Factors Influencing Online Consumer Behavior and Purchase: Research Methods, Study Guides, Projects, Research of Consumer Behaviour

Download Factors Influencing Online Consumer Behavior and Purchase: Research Methods and more Study Guides, Projects, Research Consumer Behaviour in PDF only on Docsity! 1 | P a g e PROJECT REPORT ON: “How does advertising impact on consumers behaviour” SUBMITTED BY: AMAN ANIL JAIN T.Y. ACCOUNTING & FINANCE (SEMESTER VI) SUBMITTED TO: PROJECT GUIDE: MR. SADIQ HASAN Academic Year: 2019-20 2 | P a g e DECLARATION I, AMAN ANIL JAIN from THAKUR COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND COMMERCE, Student of T.Y.B. Com – ACCOUNTING & FINANCE (SEM VI), hereby submit my PROJECT REPORT ON HOW DOES ADVERTISING IMPACT ON CONSUMERS BEHAVIOUR. I also declare that this project which is partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of T.Y.B. Com (ACCOUNTING & FINANCE) offered by UNIVERSITY OF MUMBAI is the result of my own efforts with the help of experts. AMAN JAIN Date: Place: GANTT CHART TYBAF SEM VI project work (Gantt Chart) / Time line for porject completion Name of the Student = class/div= Roll No.= mob.no. a} a} a] a) SB] a) a) a 8 Task Task Duration Ss} sl so} sto os} S| 6S} 6S] US Task Descripti 2 2 2 2 s s s s s a ‘ask Description inde Start Date | EndDate] 8] S| 8] 8/ 8] S| 8] §] & q g © ” q a o m 3 Ss |S} St 6S] Ss] 4| Chapter No. 1: introduction 2|Chapter No. 2: Research Methodology 3] Chapter No. 3: Literature Review [Chapter No. 4: Data Analysis, 4linterpretation and Presentation 5] Chapter No. 5: Conclusions and Suggestions 6 Bibliography, Appendix 7|First Draft 8 Second Draft 9 Final Draft important: 1. Referencing style APA 6th 2. The Project Report shall be bounded 3. The project report should be 80 to 100 pages 4, Gantt chart shall be filled by faculties only 5. The final draft shall be signed by guiding teacher 6. The faculties are allowed to link the tasks in gantt chart 7. Be sure to display start and end dates for each task 8. Account for time off, holidays and internal exams 9. To define the critical path, use lines to connect a task Dr. Nishikant Jha co-ordinator B.Com ( Accounting and Finance) 5|Page Students signature on No. of visits with date Project Guide= Department = 6 | P a g e Content Checked For Plagiarism. Date 2020-03-02 Words 999 Characters 6020 PLAGIARISM SCAN REPORT 13 % Plagiarised 88 % Unique 7 | P a g e Sr.no. PARTICULARS PAGE NO. 1. INTRODUCTION 9-17 2. OBJECTIVE 18-22 3. REVIEW OF LITERATURE 23-35 4. DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION 36-39 5. RESEARCH AND METHODOLOGY 42-61 6. HYPOTHESESIS 62-63 7. CONCLUSION 64-67 8. BIBLOGRAPHY 68-70 10 | P a g e It is also concerned with all persons involved, either directly or indirectly, in purchasing decisions and consumption activities including brand-influencers and opinion leaders. Research has shown that consumer behaviour is difficult to predict, even for experts in the field. However, new research methods such as ethnography and consumer neuroscience are shedding new light on how consumers make decisions. Customer relationship management (CRM) databases have become an asset for the analysis of customer behaviour. The voluminous data produced by these databases enables detailed examination of behavioural factors that contribute to customer re-purchase intentions, consumer retention, loyalty and other behavioural intentions such as the willingness to provide positive referrals, become brand advocates or engage in customer citizenship activities. Databases also assist in market segmentation, especially behavioural segmentation such as developing loyalty segments, which can be used to develop tightly targeted, customized marketing strategies on a one-to-one basis. (Also see relationship marketing) Consumer behaviour is buy, use, and dispose ideas, goods, and services to satisfy their needs and wants of consumer Consumer behaviour is the study of how individual customers, groups or organizations select, buy, use, and dispose ideas, goods, and services to satisfy their needs and wants. It refers to the actions of the consumers in the marketplace and the underlying motives for those actions.Examples include soft drinks, snack foods, milk etc . The study of consumer behaviour is concerned with all aspects of purchasing behaviour – from pre-purchase activities through to post-purchase consumption, evaluation and disposal activities. It is also concerned with all persons involved, either directly or indirectly, in purchasing decisions and consumption activities including brand-influencers and opinion leaders. In the 1940s and 50's, marketing was dominated by the so-called classical schools of thought which were highly descriptive and relied heavily on case study approaches with only occasional use of interview methods. At the end of the 1950s, two important reports criticised marketing for its lack of methodological rigor, especially the failure to adopt mathematically- 11 | P a g e oriented behavioural science research methods. The stage was set for marketing to become more inter-disciplinary by adopting a consumer-behaviourist perspective. From the 1950s, marketing began to shift is reliance away from economics and towards other disciplines, notably the behavioural sciences, including sociology, anthropology and clinical psychology. This resulted in a new emphasis on the customer as a unit of analysis. As a result, new substantive knowledge was added to the marketing discipline – including such ideas as opinion leadership, reference groups and brand loyalty. Market segmentation, especially demographic segmentation based on socioeconomic status (SES) index and household life-cycle, also became fashionable. With the addition of consumer behaviour, the marketing discipline exhibited increasing scientific sophistication with respect to theory development and testing procedures. In its early years, consumer behaviour was heavily influenced by motivation research, which had increased the understanding of customers, and had been used extensively by consultants in the advertising industry and also within the discipline of psychology in the 1920s, '30s and '40s. By the 1950s, marketing began to adopt techniques used by motivation researchers including depth interviews, projective techniques, thematic apperception tests and a range of qualitative and quantitative research methods. More recently, scholars have added a new set of tools including: ethnography, photo-elicitation techniques and phenomenological interviewing. Today, consumer behaviour (or CB as it is affectionately known) is regarded as an important sub-discipline within marketing and is included as a unit of study in almost all undergraduate marketing programs. The Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert shopping arcade in Belgium. Consumer behaviour, in its broadest sense, is concerned with how consumers select and use goods and services. The internet has become an ongoing emerging source that tends to expand more and more. The growth of this particular media attracts the attention of advertisers as a more productive source to bring in consumers. A clear advantage consumers have with online advertisement is the control they have over the item, choosing whether to check it out or not. Online advertisements may also offer various forms of animation. In its most common use, the term "online advertising" comprises all sorts of banner, e-mail, ingame, and keyword advertising, on platforms such as 12 | P a g e Facebook, Twitter, or Myspace has received increased relevance. Web-87related advertising has a variety of sites to publicize and reach a niche audience to focus its attention to a specific group. According to the recent research on consumer behaviour on the Internet users (Cotte, Chowdhury, Ratenshwar & Ricci, 2006), there are four distinct consumer groups with different intentions and motivations: 1] Exploration 2] Entertainment 3] Shopping 4] Information Majority of young adults interviewed for purpose of this research tend to be active information seekers. A high level of technological confidence within this group tends to be an encouraging factor when it comes to product information research online. Internet marketing, also known as web marketing, online marketing, webvertising, or e-marketing, is referred to as the marketing (generally promotion) of products or services over the Internet. iMarketing is used as an abbreviated form for Internet Marketing. Internet marketing is considered to be broad in scope because it not only refers to marketing on the Internet, but also includes marketing done via e- mail and wireless media. Digital customer data and electronic customer relationship management (ECRM) systems are also often grouped together under internet marketing. Types of Internet marketing Internet marketing is broadly divided in to the following types: 1] Display Advertising: the use of web banners or banner ads placed on a third-party website to drive traffic to a company's own website and increase product awareness. 2] Search Engine Marketing (SEM): a form of marketing that seeks to promote websites by increasing their visibility in search engine result pages (SERPs) through the use of either paid placement, contextual advertising, and paid inclusion, or through the use of free search engine optimization techniques. 