Consumer Behavior | Meaning | Models | Factors Affecting Buying Decisions

Before going into the detail of consumer behavior, let’s discuss some basic concepts of this area.

Consumers:

A consumer is defined as any individual who buys or obtains goods/services for the purpose of personal use.

Consumer Market:

A market that relates only to final consumers of products/services is called the consumer market.

What is Consumer Behavior:

When a final consumer makes the purchase decision regarding the selection, buying, and use of a certain product/service, then this whole process is known as consumer behavior.

According to Solomon, when a single consumer or a set of consumers make the selection, purchase, and use of certain products, ideas, services & experiences for the satisfaction of their needs and wants, then all of these processes are combined as consumer behavior.

Generally, many decisions are made by consumers routinely. These buying decisions are very critical to businesses, especially large ones, to analyze consumer buying patterns in order to deliver valuable products/services to them. All the marketing efforts of businesses are based on consumer behavior patterns. This means that the marketers of businesses try to know what the response of consumers would be to features, prices, and advertising campaigns. By correctly forecasting buyers’ responses (consumer behavior), a business can gain a competitive advantage.

In order to understand consumer buying behavior, the stimulus-response model of consumer buying behavior is studied.

Model of Consumer Behavior:

The comprehensive model of consumer behavior explains the buying patterns of consumers in competitive markets. It has the following three main parts.

• Marketing & Other Stimuli:
Marketing stimuli consist of the four ingredients of marketing that are product, price, place, and promotion, whereas the remaining stimuli contain other macro-environmental forces e.g., technological, political, economical, etc.

• Buyer’s Black Box:
All the marketing & other stimuli enter the buyer black box which results in buyer responses. This black box has two main components which are buyer characteristics & the buyer decision process.

• Buyer Responses:
The last element of this model is represented by the response of the buyer regarding product category, brand category, dealer category, timing of purchase, and the amount of purchase.

The main concern of the marketer of a business is to understand how different stimuli of the market and the environment affect the consumer decision process and what their relation is with different responses of consumers. In fact, consumer behavior is directly affected by the decision process of the consumer.

Moreover, there are certain other factors that greatly affect consumer behavior. These factors are discussed below.

Factors Affecting Buying Decisions

Consumer behavior is critical for a successful marketer to understand in order to develop effective marketing strategies and plans. In simpler terms, the more a business management (marketer) understands consumer buying behavior, the more efficiently it can make its four P’s generate enormous revenue in the long run. The reason is that the marketer knows what kinds of products, services, price, and promotion can influence the consumer black box to motivate them to make purchases.

There are certain factors that directly influence consumer buying behavior. These factors are as follows.

• Cultural
• Social
• Personal
• Psychological

Cultural:

Culture has the strongest effect on consumer buying behavior. As a child grows, he starts learning different values, preferences, wants, etc., from his surroundings. This develops his unique buying pattern in the light of his cultural norms and values. This means that people belonging to different cultures have different buying patterns. Marketers should know different cultural backgrounds in order to develop new marketing strategies and campaigns.

Within the cultural context, consumer buying behavior is further affected by the following elements.

1. Culture: This is related to the culture itself.

2. Subculture: Within a single culture, there is a set of subcultures that can have long-lasting effects on consumer behavior.

3. Social Class: Social class is also an influencing force that stimulates consumer buying patterns. For example, people belonging to the elite class have different buying preferences for the same basic needs as compared to the lower class within the same culture or subculture.

Social:

Social forces also have influential effects on the buying patterns of consumers. Groups & family entitle a person to different sets of roles and statuses that become the basis of specific buying preferences. Social context contains:

1. Groups: In general, people create different types of groups with each other for the satisfaction of their social needs. These groups have strong effects on the buying behavior of people (consumers). Some groups are called membership groups, whereas others are called reference groups. Marketers try to identify the reference groups of target consumers because consumers try to copy their reference groups regarding the choice of different products, brands, etc.

2. Family: Family also has deep-rooted effects on the buying preferences of consumers. The roles of husband, wife, and children in the buying process are also critical to be understood by the marketer.

Personal:

Personal characteristics of consumers also influence their buying patterns like age, occupation, economic situation, etc. These personal elements are as follows.

1. Age/Stage of Life Cycle: People belonging to different ages or stages of life cycles make different purchases.

2. Occupation: Occupational status also affects the buying patterns of consumers.

3. Economic Situation: Income level, savings, and interest rates are determining factors that affect consumer buying patterns.

4. Lifestyles: People prefer different lifestyles which in turn affect their buying decisions, even within the same culture and social class.

5. Personality and Self-Concept: Personality consists of a set of personal characteristics like self-confidence, adaptability, dominance, etc., that have influencing effects on the consumer decision process.

Psychological:

The psychological characteristics of consumers also influence buying behavior. Every individual has different psychological characteristics which are as follows.

1. Motivation: Every person is motivated by certain forces which are either biological (thirst, hunger, etc.), psychological, or even social needs. All of these are important to consider while studying consumer behavior because buying behavior is affected by these forces.

2. Perception: Every person has different perceptions which give rise to different buying decisions.

3. Learning: Human behavior is influenced by learning. Therefore, learning also affects consumer buying patterns.

4. Beliefs and Attitudes: Beliefs and attitudes are formed through learning and also have special effects on consumer buying behavior.