Introduction:

Environmental factors, cultural factors(culture, sub cultures, social class), social factors(reference groups, family, rules and statuses),personal factors(age and stage in the life cycles, occupation, personality and self-concept),psychological factors, ,etc are the most important determinants of consumer buying behavior of branded furniture and generic furniture. In a society in which leisure and consumption have become increasingly central in the lives of individuals, the interior of a persons home may facilitate the pursuit of social goals and symbolize his or her status .Given the role, cost, and durability of furniture, one would assume that decisions about furniture are usually made after some search. However, little empirical information about consumer behavior related to furniture buying is available. Where does the average consumer gather information before buying? What sorts of criteria are used in the decision process. The focus of this study is to investigate consumers prepurchase search as well as the criteria used for selection of furniture. In addition, this study investigated whether consumers behavior and criteria varied by the consumers characteristics. Data were gathered from twenty furniture stores in Sylhet. Results indicated that consumers used 1 to 3 information sources and visited 1 to 8 stores. Information sources used most often were store visits, sales person, and friends/ relatives. There was a positive relationship between number of information sources used and education. Females used more sources than males. Findings from this research study can explain consumer search behavior for furniture as well as help change that behavior and benefit marketing managers. Research has included the type of sources people consult before making a purchase and the time spent on gathering information.

Furniture business in Bangladesh:

There is no any person who is not familiar with the term furniture. It is essential for every room. A room without furniture looks empty. Human has been using furniture from the time when he or she understood the necessity of furniture. Every person wants to decorate his room with furniture. There are used various furniture. Different furniture is used in different situation. Some furniture may be large, some may be medium, and some may be small. We can differentiate furniture like the following way: home furniture, office furniture, baby
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furniture. Home furniture may be table, chair, cot, Elmira, dressing table, dining table, dinner wagon, showcase, reading table, bed side cabinet, sofa set, fridge, rack. Office furniture may be chair, table, shoe rack, locker, cupboard, sofa set etc. Furniture is very necessary in our life. We need- cot for sleeping or taking rest on it, table and rack for keeping book on it. Chair and sofa set for sitting, Elmira and locker for keeping some secret and important things. Fridge for keeping food cold. In short furniture is used in every time in our life. Furniture is one of the rapid growing sectors in Bangladesh. The potentiality of this sector is increasing day by day. No doubt about it that furniture industries in our country contribute hugely to our overall economy. Most of our furniture companies follow their personal manufacturing systems and it is a good sign that shows progress of furniture industries in Bangladesh. This sector creates lots of employments in our country. More than 5 lack workers involve with this sectors directly and indirectly. Diversity of product portfolio is one of the key strengths of Bangladesh furniture industry. Furniture is one of the major sectors of exporting in our country. Furniture products: Furniture products can be classified based on the raw material by which it is made. Different kinds of furniture products are given below : Wooden furniture: wooden furniture is that furniture which is made by wood. Such as chair, , dining table, bed, bench, Elmira, sofa etc. All of furniture wooden is used mostly. Bamboo furniture: Bamboo furniture is book self, handicraft, and rack. Metal furniture: Metal furniture is bed, chair, table, sofa, computer desk, metal cot etc. Glass furniture: Tea table, dining table, showcase, aquarium etc. Plastic furniture: Plastic furniture is chair, table, dining table, plastic rack etc. Wicker furniture: Rocking chair, book self, and handicraft are wicker chair. Board furniture: Elmira, door, reception desk are made by board. Others: There is much furniture which is made by more than one raw material. Such as a chair is made by both metal and wood.

All of the above furniture products are classified into two segments .One is branded and rest one is Generic Furniture.

Exporting scope: Exporting scope refers to those place or market where we can export our furniture. At present furniture market is one of the most raising industry in Bangladesh. If we look at a glance in the some previous years we can see that, the amount of export in increasing rapidly and exporting scope is wide spread for Bangladesh. The most attractive exporting scope of furniture marketing is- USA, Philippine, Japan, Europe , South east Asia & India. It is the matter of great joy that Otobi a Bangladeshi company has its show room in Kolkata, Agortala and joypurhat. It is to be noted that recently a team of 7 members has come in Bangladesh from Philippine and they signed into an agreement to import wood, timber and furniture from Bangladesh. Export income: How much currency Bangladesh fetched in some previous years is given below- Achievement: For exporting furniture to the foreign country Bangladesh participated in international furniture fair in several times. Such as in 2005 Bangladesh participated in a fair in UK and also participated in Tokyo in 2006. in 2009 Bangladesh joined in a program named PANEL EXPO-2009 and that year Bangladesh won the best participation award.

