CHAPTER - I INTRODUCTION Generally, personal care products are these products which a consumer uses for his personal purpose. It includes different types of cosmetic and skin care products like talc, cold cream, fairness cream, toothpaste, toothbrush, perfume, deodorant, hair oil, shampoo, soap, and all type of baby care and beauty care products. These are the core FMCG products. Any person need for these products every day. Personal care products area part of FMCG industry. In some words we can say that personal care products are the back bone of FMCG industry. As per the time passes away, the demand of personal care products are also increasing day per day and future of these products are also very bright and profitable. There was a time when consumers not spend too much a mouton the personal care products. But in those days, they are not only eager for spending more money on the cosmetic products, but at the same time they are looking for a good and prestigious brand for the particular product. Modern media and advertisement plays an important role in the increasing of demand of
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
CHAPTER - I
INTRODUCTION
Generally, personal care products are these products which a consumer
uses for his personal purpose. It includes different types of cosmetic and skin care
products like talc, cold cream, fairness cream, toothpaste, toothbrush, perfume,
deodorant, hair oil, shampoo, soap, and all type of baby care and beauty care
products.
These are the core FMCG products. Any person need for these products every
day. Personal care products area part of FMCG industry. In some words we can
say that personal care products are the back bone of FMCG industry. As per the
time passes away, the demand of personal care products are also increasing day
per day and future of these products are also very bright and profitable.
There was a time when consumers not spend too much a mouton the
personal care products. But in those days, they are not only eager for spending
more money on the cosmetic products, but at the same time they are looking for a
good and prestigious brand for the particular product. Modern media and
advertisement plays an important role in the increasing of demand of personal
care goods. People of metro cities are too much brand conscious but if we look at
the people of semi urban and rural areas, they are also looking for a good brand
for the particular product.
Background of the Study:
The Indian Personal care Industry has witnessed rapid growth over the
last couple of decades. In that time the range of cosmetic and beauty products in
India has widened tremendously. Beauty products manufacturers in India mostly
cater to the great demand for cosmetics and toiletries that fall in to the low or
medium price categories as the greatest demand in India has always been for these
economically priced products.
However, in recent years in the cosmetics market India competitors have
be gun to manufacture products to cater to an International need. For instance,
herbal cosmetics from India have a great demand in the over seas market and
many cosmetic products that are manufactured in India today are supplied to
international suppliers of branded cosmetics products like .The Body Shop for
example. New facts that have been unveiled by a series of cosmetics business
market analysis India reveal that many International companies are now out
sourcing cosmetics to India and that the industry of cosmetic products India is
growing at an average rate of almost twenty percent annually. This increase is
attributed to two main factors. The first being the increase for the demand in
Indian cost-effective products and the second being the increased purchasing
power of the average Indian.
There are also many reasons for the increased demand for cosmetic
products in particular. With the introduction of satellite television and a wide
array of television channels as well as the Internet, the average Indian consumer is
constantly bombarded with advertisements and information on new cosmetic
products which often translates in to the desire to purchase them. A boom in the
Indian fashion industry has also been linked to the increased awareness of Indian
people about their appearances and consequently contributed to an increase in the
demand for cosmetic products. However, even with the massive surge in the
popularity of cosmetic products, statistics have shown that the average Indian
consumer spends much less on cosmetic products than consumers from every
other part of the world. This means that the Indian cosmetic industry has an even
greater potential for growth than it is presently experiencing.
In the entire range of products that fall within the territory of the Indian
cosmetic and toiletries market, the most popular items are color cosmetics, of
which nail varnish, lipsticks and lip glosses account for the most sales. In this
area, popular local brand names include Himalaya and Revlon. Skin-care
cosmetics have experienced as lower growth and products such as anti-wrinkle
creams, cleansers and toners, for instance are not as popular as facial creams,
moisturizers and fair ness creams in this genre. Companies like Ponds and Fair
and Lovely rule the roost in this segment. Few cultures valued beauty and
cosmetic products in ancient times as the Egyptians did. The history of ancient
cosmetics can also be traced back to the culture of ancient Greece and make-up
was also popular in the Roman Empire. There is sufficient evidence to suggest
that people from all these three cultures used hair dyes for instance. These people
used herbal concoctions with components like henna, sage and chamomile to
darken their hair. It was only in the renaissance period that blond hair became
fashionable.