3] Search Engine Optimization (SEO): the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines via the "natural" or un-paid ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results. 4] Social Media Marketing: the process of gaining traffic or attention through social media sites. 5] Email Marketing: involves directly marketing a commercial message to a group of people using electronic mail. 6] Referral Marketing: a method of promoting products or services to new customers through referrals, usually word of mouth. 7] Affiliate Marketing: a marketing practice in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought about by the affiliate's own marketing efforts. 8] Content Marketing: involves creating and freely sharing informative content as a means of converting First we need to understand the meaning of consumers. Consumers are the one who consumes the goods available at our market place . Consumers may be individual's or group of people in simple it's society who consumes the goods. Consumers have unlimited desires which are never completely satisfied . 15 | P a g e describe the diffusion of specific products at particular moments in time or within given social communities.[104] Collectively these studies suggest a certain regularity in the adoption process; initially few members adopt the innovation but over time, successive, overlapping waves of people begin to adopt the innovation.[105] This pattern contributes to a generalised S-shaped curve, as shown in the figure at right. However, the exact shape and timing of curves varies in different product markets such that some innovations are diffused relatively quickly, while others can take many years to achieve broad market acceptance. The diffusion model developed by Everett Rogers is widely used in consumer marketing because it segments consumers into five groups, based on their rate of new product adoption.[106] Rogers defines the diffusion of innovation as the process by which that innovation is "communicated through certain channels over time among the members of a social system."[107] Thus the diffusion process has a number of elements, the innovation, the communication channels, time and the social system. An innovation is any new idea, object or process that is perceived as new by members of the social system. Communication channels are the means by which information about the innovation is transmitted to members of the social system and may include mass media, digital media and personal communications between members of the social system. Time refers to the rate at which the innovation is picked up by the members of the social system. Marketers are particularly interested in understanding the factors that lead to brand-switching. A global, large sample survey carried out by Nielsen shows that four in 10 shoppers (41%) said that getting a better price would encourage them to switch brands (or service provider/retailer); 26% said quality was an incentive to switch; 15% looked for a better service agreement and 8% said that improved features are a switching incentive.[116] However, cross-cultural differences were observed among respondents. Price was the major switch incentive for more than half of North Americans (61%) and Europeans (54%) but price and quality held equal sway in Asia-Pacific and Middle East/Africa, with roughly one-third of respondents each in both regions reporting that both price and quality were the major incentives to switching. The concept of switching costs (also known as switching barriers) is pertinent to the understanding of brand switching. Switching costs refer to the costs incurred by a consumer when he or she switches from one supplier to another (or from one brand to another). Although switching costs are often monetary, the concept can also refer to psychological costs such as time, effort and inconvenience incurred as a result of switching. When switching costs are relatively low, as in the case of many fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), the incidence of brand switching tends to be higher.[citation needed] An example of switching that includes both monetary and psychological costs is when Android or Apple users wish to switch to a different platform, they would need to sacrifice their data, including purchased music tracks, apps or media and may also need to learn new routines to become an efficient user. Channel-switching (not to be confused with zapping or channel surfing on TV) is the action of consumers switching to a different purchasing environment (or distribution channel) to purchase goods, such as switching from brick-and-mortar stores to online catalogues, or the internet.[117] A major reason for this channel switching behaviour is the convenience that online shopping provides for consumers. Consumers can shop online at any hour of the day, without having to drive, travel or walk to a physical store, and browse for as little or as much time as they please. The additional lure of ‘online only’ deals and discounts helps enforce a consumer's preference to shop online. Other factors for this shift are the globalization of markets, the advent of Category killers (such as Officeworks and Kids 'R Us) as well as changes in the legal/ statutory 16 | P a g e environment. For instance, in Australia and New Zealand, following a relaxation of laws prohibiting supermarkets from selling therapeutic goods, consumers are gradually switching away from pharmacies and towards supermarkets for the purchase of minor analgesics, cough and cold preparations and complementary medicines such as vitamins and herbal remedies.[118] For the consumer, channel switching offers a more diverse shopping experience. However, marketers need to be alert to channel switching because of its potential to erode market share. Evidence of channel switching can suggest that disruptive forces are at play, and that consumer behaviour is undergoing fundamental changes. A consumer may be prompted to switch channels when the product or service can be found cheaper, when superior models become available, when a wider range is offered, or simply because it is more convenient to shop through a different channel (e.g. online or one-stop shopping).[119] As a hedge against market share losses due to switching behaviour, some retailers engage in multi-channel retailing. Impulse purchases are unplanned purchases. Impulse buying can be defined as “a sudden and powerful urge to buy immediately” and occurs when a consumer purchases an item which they had no intention of purchasing prior to entering the store.[121] Impulse buying can be influenced by external stimuli such as store characteristics and sale promotions, internal stimuli such as enjoyment and self-identity, situational and product related factors such as time and money available, and demographic and socio-cultural factors such as gender, age, and education.[122] Stern introduced the four broad classifications of impulse buying including pure impulse buying, reminded impulse buying, suggestion impulse buying, and planned impulse buying:[123] Large family-sized cakes are more likely to be a planned purchase, while the individual portions are much more likely to be an unplanned purchase. Pure impulse buying 17 | P a g e Occurs outside of the normal purchase behaviour where a consumer experiences a strong emotion of desire towards a product that he/she did not initially plan to buy.[49] Online shopping largely contributes towards enabling spontaneous buying. Consistent email alerts from subscribed websites about special offers, limited time discounts and flash sales, on some level, stealthily create a sense of urgency for the consumer to purchase the product. Reminded impulse buying Occurs when a consumer remembers the need for a product by seeing it in a store.[124] This is triggered through various techniques such as in-store advertising or sensory marketing.[49] For example, a consumer may be reminded to buy ingredients for a barbecue when he/she drives past a butcher store. Suggestion impulse buying Occurs when a consumer sees a product that they have no prior knowledge about, envisions a use for it, and decides that they need it.[125] An example of suggestion impulse buying is when a consumer is encouraged to purchase an electric hand-mixer after having picked up a brochure from the baking department of a home-ware store. The brochure convinces the consumer of the hand-mixer's superiority over the wooden spoon she has been using. Marketing techniques that can also trigger suggestion impulse buying include long-term warranties or a free trial period.[49] Planned impulse buying Involves a partially planned intention of buying, however specific product or categories are not yet determined.[122] In this case, the consumer's purchasing decision can be encouraged by retailing staff, or even their peers who can persuade the consumer to purchase a substitute or provide reassurance about an alternative brand choice. Recent research carried out by Nielsen International suggests that about 72 percent of FMCG purchases are planned, but that 28 percent of supermarket purchases are unplanned or impulse purchases. The top unplanned purchases in the food category are candy (lollies), chocolate, cookies (biscuits), frozen desserts and snacks and the top unplanned purchases in the non-food category are cosmetics, air-fresheners, toothbrushes, hand-soaps and hand/body lotions.