Consumer Buyer Behaviour

Introduction

Possibly the most challenging concept in the marketing is to deal with understanding the buyer behaviour. Consumer Buying Behaviour refers to the buying behaviour of the final customers, and households who buy goods and services for personal consumption. It is fascinating but different area to research and this is particularly relevant in the tourism field, where the decision to purchase by a consumer is of emotional significance.

Consumers vary tremendously in age, income, education level and tastes and they buy an incredible variety of goods and services. Today market place has become very competitive. During the last 20 years hundreds of hotel companies developed new restaurants and hotels around the globe. In addition hospitality and tourism industry have undergone globalisation which has increased the competitors within the industry. So to attract the customers, the company that really understand how consumers will respond to different product features, price and advertising appeal has a great advantage over its competitors. Consumer behaviour is affected by many uncontrollable factors and their purchases are strongly influenced by cultural, social, personal and psychological factors. These factors cannot be control by marketers but must be taken into account before launching product or advertising the product.

Factors affecting consumer buying behaviour

Consumer decision making is essentially a problem solving process. Most customers, whether individual customers or organisational buyers, go through similar mental processes in deciding which products and brands to buy. The more marketers know about the factors affecting their customers buying behaviour the greater their ability to design attractive product or service offerings to define and target meaningful market segments, and to develop marketing programs to fit the concerns and desires of those segments. The factors affecting consumer behaviour are as follows:-

1. Cultural Factors: - Cultural factors exert the broadest and deepest influence on consumer behaviour. It has a significant impact on the consumer buying behaviour. Cultural factors consist of culture, subculture and social class.

(A) Culture: - Culture is the most basic cause of a person’s wants and behaviour. It comprises the basic values, perceptions, wants and behaviours that person learns