UNIT-1

 Any person who uses a product or service or deals

with it
 Not necessary that the person should be a
buyer of the product or service
 Consumers are classified into two categories.
◦ Personal consumers-individuals and households
who themselves consume goods or services
◦ Institutional consumers-businesses, organizations
and groups that buy and consume goods and
services during the course of their operations.
 The study of
◦ Individuals, groups, or organizations
◦ The processes they use to select, secure, use,
Dispose of products, services, experiences or ideas
to satisfy needs
◦ The impacts that these processes have on the
consumer and society
 Process
 Influenced by Various Factors
 Different for all Consumers
 Different for Different Products
 Region Bounded
 Vital for Marketers
 Reflects Status
 Spread-effect
 Standard of Living
 Behavior Keeps on Changing
 Need to study consumer behavior help
marketers in many ways
 Perception
 Attitudes
 Cultures
 Lifestyles
 Experience
 Importance to marketers in shaping the fortunes of their
organizations.
 Regulating consumption of goods and thereby maintaining
economic stability.
 More efficient utilization of resources of marketing.
 Solving marketing management problems in more
effective manner.
 Detailed study on upcoming groups of consumers for
natural products
 To understand how consumers make their consumption
and buying decision.
 Study of consumer behaviour gives information regarding
color, design, size etc. which consumers want
 Consumer behaviour helps formulate production policy.
 For effective market segmentation and target marketing
 Leisure and luxury markets have boomed in
the recent times.
 Westernization has impacted the selection of
product categories and brands
 Shifts in psychographic and lifestyle changes
have given rise to new eating habits
 psychological process of decision making by
consumers in a social context which also
exerts group pressures on them
 This buying behavior involves several
psychological factors
 The individual thinking process (like motivation,
personality, perception and attitude),
 Decision-making steps involved in buying,
(decision-making process)
 Interaction of the consumer with several groups
like friends, family and colleagues (group-
oriented concepts)
 selection of the brand outlet depending on price
and features and emotional appeal (marketing
mix elements in a given environment).
 The basic elements of consumer behavior
◦ What the consumer buys
◦ How he buys
◦ When and where he buys
◦ How much he buys is understood by the interaction
 Consumer Behavior and Marketing Strategies
 Consumer Behavior and Market Segmentation
 Consumer Behavior and Product Positioning
 Consumer Behavior and Marketing Research
 Consumer Behavior and Non-Profit and
Societal Marketing
 Consumer Behavior and Governmental
Decision Making
 :How will company provide superior customer
value to its target market?
 The answer to this question requires
formulation of marketing - mix – product,
price, place and promotion - strategies.
 Right combination of these elements meets
customer expectation and provides customer
value
 to discover viable group of consumers who
are homogeneous in their approach in
selecting and using goods or services.
 Market segment has unique needs, a firm that
develops a product focusing solely on the
needs of that segment
 Placing the product, service, company, or
shop in the mind of consumer or target group
 the right fit between a product and desired
customer benefits.
 Right positioning means understanding the
consumer perception process in general and
perception of company’s product in particular
 To predict how consumers will react to
promotional messages
 To understand why they make the purchase
decision they do.
 Consumer research, to deal exclusively for
consumer related issues
◦ underlying needs and motives in taking purchase
decisions
◦ consumer learning process and attitude formation
process
 Help the organizations that sell ideas and
concepts of social relevance.
 Institutions that promote family planning,
AIDS free society, governmental agencies,
religion orders and universities also appeal to
the public for their support in order to satisfy
some want or need in society.
 Government in policy making on various
services
 Designing consumer protection legislation