influence his decision making up to great extent whereas an individual’s

personality may change gradually but plays a vital role in his buying and
consumption behaviour.

Thus to conclude, we can say that consumer behavior is an outcome of

numerous cultural, social and psychological factors.

Knowledge Assessment - II

Fill in the blanks:

1. In a society, the----------- can be made by over viewing religion, customs,

language, traditional arts, work-patterns of people.
2. The cultural factors make an important basis for ------------------, product
development, advertising.
3. Recognition and ---------------- also influence the buying decision of individuals.
4. Roles and status help marketers to prepare and market their products not only as
per the customer's requirements, but keeping in view------------- those individuals
enjoy.
5. An individual who is satisfied with a particular product will show a ----------------
towards buying the same product again.
6. Individuals with the same needs might not purchase similar products due to
difference in ----------------------.
7. To effectively market a product, marketers need to go to ------------- of a
consumer

Answers: 1.cultural study 2. market segmentation 3.self-esteem4.the status 5.strong inclination

6.perception 7. psychological level
SESSION 3: DIFFERENT BUYING ROLES

Individuals or group of consumers play diverse roles in different kinds of

purchase situations. There exists no hard and fast role that buyers need to play;
it is possible to characterize roles in the context of purchase decision. It has
been observed that there are eight different roles played by people in the
consumer decision process.

Initiator: The initiator is a person who first gets the thought or gives the
suggestion/idea of buying the particular product. A child might play the role of
an initiator in the purchase process of a chocolate.

Influencer: The influencer is a person who directly or indirectly has some

influence on the final buying decision of others. The parents play the role of
influencers in the purchase process of a chocolate.

Gatekeeper: The gatekeeper is a person who permits the flow of certain

information and restricts flow of some set of information. Parents play the role
of a gatekeeper in the selection of movies for children.

Decider: The decider is a person who finally determines part or the whole of
the buying decision, ie. all quantity like whether to buy, what to buy, how to
buy, when to buy or where to buy are considered. In the event of buying baby
products, the mother plays the role of the decider.

Buyer: The buyer is the person who actually purchases and pays for the
purchase. In a typical family decision making process, father plays the role of
the buyer who is involved in the economic transaction process.

User: The user is the person who actually uses or consumes the services or
products. In most of the grocery product purchase, the entire family uses the
product. In a typical purchase of washing machine, the housewife plays the role
of user.

Preparer: The preparer is the person who changes the product to usable form
for consumption. For example, in a typical family consumption of food items,
mother plays the role of preparer.

Maintainer: Members who service or repair the product so that it will provide
continued satisfaction is a maintainer.

Disposer: The disposer is the person who finally disposes the package of the
product. For example mother plays the role of a disposer after the product is
consumed by the family.

The task of the marketers is to understand the buying process and the role of the
participants in the buying process. He should initiate all of them to make a
purchase of his product at different stages and through different strategies. The
study of consumer behavior will be incomplete if one discusses only about
single role of the consumer. In certain purchase decisions might involves at
least one person acting one role, on other occasions a single individual can play
several roles at the same time. The important ones that are played by the
consumer are.

KNOWLEDGE ASSESSMENT
1. ------------of consumers play diverse roles in different kinds of purchase
situations.
2. The ---------is a person who first gets the thought or gives the
suggestion/idea of buying the particular product.
3. The ---------play the role of influencers in the purchase process of a
chocolate.
4. ---------is a person who directly or indirectly has some influence on the final
 buying decision of others
5. Parents play the role of a in the selection of movies for children.
6. Decider is a person who finally determines ---------of the buying decision.
7. Father plays the role of the-------- who is involved in the economic
transaction process.
8. -----------is the person who actually uses or consumes.
9. The------------ is the person who changes the product to usable form for
consumption.
10.The --------is the person who finally disposes the package of the product.

ANSWERS: 1. Individuals or group 2. Initiator 3. Parents 4. Influencer

5. Gatekeeper 6. Part or the whole 7. Buyer 8. User 9. Preparer 10. Disposer

ACTIVITY: Prepare a list of ten products where the child plays an important
role in the buying process

SESSION IV: THE CONSUMER DECISION PROCESS

Consumers undertake a step-by-step process while purchase a decision. The

amount of time and effort they devote to a particular purchasing decision
depends on the necessity of the desired good or service to the consumer.

Purchases where high levels of social or economic issues are said to be

associated are the high-involvement purchase decisions. Routine purchases that
have little risk to the consumer are low-involvement decisions. Consumers
generally spend more time and effort to make purchase decisions for high-
involvement products than to those for low-involvement products.

Fox example, a person purchasing air conditioner/refrigerator will probably

compare prices, visit dealer showrooms, read online reviews and ask for advice
from friends before making the final decision.

