J-Component

Consumer Behavior
THE FINAL REPORT

SUBMITTED BY: GOKUL KRISHNA S

REG NO: 20BBA0116
COURSE CODE: BMT2007
SLOT: B1
SUBMMISON DATE: 09/12/2021
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 DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the J-component review project entitled “Consumer Behavior” submitted by me, for the award of the degree of
Bachelor of Business Administration to VIT is a record of bonafide work carried out by me under the supervision of DR. Ashok D
I further declare that the work reported in this thesis has not been submitted and will not be submitted, either in part or in full, for the award
of any other degree or diploma in this institute or any other institute or university.

Place : Vellore

Date:15/08/2021

Signature of the Candidate

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 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the J- Component project entitled “Consumer Behavior” submitted by GOKUL KRISHNA S
20BBA0116, BUSINESS SCHOOL, VIT University, for the award of the degree of Bachelor of Business Administration, is
a record of bonafide work carried out by him under my supervision during Fall Semester 2021, as per the VIT code of
academic and research ethics.

The contents of this report have not been submitted and will not be submitted either in part or in full, for the award of
any other degree or diploma in this institute or any other institute or university. The thesis fulfills the requirements and
regulations of the University and in my opinion meets the necessary standards for submission.

Place : Vellore
Date : 15/08/2021 Signature of the Student

GOKUL KRISHNA S

20BBA0116

DR. ASHOK D
(Professor – Consumer Behavior)

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I place on record my sincere thanks to the Management of VIT-Business School for providing an opportunity to connect with
Consumer Behavior that has supplemented the class-room learning.

I would to thank my faculty guide Dr. ASHOK D - Professor, VIT Business School for all his valuable inputs and constant support
towards me throughout my institutional training period and providing me an opportunity to learn outside the class room and constantly
motivating to give my best. It was a truly wonderful learning experience I would also like to thank my parents for supporting and
encouraging me to complete this training.

DATE: 10.12.2021

PLACE: Vellore NAME: GOKUL KRISHNA S

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 TITLE CONTENT PAGE
NO.
Declaration 2
Certificate 3
Acknowledgement 4
Table of Content 5,6

Introduction to Consumer Behavior 7

9
Marketing mix and consumer behavior
10
Why is consumer behavior important? 11

THE PERCEPTUAL PROCESS 12

CHAPTER 1 13
Scope of Consumer behavior
Conceptual 15
Review
Consumer learning process
Attitude Measurement 18
20
Evaluation of Direct Methods
Examples of projective techniques include 21

Factors Impacting Consumer Buyer Behavior 22

23
REFERENCE

CHAPTER 2 Introduction to Consumer Behavior 25

Experimental
Learning Questions asked to General Manager 25

Questions asked to Customers 26

Conclusion 27
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Introduction
27
CHAPTER 3 Literature Review
Chapter 1- Conceptual Learning
Introduction to Consumer Behavior
Consumer behavior is the study of how individual customers, groups or organizations select, buy, use, and dispose ideas, goods, and
services to satisfy their needs and wants. It refers to the actions of the consumers in the marketplace and the underlying motives for
those actions.
It is worth noting that consumer buying behavior is studied as a part of the marketing and its main objective it to learn the way how
the individuals, groups or organizations choose, buy use and dispose the goods and the factors such as their previous experience, taste,
price and branding on which the consumers base their purchasing decisions (Kotler and Keller, 2012).

One of such studies of consumer buying behavior has been conducted by Acerbo et al (2000). The aim of the study was to analyze the
impact of previous experience on buying behavior of fresh foods, particularly mussels. In their studies the authors used structural
equation model in order to identify the relationship between the habits and previous experience on the consumer buying decision.
Their findings show that personal habits and previous experience on of the consumers have a direct impact on the consumers’
purchase decision in the example of purchasing fresh mussels. They also found that the image of the product has a crucial impact on
the purchasing decision of the consumer and further recommended that the product image should continuously be improved in order to
encourage the consumers towards purchasing.

Another study conducted by Variola (2010) analyzed the influence of packaging on consumer decision making process for Fast
Moving Consumer Goods. The aim of the research was to analyze the impact of packaging for decision making processes of low-
income consumers in retail shopping. A survey method has been used in order to reach the research objectives. In a survey conducted
in Star Hyper in the town of Canterville 250 respondents participated. The findings of the research indicate that low-income
consumers have more preferences towards premium packaging as this can also be re-used after the product has been consumed.
Although the findings indicate that there is a weak relationship between the product packaging and brand experience. However, it has
been proven by the findings of the research that low-income consumers have greater brand experience from the purchase of ‘premium’
products when compared to their experience from purchasing ‘cheap’ brand products.

Lee (2005) carried out study to learn the five stages of consumer decision making process in the example of China. The researcher
focuses on the facts that affect the consumer decision making process on purchasing imported health food products, in particular
demographic effects such as gender, education, income and marital status. The author employed questionnaire method in order to
reach the objectives of the research. Analysis of five stages of consumer decision making process indicate that impact of family
members on the consumer decision making process of purchasing imported health food products was significant.