[126] This explains why supermarkets place these types of products at the front of the store or near the checkout where the consumer spends more time and is more likely to notice them and therefore more likely to pop them into the shopping basket. Retailers use insights from this type of research to design stores in ways that maximise opportunities for impulse- buying 20 | P a g e event sponsorship and advertising contribute to an enhanced brand image (Rossiter, 1999), but sponsorship functions in a different manner to advertising and other forms of promotion (Meenaghan, 2001). As Meenaghan (2001) argued, sponsorship engages the consumer by the fact that the event sponsored in sports can be one with which the consumer has an intense emotional relationship, a quality which is apparent in sports fans and sport enthusiasts generally. This intensity of relationship of the consumer with the sport can help explain the concepts of goodwill, perceptions of benefit, and image transfer, which can result in a positive consumer response to the brand or product. Image transfer alone represents an important sponsorship objective (Meenaghan, 2001). Apart from influencing target sports audiences who are TV viewers, the sponsorship of the event can also affect the broader audience of the sponsored activity (Meenaghan, 2002). Sponsership may include the sponsor's employees and business clients targeted through event hospitality guests programs and staff participation programs as part of event sponsorship (Meenaghan, 1983, 1991; Farrelly, 1995; White & Mazur, 1995; Thwaites & Carruthers, 1998; Arthur et al., 2000). 4.Changing target markets’ behavior, such as increasing use or sales of the promoted brand is the ultimate aim of advertising and sponsorship (Hoek, 1999; Meenaghan, 2002). The sales-related objectives and measures include increased sales, and short-term and long-term sales (Farrelly, 1995; Grdovic, 1992; Kuzma, 1990; Smolianov, 1994; Quester, 1995; Arthur et al., 2000; Shilbury et al., 2003; Smolianov & Shilbury, 2005); sales in general (Meenaghan, 1983, 1991; Thwaites & Carruthers, 1998; Cheng, 2000; Meenaghan, 2002); improvement in market share (Irwin & Sutton, 1994; Hansen & Scotwin, 1995); generation of sales (Grdovic, 1992); support product sales, increased sales among mass consumer groups by promoting products through athletes who influence public opinion (Kuzin & Kutepov, 1994); increased sales among recreational users (Kuzin & Kutepov, 1994); quantifiably increased sales (Stotlar, 1998); and benefits of social marketing (O'Reilly & Madill, 2007). Without the incorporation of behavioral measures such as sales or brand usage into the study's sponsorship and advertising management framework, evaluation would remain limited to an investigation of awareness, attitudes (image), and 21 | P a g e possibly preferences, with no understanding of the relationship between these variables and consumer behavior. According to Quester and Thompson (2001), adoption of an evaluation framework based on behavioral measures could help to minimize the possibility that investment in sponsorship is simply a magnanimous but empty gesture. REVIEW OF LITERATURE: The topic of consumer behaviour is one of the massively studied topics by the researchers and marketers in the past and still being studied. Researchers show different reasons as to why consumer behaviour has been the topic of many academics and researchers. One of the common views is that understanding consumer behaviour has become a factor that has a direct impact on the overall performance of the businesses (Kotler and Keller, 2012). Another view suggests that understanding consumer behaviour has become crucial especially due to fierce competition in retail industry in the UK and worldwide (Lancaster et al, 2002). This chapter will introduce some other areas of research background of consumer behaviour addressing the works of researchers and marketers. Moreover, consumer decision making process, in particular, five stages of consumer decision making process will be discussed in detail. Creation of true value for the consumers and thereby addition of value to the society is considered to be one of the most essential for business organizations to make the world a better place was indicated by Brief and Bazerman (2003, 187). Bargh (2002) in his research supported the fact that consumer research should strike a balance between how to influence consumers and how consumers could defend themselves and control such influences. 22 | P a g e According to Simonson et al (2001), one of the most essential and influential areas within consumer buying behavior is the consumer decision making process. In recent decades, during the initial stages of the conception of the consumer buying behavior paradigm, various consumer decision making models were proposed. However the theories proposed by the researchers were not specific and considered a overall view of the consumer decision making process. Erasmusm, Boshoff and Rosseau (2001) indicated the importance and need for a specific, situation and product – oriented model in the study of the purchasing behavior of the consumer. Moreover according to Wells (1993) the consumer investigating decisions needed in the purchase of products such as car, house etc would directly make an effective contribution to the consumer buying behavior knowledge. Therefore it is evident that an exploratory research approach with the objective to study the consumer buying behavior would provide opportunities to understand the complexity of specific decision making processes of the consumers. It is evident from the past researches on consumer buying behavior that most of the real estate study is based on neoclassical economic theory. The neoclassical theory states that the people make rational economic decisions about renting or purchasing real estate as an attempt to maximize their utility. Moreover the various theories of consumer buying behavior do not emphasize nor examine the human influences on the real estate buyers. They concentrate more on production orientation rather than consumer behavior orientation towards the approach for marketing in the case of the consumer buying and decision – making process. The analysts stratify real estate markets by property types that are defined by physical construction rather than consumer benefits. Physical attributes value property more than the consumer perception factors such as space, atmosphere etc. However in some cases such as retail tenants and other retail customers consider non – financial and perceptual factors rather than the financial aspects in the buying process (Smith, Gararino and Martini, 1992). 25 | P a g e Many studies have examined the efficacy of advertising in the past. Now a day’s many advertisement techniques are present and used by businesses to promote their product and services. Advertisement techniques have significantly changed from last decades with the advancement of technology online and mobile advertisements have been successful to reach the targeted audience. (Dr. D.Prasanna Kumar 2012) found that Advertisements are the powerful means of communication media to convey the information to the target group of customers. He further added that advertisements should neither be too long nor be too short. Advertisements should be able to attract customer’s attention to involve in the advertisement. (Ali Hassan 2015) found that there is a positive relationship of emotional response between consumers buying behavior and Television Advertisements. It was found that television advertisements impact on behavior of consumers is related to International Journal of Management, Technology And Engineering residential backgrounds whether urban or rural and gender groups. Advertisements on television have a significant impact on the trial of the services or product by the customers. (Srivastava Priyanka 2012) found that all internet users irrespective of age have the same perception concerning the website or online advertisements. All age group people agreed tat the online advertisements are very informative, but at the same time these advertisements creates irritation among all age group people. "wan and "rif stress that the use of cele+rit endorsement in media ad$ertisement attract the customers."wan and 3assan that SMS marketing is a new tool of introducing /roducts and ser$ices andattracting new customers. "wan Shahid conducted stud on green marketing strategies to attract educatedcustomers and conclude that these strategies ha$e /ro$ed successful. "wan and Naw carried out stud on growing fast food industr in #akistan and draw conclusion that media ads /la a $ital role in attracting newand food items. ;he said that it the media which are influencing the consumers to sa$e time and +u fastfood rather than wasting time in cooking. ?an and "as emthat demogra/hic im/ulse ing +eha$ior can +e generated using different tools of media This analysis of China's rural marketing structure begins with an exposition of the theoretical background to the distribution of commodities in a socialist economy. Citing the paucity of 36 up-to-date information, the author assumes a degree of continuity and draws on earlier material for his description and analyses of the Chinese rural market. The historical development of market structures is traced from the early 1950s — specific policies are discussed in relation to the evolution of broader Chinese development goals. These policies relate to: planned buying and distribution of rural produce, establishment of supply and market cooperatives, rural-urban trade and the renewed importance of village markets. Finally, the author draws some implications from the Chinese experience for other developing countries. Hans Baumgartner (1996).This paper proposes a two-factor conceptualization of exploratory consumer buying behavior in which exploratory acquisition of products is distinguished from exploratory information seeking. A scale for measuring individual differences in consumers' tendencies to engage in exploratory buying behavior is developed based on this conceptualization, and the instrument is related to several other constructs and actual exploratory behaviors. The results of six studies with subjects from two different countries show that the scale has good psychometric properties and that its relationships with other constructs and actual exploratory behaviours conform to theoretical expectations. 