Consumer Buying Behavior:
Consumer
buying behavior is the sum total of a consumer's attitudes, preferences,
intentions, and decisions regarding the consumer's behavior in the marketplace
when purchasing a product or service. The study of consumer behavior draws upon
social science disciplines of anthropology, psychology, sociology, and
economics.
" The
process by which individuals search for, select, purchase, use, and dispose of
goods and services, in satisfaction of their needs and wants. See also consumer
decision making"
Types of
consumer buying
There are 4 types of consumer buying behavior. Consumer buying behavior is the sum total of a consumer's attitudes, preferences, intentions, and decisions regarding the consumer's behavior in the marketplace when purchasing a product or service
Wants are unlimited and the resources to satisfy these
wants are limited. So the consumers think rationally before buying any product.
Buying toothpaste is totally different from buying a luxury car. The more
expensive the good is the more information is required by the consumer. There
are four types of consumer buying behavior on the basis of buyer
involvement while purchasing any product.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow's
hierarchy is most often displayed as a pyramid. The lowest levels of the
pyramid are made up of the most basic needs, while the most complex needs are
at the top of the pyramid.
Needs
at the bottom of the pyramid are basic physical requirements including the need
for food, water, sleep, and warmth. Once these lower-level needs have been met,
people can move on to the next level of needs, which are for safety and
security.
As
people progress up the pyramid, needs become increasingly psychological and
social. Soon, the need for love, friendship, and intimacy become
important. Further up the pyramid, the need for personal esteem and feelings of
accomplishment take priority.
Like Carl Rogers, Maslow emphasized the importance
of self-actualization, which is a process of growing and developing as a person
in order to achieve individual potential.
1-Self-actualization :
It refers to the need for
personal growth and development throughout one's life. It is the highest level
of Maslow's hierarchy of needs,
which was developed by psychologist Abraham Maslow. Once you are self-actualized,
you've met your full potential as an individual.
So what exactly does self-actualization entail? “What a man can
be, he must be,” Maslow explained. In other words, self-fulfillment is a major
human motivator. Some key hallmarks include personal contentment, spiritual
awareness, expressions of creativity, and giving back to society. It is the
ultimate form of self-realization – a state of understanding the meaning of
one’s life, of feeling completely alive, and becoming the best person one can
possibly be.
While self-actualization is often portrayed as the ultimate
outcome of life, Maslow suggested that actually achieving total
self-actualization was exceedingly rare. Rather than thinking of
self-actualization as a destination, it can be helpful to think of it as a
journey. It is the pursuit of self-actualization that drives people to seek
knowledge, to improve their abilities, and to continue growing all throughout
life.
#Self-actualization people are
realistic. They tend to see things as they really are and are very
sensitive to dishonesty. They do not distort reality to suit their belief
systems and instead acknowledge what exists in the world around them.
#Self-actualized people possess
a great deal of autonomy. They are highly independent intend
not to rely on others.
#Self-actualized people are
comfortable with and actually enjoy solitude. They have
satisfying and fulfilling relationships with others but they also enjoy being
alone.
#Self-actualized people have a
fresh way of looking at things. They have an appreciation
for new experiences and are able to look at the world around them with fresh
eyes and a renewed sense of wonder.
#Self-actualized people are very
accepting of both themselves and of others. They
are comfortable with themselves and they appreciate other people for who they
are.
#Self-actualized people are also
more likely to have what are known as peak experiences. These
are profound moments of fulfilment to leave a person with a sense of awe. These
moments feel important and sometimes even life-changing. People often emerge
from these moments feeling as if they have experienced something so powerful
that they have changed fundamentally as a person. The humanistic approach
continues to this day in the form of the modern school of thought known as of
positive psychology, which is cantered on what makes people happy.
2 Self
Esteem Needs: The most basic needs are at the bottom and include some of the
basic needs of your body. These are fairly obvious needs without which
your health will quickly suffer. We all know how demoralizing failing
health can be and how this can affect us both physically and mentally.
Maslow argued that after you acquire these most basic physiological needs
you seek those on the next level. The next level of needs are those which
involve security and your feeling safe. These are indeed very significant
needs, which depend on many factors.
The
next level up includes your needs revolving around your sense of love and
belonging. Now, in Maslow’s opinion when you have your basic bodily needs, feel
secure and have a sense of belonging and expression of love you will then go
after your esteem needs.
The
most basic needs are at the bottom and include some of the basic needs of your
body. These are fairly obvious needs without which your health will
quickly suffer. We all know how demoralizing failing health can be and how this
can affect us both physically and mentally. Maslow argued that after you acquire these
most basic physiological needs you seek those on the next level. The next
level of needs are those which involve security and your feeling safe. These
are indeed very significant needs, which depend on many factors.
The
next level up includes your needs revolving around your sense of love and
belonging. Now, in Maslow’s opinion when you have your basic bodily needs, feel
secure and have a sense of belonging and expression of love you will then go
after your esteem needs.
What
Are Maslow’s Esteem Needs?
