Consumer Behaviour in Retail Context

1. Identification and
Understanding Consumers
Dr. Gopal Thapa
Tribhuvan University

2. Identification and Understanding Consumers
• Consumer demographics and lifestyle
• Consumer needs and desires
• Shopping attitudes and behaviors
• Retailor actions
• Environmental factors

3. Consumer Demographics
• Demographics are objective, quantifiable, easily identifiable and
measurable population data
• It includes: Sex, age, population growth rate, life expectancy, literacy,
language spoken, household size, marital and family status, income,
retail sales, mobility, place of residence, occupation, education,
ethnic/racial background

4. Consumer Lifestyles
• Consumer lifestyles are based on social and psychological factors and
influenced by demographics
• Retailer should first have some knowledge of consumer lifestyle
concepts and then determine the lifestyle attributes of its own target
market.
• Social factors which are useful to identify and understand lifestyles
are: culture, social class, reference group , family lifecycle, time
utilization (eating, sleeping, shopping, work, transportation, recreation etc.)

5. Consumer Lifestyles
• Psychological factors which help in identifying and understanding
consumer lifestyle are:
 Personality
 Class consciousness
 Attitudes
 Perceived risk
 The importance of purchase

6. Consumers Needs and Desires
• Needs are a person’s basic shopping requirements consistent with his
or her present demographics and lifestyle
• Desires are discretionary shopping goals that have an impact on
attitude and behavior
• Consumers today spend proportionately less on basic necessities, such
as food clothing and shelter, than 25-50 years ago. But they spend
more on discretionary purchases that are motivated by emotion and
desire.

7. Shopping Attitudes and Behavior
• Attitudes toward shopping
 Shopping enjoyment: pleasurable shopping, bargaining, recreational browsing
like window shopping, pampered by salespeople, opportunity to go out of
house.
• Attitudes toward shopping time
• Shifting feelings about retailing
• Why people buy or do not buy on a shopping trip
• Attitudes by market segment
• Attitudes toward private brands

8. Shopping Attitudes and Behavior
• Where people shop
 Consumers do cross shopping
 Shop for a product category at more than one retail format
during the year or
 Visit multiple retailers on one shopping trip

9. Consumer Buying Decision Process
• Stimulus
• Problem awareness
• Information search
• Evaluation of alternatives
• Purchase
• Post purchase behaviour

10. Types of Consumer Decision Making
• Extended decision making
• Limited decision making
• Routine decision making

11. Retailer Actions
• Mass Marketing: any kind of customer
• Concentrated Marketing: Distinct customer group like working
women
• Differentiated Marketing: Two or more distinct customer group like
men and boys

12. Environmental Factors Affecting Consumers
• State of economy
• Rate of inflation
• Infrastructure, traffic congestion, crime rate, ease of parking
• Price war among retailers
• Emergence of new retail formats
• Trend toward more people working at home
• Government and community regulations regarding shopping hours,
new construction, consumer protection etc.

13. Thank You