26 | P a g e Harish Kumar (1999) Managing Director, Maharaja Appliances LTD., reveals that, as of now, very few players were actually tapping its potential in rural markets. Since branded and quality products were unavailable, rural folk had to be satisfied with sub – standard or illegal products. Moreover, the difference between the process of gray products and legal branded products was also a major deterrent. He brought out the reason that with a rise in rural per – capital income, The tendency to move towards easy lifestyle will be a boob to the consumer durable industry‖. Maithli Ganjoo (2000) of ORCN examines in his analysis that the size of the pack helps the rural consumers pick the product at a price that they can afford. Certain products like detergent and paste were bought in larger quantities, whereas shampoos, toilet soaps, eatables were bought in smaller pack sizes, the products were common to family members who bought in large pack sizes, whereas individuals preferred smaller packs. The storage life of a product also has a bearing on the decision. Edibles for example, cannot last long unless preserved and kept under ideal conditions. The affordability, storability and availability along with usage are reasons for rural consumers to look towards smaller pack sizes. Pradeep Lokhande (2000) Director on a Pune based rural research agency observed in his article the effectiveness of sampling in rural markets. He says that the effectiveness of rural promotions and their results could mean more than just plain numbers. There was a need to demarcate brand registration and brand sale, and adds that brand registration was vital in the rural perspective, because it may then spread to other products under the same umbrella. As more products were identified in rural India, conversion to a better brand in the same category was a rather difficult proposition. So sampling was perhaps the only way to achieve this conversion. Upadhyaya et al. (2000) suggested that top management‘s commitment to serve the rural market already exists, but lower level that looks after implementation, have exposure mostly to urban markets. Rural marketing is a network of relationships and although, rural buyers take 38 a long time to make- up their minds to decide, once they decide, they do not change their decision in a hurry. Therefore marketers‘ need patience and persistence in dealing with non-educated rural traders and consumers. Ziauddin Khariroowala and Sait Siddiqui (2000) conducted a survey in five weekly haats of villages in western Uttar Pradesh among 200 rural consumers. The survey revealed that the people with lesser monthly earning prefer to buy from Haat. Rich people avoid purchasing from small Haats because they look for branded and quality products. They concluded that Haats have lot of potential which needs to be exploited. Haats can come out to be an answer to all marketing problems faced in rural India. Kannan S (2001) pointed out that many companies take different routes to reach rural consumers, FMCG used the weapon of sachets to modify and motivate rural consumers to try their products and it is reaping, good results as the recent survey clearly indicates that 80% of the companies‘ revenue comes from small stock keeping units. Sarvani (2002) examined and revealed about four important projects launched by it is in rural India. (1) Project streamline (1998) addressed the problems of the rural distribution system to enhance HLL‘s control on the rural supply (2) Project Bharat (1999) was a direct marketing exercise undertaken to address the issue of awareness, attitudes and habits of rural consumers (3) Project millennium (2000) where in it targeted at increasing its share in the Tea market (4) project Shakthi Sought to create a sustainable partnership between HLL and its low income rural consumers by providing then access to micro – credit into investment opportunities as enterprise through sharing profits. 27 | P a g e Ashish Neogy and soumyo Sinha (2003). In their article pointed out that the concept of rural retailing is not new. In fact in India there were 36 lakh rural outlets in 1999 in India‘s Six-lakh- plus villages. The study high-lighted that rural retailing offers a great chance for selling different branded goods. Hindustan lever estimates that only one lakh villages have been tapped effectively so far. The study concluded that literacy rates in villages have increased considerably, thus bringing about a shift in consumer tastes. This change has led many companies to tap this new breed of customers. Pradeep Kashyap (2003) examined and revealed that rural people evolved systems of selling and communication that served there well for centuries. Haats could serve as both sales outlets and redistribution points as village shopkeepers also frequent them to replenish stocks. He had also examined that the army of mobile traders who go from house to house in rural India to sell a variety of FMCG (mostly takes) could be motivated so that at least some could be converted to sell genuine company brands. He also revealed that advertising agencies should entrust development of rural communication packages to professionals hailing from small towns as they could have a better connect with rural mindsets. Raman and Suganthi (2003) analysed factors that enabled the MNCs to have their own foot hold in rural India .Success of MNCs in rural market depends on how they adopt different marketing strategies for the rural markets over a period of time. These strategies are to be based on cultural, sociological, economic and psychological background along with a factor of 4ps for consumers in that area. Ruchi Trehan (2003) found that the Indian rural market is very big it‘s twice the size of the entire market of USA and it differs significantly from their urban counterpart. But these differences stand reduced due to increased penetration of TV and other communication channels in rural India. Rural India is different from urban, but it is catching up to its increased mobility of rural to urban consumers and increased level of literacy and credit availability in rural areas. Deepak Halan (2003) mentioned that many rural customers are daily wage earners. So, it makes sense to package products in smaller units or other low-priced variants for rural markets. In rural markets, many brands have to compete with goods from unorganized sectors. These goods are generally very low priced; often there are cheap substitutes available. The rural consumers are ready to pay higher prices for better quality or more featured products at the harvest season. This is the time when chances of selling expensive brands are seen and when money is received it also shows how it is used and what the priority order of the needs. Malini Reddy (2004). In her study points out that a marketer had to face an entirely different set of conditions and problems when marketing in rural areas as compared to urban areas. Rural marketers need to have an open mind, and sensitize themselves to understand the rural consumer. Apart form understanding the consumer, communication in the language that the rural consumer comprehends was a challenge that the marketer had to face. Creative approaches to providing a satisfactory offering, in terms of adaptation to consumer needs of the rural market reflected in products offering as well as message used, were absolute essentials to achieve success in the Indian market. 