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The author further explains this by the fact Chinese tradition of taking care of young and old family members have long been
developed and marriage is considered to be extremely important in Chinese tradition. This reflects in the findings of the study that the
purchase of imported health food products made by a person for the people outside the family is declined significantly by both male
and female Chinese after they get married.

Five Stages Model of consumer decision making process has also been studied by a number of other researchers. Although different
researchers offer various tendencies towards the definitions of five stages, all of them have common views as they describe the stages
in similar ways. One of the common models of consumer decision making process has been offered by Blackwell et al (2006).
According to him, the five stages of consumer decision making process are followings: problem/need recognition, information search,
evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision made and post-purchase evaluation.

Each stage is then defined by a number of researchers varying slightly but leading to a common view about what each stage involves.
For example, according to Bruner (1993) first stage, need recognition occurs when an individual recognizes the difference between
what they have and what they want/need to have. This view is also supported by Neal and Questel (2006) stating that need recognition
occurs due to several factors and circumstances such as personal, professional and lifestyle which in turn lead to formation of idea of
purchasing.

In the next stage, consumer searches information related to desired product or service (Schiffman and Kanuk, 2007). Information
search process can be internal and external. While internal search refers to the process where consumers rely on their personal
experiences and believes, external search involves wide search of information which includes addressing the media and advertising or
feedbacks from other people (Rose and Samouel, 2009).

Once the relevant information about the product or service is obtained the next stage involves analyzing the alternatives. Kotler and
Keller (2005) consider this stage as one of the important stages as the consumer considers all the types and alternatives taking into
account the factors such as size, quality and also price.

Backhaus et al (2007) suggested that purchase decision is one of the important stages as this stage refers to occurrence of transaction.
In other words, once the consumer recognized the need, searched for relevant information and considered the alternatives he/she
makes decision whether or not to make the decision. Purchasing decision can further be divided into planned purchase, partially
purchase or impulse purchase as stated by Kacen (2002) which will be discussed further in detail in the next chapters.

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Finally, post-purchase decision involves experience of the consumer about their purchase. Although the importance of this stage is not
highlighted by many authors Neal et al (2004) argues that this is perhaps one of the most important stages in the consumer decision
making process as it directly affects the consumers’ purchases of the same product or service from the same supplier in the future.

The most noteworthy writers that serve as academic advocates of The Five Stage Model of consumer decision making include Tyagi
(2004), Kahle and Close (2006) Blackwell et al. (2006), and others.

It is important to note that The Five Stage Model is not the only model related to consumer decision-making, and there are also a
range of competing models that include Stimulus-Organism-Response Model of Decision Making developed by Hebb in 1950’s,
Prescriptive Cognitive Models, The Theory of Trying (Bagozzi and Warsaw, 1990), Model of Goal Directed Behavior (Perugini and
Bagozzi, 2001) and others. All of these models are analysed in great detail in Literature Review chapter of this work.

Marketing mix and consumer behavior

Marketing mix or 4Ps of marketing is one of the major concepts in the field of marketing and each individual element of marketing
mix can be adopted as an instrument in order to affect consumer behavior.

Importance of the marketing mix can be explained in a way that “successful marketing depends on customers being aware of the
products or services on offer, finding them available in favorably judging that practitioner of the offering in terms of both price and
performance” (Meldrum and McDonald, 2007, p.4).

Core elements of marketing mix consist of product, price, place and promotion. Marketing mix has been expanded to comprise
additional 3Ps as processes, people and physical evidence.

Product element of marketing mix relates to products and services that are offered to customers to be purchased. Products can have
three levels: core, actual and supporting products. For example, core product in relation to mobile phones can be explained as the
possibility to communicate with other people in distance.  Actual product, on the other hand, relates to specific brand and model of a
mobile phone, whereas augmented product may relate to product insurance and one-year warranty associated with the purchase of a
mobile phone.

Price represents another critically important element of marketing and four major types of pricing strategies consist of economy,
penetration, skimming, and premium pricing strategies (East et al., 2013).

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Place element of marketing mix relates to point of distribution and sales of products and services. Advent of online sales channel has
changed the role of place element of marketing mix to a considerable extent.

Promotion element of marketing mix refers to any combination of promotion mix integrating various elements of advertising, public
relations, personal selling and sales promotions to varying extents (Kotler, 2012).

Processes, on the other hand, refer to business procedures and policies related to products and services. For example, integration of a
greater range of payment systems such as PayPal, SAGE Pay and Visa in online sales procedures may have positive implications on
the volume of sales by creating payment convenience to customers.

People element of marketing mix is primarily related to skills and competencies of the workforce responsible for customer service
aspect of the business. Importance of people element of marketing mix in general, and providing personalized customer services in
particular is greater today than ever before.

Physical evidence relates to visual tangible aspects of a brand and its products. For instance, for a large supermarket chain such as
Sainsbury’s physical evidence is associated with design and layout of a store, quality of baskets and trolleys, layout of shelves within
the store etc.

