1. What is mean by consumer behaviour?

Consumer behaviour deals with the psychological process of decision making by consumers in a social context which also exerts group pressures on them. According to Walter and Paul, consumer behaviour is the process whereby individuals decide whether, what, when, where, how and from whom to purchase goods and services. !n this process, the consumer deliberates within himself before he makes any purchase decisions. "he buying behaviour involves several psychological factors like# individual thinking process $motivation, personality, perception and attitude%, decision making process in marketing, interaction of the consumer with several groups like friends, family and colleagues $group oriented concepts% and selection of the brand and outlet depending on price and features and emotional appeal $marketing mix elements in a given environment%. Consumer behaviour may be influenced by both internal and external influences. !nternal influences are# demographics, psychographics $lifestyle%, personality, motivation, knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and feelings. Again external influences are# culture, ethnicity, family, social class, reference groups, and market mix factors.

Consumer behaviour is the study of individuals, groups, or organi&ations and the processes they use to select, secure, and dispose of products, services, experiences, or ideas to satisfy needs and the impacts that these processes have on the consumer and society. !t blends elements from psychology, sociology, social anthropology and economics. !t attempts to understand the decision'making processes of buyers, both individually and in groups. !t studies characteristics of individual consumers such as demographics and behavioral variables in an attempt to understand people(s wants. !t also tries to assess influences on the consumer from groups such as family, friends, reference groups, and society in general. "he term consumer behaviour is defined as the behaviour that consumer display in searching for, purchasing using, evaluating and disposing of products and services that they expect will satisfy their needs. ) Consumer behaviour focuses on how individuals make decisions to spend their available resources $time, money, effort% on consumption'related items that includes what they buy, why they buy, when they buy it, where they buy it, how often they buy it, how often they use it, how they evaluate it after the purchase and the impact of such evaluations on future purchases, and how they dispose of it. ) "wo different kinds of consuming entities# the personal consumer and the organi&ational consumer.

Consumer *ehaviour is a branch which deals with the various stages a consumer goes through before purchasing products or services for his end use. Why do you think an individual buys a product+ A. ,eed *. -ocial -tatus C. .ifting Purpose Why do you think an individual does not buy a product+ A. ,o re/uirement *. !ncome0*udget01inancial constraints C. "aste When do you think consumers purchase products+ A. 1estive season *. *irthday C. Anniversary 2. 3arriage or other special occasions "here are infact several factors which influence buying decision of a consumer ranging from psychological, social, and economic and so on. "he study of consumer behaviour explains as to# A. Why and why not a consumer buys a product+ *. When a consumer buys a product+ C. 4ow a consumer buys a product + 2uring Christmas, the buying tendencies of consumers increase as compared to other months. !n the same way during 5alentines week, individuals are often seen purchasing gifts for their partners. 1luctuations in the financial markets and recession decrease the buying capacity of individuals. "he modern marketing management tries to solve the basic problems of consumers in the area of consumption. "o survive in the market, a firm has to be constantly innovating and understand the latest consumer needs and tastes. !t will be extremely useful in exploiting marketing opportunities and in meeting the challenges that the !ndian market offers. !t is important for the marketers to understand the buyer behaviour due to the following reasons. A. "he study of consumer behaviour for any product is of vital importance to marketers in shaping the fortunes of their organisations. *. !t is significant for regulating consumption of goods and thereby maintaining economic stability. C. !t is useful in developing ways for the more efficient utilisation of resources of marketing. !t also helps in solving marketing management problems in more effective manner. 2. "oday consumers give more importance on environment friendly products. "hey are concerned about health, hygiene and fitness. "hey prefer natural products. 4ence detailed study on upcoming groups of consumers is essential for any firm. 6. "he growth of consumer protection movement has created an urgent need to understand how consumers make their consumption and buying decision.

1. Consumers7 tastes and preferences are ever changing. -tudy of consumer behaviour gives information regarding colour, design, si&e etc. which consumers want. !n short, consumer behaviour helps in formulating of production policy. .. 1or effective market segmentation and target marketing, it is essential to have an understanding of consumers and their behaviour.

2. Definitions of consumer behavior?

"he study of individuals, groups, or organi&ations and the processes they use to select, secure, and dispose of products, services, experiences, or ideas to satisfy needs8 and the impacts that these processes have on the consumer and society. "hrough the application of sociology, psychology and demographics, marketers can begin to understand why consumers form attitudes and make decisions to purchase. Consumer'behavior studies inform marketers, advertisers and public agencies how product and service selection is influenced by personality, perception, values and beliefs. 1or marketing, these influences are studied in the context of demographics, which includes ethnicity, age, marital status, si&e of family, income, education and employment.

Consumer *ehaviour is a branch which deals with the various stages a consumer goes through before purchasing products or services for his end use.

Consumer behaviour is the study of individuals, groups, or organi&ations and the processes they use to select, secure, and dispose of products, services, experiences, or ideas to satisfy needs and the impacts that these processes have on the consumer and society.!t blends elements from psychology, sociology, social anthropology and economics. !t attempts to understand the decision'making processes of buyers, both individually and in groups. !t studies characteristics of individual consumers such as demographics and behavioural variables in an attempt to understand people(s wants. !t also tries to assess influences on the consumer from groups such as family, friends, reference groups, and society in general.

3 .Factors influencing consumer consumer behaviour?

