ISSN Print: Factors Affecting Consumer Buying Behavior

International Journal of Applied ResearchAn individual normally lives through two familiesFamily of orientationThis is the family in which a person takes birth. Theinfluences of parents and individual’s upbringing have astrong effect on the buying habits. For instance, anindividual coming form an orthodox Tamil or Gujarativegetarian family may not consume meat or egg eventhough she may appreciate its nutritional values.Family of procreationThis is the family formed by an individual with his or herspouse and children. Normally, after marriage, anindividual’s purchasing habits and priorities change underthe influence of spouse. As the marriage gets older, thepeople usually settle in certain roles. For instance, a fathernormally takes decisions on investment whereas the mothertakes decision on health of children.From a marketing viewpoint, the level of demand for manyproducts is dictated more by the number of households thanby the number of families. The relevance of families tomarketing is therefore much more about consumerbehaviour than about consumer demand levels.In fact, the number 13 appears in both series, but in the firstseries it would be interpreted as a В because that is what thebrain is being led to expect, (The В in Matura Ml Scriptlooks like this. B)5. Past experienceThis leads us to interpret later experience in the light ofwhat we already know. Psychologists call this the law ofprimacy, Sometimes sights, smells or sounds from our pastwill trigger off inappropriate responses: the smell of breadbaking may recall a village bakery from twenty years ago,but in fact the smell could have been artificially generatedby an aerosol spray near the supermarket bread counter.An example of cognitive mapping as applied to perceptionof product quality might run as follows.The consumer uses the input selector to select clues andassign values to them. For quality, the cues are typicallyprice, brand name and retailer name. There are strongpositive relationships between price and quality in mostconsumers’ perceptions, and brand name and quality;although the retailer name is less significant, it still carriessome weight.b) Reference groupA group is two or more persons who share a set of normsand whose relationship makes their behaviourinterdependent. A reference group is a group of people withwhom an individual associates. It is a group of people whostrongly influence a person’s attitudes values and behaviourdirectly or indirectly. Reference groups fall into manypossible grouping, which are not necessarily to beexhaustive (i.e. non over-lapping).c) Roles and statusA person participates in many groups like family, clubs, andorganizations. The person’s position in each group can bedefined in tern of role and status. A role consists of theactivities that a person is expected to perform. Each rolecarries a status. People choose products that communicatetheir role and status in society. Marketers must be aware ofthe status symbol potential of products and brands.2. Social factorsMan is a social animal. Hence, our behaviour patterns, likesand dislikes are influenced by the people around us to agreat extent. We always seek confirmation from the peoplearound us and seldom do things that are not sociallyacceptable. The social factors influencing consumerbehaviour are a) Family, b) Reference Groups, c) Roles andstatus.3. Cultural factorsKotler observed that human behaviour is largely the resultof a learning process and as such individuals grow uplearning a set of values, perceptions, preferences andbehaviour patterns as the result of socialisation both withinthe family and a series of other key institutions. From thiswe develop a set of values, which determine and drivebehavioural patterns to a very large extent.According to Schiffman and Kanuk, values includeachievement, success, efficiency, progress, ,humanitarianism, youthfulness and practicality. This broadset of values is then influenced by the subcultures likenationality groups, religious groups, racial groups andgeographical areas, all of which exhibit degrees ofdifference in ethnic taste, cultural preferences, taboos,attitudes and lifestyle.Cultural factors consist of a) Culture, b) Sub culture and c)Social class.a) FamilyThere are two types of families in the buyer’s life viz.nuclear family and Joint family. Nuclear family is thatwhere the family size is small and individuals have higherliberty to take decisions whereas in joint families, the familysize is large and group decision-making gets morepreference than individual. Family members can stronglyinfluence the buyer behaviour, particularly in the Indiancontest. The tastes, likes, dislikes, life styles etc. of themembers are rooted in the family buying behaviour.The family influence on the buying behaviour of a membermay be found in two waysi) The family influence on the individual personality,characteristics, attitudes and evaluation criteria andii) The influence on the decision-making process involvedin the purchase of goods and services. In India, the headof the family may alone or jointly with his wife decidesthe purchase. So marketers should study the role andthe relative influence of the husband, wife and childrenin the purchase of goods and services. 78