It can be forecasted that further intensification of competition in global markets and more intensive search of businesses for additional
bases for competitive advantage may result in emergence of additional ‘Ps to compliment the framework of marketing mix in the
future.

1. Why is consumer behavior important?

Studying consumer behavior is important because it helps marketers understand what influences consumers’ buying decisions.
By understanding how consumers decide on a product, they can fill in the gap in the market and identify the products that are needed
and the products that are obsolete.
Studying consumer behavior also helps marketers decide how to present their products in a way that generates a maximum impact on
consumers. Understanding consumer buying behavior is the key secret to reaching and engaging your clients, and converting them to
purchase from you.
A consumer behavior analysis should reveal:

 What consumers think and how they feel about various alternatives (brands, products, etc.);
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  What influences consumers to choose between various options;
 Consumers’ behavior while researching and shopping;
 How consumers’ environment (friends, family, media, etc.) influences their behavior.

Consumer behavior is often influenced by different factors. Marketers should study consumer purchase patterns and figure out buyer
trends.

In most cases, brands influence consumer behavior only with the things they can control.

There are three categories of factors that influence consumer behavior:

1. Personal factors: an individual’s interests and opinions can be influenced by demographics (age, gender, culture, etc.).
2. Psychological factors: an individual’s response to a marketing message will depend on their perceptions and attitudes.
3. Social factors: family, friends, education level, social media, income, all influence consumers’ behavior.

2. THE PERCEPTUAL PROCESS

Perception is how you interpret the world around you and make sense of it in your brain. You do so via stimuli that affect your
different senses — sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. How you combine these senses also makes a difference. For example, in one
study, consumers were blindfolded and asked to drink a new brand of clear beer. Most of them said the product tasted like regular
beer. However, when the blindfolds came off and they drank the beer, many of them described it as “watery” tasting. This suggests
that consumers’ visual interpretation alone can influence their overall attitude towards a product or brand.

The Perceptual Process

Perception is the process of selecting, organizing, and interpreting information. This process includes the perception of
select stimuli that pass through our perceptual filters, are organized into our existing structures and patterns, and are then interpreted
based on previous experiences. Although perception is a largely cognitive and psychological process, how we perceive the people and
objects around us affects our communication. We respond differently to an object or person that we perceive favorably than we do to

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something we find unfavorable. But how do we filter through the mass amounts of incoming information, organize it, and make
meaning from what makes it through our perceptual filters and into our social realities?

Ultimately, the perceptual process develops a consumer’s perception of a brand and formulates the brand’s position vis-à-vis the
competition on what marketers call a positioning strategy.

1. Scope of Consumer behavior

The words such as consumer behavior, individual buyer behavior, and buying behavior of the consumer are all the same.
Consumer behavior is defined as the study of individuals, groups, and organizations performance in selecting, buying, using the
goods and services, ideas, or experiences to fulfil the buyer's needs and wants.
The information given below will help you to understand the behavior of the customers. Companies conduct various research
programs to collect information about their target customers.
The scope of consumer behavior is as follows.

 Demand Forecasting
 Marketing Management
 Non-profit and Social Marketing
 Selecting Target Market
 Market Mix
 Educating Customers
 Assists in Designing Product Portfolio

Demand Forecasting
Consumer behavior helps in the forecasting of the demands for the business. Every business identifies the needs and wants of
the customers by understanding their behavior. Forecasting helps them to find out the unfulfilled demands in the market easily.

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If the company knows what their consumer wants, they can design and produce the product accordingly.
The behavior of the consumer plays an important role in forecasting the demand for the products. In addition, it helps the
company to identify the market opportunity available to them.
Marketing Management
Effective business managers know the importance of marketing towards the success of the business. Understanding consumer
behavior is essential for the long-run success of any marketing program. A better understanding of consumer needs and wants
helps the business to plan and execute the marketing strategies accordingly.
Proper understanding of the behavior of the consumer makes the company know its customers in a better way. That ultimately
helps businesses to strategize and implement marketing in a better way.
Non-profit and Social Marketing
In today's world, every non-profit business-like government sector, religious sector, university, the charitable institution runs
the business's overall activity by implementing proper marketing plans for the business. Also, they contribute to solving the
problems of society. Thus, a transparent consumer behavior process and decision-making contributed efforts towards the
success of the business.
Selecting Target Market
Consumer behavior helps the organization to select its target group from the market. Studying and identifying consumer
behavior helps them to know the consumer segments with distinct features and wants. It helps in segmenting the overall market
into different groups.
Market Mix
Proper development and designing all-important elements like product, price, place, and promotion are essential for every
business. It helps them to identify the likes and dislikes of the customers. This allows marketers to design optimum marketing
mix plans and improve the effectiveness of marketing strategies. The proper implementation of a marketing mix helps
organizations to attract more customers, thereby increasing profit.