Although cosmetic products have undergone many changes in modern
times, the basic concept of using cosmetics to enhance the features of good health
has not changed. For instance, blush-on is used to conceal pale present a picture
of rosy cheeks as opposed to pale skin and nail polish can be used to conceal
brittle or dry nails. The history of make -up cosmetics however is tarnished by the
ill-effects that were often experienced after applying many ancient make up
products. This was because many such products were created using dangerous
components and also because cleansing lotions are not any where to be found in
the early history of cosmetics .
HISTORY OF PERSONAL CARE PRODUCTS IN INDIA:-
The history of the cosmetics industry includes very dark chapters in
European and Western countries from about six centuries back. Mixtures and
pastes were then used to whiten the face, a practice which remained popular till
over four hundred years later. The early mixtures that were used in Europe for this
purpose were so potent that they often led to paralysis, strokes or death. In that
era, another method that was employed to make the skin appear fairer was to
bleed oneself using leeches. Up to the late nineteenth century, women in Western
countries may have secretly worn make-up made from mixtures of house hold
products, as make-up was then deemed the domain of film stars.
Personal care were only openly put up for sale in the early part of the
twentieth century for the first time. Tanned or darker skin tones became popular
only as late as the early twentieth century. It was in this era that tanning the skin
became a popular fad. The history of cosmetics in the 1930s and 1940s shows
how the fashion or trend with respect to lipstick colors was changed annually,
getting darker and closer to red every passing year.
Personal care products were once the sole domain of film personalities and
stage actors. The use of cosmetics in those eras was restricted to the purpose of
creating a dramatic effect.
However, with the passage of time, women started using Personal care to
highlight their facial features as well. In India beetroot was used to redden the
cheeks, while in Western countries, certain chemicals were used to darken the
hair. Finally, because of the world-wide demand for make-up for the average
person, cosmetics finally became Personal care products were once the sole
domain of film personalities and stage actors. The use of Personal care in those
eras was restricted to the purpose of creating a dramatic effect. However, with the
passage of time, women started using personal care to highlight there facial
features as well. In India beet root was used to redden the cheeks, while in
Western countries, certain chemicals were used to darken the hair. Finally,
because of the world-wide demand for make-up for the average person, cosmetics
finally became available for sale to the common man. Some common Personal
care include shampoo, conditioner, soap, toothpaste, face wash .
Lip sticks are made using color pigments, oils, waxes and often fragrances
as well. Different cosmetic companies also add various of their substances to
create other effects with lipstick. The oldest use of lipstick can be traced back to
almost five thousand years ago, when women of the Mesopotamian culture and of
the Indus valley civilization are believed to have crushed semi-precious stones
and mixed them into a paste to apply to the lips for added color. Through the
centuries, lipstick remained popular with women of different cultures and while
some ancient lipstick-manufacturing techniques employed the use of potent and
toxic chemicals, others used vegetable or animal extracts. Today, a wide range of
lipsticks are available in the cosmetic market to cater to the various needs of the
consumer. There are organic and natural lipsticks as well as lip-gloss and lip
pencils which come in a wide variety of colors to suit a huge spectrum of skin
tones. Worldwide, lipsticks are the most popular cosmetic in the cosmetic market
today. Perfume is another popular cosmetic product. It is a fragrant mixture made
using various oils and aromatic compounds.
Usually every perfume manufacture keeps the exact combination of
ingredients a secret, especially in the case of perfumes that are manufactured by
large brand names.
Rouge or blush-on is a cosmetic which is used to redden the cheeks. In
ancient times, women resorted to pinching their cheeks, or using the extracts of
mulberries, beet root or other such extracts to color their cheeks and acquire a
healthy look.
Typically women use this product to highlight cheek bones but newer
make-up techniques involve using rouge to add color to the apple of one's cheeks.
