CONSUMER BEHAVIOR AND ITS IMPACT ON THE MARKET

Consumer behavior refers to the scrutiny and examination of the mechanism or the manner in which the consumers make their purchasing decisions. However, consumer behavior is not solely limited to this. It also indicates the processes that play a key role when the consumer decides to choose, use or discard the merchandise or services offered by any enterprise. There are 4 types of consumer behavior:

• Complex buying behavior: This kind of behavior is usually exhibited when the consumer is making a big purchase decision or an item that he/she may not be familiar with i.e. not a regular purchase. Due to high costs involved the consumer will engage into extensive research before arriving at the concluding decision. A good example could be behavior of an individual who is going to buy a house or land for the first time. He/she has no prior knowledge and may decide to consult his/her friends, proprietors or family members before making the final decision.
• Dissonance reducing buying behavior: This kind of behavior is again associated with expensive and infrequent products. The consumer is highly involved in the purchasing decision. In such cases, there isn’t much difference between the products or goods of different brands. After making the purchase, the consumer might experience dissonance i.e. conflict regarding the final decision.
• Habitual buying behavior: This type of behavior is displayed when the consumer is purchasing a low-cost item that is used on a regular basis. The consumer doesn’t think much about it and purchases the item of a particular brand that he/she regularly avails or the one that is the cheapest. There is not much involvement is this kind of purchase.
• Variety seeking behavior: Here the involvement of the consumer is low too. The consumer decides to purchase low cost items but not from the same brand. The consumer seeks a variety in such circumstances. He/she might purchase same product but from different brands each time solely because of the urge to explore a variety of options.

Consumer behavior has a significant impact on the market and the strategy deployed by any organisation. It determines their success or failure. If the consumers buy an item or service on a regular basis then it will lead to the market’s profit. However, if they don’t show any kind of interest in purchasing the products or services then the market share might go down. While launching a marketing campaign or promotion, the consumer response is needed. If there aren’t many, then the marketer has to do further research to find out the possible drawbacks or gaps in the campaign. Hence, consumer feedback or response always plays a significant role in the market.

It is important for the marketer in any industry to be well-aware of and understand the consumer behavior because:

• It will help them to understand the factors that regulate and determine the purchasing decisions of the consumers.
• After gathering knowledge about consumer behavior the marketer can launch products or services in a way that will attract more leads and turn them into customers to expand the sales.
• The marketer will have a clearer view of the products and services that are most relevant and useful to the people and the ones that aren’t required. This will help to prevent or lower any kind of loss.
•  Consumer behavior also improves the marketer’s understanding of buyer trends i.e. the practice or behavior prevalent amongst the consumers at a particular period of time.

Therefore, consumer behavior has a significant influence on the market. Knowledge of consumer behavior can help the marketer to design campaigns or promotion strategies that appeals to them. This in turn, might help to enhance the sale of goods and services along with increased consumer response. In these aspects, consumer behavior determines the profit or loss of the market value.