Consumer behaviour

Consumer behaviour is the study of individuals, groups, or organisations and all the activities associated with the purchase, use and disposal of goods and services. Consumer behaviour consists of how the consumer's emotions, attitudes, and preferences affect buying behaviour. Consumer behaviour emerged in the 1940–1950s as a distinct sub-discipline of marketing, but has become an interdisciplinary social science that blends elements from psychology, sociology, social anthropology, anthropology, ethnography, ethnology, marketing, and economics (especially behavioural economics).

"Buyer behaviour" redirects here. For the behaviour of buyers within organisations, see procurement.

The study of consumer behaviour formally investigates individual qualities such as demographics, personality lifestyles, and behavioural variables (such as usage rates, usage occasion, loyalty, brand advocacy, and willingness to provide referrals), in an attempt to understand people's wants and consumption patterns. Consumer behaviour also investigates on the influences on the consumer, from social groups such as family, friends, sports, and reference groups, to society in general (brand-influencers, opinion leaders).

Because consumer behaviour is hard to predict, marketers and researchers employ ethnography, consumer neuroscience, and machine learning^[1] and use customer relationship management (CRM) databases for analysis of customer patterns. The extensive data produced by these databases enables detailed examination of behavioural factors that contribute to customer re-purchase intentions, consumer retention, loyalty, and other behavioural intentions such as the willingness to provide positive referrals, become brand advocates, or engage in customer citizenship activities. Databases also assist in market segmentation, especially behavioural segmentation such as developing loyalty segments, which can be used to develop tightly targeted customised marketing strategies on a one-to-one basis.

purchase activities: the purchase of goods or services; how consumers acquire products and services, and all the activities leading up to a purchase decision, including information search, evaluating goods and services, and payment methods including the purchase experience

use or consumption activities: concerns the who, where, when, and how of consumption and the usage experience, including the symbolic associations and the way that goods are distributed within families or consumption units

disposal activities: concerns the way that consumers dispose of products and packaging; may also include reselling activities such as and second-hand markets

eBay

Consumer behaviour entails "all activities associated with the purchase, use and disposal of goods and services, including the consumer's emotional, mental and behavioural responses that precede or follow these activities."^[7] The term consumer can refer to individual consumers as well as organisational consumers, and more specifically, "an end user, and not necessarily a purchaser, in the distribution chain of a good or service."^[8] Consumer behaviour is concerned with:^[9]

Consumer responses may be:^[10]

According to the American Marketing Association, consumer behaviour can be defined as "the dynamic interaction of affect and cognition, behaviour, and environmental events by which human beings conduct the exchange aspects of their lives."

As a field of study, consumer behaviour is an applied social science. Consumer behaviour analysis is the "use of behaviour principles, usually gained experimentally, to interpret human economic consumption." As a discipline, consumer behaviour stands at the intersection of economic psychology and marketing science.^[11]

Functional benefits are the tangible outcomes that can be experienced by the consumer such as taste or physical appearance.

Psycho-social benefits are the more abstract outcomes or the personality-related attributes of a brand, such as the social currency that might accrue from wearing an expensive suit or designer label or driving a 'hot' car.

Quality conscious/Perfectionist: characterised by a consumer's search for the very best quality in products; quality conscious consumers tend to shop systematically making more comparisons and shopping around to compare quality and value.

Brand-conscious: characterised by a tendency to buy expensive, well-known brands, or designer labels. Those who score high on brand-consciousness tend to believe that the higher prices are an indicator of quality and exhibit a preference for department stores or top-tier retail outlets. The concept of Brand Consciousness can be defined as the awareness of the brand and its product offerings that are quite distinctive from the other brands in the market having a competitive advantage. The consumers are very concerned about what the brand company thinks about its name and products.

Recreation-conscious/Hedonistic: characterised by the consumer's engagement in the purchase process. Those who score high on recreation-consciousness regard shopping itself as a form of enjoyment.

Price-conscious: characterised by price-and-value consciousness. Price-conscious shoppers carefully shop around seeking lower prices, sales, or discounts and are motivated by obtaining the best value for money.

Novelty/fashion-conscious: characterised by a consumer's tendency to seek out new products or new experiences for the sake of excitement; who gain excitement from seeking new things; they like to keep up-to-date with fashions and trends. Variety-seeking is associated with this dimension.

Impulsive: characterised by carelessness in making purchase decisions, spur of the moment purchases, and lack of significant concern with expenditure levels or obtaining value. Those who score high on impulsive dimensions tend not to be engaged with the object at either a cognitive or emotional level.

Confused (by ): characterised by a consumer's confusion caused by too many product choices, too many stores, or an overload of product information. A result of information overload.

over-choice

Habitual/brand loyal: characterised by a consumer's tendency to follow a routine purchase pattern on each purchase occasion; consumers have favourite brands or stores and have formed habits in choosing so the purchase decision does not involve much evaluation or shopping around.

A number of theorists have argued that certain fundamental decision-making styles can be identified.^[104]^[105] A decision-making style is defined as a "mental orientation characterising a consumer's approach to making choices."^[106] Sproles and Kendall (1986) developed a consumer style inventory (CSI) consisting of eight factors, such as price-sensitivity, quality-consciousness, brand-consciousness, novelty-seeking, fashion-consciousness, and habit. Based on these factors, the authors developed a typology of eight distinct decision-making styles:^[107]

The Consumer Styles Inventory (CSI) has been extensively tested and retested in a wide variety of countries and purchasing contexts.^[108] Many empirical studies have observed cross-cultural variations in decision styles, leading to numerous adaptations or modifications of the CSI scale for use in specific countries.^[109] Consumer decision styles are important for marketers because they describe behaviours that are relatively stable over time and are therefore useful for market segmentation.^[110]

Financial Risk: the potential financial loss in the event of a poor decision

Performance Risk (also known as functional risk): the idea that a product or service will not perform as intended

Physical Risk: the potential for physical harm if something goes wrong with a purchase

Social Risk: the potential for loss of social status associated with a purchase

Psychological Risk: the potential for a purchase to result in a loss of self-esteem

Observed product usage: observing regular product usage at home or work, to gain insights into how products are opened, prepared, consumed, stored, disposed etc. to gain insights into the usefulness of packaging, labelling and general usage

Day-in-the-life studies: extended visits during product usage situations to gain insights into norms and consumer expectations

Accompanied purchase or shop-alongs: researcher accompanies a shopper on a purchase expedition to gain insights into consumer responses to merchandising and other sales tactics

: similar to traditional ethnography; extended stays with a group or tribe with a view to uncovering the fundamental rules and conventions that govern behaviour

Cultural studies

Guerilla ethnography: random observations in public settings to help establish research questions or to gain quick insights into specific behaviours

: observations in the retail context with a view to gaining insights into the customer's service experience

Mystery shopping

: combining ethnographic research methods with conventional research techniques with a view to triangulating results

Multiple methodologies

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Consumer Behavior

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ISBN

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