Consumer Behavior Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Consumer Behavior - Essay Example To succeed, or simply to survive, companies need a new philosophy. To win in today's market place, companies must be customer centred - they must deliver superior value to their target customers. The study of Consumer Behaviour helps the marketers to understand their target customers and what influences their buying decisions. Consumer Behaviour can thus be defined as, "The study of individuals, groups, or organizations and the processes they use to select, secure, use, and dispose of products, services, experiences, or ideas to satisfy needs and the impacts that these processes have on the consumer and society." On the basis of the factors that influence consumers buying behaviour, the companies can tailor their marketing programmes to the needs, and wants of narrowly defined geographic, demographic, psychographic, or behaviour segments. The ultimate form of target marketing is the customized marketing in which the company adapts its products and marketing programmes to the needs of a specific customer or buying organization. There are three major steps in target marketing. The first is the market segmentation, where the marketer divides his market into distinct groups of buyers with different needs, characteristics or behaviour, who might require separate products or marketing mixes. The second step is the market targeting - evaluating each market segment's attractiveness and selecting one or more market segments to enter. The third step is market positioning- setting the competitive positioning for the product and creating a detailed marketing mix. To have effect target marketing it is important to consumer behaviour and the factors which affect it . Characteristics Affecting Buyer's Behaviour : The major factors which influence the consumer behaviour are : 1. Cultural Factors - Culture, Sub culture, Social class 2. Social Factors - Reference groups, Family, Roles and Status. 3. Personal Factors - Age and lifecycle stage, Occupation, Economic situation, Lifestyle, Personality and self concept. 4. Psychological Factors - Motivation, Perception, Learning, Beliefs and Attitudes. 1. Cultural Factors : These exert the broadest and deepest influence on consumer behaviour. The marketer needs to understand the role played by the buyer's culture, subculture and social class. Culture : The child growing up in a society learns a basic set of values, perceptions, preferences and behaviours from the family and other important institutions. This forms his culture. Subculture : Each culture contains smaller subcultures, or groups of people with shared value systems based on common life experiences and situations. Subcultures include nationalities, religions, racial groups and geographic regions. Social Class : Social classes are society's relatively permanent and ordered divisions whose members share similar values, interests, and behaviours. It is not not determined by a single factor, such as income, but is measured as a combination of occupation, income, education, wealth, and other variables. 2. Social Factors : A consumer's behaviour is also influenced by social factors, such as the consumer's reference group, family, and social roles and status. Reference groups : A person's behaviour is influenced by many small groups. Some are primary groups with whom there is regular but informal interaction-