Consumer Buying Behavior

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Consumer Buying Behavior

I. MARKETING, RELATIONSHIPS, AND CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

A. Consumer behavior comprises all the consumer decisions and activities connected with choosing, buying, using, and disposing of goods and services.

1. Marketers have to pay attention to consumer behavior that occurs before the purchase and continues after the product has been used.

2. Studying consumer behavior is one of the steps in marketing research and analysis.

3. In addition to basic principles of consumer behavior, marketers also need to study the decisions and actions of real people.

B. Real People, Real Individuals

1. Until recently, the study of consumer behavior was focused on generalized consumer decisions.

a. However, this did not address the behavior of individual consumers.

b. These companies were making marketing decisions without knowing specific details about their customers.

2. Today marketers can collect and analyze data about consumer behavior, one person at a time; this is the relationship approach to marketing.

3. New technology allows marketers to track the specific purchase and usage behavior of their customers.

a. Information is gathered and stored in an internal database.

b. Marketers can explore what each customer wants and tailor the marketing processes to meet those needs.

C. Consumers as Moving Targets

1. Consumer behavior changes over time as people and situations change.

2. To maintain their relationships with customers, marketers have to be alert to changes and adjust their activities accordingly.

3. In addition to individual variations in consumer behavior, marketers need to scan for broad-based changes in consumer behavior.

4. After a product hits the market markete...

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... in response to recurring situations.

2. Some marketers group consumers according to certain personality traits, and develop marketing approaches to fit each group.

3. A few personality traits, such as innovativeness, seem to predict who will purchase certain products.

4. Research shows that consumer behavior is clearly influenced by self-concept, the way a person feels and thinks about himself or herself.

a. The way people see themselves is not necessarily the way they really are.

b. People buy and use products that shape, support, or express their inner selves.

5. Lifestyle is an individual pattern of living as exhibited in a person's activities, interests, and opinions.

a. Marketers analyze consumer lifestyles by looking at a range of characteristics (known as psychographic variables).

b. Lifestyle shifts can open new marketing activities.

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