A study report on Consumer Market and Consumer Buying Behavior- towards the partial fulfillment of credits for the course CA2- Socio-Economic Base for Planning at the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi (November 2019)

1. First Semester Integrated Programme of Master of Planning
CA2- Socio- Economic Base for Planning
Consumer Market and
Consumer Buying Behavior
Prasad Dipak Thanthratey
School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi

2. INTRODUCTION:
Consumer Behaviour refers to the selection, purchase and consumption of goods and services
for the satisfaction of their wants. There are different processes involved in the consumer
behaviour. Initially the consumer tries to find what commodities he would like to consume,
then he selects only those commodities that promise greater utility. After selecting the
commodities, the consumer makes an estimate of the available money which he can spend.
Lastly, the consumer analyses the prevailing prices of commodities and takes the decision
about the commodities he should consume.
Consumer Behaviour is the study of how individual make decisions to spend their valuable
resources (time, money and energy) on consumption-related items. It includes the study of what
they buy, why they buy it, where they buy it, how often they buy it, and how often they use it.
Take a simple example of the product “Soap”, consumer behaviour researchers wants to
know:
-What types of soap consumers buy (Strawberry, honey, moisture)?
-What brand (Lux, Aromatic, Dove)?
-Why they buy it (To wash the body from dirt, to wash dirt cloths)?
-Where they buy it (Supermarket, convenient store)?
-How often they buy it (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly)?
The answer to these questions can be found through consumer behaviour study and can provide
manufacturers with important input for product scheduling, design, modification and
promotional strategy. Actually, the study of consumer behaviour is highly interesting. It is an
exciting field, but for two reason it is also complicated and difficult. First the behaviour is of
consumers are difficult to explain, it can’t understand fully. Secondly consumer behaviour is
so prevalent that it significantly affects our lives through either our own actions or those of
others. However, in order to better understand the nature and scope of consumer behaviour,
LITERATURE REVIEW
Simply Consumer behavior involves the purchasing and other consumption-related activities
of people. Consumer behavior is designed as the behavior that consumers display in searching
for, purchasing, using, evaluating and disposing of products, services and ideas that they expect
will satisfy their needs. In other words, Consumer behavior may be defined as the decision
process and physical activity individuals engage in when evaluating acquiring, using or
disposing of goods and services.
According to H.W. Barkman & C. Gilson, “Consumer behavior may be defined the
activities people engaged in actual or potential use of market items- whether produce,
services, retail environment or ideas”.

3. However, a more specific definition is given by Bagozzi and Zeltman, “Consumer Behaviors
are acts, process and social relationship exhibited by individuals, groups and organization
in the obtainment, use of and other resources”.
The above definitions focus on three aspects:
i) Activity: Acts, process, and social relationships
ii) People: Individuals, groups and organizations
iii) Experiences: Obtaining, using and consequences
MODELS OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
A model can be defined is simplified representation of some larger system which is used to
identify, explain and predict behaviour within that system. All model of consumer behaviour
attempt to organize many variables and relationship in a meaningful way.
Basically, the study of consumer behaviour is the study of how individuals make decisions to
spend their valuable resources (time, money, effort) on consumption related items. It includes
the study of what they buy it and how after they buy it, the consumer behaviour model (stimulus
response) helps to understand the above questions.

4. Figure: Model of Buyer Behaviour
The model shows that the marketing and environmental stimuli inter into the buyer’s
consciousness. The buyer’s characteristics and decision process lead to certain purchase
decisions. The buyer’s consciousness between the arrival of outside stimuli and the buyer’s
purchase decisions.

