Consumer Behavior: Meaning/Definition and Nature


Introduction:
Consumer Behaviour has always been a field of great interest & practical applicability which is having in its inbuilt structure a capability to produce reliable results having implications in practical life with all its aspects being verifiable. Behaviour differs from consumers to consumers; several factors are responsible for this like their knowledge, income, lifestyle, social class, background, customs &traditions. Many things are very deep rooted in affecting consumer behaviour like degree of utility of the product, quality, price features such as size, shape, colour, design, performance, conformance, reparability, profitability, range etc.
All of these do affect consumer behaviour largely this can be understood through several Examples Like while purchasing readymade garments people assess it by touching, further boosting their decision, they take trials to check its fitting & degree of comfort, but while purchasing food item they check it by other taste as well as through their senses sampling as also one of the important part of their judgments poses which enhances their decision making in the form of acceptance or rejection of the product or services.

Definition of Consumer Behaviour:
The term Consumer Behaviour is defined as the “Behaviour that consumers display in Searching for, purchasing, using, evaluating & disposing of products & services that they expect will satisfy their needs.” It mainly focuses on how individuals make decisions to spend their available resources (time, money, efforts, etc.) on consumption related items. We are all consumers.

Consumers can broadly be divided into many units namely 1) Individuals; 2) Household; 3) Family; and 4) Organizations etc. Each unit has different backgrounds like 1) Social; 2) Economic; 3) Religious; 4) Cultural etc. Depending upon the various categories and different backgrounds as mentioned above the consumer's show a different buying behaviour, even they have different roles to play in decision making process like 1) Customers; 2) Consumers; 3) Financers; 4) Deciders; and 5) Influencers. Each individual has different values, attitudes, personality, psychology, motives, drives, demographics, taste & preferences, beliefs etc. which affect the buying behaviour of different items like food, clothing, shelter, transportation, education, vacations, luxuries, necessities, luxuries etc. The consumers play a vital role in the health of Economy. They are related with different activities which largely affect economy of the country in different ways.

Consumer Behaviour provides answers of all Wh Questions like:-

What to be purchased?
When to be purchased?
How to purchase?
Who to purchase?
Where to be purchased?
Why to be purchased?

Here what is related with need, When is related with timings of that need, How is related with the consumer's purchasing process, who is related with the Authority, where is related with
the channels of distribution as well as place of the product and why is related with the reasons to make such purchases. When the marketer makes such analytical study regarding the different buying behaviours of the different consumers he/she will be benefited.

The proper understanding of the consumer buying behaviour in the following ways-
1) Proper understanding & fulfilment of the need.
2) Promoting & managing competetenivess in the Org.
3) Achieving customer satisfaction & delightment.
4)Better & increased sales.
5) Increased profitability & rate of returns on investment
6) better market control & execution of strategies & programmes
7) better capitalization on growth, expansion, & diversification opportunities
8) Better distribution & market coverage.

Consumer behaviour is the study of the behaviour of the consumer to find out its linkage with various aspects linked to consumers. As consumers are human beings their Gender, Personality, Motivation level, Sources of information, Decision timing & Length, other factors all affect their consumption & purchase decision & thus behaviour.
As far as behaviour is concerned consumers typically show different behaviours at different time & situation & which is also subject to variation in product & services under consideration

Following objectives - 1) To find out the purchasing criteria of the consumers 2) To search the potential sources of consumer information 3) To study & measure the effect of features of television, its price, its availability in different places, different tools of promotion & other factors. 4) To study the scope & challenges faced by marketers of television.

Factors affecting purchase criteria - A) Type of television plays a major role and it is the first factor for consideration. As television come in two types mostly colour and Black & White.
B) Size of television_ comes in different sizes like twenty-one inches, twenty nine inches, fifty five inches etc.
C) Shape of television-like traditional, flat screen etc.
D) Features like number of channels, timer, inbuilt video games sound quality like woofer, surround etc, picture quality etc.
E) Technology like Golden eye, LCD etc. The other factors which a consumer takes into consideration include Brand image, durability, quality, reparability, performance, conformance, after sales services etc. Apart from the above
F) Price, Schemes, Discounts etc also plays a vital role in taking a decision. Potential sources of consumer information the various sources through which consumers become aware and, form evaluation criteria include Newspapers, Magazines, Internet, Neighbours, Friends and relatives etc.

Challenges faced by marketers of television - The various challenges faced by the marketers in the television segment are - a) High competition b) Obtaining brand preference c) Building brand loyalty d) Improved customer satisfaction e) Coping with the innovations and changes in technology etc.

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