249 Chapter VI PURCHASING AND POST PURCHASING CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR TOWARDS CONSUMER DURABLE GOODS IN GUNTUR DISTRICT. Once a consumer decides what brand he will purchase, he stars purchasing activities. After purchasing he consumes the product. Then he may be either satisfied or dissatisfied. According to his nature of satisfaction he reacts. Authorities in Marketing developed theories on these issues have studied purchase behaviour of rural and urban consumers. Here an attempt has been made to present briefly the concepts developed on consumer behaviour. Then a humble attempt has been made to enquire how far these concepts hold well in case of rural and urban consumers of Guntur district. For this purpose a few questions are asked to the selected consumers and their responses have been tabulated and analyzed in the last section on empirical findings on purchasing behaviour of rural and urban consumers in Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh. 6.1: Concepts on Rural and Urban Consumer Purchase behaviour. Authorities in marketing have analyzed consumers purchasing behaviour in detail. Here these concepts are discussed in brief. Purchasing activities involve first deciding on family member who will shoulder the responsibility of buying. Then raises the question of selecting markets and shops where from intended goods will be purchased. In selecting shops a consumer considers various factors like cleanliness and location of the shop, behavioral patterns of the sales persons, prices charged, quality of good served and similar issues. Once these issues are settled he begins purchasing within the store. At the time of actual purchase he faces the problems on terms of transitions like purchasing in cash or on credit, offers of free gifts, bonus, and discount-sales. How he behaves in such circumstances
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249
Chapter VI
PURCHASING AND POST PURCHASING CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR TOWARDS
CONSUMER DURABLE GOODS IN GUNTUR DISTRICT.
Once a consumer decides what brand he will purchase, he stars purchasing activities.
After purchasing he consumes the product. Then he may be either satisfied or dissatisfied.
According to his nature of satisfaction he reacts. Authorities in Marketing developed theories
on these issues have studied purchase behaviour of rural and urban consumers. Here an
attempt has been made to present briefly the concepts developed on consumer behaviour.
Then a humble attempt has been made to enquire how far these concepts hold well in case of
rural and urban consumers of Guntur district. For this purpose a few questions are asked to
the selected consumers and their responses have been tabulated and analyzed in the last
section on empirical findings on purchasing behaviour of rural and urban consumers in
Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh.
6.1: Concepts on Rural and Urban Consumer Purchase behaviour.
Authorities in marketing have analyzed consumers purchasing behaviour in detail.
Here these concepts are discussed in brief. Purchasing activities involve first deciding on
family member who will shoulder the responsibility of buying. Then raises the question of
selecting markets and shops where from intended goods will be purchased. In selecting
shops a consumer considers various factors like cleanliness and location of the shop,
behavioral patterns of the sales persons, prices charged, quality of good served and similar
issues. Once these issues are settled he begins purchasing within the store. At the time of
actual purchase he faces the problems on terms of transitions like purchasing in cash or on
credit, offers of free gifts, bonus, and discount-sales. How he behaves in such circumstances
250
need an enquiry. A consumer sometimes may also purchase out-side of the stores. At that
time he may sometimes be guided by his impulses while purchasing. After purchase he
begins consumptions. But on consumption he may be either satisfied or dissatisfied. His
reactions take shape in the form of repeat purchase, speaking good words about the brand or
speaking ill of the same and lodging complaint to the seller. Even if he is satisfied with his
durables he may desire to dispose the same as they become obsolete, or his life style
changes, or for other reasons.
6.2: Family members shouldering the responsibilities of shopping
Usually head of the family shoulders the responsibilities of shopping. He is the
decider. But in developed countries most of the shoppers are females, this situation is may be
due to busy with other works or responsibilities. Hence this responsibility is allocated among
the family members according to the importance of the goods to be purchased. For instance,
the head of the family may himself purchase durables and semi-durables, while younger
member may be engaged in collecting easily perishable goods like fish, vegetables, milk and
grocery goods.
6.3: Motives of shopping
Whenever one acts, there must be some motive behind it. A buyer has a motive for
buying, while he goes regularly for shopping, other habits also associated with shopping. But
when one goes regularly for shopping, one develops a habit of going to shops and develops
other habits associated with shopping. It is true especially for developed countries like USA
and U.K. In these countries consumers visit shops with various motives like meeting friends
and acquaintances, getting rescue from monotony of daily life, enjoying the pleasure of
bargaining, making oneself acquainted with the latest development in consumable goods. In
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turn, motives of the shopping have shown influence by the nature of goods to be purchased,
and this nature is an important factor in deciding the market places to be visited and the
shops to be selected.
6.4: Selection of stores
Consumers are influenced by various factors when they select a store. While
selecting a store they consider location of the stores and its design. That apart,
advertisements of various kinds also help marketers in drawing customers‟ attention.
Consumers also take into consideration store supplies, the ease of shopping process,
cleanliness of the store, behaviour of the store-personnel and purchase satisfaction.
6.5: Differential aspects of rural consumer buying behaviour.