Internal Factors !nternal factors''also called personal factors''represent the consumer(s ability to benefit directly from the product in /uestion. A person(s motivation to purchase or consume any given product is an internal factor, and it may rely on a person(s desire to achieve goals related to other internal and external factors. Perception greatly determines a consumer(s behavior, allowing them to 9ustify one action or another based on the perceived outcomes. :se of perception to motivate a consumer can be as simple as showing young and attractive people who are obviously very happy and successful and who are using the product in /uestion. External Factors -ocial norms are a prominent external factor influencing consumer behavior. "he prevalence of brand'name clothing or new trends in design and fashion, for example, affects what any individual consumer will choose for themselves. Cultural values are an increasingly tapped factor in influencing consumers. Advertising campaigns that boast American'made or sweatshop'free products are a common example. -ome companies have begun to include such ideals not only in their advertising but also as an aspect of the products themselves. -ome examples of the inclusion of cultural values in ownership of a product include "om(s -hoes, who donate a pair of shoes to children for every pair of shoes purchased, and the Purina ;ne 4ope ,etwork, which donates a portion of profits from pet food sales to pet adoption efforts. !n those cases, consumers are not only purchasing a product but also engaging in social activism.

Consumer behavior refers to the selection, purchase and consumption of goods and services for the satisfaction of their wants. "here are different processes involved in the consumer behavior. !nitially the consumer tries to find what commodities he would like to consume, then he selects only those commodities that promise greater utility. After selecting the commodities, the consumer makes an estimate of the available money which he can spend. <astly, the consumer analy&es the prevailing prices of commodities and takes the decision about the commodities he should consume. 3eanwhile, there are various other factors influencing the purchases of consumer such as social, cultural, personal and psychological. "he explanation of these factors is given below. =. Cultural 1actors Consumer behavior is deeply influenced by cultural factors such as# buyer culture, subculture, and social class. > Culture

*asically, culture is the part of every society and is the important cause of person wants and behavior. "he influence of culture on buying behavior varies from country to country therefore marketers have to be very careful in analy&ing the culture of different groups, regions or even countries. > -ubculture 6ach culture contains different subcultures such as religions, nationalities, geographic regions, racial groups etc. 3arketers can use these groups by segmenting the market into various small portions. 1or example marketers can design products according to the needs of a particular geographic group. > -ocial Class 6very society possesses some form of social class which is important to the marketers because the buying behavior of people in a given social class is similar. !n this way marketing activities could be tailored according to different social classes. 4ere we should note that social class is not only determined by income but there are various other factors as well such as# wealth, education, occupation etc. ?. -ocial 1actors -ocial factors also impact the buying behavior of consumers. "he important social factors are# reference groups, family, role and status. > @eference .roups @eference groups have potential in forming a person attitude or behavior. "he impact of reference groups varies across products and brands. 1or example if the product is visible such as dress, shoes, car etc then the influence of reference groups will be high. @eference groups also include opinion leader $a person who influences other because of his special skill, knowledge or other characteristics%. > 1amily *uyer behavior is strongly influenced by the member of a family. "herefore marketers are trying to find the roles and influence of the husband, wife and children. !f the buying decision of a particular product is influenced by wife then the marketers will try to target the women in their advertisement. 4ere we should note that buying roles change with change in consumer lifestyles. > @oles and -tatus 6ach person possesses different roles and status in the society depending upon the groups, clubs, family, organi&ation etc. to which he belongs. 1or example a woman is working in an organi&ation as finance manager. ,ow she is playing two roles, one of finance manager and other of mother. "herefore her buying decisions will be influenced by her role and status. A. Personal 1actors Personal factors can also affect the consumer behavior. -ome of the important personal factors that influence the buying behavior are# lifestyle, economic situation, occupation, age, personality and self concept. > Age Age and life'cycle have potential impact on the consumer buying behavior. !t is obvious that the consumers change the purchase of goods and services with the passage of time. 1amily life'cycle consists of different stages such young singles, married couples, unmarried couples etc which help marketers to develop appropriate products for each stage.

> ;ccupation "he occupation of a person has significant impact on his buying behavior. 1or example a marketing manager of an organi&ation will try to purchase business suits, whereas a low level worker in the same organi&ation will purchase rugged work clothes. > 6conomic -ituation Consumer economic situation has great influence on his buying behavior. !f the income and savings of a customer is high then he will purchase more expensive products. ;n the other hand, a person with low income and savings will purchase inexpensive products. > <ifestyle <ifestyle of customers is another import factor affecting the consumer buying behavior. <ifestyle refers to the way a person lives in a society and is expressed by the things in his0her surroundings. !t is determined by customer interests, opinions, activities etc and shapes his whole pattern of acting and interacting in the world. > Personality Personality changes from person to person, time to time and place to place. "herefore it can greatly influence the buying behavior of customers. Actually, Personality is not what one wears8 rather it is the totality of behavior of a man in different circumstances. !t has different characteristics such as# dominance, aggressiveness, self'confidence etc which can be useful to determine the consumer behavior for particular product or service. B. Psychological 1actors "here are four important psychological factors affecting the consumer buying behavior. "hese are# perception, motivation, learning, beliefs and attitudes. > 3otivation "he level of motivation also affects the buying behavior of customers. 6very person has different needs such as physiological needs, biological needs, social needs etc. "he nature of the needs is that, some of them are most pressing while others are least pressing. "herefore a need becomes a motive when it is more pressing to direct the person to seek satisfaction. > Perception -electing, organi&ing and interpreting information in a way to produce a meaningful experience of the world is called perception. "here are three different perceptual processes which are selective attention, selective distortion and selective retention. !n case of selective attention, marketers try to attract the customer attention. Whereas, in case of selective distortion, customers try to interpret the information in a way that will support what the customers already believe. -imilarly, in case of selective retention, marketers try to retain information that supports their beliefs. > *eliefs and Attitudes Customer possesses specific belief and attitude towards various products. -ince such beliefs and attitudes make up brand image and affect consumer buying behavior therefore marketers are interested in them. 3arketers can change the beliefs and attitudes of customers by launching special campaigns in this regard.

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