Consumer behaviour and factors influencing buyer behavior

Consumer behaviour is an attempt to understand & predict human actions in the buying role. It has
assumed growing importance under market-oriented or customer oriented marketing planning &
management. Consumer behaviour is defined as “all psychological, social & physical behaviour of
potential customers as they become aware of, evaluate, purchase, consume, & tell others about
product & services”.

• Each element in this definition is important.

• Consumer behaviour involves both individual (psychological) processes & group (social
processes).
• Consumer behavior is reflected from awareness right through post-purchase evaluation
indicating satisfaction or non-satisfaction, from purchases
• Consumer behaviour includes communication, purchasing & consumption behaviour
• Consumer behaviour is basically social in nature. Hence social environment plays an important
role in shaping buyer behaviour.
• Consumer behaviour includes both consumer & business buyer behaviour

In consumer behaviour we consider not only why, how, & what people buy but other factors such as
where , how often, and under what conditions the purchase is made. An understanding of the buyer
behaviour is essential in marketing planning & programmes. In the final analysis buyer behaviour is
one of the most important keys to successful marketing.

MAJOR FACTORS INFLUENCING BUYER BEHAVIOUR

CULTURAL FACTORS
Cultural factors exert the broadest and deepest influence on consumer behavior. The roles played by
the buyers culture, sub culture and social class are particularly important.

• CULTURE- Culture is the most fundamental determinant of a person’s wants and behavior.
The growing child acquires a set of values, perceptions, preferences, and behavior through his
or hr family or other key institutions.
• SUB-CULTURE- Sub-culture includes nationalities, religions, racial groups, and geographical
regions. Many sub-cultures make up important market segments, and marketers often design
marketing programs tailored to their needs.
• SOCIAL CLASS- Social classes are relatively homogenous and enduring divisions in a
society, which are hierarchically ordered and whose members share similar values, interests,
and behavior. Social classes do not reflect income alone but also other indicators such as
occupation, education, and area of residence.

SOCIAL FACTORS

• REFERNCE GROUPS- A Person’s reference groups consist of all the groups that have a
direct or indirect influence on the person’s attitudes or behavior. Groups having direct
influence on a person are called membership groups.
• FAMILY- The family is the most important consumer buying organization in society, and has
been researched extensively. Family members constitute the most influential primary reference
group.
• ROLE AND STATUSES- A person’s position in each group that he participates throughout
his life –family, clubs, and organizations can be defined in terms of role and status. A role
consist of activities that a person is expected to perform. Each role carries a status. Marketers
are aware of the status symbol potential of products and brands.

PERSONAL FACTORS

A buyer’s decisions are also influenced by personal characteristics. These include the buyer’s age &
stage in the life cycle, occupation, economic circumstances, lifestyle, personality & self concept.

• AGE & STAGE IN THE LIFE CYCLE- People buy different goods & services over their
lifetime. They eat baby food in the early years, most foods in the growing & mature years &
special diets in the later years. People’s taste in clothes, furniture & recreation is also age
related.
• OCCUPATION- A person’s occupation also influences his or her consumption pattern.
Marketers try to identify the occupational groups that have above – average interest in their
products and services. A company can even specialize its products for certain occupational
groups.
• ECONOMIC CIRCUMCTANCES- Product choices are greatly affected by one’s economic
circumstances. Economic stability consist of their spend able income (its level, stability
andtime pattern), saving and assets (including the percentage that is liquid), debts , borrowing
power, attitude toward spending versus saving.
• LIFESTYLE- People coming from the same subculture, social class & occupation may lead
quite different lifestyles. A person’s lifestyles the person’s pattern of living in the world as
expressed in the persons activities, interests & opinions.
• PERSONALITY AND SELF-CONCEPT- Each person has a distinct personality that
influences his or her buying behavior. By personality, we mean a person’s distinguishing
psychological characteristics that lead to relatively consistent and enduring responses to his or
 her environment. Personality can be a useful variable in analyzing consumer behavior,
provided that personality type can be classified accurately and that strong correlations exist
between certain personality types and product or brand choices.

PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS

A person’s buying choices are influenced by four major psychological factors-motivations, perception,
learning, beliefs and attitudes.

• MOTIVATION- A person has many needs at any given time. A need becomes motive when it
is aroused to a sufficient level of intensity. Motivational researchers hold that each product is
capable of arousing a unique set of motive in consumers.
• LEARNING- When people act they learn. Learning involves changes in an individual’s
behavior arising from experience. Learning theory teaches marketers that they can build up
demand for a product by associating it with strong drives, using motivating cues and providing
positive reinforcement.
• PERCEPTION- Perception is the process by which an individual selects, organizes, &
interprets information inputs to create a meaningful picture of the world. A motivated person is
ready to act. How the motivated person actually acts is influenced by his or her perception of
the situation.
• BELIEFS & ATTITUDES- A belief is a descriptive thought that a person holds about
something. Through doing & learning, people acquire beliefs & attitudes. These in turn
influence their buying behavior. Particularly important to global marketers is the fact that
buyers often hold distinct disbeliefs about brands or products based on their country of origin.
An attitude is person’s enduring favorable or unfavorable evaluations, emotional feelings, and
action tendencies towards some object or idea. People have attitude toward almost everything:
religion, politics, clothes, music, food, and so on. Attitude put them into a frame of mind of
liking or disliking an object , moving toward or away from it.