Importance Of Consumer Attitudes Towards Consumer Behaviour

Introduction to the concept

Customers’ attitudes towards marketing activities are significant from theoretical and managerial view point. Consumer attitude can be tested for advertising and pricing which is essential for marketers. Consumer attitudes are something that marketers cannot ignore. Being sometimes as disadvantage it usually is a great advantage to know consumer attitudes. The companies while developing their marketing strategies cannot ignore the consumer’s attitude towards their products or services. A positive attitude of the consumers towards their products or services guarantees business success. While the companies develop their strategies marketers should consider the beliefs, attitudes and behaviours’ of their consumers.

Others experiences also influences the consumer’s opinions. The functional theory of attitudes developed by Daniel Katz explains four possible functional motives of attitudes to consumers. The utilitarian function is the first one which says that the consumer’s attitude is based on the utility that a consumer gets. The second one is value expressive function which says that consumer bases the attitude of companies or their products and services on the central values. The association a product or a service that is there in consumers mind should match with consumer’s value system or social system. The next one is ego defensive function where a consumer relates the product or service with his or her self image. The ego defensive attitude is most difficult to alter or change. The last one is knowledge function where attitudes are formed based on knowledge, facts and real world information. Irrelevant marketing campaigns are ineffective for this group of

It is the overall plan which helps the firm. Strategies done by retail organisations should b unique and should be difficult for other organisations to copy. The retailer’s attitude should be one that is customer oriented giving total retail experience. Building customer service and relationship is crucial in today’s competitive environment. Tangible and intangible aspects have to be kept in mind while giving retail experience and customer service. Some factors are controlled elements and some are not. The expected services and augmented services is a part of customer services. Creating long term bond with customers is the objective of customer relationship management in retailing.

Retailing as a concept can be understood as institutional, functional and strategic way. But the main aspect is how the firms change themselves as per environmental demands. Retailers are part of a structured and inter connected system called the supply chain. A retailer purchases goods or products in large quantities from manufacturers directly or through whole sellers, and then sells in smaller quantities to the consumer for a profit. Retail Sector can be classified in to two segments- organized segment and unorganized segment. Organized segment in India constitutes a meager