On the other hand, general furniture shops play a significant role in our economy as most of the people of our country prefer generic furniture in maximum cases because of their limited income as well as it is easy to buy the generic furniture items from these shops because of reasonable price of the items. The consumers also have the opportunity to fulfill the own design for the desired items from the generic furniture shops. Thats why this shops are satisfying the middle level customers demand very strongly in our country.

Data Analysis:
We discussed with 50 consumers among them 40% said that they are highly satisfied,45% satisfied and 15% said that they are not satisfied for purchasing the branded items.

The selling rate of branded of branded items is increasing very rapidly day by day. By discussing with the customers we have found that in 2006 the selling rate of branded items is 20%,in 2007 it was 30%,in 2008 it was 10%,in 2009 it was 25%,in 2010 it was 50%.

Selling trends of branded items

60%
50% 40%

30%
20%

Selling trends of branded items

10% 0%
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

For purchasing the branded items 55% consumers are motivated by the personal factors,20% consumers are influenced by the environmental factors,15% consumers are influenced by the cultural factors,10% consumers are motivated by the psychological factors.

By discussing with the 50 consumers we have knew that most of the consumers are generally dependent on the generic furniture for the common products as it is easy for them to purchase the common products because of reasonable price but this is not true for all the items of branded furniture as these are expensive in maximum cases for the general consumers.

Determinants of consumer buying behavior:

Individual and Environmental Factors: There are a lot of factors that control the consumer behavior process. Most of these are quite impossible to influence for a marketer. Therefore they have to concentrate even more on the factors they can influence. The most important factor one can use to influence is perception. The stimuli that information gives is therefore the factor that initiate the process that leads to the consumer's decision. This makes it very important to formulate the message in the information in the best possible way. There are many major factors that influence a

consumer's buying behavior. Cultural factors: The broadest and deepest influence on consumer behavior is cultural factors. Roles played by culture, subculture and social class is of great importance. Culture: The most fundamental determinant of peoples wants and behavior is culture. While growing up one acquires values, perception, preferences and behaviors by looking, listening and learning from family, school, friends and so forth. Subcultures: Subcultures are smaller proportions of cultures that provide a more specific identification and socialization for its members. Examples of subcultures are: Nationalities, Religions, Racial groups and Geographic regions. The subculture identifications influence food preferences, recreation, career aspirations and more. Social Class: All human societies have some degree of social stratification. The most common is social class. "Social classes are relatively homogeneous and enduring divisions in a society, which are hierarchically ordered and whose members share similar values, interest, and behavior." Social class reflects income, occupation, education and area of residence. Other characteristics may be difference in the way people dress, speech patterns, recreational
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preferences and more. A cluster of characteristics indicates a person's social class. Social classes show distinct product and brand preferences in many areas. Examples of this are home furnishing, clothing, and automobiles. Media preferences also differ. Upper class prefers magazines and books whereas lower class likes television. Social factors: In addition to cultural factors reference groups, family, roles and statues influence consumer behaviour. Reference Groups: A number of groups influence buyer's behavior. Groups that direct influence behaviors and attitudes are called membership groups. Primary groups are family, friends, co-workers and so forth. In the Secondary groups are people with a more formal interaction. The group includes organisations like trade unions, religious groups and professional associations. Group pressure influences attitudes and behavior much. Family: A person's family is the utter most influential reference group. One can divide the family into two groups. The family of orientation deals with the influence that parents have had on their Forming and changing of Consumer Attitudes and Behavior siblings during the upbringing When talking about the family of procreation one mean the influence people who live together have on each other. Husband and wife influence the buying of different products in different ways. Roles and Statuses: Role and status define a person's position in each group. Roles activities that a person is expected to perform. Each role carries a status. Some products are considered to be status symbols, like Rolls Royce. Personal factors: The decision to buy is also influenced by personal characteristics such as age, stages in the life cycle, occupation, economic circumstances, lifestyle, personality and self-concept.

