Introduction to Consumer Behavior

Question: Write about theIntroduction to Consumer Behavior. Answer: Introduction The psychological pressures that the consumers go through for satisfying their needs and wants is known as consumer behavior. Under the consumer behavior the consumers firstly recognize their needs and wants and they try to find out the ways to solve the needs and making the purchase decisions. Customer behavior is a wide field of study where al, other aspects and inclinations of markets have disappeared and the consumer behavior has come into force. Over the past years, marketing structure has altered from mere selling to consumer oriented sales and production hence consumer behavior has become the most essential and beneficial study in order to survive in this modern competitive era of selling. Due to these studies and research the prominence of customers has integrated. Consumer behavior is basically the study which provides an insight to how consumers make up their mind or take decision to spend their essential resources like time, money, efforts etc. The marketers then struggled to reach an answer about the way how consumers make a purchase(Stavkova, 2014). Ever since the knowledge of human behavior has come into hands of the sellers and marketers they have developed an in depth behavior detail of consumer behavior which helps them forecast the future purchase of an individual. The consumer behavior is one that has always been on the great interest for the marketers. The marketer having the knowledge about the consumer behaviors is able to understand how the consumers think, select the alternatives and feel about the products of the marketer. There are many factors that influence the buying behavior of the consumer, some of the factors includes: social, political, cultural and psychological factors(Annoynomous., 2007). Not all of these factors can be controlled many of these factors are beyond the control of an individual but they cannot be ignored and hence are required to be considered while trying to understand the behavior of the consumers. The study of various processes that are involved when there is a selection made by the individuals and groups to satisfy the wants and needs. While in the context of marketing the consumer refers to the purchasing activity along with the aggregate buying patterns that includes post purchase and pre purchase activities(Park, 2003). The post purchase activities includes evaluating the purchased item that is in use and reducing the anxiety that comes with the purchase of the expensive item and the items that are not bought on frequent basis. Whereas, the pre-purchase activity consists of the growth in the awareness of the need or want and searching the evaluation of the information that might satisfy the consumers. Consumer Personality Factors The decision making of the consumers is highly influenced by the two factors that is the innovativeness and risk aversion. The risk aversion is a measure is being satisfying the consumer about the item that they are purchasing. The consumers who are high risk adverse they need to be more certain about what is being bought by them. On the other hand the consumers who are less risk adverse can tolerate a little risk on the purchases that are being made by them. And then is the second variable that is the innovativeness that is concerned with capturing the global measures of the willingness of the consumers that are interested in taking chances in new ways(annoynomous, 2016). The Traditional Perspective on the Research of the Consumer Behavior As we have moved to the twentieth century we have come closer to the third millennium , there are various changes and developments taking place around us with the advancements of various industries and other things all over. While studying the consumer behavior according to the traditional perceptive there were various models that were being used for the same that were presented by the economists Some of the models that were being used in the traditional perceptive included trait, cognitive, motivational, situational and trait viewpoints(Gajjar, 2013). Traditionally there were various perceptive that were being used to study the behavior of the consumers some of the perceptive included; the rational perceptive, the behavioral perceptive, the cognitive perspective. Under the rational perceptive, the economists considered the consumer behavior in the terms of single purchase made by them and the post purchase reactions. According to the traditional theory of the economists it was held that the purchasing decisions are the result of conscious and rational decisions of the consumers. Thus according to this approach the goods and items that would provide more utility to the consumer would be having high probability of being purchased by him. Then, moving on to the next model that is the behavioral perspective that emphasized on the role of the external factors that were responsible for the decisions of the consumers. Thus, under this approach it was assumed that the consumer behaves in ascertain manner due to the impact of various external factors. The various external factors were responsible here for influencing, modifying and controlling the behavior of the consumers. Then comes the Cognitive perspective, this approach stresses more on the infor mation processing in the decision making of the consumers(Velayutham, 2016). This perspective often views the people as problem solvers that often use the information for mastering the environment. Factors Affecting the Consumer Behavior There are various factors that affect the behavior of the consumers. Some of the factors affecting the behavior of the consumer are: Social factors: Social factors are the other people or individual that affects the purchasing decisions of the consumers. These factors include the culture and the sub culture, social class, family and friends and reference groups. The effect of the culture on the