Consumer Behaviour

Subject Code: MK

0011

Revised Edition: Spring 2010

BKID

B1722

Sikkim Manipal University

Directorate of Distance Education
Department of Management Studies
Board of Studies
Chairman
HOD Management and Commerce
SMU DDE

Mr. Pankaj Khanna

Director
HR, Fidelity Mutual Fund

Additional Registrar
SMU DDE

Mr. Shankar Jagannathan

Former Group Treasurer
Wipro Technologies Limited

Dean
SMU DDE

Mr. Abraham Mathew

Chief Financial Officer
Infosys BPO

Dr. T. V. Narasimha Rao

Adjunct Faculty and Advisor
SMU DDE

Ms. Sadhna Dash

Senior HR Consultant
Bangalore

Prof. K. V. Varambally
Director
Manipal Institute of Management, Manipal
Originally Prepared by:
Mr. SHH Hazmi
For Excel Books
Revised Edition: Spring 2010
Printed: October 2012
This book is a distance education module comprising a collection of learning
materials for our students. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be
reproduced in any form by any means without permission in writing from Sikkim
Manipal University, Gangtok, Sikkim. Printed and Published on behalf of Sikkim
Manipal University, Gangtok, Sikkim by Manipal Global Education Services
Manipal 576 104. Printed at Manipal Technologies Limited, Manipal.

Content Revised and Updated by

Ms. Shaguna Sinha did her Masters in Management from Siva Sivani Institute of
Management, Hyderabad, securing two proficiency gold medals. She has had
varied work experience which includes more than five years in academia, five years
working in leading firms in the areas of Project (Organization Restructuring)
Coordination and Market Research, and three years as an entrepreneur. Owing to
her love for academics, she continues to contribute as a Subject Matter Expert,
specializing in Marketing Management, Services Marketing, Retail Management,
Sales and Distribution, International Marketing, Principles of Management, Business
Ethics, Human Resource Management, Leadership.
Peer Reviewers Profile
Prof. Sunanda Easwaran, belongs primarily to the discipline of Marketing. She
joined Wellingkar Institute of Management and Research, Bangalore in March 2011,
after having spent seven years with IBS (formerly ICFAI Business School, Mumbai),
and 19 years with NMIMS, Mumbai. She held the position of Dean in both the
institutions. Her industry experience of 14 years includes working in reputed
organizations like Sandoz India Ltd. and Johnson and Johnson Ltd. She headed the
Marketing Research Department in both the organizations.
Dr. Sunanda Easwaran holds a Masters degree in Statistics from Lucknow
University, followed by PGDM from IIM Calcutta. Her Ph.D. in Management from
Mumbai University straddles Marketing and Entrepreneurship. She has published /
presented more than 30 papers in various journals and national and international
conferences, including the reputed Babson Annual conference on Entrepreneurship
at Babson College, Boston.
Dr. Sunanda Easwaran is the author of two books, and her book on "Marketing
Research", now going into its second edition, has been very well accepted in
academic circles. She is on the panel of reviewers for three refereed journals. She
is a specialist in subjects like General Marketing, Marketing Research, Marketing
Strategy, Consumer Behaviour, Brand Management.
In House Content Review Team
Dr. Sudhakar G. P.
HOD
Department of Management Studies
SMU DDE

Ms. Hema Janarthanan

Assistant Professor
Department of Management Studies
SMU DDE

Contents
Unit 1
Introduction to Consumer Behaviour and
Consumer Research

Unit 2
Marketing Segmentation and Positioning

29

Unit 3
Consumer Motivation

58

Unit 4
Consumer Personality

84

Unit 5
Consumer Perception

111

Unit 6
Consumer Learning, Memory and Involvement

140

Unit 7
Consumer Attitudes

177

Unit 8
Consumer Behaviour and Marketing Communications

204

Unit 9
Cultural Influences on Consumer Behaviour

236

Unit 10
Social Class and Group Influences on
Consumer Behaviour

268

Unit 11
Diffusion of Innovation

303

Unit 12
Situational Influence on Consumers Decision and
the Decision Models

325

Unit 13
Consumer Decision Making Process Problem
Recognition, Information Search and Evaluation of
Alternatives

349

Unit 14
Consumer Decision Making Process: Outlet Selection,
Purchase and Post Purchase Behaviour
373
Unit 15
Organisational Buying Behaviour

395

MK 0011
Consumer Behaviour
SUBJECT INTRODUCTION
Consumer Behaviour (MK 0011)
It was during the 1950s, that marketing concept developed, and thus the
need to study the behaviour of consumers was recognised. Marketing starts
with the needs of the customer and ends with his satisfaction. When every
thing revolves round the customer, then the study of consumer behaviour
becomes significant. The study of consumer behavior clarifies the reasons
why consumers differ from one another in buying & using the products and
services. This course attempts to answer the questions like What we buy,
how we buy, where and when we buy, in how much quantity we buy. All
these activities are depends on our perception, self-concept, social and
cultural background and our age and family cycle, our attitudes, beliefs,
values, motivation, personality, social class and many other factors that are
both internal and external to us. Our behaviour, as consumers, has
important implications for marketers, economy, society, and our
environment.
Marketers are particularly interested in watching people shopping, parading,
playing, entertaining, etc. They are keen to understand as much as they can
about the wide variety of behaviour that consumers display. It is critically
important for marketers to decide a suitable marketing strategy and develop
a blend of marketing mix elements so that they may influence consumers'
behaviour towards the product.
Actually, consumers do not buy "goods and services" but the desired
benefits that these goods or services are expected to deliver. The course
deals with consumers' internal and external factors that include
psychological, cultural, social, situational influences, and decision-making
process. All these factors influence when, how and where these goods and
services may be bought, consumed and subsequently disposed of. This
course also highlights the decision making process of the consumers that

