Consumer Buying Behavior

Though a consumer’s buying behavior changes from person to person, the field of marketing has an interest in describing the general tendencies of consumer buying habits. In this short paper I will list and define the major types of buying decision behavior and the stages in the buyer decision process as described in Kotler and Armstrong’s Principles of Marketing .

The types of buying behavior are distinguished by the activity and perception of consumers. There are four major types of buying behavior: complex buying behavior, variety seeking buying behavior, dissonance-reducing buying behavior, and habitual buying behavior. (Kotler & Armstong, 2012) When a consumer is engaging in complex buying behavior, he or she is “highly involved in the

Often, the consumer does not immediately know the best product or service that would solve his or her problem. This leads to the next stage of the buyer decision process: information search . Because information search is such an integral part of the consumer’s process in understanding and purchasing a product, it is important for marketers to have a clear, coherent message about a product’s merits. Additionally, in this stage customer-to-customer advice and positive word of mouth can pivitol for a brand’s success. Once a consumer knows the relevant information, he or she will proceed to the next step of the process: evaluation of alternatives . In this step, consumers process the information to make an informed decision about their range of alternatives. During the evaluation of alternatives, a particular product’s prominence in the public eye can be useful. As one article notes, “The ability to create a “buzz” around the product with aggressive and strategic marketing” is one of the ten reasons that a business succeeds. (King, 2005)

After the research and weighing of considerations relative to a brand, a customer enters the fourth stage of the buyer decision process, purchase decision . Many factors influence the decision including the consumer’s preferences; the preferences

This stage, post purchase behavior, is characterized by the “relationship between the customer’s expectations and perceived performance.” (Kotler & Armstrong, 2012) It’s important that customer’s expectations aren’t too high and that a brand fulfills its implicit promise to consumers. Though, this practice of impressing consumers enough to make them purchase a product while at the same time keeping their expectations low in order to satisfy them in the post-purchase stage is difficult. As one article notes, in the last 15 years, customer expectations have risen over 24% in almost every field. (Passikoff, 2011) This means that customers are more informed about products available to them and have high demands for how these products will fulfill a need in their lives. Thus, the post purchase stage of the buying process is highly important for gaining brand