Introduction:
• Needs are the essence of Marketing Concept.
• The key to a company’s survival ,profitability & Growth in a highly competitive market place is its ability to identify and satisfy unfulfilled consumer needs better & sooner than their competitors.
• Effective Marketing firm requires insights into consumer’s mind in order to succeed sustainably in today’s cut- throat competitive world.
• CB is rapidly growing discipline of study and research by the firms, academicians, service providers etc.
• Marketers must fully understand both theories and reality of consumer behavior.
• Successful Marketers define their market in terms of needs they presume to satisfy ,not in terms of product they sell.
• World’s top branded marketers like Wal mart, Singapore airlines, Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Nestle etc focus on identifying and fulfilling the changing need of their customers effectively and efficiently.
Concept:
CB is more than just how a person buys a product. It is a Complex & multi-dimensional process & reflects the totality of consumer’s decisions and actions with respect to selection, acquisition, consumption and disposal of goods & services, ideas & experiences.
Who is a consumer?
Any one who is typically engaged in any one or all of the activities mentioned in the definition. Any one who destroys the utility of the product.
Categories of consumers:
1. personal consumer: Buys goods and sevices for personal or household purposes. Buying milk,grocery etc
2. Organisational consumer: Buys Products to reproduce or resell the products for commercial purpose.e.g lemon grass purchased by HUL for their cosmetic products.
Who is a customer:
Any one who regularly makes purchases from a single store or a company. It is defined in terms of single store or a company.
e.g. a mother can be a customer for a health drink firm like Nestle but the consumer will be a child.
Meaning of Consumer Behaviour:
CB = Consumer +