5. Factors influencing Buying Behaviour
Consumer behaviour refers to the selection, purchase and consumption of goods and services
for the satisfaction of their wants. There are different processes involved in the consumer
behaviour. Initially the consumer tries to find what commodities he would like to consume,
then he selects only those commodities that promise greater utility. After selecting the
commodities, the consumer makes an estimate of the available money which he can spend.
Lastly, the consumer analyses the prevailing prices of commodities and takes the decision
about the commodities he should consume. Meanwhile, there are various other factors
influencing the purchases of consumer such as social, cultural, personal and psychological. The
explanation of these factors is given below
1. Cultural Factors
Consumer behaviour is deeply influenced by cultural factors such as: buyer culture, subculture,
and social class. Thus marketer should understand the cultural background of the consumer. It
includes:
(i) Culture
Basically, culture is the part of every society and is the important cause of person wants and
behaviour. Simply, culture is that, what we are. That means our life style, our behaviour, what
we like to do and wear all these show our culture. In a border sense, culture refers to a complex
set of values, norms believes, attitudes and customs which are handed down from generation
to generation and which help individuals to communication, interpret or evaluate as members
of a given society.
For example, we feel comfortable to wear lungi in the house or prefer to eat rice and fish in our
meal. The influence of culture on buying behaviour varies from country to country therefore
marketers have to be very careful in analysing the culture of different groups, regions or even
countries.
ii) Subculture
No society is totally homogeneous. Each culture consists of smaller subcultures that provide
more specific identification or common value system for their members. Each culture contains
different subcultures such as religions, nationalities, geographic regions, racial groups etc.
Marketers can use these groups by segmenting the market into various small portions. For
example, marketers can design products according to the needs of a particular geographic
group.
iii) Social Class
Every society possesses some form of social class which is important to the marketers because
the buying behaviour of people in a given social class is not similar. In this way marketing
activities could be tailored according to different social classes. Here we should note that social
class is not only determined by income but there are various other factors as well such as:
wealth, education, occupation etc. For example, in our society there is upper class, mid class
and lower class people and their consumption pattern is not alike to each other.

6. 2. Social Factors
In addition to cultural factors consumer behaviour is influenced by such social factor as
reference groups, family, and social roles and status.
i) Reference Groups:
Reference groups refer to group that have either a direct or indirect influence on a person’s
attitudes, values, opinions and behaviour. People are significantly influenced by their reference
groups. Reference groups expose an individual to new behaviours and lifestyles. They
influence attitudes and self-concept. And they create pressure for conformity that may affect
actual product and brand choices. The impact of reference groups varies across products and
brands. For example if the product is visible such as dress, shoes, car etc. then the influence of
reference groups will be high. Reference groups also include opinion leader (a person who
influences other because of his special skill, knowledge or other characteristics).
(ii) Family
Buyer behaviour is strongly influenced by the member of a family. Family is defined as two or
more persons related by blood, marriage or affecting who reside together. Family members
constitute the most influential primary reference group affect buying decision. However, the
relative importance of each member may vary according to the kind of product or service under
consideration, its cost and other variables. Therefore, marketers are trying to find the roles and
influence of the husband, wife and children. If the buying decision of a particular product is
influenced by wife, then the marketers will try to target the women in their advertisement. Here
we should note that buying roles change with change in consumer lifestyles.
(iii) Roles and Status
Each person possesses different roles and status in the society depending upon the groups,
clubs, family, organization etc. to which he belongs. The person’s position in each group can
be defined in terms of roles and status. A role consists of the activities that a person is expected
to perform. For example, a woman is working in an organization as finance manager. Now she
is playing two roles, one of finance manager and other of mother. Therefore, her buying
decisions will be influenced by her role and status.
3. Personal Factors
Personal factors can also affect the consumer behaviour. Some of the important personal factors
that influence the buying behaviour are: lifestyle, economic situation, occupation, age,
personality and self-concept.
i) Age and Stage in the Family Life Cycle:
Age and life-cycle have potential impact on the consumer buying behaviour. It is obvious that
the consumers change the purchase of goods and services with the passage of time. For
example: they eat baby food in the early years, most food in the mature years and special diets
in the later years. Habit, taste, recreation is also age related. Consumption is also in influenced
by the family life cycle. Marketers have identified nine stages of the family life cycle, e.g.