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Educating Customers
Consumer behavior helps the marketer to know how consumers spend on buying decisions. By understanding the customer's
behavior, a marketer can easily get an idea of how they can improve their buying decision. The market can guide and suggest a
way to save their money and give them better options. Customers get aware of the opportunities available to them as per their
behavior.
Assists in Designing Product Portfolio
Designing the product portfolio is a challenging part in every business. Every business should design a portfolio that consists of
all classes of the product. Consumer behavior helps in identifying the class and needs of the customers. It helps companies to
design the product which fulfils the requirements of their customers. In this way, a business can design the optimum portfolio
and serve its customers better.

2. consumer learning process

 In consumer behavior terms, learning is the process by which consumers acquire the information that they apply to future purchase
behavior. Simply put, learning is the foundation of consumer behavior.

Understanding the elements of learning is critical to understanding how and why your consumers make the purchase decisions that
drive your industry. There are four critical elements of consumer learning:

1. Motivation

Unfulfilled needs are the underlying drivers that lead to motivation.

For example, if you’ve just visited the doctor and he has informed you that you need to live a more active lifestyle to reduce your
elevated cholesterol levels, your unfulfilled need is to live a more active, healthy lifestyle. Therefore, you may be motivated to learn as
much as you can about local gyms in the hopes of joining one, leading a more active lifestyle and improving your health.

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2. Cues

Cues are the stimuli that suggest a specific way to satisfy your motivations. There are often many cues competing for a customer’s
attention, some of which can be created by marketers and others that are simply part of the external environment.

In the case of our example, in order to learn about local gyms, cues could take the form of advertisements for gyms you see online or
hear about on the radio, conversations you have with salespeople at those gyms or even a conversation about a local yoga studio you
overhear between two friends at a coffee shop.

Some cues, like the conversation with a salesperson, are deliberately sought, while others, like overhearing the conversation at a
coffee shop, are not. Regardless, you can learn from both the cues that are deliberately sought and those that are incidental.

3. Response

A response is the consumer’s reaction to a cue. While there can be many responses to each cue, the response the consumer chooses
often depends heavily on their previous experiences. A marketer’s understanding of consumer learning could enable them to elicit the
desired response.

4. Reinforcement

The reward -- the pleasure, enjoyment and benefits -- that the consumer receives after buying and using a product or service is called
reinforcement. Reinforcement is critical to the learning process and can significantly impact future responses, even though this
element typically happens after purchase.

Returning to our gym example, if you choose to join the local gym, reinforcement may take the form of a positive experience, where
the machines you want to use are readily available along with the occasional 10% off coupon for the juice bar. This reinforcement
may lead you to remain satisfied with the gym and perhaps even recommend it to a friend, contributing cues to their learning process.

Behavioral Learning  

There are two main types of consumer learning theories -- behavioral learning and cognitive learning -- and both can be used to drive
awareness, consideration and purchase of your product or service.  

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Behavioral learning theories, often referred to as stimulus-response theories, focus on the premise that learning occurs in response to
external cues or stimuli that the consumer is exposed to. Classical conditioning, one well-studied theory of behavioral learning,
suggests that when two stimuli are paired together to produce a specific learned response, eventually, through repetition, the absence
of one of the stimuli will produce the same response. 

Classical conditioning and other behavioral learning theories can be particularly impactful as marketers strive to drive awareness and
consideration for their products and services through brand building. For example, consider the Equinox brand marketer responsible
for driving awareness and consideration of Equinox’s values of exclusivity, risk-taking, dedication to fitness and luxury. Through its
“Commit to Something” campaign (subscription required), the marketer created many cues -- advertisements that prominently feature
the Equinox logo aligned with its brand values.

Through repeated exposure to the campaign, the consumer may not only associate Equinox gyms with the values of exclusivity, risk-
taking, dedication to fitness and luxury, they may also associate any other brand Equinox is associated with (e.g., Juice Press, which
has juice bars located in several Equinox locations) with those same values. This is the essence of classical conditioning, and it can be
a powerful driver of brand awareness and consideration.

Cognitive Learning

Cognitive learning, on the other hand, is primarily concerned with how information is processed by the human mind: how it is stored,
retained and retrieved. It emphasizes the role of gathering facts about the products or services being considered, processing those facts
and recalling them -- rather than the repetition and association of rewards that are the hallmarks of behavioral learning. Factors that
can affect a consumer’s ability to practice cognitive learning include:

• Their familiarity with the information

• The relevance of the information

• Their interest in the information

• Their ability to process the form in which the information is provided

For marketers, it’s particularly helpful to leverage cognitive learning at the time of a consumer’s purchase. Let’s return to the Equinox
example. When choosing between gym memberships, consumers may be eager to amass, retain and retrieve detailed product

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information that can enable them to compare various options. Thus, while it is critical to build the Equinox brand over time by using
behavioral learning techniques, at the time of purchase, marketing activities that enable the consumer to leverage cognitive learning
can be incredibly effective.

As marketers, we often get caught up in the day-to-day. Agency meetings, strategy sessions and tactical execution can fill our
consciousness, preventing us from taking the time and energy required to truly understand our consumers. But, understanding the
physiological and psychological theories of consumer learning is critical in enabling us to develop successful strategies and campaigns
that drive awareness, consideration and purchase of our products and services.

