The Contributions of Consumer Behaviours to Marketing Effectiveness and a Marketing Manager

In order for a company to decide what marketing program will work, the company needs to have an understanding of how consumers make decisions. Consumers are quite unpredictable. So what might have worked yesterday or today may not work tomorrow. Therefore the marketers need to constantly improve their understanding of consumers and their behavior and form that adapt their marketing strategies to the changes in consumer behavior.

Consumers behavior the study of individuals and groups and organization , processes that are used to identify and secure , use of products and services also experiences or ideas to meet the needs and the effects these

Understanding consumer behaviour is essential to succeed in business. As Solomon et al. (2013) stresses, businesses exist to satisfy consumer’s needs. By identifying and understanding the factors that influences their customers, firms have the opportunity to develop a more efficient strategy, marketing message and advertising campaigns that is more in line with the needs and ways of thinking of their target consumers (Perreau, 2015).

In today’s world of various products and services, businesses aim to excel and lead the competition by marketing the most number of consumers, which is a full time endeavor of business. To survive in the market, a firm or an organization has to be constantly innovating and understand the latest consumer trends and tastes. Marketers need to understand consumer behavior because the decision-making process for consumers is anything but straight forward. Consumers’ behaviors and their purchasing patterns is a huge advantage to understanding the way customers think and the reason for their purchases. Therefore, the study of consumer behavior is important because it allows the

Consumer behavior is defined in a variety of ways such as “the dynamic interaction of affect and cognition, behavior and environmental events by which human beings conduct the exchange aspects of their lives.” by the American Marketing Association. (2008). In a simpler form, consumer behavior can be explained as the actions of consumers and the different approaches a person may take to decide what to buy and the decision making process. The decision making process can be effected by many factors all related to a person or persons lifestyle. Determining that behavior can be confusing and

Consumer psychology examines the consumers influence and their perceptions, thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and how these affect their decision of buying products and services. It studies the

* Understanding consumer behaviour allows us to engage more effectively with our target market and increase sales

For the effective implementation of strategies, the marketers are required to show full commitment to objective approach and creative research as a compelling instrument. A point to be noted in this context is that the mechanisms can be of particular importance for the motivation of a certain segment only, and the techniques, frame of reference and preferences might vary for each specific purpose. (Steininger, 1994)

Understanding consumer buying behavior entails marketing, relationships, and consumer behavior. Consumer behavior comprises all the consumer decisions and activities connected with the choosing, buying, using and disposing of goods and services. Marketers must pay very close attention to consumer behavior that occurs before the purchase and after the particular product has been used. Studying consumer habits is one of the steps in marketing search and analysis. In addition to other basic principles of consumer buying habits, marketers also need to study the decision and actions of real people. Until recent history the study of consumer behavior was focused on generalized consumer decisions. With

The research in consumer behavior and psychology shows that the brand related information determines the probability if the customer will select a particular brand (Mitchell 100). Companies have learned to play with the psychology and emotions of consumers and have succeeded in attracting even those consumers that were not motivated by the traditional advertisements. Companies these days are focusing on the basic psychological principles to understand how to plan and execute the advertisement.

For instance, if a company were to sell high-end dress shoes, in order to separate their brand from the competition, they would need to advertise that their shoes are “comfortable, unique, and trendy”. These are feelings that the marketer wants the customer to think about when they are interested in buying their particular brand of shoe. Whereas, another shoe the customer may have tried on earlier at another company’s outlet store might have been considered “uncomfortable, expensive, or dull” due to their personal experience in the shop. Whether the company develops a completely new product or a new desired emotion, both are important strategies that are incorporated in order to increase revenue, customer interest, and repeat purchases.

Consumer behavior consists of studying buyer’s trends and the processes they use to choose, consume, and dispose of products and services. A more in-depth definition will also include how that process affects the world. Consumer behavior incorporates ideas from several sciences, including psychology, biology, chemistry, and economics. Mood of the consumer can affect buying habits. The line between an emotion and mood is frequently difficult to draw, but often by convention involves conceiving of a mood as longer lasting from a few hours up to days and lower in intensity than an emotion. Still another distinction between emotions and moods is that the former typically is intentional, that is, it has an object or referent, whereas moods are generally nonintentional and global or diffused.

‘Consumer behaviour theory is all fine and well, but has nothing to tell us about how consumers act in real life’

The field of consumer behavior studies how consumers (individuals and groups) select, buy, use, and dispose of goods, services, ideas to satisfy their needs.

Consumption is a process of acquiring, using and disposing of goods and services. Emotions play a very large role in consumer behavior. This behavior and emotions are affected and created by the society and the culture in which the consumer lives. For example, an American may approach the purchase of a costly car with relatively less pressure than a person in a developing country where a car could be a high unaffordable luxury. The customer will comprehend brands, offers and the meaning of the product based on the understanding that he or she has of similar brands and their experience by analogy or by hearsay from peers and form an opinion. For example a new soft drink from Pepsi may not be very informative in its advertisement but that it is from the stable of PepsiCo makes the users of Pepsi brands take it in without much research. Such an opinion is not based mostly on the complete set of facts. Where there are many alternatives or the information is scarce the customer has to make a lot of effort or 'high effort' to reach a decision and such a situation could be a turnoff. On the other hand the customer may not be inclined to devolve deep into facts in case where the brand value is established and may make a decision on little or even sometimes no information. (Hoyer;