Introduction

The study of consumers helps firms and organizations improve their marketing strategies
by understanding issues such as how

• The psychology of how consumers think, feel, reason, and select between
different alternatives (e.g., brands, products);
• The the psychology of how the consumer is influenced by his or her environment
(e.g., culture, family, signs, media);
• The behavior of consumers while shopping or making other marketing decisions;
• Limitations in consumer knowledge or information processing abilities influence
decisions and marketing outcome;
• How consumer motivation and decision strategies differ between products that
differ in their level of importance or interest that they entail for the consumer; and
• How marketers can adapt and improve their marketing campaigns and marketing
strategies to more effectively reach the consumer.

One "official" definition of consumer behavior is "The study of individuals, groups, or

organizations and the processes they use to select, secure, use, and dispose of products,
services, experiences, or ideas to satisfy needs and the impacts that these processes have
on the consumer and society." Although it is not necessary to memorize this definition, it
brings up some useful points:

• Behavior occurs either for the individual, or in the context of a group (e.g., friends
influence what kinds of clothes a person wears) or an organization (people on the
job make decisions as to which products the firm should use).
• Consumer behavior involves the use and disposal of products as well as the study
of how they are purchased. Product use is often of great interest to the marketer,
because this may influence how a product is best positioned or how we can
encourage increased consumption. Since many environmental problems result
from product disposal (e.g., motor oil being sent into sewage systems to save the
recycling fee, or garbage piling up at landfills) this is also an area of interest.
• Consumer behavior involves services and ideas as well as tangible products.

• The impact of consumer behavior on society is also of relevance. For example,

aggressive marketing of high fat foods, or aggressive marketing of easy credit,
may have serious repercussions for the national health and economy.

There are four main applications of consumer behavior:

• The most obvious is for marketing strategy—i.e., for making better marketing
campaigns. For example, by understanding that consumers are more receptive to
food advertising when they are hungry, we learn to schedule snack advertisements
late in the afternoon. By understanding that new products are usually initially
adopted by a few consumers and only spread later, and then only gradually, to the
 rest of the population, we learn that (1) companies that introduce new products
must be well financed so that they can stay afloat until their products become a
commercial success and (2) it is important to please initial customers, since they
will in turn influence many subsequent customers’ brand choices.
• A second application is public policy. In the 1980s, Accutane, a near miracle cure
for acne, was introduced. Unfortunately, Accutane resulted in severe birth defects
if taken by pregnant women. Although physicians were instructed to warn their
female patients of this, a number still became pregnant while taking the drug. To
get consumers’ attention, the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) took the step of
requiring that very graphic pictures of deformed babies be shown on the medicine
containers.
• Social marketing involves getting ideas across to consumers rather than selling
something. Marty Fishbein, a marketing professor, went on sabbatical to work for
the Centers for Disease Control trying to reduce the incidence of transmission of
diseases through illegal drug use. The best solution, obviously, would be if we
could get illegal drug users to stop. This, however, was deemed to be infeasible. It
was also determined that the practice of sharing needles was too ingrained in the
drug culture to be stopped. As a result, using knowledge of consumer attitudes,
Dr. Fishbein created a campaign that encouraged the cleaning of needles in bleach
before sharing them, a goal that was believed to be more realistic.
• As a final benefit, studying consumer behavior should make us better consumers.
Common sense suggests, for example, that if you buy a 64 liquid ounce bottle of
laundry detergent, you should pay less per ounce than if you bought two 32 ounce
bottles. In practice, however, you often pay a size premium by buying the larger
quantity. In other words, in this case, knowing this fact will sensitize you to the
need to check the unit cost labels to determine if you are really getting a bargain.

There are several units in the market that can be analyzed. Our main thrust in this course
is the consumer. However, we will also need to analyze our own firm’s strengths and
weaknesses and those of competing firms. Suppose, for example, that we make a product
aimed at older consumers, a growing segment. A competing firm that targets babies, a
shrinking market, is likely to consider repositioning toward our market. To assess a
competing firm’s potential threat, we need to examine its assets (e.g., technology, patents,
market knowledge, awareness of its brands) against pressures it faces from the market.
Finally, we need to assess conditions (the marketing environment). For example,
although we may have developed a product that offers great appeal for consumers, a
recession may cut demand dramatically.
Consumer behavior

Consumer behavior invented by arpit aggarwal(in consumer business context) referred

to as the study of when, why, how, where and what people do or do not buy products.[1] It
blends elements from psychology, sociology,social , anthropology and economics. It
attempts to understand the buyer decision making process, both individually and in
groups. It studies characteristics of individual consumers such as demographics and
behavioral variables in an attempt to understand people's wants. It also tries to assess
influences on the consumer from groups such as family, friends, reference groups, and
society in general. Customer behaviour study is based on consumer buying behaviour,
with the customer playing the three distinct roles of user, payer and buyer. Relationship
marketing is an influential asset for customer behaviour analysis as it has a keen interest
in the re-discovery of the true meaning of marketing through the re-affirmation of the
importance of the customer or buyer. A greater importance is also placed on consumer
retention, customer relationship management, personalisation, customisation and one-to-
one marketing. Social functions can be categorized into social choice and welfare
functions. Each method for vote counting is assumed as a social function but if Arrow’s
possibility theorem is used for a social function, social welfare function is achieved.
Some specifications of the social functions are decisiveness, neutrality, anonymity,
monotonocity, unanimity, homogeneity and weak and strong Pareto optimality. No social
choice function meets these requirements in an ordinal scale simultaneously. The most
important characteristic of a social function is identification of the interactive effect of
alternatives and creating a logical relation with the ranks. Marketing provides services in
order to satisfy customers. With that in mind, the productive system is considered from
its beginning at the production level, to the end of the cycle, the consumer (Kioumarsi et
al., 2009).

