Customer Buying Behavior: Comparison of Physical and Online Stores

This report delves into customer buying behavior, as defined by Philip Kotler, examining the process individuals and groups undergo when purchasing goods and services. It highlights the importance for marketers to understand these behaviors to effectively target consumers. The report outlines the five stages of the customer buying process: need recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, decision making, and post-purchase behavior. It then compares the advantages and disadvantages of physical stores versus online stores, considering factors such as time, price, customer service, and tangibility. The report concludes that, despite the rise of online shopping, physical stores still hold significant value for many consumers, citing research indicating a strong preference for in-store purchases due to the satisfaction of physical interaction and the opportunity for outings. The report uses research to support its conclusions.

Customer Buying Behavior
According to the Philip Kotler, the study about the habits of buying goods, services or ideas by
an individual, group or society at large, to fulfill their needs or requirement. This phenomenon is
known as customer buying behavior. For a marketer, it is necessary to understand the customer
buying trend; if he or she could understand it then it would be easy for them to capture the target
market or people. Kotler further highlight the significance of Customer Buying Behavior, he said
that goods manufacturer & services provider should understand the buying behavior of the
customers that which are those key features which attract the customers to buy anything. ( John
Dudovskiy, 2013)
Generally, there are five stages which a customer follows, when he or she want to buy any goods
or services and those five stages are given below
1. Need Recognition
2. Search relevant Information about that product
3. Evaluation of available alternative
4. Decision Making
5. Post Purchase behavior about that product
(Shmn, 2012)
Mostly people love to go for a shopping which is really an excitement for some people. By doing
this they can see the things physically which they are going to buy. But as we are living in the
age of Information Technology (IT) so trend is changing day by day. People also buy the
required things from online store. Here below are the pros and cons of physical stores and online
stores.
Time Required
Whenever you buy a thing from online store then it takes some time to deliver at your door step
but in case of physical store you can get your required thing within no time.

Price
Most often prices in online stores are comparative less than the prices of physical stores because
physical store owner have to bear many expenses like electricity, store maintenance etc.
Customer Service & Warranty
One of the main drawback of the online stores are post-purchase services because if any buyer
who bought anything from online store and after his/her purchase he/she found it bad or not
satisfactory then he/she have no way to return it back. But in case of physical store he/she can
return that product.
Tangibility
In physical store, customers can touch the products or even can measure the quality of that
product which he/she going to buy. But in online store, customers have no choice; they can only
see the pictures of that product but can’t able to measure the quality of that product.
(Matthew Torres, 2016)
Conclusion
Physical stores have much value than online stores. Although, trend is changing towards online
shopping but still mostly people love to go them-selves for shopping. Because, it provide
satisfaction to them that they buy a suitable product and also provide them a chance for outing.
According to the recent research which named “Time Trade state of Retail Report” in this survey
they took 1000 consumers or respondents to know about their buying patterns. 85% of them said
that they prefer to buy products from physical stores while 42% consumers said that they never
buy anything from any online store. Though, it could be the reason of age because aged people
are not friendly with electronic devices. However, mostly people still prefer to buy from physical
stores. (TimeTrade, 2015)

Bibliography
John Dudovskiy. (2013, July 04). Consumer Buyer Behaviour Definition. Retrieved from http://research-
methodology.net/consumer-buyer-behaviour-definition/
Matthew Torres. (2016, October 02). Comparison: Buying Online vs In A Store. Retrieved from
https://www.lifewire.com/buy-online-or-in-store-3276438
Shmn. (2012, September 12). 5 Stages of consumer buying decision process. Retrieved from
http://managementation.com/5-stages-of-consumer-buying-decision-process/
TimeTrade. (2015, June 15). 85% Of Consumers Prefer To Shop In Physical Stores. Retrieved from
http://www.retailtouchpoints.com/topics/shopper-experience/85-of-consumers-prefer-to-
shop-in-physical-stores