Rouge is available as a pressed powder or as a cream-based paste. Eyeliner is
used to emphasize the shape of the eyes.
1.Increase in the Demand of Beauty products
From the last few years, the demand of beauty products in India has been
increased in a good speed. Not only women but men are also very conscious
towards their face and other personal care. Many companies are engaged in
producing the products according to them. So, the market is seeking to be very
bright.
2. A Large Rural Urban Penetration
The penetration ratio in rural market is very challenging and prospective.
So, there is a good scope in these areas.
3.Opportunity in Semi-Urban Market
There is a good opportunity of cosmetic products in the semi-urban
market. The people are looking towards a good brand name and quality within
them.
4. An Untapped Rural Market
There is an untapped market is available for cosmetic products in the rural
area in India. It is an awesome opportunity for these companies.
MAJOR INDIAN PERSONAL CARE COMPANIES:
In India, there is a complete range of cosmetic companies. It includes
regional companies, national and MNCs. Hindustan Unilever leads the companies
which is followed by Godrej consumer care, Procter &Gamble, Emami, Dabur
and Calvin Care.
OBJECTIVE
To know about Consumer’s Behavior and buying behavior about Personal
Care goods when they purchased it.
To determine the actual demand of consumers.
To know about the performance of Himalaya company in market.
SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The Indian Personal care Industry has witnessed rapid growth in the last
couple of years, growing at a FMCG of around 7.5% between 2010 and 2011.
With improving purchasing power and increasing fashion consciousness, the
industry is expected to maintain the growth momentum (with marginal slow down
due to economic slowdown) during our forecast period(2009-2012). It is projected
to grow at a FMCG of around 7% during the fore cast period, says' Indian
Cosmetic Sector Analysis (2009-2012)”.
NEED OF THE STUDY :
The study is done forgetting a deep knowledge and idea about Indian
personal care sector. The need or objective of the study is to know the how much
consumers give preferences to the brand of cosmetic goods whether the customers
are satisfied with the cosmetic products of the company and how far the company
is able to satisfy the customer in terms of quality and cost factors since in today’s
modern era customers are the focus for any company, any organization that
without satisfying them no company can survive in this global competitive age.
Non satisfaction of the potential customers can lead them to switch over to
another one. Now the policy every company or organization is to provides at is
faction as there exists a lot of competition for them. Hence it becomes necessary
to conduct a comprehensive research in terms of customer satisfaction so that it is
able to know how far it stands before others. This also helps to judge whether if
there is any lag in the policy and could take immediate action to rectify it. The
need of this project also a rose because an extensive survey can help the company
whether the work done by the company in the area of new products is able to
satisfy the customers or not. The major focus of the research conducted therefore
is to discover the factors that people area ware about the upcoming new products
and the attribute of the product which attracted them for a trial. The study was
restricted to only a round 50-60 percent of our target audience, because the
respondents included in the study are people who are regular user of personal care
goods.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:-
Primary Data
Primary data is the first hand data, which are selected a fresh and thus
happen to be original in character. Primary Data was crucial to know various
customers and past consumer views. The research is descriptive type of research
survey includes research instrument like questionnaire which can be structured
and unstructured.
Secondary Data
Secondary data are those which has been collected by some one else and
which already have been passed through statistical process. Secondary data has
been taken from internet, newspaper, magazines and companies websites.
SAMPLE DESIGEN AND TYPE: Simple random sampling.
UNIVERSE : Trichy
SAMPLE SIZE : Sample for questionnaire is 150 persons
SAMPLE UNIT : Sampling unit is individual customers.
STATISTICAL TOOLS : Bar charts, Pie charts.
SAMPLE:
While deciding about the sample of research, it is required from there
searcher’s point to pay attention to these under mentioned points:
a. Sample Units:
A decision has to be taken concerning a sampling unit before selecting a
sample, sampling unit may be age of graphical one such as state, district, village
Etc. soin this research sampling unit its individual consumer in ko.
b) Source list:
It is also called sampling frame from which sample is to be drawn, it caters
name of all the items of a universe (incase offinite universe only).Researcher has
to prepare it .
