CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

Consumers are not alike.

They vary in age, income, educational

qualifications and spending patterns.
Consumers are constantly involved in decision
making whether the products they purchased
are:
-Consumed slowly over time (such as a house or
a car which involve a complicated decision
process) or

-Consumed quickly (such as food which may be

a relatively simple and routine decision-making
process).

HOW DO BUYERS MAKE THEIR BUYING

DECISIONS?

Consumers do not make decisions in a

vacuum.
Rather, they are influenced by at least four
major factors
1. Psychological factors (e.g. Motivationwhich is an internal force that directs people to
act in a particular way or to satisfy a particular
need)

2. Sociological/socio-cultural factors
(e.g. Culture, family, social class,
reference groups)
3. Marketing mix factors (i.e. Price,
promotion, distribution and product).
4. Situational factors (e.g. social
surroundings, physical surroundings,
temporal effects, antecedent states)

Social surroundings refer to the social

environment in which the decision is taking
place. For example the people present at the time
might influence the decision.
Physical surroundings (e.g. having appropriate
music played in the store, prominent sales
posters, cleanliness of the store might influence
the decision)

Temporal effects refer to aspects such as time of

the day, time of the year (for instance,
Christmas).
Antecedent refers to aspects such as ones mood
or the amount or lack of cash on hand that can
influence choice.

THE CONSUMER DECISON PROCESS

The buyer goes through the following decision
making stages.
Stage 1: Need Recognition
Stage 2: Search for Information
Stage 3: Pre-Purchase Evaluation of Information
Stage 4: Purchase
Stage 5: Post Purchase Feelings

The marketers job is to understand the buyers

behaviour and influences at each stage of the
buying process.

1ST STAGE: RECOGNITION OF NEED

The first stage in the buying process is when the
buyer recognizes that he or she has a need.

Major psychological factors that can influence

consumers recognition of needs are:
(i) Motivation (an internal force that directs people
to act in a particular way or to satisfy a particular
need)
A person obviously has many needs that vary in
importance under different circumstances.
Therefore, the objectives of consumers are to satisfy
a hierarchy of needs.

For example, Maslows Hierarchy of Needs

proposed that people have the following five hierarchy
of needs:
Physiological (e.g. food, shelter, clothing etc)
Safety (e.g. insurance policy, fire extinguishers)
Belongingness and Love (e.g. Clubs, family)
Self Esteem (e.g. status, education)
Self Actualization ( reaching ones full potential in life
e.g. in Art class, education, music, politics, religion)
(For a diagram see Exhibit 5-5 of Arens, Weigold and
Arens (2009) page 155)

According to Maslow the first basic need (i.e.

Physiological need) dominates a persons
behaviour until it is satisfied; then the second need
becomes pre-potent until it is satisfied; and so on.

Although Maslow is not a perfect framework, it

provides marketers with a useful system for
identifying the possible needs that a consumer
might be seeking to satisfy.
It also explains why these needs change from time
to time.

(ii) Attitude is another psychological factor that

can influence consumer decision.
(NOTE: Attitude is a learned pre-disposition to
respond in a consistently favourable or
unfavourable manner with respect to a given
object).
The object could be a product, brand, salesperson,
or retail store.

Many consumer needs arise from internally

generated desires for food, shelter and clothing.
The need may also result from the breakdown of
the old product or from a constant need for
repairs.
Social interactions with friends or associates can
often lead to buyer interest in new products.

Promotion-mix (i.e. advertising, personal selling,

sales promotion and publicity) can make people
aware of unfilled wants or needs.

In general, the stage of problem recognition can be

influenced by:
Psychological factors (e.g. motivation and
attitude),
Sociological/socio-cultural factors (e.g. Culture,
family, social class, reference groups)
Marketing mix factors (i.e. Price, promotion,
distribution and product).
Situational factors (e.g. social surroundings,
physical surroundings, temporal effects, antecedent
states)

To influence this need recognition stage companies

can advertise to the following four broad of
markets (depending on the target markets they
wish to reach):
1.Consumer markets (i.e. people who buy goods
and services for their own use);
2. Business markets (i.e. Organizations that buy
goods and services to use or to resell).

Within the business markets we have:

(i) Reseller markets (those companies that buy to
resell) and
(ii) industrial markets (those manufacturing
companies that buy products to be used to produce
other goods and services).
3.Government markets (e.g. Federal, state
government etc).
4. Global markets or Transnational markets (i.e.
markets in foreign countries),

2ND STAGE: INFORMATION SEARCH

When the individual recognizes his (or her needs),
he then enters into a state of information search for
alternative ways of filling the need.
The information search stage is important because
this is where marketing can help the buyer gather
necessary data by:

-Training the sales people so that they will have the

right information to answer customers questions.
Such questions include:
Can the old product be repaired?
If a new product is needed, what brands are
available?
What features are offered by different models? etc.

Marketers at this stage of information search

should:
Have tags and brochures that informs buyers
about merchandise
Design the point-of-purchase displays, news
paper ads, television ads and radio commercials
that give consumers information on:
-Prices
- Product availability
-Product desirable features
- Various payment methods etc.

3RD STAGE: EVALUATION OF

ALTERNATIVES
This is where the buyer weighs the advantages and
disadvantages of the various alternatives and
eventually makes a decision.

Because this stage is a mental process, it is hard to

observe and consequently, is more difficult for
marketing people to influence.

However, marketers should bear in mind that:

(i) Consumers view a product as a multi-attribute
objects, that is, as a bundle of attributes.
(ii) Consumers have been found to apply various
evaluation procedures to make a choice among
multi-attribute objects. The criteria that consumers
use in their evaluations include:
-Price
-Past experience
-Opinion of members of their families and other
reference groups.
-Attitudes towards various brands, etc

4TH STAGE: PURCHASE

Once the customer has decided to buy, then the
seller has to complete the purchase transaction.
The job of the marketer at this stage includes:
-making the product conveniently available so that
the customers do not have to travel great distances
or wait in lines for it;
-the marketers should simplify the credit
arrangements including packaging and delivery.

5TH STAGE: POST PURCHASE BEHAVIOUR

Typically, most buyers experience some post
purchase anxieties.
Leon Festinger refers to this state as Cognitive
dissonance.
Festinger theorises that people strive for internal
harmony, consistency or congruity among their
cognitions (knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, values).

Post-purchase cognitive dissonance occurs because

each of the alternatives considered by the consumers
usually has both advantages and limitations.
Therefore, when the purchase decision is finally
made, the selected alternatives have some
drawbacks.
At this stage, the marketer needs to have advertising
or personal selling that will reassure buyers.

By stressing desirable features of a product through

promotion, it will reduce dissonance.
Finally, the way consumers are treated on returns,
repairs, warranty service etc, will influence the
decision process for subsequent purchases.
NOTE: This lecture is based on your text book and
on Philip Kotler et. al; and W. Stanton marketing
books.