30 | P a g e population. The companies who understand these challenges and tune their strategies accordingly will surely be the winners in the years to come, taking advantage of this economic boom in the rural sector of India. Selvaraj (2007) identified that the rural market is blooming, with increase in the disposable incomes of the households. By nature rural marketing is complex oriented and study of perception of rural consumers is always a difficult task unlike urban consumers. Rural consumers vary not only in their behavior, practices but also in conviction and belief, yet, the general tendency has not changed widely between rural and urban consumers as regards to aiming on superior quality products, and branded products etc. it is essential that an effective communication is information about products but also educating them regarding the use of products. though , rural consumers‘ behavior remains constant at least for a particular period, it cannot be taken for granted that they will not change when better opportunities are given to them, thus, rural consumers may resort to change and hence their behavior will not remain inactive in the changing market environment. therefore it is necessary, that rural consumers have to be thoroughly studied so as to have better knowledge on rural marketing and work out appropriate marketing strategies for the success not only in the short run but also in the long run. Even though every person is unique, there are some similarities in consumer buying behavior and they are called behavioral patterns (Cant, Jooste, Plessis &Strydom 2009, 63). These similarities help to unite customers in certain groups and make the marketing process easier. It can be said that consumer behavior is a key element in marketing which defines target markets and marketing mixes (Sandhusen 2000, 217). Without understanding behavioral patterns it is impossible to define correct marketing strategy for the future. In marketing, consumer behavior is complex and consists of various pivotal elements. For instance, according to Deborah, Maclnnis, Wayne D. Hoyer (2008, 5) consumer behavior involves the following components: goods, services, activities, experiences, 4 people and ideas. Another important aspect which has a dramatic impact on the consumer decision making process is time: a consumer needs to have an understanding about the value of time and the opportunity cost (Deborah, Maclnnis &Wayne D. Hoyer, 2008, 6). 2.2 Market segmentation and consumer behavior In marketing, understanding consumer behavior helps to divide potential customers in the certain groups. According to Cant, Jooste, Plessis &Strydom (2009, 103) segmentation can be defined as “a process of dividing a total market into segments or a target market with consumers with common needs or characteristics and selecting one or more segments to target with a distinct marketing mix” . One market segment consists of a group of customers who are united together by similar needs and wants (Brady, Goodman, Hansen, Keller &Kotler, 2009, 334). The segments are introduced to simplify the complexity of the whole target market, but they are strongly generalized and do not cover personal preferences of individual consumers (Brady, Goodman, Hansen, Keller &Kotler, 2009, 334). 2.3 Key factors of consumer’s motivation: Needs, Drives and Goals The most important elements which dramatically affect a motivation of consumer are needs, drives and goals. Need is the basic element which provokes consumer to start the certain actions to satisfy the certain desire. Other elements can be considered of the same importance as needs, but need is a key element in chain of needs-drives-goals (Jansson-Boyd, 2010, 116). According to Lantos needs can be defined as states of the felt lack of vital physiological requirements for optimal environment conditions (Lantos, 2010, 5). It should be mentioned that need is only a small impulse for the future actions; there are also other factors which have more influence on the 31 | P a g e motivation (Strydom, 2005). 5 The needs can be divided into two basic groups: utilitarian and hedonic. The major difference is: hedonic needs acquire to satisfy the need with emotional element, but utilitarian are meant to simply satisfy the aroused need and to receive benefit (Lantos, 2010, 5) Abraham Maslow introduced another classification of human needs. Maslow had an idea that all humans try to learn more about themselves and be beneficial for the society. (Kirst-Ashman &Zastrow, 2009, 448). He made the certain hierarchy of needs according to their importance (Hughes, Kapoor &Pride, 2011, 281). The whole hierarchy can be seen in more detail on Figure 1. Figure 1 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Source: (Hughes, Kapoor &Pride, 2011, 281). According to Maslow there are several groups of needs which need to be satisfied in order of importance. It can be said that the most important and the most basic needs are physiology needs. Without satisfying the base needs an individual is not able to survive (Steinberg, 2007, 22). Safety needs can be also classified as basic needs. A human being needs to feel secure and protected. Need for shelter, job, and being protected are the most common examples of safety needs. (Steinberg , 2007, 22.). People have a tendency to belong to the certain groups. Stratifying social needs makes humans think that they are important to the society. From psychological perspective individuals like to be appreciated and loved (Smoke, 2005, 123.). 6 Esteem needs can be divided to two different groups: self-esteem and appreciation from the other group members. It is a common knowledge that people who have lower levels of needs satisfied are keen on spending and investing money in luxury and expensive goods to show their reference to the certain social status (Smoke, 2005, 124.). The main self-actualization need according to Jarvis (2005, 120) is “to find personal fulfillment and achieve one’s potential”. But before a person can become self-actualized all other lower levels in Maslow’s hierarchy have to be satisfied. Need plays the role of the first impulse in decision making process. Figure 2 represented above gives a general image of the consumer steps towards the desired goal based on a need for pair of shoes example. Figure 2 Relationship between Needs, Drives and Goals Source: (Jansson-Boyd, 2010, 116) As it can be seen on the Figure 2 drives plays a roles of an intermediary between Need and Goal. In marketing, drives or motives are action-oriented and show the direction in which a consumer should move to reach a certain goal (Ghosh, 2000, 133). Goal is a result of the motivated behavior towards the need satisfaction Goals can be classified in several groups: generic goals and product-specific goals. Generic goal is a satisfaction of the aroused need with no specific preferences. Product-specific goal is aimed at the satisfaction of the need from the emotional perspective with a concrete product or service. (Jansson-Boyd, 2010, 117.). Even though every person is unique, there are some similarities in consumer buying behavior and they are called behavioral patterns (Cant, Jooste, Plessis &Strydom 2009, 63). These similarities help to unite customers in certain groups and make the marketing process easier. It can be said that consumer behavior is a key element in marketing which defines target markets and marketing mixes (Sandhusen 2000, 217). Without understanding behavioral patterns it is impossible to define correct marketing strategy for the future. In marketing, consumer behavior is complex and consists of various pivotal elements. For instance, according to Deborah, Maclnnis, Wayne D. Hoyer (2008, 5) consumer behavior involves the following components: goods, services, activities, experiences, 4 people and ideas. Another important aspect which has a dramatic impact on the consumer decision making process is time: a consumer needs to have an understanding about the value of time and the opportunity cost (Deborah, Maclnnis &Wayne D. Hoyer, 2008, 6). 2.2 Market segmentation and consumer behavior In marketing, understanding 32 | P a g e consumer behavior helps to divide potential customers in the certain groups. According to Cant, Jooste, Plessis &Strydom (2009, 103) segmentation can be defined as “a process of dividing a total market into segments or a target market with consumers with common needs or characteristics and selecting one or more segments to target with a distinct marketing mix” . One market segment consists of a group of customers who are united together by similar needs and wants (Brady, Goodman, Hansen, Keller &Kotler, 2009, 334). The segments are introduced to simplify the complexity of the whole target market, but they are strongly generalized and do not cover personal preferences of individual consumers (Brady, Goodman, Hansen, Keller &Kotler, 2009, 334). 2.3 Key factors of consumer’s motivation: Needs, Drives and Goals The most important elements which dramatically affect a motivation of consumer are needs, drives and goals. Need is the basic element which provokes consumer to start the certain actions to satisfy the certain desire. Other elements can be considered of the same importance as needs, but need is a key element in chain of needs-drives-goals (Jansson-Boyd, 2010, 116). According to Lantos needs can be defined as states of the felt lack of vital physiological requirements for optimal environment conditions (Lantos, 2010, 5). It should be mentioned that need is only a small impulse for the future actions; there are also other factors which have more influence on the motivation (Strydom, 2005). 5 The needs can be divided into two basic groups: utilitarian and hedonic. The major difference is: hedonic needs acquire to satisfy the need with emotional element, but utilitarian are meant to simply satisfy the aroused need and to receive benefit (Lantos, 2010, 5) Abraham Maslow introduced another classification of human needs. Maslow had an idea that all humans try to learn more about themselves and be beneficial for the society. (Kirst-Ashman &Zastrow, 2009, 448). He made the certain hierarchy of needs according to their importance (Hughes, Kapoor &Pride, 2011, 281). The whole hierarchy can be seen in more detail on Figure 1. Figure 1 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Source: (Hughes, Kapoor &Pride, 2011, 281). According to Maslow there are several groups of needs which need to be satisfied in order of importance. It can be said that the most important and the most basic needs are physiology needs. Without satisfying the base needs an individual is not able to survive (Steinberg, 2007, 22). Safety needs can be also classified as basic needs. A human being needs to feel secure and protected. Need for shelter, job, and being protected are the most common examples of safety needs. (Steinberg , 2007, 22.). People have a tendency to belong to the certain groups. Stratifying social needs makes humans think that they are important to the society. From psychological perspective individuals like to be appreciated and loved (Smoke, 2005, 123.). 