C) Sampling size:
This refers to the no. of items to be selected from the universe to constitute
a sample. This is a major problem before the researcher. The size of sample
should neither excessively large not too small, it should be optimum. This size of
population must be kept in view for this also limits the sample size. Sample size
in this research is 150 customers.
d) Sampling procedure:
Finally the researcher must decide the type of sample he must be. That is
he must decide about the technique to be used in selecting items for the sample. In
fact this technique or procedure stands for the sample design itself. In this we
used the random sampling on the basis of first survey results, which is from 150
respondents.
INSTRUMENTS USED:
I collected from primary data through sample survey or census surveys
from the selected elements in malls and supermarkets . So for this purpose we
have used the most popular tool of primary data collection through direct
communication with respondents. The tools we used are questionnaires.
METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION
a) Primary Data:
Primary data are those, which are collected a fresh and for the first time
and this happen to be original in character.
b) Secondary Data:
Secondary data are those data which have already been collected by some
one else and which have already been used as per required.
There are basically two sources to collect secondary data.
a) Internally: Provided by the company/organization
b) Externally: Various publication of central, state and local Government.
•Books, magazines, newspapers
•Internet
After only keeping in mind one can think about what type of data has to be
collected during research a source. Search is concerned we have together primary
data for Customer behavior.
QUESTIONNAIRE:
This method is more popular. The questionnaire is sent to the person
concerned to answer the questions formatted and return the same soon. A
Questionnaire consists of a number of questions printed or typed in definite order
on a form or set of forms. The Questionnaire is sent to the respondents. In order to
achieve there search objective it is necessary to collect accurate and relevant data,
secondary data are already published data collected for purpose do the than the
specific research needs a than Primary data that are collected specifically for the
research situation at hand, were collected by surveys, using respondents surveys is
one of the ways of collecting primary data namely observations, experiments and
surveys.
CHAPTER -II
CONCEPTS
Consumer behavior involves the psychological processes that consumers
go through in recognizing needs, finding ways to solve these needs, making
purchase decisions (e.g., whether or not to purchase a product and, if so, which
brand and where), interpret information, make plans, and implement these plans
(e.g., by engaging in comparison shopping or actually purchasing a product).
Sources of influence on the consumer.
Often, we take cultural influences for granted, but they are significant. An
American will usually not bargain with a store owner. This, however, is a
common practice in much of the World. Physical factors also influence our
behavior. We are more likely to buy a soft drink when we are thirsty, for
example, and food manufacturers have found that it is more effective to advertise
their products on the radio in the late afternoon when people are getting hungry.
A person’s self-image will also tend to influence what he or she will buy an
upwardly mobile manager may buy a flashy car to project an image of success.
Social factors also influence what the consumers buy often, consumers seek to
imitate others whom they admire, and may buy the same brands. The social
environment can include both the mainstream culture (e.g., Americans are more
likely to have corn flakes or ham and eggs for breakfast than to have rice, which
is preferred in many Asian countries) and a subculture (e.g., rap music often
appeals to a segment within the population that seeks to distinguish itself from the
mainstream population). Thus, sneaker manufacturers are eager to have their
products worn by admired athletes. Finally, consumer behavior is influenced by
learning you try a hamburger and learn that it satisfies your hunger and tastes
good, and the next time you are hungry, you may consider another hamburger.
Consumer Choice and Decision Making: Problem Recognition.
One model of consumer decision making involves several steps. The first
one is problem recognition you realize that something is not as it should be.
Perhaps, for example, your car is getting more difficult to start and is not
accelerating well. The second step is information search what are some
alternative ways of solving the problem? You might buy a new car, buy a used
car, take your car in for repair, ride the bus, ride a taxi, or ride a skateboard to
work. The third step involves evaluation of alternatives. A skateboard is
inexpensive, but may be ill-suited for long distances and for rainy days. Finally,
we have the purchase stage, and sometimes a post-purchase stage (e.g., you return
a product to the store because you did not find it satisfactory). In reality, people
may go back and forth between the stages. For example, a person may resume
alternative identification during while evaluating already known alternatives.