1. Attitude Measurement
Perhaps the most straightforward way of finding out about someone’s attitudes would be to ask them. However, attitudes are related to
self-image and social acceptance.
In order to preserve a positive self-image, people’s responses may be affected by social desirability. They may not well talk about
their true attitudes, but answer in a way that they feel socially acceptable.
Given this problem, various methods of measuring attitudes have been developed.  However, all of them have limitations.  In
particular the different measures focus on different components of attitudes – cognitive, affective and behavioral – and as we know,
these components do not necessarily coincide.
Attitude measurement can be divided into two basic categories

 Direct Measurement (Likert scale and semantic differential)

 Indirect Measurement (projective techniques and the implicit association test)

Direct Attitude Measures

Semantic Differential
The semantic differential technique of Osgood et al. (1957) asks a person to rate an issue or topic on a standard set of bipolar
adjectives (i.e., with opposite meanings), each representing a seven-point scale.
To prepare a semantic differential scale, you must first think of a number of words with opposite meanings that are applicable to
describing the subject of the test.

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For example, participants are given a word, for example 'car', and presented with a variety of adjectives to describe it.  Respondents
tick to indicate how they feel about what is being measured.
In the picture (above), you can find Osgood's map of people's ratings for the word 'polite'. The image shows ten of the scales used by
Osgood. The image maps the average responses of two groups of 20 people to the word 'polite'.
The semantic differential technique reveals information on three basic dimensions of attitudes: evaluation, potency (i.e., strength) and
activity.
• Evaluation is concerned with whether a person thinks positively or negatively about the attitude topic (e.g., dirty – clean, and ugly -
beautiful).
• Potency is concerned with how powerful the topic is for the person (e.g., cruel – kind, and strong - weak).
• Activity is concerned with whether the topic is seen as active or passive (e.g., active – passive).
Using this information, we can see if a person’s feeling (evaluation) towards an object is consistent with their behavior.  For example,
a place might like the taste of chocolate (evaluative) but not eat it often (activity).
The evaluation dimension has been most used by social psychologists as a measure of a person’s attitude, because this dimension
reflects the affective aspect of an attitude.

Evaluation of Direct Methods

An attitude scale is designed to provide a valid, or accurate, measure of an individual’s social attitude.  However, as anyone who has
every “faked” an attitude scales knows there are shortcomings in these self-report scales of attitudes.
There are various problems that affect the validity of attitude scales.  However, the most common problem is that of social desirability.
Socially desirability refers to the tendency for people to give “socially desirable” to the questionnaire items.  People are often
motivated to give replies that make them appear “well adjusted”, unprejudiced, open minded and democratic.  Self-report scales that
measure attitudes towards race, religion, sex etc. are heavily affected by socially desirability bias.
Respondents who harbor a negative attitude towards a particular group may not wish be admit to the experimenter (or to themselves)
that they have these feelings.  Consequently, responses on attitude scales are not always 100% valid.

Indirect Attitude Measures

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Projective Techniques
To avoid the problem of social desirability, various indirect measures of attitudes have been used.  Either people are unaware of what
is being measured (which has ethical problems) or they are unable consciously to affect what is being measured.
Indirect methods typically involve the use of a projective test.  A projective test is involves presenting a person with
an ambiguous (i.e., unclear) or incomplete stimulus (e.g., picture or words). The stimulus requires interpretation from the person. 
Therefore, the person’s attitude is inferred from their interpretation of the ambiguous or incomplete stimulus.
The assumption about these measures of attitudes it that the person will “project” his or her views, opinions or attitudes into the
ambiguous situation, thus revealing the attitudes the person holds.  However, indirect methods only provide general information and
do not offer a precise measurement of attitude strength since it is qualitative rather than quantitative. This method of attitude
measurement is not objective or scientific which is a big criticism.
Examples of projective techniques include:

Thematic Apperception Test

Here a person is presented with an ambiguous picture which they have to interpret.
The thematic apperception test (TAT) taps into a person’s unconscious mind to reveal the repressed aspects of their personality.
Although the picture, illustration, drawing or cartoon that is used must be interesting enough to encourage discussion, it should be
vague enough not to immediately give away what the project is about.
TAT can be used in a variety of ways, from eliciting qualities associated with different products to perceptions about the kind of
people that might use certain products or services.
The person must look at the picture(s) and tell a story. For example:
o What has led up to the event shown
o What is happening at the moment
o What the characters are thinking and feeling, and
o What the outcome of the story was

Evaluation of Indirect Method

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The major criticism of indirect methods is their lack of objectivity. Such methods are unscientific and do not objectively measure
attitudes in the same way as a Likert scale.
There is also the ethical problem of deception as often the person does not know that their attitude is actually being studied when
using indirect methods.
The advantages of such indirect techniques of attitude measurement are that they are less likely to produce socially desirable
responses, the person is unlikely to guess what is being measured and behavior should be natural and reliable.
Factors Impacting Consumer Buyer Behavior
It has been established that the consumer buying behavior is the outcome of the needs and wants of the consumer and they purchase to
satisfy these needs and wants. Although it sounds simple and clear, these needs can be various depending on the personal factors such
as age, psychology and personality. Also, there are some other external factors which are broad and beyond the control of the
consumer.
A number of researches have been carried out by academics and scholars on identifying and analyzing those factors affecting the
consumers’ buying behavior and as a result, various types of factors have been identified. These factors have been classified into
different types and categories in different ways by different authors. For instance, Wiedemann et al (2007) classified them into internal
and external factor. On the other hand, Winer (2009) divided them into social, personal and psychological factors. Despite the fact that
they have been classified into different groups by different authors they are similar in scope and purpose (Rao, 2007).

