product for useful.
ii) Hedonic needs – entertainment, emotional.
a) Stimulation.
b) Social experience.
c) Learning new trends.
d) Status & Power.
e) Self – reward.
f) Adventure.
* Conflicting needs.
12

13. 2. Information Search:
* Amount of information searched.
* Factors influence to search information about -
i) Nature of product, ii) characteristics, iii) market aspect.
* Some market situation affect due to -
i) no. of competing brands in store.
ii) time pressure under which purchase made.
* Sources of information – External & Internal.
* Reducing the information search.
3. Evaluation of Alternatives:
a) Performance b) Importance of attributes.
4. Post Purchase Evaluation:
Unit 3 – Consumer Behaviour 13

14. BUYING MOTIVES
Definition:
“Buying motive is the motive to
persuade the desires of people so
that they buy a particular good or
service. It relates to the feelings and emotions of people
which generates a desire to purchase.”
Importance of Buying motives:
 It helps the company to target the customer better.
 Customer requires a particular product to fulfill a certain need.
 It is voluntary made such that particular stimulus will take place
where as instincts are involuntary and generally inborn quality
of a person. (E.g.) Thirst is instinct but aspire to buy a bottle of
mineral water to quench thirst is motive.
Unit 3 – Consumer Behaviour 14

15. CLASSIFICATION OF BUYING
MOTIVESClassification of Buying Motives:
Unit 3 – Consumer Behaviour 15

16. 1. Product Buying Motives:
“Product buying motives refer to those influences and
reasons, which prompt a buyer to choose a particular
product in preference to other products.”
- it includes physical attention of product like design,
shape, dimension, size, package, price, etc. or
psychological attraction of product like prestige or status
of purchaser.
- it refer to characteristics of product which include buyer to
buy it in preference to other products.
a) Promotional Product Buying Motives:
- when buyer decides to purchase a product without
thinking over matter logically and carefully (i.e.) without
much reasoning.
16

17. b) Rational Product Buying Motives:
- when buyer decides to buy a certain thing after careful
consideration (i.e.) after thinking over the matter consciously
and logically.
2. Patronage Buying Motives:
“Patronage buying motives refer to those considerations
or reasons, which prompt a buyer to buy the product wanted
by him from a particular shop in preference to other shops.”
- those considerations or reasons, which make buyer,
patronize a particular shop in preference to other ships while
buying a product.
a) Emotional Patronage Buying Motives:
- when a buyer patronizes a shop (i.e.) purchases the things
required by him from a particular shop without applying mind
or without reasoning.Unit 3 – Consumer Behaviour 17

18. b) Rational Patronage Buying Motives:
- when a buyer patronizes a shop after careful consideration
(i.e.) after much logical reasoning and careful thinking.
Participants in Buying Motives:
1. Initiator:
- he is a person who first suggests or thinks of the idea of
buying particular product.
(E.g.) Publisher of book initiates the professor to ask students of
his class to purchase book.
2. Influencer:
- he is a person who explicitly or implicitly has some
influences on final buying decision of others.
(E.g.) Students are influenced by advice of professor while
purchase a book.
Unit 3 – Consumer Behaviour 18

19. 3. Decider:
- he is a person who ultimately determines any part or
whole of buying decision. (i.e.) whether to buy, what to
buy, how to buy, when to buy.
(E.g.) Children are deciders for buying toys, house lady for
kitchen provisions, etc.
4. Buyer:
- he is the person actually purchase.
- he may be decider or some other person.
(E.g.) Children's are deciders for purchasing toys, but
purchase made by parents.
5. User:
- he is the person who actually uses or consumes the
services or products.Unit 3 – Consumer Behaviour 19

20. FACTORS INFLUENCING BUYER
BEHAVIOUR
Factors influencing Buyer Behaviour:
 Buying behaviour is a process and potential
customers are subjected to various stimuli.
 The model of buyer behaviour is called as ‘Stimuli –
response model.
Under this system of buyer behaviour have –
1. Inputs.
2. Processing.
3. Outputs
4. Feedback loop.Unit 3 – Consumer Behaviour 20

21. Factors Influencing Buyer Behaviour
1. Buying
Power.
2. Internal (or)
Individual
factors.
3. Social and
Cultural factors.
4. Marketing
Mix.
5. Other
Environmental
factors.
Person Making
decisions.
Problem –
Solving Process
1. Perceived want
or desire.
2. Information
search.
3. Alternative
evaluation.
4. Purchase no
purchase decision.
Response
Person Buying
some goods or
does not buy
Product use
behaviour
Post purchase
feeling
1. Stimuli
(Inputs)
2. Processing 3. Response
21