Consumer involvement will tend to vary dramatically depending on the
type of product. In general, consumer involvement will be higher for products
that are very expensive (e.g., a home, a car) or are highly significant in the
consumer’s life in some other way (e.g., a word processing program or acne
medication).
It is important to consider the consumer’s motivation for buying products.
To achieve this goal, we can use the Means-End chain, wherein we consider a
logical progression of consequences of product use that eventually lead to desired
end benefit. Thus, for example, a consumer may see that a car has a large engine,
leading to fast acceleration, leading to a feeling of performance, leading to a
feeling of power, which ultimately improves the consumer’s self-esteem. A
handgun may aim bullets with precision, which enables the user to kill an
intruder, which means that the intruder will not be able to harm the consumer’s
family, which achieves the desired end-state of security. In advertising, it is
important to portray the desired end-states. Focusing on the large motor will do
less good than portraying a successful person driving the car.
Information search and decision making
Consumers engage in both internal and external information search.
Internal search involves the consumer identifying alternatives from his or her
memory. For certain low involvement products, it is very important that
marketing programs achieve “top of mind” awareness. For example, few people
will search the Yellow Pages for fast food restaurants; thus, the consumer must be
able to retrieve one’s restaurant from memory before it will be considered. For
high involvement products, consumers are more likely to use an external search.
Before buying a car, for example, the consumer may ask friends’ opinions, read
reviews in Consumer Reports, consult several web sites, and visit several
dealerships. Thus, firms that make products that are selected predominantly
through external search must invest in having information available to the
consumer in need e.g., through brochures, web sites, or news coverage.
A compensatory decision involves the consumer “trading off” good and
bad attributes of a product. For example, a car may have a low price and good
gas mileage but slow acceleration. If the price is sufficiently inexpensive and gas
efficient, the consumer may then select it over a car with better acceleration that
costs more and uses more gas. Occasionally, a decision will involve a non-
compensatory strategy. For example, a parent may reject all soft drinks that
contain artificial sweeteners. Here, other good features such as taste and low
calories cannot overcome this one “non-negotiable” attribute.
The amount of effort a consumer puts into searching depends on a number
of factors such as the market (how many competitors are there, and how great are
differences between brands expected to be?), product characteristics (how
important is this product? How complex is the product? How obvious are
indications of quality?), consumer characteristics (how interested is a consumer,
generally, in analyzing product characteristics and making the best possible
deal?), and situational characteristics (as previously discussed).
Two interesting issues in decisions are:
Variety seeking (where consumers seek to try new brands not because
these brands are expected to be “better” in any way, but rather because the
consumer wants a “change of pace,” and
“Impulse” purchases unplanned buys. This represents a somewhat
“fuzzy” group. For example, a shopper may plan to buy vegetables but
only decide in the store to actually buy broccoli and corn. Alternatively, a
person may buy an item which is currently on sale, or one that he or she
remembers that is needed only once inside the store.
A number of factors involve consumer choices. In some cases, consumers
will be more motivated. For example, one may be more careful choosing a gift
for an in-law than when buying the same thing for one self. Some consumers are
also more motivated to comparison shop for the best prices, while others are more
convenience oriented. Personality impacts decisions. Some like variety more
than others, and some are more receptive to stimulation and excitement in trying
new stores. Perception influences decisions. Some people, for example, can taste
the difference between generic and name brand foods while many cannot.
Selective perception occurs when a person is paying attention only to information
of interest. For example, when looking for a new car, the consumer may pay
more attention to car ads than when this is not in the horizon. Some consumers
are put off by perceived risk. Thus, many marketers offer a money back
guarantee. Consumers will tend to change their behavior through learning e.g.,
they will avoid restaurants they have found to be crowded and will settle on
brands that best meet their tastes. Consumers differ in the values they hold (e.g.,
some people are more committed to recycling than others who will not want to go
through the hassle). We will consider the issue of lifestyle under segmentation.
The Family Life Cycle.