There is a wide range of factors that can affect consumer behavior in different ways. These factors are divided by Hoyer et al. (2012)
into four broad categories: situational, personal, social and cultural factors.

Situational factors impacting consumer behavior may include location, environment, timing and even weather conditions (Hoyer et al.,
2012). In order to benefit from situational factors major retailers, attempt to construct environment and situations in stores that
motivate perspective customers to make purchase decision. Range of available tools to achieve such an outcome include playing
relaxing music in stores, producing refreshing smells in stores and placing bread and milk products in supermarkets towards the
opposite end of stores to facilitate movement of customers throughout the store to make additional purchases etc.

The temporary nature of situational factors is rightly stressed by Batra and Kazmi (2008).

Personal factors, on the other hand, include taste preferences, personal financial circumstances and related factors. The impact of
personal factors on consumer decision-making is usually addressed by businesses during market segmentation, targeting and

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positioning practices by grouping individuals on the basis of their personal circumstances along with other criteria, and developing
products and services that accommodate these circumstances in the most effective manner.

According to Hoyer et al. (2012) social factors impacting consumer behavior arise as a result of interactions of perspective consumers
with others in various levels and circumstances. Targeting members of society perceived as opinion leaders usually proves effective
strategy when marketing products and services due to the potential of opinion leaders to influence behavior of other members of
society as consumers.

Lastly, cultural factors affecting consumer behavior are related to cross-cultural differences amongst consumers on local and global
scales. Culture can be defined as “the ideas, customs, and social behavior of a particular people or society” (Oxford Dictionaries,
2015) and the tendency of globalization has made it compulsory for cross-cultural differences amongst consumers to be taken into
account when formulating and communicating marketing messages.

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Batra, S.K. & Kazmi, S. (2008) “Consumer Behavior” 2nd edition, EXCEL Books

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East, R., Wright, M. & Vanhuele, M. (2013) “Consumer Behavior: Applications in Marketing” 2 nd edition, SAGE

Hoyer, W.D. & Macinnis, D.J. (2008) “Consumer Behavior”, 5 th edition, Cengage Learning

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[Link]

Hoyer, W.D., Macinnis, D.J. & Pieters, R. (2012) “Consumer Behavior” 6th edition

Kacen. J. J. and Lee. J. A., (2002) “The influence of culture on consumer impulsive buying behavior”, Journal of consumer psychology.
12(2), pp. 163-174.

Kahle L.R. and Close, A. (2006) “Consumer Behavior Knowledge for Effective Sports and Event Marketing”, Taylor & Francis, New York,
USA

Kotler, P.  (2012) “Kotler on Marketing” The Free Press

Meldrum, M. & McDonald, M. (2007) “Marketing in a Nutshell: Key Concepts for Non-Specialists” Butterworth-Heinemann

[Link]
Neal, C., Quester, P. and Pettigrew, S. (2006) “Consumer Behavior: Implications for Marketing Strategy” (5 th edition) Berkshire: McGraw-Hill

Perugini, M. & Bagozzi, R. (2001) “The role of desires and anticipated emotions in goal-directed behaviours: Broadening and deepening the
theory of planned behavior” British Journal of Social Psychology, 40, pp. 79-98.

Rao, K. (2007) “Services Marketing”, New Delhi: Pearson Education

Rose, S. and Samouel, P., (2009) “Internal psychological versus external market-driven determinants of the amount of consumer
information search amongst online shopper”, Journal of Marketing Management. 25(1/2), pp. 171-190

Schiffman, L., Hansen H. and Kanuk L. (2007) “Consumer Behavior: A European Outlook”, London: Pearson Education

Stallworth, P. (2008) “Consumer behavior and marketing strategic”, online, pp.9.

