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EMBA-SEM I Question And Answers

Marketing Management

Q.3 Explain the importance of consumer behavior for marketers.

Ans. :

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR AND MARKETING

The consumer is continually exposed to new experiences and different influences and as the circumstances change, new needs and wants are invoked in the customers. It is the essence of marketing centres to identify and satisfy these needs and wants. They also need to recognize what influences these needs and how consumers go about satisfying them.

Consumer behaviour can be formally defined as the acts of individuals directly involved in obtaining and using economic goods and services, including the decision processes that precede and determine these acts.

The consumer behaviour is very complex and for the marketing to be successful, it is not sufficient just to recognize what customers require. It is equally important to recognize why it is required. Some of the questions that relate to consumer buyer behaviour are:

1. Who constitutes the market?
2. What does the market buy?
3. When does the market buy?
4. Who participates in the buying?
5. How does the market buy?
6. Where does the market buy?

TYPES OF CONSUMERS

All consumers can be classified into the following two types – personal and organizational. When a person is buying a product for his own or for family use, he represents a personal consumer. All individuals thus fall in the category of personal user. All business firms, government agencies and bodies, non-business organizations such as hospitals, temples, trusts etc. are all organizational consumers.

The consumer is the key word and it is the identification and satisfaction of consumers’ requirements that form the basis of the modern marketing concept. It is important to recognize the types of customers to study consumer behaviour. The consumers are classified on the following basis.

1. Social classes: Social stratification is prevalent in all human societies. Social classes are relatively homogenous divisions in a society, which are hierarchically ordered, and whose members share similar values, interests and behaviour. Social stratification as defined by social scientists in US has come up with the following major social classes: Upper Uppers, Lower Uppers, Upper Middle, Middle, Working Class, Upper Lowers and Lower Lowers.

2. Age groups: People of varying groups buy different goods and services. Thus, based on the age groups we get the following stratification: Bachelors, newly married, full nest I, full nest II and full nest III based on age of children, empty nest I and II, solitary survivor.

3. Occupation and economic circumstances: This also produces a wide range of customer types based on their purchasing capacities.

4. Life style: People of different lifestyles produce a variation within people of the same sub culture, social class, or occupation.

VARIOUS PARAMETERS AFFECTING CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

Consumer behaviour is affected by a wide variety of variables like cultural, social, personal, and psychological. The combination of these various factors produce a different impact on each individual.

Consumer Behaviour Variables

1. Culture is the most fundamental determinant of a person’s wants and behaviour which has been obtained by the person as a set of values, perceptions, and preferences from family and other key institutions.
2. Subculture provides more specific identification and socialization within the culture and includes religions, racial groups and geographic regions. Subcultures make up important market segments.
3. Social class has a hierarchical order with members of a class sharing similar views, interests, and behaviour.
4. Reference groups consist of all groups having a direct or indirect influence on the person’s attitude or behaviour. Reference groups expose an individual to new behaviour and lifestyles. They influence the person’s attitudes and self-concept.
5. Family is the most important consumer-buying organization and the members of the family constitute the most influential primary reference group.
6. Roles and statuses-Activities which a person has to perform determine his role and the role of a person carries a status.
7. Age and stage in life cycle Consumption of goods and services is based on the family life cycle as well as the psychological life cycle.
8. Occupation influences the person’s consumption pattern by controlling his purchase power.
9. Life style is the individual’s pattern of living in the world as expressed in activities, interests, and opinions.
10. Personality and self concept is described in terms of traits like self confidence, dominance, autonomy, defensiveness, sociability, and adaptability.
11. Motivation is needed to sufficiently drive the person to act. They can be of two types – biogenic arising from tensions of hunger, thirst, discomfort etc. and psychogenic arising from feelings like need for recognition, esteem or belonging.
12. Perception is the process by which an individual makes a selection, organizes, and interprets information to obtain a meaningful picture of the world.
13. Learning changes an individual’s behaviour arising from experience.
14. Beliefs and attitudes are acquired through doing and learning and these in turn influence the buying behaviour.

IMPORTANCE OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR FOR MARKETERS

Consumer behaviour helps the Marketing Manager to understand the purchase behaviour and preferences of different customers. In marketing terminology, specific types or group of consumers who buy different products (or variation of the same basic product) represent different market segments.

For successful marketing to different segments, the Marketing Managers need to know about appropriate marketing strategies which can be decided only when all factors affecting consumer behaviour are recognized.

To survive in the ever changing market scenario, the firm has to be aware of the latest consumer trends and tastes. Consumer behaviour gives clues and guidelines to marketers on new technological frontiers which they should explore.

Since the consumer behaviour can be influenced to some extent by specific elements of the marketing strategy, the marketer must give significance to recognize those influencing factors. Once they are identified, a marketer can study and even manipulate these factors. Thus, the importance of consumer behaviour is that the behaviour of a person can be understood and influenced to ensure a positive purchase decision.

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