The Customer Behavior

It is known that some individuals set the pattern within their own circle of acquaintances. A person’s purchasing behaviour changes as they move through their life cycle. One definition suggests the following stages: single, young married or cohabiting couples with no children, people with young children, couples or single parents with older children, older people, children left home, and sole survivors. For example, the buying patterns of young married people setting up home for the first time (carpets, furniture, crockery, pictures) will be quite different from those with a young family (baby clothes, different foods, toys) and so on. Equally clearly, the cultural outlook of the community in which they live will influence what people spend their money on.

We can influence our consumer behavior by increase the level of knowledge and awareness. For example, we can tell people of the existence of our product they were previously unaware of, or we can tell them facts about its performance or the benefits it will bring them. We can show people how our product will help to satisfy their needs. This is the basis of the ‘emotional appeals’ used in advertising. And we also can change their attitudes. Since the customer is the focal point of all business activity, we must be clear about how customers behave. Because marketing is concerned with satisfying people’s needs, we must understand what those needs are and the ways in which people go about getting them satisfied.