Age and Stages in the Life Cycle: The taste in clothes, furniture, recreation and the need for different kinds of food, services is age related. The consumption is also shaped by the family life cycle. The family's financial situation and product interest have impact on the buying behavior. Psychological life cycle stages transformations through life such as marriage and divorce. Occupation: Occupation influences a person's consumption pattern. Managers buy suits. Carpenters buy working clothes. Therefore marketers try to find the occupational groups who have above average interest in their product. Four major factors influence the buying choice - motivation, perception, learning and beliefs and attitudes. Motivation: Individuals have many needs at any given time. Physiological needs (Maslow's Theory of Motivation)like food and shelter is motivated by survival. Social and esteem needs like sense of belonging and recognition is not intense enough to motivate a person immediately. It becomes a motive when the need is aroused to a sufficient level of intensity. Perception: When a person is motivated he/she is ready to act. How one acts is influenced by ones perception of the situation. "Perception is the process by which an individual selects, organizes and interprets information inputs to create a meaningful picture of the world."Physical stimuli as well as stimuli's to the surrounding field and conditions within the individual influences also the perception. Learning: When people act, they learn. "Learning involves changes in an individual's behavior arising from experience."Human behavior is mostly learned. Learning is produced by interplay of drives, stimuli, cues, responses and reinforcement.

Beliefs and Attitudes: By doing and learning one acquire beliefs and attitudes. "A belief is a descriptive thought that a person holds about something.""An attitude is a person's enduring or favourable evaluations, emotional feelings and action tendencies toward some object or idea. Attitudes make people act in a fairly consistent way toward similar objects or situations. In order to change one single attitude one often has to make major adjustments in a lot of attitudes. Consequently it is difficult to change attitudes. Concerning to the problem formulation it is important to have a closer look on attitudes. Lifestyle: Even people coming from the same subcultures, social class and occupation can lead to different lifestyles. "A person's lifestyle is the person's pattern of living in the world as expressed in the person's activities, interests and opinions." Personality and Self-concept: Every individual has a distinct personality that influences his/her buying behaviour. Personality characteristics are: Self-confidence. Dominance. Autonomy. Sociability. Defensiveness. Adaptability. Personality is a useful variable when analyzing consumer behavior. Self-concept (Self-image) is related to personality. This often differ from the actual self-concept (How one views oneself.) and others-self-concept (How one thinks others see oneself).

Psychological factors: This factor is one of the most interesting and important factors for marketers. Attitudes toward a company create a company image. People tend to act according to these patterns when buying. Hence, a strong company image gives good business. Depending on the type of product a consumer wants to buy, the buying behavior varies. Expensive, complex products that a consumer does not buy frequently calls for high involvement decisions. The consumer actively seeks information and learns about the different characteristics. Nowadays this searching process is facilitated through new technologies, especially the Internet. Consumers have better access to information about products, prices and services which allow an easier comparison between different competitors.

Findings:
1. Why consumers choose branded furniture: There Are several points for choosing branded furniture .They are as follows Brand image of the product Quality of the product Status of the consumers Lifestyle Advertisement Impact of satellite channels Assurance of the product Attractive design of the product Easy of Maintenance

2.Why consumers choose generic furniture:

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There Are several points for choosing generic furniture .They are as follows Cheap price Local product Tradition Availability Opportunity of self design Income level

3.Problems of furniture business: The major problems are given below: Inadequate supply of production technology. Lack of consultancy services. Limited access to quality inputs. Absence of skilled work force. Limitations in local and international marketing strategy. Problems in distributing the furniture products. Shortage of raw materials. Inadequate supply of production technology. Limited access to quality inputs. Limitations in local and international marketing strategy. Problems in distributing the furniture products. Shortage of raw materials.

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Recommendation:
The recommendations are given below: To have an effective promotion strategy and good branding. Improving finishing and packaging quality. Improving the image of Bangladesh on the social and environmental issues. Increasing the design capacity in the country. Branding of Bangladeshi furniture. Allowing an exportation development plant.

Conclusion:
The aim of our essay was to give a view on consumer behavior, especially showing how attitudes are formed and changed and what are the most important factors which influence this behavior of consumers .We explored and analyzed the forming and changing of attitudes when consumers are likely to devote a lot of effort to processing information and making decisions. When the information from companies reach a supposed customer, the decision and evaluation process begins. By a complex interaction between the individual factors (Personal and Psychological factors), environmental factors (Cultural and Social factors),and the marketing attitudes. mix, the consumer evaluate the stimuli. The stimuli is influencing the

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