Financing and Marketing Management

Unit 14 - Marketing Environment-Consumer Behaviour

14.13. Types of buying behaviour
Complex buying behaviour
Consumers go through complex buying behaviour when they are highly involved in a purchase and aware of significant differences among brands. Consumers are highly involved in purchase when it is expensive, bought infrequently, risky and highly self-expressive. Typically the consumer does not know much about the product category and has much to learn. This buyer will pass through a learning process characterized by first developing beliefs about the product, then attributes and then making a thoughtful purchase choice. The marketer of a high-involvement product must understand the information gathering and evaluation behaviour of high involvement consumers. The marketer needs to develop strategies that assist the buyer in learning about the attributes of the product class, their relative importance and the high standing of the company’s brand on the more important attributes.
Dissonance-Reducing buying behaviour
Sometimes the consumer is highly involved in a purchase but sees little difference in the brands. The high involvement is again based on the fact that the purchase is expensive, infrequent and risky. In this case, the buyer will shop around to learn what is available but will buy fairly quickly because brand differences are not pronounced. The buyer may respond primarily to a good price or to purchase convenience. After the purchase the consumer might experience dissonance that stems from noticing certain disquieting features of the desired product or hearing favorable things about other products. The consumer is alert to more information that might justify his or her decision to reduce the dissonance.
Habitual Buying Behaviour
Many products are brought under conditions of low consumer involvement and the absence of significant brand differences. Consumer behaviour in these cases does not pass through the normal belief/attitude/behaviour sequence. Consumers do not search extensively for information about the brands, evaluate their characteristics and make a weighty decision on which brand to buy. Instead they are passive recipients of information as they watch television or see print ads. Consumers do not form a strong attitude toward a brand but select it because it is familiar. After purchase they may not even evaluate the choice because they not highly involved with the product. So the buying process is, brand beliefs formed by passive learning, followed by purchase behaviour which may be followed by evaluation.
Variety Seeking Buying Behaviour
Some buying situations are characterized by low consumer involvement but significant brand differences. Here consumers are often observed to do a lot of brand switching. The marketing strategy is different for the market leader and the minor brands in this product category. The market leader will try to encourage habitual buying behaviour by dominating the shelf space, avoiding out-of-stock conditions and sponsoring frequent reminder advertising. Challenger firms will encourage variety seeking by offering lower prices, deals, coupons, free samples and advertising that presents reasons for trying something new.