Individuals and families tend to go through a "life cycle:" The simple life
cycle goes from for purposes of this discussion, a "couple" may either be married
or merely involve living together. The breakup of a non-marital relationship
involving cohabitation is similarly considered equivalent to a divorce. In real life,
this situation is, of course, a bit more complicated. For example, many couples
undergo divorce.
SCENARIOS:
Single parenthood can result either from divorce or from the death of one
parent. Divorce usually entails a significant change in the relative wealth of
spouses. In some cases, the non-custodial parent (usually the father) will not pay
the required child support, and even if he or she does, that still may not leave the
custodial parent and children as well off as they were during the marriage. On the
other hand, in some cases, some non-custodial parents will be called on to pay a
large part of their income in child support. This is particularly a problem when the
non-custodial parent remarries and has additional children in the second (or
subsequent marriages).
In any event, divorce often results in a large demand for:
Low cost furniture and household items
Time-saving goods and services
Family Decision Making:
Individual members of families often serve different roles in decisions that
ultimately draw on shared family resources. Some individuals are information
gatherers/holders, who seek out information about products of relevance. These
individuals often have a great deal of power because they may selectively pass on
information that favors their chosen alternatives. Influencers do not ultimately
have the power decide between alternatives, but they may make their wishes
known by asking for specific products or causing embarrassing situations if their
demands are not met. The decision maker(s) have the power to determine issues
such as:
Whether to buy;
Which product to buy (pick-up or passenger car);
Which brand to buy;
Where to buy it; and
When to buy.
Note, however, that the role of the decision maker is separate from that of the
purchaser. From the point of view of the marketer, this introduces some problems
since the purchaser can be targeted by point-of-purchase (POP) marketing efforts
that cannot be aimed at the decision maker. Also note that the distinction between
the purchaser and decision maker may be somewhat blurred:
The decision maker may specify what kind of product to buy, but not
which brand;
The purchaser may have to make a substitution if the desired brand is not
in stock;
The purchaser may disregard instructions (by error or deliberately).
It should be noted that family decisions are often subject to a great deal of
conflict. The reality is that few families are wealthy enough to avoid a strong
tension between demands on the family’s resources. Conflicting pressures are
especially likely in families with children and/or when only one spouse works
outside the home. Note that many decisions inherently come down to values, and
that there is frequently no "objective" way to arbitrate differences. One spouse
may believe that it is important to save for the children’s future; the other may
value spending now (on private schools and computer equipment) to help prepare
the children for the future. Who is right? There is no clear answer here. The
situation becomes even more complex when more parties such as children or
other relatives are involved.
Some family members may resort to various strategies to get their way. One is
bargaining one member will give up something in return for someone else. For
example, the wife says that her husband can take an expensive course in gourmet
cooking if she can buy a new pickup truck. Alternatively, a child may promise to
walk it every day if he or she can have a hippopotamus. Another strategy is
reasoning trying to get the other person(s) to accept one’s view through logical
argumentation. Note that even when this is done with a sincere intent, its potential
is limited by legitimate differences in values illustrated above. Also note that
individuals may simply try to "wear down" the other party by endless talking in
the guise of reasoning (this is a case of negative reinforcement as we will see
subsequently). Various manipulative strategies may also be used. One is
impression management, where one tries to make one’s side look good (e.g.,
argue that a new TV will help the children see educational TV when it is really
mostly wanted to see sports programming, or argue that all "decent families make
a contribution to the church"). Authority involves asserting one’s "right" to make
a decision (as the "man of the house," the mother of the children, or the one who
makes the most money). Emotion involves making an emotional display to get
one’s way (e.g., a man cries if his wife will not let him buy a new rap album).
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Consumer Behaviour Christopher (1989) studied the shopping habits of
consumers to form an idea of whether or not the store concepts, product ranges
and strategies of the companies are appropriate towards consumer requirements.
He believed that consumer behaviours are unpredictable and changing
continuously changing; while trying to under try to understand how individual or
group make their decision to spend their available resources on consumption-
related items. These are factors that influence the consumer before, during, and
after a purchase (Schiffiman and Kanuk, 1997), for example, feedback, from other
customers, packing, advertising, product appearance, and price (Peter &
Olsonetc, 2005).
