Consumer Behaviour

‘Consumer Behavior’ involves studying the processes a consumer uses to make purchase decisions, to dispose of purchased goods or services and study the factors that influence purchase decisions and the use of products. Every business wants to create and retain a loyal customer who engages in continued profitable business with him. Customer Loyalty is the measure of success of the business in retaining a long term relationship with the customer. Customer loyalty persuades the customer to voluntarily choose a particular product against another for his need. The loyalty may be product specific or it may be company specific. When a loyal customer has repetitive requirement of the same product, such customers may be described as being ‘brand loyal’. On the other hand, he may also require different products of the same manufacturer. Hence, a ‘loyal’ customer makes significant purchases from the same supplier and that counts as the company specific loyalty.

There are different kinds of people in this world. Likewise, while trying to sell a product or service, you should bear in mind that there are as many different kinds of consumers. So, while trying to sell to a consumer you should vary your approach depending upon the reason for which the consumer is buying as well as the type of consumer.  Consumers can be various types and differentiated based on their ‘age’. Consumers can be segregated into ‘sub-groups’ based on their age such as children, teenagers, young adults, mature adults, senior citizens and so on. Each individual ‘sub-group’ has its own mind set, characteristics, preferred brands, preferred products etc. You should bear in mind while dealing with consumers of different age groups that each of these sub-groups will have very clear ideas on what products they would like to buy, the kind of customer service they prefer and the level of explanation they need and the kind of rapport they want from the salesperson etc.

Consumers can be various types and differentiated based on their ‘Social Background’. Consumers can be segregated into ‘sub-groups’ based on their social background such as from the elite class, upper middle class, middle class to the lower class of society. The elite class belongs to the high social stratum of society and is used to getting the best of everything.