Rural Markets for a long time in our country have been considered as an enigma and
a land of untapped opportunities, where the customer is considered more of a stripped down
version of his urban counterpart purely from the context of buying capacity and price
conscious psyche. The initial roadblocks to enter rural markets are largely logistical issues
of which, chiefly the diverse geographical patterns, made it difficult for the discerning
marketer to reach most of the markets. However, some marketers have made inroads in these
markets. The marketers‟ understanding of the rural market seems to be gradually getting
evolved but more importantly they are unlearning from the past for newer learning of the
future and unfolding realities of rural India.
While rural market appears in demographic terms to be huge, only a few
marketers have succeeded here and one of the few success stories that stand out are like that
of Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL) who spent decades in understanding the dynamics of the
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market. Project Streamline and Operation Bharat are a few programs run by HLL with the
sole objective of penetrating rural markets. Project streamline focused on extending
distribution, and Project Bharat‟s influence was restricted to raising penetration and
awareness levels.
Many marketers have highlighted three major problems in the context of venturing
into the rural market, namely:
(i) Physical Distribution
(ii) Channel Management
(iii) Promotion and Marketing
However, one issue, which seems to have been overshadowed in the process and which
may be a critical success factor is our understanding of the rural consumer and differences
from his urban counterparts. Unlike the urban markets where they seem to have identified
segments and sub – segments, rural markets have been considered fairly homogeneous.
Rural consumers in India exhibit a great diversity in their tastes and preferences. The
economic background, cultural upbringing, regional growth in infrastructure and amenities
will be imperative in helping developing and decide buying preferences.
Through this unit they will be able to understand the buyer behavior process
and how the rural consumer‟s buyer behavior process functions in a given environment, with
his urban counterpart. The later part of the unit will also explore the major influences on
buyer behavior and role of reference group in the context of the rural markets.
6.6: Purchase decision
The final is a deliberation, which usually, in the rural and urban context, rural people
takes longer time for spending in information search of alternatives. Due to resource
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constraint or lack of exposure or personal orientation, rural customers spend considerably
lesser time of the buyer behavior process. On the contrary, his urban counterpart spends
lesser time on the final purchase and more in behavior process, the reasons for which are
higher exposure levels, and availability of alternatives as well as large amounts of
information.
The factors, which influence the final choice, are
Attitude of other
Unanticipated situational factors
Perceived Risk
The issue of attitude of others in addition to that of friends and relatives who may be existing
owners of the products in questions, refers in this case also to the retailer or the dealer. In
some cases the final choice is made on the advice given at the channel level. Alternatively,
in some cases it is the complementarily in the product that makes final purchase decision far
easier. A person in the village buying the Eveready Jeevan Saathi brass torch, will rely on
the batteries of the same company.
6.7: Post purchase behaviour
Post Purchase behaviour refers to that behaviour exhibited after the purchase
decision. The goal of consumer‟s decision system lies in consumption and consumption
occurs during the post-purchase phase. Thus purchases are only ``means to an end‟‟ the end
being the attainment of benefits from consuming the product or service. From marketers‟
perspective, long term success flows from having consumers experience satisfaction during
the post-purchase phase. The post-purchase processes account for two major activities,
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consumption and disposition. Trashing, saving and selling the product are the three major
options of product disposition.
There are two psychological processes that operate during the post purchase stage:
firstly, cognitive dissonance developed by Festinger suggests that consumers experience
tension following a difficult decision and may behave in some ``Strange ways‟‟ in an effort
to reduce the dissonance they are experiencing. Secondly, there are five elements which
work together to determine consumer satisfaction. (1) Consumer expectations (2) Actual
performance (3) The comparison between expectations between expectations and
performances (4) confirmation or disconfirmation of expectations and (5) The size and
direction of the discrepancy score.
Within the framework of the buyer behavior process, the post purchase behavior
forms a critical part, as it lays foundation for the repeat purchases and development of
loyalties. In the context of the rural and urban markets, loyalties have been found to be
higher and extended. Penetrative pricing on a homogenous product quality similar to that of
available product quality in the urban markets and making the product available will be the
key to service in the rural markets. Just like the urban middle class, villagers demand value
for money. In case of rural consumer once marketers earn the villager‟s loyalty it will be
difficult for competitors to take away our customer. But in case of urban earning loyalty is
very difficult.
In conclusion the critical factors for the rural and urban customer in the buying
decision process towards consumer durable goods would be:
(i) The need for the product.
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(ii) The purchasing capacity.
(iii) The attitude towards the product.
(iv) The cost benefits analysis done by the consumer before buying the product.
(v) The social values governing the society.
6.8: Consumer Attitude
Different social psychologists defined the term “Attitude” differently. An Attitude is
“how positive or negative”, „Favorable or Un Favorable‟, Pro or Con a person feels towards
an object.
6.9: Attitudes possesses the following Characteristics
1. Attitudes cannot be observed directly as it is something inside an individual.
2. Attitudes are not innate as they depend on learning
3. Attitudes are temporary states.
4. Attitudes always imply a relationship between the Person & Objects.
People have different attitudes (bent of mind) for different products, e.g., many
consumers think of plastic to be cheap, artificial, weak, breakable non-degradable,
environmentally harmful and not desirable. They have a negative attitude and discourage the
use of plastics. Plastics also create positive attitudes, as it is light unbreakable, easy to carry
handy. People do not dislike plastics, but do not know what do with it after using it.