Consumer Behaviour
An Introduction
Consumer Behavior
• Consumer behavior is a discipline which
encompasses all the processes involved in
acquiring, using and disposing of products,
services and ideas. As a discipline it is also
concerned with the results of such acquisition, use
and disposal.
– May occur with or without purchase
– Not only when money changes hands but also when
people leave there old values, practices, attitudes and
beliefs for social good.
Customers, Consumers and Buyers
• Two perspectives
– Who is the final user of the product/ services
– Permanency in the usage of the product/ services
or the retail point
Scope of Consumer behavior
Individuals, families and organizations
Unit of consumption
Whether, why, when, how, what, from where, how
much, with what frequency
To Acquire, use and dispose
Which
Product, services and ideas
In the consumption roles of
Initiator(s), Information gatherers, Influencers, Decision makers,
Purchasers, Users, Disposers
Result of consumption Result of consumption
Consumption culture, societal culture, Satisfaction/ dis satisfaction, perception,
social structure
learning, memories and attitudes
Why Study Consumer Behavior
“A customer is the most important
visitor on our premises. He is not
dependent on us. We are
dependent on him. He is not an
interruption in our work. He is the
purpose of it. He is not an outsider
in our business. He is part of it.
We are not doing him a favor by
serving him. He is doing us a favor
by giving us an opportunity to do
so.”
– Mahatma Gandhi
“We see out customers as invited
guests to a party, and we are the
hosts. It’s our job every day to
make every important aspect of the
customer experience a little bit
better.’
– Jeff Bezos
Have consumers been always important
Dr. Rajneesh Krishna
Emphasis given to the consumers
have been different in the
different phases of history
Modes of customer relations
• Feudalistic mode of production - customization for
elite - individual
• Mass production – production, product and selling
concept Development of eng. & tech
• Marketing Concept Development of mgmt sciences
• Niche marketing/ Relationship marketing
• Mass customization
Loss and gain of consumer orientation
From Customer Centric Marketing
to Consumer Behaviour
Evolution of CB as a discipline
• 1940s
– Beginning of teaching Business management
– Faculty was dominated by economics and
commerce graduates
– Consumer was supposed to be a rational man as
imagined by Adam Smith – trade off
– Domination of production and product concept
Evolution of CB as a discipline
• Later half of 1950
– Emergence of marketing concept
– Irrational consumers
– Emergence of psychologists in the area of
consumer behavior
– Hidden meaning of consumer goods and brands
Evolution of CB as a discipline
• 1960s and 70s
– Emergence of management professional as a
researcher
– transition from model of irrational consumers
to consumers as problem solver
– Eg Hierarchy of effects model, cognition to
attitude to behavior
Evolution of CB as a discipline
• 1980s
– proliferation of brands, decrease in leisure time
– cognitive miser
– division of decisions into
• low involvement and
• high involvement
– endorsement
– brand image
Evolution of CB as a discipline
• 1990s
– Increase in connectivity
– Increase in brand reach
– cultural connotations of consumption
– Influence of collectivity in decision making
Evolution of CB as a discipline
• And now
– Holistic framework
• Contextual change
– Emergence of online media (?) or should we
say interactional platforms
Human Kind
Centric
“Over the past 60 years, marketing has moved
from being product-centric (Marketing 1.0) to
being consumer-centric (Marketing 2.0). Today Customer Centric
we see marketing as transforming once again in
response to the new dynamics in the
environment. We see companies expanding
their focus from products to consumers to Product Centric
humankind issues. Marketing 3.0 is the stage
when companies shift from consumer-
centricity to human-centricity and where
profitability is balanced with corporate
responsibility.” Production
- Phillip Kotler Centric
Applications of Consumer Behaviour
Our Goals
A paradigm to understand the
consumers and buyers
Theories, concepts and constructs
To practice brand management, brand planning,
media management and mining of consumer
insights on online and offline platforms
I will be discussing a lots of concepts
and theories in the class and will
provide research examples and use
role playing to explain how these
concepts can be used in strategic
marketing
Customer orientation
The case of Car Purchase
Understanding Consumer
Psychology of consumption
Sociology of consumption
•Motivation
• Social groups • Personality
• Family • Learning
• Culture and institutions • Attitude
• Class & Lifestyle • Perceptions
Consumer
Feedback Feedback
Decision to BUY
Thank You
Customer orientation
The case of Paint Purchase
Utsav
• Category perception
– Four level mind map
• Oil paints
• Distemper
• Thaili paints
• Colour lime
• Need
– Lime is sacred
– Aesthetics > latent > especially among specially among
families where at least one of the member was engaged
in urban
– Showcase progress
Utsav
• Perceptions
– For cities and towns > our profession is in mud and dust
> many a times likened to an urban ‘daughter in law’
• Imagery
• Place of purchase > perception of ridicule
• Fear of getting inconvenienced and cheated by urban painters
• Attitude
– Unfavourable
– Beliefs
• Not for us
• Costly > always compared with lime
• It has not approached us