behavior of the consumers is through the values and norms that are established by the society. This is one of the broadest environmental factors that influence the behavior of the consumer(Karvonene, 2005). Culture sets some of the loose boundaries on the consumers that affect the functioning of the consumers. Roles and Family There is a some positions that are occupied within the groups, organizations and family. The role is referred to as set of functions and the activities that is performed by a particular position. There are several roles and expectations of the individual. All these roles influence the buying behavior of the consumers. Need and Desire Another factor that influences the behavior of the consumer is the need and the demand of the consumers. If there will be need and desire within the consumer than that would directly affect his behavior towards anything(Chand, 2005). Mood Mood is one of the factor that affects the behavior of the consumer. The consumer behaves in a certain manner according to his moods. A sour mood often spoils the desire of the consumer to shop whereas the glum mood cannot be considered as something bad(Wright, 2006). Personal Factors There are various personal factors that affect the behavior of the consumers. Some of the personal factors include the self concept and personality of the individual. Personality is the personal disposition of a person that shows how a person behaves differently. Gender, Stage of Life and Age Though there are various demographic factors such as education, income and marital status that has an influence on the behavior of the consumer. So here the important factors like age, stage of life and gender also plays an important role in affecting the behavior of the consumers(Batra Kazmi, 2009). Lifestyle The kind of lifestyle an individual is living has a great bearing on the behavior of the consumer. If he is leading a good lifestyle than he would spend more as a consumer however if he is leading a mediocre life than he would spend less as a consumer. Traditionally there are three ways which influence a person to purchase something i.e. need, want and desire. Need is the basic necessity of an individual, organization or any other form of customer to live a healthy and good life. Need is basically something required because it is an entity which is very essential or important rather than just fascination. Need is a factor that comes within the purchasing capacity of an individual. It is considered as a psychological factor which motivates or influences an individual to work hard to achieve a goal, target or motive. Want is a desire to possess, wish or do something in order to accomplish a lack or deficiency in life. It is a wish or a craving that can be achieved by hard work or more dedication. It is something not that essential but a person is fascinated towards it. More is something very different from need but influences a customer to think about the purchase. Desire is considered as the most essential pillar of customer behavior. Desire is basically a longing, hop for a product or outcome. Desire in other terms is called craving. Desire inculcates a sense of longing for an object and a person is excited just by imagining the products existence in his or her life. Desire in response provokes a customer to make a purchase but desire is something really weak and out of the purchasing capacity of an individual. According to Thomas Hobbes, human desire is the fundamental motivation of all the human actions. According to the model of communication, marketers set up an image of the product in a consumers mind, the presentation and the definition of the features of the product in return achieve the effective response of the customer. This feeling of building up desire among the customers has lifted the manufacturers and the sellers attention from product to customers and now on the customer behavior. Desire fixes up motive for purchasing a product. According to the definition, motive is a strong feeling, urge, instinct, desire or emotion that makes the buyer to make a decision to buy, induce action or determine choice in the purchase of goods and services. Desire ultimately leads to two types of motives namely- Emotional product motive and, Rational product motive In emotional purchase a customer is influenced through emotions instead of logical and rational analysis. The factors which influence this human behavior are pride satisfaction, sense of ego, urge to initiate others and his desire to be unique. On the other hand, rational analysis comes from logical, rational and proper analysis. In this the customer behavior is influenced by factors like evaluation of purpose, alternates available, cost benefit and other valid aspects. Conclusion In consumer behavior, decision making process plays the final and most vital role. According to the theories available there are series of steps and objectives involved in this stage. The first step is called the Need Recognition where the unmet needs and desires are identified. In this step the intensity of want is directly proportional to the fulfillment of want. The consumer in return starts exploring, analyzing and comparing the information available about the product or entity. The consumers first check the brand which he finds credible. The consumer reaches to various sources for information and suggestions like neighbors, advertisements and family. In the step of information gathering numerous alternatives come into light and factors like brand image, company, distributions etc. are considered. Then these are decided upon and a choice is reached. After everything has been finalized, evaluated and settled the purchase is made. After the purchase has been made the consumer evalu ates the post purchase behavior to know the level of satisfaction. Desire influences a person to make a purchase keeping economic, financial and various other factors aside. 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