International Journal of Applied Researchthe society. Middle class consumers purchase carefully andcollect information to compare different producers in thesame line and lower class consumers buy on impulse.Therefore marketing managers are required to studycarefully the relationship between social classes and theirconsumption pattern and take appropriate measures toappeal to the people of those social classes for whom theirproducts are meant.a) CultureCulture is the most fundamental determinant of a person’swant and behaviour. The growing child acquires a set ofvalues, perception preferences and behaviours through his orher family and other key institutions. Culture influencesconsiderably the pattern of consumption and the pattern ofdecision-making. Marketers have to explore the culturalforces and have to frame marketing strategies for eachcategory of culture separately to push up the sales of theirproducts or services. But culture is not permanent andchanges gradually and such changes are progressivelyassimilated within society.Culture is a set of beliefs and values that are shared by mostpeople within a group. The groupings considered underculture are usually relatively large, but at least in theory aculture can be shared by a few people. Culture is passed onfrom one group member to another, and in particular isusually passed down from one generation to the next; it islearned, and is therefore both subjective and arbitrary.For example, food is strongly linked to culture. While fish isregarded as a delicacy in Bengal, and the Bengalis boast ofseveral hundred different varieties, in Gujarat. Rajastan orTamil Naru, fish is regarded as mostly unacceptable fooditem. These differences in tastes are explained by the culturerather than by some random differences in taste betweenindividuals; the behaviours are shared by people from aparticular cultural background.Culture can change over a period of time, although suchchanges tend to be slow, since culture is deeply built intopeople’s behaviour. From a marketing viewpoint, therefore,it is probably much easier to work within a given culturethan to try to change it.4. Economic FactorsConsumer behaviour is influenced largely by economicfactors. Economic factors that influence consumerbehaviour area) Personal Income,b) Family income,c) Income expectations,d) Savings,e) Liquid assets of the Consumer,f) Consumer credit,g) Other economic factors.a) Personal IncomeThe personal income of a person is determinant of hisbuying behaviour. The gross personal income of a personconsists of disposable income and discretionary income. Thedisposable personal income refers to the actual income (i.e.money balance) remaining at the disposal of a person afterdeducting taxes and compulsorily deductible items from thegross income. An increase in the disposable income leads toan increase in the expenditure on various items. A fall in thedisposable income, on the other hand, leads to a fall in theexpenditure on various items.The discretionary personal income refers to the balanceremaining after meeting basic necessaries of life. Thisincome is available for the purchase of shopping goods,durable goods and luxuries. An increase in the discretionaryincome leads to an increase in the expenditure on shoppinggoods, luxuries etc. which improves the standard of living ofa person.b) Sub-CultureEach culture consists of smaller sub-cultures that providemore specific identification and socialisation for theirmembers. Sub-culture refers to a set of beliefs shared by asubgroup of the main culture, which include nationalities,religions, racial groups and geographic regions. Many subCultures make up important market segments and marketershave to design products and marketing programs tailored totheir needs.Although this subgroup will share most of the beliefs of themain culture, they share among themselves another set ofbeliefs, which may be at odds with those held by the maingroup. For example, Indians are normally seen as orthodox,conservative people, but rich, up-market youths do nothesitate to enjoy night parties with liquor and women.b) Family incomeFamily income refers to the aggregate income of all themembers of a family.Family income influences the buying behaviour of thefamily. The surplus family income, remaining after theexpenditure on the basic needs of the family, is madeavailable for buying shopping goods, durables and luxuries.c) Income ExpectationsIncome expectations are one of the