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• Consumer behavior involves the study of how individuals make decisions to spend resources like time, money, and effort on consumption-related items.
• Consumer behavior includes studying: 'what they buy', 'why they buy', 'when they buy', 'where they buy', 'how often they buy it', and 'how often they use it'.
• Consumer behavior includes both the consumer and the buyer.
• The term "consumer" refers to someone who uses or consumes a product.
• The term "customer" refers to someone who purchases the product, whether or not they consume it directly.
• There are individual consumers and business consumers.
• A "buyer" is someone who buys a product, but they might not be the end user.
• Example: someone buys a blazer for someone else; the buyer is not the user.

Importance of Studying Consumer Behavior

• Studying consumer behavior is relevant for effective marketing management.
• It helps in production and marketing strategy formulation.
• Knowledge of consumer behavior helps determine the marketing mix.
• Management explores what type of product consumers purchase, factors that persuade them to buy, and reasons for choosing a specific brand or shop.
• This information helps producers arrange the marketing mix for their products to serve consumers better.
• Consumer seek value for money, want lower prices, and expect good features that marketers should be aware of to introduce qualities product that are affordable.
• Since globalization, consumers have more choices; knowledge of this change effects marketing.
• Knowledge of consumer serve as a guide to planning and implementing marketing strategies to achieve the firm's goals.
• Consumers prefer differentiated products reflecting their special needs, personalities, and lifestyles, which marketers need to address.
• Market segmentation can be identified to market products effectively, like insurance plans that suit customer needs.
• Keeping up with consumers' expectations and addressing them quickly is vital for remaining updated with technological advances and bringing new products to market fast.

Factors Affecting Consumer Buying Behavior

• Most factors are interdependent and interrelated, and can be divided into four main categories: cultural, social, psychological and personal differences.

Cultural Factors

• Culture includes a combination of values, beliefs, religions, and customs that influence consumer behavior directly or indirectly.
• Culture is prescriptive, socially shared, a facilitator of communication, and it is also subjective, cumulative, and dynamic.
• Thinking patterns are passed down through generations.
• Sub-cultures consisting of psychological, social, or geographical sources indicate unique demand patterns in consumption behavior.
• Social class creates identical demand patterns within a society.

Social Factors

• Social factors like family and reference groups play a role in determining consumer behavior.
• Consumer buying decisions are influenced by social factors like the family’s economic condition, role and status in society, and reference groups of people.
• People purchase branded products from expensive markets if there is income in their family, else purchase from local markets if there is low-income.
• A reference group includes two or more people with shared goals, values, attitudes, and behaviors, which can heavily influence buying choices
• Reference groups can make recommendations and provide information.

Roles and Status

• Individuals have many roles in their lives, both at their workplace and at home, which influence consumer behavior.
• Marketers must consider these roles and the status of individuals to target them effectively when creating products & services.
• Age and life-cycle stage is an important determinant of the goods demanded by a consumer , depending on if they are an elder or young.
• The level of education and occupation of the consumer decides one's consumption behavior.
• People in high income bracket have higher purchasing power. They buy expensive and trendy goods.
• Lifestyles are identified by activities, interests, opinions, and demographics.

Psychological Factors

• Effectively marketing a product, a marketer need to find out how consumers react to different environments.
• Psychological variables include motivation.
• A need becomes a motive when aroused to a sufficient level of intensity, which drives a person to act towards purchasing
• Perception influences what a person thinks about a product or service.
• Learning comes through experience; satisfaction with a product or service leads to repeat purchases.
• Individuals create an image of every product or service available in the market, and has an image with the brand.
• Depending on the consumer purchase from services based on their opinion, will determine whether the customer will come back.
• Personality is the collection of inner psychological attributes that characterize the outer behavior of an individual.

Different Buying Roles

• Individuals or groups play diverse roles in purchase situations.
• Key roles: Initiator, influencer, gatekeeper, decider, buyer, and user.
• Initiator: Suggests the idea of buying a particular product (e.g., a child suggesting chocolate).
• Influencer: Directly influences decision making (e.g., parents influencing a child's purchase).
• Gatekeeper: Controls the flow of information (e.g., parents selecting movies).
• Decider: Determines aspects of the purchase (e.g., a mother deciding on baby products).
• Buyer: Makes the actual purchase (e.g., a father in a family).
• User: Consumes or uses the product (e.g., the entire family using a grocery product).
• Preparer: Changes a product to a consumable form (e.g., a mother during food preparation).
• Maintainer: Services the product/good.
• Disposer: Throws away the products package after product has been consumed/used.

The Consumer Decision Process

• Consumers follow a step-by-step process when making purchase decisions .
• Time and effort depend on the necessity of the good or service to the consumer.

Consumer Decision Process Stages

• Problem Recognition: Consumer becomes aware of the difference between the actual state and the ideal state, which motivates them to achieve the desired state.
• Information Search: Gathering information related to fulfilling a desired state, identifying alternative means of problem solution using internal or external sources of information.
• Evaluation of Alternatives: The result of the evaluation stage helps in choosing a brand or product in the evoked set or might also result ina decision to start search for additional alternatives, when all those which were identified during the initial search seem to be unsatisfactory
• Purchase Decision and Action: Search and alternative evaluation result in the buying decision and the purchase action; marketers help by providing financing an installation.
• Post-Purchase Evaluation: The buying act has two results including satisfaction or dissatisfaction.
• Buyers feel satisfied if the gap between the ideal and the actual purchase is closed by the product/ service.
• Sometimes there is dissatisfaction: marketers help by providing information to the buyer and continue with marketing.
• Higher satisfaction makes it more likely for the consumer to purchase again.
• Marketers aim to decrease dissatisfaction, and the affects of a dissatisfied customer.