Consumer behaviour

According to Kotler and Armstrong (2001), consumer buying behavior refers to the buying behavior of the individuals and households who buy the goods and services for personal consumption. Consumers around the world are different in various factors such as age, income, education level and preferences which may affect the way they avail of goods and services. This behavior then impacts how products and services are presented to the different consumer markets. There are many components which influence consumer behavior namely: cultural, social, personal and psychological. These characteristics cannot be controlled by the companies; therefore, a need to assess these elements in order to create an effective marketing plan.
Marketing plans and strategies would be incomplete without paying much consideration to the customers. Customers will and should always be a part of the agenda in any marketing plan of any company. Because of the implications for profitability and growth, customer retention is potentially one of the most powerful weapons that companies can employ in their fight to gain a strategic advantage and survive in todays ever increasing competitive environment (Lindenmann, 1999).
Consumers purchase products and services for the benefits derived from their use. While the study of economics focuses on outcomes, consumer behavior emphasizes the process. Rather than assuming perfect conditions, researchers of consumer behavior explicitly recognize the impact of situational elements on behavior and the variance among individuals faced with the same conditions” Which means that consumers buy products for the benefits they reap out of it, the study of consumer behavior investigates the steps, or the processes involved regarding the decisions made by the consumer (Jobber, 2007).
Values are basically the basis of one’s attitude or restriction in attitude. Some examples of values include freedom, pleasure, inner harmony, and happiness. Heroes, on the other hand, refer to icons in the society that may have an impact on people of different levels. Examples of heroes are sports figure or pop culture figures. As stated that heroes may influence consumer behavior through their association with certain products and brands. The same goes with rituals, or symbolic activities commonly performed over and over, such as bathing, tooth brushing, attending to mass, to school, etc. Their involvement on the consumption of consumer products makes them important for consumer behavior. Finally, these symbols are equally important because different cultures have different symbols that they favor i. e. language, logos, signs, etc (Luna and Gupta, 2001).
Bibliography
Jobber, D. 2007, Principles and Practice of Marketing (5th Edition) London: McGraw Hill.
Kotler, P & Armstrong, G 2001, Principles of marketing, 9th edn., Prentice Hall, London.
Lindenmann, W 1998, “ Measuring relationships is key to successful public relations”, Public Relations Quarterly, vol. 43, no. 4, pp. 18+.
Luna, D & Gupta, SF 2001, “ An integrative framework for cross-cultural consumer behavior”, International Marketing Review, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 45-69.