6 Esteem needs can be divided to two different groups: self-esteem and appreciation from the other group members. It is a common knowledge that people who have lower levels of needs satisfied are keen on spending and investing money in luxury and expensive goods to show their reference to the certain social status (Smoke, 2005, 124.). The main self-actualization need according to Jarvis (2005, 120) is “to find personal fulfillment and achieve one’s potential”. But before a person can become self-actualized all other lower levels in Maslow’s hierarchy have to be satisfied. Need plays the role of the first impulse in decision making process. Figure 2 represented above gives a general image of the consumer steps towards the desired goal based on a need for pair of shoes example. Figure 2 Relationship between Needs, Drives and Goals Source: (Jansson-Boyd, 2010, 116) As it can be seen on the Figure 2 drives plays a roles of an intermediary between Need and Goal. In marketing, drives or motives are action-oriented and show the direction in which a consumer should move to reach a certain goal (Ghosh, 2000, 133). Goal is a result of the motivated behavior towards the need satisfaction Goals can be classified in several groups: generic goals and product-specific goals. Generic goal is a satisfaction of the 35 | P a g e (2004), “Consumer buyer behaviour refers to the buying behaviour of final consumers- individuals and households who buy goods and services for personal consumption. All of these final consumers combine to make up the consumer market.” According to Solomon (1996), “Consumer behaviour is the process involved when individuals or groups select, purchase, use, or dispose of products, services, ideas or experiences to satisfy needs and wants.” Peter F.Drucker (1988) was apt in saying, “it is the consumer who determines what business is…. What the consumer thinks he is buying, what he considers ‘value’ is decisive – it determines what a business is, what it produces and whether it will prosper”. The importance of consumption was recognized even in early periods when Adam Smith (1776) stated that “consumption is the sole end-purpose of all production”. William L. Willkie (1986)defined consumer behaviour as‘‘the activities that are selecting, purchasing and using products and services in order to satisfy the needs and desires in which people engage’’. Such activities comprises of mental and emotional process, in addition to physical actions. According to Belch and Belch (1985), “Consumer behaviour is the process and activities people engage in when searching for, selecting, purchasing, using, evaluating, and disposing of products and service so as to satisfy their needs and desires”. Schiffman and Kanuk (1978) stated consumer behaviour is ‘‘the behaviour which consumers show forth in searching for, purchasing, using and evaluating products, services and ideas which they expect 55 will satisfy their needs’’. Here, the term ‘evaluation’ has been used by Schiffman and Kanuk in the context of re-purchase. In case of first purchase consumer’s mind will first evaluate and finally adopt or reject the product. Thus, consumer behaviour entangles all the acts of individuals which entangle buying and using products, comprising of the decision process which precede and determine these acts. However, the factors precede and determine consumer behaviour and they are a combination of external and internal influences that a consumer interacts constantly. The study of consumer behaviour is the attempt to understand and foretell human actions in buying process. Consumer behaviour surrounds an immense area comprising of consumer motivation, preferences, purchasing patterns, buying process and shopping behaviourete. Thus, the study of consumer behaviour concentrates an answering to these questions, “why, when, where, what and how do the consumers buy”. Engel, Kollat and Blackwell (1970) define consumer behaviour as “acts of individuals directly involved in obtaining and using economic goods and services, including the decision processes that precede and determine these acts”. They add further that though the word behaviour is used to include only the overt or observable actions, it is increasingly being recognized that the overt purchasing act is only one (the discernible) portion of the decision process. Consumer behaviour, viewed more rationally, would include the less discernible, but nevertheless important process that underlie and accompany consumption. In effect it involves the study not only of what people consume but when, how often, and under what condition goods and services are consumed. 36 | P a g e DATA ANALYSIS: 37% 51% 1% 10% 1% AGE RESPONSE 20-Oct 21-30 31-40 41-50 >50 FEMALE 54% MALE 46% GENDER FEMALE MALE 37 | P a g e 80% 20% MARRIED STATUS SINGLE MARRIED 6% 38% 53% 1%1%1% WHAT ELECTRONIC MEDIA DO YOU UES MUSIC APP TV SOCIAL MEDIA MOBILE RADIO EVERYTHING 40 | P a g e RESEARCH : The present paper examines the potential of a consumer behaviour approach as a means of using television advertising for health-promotion purposes. Research on the portrayal of health on television is reviewed and recent developments in employing regular television broadcasting for health education are discussed. Based on empirical findings, a consumer behaviour approach for health promotion is outlined, based on the relationship between health behaviour and consumer behaviour as an outcome of targeted advertising. The theoretical and practical implications of this approach are discussed. One aspect of globalisation is the convergence of income, media and technology, which in turn is expected to lead to homogeneous consumer behaviour. This convergence thesis is increasingly questioned. With converging national wealth there still is substantial variation of consumer behaviour across nations, which is not disappearing. Variation is found in all aspects of consumer behaviour: in consumption of packaged goods, in usage and ownership of durable goods, and in media behaviour. With disappearing differences of GNP per capita, culture is a powerful explaining variable. This paper provides evidence of divergence of consumer behaviour rather than convergence, it describes the influence of culture, how cultural variables can explain variance of consumption, and presents the consequences for international brand management and for global advertising. Using Nicosia's formulation of consumer behaviour, optimal advertising strategies are derived. Other studies, using empirical data, have shown that advertising should be concentrated at the early part of the product life cycle and the paper discusses what assumptions about consumer behaviour must be made to obtain that results. Specifically, it is shown under what conditions pulsing advertising campaigns are optimal. 41 | P a g e Consumers follow through the decision-making process to choose an alternative that best satisfies their needs considering their budget. The process is typically composed of five steps – problem recognition, information search, alternative evaluation, purchase, and post-purchase evaluation. The present research focuses on the two steps – information Consumer adoption of the internet 107 search and purchase – that seem to be important steps in which the internet can provide more consumer efficiency and effectiveness than traditional marketing channels. Information search is looking for alternatives for product choice. Product purchase is buying the chosen product through a channel. Accordingly, consumers may search information through the internet and then buy products also through the internet. On the other hand, consumers may search information through the internet and then can buy products through traditional channels. Alternatively, consumers may search information through traditional channels and then may buy products through the internet. Thus, consumer information search and buying behaviour should be examined separately and influencing factors also need to be investigated independently. Certainly, the common factors that influence both information search and product purchase together also should be considered. Existing consumer behaviour theories focus on the individual consumer’s psychological factors, social factors, and cultural factors as essential factors that affect consumer behaviour. They also consider appreciably the moderating roles of the individual consumer’s continuous involvement and situational involvement. Furthermore, as discussed earlier, the contingent consumer decision-making model persuasively shows that consumers who have limited ability for information processing modify and adapt their decision strategies to cope with the specific decision problems they face. The present research investigates consumer behaviour through the internet by building upon existing consumer decision-making