Factors Influencing Consumer Behaviour
Gunasinghe; HVSD
Email Id - sddias1998@gmail.com
Abstract
Consumer behavior is the study of individuals, group of individuals and organizations. It includes all the aspects
that are associated with the consumer, such as buying behavior, use and disposal of goods and services, including
the consumer's emotional, mental and social angles that precede or follow these activities. In order to succeed in
today’s dynamic and rapidly evolving marketplace, marketers need to know everything about consumers - what
they need, what they think, how they work, how they spend their money and time.
Research has shown that consumer behavior is unpredictable, even for experts in the field. It examines how
emotions, attitudes and preferences of each consumer are different from each other and in what context.
In this study, we will understand the how the consumer behaves differently in different condition. We will
examine how the consumer makes their choices out of available alternatives and what are the factors which
influence their buying decision.
Keywords: - Buying Pattern, Consumer decision making, Influencing factors
Introduction
In general buying behavior is a process and act of buying goods and services. To understand the Behaviour there
is a need to know how consumer makes their choices and what factors influence them to buy goods and services.
Marketing specialist constantly keeps eagle eye on the pattern how people make their choices to predict the
future trend.
To understand people's wants and consumption pattern formal studies of consumer behavior such as
demographics, personality, lifestyles and behavioural variables such as usage rates, usage occasion, loyalty,
brand advocacy and willingness to provide referrals are the key aspect to be investigated. The study of consumer
Behaviour also includes the other factors that influence on the consumer choice, such as family, friends, sports,
reference groups, and society in general.
The study of consumer behaviour is concerned with all the stages of purchasing behaviour. Consumer behaviour
initially starts with pre-purchase activities to post-purchase consumption through evaluation and disposal
activities.
Client relationship management (CRM) databases have turned the table for the investigation of client conduct.
The voluminous information delivered by these databases empowers detailed examination of social factors that
add to client re-purchase behaviour, customer retention, loyalty and other expectations. In addition to that
databases aid in market segmentation on the basis of Behaviour, loyalty and buying pattern and customize
strategies accordingly.
Review of Literature
Narsaiah, R. Preetham, Shashi, R. (2019), in their study of brand impact of apparels on consumer Behaviour in
Kukatpally area shows that the income level of people influences the frequency of buying branded apparels. The
buying Behaviour is independent of gender in this study. The major role in consumer buying Behaviour is the
advertisement which makes consumer aware of branded apparels.
Jadhav, Harish. Chavan, Pravin. (2019), revealed in their studies that the influence of western culture, change
in living standard, media participation and people readiness to explore new and delicious food all these factors
give boost to the bakery industry. The packaging of the product and its accessibility influence consumer
preferences.
Ramya, N. Ali, Mohamed, SA. (2016), revealed in their studies that to procure the consumer the service
providers should work on the psychology of the consumer. They conclude that consumer satisfaction can be
achieved by keeping in mind what factors affect consumer behaviour.
Velumani, M. (2014), in his study of consumer Behaviour towards Nokia mobile in Erode district stated that
people are aware about Nokia quality, services and price. The advertisement is the key factor for success as it
attracts more consumers towards Nokia mobile.
Thangasamy, E. Patikar, Gautam. (2014), in their case study factor influencing buying behaviour state the
degree of involvement in buying decision. Degree of involvement in the case study refers to the advertisement,
brand preferences and previous experience of consumer in making decision.
Kumar, H.Hemanth, A. John, S.Franklin. Senith, S. (2014), examine that every person in the life plays
multiple roles in the form of professional life, personal life and social life. Each of these roles influences the
buying Behaviour of an individual. Due to income level differences there is a difference in opinion as well,
which affect their buying habit and pattern.
Rani, Pinki. (2014), in her studies, she states that service provider in this era has to work as a psychologist. The
consumer can be retained and satisfied by keeping in mind the factor that influences their buying behaviour in the
consumer oriented market.
Need of the study
The consumer behaviour is dynamic in nature. The people make their decision as per their taste, preferences,
brand loyalty, previous experience. Due to change in one aspect such as income, taste and preference the choice
of consumers also changes accordingly. As per continuous change in consumer preference the market experts
have to shift their strategy as per the current need of the consumer. It is kind of keeping eyes on consumer
Behaviour as react accordingly as the consumer is king of the market. Therefore, there is a need to conduct study
the consumer behaviour.
Objectives
To find out the decision making process of consumer.
To examine the factors influencing buying decision of the consumer.
Research Methodology
This study has been exploratory in nature where pertinent information has been gathered from various secondary
sources such as Journals, Newspapers, Books, Websites, and Government of India reports etc.
Consumer buying decision process
The buying behaviour process used by consumer in the market before, during and after the purchase of goods and
services. It starts with need recognition and end with the post purchase Behaviour of consumers. In this process
the consumer also looks at the cost-benefit analysis.
1. Need Recognition
The decision of buying goods and services starts with the recognizing the need or desire which a
consumer wants to satisfy. The intensity of need decides the priority list of the consumer. The consumer
will make an immediate purchase of those goods which are most urgent for consumer and postpone the
other need or desire.
2. Information Search
The need recognized in the first stage can be satisfied when the consumer knows what product can satisfy
that need and availability of that product. For this purpose the consumer look for the information from
various sources such as family, friends, advertisement, media etc.
3. Evaluation of Alternatives
The consumer assesses various alternatives products and services to satisfy their needs. In evaluating
process the consumer look at various aspects of products and services in the form of features, utility,
brand image and post purchase services. The criteria to evaluate the product differ on the situation and the
involvement of the consumer. Sometimes, the sales representatives also help the consumers to evaluate
the product and services.