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[Link]
Tyagi, C. and Kumar, A. (2004) “Consumer Behavior”, Atlantic Publishers, US

Wiedmann, K., Hennigs, N. and Siebels, A. (2007) “Measuring Luxury consumer perception: A cross-culture framework”, Academy of
Marketing Science review, 2007(7)

Winer, R. (2009), “New Communications Approaches in Marketing: Issues and Research Directions,” Journal of Interactive Marketing, 23
(2), 108–17

CHAPTER- 2 Experimental Learning

Introduction to Consumer Behavior
Consumer behavior is the study of how individual customers, groups or organizations select, buy, use, and dispose ideas, goods, and
services to satisfy their needs and wants. It refers to the actions of the consumers in the marketplace and the underlying motives for
those actions.
Experiential learning activities are a product of the paradigm shift away from simple dissemination of knowledge toward the
production of learning. Kolb (1984) defines experiential learning as a “process whereby knowledge is created through the
transformation of experience” (p. 38). Embracing this “process” may be key in preparing students for life outside of the classroom.
Ferrell and Gonzalez (2004) noted that students possess a limited view of marketing that can only be overcome by enabling students to
experience the various activities and elements of marketing through exercises, cases, and other activities that relate marketing to the
students’ knowledge base and past experiences. With experiential activities, instructors can create a more effective educational device
that blends discovery and relevance (Goretsky 1984). Ultimately, experiential learning solves the problem with which Churchill was
confronted by allowing students to learn without being “taught.” Research has confirmed that class activities that create an experience
enhance student learning by increasing students’ involvement in the learning process (Morgan et al. 1987; Slavin 1980), heightening

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instructor and student enthusiasm (Dabbour 1997), improving student performance on graded assignments (Perry et al. 1996),
increasing student enjoyment (Lawson 1995) and perceived value of the learning experience (Graeff 1997) and developing student
confidence and competence (Pollack and Lilly 2008).
EXPERIMENTAL LEARNING – Video interview with Mr. Sundaram Sheesha (GENERAL MANAGER) “DURGA
BHAVANI MOTORS - SUZUKI, HOSUR.
The question asked to General manager are as follows:
1. Introduce Yourself to know well about you sir?
2. Why did you enter into this Profession of Marketing?
3. what are the products sold? And What are the different models sold here?
4. What is customer’s favorite choice of bike and the model?
5. Which are the most selling bikes? why?
6. When customer reaches the showroom do the prefer either price or model?
7. What are the offers offering, is there any special offers on festivals?
8. What are the compliments given to the customers when they take delivery?
9. When a customer comes for purchase “How do they describe the product to explain what they need” How do you reply them?
10. What is the payment process available?
11. What are factors affecting consumers not to buy the product?
12. How many products are sold and how many customers visit showroom on an average per day?
13. How many deliveries are going per day on average?

EXPERIMENTAL LEARNING – Video interview with a customer who is purchasing an Access 125 cc bike at “DURGA
BHAVANI MOTORS -SUZUKI, HOSUR.
The questions asked to the customer are as follows:
1. Introduce Yourself to know well about you sir?
2. How did come to know about this showroom? (It was a referral or self- known)
3. Why and what made you to choose specifically SUZUKI?
4. As you said you’re buying “SUZUKI ACCESS 125” which feature or specification made you to buy this product?
5. From the step-in to this showroom, how was the customer service given to you, your opinion please?
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 6. Would you share and promote about this product and showroom to your family, Friends and others?
7. How much will be your rating for this showroom? Out of 10 Rating scale? If possible, reason please?
Interview BASED ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR ...
This Video was Uploaded to my YOUTUBE CHANNEL
Please DO SUBSCRIBE, LIKE and SHARE among all.
The link of the video is:
[Link]
The link of my channel is:
[Link]

CONCLUSION
Classroom-based experiential learning techniques have been shown to increase the amount of definitional knowledge acquired by
students, but more importantly, these activities have also been linked to improvements in higher-order knowledge (Hamer 2008). This
indicates that encouraging students to use course materials in loosely defined situations that are similar better prepares them for the
situations that they will encounter when entering a work environment that demands an array of skill including oral and written
communication, critical thinking, and teamwork (Floyd and Gordon 1998). Business instruction is, at its root, vocational education. As
such, instructors should work in the classroom, to prepare students for the challenges that they will face within their occupational
spheres. Although the learning paradigm via experiential activities has a confirmed influence on classroom and learning outcomes, the
impact of these types of activities reaches farther than that. Experiential learning does allow students to participate in the learning
process as they logically discuss marketing concepts and develop a better understanding of the relevance of the material, but the true
contribution of experiential learning is that students are forced outside the comfort zone of memorizing and reciting facts and are
expected to actually think. It is these critical thinking skills that will ultimately serve them in their career paths. Instructors should
embrace every chance to develop these skills in their students by building a library of experiential learning activities that can become a
shared resource.

CHAPTER 3 – Literature Review

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Consumer behavior
The marketing concept teaches that companies which create products / services must always be consumer oriented. In this case the
company should determine the basic needs of buyers who will be served, measure, assess, and interpret the desires, attitudes, and
behaviors of consumers. For that purpose, it is necessary to an adequate understanding of consumer behavior. Consumer behavior is
the activity of individuals who are directly involved in obtaining and using goods and services, including the decision-making process
of preparation and determination of these activities.

LITERATURE REVIEW:

Authors: Engel, James F.

