Effective shopping begins at home with preliminary decisions as to what should be purchased and when. A shopping list should be prepared by identifying needs, thinking of alternatives and estimated expenditure.
Intelligent buying :
Before buying an unfamiliar article/ for first time consumer should have source of information in place of buying, models, brands, merits and demerits, prices, durability, operating conditions and maintenance. Intelligent buying that calls for preliminary information gathering in order to compare quality & price.
Learning to deal with business men
Consumer should use objective judgment meaning not to get influenced by personal factors and should not get influenced by salesmen possessive tactics (showing excessive friendliness offering soft drinks etc).
Through individual effort consumer can improve their buymanship and put their resources to optimum use. However to putdown malpractices as adultration collective pressure is needed. An individual will generally be powerless against a trader because the other traders will support him. All traders are keen on keeping their “vested interests” intact. The individual consumer may be threatened physically, may be abused in many other ways. An organization of consumers however can withstand such pressure and take legal action if necessary.
5. Ask for informative advertisement and labels Advertisements often carry incomplete information about the product. Incomplete and vague information regarding the product does not help the consumers in making proper decisions. In such cases the consumer must insist on getting required information from the manufactures. Pattern for wise purchase
Planning to buy: Before going to the market one should plan his/her purchase and make a list of items based on needs and requirements. This is very essential in identifying the requirements within the budgeted resources.
Right quality: The items to be purchased should be judged according to the desired quality in relation to its use. Variety products will have quality marks and one should identify these marks while making the purchase such as ISI, AGMARK etc.
Right Quantity: Consumer should make their purchase according to the needs and duration of use.
Right Time: Certain goods are subject to seasonal variations. They are cheap at certain time & expensive at other times.
Right price and Vendor: One should make comparison of price of the similar goods in the market and select the products at right price. Consumer should identify reliable vendors who would supply quality products at the right time within reasonable costs.
Avoiding impulse buying: A consumer might purchase items impulsively because at that movement the product has appealed to its psychological instincts. In such cases impulsive buying takes place. Usually in this kind of buying prices will be cheaper by 10 to 20%. However all impulsive purchases prove to be a good buy. Also there is the danger that one might exceed one’s budget.
Participants