According
to Maslow we are now looking at our higher needs and that we will only look for
these after we have the more important basic needs first. Esteem needs include how
confident you feel, your sense of achievement and worth. It is all part of healthy
self-esteem to seek to be aware of your own self-identity and how much respect
you think you have from others. As explained Maslow described these needs as
something you seek when you were lucky enough to have satisfied the more basic
needs.
Once
these esteem needs are met we move onto self-actualization needs. These
represent the actual realization of your true potential and your goals and
aspirations in life. Here, Maslow lists needs such as acceptance of
reality and facts, creativity and morality amongst others. The idea is that
once you build a healthy level of self-esteem you can move on to achieving and
self-improvement.
3-
Social Need: Social needs advance our tribal nature. These are the
needs for belonging, love, affection as well as for relationships with family
and friends and companionship. These needs are met through pleasing and
fulfilling relationships with others. A pleasing and fulfilling relationship
would imply acceptance by others. Having satisfied their basic physiological and
security needs, people can seek relationships from which their need for love
and belonging can be met.
The third stage in Maslow's hierarchy of needs is
the social stage
(also known as the love and belonging stage), which includes interpersonal
relationships. The social stage
is not based on basic needs but
instead on psychological or emotional needs
Examples: Belongingness,
love, affection, intimacy, family, friends, relationships, etc.
4- Safety
Needs: Once physiological needs are satisfied, safety needs emerge. These
include the need for security and stability. If you were to strip someone of
everything but his or her physiological needs, safety needs would become the
primary motivator, but not with the same sense of urgency as physiological
needs.
Safety and security needs are about keeping us safe from harm. These
needs include shelter, job security, health, and safe environments. If a person
does not feel safe in an environment, they will seek to find safety before they
attempt to meet any higher level needs. These security needs are important for
survival, but they are not as important as the basic physiological needs.
As with physiological needs, modern society ensures that safety needs
are sufficiently satisfied for the vast majority of adults. Safety needs occur
on smaller scales and are seen in people’s desires for certainty: job stability
and insurance policies—a general preference for the known over the unknown.
Examples : safety, shelter, security, law & order, employment, health,
stability, etc.
5-Physiological
needs: It deal with the maintenance of the human body. This
lowest category includes the most basic needs that are vital to survival, such
as the need for water, air, food, and sleep. Maslow believed that these needs
are the most instinctive needs because all needs become secondary until these
needs are met. If we need water, then little else matters until we have
something to drink.
These needs can be
divided into two categories:
1.The first category is
made up of needs that are homeostatic—the need to maintain an internal,
biological balance—and include such things as salt concentration, sugar
concentration, and water concentration in the blood. If a substance is out of
balance, there will be a desire to consume foods that bring these levels back
into balance.
2.The second category
includes those needs that are not homeostatic, such as sleep and sex.
Both of these categories
are deeply rooted in the biological systems of the body. More importantly, if
one were to strip a person of material possessions and psychological identity,
physiological needs would be the primary driver of that person’s behavior. All
actions would be directed at satisfying basic needs, and the person would seek
an environment to satisfy these needs. Near a large bike rally, Wal-Mart
noticed that for temperatures above 88 degrees, beer sales went down and water
sales went up.
In modern societies, it
is rare for anyone to experience this level of physiological-driven motivation.
It would be even rarer to find an individual who is completely dissatisfied for
an extended duration of time.
Examples: air,
food, water, shelter, warmth, sleep, etc
Types
of Buying Decision Behavior
Buying decision behavior varies from place to place and person
to person, either
purchase of a detergent soup or hardy bikes. Buying decision behavior become
more complex in the result of more buying participants and deliberation. There
are different factors which
affects buying decision behavior. Buying Decision Behavior can be
classified in to four different categories.
High involvement:- the
term means when the consumer is highly involved while buying a product.
Generally this situation happens in case of expensive or luxuries goods. Like
while buying a diamond necklace a consumer is highly involved.
Low
involvement:- this
term means when the consumer is not highly involved while buying a product. It
happens in case of low price goods. Like while buying toothpaste a consumer is
not highly involved.
Significant
differences between brands:- it
means when there are significant differences between brands.
Few differences between brands:- it
means when there are very little differences between brands.
1) Complex
buying behavior:- when the consumer is highly involved in the
buying and there is significant differences between brands then it is called
complex buying behavior. So in this case the consumer must collect proper
information about the product features and the marketer must provide detailed
information regarding the product attributes. For eg. Consumer while buying a motor cycle is
highly involved in the purchase and has the knowledge about significant
differences between brands.
2) Variety
seeking behavior:- in this case consumer involvement is low while buying the
product but there are significant differences between brands. Consumers
generally buy different products not due to dissatisfaction from the earlier
product but due to seek variety. Like every time they buy different washing detergent just
for variety. So it is the duty of the marketer to encourage the consumer to buy
the product by offering them discounts, free samples and by advertising the
product a lot.
3) Dissonance
buying behavior:- here consumer is highly involved in the
purchase but there are few differences between brands. Like consumer while
buying a floor tiles buy
them quickly as there are few differences between brands.
4) Habitual
buying behavior:- in this case there is low involvement of
the consumer and there are few differences between brands. The consumer buys
the product quickly. For eg. Toothpaste.
Comments
Post a Comment