CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
ASSIGNMENT
Sumitted to Dr. Ajai krishnan
Submitted by Ajo Varghese
What do you mean by Consumer behaviour? Discuss the
nature , application and importance.
Consumer behaviour is the study of how individual customers, groups
or organizations select, buy, use, and dispose ideas, goods, and
services to satisfy their needs and wants. It refers to the actions of the
consumers in the marketplace and the underlying motives for those
actions..
Nature and Scope of Consumer Behaviour
Consumer behaviour is complex and compounded and explanation to
behaviour related to economics, psychology, sociology, social
psychology and anthropology.
Psychology: It is the study of individual which provides motivation,
perception, attitude a
All these factors are critical to an understanding of consumer
behaviour and help to comprehend consumption related needs of
individuals.
Sociology: it is the part of groups, their actions are sometimes quite
different from the actions of those individuals when they are
operating alone.
The influence of group membership family and social class are
important for the consumer behaviour.
Social psychology: It is a combination of sociology and psychology
and studies how an individual operate in group. It also studies how
those whose opinions they respect such as peers, reference groups,
their families and opinion leaders influence individuals in their
consumption behaviour.
Culture Anthropology: It is the study of human being in society. It
explores the development of core beliefs, values and customs that
individuals inherit from their parents and grandparents which
influence their purchase and consumption behaviour, it also studies
sub cultures and helps compare consumers of different nationalities
and cultures.
Economics: An important aspect of the economics is the study of how
consumer spend their funds, how they evaluate alternatives and how
they make decision to get maximum satisfaction from their purchase.
- The very fact that consumer behaviour is dynamic poses challenge
for a marketer.
- They must monitor the environment and adopt marketing mix.
- Sincere people behaviours are influenced both by psychological
and sociological factors.
Scope of the consumer behaviour
The scope of the consumer behaviour can be understand by answering
the following:
What the consumers buy: Goods & services
Why they buy it: Needs & Wants
When do they buy it: Day, week, month, year
Where they buy it: Place
How often they buy it: Time interval
How often they use it: Frequency of use
Application of Consumer behaviour
1. Analysing the environment:
Marketers must monitor their micro and macro environment and adapt
their marketing mix to be able to take advantage of the of the
opportunities and fight the threats.
2. Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning:
An understanding of the consumer behaviour helps companies to
identify Segments in the market and to select the target market
segment and then to position the goods or service offerings.
3. Designing the marketing strategy:
An understanding of the consumer behaviour would enable marketers
to design appropriate marketing strategies.
A company should design a marketing strategy that influences
behaviour in favour of its brand. Consumer behaviour studies
provides for developing an appropriate marketing mix for a chosen
target segment.
4. Applications in governmental and non-profit organizations and
social marketing:
Governmental and non-profit organization have to understand then to
be able to serve them better. An understanding of the segments for
which such campaign are addressed would help frame proper message
and ensure social acceptance.
Significance of EPS, LPS & RRB in consumer decision
making.
A: Consumer decision making is the manner in which consumer
decision making takes place would help marketers design strategies
with respect to product mix, assortment and inventory as well as take
decisions regarding channels and customer payment options and
plans.
Extensive Problem Solving (EPS)
EPS often occurs when the consumer is not aware about –
i) About the various decision criteria used to evaluate the goods or
service offering
ii) About the various brands that are available from which he/she need
to choose.
This is it occur when a consumer is purchasing an expensive,
important or technically complicated product or service for the first
time.
Limited Problem Solving (LPS)
Here consumers already have established the basic criteria for
evaluating the product category and the various business in that
category. But they are in search for additional information to
discriminate among the various brands.
This type of problem solving frequently occurs when the consumer is
purchasing a new, updated version of something that he/she has
purchased before.
Routinized Problem solving/ Routinized Response Behaviour (RPB)
Here the consumers have experienced the product category and a
well-established set of criteria with which to evaluate the brands they
are considering. This behaviour implies little need for additional
information. The situations where we generally require RPB are those
that involve repeat and recurring purchase decisions.
Here the goods are inexpensive and very frequently purchased and
involve no risks. That is these purchases are often direct repetition of
decision made in the past, day to day shopping and is automatic and
involuntary.
Meaning of relevance of personality in consumer
behaviour.
A: Personality is defined as a sum total or the outer physiological and
inner psychological characteristics that determine and reflect how a
person reacts to his environment.
The inner qualities that is the qualities, attributes, traits and
mannerism that differentiate one individual from another and make
him unique in his own way.
Meaning and Relevance of personality
Personality: Sum total and How a person reacts to his
Determine
outer physiological as well environment: emotional and
as the inner psychological behavioural response
characteristics. pattern.
Help
Consumer personality is defined as the characteristics that
determine and reflect how consumers make choice with regard to
buying pattern and consumption behaviour. Consumption behaviour
varies across people because of the difference among them in terms of
the psychological, socio cultural, environmental and situational factor
that influence human behaviour.
What do you mean by social class? Define its importance in
consumer behaviour.
A: Social class is defined as the division of members of a society into
a hierarchy of distinct status classes, so that members of eac calss
have relatively the same statue and members of all other classes have
either more or less status.
In social class resercah/social stratification. It is frequently thought of
relative rankings of members of social class in terms of specific staus
factors.
In a marketing society where status is often associated with
consumer’s purchasing power, that is an individual with more
purchasing power or a greater ability to make purchases often tends to
have more status. Those who have more restrictions on what they can
or cannot buy frequently tend to have less frequent.
Define Consumer Reference Group?
A: It refers to individuals or group of individual who have the need
and desire to purchase a product and service to fulfil the need and to
achieve satisfaction.
Consumer reference groups are:
1. Primary and secondary reference groups
When people most often interact face to face on daily basis and
regard one another’s opinion are valuable and significant are called
primary reference group.
When the interaction between members is frequent, irregular and
occasional and may even be absent.
2. Formal and Informal reference group
When the group structure and membership authority and
responsibility, roles, position and status, rules and regulation and the
reason for existence are clear defined are known as Formal Group
When the group structure, roles and norms and the purpose of the
group are not defined at all are known as informal group.
3. Membership and Symbolic reference groups
When a person belong to a group of virtue of membership to that
group it is called Membership group.
The individual adopt the value, attitudes, norms and pattern of
behaviour similar to members of the group; to which the individual is
said to be the member is called Symbolic group.
4. Aspirational reference groups
When the person doesn’t have a membership but aspire to become a
member.
5. Normative reference group
Reference group that directly influence general as broadly defined
value or behaviour.
6. Comparative reference group
Reference group which wills serve as a benchmark for certain specific
or narrowly defined attitudes.
7. Official work group
It includes peers and college who work together as a team an dinteract
with each other at workplace.
Factors responsible for the sad plight of Indian consumers.
A: India faces a severe imbalance in the demand and supply of
essential commodities. This has produced evils in the form of
hoarding, and black marketing, profiteering, corruption, nepotism, red
tapism, irresponsibility and arrogance while dealing with the
consumers.
With a low literacy rate level and incorrect and unsatisfactory
information generated, many of the Indian consumers are o=not
cautiously aware of their right.
Though they market is flooded with many goods and services, there is
seen as imperfect and ineffective completion.
