MICRO ECONOMICS

Today, business around the world recognizes that "the consumer is supreme and his sovereignty prevails." The power of the consumer is immense. Consumer is not merely a simple entity. Sherlekar and Krishnamoorthy treat the consumer to be a riddle. 1 "Consumer is a broad term and any person who uses a product or service or deals with it can be called a consumer." 2 It is not necessary that the particular person should be a buyer of the product or service. A consumer can also be termed as an individual who identifies a need or desire and then makes purchases.

Consumer behaviour is the study of how individual customers, groups or organizations select, buy, use, and dispose ideas, goods, and services to satisfy their needs and wants. It refers to the actions of the consumers in the marketplace and the underlying motives for those actions. According to Engel, Blackwell, and Mansard, "consumer behaviour is the actions and decision processes of people who purchase goods and services for personal consumption". According to Louden and Bitta, "consumer behaviour is the decision process and physical activity, which individuals engage in when evaluating, acquiring, using or disposing of goods and services".

Consumer behaviour can be examined as it is a decision making process of an individual when consumer engaged in evaluating, acquiring, using or disposing goods/services. The decision making is basically depend on two important aspects that are the consumers expected amounts of satisfaction and the resources that are available to him for spending.

Consumer behaviour is the study of individuals, groups, or organizations and the processes they use to select, secure, use, and dispose of products, services, experiences, or ideas to satisfy their needs and wants. It is also concerned with the social and economic impacts that purchasing and consumption behaviour has on both the consumer and wider society. Consumer behaviour blends elements from psychology, sociology, social anthropology, marketing and economics, especially behavioural economics. It examines how emotions, attitudes and preferences affect buying behaviour. Characteristics of individual consumers such as demographics, personality lifestyles and behavioural variables such as usage rates, usage occasion, loyalty, brand advocacy, willingness to provide referrals, in an attempt to understand people's wants and consumption are all investigated in formal studies of consumer behaviour. The study of consumer behaviour also investigates the influences, on the consumer, from groups such as family, friends, sports, reference groups, and society in general. [3]

Every man is a consumer, and ought to be a producer. He is by constitution expensive, and needs to be rich.