theories in offline environments and the impact of the unique characteristics of the internet on consumer behaviour. Previous research on online consumer behaviour focused on either only product purchase through the internet [3,5,19–23] or only information search through the internet [24– 26] and it did not examine composite information search and product purchase through the internet. Of course, it is not easy to distinguish clearly the factors that influence consumer information search through the internet from the factors that influence product purchase through 42 | P a g e the internet. Actually, some factors may influence both information search and product purchase concurrently. Moreover, consumer information search does not necessarily result in product purchase. Anyway, we may extract the factors that primarily influence consumer information search through the internet whether it may or may not result in product purchase and factors that primarily influence product purchase through the internet based upon previous research. With respect to the research on consumer information search through the internet, Han examined the influence of consumer characteristics such as the internet usage skill on the playfulness in the internet setting. Sohn and Ahnshow ed that consumers’ knowledge affects their adoption of e- commerce. Furthermore, previous research [28–35] on the factors that influence the use of information technology such as online consumer information services suggested that consumer characteristics such as familiarity with computers affects consumer information search through the internet. Yang and Cho examined the impact of menu types of web advertisements, consumers’ need for cognition, and search objectives on consumer information search through the internet. They adopted Bloch et al.’ argument and classified consumer search objectives into pre- purchase search and continuous search. According to Bloch et al. [36], we cannot explain consumer information search for entertainment purposes with only the scheme of pre-purchase search. Hence, they provided an alternative search purpose – continuous search. 108 B-J. Moon The KNP Report on the Internet User published by IMResearch showed that user satisfaction with the website is decided by information quantity, design, transmission speed, user-friendliness of search structure, and update pace. It suggests that website characteristics are likely to influence consumer information search through the internet. Based upon the previous research discussed earlier, we can sum up the influencing factors of consumer information search through the internet into three categories – consumer characteristics, information search objectives, and website characteristics. If we plug the variables into the contingent consumer decision-making model provided by Bettman et al., consumer characteristics of our model correspond to the person in Bettman et al.’s model, search objectives correspond to problem, and website characteristics correspond to context. These factors are likely to influence a consumers’ decision regarding whether they will use offline channels or online channels for their information search. 45 | P a g e Accompanied purchase or shop-alongs: researcher accompanies a shopper on a purchase expedition to gain insights into consumer responses to merchandising and other sales tactics Cultural studies: similar to traditional ethnography; extended stays with a group or tribe with a view to uncovering the fundamental rules and conventions that govern behaviorGuerilla ethnography: random observations in public settings to help establish research questions or to gain quick insights into specific behaviours Mystery shopping: observations in the retail context with a view to gaining insights into the customer's service experience  Multiple methodologies: combining ethnographic research methods with conventional research techniques with a view to triangulating results Trendspotters such as Faith Popcorn's BrainReserve make extensive use of ethnographic research to spot emergent trends.[158] Consumer neuroscience 46 | P a g e Neuromarketing uses sophisticated biometric sensors such as EEG to study consumer responses to specific stimuli. Consumer neuroscience (also known as neuromarketing) refers to the commercial use of neuroscience when applied to the investigation of marketing problems and consumer research. Some researchers have argued that the term consumer neuroscience is preferred over neuromarketing or other alternatives.[159][160] Consumer neuroscience employs sophisticated bio-metric sensors, such as electroencephalography (EEG), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and eye tracking,[161] to study the ways that consumers respond to specific stimuli such as product displays, brands, packaging information or other marketing signals. Such tests reveal stimuli that trigger the brain's pleasure centre. Consumer neuroscience has become a mainstream component of consumer research methods. International market research company, Nielsen Research, has recently added neuromarketing to its services by acquiring Innerscope, a company specialising in neuromarketing research thus enabling Nielsen to add neuromarketing research to the suite of services available to clients.[162] Consumer neuroscience research has led to some surprising findings: Framing price or value For example, one study reported on a magazine subscription where potential subscribers were offered two options: an online subscription for $59, or a combined online and print for $129 a year. Most people chose the online only option. However, when a third option was introduced: print only for $129 (i.e. the decoy), the online and print option seemed like better value and a significant number of people switched to that option. In other words, the decoy price assists in framing value.[163] Marketers use a variety of methods to frame value: e.g. quote monthly payment options rather than a single all-inclusive price. Choice Fatigue Research by Sheena Iyengar experimented with the number of gourmet jams on display. When consumers were faced with a large number of alternatives (24 jams), 60% of consumers stopped and looked but only a few (3%) actually made a purchase. However, when consumers faced with fewer brands (6 jams), were more likely to make a purchase with 30% going on to buy something. Similar results have been observed in other categories. The findings suggest that while consumers appreciate being given some choice, the process of making a selection is painful and can lead to choice fatigue.[164] An issue for marketers and retailers is to determine the ‘sweet spot’ where consumers are given sufficient choice to satisfy their desire for variety, but not become overwhelmed by it. Decision Paralysis One study examined the wording used to solicit philanthropic donations. Consumers were exposed to variants in the advertising copy execution: "Would you be willing to help by giving a donation?" and "Would you be willing to help by giving a donation? Every 47 | P a g e penny will help." Those given the second option were almost twice as likely to donate. The researchers concluded that people are more likely to take action when given parameters. By clarifying that “even a penny” could make a difference, the second line provides guidance and makes the request more achievable.[165] For marketers, the implication is that when asking consumers to take an action, specifying a small step helps to break through the action paralysis. This finding also suggests that even small differences in advertising copy can lead to improved outcomes. During the information search and evaluation stages, the consumer works through processes designed to arrive at a number of brands (or products) that represent viable purchase alternatives. Typically consumers first carry out an internal search that is, a scan of memory for suitable brands. The evoked set is the set of brands that a consumer can elicit from memory and is typically a very small set of some 3- 5 alternatives. Consumers may choose to supplement the number of brands in the evoked set by carrying out an external search using sources such as the Internet, manufacturer/brand websites, shopping around, product reviews, referrals from peers and the like. The readiness of information availability has raised the informedness of the consumers; the degree to which they know what is available in the marketplace, with precisely which attributes and at precisely what price. The fact that a consumer is aware of a brand does not necessarily mean that it is being considered as a potential purchase. For instance, the consumer may be aware of certain brands, but not favourably disposed towards them (known as the inept set). Such brands will typically be excluded from further evaluation as purchase options. For other brands, the consumer may have indifferent feelings (the inert set). As the consumer approaches the actual purchase, he or she distills the mental list of brands into a set of alternatives that represent realistic purchase options, known as the consideration set. By definition, the consideration set refers to the “small set of brands which a consumer pays close attention to when making a purchase decision”. Specific brand names enter the consumer's consideration set based on the extent to which theysatisfy the consumer's purchasing objectives and/or the salience or accessibility of