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GBS
 Understanding Customers

Essay

Any person who purchases goods or services from a company is a customer. To put it plainly, we
can say that any vender or provider or individual who exchanges anything or data is called client
(Blythe and Martin, 2019). Customers are their primary partners and play a crucial role in
maintaining the business's market presence. Without customers, no business can survive on a
global scale. Therefore, in order to run their businesses effectively, it is essential for all business
owners to comprehend customer behavior and local laws. In this instance, we will discuss
various aspects of customer comprehension. To begin, we'll examine the distinctions between a
customer and a consumer and the significance of customers. Second, in order for a retailer to
comprehend their customer, we will discuss various customer behaviors. The IT industry's
influence on today's consumer is the next topic we will discuss.

In the market, there is a difference between a customer and a consumer. Customers are people
who are involved in the business deal with the entrepreneur. According to Blythe and Martin
(2019), customers return money or other benefits to the business owner in exchange for the
purchase of various products. Customers, on the other hand, are the individuals who make use of
the goods or services that a customer purchases (Blythe and Martin, 2019). You could, for
instance, state that there are five people living in the house and that one person earns money for
all five of them. Because he purchases everything for his family, the person who is purchasing is
the customer. In contrast, every member of his family consumes goods and services.

The tourism sector serves as an illustration of the significance of the customer and with this we
will show the importance of customer to any business.

Customers are crucial to the success of any business or organization. Based on the customer and
the size of the company, person or individual producing the product or service. Therefore, it is
critical for any business to comprehend customer behavior in order to influence customer
behavior. Any business organisation will find success on the off chance that it can anticipate
what clients need (Cameron and Piacentini, 2018). According to Cameron and Piacentini (2018),
an organization cannot provide a better product or service to its customers if it does not
comprehend what its customers want or value. As a result, it's critical for all businesses to know
their customers and how they think.

The tourism industry is entirely dependent on customers without this the industry is nothing.
Because service is the only part of the tourism industry (Falck, 2020). There is nothing physical
products about it. As a result, providing the best services to customers is critical for tourism
businesses. So it has been demonstrated that customers are the lifeblood of any business. For
instance, as a result of the coronavirus disease, customers appear to be unable to leave the
country, resulting in a significant decline in the tourism industry. As a result, the disease ruled
out all other businesses, but the absence of tourists also hurt the tourism industry. Tourists make
up the majority of the tourism industry's revenue, and if there are no visitors, the entire business
suffers (Falck, 2020). This case shows that customers are very important to any business, but
especially to businesses that provide services.

The consumer's buying habits are the foundation of buying behavior. According to Goetsch and
Davis (2014), the factors that influence consumer behavior are discussed in consumer behavior.
There are four different purchasing options for customers. The following explains it.
1. Complex buying behaviour

When purchasing a luxury item, complex buying behavior is common (Goetsch and Davis,
2014). Buyers are heavily influenced by the purchase price in this unusual transaction. Before
making an investment, buyers will conduct due diligence.

A customer's behavior is very different when they buy something unusual or expensive. When
the risk is too high, consumers seek advice from friends, family, and experts before making a
purchase decision.

For instance, when a client purchases a vehicle interestingly, it is no joking matter since it
requires huge load of cash. He worries about how he looks, what his friends and family will
think, how the car will affect his social status, etc.

2. Dissonance-reducing buying behaviour

Behavioral shopping to reduce conflict Customer involvement in buying behavior is extremely

high in order to reduce conflicts (Jacka and Keller, 2009). This could be because of high prices
and irregular sales. Additionally, the selection is constrained by significant differences. This kind
of customer purchases a product that is simple to locate.

As a result, consumers will have fewer options and will be forced to purchase products with
fewer options. Because they have time, money, or products they can buy, consumers buy
products without doing much research.

For instance, a client searching for another collapsing setting up camp table can rapidly browse
numerous choices. In this instance, the folding table's design and price will complement the
overall theme.

3. Habitual buying behaviour

Habitual buying occurs when consumers are less involved in the decision-making process (Jacka
and Keller, 2009). The customer is only aware of a few obvious signs in this instance.

When they buy things that they use on a daily basis, customers don't give it much thought.
Purchase items they frequently use or their preferred brands, whether at a discount or in a store.
When a customer buys bread, for instance, they don't spend much time or effort choosing a type
they are used to. There are a lot of products in this section. Common ingredients like salt, sugar,
crackers, toilet paper, and black pepper fall into this category.

4. Variety seeking buying behaviour

There are a lot of differences between species. Customers tend to switch brands as a result.
Because switching products is cheap, customers may want to try new products out of curiosity or
boredom (Jacka and Keller, 2009). Customers in this market make a variety of purchases because
they want to try out new brands.

For instance, a customer who enjoys buying cookies chooses a brand without considering it. In
other instances, the same customer may select a different brand due to differences in preferences.
Symptom shifts are frequent and difficult to anticipate.

Brands must employ specific strategies to cater to this kind of consumer behavior. The market
leader will influence consumer behavior by controlling shelf space.

The era of social media is now. Marketing firms today heavily rely on social media for
advertising (Kotler et al., 2019). People frequently post updates to their various statuses and
thoughts on social media. Because something attracts a lot of people and they can easily reach a
lot of people in a short amount of time, any marketing agency now targets social media for their
advertising. In the past, obtaining customer data was extremely challenging for any organization
(Klink et al., 2020). However, all customers can now voice their opinions about any business's
products or services by using social media. It is simpler for the business to comprehend how
their products are received, and other customers follow product reviews as well. If the product is
good, they will readily switch to it, if it is better, and if the review is negative, they will be aware
of the product. Therefore, we cannot deny the significance of social media or its function in
relation to information technology. The entire world is now accessible to individuals through
information technology (Kotler et al., 2019). Information technology enables anyone, from any
location, to share anything they choose.

The role of information technology is to provide the company with the opportunity to improve its
product or service by obtaining various kinds of feedback from various sources. It contributes to
the organization's expansion (Klink et al., 2020). ). Second, an organization can easily share its
product-related ideas or information with customers. By doing so, it can attract customers and
increase the value of its products, thereby gaining market control and increasing sales.

The tourism sector also relies heavily on information technologies. The tourism industry can now
use information technology or social media to discover a variety of beautiful locations for the
world's population (Magnini et al., 2019). Because tourists couldn't find information about tourist
attractions in the past, it was hard for them to figure out where to go. People now get live
information about tourist destinations and this location's beauty from social media.
Consequently, they can quickly decide where they want to go. Because the number of tourists
has increased and they are also exploring on a daily basis, this has greatly benefited the tourists.
We have talked about the behaviors that buyers and sellers use when buying any product
throughout this work. We also talked about how social media and information technology can
help people understand or make things easier for customers. Understanding customer behavior is
crucial for any business, as you will see from the discussions. In addition, the company ought to
act in a manner that mirrors its behavior toward customers in order to expand its clientele and
improve customer service. In addition, given that we are living in the age of social media and
information technology, all businesses ought to be present on social media, make use of
information technology, and maintain regular communication with their clients or businesses in
order to keep in touch with them and their products and services etc. Therefore, this information
technology is extremely beneficial to the tourism industry because it enables tourists to conduct
more research for the benefit of the general public.
Reference

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Blythe, J. and Martin, J. (2019) Essentials of Marketing. 7 th ed. Harlow: Pearson.

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Falck, E., 2020. Understanding customer value in a Finnish special assignment company: A case
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