TRENDS IN CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR:

There are mainly five patterns and trends that the retailer must be aware of to
sustain in the competitive and changing market and to regenerate more revenue
and lastly to be in the number 1 position. These five patterns and trends are as
follows:

• Population and Demographics

• Geographic and Economic

• Lifestyle

• Physical and Natural

• Technological and Informational

Population and Demographic Trends:

Demographics or demographic data are the characteristics of a human population.

These types of data are used widely in sociology, public policy, and marketing.
Commonly used demographics include gender, race, age, income, disabilities,
mobility (in terms of travel time to work or number of vehicles available),
educational attainment, home ownership, employment status, and even location.
Demographic trends describe the changes in demographics in a population over
time (for example, the average age of a population may increase or decrease over
time). Both distributions and trends of values within a demographic variable are of
interest.

• Population Growth

• Age Distribution

• Shifting Geographic Centers

• Urban Centers

• Mobility

• Education

• Marriage and Divorce

• Makeup of Households

Geographic and Economic:

Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and
consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient
Greek οἰκονομία (oikonomia, "management of a household, administration").
Current economic models emerged from the broader field of political economy in
the late 19th century. It is of two types micro and macro economics.

• Income Growth

• Personal Savings

• Women in the Labor Force

• Widespread use of Credit

Lifestyle:

The use of demographics to study and measure attitudes, values, lifestyles, and
opinions, as for marketing purposes.

• Male and Female Role Flexibility

• Deterioration of Institutional Confidence

• Management of Time vs. money (Convenience)

• Value and Lifestyle Fragmentation

Physical and Natural:

• Environmental Marketing --marketing with an eye to environmental

issues is a growing trend.

• New Age and Self Help products and stores are growing in popularity.

Technological and Informational:

Retail is a cutthroat industry, and success depends on how well your firm does against the
competition. To stay ahead of the game, managers are using technology to get better results.

It's in every retail professional's best interest to become familiar with retail technology. Whether
you work on the sales floor or behind the scenes, mastering retail technologies will help you stay
marketable.

• Fastest changing area of retail environment both in terms of managing the retail store
and in the products being sold.
• Well educated, high income baby boomers are receptive to electronic high technology
products.
 • Fastest growing segment of retailing is the high end computer, telephone and other
technological gadgets.

Factors Influencing Consumer Behavior

• Psychological Factors:

1. Motivation -- Maslov’s Hierarchy of Needs

• Physiological.
• Safety.
• Social.
• Self esteem.
• Self actualisation.

2. Perception
3. Learning
4. Attitudes

• Personal Factor:

1. Physical Characteristics - Age, Gender, Race, Size, etc.

2. Personality - Means of coping with the world around an individual.
3. Self-Concept - The image we have of ourselves combined with our image within a social
context.
4. Lifestyle - Consists of Activities, Interests, Opinions and Demographics.
5. Life Cycle - From Family Economics. Different stages of consumer spending as we
mature and age.

• Social Factors:

1. The Family - Most important Social influence.

2. Reference Groups - Peers, colleagues, coworkers, clubs, gangs etc. Often serves as
surrogate family in today’s dysfunctional society.
3. Social Class - Combination of income, occupation, education, place of residence.
4. Culture - Ethnic, geographic, religious background.

Product Characteristics:
• Product Tangibility -- How does the product look, feel, smell, sound or taste. Product
tangibility must match consumer wants, desires, needs and expectations.
• Product Durability -- How long will the product last. Durable goods is classification of
long-lived goods. Nondurables are products not expected to last long.
• Product Availability -- Relates not to whether a good can be found but to the amount of
effort a consumer is willing to spend on a product.