Chapter 5: CONSUMERS BUYING BEHAVIOR

 We make buying decisions nearly everyday of our lives and don't give those decisions thoughts but those decisions are very important to marketers. It helps them know why we buy and how we buy those products, which in turn helps grow brand revenue. 

Two or more consumer make up the Consumers Market while Consumers buying behavior can be referred to as the actions we take while buying a particular product or service.  This can be influenced by certain factors like :

• Cultural factors
• Social factors
• Personal factors
• Physiological factors

Cultural factors is has the most influence on consumer behavior. Cultural factors include the basics values, needs, perceptions  learned by a consumer by important people around them. Within the cultural groups there are sub groups that are broken down to religion, caste and social class this affects consumers behavior. For instance a Muslim cannot purchase alcoholic beverages because of his religious beliefs.

Social factors plays a strong role on consumers behavior. Humans are social beings and the try to imitate those around them. They try to be socially accepted in the society. Social factors like the family is significant in shaping buying behavior, a consumer continues to patronize a product his family has been using right from childhood. Another social factors like role and status affects how senior officer's  buying behaviour as against an other rank soldier in the army.

Psychological factors like feelings, motivation, learning, attitude and beliefs influence buying choices. One of the most widely accepted motivation theory, Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs which states that a buyer's need is arranged from the most basic lower level deficiency needs  to the highest level growth need. Consumers will always start from the psychological needs that include shelter, water, food.

Personal factors like age, occupation, lifestyle and personality also plays a great role in buying behavior. A Gen X may just buy a phone with basic functionality but a Gen Z will surely go for a sophisticated model this is due to their age difference and what they actually expect from a phone. 

In conclusion, we all have different reasons why we buy some products and how we buy them. Marketers must have these in mind so as to make strategic marketing decisions.

References: Ilias Avgeropoulos(2004) Marketing Planning power point  , Kotler (2000) Marketing Management , Dr. Maria Gomez Albrecht, Dr. Mark Green, Linda Hoffmang,(2023) Principle of Marketing (