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4.1.1 Exploring Consumer Behaviour

Importance of Resources in Consumer Behavior

Resources refer to: - Time: How much time a consumer spends on decision-making. - Effort: The cognitive and physical effort in making choices. - Money: The financial expenditure on consumption items.

Consumer vs. Customer: Key Difference

Consumer

  • Definition: Anyone who consumes goods or services.

Customer

  • Definition: Someone who has a specific and regular association with a brand, store, or company.

Illustrating Consumer Behavior Through Purchasing Patterns

Let’s examine how price-conscious consumers may behave when buying a TV.

Four Consumer Archetypes Based on Price Sensitivity

  1. Price Limit-Oriented:
  2. Sets a strict budget (e.g., under ₹50,000).

  3. Considers only TVs within this budget.

  4. Filtered Quality-Oriented:

  5. Considers multiple factors (brand, quality, store reputation).

  6. Narrows down options and then chooses the lowest-priced TV.

  7. Store Loyalty-Oriented:

  8. Always shops at a specific store (e.g., Croma).

  9. Buys the TV with the best discount in that store.

  10. Sale Event-Oriented:

  11. Waits for major sales (e.g., Amazon’s Independence Day sale).
  12. Buys the lowest-priced TV during the event.

Insight

  • All four are price-conscious but approach purchasing differently.
  • This highlights the diversity in consumer behavior even within a single target group.

Implications for Strategy Development

Identifying Gaps

  • Knowing how consumers make decisions allows businesses to refine their strategies.
  • Understanding how and why consumers purchase helps address gaps in the marketing approach.

Importance of Consumer Behavior Study

  • Provides actionable insights for:
  • Improving targeting.
  • Refining positioning.
  • Enhancing the 4Ps/7Ps of marketing.

Broader Scope of Consumer Behavior

Marketing borrows concepts from disciplines like: - Psychology: Understanding individual behavior. - Sociology: Understanding group dynamics.

Types of Consumers

Focus: Individual or Personal Consumers

  • Purchase for personal use (e.g., toothpaste, cooking oil).

Other Types of Consumers

  1. Organizational Consumers:

  2. Entities like hotels, schools, hospitals, or jails purchasing for operational purposes.

  3. Industrial Consumers:

  4. Businesses buying raw materials to produce final products (e.g., oil for soap manufacturing).