Consumer Behavior

Running head: CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
Consumer Behavior
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Author Note

1CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
Consumer behavior
The concept of consumer behavior evolved after the Second World War. The concept
of seller market became obsolete with the beginning of the buyers’ market. This resulted in
the shift of the manufacturer’s attention o consumers and consumer behavior. Consumer
behavior has evolved as an independent discipline as the selling concept has shifted to
consumer based marketing. The understanding of the consumers’ behavior has become a
challenge for the marketers because of heterogeneous individuals (Mullen & Johnson, 2013).
The marketers require detailed analysis and knowledge of the buying behavior of the
consumers. The imperative tool for analyzing buying behavior of the customers has eased the
forecasting of the future buying prospect of the buyers. The consumers go through certain
psychological processes in order to recognize their needs and in turn fulfill the desires and
requirement. Consumers’ behaviors determine the success or failure of an organization.
Various factors affect the buying behavior of an individual like cultural factors, social factors
and personal factors (Mullen & Johnson, 2013).
Attitude and beliefs play a major role in the buying behavior of an individual. Attitude
depicts the point of view of a product, service, an advertisement, a firm or any idea of any
individual. Attitude of an individual is important for the marketers as this decides the
selection, learning and buying process of an individual. Attitude determines the liking or
disliking of an individual (Parment, 2013). Whereas the beliefs every individual has are
never action-oriented. The buying becomes successful when the attitude and beliefs of an
individual matches with the quality of the product or the service. Motivation and consumer
involvement are the experiences of a customer. It helps to rationalize and analyze the choice
of an individual. Consumer involvement is influenced by external agencies and sources
(Akbar & James, 2014). Involvement involves effort, time and consideration a consumer

2CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
derives while selecting a product for buying. The theory determines the high and low
involvement purchases (Parment, 2013). For example, the consumer does not feel involved
while buying a bread loaf. The reason being the short life cycle of the product. The product
exhausts after its consumption. The consumer might change the brand of the bread in the next
purchase. In order to purchase a refrigerator or a laptop, consumer shows high involvement.
These durability and life cycle of these products are more (Akbar & James, 2014). Customers
asking multiple questions before purchasing a product imply high involvement.
Degree Life span Example
Low involvement short Day to day consumer goods
Medium Involvement Medium Medicines, crockery, furniture.
High Involvement Long Surgery, immovable assets,
automobiles
Source: By the creator
Figure 1.
The involvement of consumers in buying a product or service depends on certain elements.
Learning is one such factor. The process of learning involves motivation, response, cues and
reinforcement. Customer motivation evokes when a consumer feels a need or requirement of
a product or service. In this case, the marketer plays an essential role by helping to identify
the hidden motives of the customer. The marketer also triggers the desires and motives of the
customer. The response to these triggers helps the consumer to buy the product (Hanssens et
al., 2014).