The term ‘Consumer Behavior’ intrigues us. Since it blends elements of psychology, sociology, social anthropology and economics, it is a varied term. As such, in lay man terms, it is the study of understanding the buyer decision process, both individually as well as in a group.
Most authors on consumer behavior will attempt to examine how the consumer is influenced by the strategies adopted by the marketer. The customer plays three distinct roles, the first being a buyer, the second being a payer and the third being a user. However the buyer role is most important because it is in this role that the customer or consumer takes a decision to purchase.
The decision making process appears complex but is rather simple. It starts with a problem. Your car may not be working well or you may not even possess a car and wish to buy one now. You then search for alternatives, which involves different models or cars. Once a list is prepared you evaluate them. Evaluation plays an important part and it is supported by information, both internal as well as external. The internal search may involve your own feedback. This is usually seen with low involvement products such as kitchenware. Here the marketer can influence the buyer to a large extent. In high involvement products external search is required such as the advice of friends and relatives comes in. Here the marketer plays a role in feeding information through websites, brochures or news coverage.
The effort which a consumer puts into the search will depend on factors such as number of competitors, differences between brands, product characteristics, and consumer characteristics (which means how interested is the consumer in analyzing the product characteristics). Finally the product selected will depend on the decision maker of the family, especially for high involvement products. Nowadays, with nuclear families, things are become simpler as compared to the past where in joint families were predominant and decisions were taken by the head of the family. The rest of the family could only influence and provide information. Evaluation is usually followed by purchase and post purchase behavior which may be one of happiness or remorse.
The marketer plays a big role in the purchase of a product by the customer. He does so by creating awareness of the product through an advertisement. However awareness is not sufficient if interest is not created, so the advertisement must be catchy. We may see many advertisements but remember the brand names of only a few. The next thing that a marketer should do is to get the prospective customer to appreciate the advertisement, in the sense that he or she understands the utility of the product in question. And then a step further wherein the customer adopts a positive attitude towards the brand or product. How this can be achieved cannot be explained. However if the product is good and the ad is well done, it can achieve this goal. After possessing a positive attitude towards the brand, the customer will have to go and purchase the product, which may take a few minutes or even a few days. The experience of the product once bought can result in repeat purchases or it may end in a one-time purchase.
Many a time biases can creep into our decision making processes. For example we may be unwilling to change or look beyond our past experiences. In such cases we may cling to our past and reject the unfamiliar. Peer pressure is also a very common reason for unwillingness to change. Conforming to the opinions of a group can be detrimental.
Coming back to high involvement products or brands, it is these products which portray our lifestyle or self image. Each of us have a self image and behave in a manner which reinforces this image. As a result we purchase products that enhance our self image. High involvement products are usually products which enhance our self image. Similarly lifestyle is the way of life or style of living that reflects the attitudes and values of a person or group. A person who wishes to flaunt his wealth or to appear rich will try to purchase items which are expensive so as to be in sync with those qualities or characteristics.
And finally once a purchase is made cognitive dissonance can set in. A person may be happy with his purchase, only to look what another person has bought and feel the desire for it. These feelings are common in our day to day lives where we often regret purchases made by us. For example peer pressure may play a part in our purchases whenever we go as a group wherein seeing another person purchasing we too feel the desire to purchase it, only to go home and regret purchasing it.
Consumer behavior is therefore a very interesting and dynamic area which is a challenge to marketers to live up to in today’s times.