22. Consumer behaviour:
“Consumer behaviour refers to the selection, purchase and
consumption of goods and services for the satisfaction of
their wants.”
Some of the factors influencing buyer behaviour are –
1. Cultural factors: It influenced by cultural factors are -
a) Culture:
- it is the part of every society and is the important cause of
person wants and behaviour.
- influence of culture on buyer behaviour varies from
country to country.
- marketer should be careful in analyzing the culture of
different groups, region or even countries.
Unit 3 – Consumer Behaviour 22

23. b) Subculture:
- each culture contains subculture such as religious,
nationalities, geographic regions, racial groups,
etc.
- marketer use this group by segmenting the market
into various small portions.
c) Social Class:
- every society possesses some form of social class.
- buying behaviour of people in given social class is
similar.
- it is not determined income but there are various
other factors like wealth, education, occupation,
23

24. 2. Social Factors: The important social factors are –
a) Reference groups:
- it has potential in forming a person attitude or behaviour.
- impact of reference group varies across products and
brands.
- it includes opinion leader because of his special skill,
knowledge or other.
b) Family:
- it is strongly influenced by member of family.
- marketers trying to find roles and influences of husband,
wife and children.
- buying roles change with changes in consumer lifestyle.
(E.g.) If buying decision of particular product influenced by
wife then the marketers will try to target the women. 24

25. c) Roles and Status:
- each person possesses different roles and status in society
depending upon groups, clubs, family, etc.
(E.g.) Women is working in organization as finance manager.
Now she is playing two roles, one is finance manager and
other is mother.
- buying decisions will be influenced by her role and status.
3. Personal Factors: Some of the important factors are:
a) Age:
- it has potential impact on consumer buying behaviour.
- consumers change the purchase of goods and services
with passage of time.
- it consists of different stages like young singles, married
couples, etc.Unit 3 – Consumer Behaviour 25

26. b) Occupation:
- it has significant impact on his buying behaviour.
(E.g.) Marketing manager try to purchase business suits,
whereas low level worker purchase rugged work clothes.
c) Economic Situation:
- it has great influence on buying behaviour.
- if income and savings are high then customer purchase
will be more, if low income then customer will not
purchase more.
d) Lifestyle:
- it refers to the way a person lives in a society and
expressed by things in surroundings.
- it is determined by customer interests, opinions, activities,
etc.Unit 3 – Consumer Behaviour 26

27. e) Personality:
- it changes from person to person, time to time, place to
place.
- it is not one wears, it is total behaviour of man in different
circumstances.
- it has different characteristics like dominance,
aggressiveness, self – confidence, etc.
4. Psychological Factors: The four important psychological
factors are –
a) Motivation:
- the level of motivation affects buying behaviour of
customers.
- every person has different needs like physiological needs,
biological needs, social needs, etc.
Unit 3 – Consumer Behaviour 27

28. b) Perception:
“Selecting, organizing and interpreting information in a
way to produce a meaningful experience of the world is
called perception.”
- there are three different perceptual processes like selective
attention, selective distortion and selective retention.
* Selective attention – marketers try to attract the customer
attention.
* Selective distortion – customers try to interpret the
information that support what the customers already
believe.
* Selective retention – marketers try to retain information
that supports their beliefs.
Unit 3 – Consumer Behaviour 28

29. c) Beliefs and Attitudes:
- customer possesses specific belief and attitude towards
various products.
- such beliefs and attitude make up brand image and affect
consumer buying behaviour.
- marketers can change the beliefs and attitudes of
customers by launching special campaigns in this regard.
Maslow’s Theory of Need Hierarchy:
- this was developed by eminent American Psychologist
Dr.Abraham H.Maslow in proper classification of human
needs.
* Features:
- human wants are innumerable and never ending.
- adult motivates are complex.Unit 3 – Consumer Behaviour 29

30. - human needs form a hierarchy & higher order needs
required satisfaction.
- satisfied wants don’t motivate workers, only unsatisfied
wants induce man to work hard.
- higher level needs can be satisfied in many ways than lower
levels.
- fulfill needs is the
prime factor in
motivation of people at
work.
- people seek the
satisfaction of higher
order needs.
Unit 3 – Consumer Behaviour 30

31. 1. Physiological needs:
- biological needs required to preserve human life.
- it include food, cloth and shelter, this is partly higher level
needs.
2. Safety needs:
- this needs become predominant.
- it include i) Protection from psychological dangers (fire,
accident), ii) Economic security (benefits, health,
insurance), iii) Desire for an orderly, predictable
environment and iv) acceptable behaviour.
3. Social needs:
- sense of belonging and acceptance becomes predominant
in motivating behaviour.
Unit 3 – Consumer Behaviour 31

