FACTORS AFFECTING CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR

1. Culture factors
Culture is the learned values, perceptions, wants, and behavior from family and
other important institutions. Buying decision are highly influenced by social
customs, traditions and beliefs. Culture is the most basic element that shapes a
persons wants and behavior.in rural consumers take longer time to be
influenced .they discuss the issue of purchase with other villagers and the
headman.so decision making is thus a collective and time consuming process.
2. Sub culture:
Subculture are groups of people within a culture with shared value systems
based on common life experiences and situations. Differentiated by status,
ethnic background, residence, religion, or other factors. Sub culture is a
segment of a larger culture whose members share distinguish values and
patterns of behavior.
Hispanic
African American
Asian
Mature consumers
3. Social classes are societys relatively permanent and ordered divisions
whose members share similar values, interests, and behaviors
Social class is measured by a combination of occupation, income, education,
wealth, economic, caste, profession, and other variables
The major social classes
1. Upper class
2. Middle class
3. Working class
4. Lower class
2. Social Factors
1. Groups
Membership groups have a direct influence and to which a person belongs
Aspirational groups are groups to which an individual wishes to belong
Reference groups are groups that form a comparison or reference in
forming attitudes or behavior
Opinion leaders are people within a reference group with special skills,
knowledge, personality, or other characteristics that can exert social
influence on others
Buzz marketing enlists opinion leaders to spread the word
Social networking is a new form of buzz marketing
MySpace.com
Facebook.com
2. Family is the most important consumer-buying organization in society. It
is defined as 2 or more persons related by blood, marriages or adoption who
reside together.
Functions of family
Economic well being
Emotional support
Suitable family life/styles
Socialization of family members


3. Social roles and status
Are the groups, family, clubs, and organizations to which a person belongs
that can define role and social status.

3. Personal Factors
Personal characteristics
Age and life-cycle stage
RBC Royal Band stages:
Youthyounger than 18
Getting started18-35
Builders35-50
Accumulators50-60
Preserversover 60

Occupation
Occupation affects the goods and services bought by consumers
Economic situation
Economic situation includes trends in:
Personal income
Savings
Interest rates
Lifestyle
Lifestyle is a persons pattern of living as expressed in his or her
psychographics
Measures a consumers AIOs (activities, interests, and opinions) to capture
information about a persons pattern of acting and interacting in the
environment
4. Personality and self-concept:
SRI consultings Values and Lifestyle (VALS) typology
Classifies people according to how they spend money and time
Primary motivations
Resources
A) Primary motivations
i. Ideals
ii.Achievement
iii.Self-expression
B) Resources
1. High resources: Innovators exhibit all primary motivations
2. Low resources: Survivors do not exhibit strong primary motivation
Personality and Self-Concept
Personality refers to the unique psychological characteristics that lead to
consistent and lasting responses to the consumers environment.
Brand personality refers to the specific mix of human traits that may be attributed
to a particular brand
Sincerity
Excitement
Competence
Sophistication
Ruggedness
Self-concept refers to peoples possessions that contribute to and reflect their
identities.
5.Psychological Factors:
A) Motivation
A motive is a need that is sufficiently pressing to direct the person to seek
satisfaction
Motivation research refers to qualitative research designed to probe consumers
hidden, subconscious motivations.
Abraham Maslows Hierarchy of Needs
People are driven by particular needs at particular times
Human needs are arranged in a hierarchy from most pressing to least
pressing
Psychological
Safety
Social
Esteem
Self-actualization
B) Perception is the process by which people select, organize, and interpret
information to form a meaningful picture of the world from three perceptual
processes
1. Selective attention is the tendency for people to screen out most of the information to
which they are exposed
2. Selective distortion is the tendency for people to interpret information in a way that
will support what they already believe
3. Selective retention is the tendency to remember good points made about a brand they
favor and to forget good points about competing brands
B) Learning is the changes in an individuals behavior arising from experience
and occurs through interplay of:
Drives
Stimuli
Cues
Responses
Reinforcement

C) Belief is a descriptive thought that a person has about something based on:
Knowledge
Opinion
Faith
D) Attitudes describe a persons relatively consistent evaluations, feelings, and
tendencies toward an object or idea
5. Technological factors : has an impact on the occupations and lifestyles
of rural people occupations like agriculture, dairy, animal husbandry
have become more productive and profitable.
Aspects Traditional Modern
Agriculture Bullockcarts,low
yield,conventional manure
Tractors,harvesters,high
yielding
seeds,fertilizers,pump sets
motors generators
Life style Neem-stick,bullock carts Tooth paste, moped