Belch and Belch define consumer behavior as 'the process and activities people engage in
when searching for, selecting, purchasing, using, evaluating, and disposing of products
and services so as to satisfy their needs and desires'.'
Contents

• 1 Black box model

• 2 Information search
• 3 Information evaluation
• 4 Purchase decision
• 5 Postpurchase evaluation
• 6 Internal influences
• 7 External influences
• 8 Further reading
• 9 References

• 10 External links

[edit] Black box model

ENVIRONMENTAL
BUYER'S BLACK BOX
FACTORS BUYER'S
Marketing Environmental Buyer Decision RESPONSE
Stimuli Stimuli Characteristics Process
Problem
recognition
Economic Attitudes Information
Product choice
Product Technological Motivation search
Brand choice
Price Political Perceptions Alternative
Dealer choice
Place Cultural Personality evaluation
Purchase timing
Promotion Demographic Lifestyle Purchase
Purchase amount
Natural Knowledge decision
Post-purchase
behaviour

The black box model shows the interaction of stimuli, consumer characteristics, decision
process and consumer responses.[1] It can be distinguished between interpersonal stimuli
(between people) or intrapersonal stimuli (within people).[2] The black box model is
related to the black box theory of behaviourism, where the focus is not set on the
processes inside a consumer, but the relation between the stimuli and the response of the
consumer. The marketing stimuli are planned and processed by the companies, whereas
the environmental stimulus are given by social factors, based on the economical, political
and cultural circumstances of a society. The buyers black box contains the buyer
characteristics and the decision process, which determines the buyers response.

The black box model considers the buyers response as a result of a conscious, rational
decision process, in which it is assumed that the buyer has recognized the problem.
However, in reality many decisions are not made in awareness of a determined problem
by the consumer.

Information search

Once the consumer has recognised a problem, they search for information on products
and services that can solve that problem. Belch and Belch (2007) explain that consumers
undertake both an internal (memory) and an external search.

Sources of information include:

• Personal sources
• Commercial sources
• Public sources
• Personal experience

The relevant internal psychological process that is associated with information search is
perception. Perception is defined as 'the process by which an individual receives, selects,
organizes, and interprets information to create a meaningful picture of the world'

The selective perception process

Stage Description

- Selective exposure consumers select which promotional messages they will expose
themselves to.
- Selective attention consumers select which promotional messages they will pay
attention to
- Selective comprehension consumer interpret messages in line with their beliefs,
attitudes, motives and experiences
- Selective retention consumers remember messages that are more meaningful or
important to them

The implications of this process help develop an effective promotional strategy, and
select which sources of information are more effective for the brand.CV

Information evaluation

At this time the consumer compares the brands and products that are in their evoked set.
How can the marketing organization increase the likelihood that their brand is part of the
consumer's evoked (consideration) set? Consumers evaluate alternatives in terms of the
functional and psychological benefits that they offer. The marketing organization needs
to understand what benefits consumers are seeking and therefore which attributes are
most important in terms of making a decision.
Purchase decision

Once the alternatives have been evaluated, the consumer is ready to make a purchase
decision. Sometimes purchase intention does not result in an actual purchase. The
marketing organization must facilitate the consumer to act on their purchase intention.
The provision of credit or payment terms may encourage purchase, or a sales promotion
such as the opportunity to receive a premium or enter a competition may provide an
incentive to buy now. The relevant internal psychological process that is associated with
purchase decision is integration.

Postpurchase evaluation

It is common for customers to experience concerns after making a purchase decision.

This arises from a concept that is known as “cognitive dissonance”. The customer, having
bought a product, may feel that an alternative would have been preferable. In these
circumstances that customer will not repurchase immediately, but is likely to switch
brands next time.

To manage the post-purchase stage, it is the job of the marketing team to persuade the
potential customer that the product will satisfy his or her needs. Then after having made a
purchase, the customer should be encouraged that he or she has made the right decision.

Internal influences

Consumer behaviour is influenced by: demographics, psychographics (lifestyle),

personality, motivation, knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and feelings. consumer behaviour
concern with consumer need consumer actions in the direction of satisfing needs leads to
his behaviour behaviour of every individuals depend on thinking process

External influences

Consumer behaviour is influenced by: culture,sub-culture, locality, royalty, ethnicity,

family, social class, reference groups, lifestyle, and market mix factors.