The essence of this approach is critical for organisational success, so that
they can have a better understanding of their customer behaviours (Solomon et al.,
2006). The physical action or behaviour of consumer and their buying decision
every day can be measured directly by marketers (Papanastassiu and Rouhani,
2006). For that reason many organisations these days are spending lot of their
resources to research how consumer makes their buying decision, what they buy,
how much they buy, when they buy, and where they buy (Kotler, Amstrong,
2001). To get a well coherent result, organisations normally looked at these
behaviour base their analysis on difference conceptions; whether customers
buying behaviour were measured from different perspectives, such as product
quality and better service, lower price structured etc (Papanastassiu and
Rouhani, 2006)
Different theories and researchers have claimed that when organisation
fully meet all aspects of its customer needs, the result enhances their profitability
(Chaudhuri, 2006), and also enable them to develop a better tackling strategies
for consumer (Asseal, 1998). Possibly, the most challenging concept in
marketing deals with the understanding why buyers do what they do and what
method or philosophy are they using to evaluate the product after the transactions
and what might be the effect on future transaction (Schiffman, 2004). The reason
why marketer chooses to learning about consumers” buying behaviour is, from a
business perspective; to be able to be more effectively reach consumers and
increase the chances for success (Sargeant & West, 2001). Therefore the field of
consumer behaviour has take a tremendous turn in the commercial world and
became the fundamental concepts of achieving company goal (Schiffman and
Kanuk, 2007).
More recently, different researchers and author have given their definition
and meaning of consumer behaviour. For Michael R. Solomon (2001) consumer
behaviours typically analyse the processes of group selected or individual
purchases/dispose of product, service, concept or experiences to satisfy their need
and desires. Additionally, Kotler (1996) suggested that consumer behaviours have
a huge impact in a firm marketing decision making process every year. There is a
risk that what a consumer does will inflict on his or her behaviour and generate
consequences. (Snoj, Pisnik Koda & Mumel, 2004). The user and the purchaser
can be different person, in some cases; another person may be an influencer
providing recommendations for or against certain products without actually
buying or using them (Solomon 1999; Solomon et al. 1999).
In this case, most of the large consumer electronics retailers tend to
gathered more information about customers motivating factors and what
influences their buying behaviours Solomon & Stuart (2000).
To get in-depth understanding consumer behaviour concepts will gives us
an idea on how its plays significance role in our life and in the whole trend of
business profit to various firms which will allow the researcher to get the analysis
and determine product positioning, develop the message and targeting strategy in
order to reach to the market (Holskins J, 2002). Consumer behaviour involves lot
aspects, such as;
COMPLEX BUYING BEHAVIOUR
This kind of buying behaviours significantly involved the consumers when
making a purchase decision. This kind of buying behaviours demand consumer to
highly involve within the process. In case of high involvement, consumers
distinguish salient differences among the competing brands (Kotler, Wong,
Saunders, Armstrong, 2005). This phenomenon is particularly essential for
Dixons consumers to highly involve, and engage in extensive research about the
product category and make a good purchase decision about the firm own
manufacturing products, in case they invent a new technology electronics
products or audio-video equipment that is too expensive.
DISSONANCE REDUCING BUYING BEHAVIOUR
This type of buying behaviour also has high consumer involvement. In
terms of expensive and infrequent purchase, consumer also undergoes reducing
dissonancy behaviour. It is extremely difficult for consumers to differential
among brands in this type of buying behaviours (Kotler, Wong, Saunders,
Armstrong, 2005). Differentiating Dixons electronics products/equipments in the
same store from PCWorld or Currys is a daunting task and consumer buying these
products may encounter dissonance reducing buying behaviour, as electronics are
usually expensive and self-expressive. Consumer may easily assume that the
available electronics brands in the store/market within a certain price range to be
of the same quality. Then if the product does not meet customers’ expectations, it
will result to consumer to experience post purchase dissonance (after sales