7. bachelor stage, newly married couples, expanding-1, expanding-2, contracting, post-parental
childless, childless older married, lone survivor (working), and lone survivor (retired).
(ii) Occupation and Economics Circumstance:
The occupation of a person has significant impact on his buying behaviour. For example, a
marketing manager of an organization will try to purchase business suits, whereas a low level
worker in the same organization will purchase rugged work clothes.
Product choice is greatly affected by economic circumstances disposable income, saving
investment, borrowing power etc. For example, as inflation increases more money is required
for consumer to purchase the same amount of goods. This may lead to general discipline in
consumer impending.
(iii) Lifestyle
Lifestyle of customers is another import factor affecting the consumer buying behaviour.
Lifestyle refers to the way a person lives in a society and is expressed by the things in his/her
surroundings. It is determined by customer interests, opinions, activities etc. and shapes his
whole pattern of acting and interacting in the world. Marketer search for relationships between
their products and lifestyle groups. For example, computer manufacture might find that most
computer buyers are achievement-oriented.
iv) Personality and Self-concept:
Each person’s distinct personality influences his or her buying behaviour. Personality refers to
the unique psychological characteristics that lead to relatively consistent and lasting response
to one’s own environment. Personality is usually described in terms of self-confidence,
dominance, sociability, defensiveness and adaptability. There exists a strong correlation
between certain personality types and product or brand choice. For example, women who view
herself as beautiful will exhibit patterns of buying cloths and cosmetics than a woman who see
herself uninteresting.
4. Psychological Factors
A person’s buying behaviour is also influenced by the various psychological factors. These are:
motivation, perception, learning, beliefs and attitudes.
i) Perception
Perception is the process by which an individual selects organization, and interprets
information inputs to create a meaningful picture of the world. One person might perceive a
fast-talking salesmen as talkative or aggressive, while other perceive as intelligent or helpful.
There are three different perceptual processes which are selective attention, selective distortion
and selective retention. In case of selective attention, marketers try to attract the customer
attention. Whereas, in case of selective distortion, customers try to interpret the information in
a way that will support what the customers already believe. Similarly, in case of selective
retention, marketers try to retain information that supports their beliefs.

8. ii) Learning:
When people act, they learn. Learning is the relatively permanent change in behaviour due to
experience. Most human behaviour is learned. Learning theory teaches marketers that they can
build up demand for a product by association it with strong drives, using motivating cues and
providing positive reinforcement.
iii) Beliefs and Attitudes
Through doing and learning, people acquire beliefs and attitudes. These in turn, influence their
buying behaviour. A belief is a descriptive thought that person hold about something. Beliefs
may be based on knowledge, opinion or faith. These beliefs make-up product and brand images,
and people act on their images.
An attitude is a person’s enduring favourable or unfavourable evaluation toward some object
or idea. Attitudes put individuals into a frame of mind of liking or disliking a product,
motivating toward or away from it.
All of the factors are described above are crucially important for a marketer to understand.
Because he must stisfy the customers according their needs and wants. Also he sometimes need
to crate demand in customer’s mind. For this reason, this is very much impotent for an efficient
marketer to handle all of his customers more effectively and enthusiastically.
CONCLUSION:
Consumer Behaviour, thus, refers to the selection, purchase and consumption of goods and
services for the satisfaction of their wants.
There are different processes involved in the consumer behaviour. Initially the consumer tries
to find what commodities he would like to consume, then he selects only those commodities that
promise greater utility. After selecting the commodities, the consumer makes an estimate of the
available money which he can spend.
Lastly, the consumer analyses the prevailing prices of commodities and takes the decision
about the commodities he should consume.
REFERENCES:
Bagozzi, Richard P., “Explaining Consumer Behavior and Consumer Action: From
Fragmentation to Unity”, Seoul Journal of Business Volume 12, Number 2 (December 2006)
Block, Carl E. and Kenneth J. Roering, Essentials of Consumer Behaviour (Hinsdale, 111:
The Dryden Press, 1979).
Myers, James PL, Roger R. Stanton, and Ame F. Hang, “Correlates of Buying Behaviour:
Social Class vs Income”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 35 (Oct. 1971),