includes a series of stages from problem recognition to the post purchase

behaviour.
In this SLM you will be introduced to the subject of consumer behaviour.
This courseware comprises 15 units. A brief description of the units is given
below:
Unit 1: Introduction to Consumer Behaviour and Consumer Research
Defines consumer behaviour; differentiates between consumers and
customers and buyers, users and organisational buyers; explains the
development of marketing concept; discusses the applications of consumer
behaviour in marketing and summarizes the steps in consumer research
process.
Unit 2: Marketing Segmentation and Positioning
Lists the requisites for effective segmentation; discusses the bases for
segmentation; tells what positioning means; discusses the positioning
strategy and states the positioning approaches and common errors in
positioning.
Unit 3: Consumer Motivation
Discusses the concept of need and goals; identifies forms of motivational
conflicts; states the defense mechanisms; explains the concept of motive
arousal; paraphrases the motivational theories and discusses the concept of
motivational research.
Unit 4: Consumer Personality
Describes self-concept; paraphrases the personality theories; states the
dimensions of brand personality and discusses the concept of emotions.
Unit 5: Consumer Perception
Discusses the concepts of sensation, perceptual selection and perceptual
organization; identifies the factors that distort consumer perception; explains
consumer price perceptions; states the factors influencing consumers
product and service quality and lists the risks associated with purchase and
ways to deal with them.
Unit 6: Consumer Learning, Memory and Involvement
Recognises the components of learning; discusses the behavioural and
cognitive learning theories; explains the important memory concepts and
memory process; identifies the types of consumer behaviour based on the

level of involvement; paraphrases the cognitive response model, elaboration

likelihood model and social judgement model and states the concepts of
brand loyalty and brand equity.
Unit 7: Consumer Attitudes
States the functions of attitudes; discusses the models of attitude; identifies
the factors that inhibit relationship between beliefs, feelings and behaviour;
explains how attitude are learnt and changed and discusses attitude change
strategies.
Unit 8: Consumer Behaviour and Marketing Communications
Discusses the marketing communication flows and process; explains the
concept of interpersonal and persuasive communications; discusses various
aspects related to source and message used in communication; identifies
message appeals used in advertisements and states the importance of
feedback and ways to measure types of feedback.
Unit 9: Cultural Influences on Consumer Behaviour
Identifies the characteristics of culture; states the significance of cultural
values; classifies various sub-cultures; discusses the cross-cultural
influences on consumer behaviour and evaluates the importance of nonverbal elements in culture.
Unit 10: Social Class and Group Influences on Consumer Behaviour
Evaluates the influence of social class on consumer behaviour; discusses
the affects of group influence on consumer behaviour; identifies the role of
family in decision-making; states the relevance of word-of-mouth
communications and assesses the role of opinion leaders.
Unit 11: Diffusion of Innovation
Lists the types of innovations; discusses the diffusion of innovation process
and factors affecting diffusion; identifies the stages in consumer adoption
process, and barriers in adoption and explains the role of time, culture and
communication in diffusion of innovation.
Unit 12: Situational Influence on Consumers Decision and the
Decision Models
Identifies the nature of situational influence; assesses the situational
variables; states the types of consumer decisions and discusses the
consumer decision-making models.

Unit 13: Consumer Decision-making Process Problem Recognition,

Information Search and Evaluation of Alternatives
Explains common situations that lead to problem recognition; Different
choice of Strategies to handle the problem; discusses various aspects
related to consumers information search and states how consumers
evaluate various alternatives.
Unit 14: Consumer Decision-making Process: Outlet Selection,
Purchase and Post Purchase Behaviour
Discusses how consumers make outlet selection and purchases and
evaluates the post purchase behaviour of consumers and corresponding
marketing strategies.
Unit 15: Organisational Buying Behaviour
Recognises organisational buyer characteristics; identifies the purchase and
demand patterns of organizations; discusses the factors affecting
organisational buying behaviour; summarizes the organisational buying
decision process and classifies the organisational buying roles.
Objectives of studying the subject
After studying this subject, you will be able to:
State the basic concept of consumer behaviour and consumer research.
Explain the concepts of market segmentation and positioning.
Discuss the role of marketing communications with respect to consumer
behaviour.
Identify the internal factors influencing consumer behaviour
Identify the external factors influencing consumer behaviour
Interpret the situational influence on consumers consumers decision
and its models.
State the concept of diffusion of innovation
Paraphrase the stages in consumer decision-making process
Explain the behaviour of organisations as consumers