People might not invest huge effort in choosing between two brands of
chocolates. They will also go through the steps of the consumer decision
process but on a smaller scale. Purchase decisions can be thought-based
(cognitive) or feeling based (emotive). It is observed that both cognition and
emotion affect every purchase decision with either one of them dominating the
decision at a given point of time. For example we can analyze different
consumer purchase decision as follows:

Classification of Consumer Purchase Decisions

Thought-based Feeling-based
Example: Example:
Buying a home Jewellery
Example: Example:
Buying a car Snacks

THE CONSUMER DECISION PROCESS

Problem recognition
(Need identification)

Information Search

Evaluation of Alternatives

Purchase Decision and Action

Post-Purchase Evaluation
CONSUMER DECISION PROCESS STAGES

1. Problem Recognition –During the first stage of the consumer decision

making process, the consumer becomes aware of the difference between
the actual state (where we are now and the ideal state (‘where we want to
be’)). This stage motivates the individual to achieve the desired state of
affairs. Here they may also play a role through creating a new ideal state
or by increasing dissatisfaction with the actual state. The factors as
mention

2. Information Search – In the second stage, the consumer gathers

information related to his/her fulfillment of a desired state of affairs. This
search identifies alternative means of problem solution. High-
involvement purchases may invite large information searches, while low-
involvement purchases require little search activity. The search may
include internal or external sources of information. During the internal
search existing information feelings and experiences similar to the
problem solving situation are recalled from the consumer’s memory. An
external search collects information from outside sources, which may
include family members, friends, store displays, sales personal,
advertisements and product reviews. The external search may be a
general ongoing search or a specific pre-purchase search. The search
identifies the other existing brands for consideration and possible
purchase. The number of brands that a consumer actually considers in
making a purchase decision is known as the evoked set. Marketers seek
to influence consumer decisions during the process of search by
providing persuasive information about their goods or services in a
format useful to consumers.

3. Evaluation of Alternatives-The third step in the consumer decision

making process is to evaluate the evoked set of options identified during
the search step. The result of the evaluation stage helps in choosing a
brand or product in the evoked set or might also result in a decision to
start search for additional alternatives, when all those which were
identified during the initial search seem to be unsatisfactory. To
complete this analysis, the consumers develop a set of evaluation criteria
to guide the selection. These criteria can either be objective facts or
subjective impressions. Marketers can attempt to influence the outcome
from this stage in numerous ways. Initially, they can try and educate
 consumers about attributes that they view as important in evaluating a
particular class of goods. They can also identify which criteria evaluate
are important to an individual and attempt to show why a specific brand
fulfills those criteria. They can try to help a customer in expanding
his/her evoked set to include the product they are offering.

4. Purchase Decision and Action The search and alternative evaluation

stages of the decision process result in the final purchase decision and the
act of making the purchase. At this stage, the consumer has evaluated
each alternative in the evoked set based on his/her personal set of
evaluative criteria and lowered the alternatives down to one. Marketers
can smooth the purchase decision and action by helping consumers
through providing finance, delivery, and installation and so on.

5. Post-Purchase Evaluation- The purchase act might result in one of two:

Satisfaction – The buyer feels satisfied at the reduction of the gap

between the actual and the ideal states or might experience dissatisfaction
with the purchase. Consumers are generally satisfied if purchases meet
with their expectations.

Dissatisfaction – Sometimes, however, consumers experience some post

purchase anxieties, called cognitive dissonance. It is a thought that one
has not made the right decision. The consumer attempts to reduce this
anxiety by searching for additional information that supports his/her
choice. The marketer can help by providing supportive information to the
buyer and also by positive marketing communications.

The consumer buying process enables the consumers take informed decisions.
Higher the extent of satisfaction, higher the possibility of repurchase.
Marketers usually look to reduce dissatisfaction as a dissatisfied consumer not
only shies away from a purchase but also affects others.

KNOWLEDGE ASSESSMENT
1.Purchases where high levels of social or economic issues are said to be
associated are the ----------purchase decisions
2. -------------purchases that have little risk to the consumer are low-involvement
decisions
3. Consumers generally spend ------------to make purchase decisions for high-
involvement products than to those for low-involvement products.
4. Purchase decisions can be-----------------.
 5. In the stage of ----------the consumer becomes aware of the difference
between the actual state and the ideal state.
6. An ---------search collects information from outside sources.
7. The number of brands that a consumer actually considers in making a
purchase decision is known as the-------.
8. The search and alternative evaluation stages of the decision process result in
the--------------.
9. Consumers experience some post purchase anxieties, called -------------
10. Consumers are generally satisfied if purchases meet with their-------------.
10.
ANSWERS: 1. High-involvement 2. Routine 3. More time and effort 4.
Cognitive or emotive 5. Problem recognition 6. External 7. Evoked set 8. Final
purchase decision 9. Cognitive dissonance 10. Expectations

ACTIVITY: Prepare a flowchart to identify the steps involved in consumer

decision making process of a high involvement and a low involvement product.

Exercise Questions:

1. Discuss the activities of both final and intermediate users in the study
consumer behaviour .
2. How does consumer behaviour help in determining the marketing mix by
the firms?
3. What do you understand by ‘value for money’ in consumer behavior?
4. Why is the study of Consumer Behavior important for a firm?
5. What do you mean by a ‘reference group’? Explain ‘reference group-
influence’ used by marketers to promote a product.
6. ‘Cultural factors and sub- cultural factors are very helpful in studying
consumer behavior.’ Do you agree with the statement? Discuss.
7. How does economic condition and life style indicate consumers' purchasing
behavior?
8. Explain various social factors which influence consumer behavior in a
society.
9. Why do marketers need to study psychological factors related to consumer
behavior.
10.How does motivation drive consumers to develop a purchasing attitude
towards a product? Explain.
11.Discuss the role played by personality to determine consumer behavior in a
market.
12. Describe the various roles played by a person in the buying process
13.Give examples of the roles played by a child and mother in the process of
buying.
14.Describe the various stages of the consumer decision making process
15.Differentiate between the decision making process of high involvement and
low involvement products.
16. How do the personal variables affect the process of decision making?
17.Why is it important to study the post purchase behaiour
18.What factors are likely to increase the pre-purchase search for information.