4. Purchase Decision
After evaluating all the alternatives the purchase of particular brand depends on the evaluation criteria
and ranking. It also depends on the availability of the brand and affordability of consumer. Consumers are
not certain about the purchase outcome as they hesitate to take risks. The marketers should help the
consumer by reducing risk factor and providing them sufficient information about products and services
in decision making process.
5. Post-Purchase Behaviour
The consumer always evaluates the performance of the product. The consumer will be either satisfied or
dissatisfied after the evaluation. If the product performance will meet the consumer expectation,
consumers will repeat the purchase. The buyer will talk positively about the product. On the other hand, if
performance didn’t meet expectation the consumer will stop buying the product. This will result into
negative publicity of the product.
Factors affecting buying behaviour
The buying behaviour of the consumer is affected by various factors which are in the form of
uncontrollable variables from a marketer’s point of view. All these factors are interconnected and
interlinked with each other. These factors are the reason why each consumer behaves differently. These
factors are in the form of cultural, social, personal and psychological.
1. Cultural Factor
Cultural factors are crucial factor that needs to be considered to understand the need and demand of the
consumers. Culture is part of every society and varies countries to countries. Cultural factors include the
following.
a) Culture
Culture is considered as a set of values, rules and belief that is common and binds the society as a
whole. The consumer buying behaviour is very much influenced by the by the culture. As due to
diversity around the world insist the marketers to adopt different marketing strategies to cater the
need of the consumer.
b) Sub-Culture
Like every system has its own sub-system in the same way every culture has its own sub-culture.
A sub-culture is a followed by the group of people within that culture. The people in the group
have same habit and buying patterns on the basis of their age and experience. Marketers have to
behave accordingly to their needs.
c) Social class
As such every member in the society has same position. The social class is basically divided into
four categories such as upper class, upper-middle class, middle class and lower class. Every social
class prefer to buy distinct products in form of brand preferences like clothes, automobile, food
etc.
2. Social Factor
Social factor explain the influence of the others in our decision making process. These factors include the
family, friends, reference group and the opinion leaders.
a) Family
Members of the family also influence the buying Behaviour of the individual up to a large extent.
The buying pattern and demand of the products are influenced by the family life cycle. As
consumer demand for children, bachelors, married couples and adults vary a lot in the family as
per their personality and attitude.
b) Reference and social group
Membership of an individual represents the social group of an individual which influence the
buying behaviour. The members in the group also influence the other members during their
discussion and by becoming a role model for other in the group. These reference groups also
include the opinion leaders, which influence the other member buying pattern.
c) Friends
Friend is another social group which greatly influences buying Behaviour of individuals. This
group is always informal and unstructured. People normally don’t discuss certain things with
family members are discussed with friends. The suggestions given by friends have always
influenced buying pattern of individuals.
3. Personal Factor
Personal factor are the variables in nature as these changes are as per the different life stage of the person.
These variables are in the form of occupation, personality, self concept and economic situation of the
person. Personal factors include the followings.
a) Age and life cycle
As the person goes through the different stages of life the choice of the goods and services
also varies. People in the different age group have different choices in terms of food, clothes,
entertainment etc.
b) Occupation and Financial condition
The occupation and the financial condition have a major impact on buying Behaviour of
individuals. The economic condition determine the disposable income, saving and ability to
pay for goods and services. People with high income group purchase expensive products
whereas people with low income group go for inexpensive products.
c) Personality
Every person has different personality characteristic. Personality doesn’t mean here
appearance of the person it is more than that. Personality is the totality of the behaviour of the
person that changes person to person and place to place. So, personality characteristic also has
great influence on buying Behaviour of the individuals.
4. Psychological Factors
The psychological factors have a great impression on our buying decision. These include the motivation,
perception, learning and belief. Every individual has different levels of motivation, perception and
different value and belief. The decision is made by individuals also varies as per values and belief. The
marketers need to understand their psychological factor and react accordingly.
a) Motivation
Motivation is the inner state which energizes, activate and direct the behaviour goals.
Abraham Maslow in his studies defined the 5 needs (Psychological, safety and security, social,
self-esteem and self- actualization). These are known as Maslow’s need hierarchy. This theory
explained that consumer behaviour is influenced by the unfulfilled needs.
b) Perception
People get the information through their five scenes. Perception is the process through which
the information is selected, organized and interpreted in a way that it will produce meaningful
experience. The consumer makes their buying decision on the bases of their needs, wants and
past experience.
c) Learning
Learning states the changes in the Behaviour of individuals arising out of the past experience.
The learning process occurs through the drives, stimuli, cues and response. Marketers need to
understand the learning process of consumer and formulate their policies.
Findings
The study of consumer behaviour tells us how the people make their choices while make any purchase decision.
It gives the answer of the question how consumers buy, when they buy, why they buy. All these answers depend
on the accuracy of knowledge about consumer Behaviour. The accurate knowledge means here the factors that
affect consumer Behaviour such as cultural, social, psychological, etc. The market experts and analyst need to
understand consumer choices and their pattern of purchases. The success merely depends on the strategy adopted
by the marketers by taking into consideration those factors which influence buyer Behaviour in any manner.
Conclusion
Consumer behaviour is complex in nature. The degree of difference in consumer preference depends upon the
involvement of consumers in the buying decision. The service providers in the market need to work as a
psychologist to induce the consumer. By keeping in mind the factors affecting buying behaviour can make
favourable and consumer oriented market. In the world of globalization the marketers need to be innovative and
understand consumer behaviour. Consumer buying pattern provides the invaluable clues and guidelines for the
marketers. These guidelines and clues are the gateway to success for the marketers.
References
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