After understanding the factors that affect the customer’s buying process, it is necessary for the retailer to understand the manner in which a customer makes a decision. This requires an understanding of the consumer behaviour. The process consists of variety of stages and is influenced by one’s psychological framework comprising individual’s temperament, motivations, perception, and attitudes.
For certain commodities, the client takes his shopping for call like a shot with not a lot of thought. These are things of daily use. For a few alternative commodities, mainly luxury or sturdy things, one thinks a lot of before taking a choice to buy it. Sometimes, the patron may additionally consult others. Generally, there are 5 stages that the customer passes in taking a choice for buying a selected artifact. These stages are:
1. Need Recognition
The process starts with arousal of a need or problem that gets activated either through an internal or external stimuli. The fundamental desires of a typical man arise to a selected level and become a drive and he is aware of from his previous expertise the way to satisfy these desires like hunger, thirst, sex, etc.; this is often a case of internal stimulant. A desire can even be needs, aroused by an external stimulant like the sight of recent product during a look whereas buying alternative usual merchandise. There is a twofold significance of need arousal stage to a marketer:
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- The drive that actually compels the buyer to buy the product which can satisfy his needs must be identified by the marketer as it gives him the opportunity to satisfy the consumer.
- The marketer also knows the need levels and their time of fluctuations which can be capitalized by him.
2. Product Awareness/ Information Search
After need arousal, the consumer tries to overcome it and so he gathers the sources and information about the product. Further, depending upon the intensity of need, it produces two states in an individual which are heightened attention and active information. In heightened attention, the consumer becomes more receptive to information regarding the item he likes. For example, if a consumer needs to purchase a television, he will automatically pay more attention to ads for television and will also be influenced by the talks of friends and relatives regarding television.
If need is more intense, the individual enters a state of active information search in which he tries and collects more and more information regarding the product’s attributes and other information. There are four sources of consumer information:
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- Personal Sources including family, neighbours, co-workers etc.
- Commercial Sources like advertisement, salesmen, and dealers.
- Public Sources like the mass media, consumer- rating organisations.
- Experiential Sources including handling, examining, using the product.
3. Interest
Interest may be viewed as a state of mind that exists when a consumer perceives a need rand / or is aware of alternative products capable of satisfying that need. Consumer interest is seen in the consumer’s willingness to seek further information about a product. At this stage, the consumer is actively involved in the buying process and pays attention to the product. However, if the interest is lost during this involvement, attention will be diverted and the buying- decision process will possibly break down.
4. Evaluation and Intention
Once, interest in a product is aroused, a consumer enters the subsequent stage of evaluation and intention. The evaluation stage represents the stage of mental trial of the product. During this stage, the consumer assigns relative value-weights to different products/ brands on the basis of accumulated stock of product information and draws conclusions about their relative satisfaction-giving potential value. After this evaluation, the consumer develops the intention either to purchase or reject the product/ brand. The final purchase can, however, depend upon the strength of the positive intention, that’s the intention to shop for.
On the basis of evaluation of behaviour of consumers, the marketer can improve or develop the product and segment the market on the basis of product attributes.
5. Purchase Decision
There are three more important considerations for taking the buying decision:
a) Attitude of others such as spouse, relatives and friends. Interestingly, it depends more upon the intensity of their negative attitude and the consumer’s motivation to comply with the other person’s wishes
b) Anticipated situational factors as expected family income, expected total cost of the product and the expected benefits of the product and
c) Unanticipated situational factors, like accidents, illness, etc.
6. Post Purchase Feelings
If the product matches his expectations, the consumer is satisfied; if it exceeds, he is highly satisfied; and if it falls short of expectations, he is dissatisfied. Post purchase behaviour refers to the behaviour of a shopper when his commitment to a product has been created. It originates out of shopper’s expertise concerning the employment of the merchandise and is indicated in terms of satisfaction. This behaviour is mirrored in repeat purchases or abstinence from any purchase. If product use expertise indicates satisfaction, then repeat purchases can occur, otherwise not.
For citing this article use:
- Uppu, R. K. (2016). A study on consumer behaviour with reference to organized and conventional retail stores in Guntur and Krishna districts Andhra Pradesh.
