Bus 208

• Consumer behaviour


  The study of how individual customers, groups or organizations select, buy, use, and dispose ideas, goods, and services to satisfy their needs and wants
• Marketers expect that by understanding what causes the consumers to buy particular goods and services, they will be able to determine—which products are needed in the marketplace, which are obsolete, and how best to present the goods to the consumers
• Role theory


  Consumers play various roles in the marketplace, such as information provider, user, payer, and disposer
• Consumer behaviour


  The actions and decision processes of people who purchase goods and services for personal consumption
• Every man is a consumer, and ought to be a producer. He is by constitution expensive, and needs to be rich
• Consumer behaviour


  The study of how people make decisions about what they buy, want, need, or act in regards to a product, service, or company
• Understanding consumer behavior allowed the pro-active companies to increase their market share by anticipating the shift in consumer wants
• Factors that affect consumer behaviour

  • Psychological
  • Personal
  • Social
• Psychological factors


  Perception of a need or situation, the person's ability to learn or understand information, and an individual's attitude
• Personal factors


  Characteristics that are specific to a person and may not relate to other people within the same group, such as how a person makes decisions, their unique habits and interests, and opinions
• Social factors


  Influencers that are quite diverse and can include a person's family, social interaction, work or school communities, or any group of people a person affiliate with, as well as a person's social class
• Aspects of consumer behaviour to consider

  • The customer's decision, desire to buy or not to buy a product and the factors that influences him/ her to take such decision
  • The motives for buying or not to buy the general or specific good
  • The benefits the consumer gets from the purchase and consumption of the product
  • The choice of alternative product, the evaluation and the decision of brand out of a similar brand
  • The search for information pertaining to the product and the choice of selection of the right information that led to the decision
  • The purchase, post purchase, after sales feelings and services of the products
• Customer


  A person who customarily or regularly purchases particular brand, purchases particular company's product, or purchases from particular shop but they're not always the final user of those goods
• Consumer


  A person who generally engages in the activities - search, select, use and dispose of products, services, experience, or ideas, and is the end user of a product or service
• The consumer is the end user of a specific product or service, they determine to a large extent the sales which eventually enhances the performance of any organization
• Marketers should understand that when developing their plan, that the consumer is the fundamental factor in all decisions related to marketing
• Consumer product


  A product bought by final consumers for their personal consumption and usage
• Perception and its various processes is a very important aspect of consumer behaviour that determines the purchase of goods and services of an organization
• The consumer decision process and the cognitive dissonance of post-purchase behaviour are very important for the organization to study as it could lead to great patronage and enhance profitability
• Consumer


  The one who pays to consume the goods and services produced by a seller, and can be a person (or group of people), usually classified as an end user or target demographic for a product, good, or service
• Customer


  The one who purchases a product or service, who pays for getting the product
• Consumer


  The one who uses or consumes a product or service, not necessarily the one who purchases it
• Types of consumers


  • Seasonal consumers
  • Personal consumers
  • Organizational consumers
  • Impulse buyers
  • Need-based consumers
  • Discount driven consumers
  • Habitual consumers
• Roles of the consumer in marketing

  • Marketing research
  • Product development
  • Promotion
• Discount


  Consumers are more responsive and would like to make a purchase when they are given discounts as opposed to when they are sold for full price
• Coupons and stock


  Usually sold to consumers at discount
• Discounts


  Manufacturers, retailers and service providers may offer discounts during the period of recession or harsh economic conditions to cushion the effect this will have on consumers
• Habitual consumers


  Those who cannot do without using certain brands or types of goods, and have developed loyalty to that brand
• Habitual consumers


  • Marketers normally work hard to create brand loyalty amongst their consumers for such products as body lotion, soda, groceries or clothes
  • Cigarettes and alcohol are examples of products that may be targeted at habitual consumers
  • Advertising is often used to communicate appeal to habitual consumers
• Roles of consumer in marketing

  • Marketing research
  • Product feedback
  • Bringing in new customers
• Marketing research


  1. Identify target consumers

  2. Invite them to participate in focus groups or send questionnaires

  3. Question consumers about right price and appealing marketing message
• Product feedback


  1. Evaluate results

  2. Monitor consumer needs after marketing plan implementation

  3. Software developers get regular feedback from consumers to help develop new and improved versions
• Bringing in new customers

  • Consumers act as agents to further the effects of firm's marketing plan to prospective buyers
  • Word-of-mouth marketing is very effective as individuals tend to trust people they know when trying new products and services
• Types of consumer market

  • Business to Business (B2B)
  • Business to Government (B2G)
  • Business to Consumer (B2C)
  • Consumer to Consumer (C2C)
  • Consumer to Business (C2B)
• Business to Business (B2B) market


  • Facilitates business transactions from one company to another
  • Requires greater emphasis on customer education and proof of benefit than on desirability, status or other emotional sales pitches
  • Consists of gathering larger orders from fewer customers, with more personal interaction, rather than advertising and promotions
• Subsets of B2B market

  • Industrial market
  • Professional service market
  • Financial services
• Industrial market


  • Consists of companies doing business in hard goods such as machinery, materials, chemicals, vehicles, office furniture and supplies
  • Suppliers must be experts in their product or service and the overall market
  • Uses a consultative selling approach to partner with customers and help solve their problems or meet their business goals
• Professional service market


  • Consists of providing consulting or delivery of business needs such as marketing, IT, HR, benefits planning, management consulting and payroll
  • Includes some commercial services involving IT systems and the sale of hard goods like computers and software
• Financial services


  • Deals with selling of financial services including banking, insurance, commercial credit and lending, tax planning, investments and asset management and consulting
  • Financial services professionals are certified, highly trained, licensed or bonded
  • Must follow specific government rules and regulations
• Business to Government (B2G)


  Encompasses marketing of products and services to various government levels through integrated marketing communications techniques