32. - these needs are for love, friendship, exchange of feelings,
recognition, belongingness.
- this is stronger for some people than for others and stronger in
certain situations.
4. Esteem needs:
- it has two types of esteem needs: i) Self – esteem (self –
confidence, achievement, competence, self – respect, knowledge
and freedom) and ii) Esteem of others (needs for status, for
recognition, for appreciation and deserved respect of one’s
fellows).
5. Self – actualization needs: (Or) Self – realization needs:
- this is desire to become everything that one is capable of
becoming.
(E.g.) doctor things that he is capable of saving the life of
patient.
32

33. BUYING DECISION PROCESS
Definition:
“A buying process is the series of steps that
a consumer will take to make a
purchasing decision. A standard model of
consumer purchase decision-making includes
recognition of needs and wants, information
search, evaluation of choices, purchase, and
post-purchase evaluation.”
Unit 3 – Consumer Behaviour 33

34. CUSTOMER (BUYER) DECISION
MAKING PROCESS
Needs – Psychological & Functional needs.
Steps (Or) Stages of Buying Decision Process:
Need /
Problem
recognized
Search for
information
Store
visits
Evaluation
of options
Information
Search
Purchase
Decision
Post
Purchase
behaviour
Unit 3 – Consumer Behaviour 34

35. 1. Need / Problem Recognition:
- need can be activated through internal and external stimuli.
- basic needs of common man arise and become drive and
knows from previous experiences to satisfy his needs. (E.g.)
hunger, thirst, etc.
- need can also be aroused by external stimuli like sight of new
thing in shop while purchasing other things.
2. Information search:
- consumer tries to gather sources and information about the
product.
- due to intensity of need, it produces two state of individual.
* Heightened attention – consumer becomes more receptive to
information regarding the item he needs.
(E.g.) If customer needs to purchase a television, he will pay more
attention to TV ads, remarks made by friends and associates.
Unit 3 – Consumer Behaviour 35

36. 3. Evaluation behaviour:
- consumer clarifies and evaluates the alternatives based on
the information collected.
- no simple and single evaluation process used by
consumers.
- most current process is to judge product largely on
conscious and rational basis.
- they will consider product attributes, importance weights
brand image, utility function and attitude, etc.
- after evaluation of various alternatives, customer takes
purchase decision.
4. Purchase Decision:
- evaluation leads the customer to form set of preferences to
buy a product.
Unit 3 – Consumer Behaviour 36

37. The three important considerations for buying decision are –
i) Attitude of others such as of wife, relatives and friends but
it depends upon intensity of their negative attitude and
consumers motivation to comply with the other persons
wishes.
ii) Anticipated situational factors as expected family income,
expected total cost of product and expected benefits of
product.
iii) Unanticipated situational factors as manner of salesman or
why business is carried on or worry about his income
situation.
5. Post – purchase behaviour:
- after buying the product the consumer feel some level of
satisfaction or dissatisfaction depends on expectation and
product perceived performance. 37

38. - if product matches their expectations, consumer is
satisfied.
- customer feel dissatisfaction if seller makes exaggerated
claims.
- smart seller must make claims about performance of
product with quality so customer feel satisfied.
Models of Buyer Decision – making:
1. Economic models - largely quantitative and are based on
the assumptions of rationality and near perfect knowledge.
The consumer is seen to maximize their utility.
2. Psychological models - psychological and cognitive
processes such as motivation and need recognition. They are
qualitative rather than quantitative and build on sociological
factors like cultural influences and family influences.
38Unit 3 – Consumer Behaviour

39. 3. Consumer behaviour models - practical models used by
marketers. They typically blend both economic and
psychological models.
Types of Consumer – Decision making: (Level)
* Types of Purchase: i) Routine Buy
ii) Modified Buy iii) New product purchase.
Level of Consumer Decisions
Extensive
Decision-
making
Routine
response
Limited
Decision-
making
Impulse
Decision
39

40. BUYING DECISION PROCESS TOWARD NEW
PRODUCT
1. Awareness Stage:
- individual comes to know about a new innovation or new
product.
- gets information from various sources like friends or
neighbours, etc.
- this indicates knowledge about the new innovation where
customer learns about new innovation.
2. Interest Stage:
- the customer is stimulated and interested in innovation in this
stage, when seeking more information about product.
- customer is interested in gathering more detailed information
related to innovation in terms of utility, performance and
durability, so on. 40