important determinantsof the buying behaviour of an individual. If he expects anyincrease in his income, he is tempted to spend more onshopping goods, durable goods and luxuries. On the otherhand, if he expects any fall in his future income, he willcurtail his expenditure on comforts and luxuries and restricthis expenditure to bare necessities.c) Social classConsumer behaviour is determined by the social class towhich they belong. The classification of socioeconomicgroups is known as Socio-Economic Classification (SEC).Social class is relatively a permanent and ordered division ina society whose members share similar value, interest andbehaviour. Social class is not determined by a single factor,such as income but it is measured as a combination ofvarious factors, such as income, occupation, education,authority, power, property, ownership, life styles,consumption, pattern etc.There are three different social classes in our society. Theyare upper class, middle class and lower class. These threesocial classes differ in their buying behaviour. Upper classconsumers want high-class goods to maintain their status ind) SavingsSavings also influence the buying behaviour of anindividual. A change in the amount of savings leads to achange in the expenditure of an individual. If a persondecides to save more out of his present income, he willspend less on comforts and luxuries. 79

International Journal of Applied Researchkeeping in mind affecting factors things can be madefavorable and goal of consumer satisfaction can beachieved. Study of consumer buying behaviour is gate wayto success in market.e) Liquid assetsLiquid assets refer to those assets, which can be convertedinto cash quickly without any loss. Liquid assets includecash in hand, bank balance, marketable securities etc If anindividual has more liquid assets, he goes in for buyingcomforts and luxuries. On the other hand, if he has lessliquid assets, he cannot spend more on buying comforts andluxuries.References1. Consumer Behavior. Building Marketing Strategy, 12thEdition by Delbert Hawkins and David Mothersbaugh2. Consumer Behavior by Wayne D. Hoyer Deborah J.MacInnis, Rik Pieters.3. Consumer Behavior. 10th Edition by Leon Schiffmanand Leslie Kanuk.4. Consumer Behavior 11th Edition by Leon G. Schiffmanand Joseph Wisenblit.5. Social Psychology of Consumer Behavior by MichaelaWanke.6. Consumer Psychology by Cathrine Jansson-Boyd.f) Consumer creditConsumer credit refers to the credit facility available to theconsumers desirous of purchasing durable comforts andluxuries. It is made available by the sellers, either directly orindirect у through banks and other financial institutions.Hire purchase, installment purchase, direct bank loans etcare the ways by which credit is made available to theconsumers.Consumer credit influences consumer behaviour. If moreconsumer credit is available on liberal terms, expenditure oncomforts and luxuries increases, as it induces consumers topurchase these goods, and raise their living standard.g) Other economic factorOther economic factors like business cycles, inflation, etc.also influence the consumer behaviour.5. Personal factorPersonal factors also influence buyer behaviour. Theimportant personal factors, which influence buyerbehaviour, are a) Age, b) Occupation, c) Income and d) LifeStylea) AgeAge of a person is one of the important personal factorsinfluencing buyer behaviour. People buy different productsat their different stages of cycle. Their taste, preference, etcalso change with change in life cycle.b) OccupationOccupation or profession of a person influences his buyingbehaviour. The life styles and buying considerations anddecisions differ widely according to the nature of theoccupation. For instance, the buying of a doctor can beeasily differentiated from that of a lawyer, teacher, clerkbusinessman, landlord, etc. So, the marketing managershave to design different marketing strategies suit the buyingmotives of different occupational groups.c) IncomeIncome level of people is another factor which can exertinfluence in shaping the consumption pattern. Income is animportant source of purchasing power. So, buying pattern ofpeople differs with different levels of income.d) Life StyleLife style to a person’s pattern or way of living as expressedin his activity, interests and opinions that portrays the“whole person” interacting with the environment. Marketingmanagers have to design different marketing strategies tosuit the life styles of the consumers.ConclusionFor a successful consumer oriented market service providershould work as psychologist to procure consumers. By 80

Consumer Buying Behaviour refers to the buying behaviour of the ultimate consumer. Many factors, specificities and characteristics influence the individual in what he is and the consumer in his decision making process, shopping habits, purchasing behavior