Title of the Paper: The Role of Psychological Commitment in Consumer Behavior
Name of the Journal & vol and issues: The Journal of Marketing (JM), vol 33, issue 3
Objectives of the research: New Research, new ideas are standard conversational ingredients
Finding of the research: Innovative research technique for standard outcomes

Authors: Evans, Franklin B

Title of the Paper: Psychological and Objective Factors in The Prediction of Brand Choice Ford Versus Chevrolet
Name of the Journal & vol and issues: The Journal of Business, vol 32, issues 4
Objectives of the research: Probability of Outcomes for classification of FORD and CHERVOLET
Finding of the research: Psychology factors used in mathematics to find the best one

Authors: Granbois, Donald H

Title of the Paper: The Role of Communication in the Family Decision-Making Process Page 25 of 28
Name of the Journal & vol and issues: NA Advance in consumer Behavior, vol 7, issue 5
Objectives of the research: survey the main research of recent years on family decision making and to
Authors: Robert P. Brody
Title of the Paper: Personality Variables and the Consumer Decision Process
Name of the Journal & vol and issues: The Journal of Marketing Research, vol 5, issue 1
Objectives of the research: personality variables should only differ for brand choice among people who
see high-performance risk in the product.
Finding of the research: The hypothesis that personality variables should be more efficient discriminators
the greater the purchase loyalty.

Authors: Klapper, J. T
Title of the Paper: Effects of mass communication.
Name of the Journal & vol and issues: Foundation of Communication Research, vol 3, issues 2
Objectives of the research: The skill of communication plays a key role in selling the goods or service to
the consumers
Finding of the research: Influencing People to purcharse the goods even when there is no need

Authors: Pennington, Allen L

Title of the Paper: Customer-Salesman Bargaining Behavior in Retail Transactions
Name of the Journal & vol and issues: The Journal of Marketing Research, vol 5, issue 3
Objectives of the research: the bargaining behavior of both salesman and customer as it relates to purchase
outcomes on retail appliances.
Finding of the research: Individual processes incorporating the behavior both buyer and seller can be
meaningfully identified and analyzed.

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 Authors: Wells, William D
Title of the Paper: Life Cycle Concept in Marketing Research
Name of the Journal & vol and issues: The Journal of Marketing Research, vol 3, issue 4
Objectives of the research:  the ways "life cycle position" has been used as an independent variable in marketing
research.
Finding of the research: It is profitable to use life cycle stage instead of age in studies of consumer behaviour. Life
cycle, however, has several drawbacks as a research tool.

Authors: Wolgast, Elizabeth H

Title of the Paper: Do Husbands or Wives Make Purchasing Decisions?
Name of the Journal & vol and issues: The Journal of Marketing Research, vol 23, issue 2
Objectives of the research:  How do husbands and wives describe their roles in making purchasing decisions? Are
their purchase plans different? And how well are their respective plans fulfilled? 
Finding of the research: Husband and wives are equally desirables respondents, However, taking plans just in
relation to fulfillment, wives are slightly more accurate respondents.

CONCLUSION:
It is a challenge for the organizations to ensure that clients are provided with the best quality services. This promotes the
psychological, physical and emotional satisfaction of the clients. All customers’ aim at getting value for their money when they
purchase a product or on service rendered. Research established the relationship between consumer emotion and consumer satisfaction
in organization show that high levels of satisfaction increase brand loyalty. Consumers are faced with an array of product selection
and competition is fierce among companies. This is why your understanding of consumer behavior is vital to the success of your
business. When you understand your consumer better than the competition you have a greater chance of winning their business.

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Understanding of life satisfaction including the emotional aspects and their relationship to consumption should enable a business to
target consumer in a more meaningful way. Companies that have created successful emotional connection with their customers benefit
in cash flow, make profit and improve market share. Emotional connection can be measured, enhanced and managed. The
investigation into how customer survey should take account of emotional satisfaction of customers in order to have a better
understanding of how to monitor and improve upon the psychological and emotional aspects providing a quality service in any
organization.

REFERENCES:
Engel, James F., Engel, James F. and Light, M. Lawrence, “The Role of Psychological Commitment in Consumer Behavior: An
Evaluation of the Theory of Cognitive Dissonance,” in Bass, Frank M., King, Charles W. and Pessemier, Edgar A., eds., Applications
of the Sciences in Marketing Management, New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1968, 39–68.
Evans, Franklin B., “Psychological and Objective Factors in the Prediction of Brand Choice: Ford versus Chevrolet,” Journal of
Business, 32 (October 1959) 340–69.
Grandboys, Donald H., “The Role of Communication in the Family Decision-Making Process,” Proceedings, Winter
Conference, American Marketing Association, 1963, 44–57.
Harris, Douglas H., “The Effect of Display Width in Merchandising Soap,” Journal of Applied Psychology, 42 (June 1958), 283–4.
Holton, Richard H., “The Distinction Between Convenience Goods, Shopping Goods, and Specialty Goods,” Journal of Marketing, 22
(July 1958), 53–6.
Brody, Robert P. and Cunningham, Scott M., “Personality Variables and the Consumer Decision Process,” Journal of Marketing
Research, 5 (February 1968), 50–7.

THANK YOU!!!

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