41. 3. Evaluation Stage:
- individual will evaluate and make a decision whether it is
worthwhile or make sense and good to try to innovation.
- information collected by customer related to innovation
will mentally try to evaluate the value of innovation.
4. Trial Stage:
- this indicates, now customer is mentally prepared to try
out the new product.
- he wants to experiment with his comfortable and finally
decide to use it or not.
5. Adoption Stage:
- customer decide to make full and regular use of product.
- customer takes decision to go for full fledged and
continuous use of new product. 41Unit 3 – Consumer Behaviour

42. Consumer Decision Rules:
Consumer Decision Rules
Compensatory Decision
Rules
Non - Compensatory
Decision Rules
Conjunctive
Decision Rules
Disjunctive
Decision Rules
Lexicographic
Decision Rules
• Practical loyalists
• Bottom line price
shoppers
• Opportunistic
switchers
• Deal hunters 42Unit 3 – Consumer Behaviour

43. FACTORS INFLUENCING THE RETAIL
SHOPPER
Factors
influencing
customer’s
decision
making
Range of
merchandise
43Unit 3 – Consumer Behaviour

44. Types of Buying Decisions:
1. Extended problem solving:
- Customer spend time & effort to analyze problem.
* Risk – Financial, Physical & Social risk.
2. Limited Problem solving:
- Moderate effect & time taken by customer.
3. Habitual Decision making:
* Brand loyalty – customer like & buy specific
product.
* Store loyalty - customer likely to visit the same
store.
44Unit 3 – Consumer Behaviour

45. Factors affecting Consumer Decision – making
(Buyer Decision Process):
Demographic Factors
* Gender * Age
* Occupation
* Education
* Family Size * Income
Psychological Factors
* Motives * Perception
* Learning
* Attitude
* Personality
Environmental Factors
* Physical Environment
* Social Environment –
Culture, Sub-culture,
Culture, Social Class.
Lifestyle
* Activities and Interests
* Nature of Occupation
* Availability of leisure
45Unit 3 – Consumer Behaviour

46. 1. Demographic factors:
2. Psychological factors:
a) Motives – Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
(Physiological, safety, social, esteem, self
actualization)
b) Perception. c) Learning – Operant & Vicarious.
d) Attitude. e) Personality.
3. Environmental factors:
a) Physical factors (Macro & Micro).
b) Social factors:
* Social class, culture & sub-culture.
4. Lifestyle factors. 46Unit 3 – Consumer Behaviour

47. Cognitive and Personal Biases in Decision – making:
 Selective search for evidence – We tend to be willing to
gather facts that support certain conclusions but disregard
other facts that support different conclusions.
 Selective perception - We actively screen out information
that we do not think is salient.
 Premature termination of search for evidence - We tend to
accept the first alternative that looks like it might work.
 Conservatism and inertia - Unwillingness to change
thought patterns that we have used in the past in the face of
new circumstances.
 Experiential limitations - Unwillingness or inability to look
beyond the scope of our past experiences, rejection of the
unfamiliar.
47Unit 3 – Consumer Behaviour

48.  Wishful thinking or optimism - We tend to want to see
things in a positive light and this can distort our perception
and thinking.
 Recency - We tend to place more attention on more recent
information and either ignore or forget more distant
information.
 Repetition bias - A willingness to believe what we have
been told most often and by the greatest number of
different of sources.
 Anchoring - Decisions are unduly influenced by initial
information that shapes our view of subsequent
information.
 Group think - Peer pressure to conform to the opinions
held by the group.
48Unit 3 – Consumer Behaviour

49.  Source credibility bias - We reject something if we have a
bias against the person, organization, or group to which the
person belongs: We are inclined to accept a statement by
someone we like.
 Incremental decision-making and escalating commitment
- We look at a decision as a small step in a process and this
tends to perpetuate a series of similar decisions. This can be
contrasted with zero-based decision-making.
 Inconsistency - The unwillingness to apply the same
decision criteria in similar situations.
 Attribution asymmetry - We tend to attribute our success to
our abilities and talents, but we attribute our failures to bad
luck and external factors. We attribute other's success to
good luck, and their failures to their mistakes.
49Unit 3 – Consumer Behaviour

50.  Role fulfillment - We conform to the decision-making
expectations that others have of someone in our position.
 Underestimating uncertainty and the illusion of control -
We tend to underestimate future uncertainty because we
tend to believe we have more control over events than we
really do.
 Faulty generalizations - In order to simplify an extremely
complex world, we tend to group things and people. These
simplifying generalizations can bias decision-making
processes.
 Ascription of causality - We tend to ascribe causation even
when the evidence only suggests correlation. Just because
birds fly to the equatorial regions when the trees lose their
leaves, does not mean that the birds migrate because the
trees lose their leaves. 50Unit 3 – Consumer Behaviour

51. 51Unit 3 – Consumer Behaviour

52. 52Unit 3 – Consumer Behaviour