the brand at the time of making the purchase decision. By implication, brand names that are more memorable are more likely to be accessible. Traditionally, one of the main roles of advertising and promotion was to increase the likelihood that a brand name was included in the consumer's evoked set. Repeated exposure to brand names through intensive advertising was the primary method for increasing top-of-mind brand awareness. However, the advent of the Internet means that consumers can obtain brand/product information from a multiplicity of different platforms. In practice, the consideration set has assumed greater importance in the purchase decision process because consumers are no longer totally reliant on memory. This is marketing, which could be defined as marketing as “The process by which companies create value for customers and build strong customer relationships, in order to capture value from customers in return.” This definition strongly implies that the relationship is built upon an exchange, and the "creation" of value. This means that a need is built for a consumer, with the product presented or advertised to them through an analytical study of the user's 50 | P a g e  Telephone survey  Mail surveys  Online surveys Questionnaire and Attitude Scale − For quantitative research the primary data collection instrument is a questionnaire and the most frequent one is attitude scale which is used to capture evaluative data. Following are the important methods of data collection in the qualitative design techniques which are used in the initial stages of research.  In-Depth Interview − Depth interview is conducted in length and in a non-structured manner where the interviewer is highly trained and minimizes his own participation in the discussion once the general subject is discussed.  Focus Group − Focus group involves many respondents who interact with the analyst in a group discussion and focuses on a particular product.  Quantitative research data collection instruments Consumer behavior is the study of individuals and organizations and how they select and use products and services. It is mainly concerned with psychology, motivations, and behavior. The study of consumer behavior includes:  How consumers think and feel about different alternatives (brands, products, services, and retailers)  How consumers reason and select between different alternatives 51 | P a g e  The behavior of consumers while researching and shopping  How consumer behavior is influenced by their environment (peers, culture, media)  How marketing campaigns can be adapted and improved to more effectively influence the consumer These considerations are influenced by three factors: Personal factors – A person’s interests and opinions. These will be affected by demographics such as age, gender, culture, profession, background and so on. Psychological factors – Everybody’s response to a particular marketing campaign will be based on their perceptions and attitudes. A person’s ability to comprehend information, their perception of their need, their attitude, will all play a part. Social factors – Peer groups, from family and friends to social media influence. This factor also includes social class, income, and education level. Collecting consumer behavior data As the motivations that influence consumer behavior are so wide, a research mix including a variety of data will be the most robust. Some are more cost effective than others. Customer Reviews – Reading customer reviews can highlight common problems or wishes. 52 | P a g e Q&A sites – These sites can give you an idea of the questions and concerns that people have in relation to your brand, service or product. Surveys – Online surveys can be easily set up with sites like Survey Monkey and allow you to ask specific questions. Focus groups – Bring a group of consumers together and ask them questions directly. Keyword research – A mainstay of SEO, keyword research can tell you what consumers are interested in and the relative level of interest. It also helps to reveal the language they are using. Google Analytics – Analytics can be used to tell you where your traffic is coming from. The Audience tab shows geography, interests, and a range of demographics. Competitor analysis – This can provide useful information about consumers that are shopping in your vertical but don’t buy from your brand. Read our post on the top competitor analysis tools. Blog comments – Comments on your blog can be a good way of discovering any questions your audience might have. Twitter Insiders – Twitter recently launched Insiders, a 12,000 strong focus group of US & UK Twitter users. Google trends – Google Trends can help you to understand if a topic is becoming more or less popular. Government data – Government data is available for free and can help you understand a group, and several other sources can also be accessed without charge. Social media – Millions of people reflect their lives on social media, so information that can enrich several strands of consumer behavior can be uncovered with the right tools. 55 | P a g e  During the information search and evaluation stages, the consumer works through processes designed to arrive at a number of brands (or products) that represent viable purchase alternatives. Typically consumers first carry out an internal search that is, a scan of memory for suitable brands. The evoked set is the set of brands that a consumer can elicit from memory and is typically a very small set of some 3- 5 alternatives. Consumers may choose to supplement the number of brands in the evoked set by carrying out an external search using sources such as the Internet, manufacturer/brand websites, shopping around, product reviews, referrals from peers and the like. The readiness of information availability has raised the informedness of the consumers; the degree to which they know what is available in the marketplace, with precisely which attributes and at precisely what price.  The fact that a consumer is aware of a brand does not necessarily mean that it is being considered as a potential purchase. For instance, the consumer may be aware of certain brands, but not favourably disposed towards them (known as the inept set). Such brands will typically be excluded from further evaluation as purchase options. For other brands, the consumer may have indifferent feelings (the inert set). As the consumer approaches the actual purchase, he or she distills the mental list of brands into a set of alternatives that represent realistic purchase options, known as the consideration set. By definition, the consideration set refers to the “small set of brands which a consumer pays close attention to when making a purchase decision”.  Specific brand names enter the consumer's consideration set based on the extent to which theysatisfy the consumer's purchasing objectives and/or the salience or accessibility of the brand at the time of making the purchase decision. By implication, brand names that are more memorable are more likely to be accessible. Traditionally, one of the main roles of advertising and promotion was to increase the likelihood that a brand name was included in the consumer's evoked set. Repeated exposure to brand names through intensive advertising was the primary method for increasing top-of-mind brand awareness. However, the advent of the Internet means that consumers can obtain brand/product information from a multiplicity of different platforms. In practice, the consideration set has assumed greater importance in the purchase decision process because consumers are no longer totally reliant on memory. This is marketing, which could be defined as marketing as “The process by which companies create value for customers and build strong customer relationships, in order to capture value from customers in return.” This definition strongly implies that the relationship is built upon an exchange, and the "creation" of value. This means that a need is built for a consumer, with the product presented or advertised to them through an analytical study of the user's patterns of consumption, and their behaviors and habits. The implication for marketers is that relevant brand information should be disseminated as widely as possible and included on any forum where consumers are likely to search for product or brand information, whether traditional media or digital media channels. Thus, marketers require a rich understanding of the typical consumer's touchpoints.  This paper suggests that previous models of consumer behaviour in tourism have neglected the constraints on participation. Despite the growing body of literature related 56 | P a g e to leisure constraints, the non-user and their associated constraints are generally neglected in consumer behaviour research. In this study, the authors operationalised a recent constraints model in order to examine the constraints on skiing for both participants and non-participants. A qualitative approach was used to understand the perceptions of intrapersonal, interpersonal and structural constraints on skiing participation. Analysis of the qualitative research revealed that non-skiers faced a number of intrapersonal constraints, whereas skiers were constrained by time, family or economic factors. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.  Consumer research plays a very important aspect, especially when a company decides to launch a new product into the market. Companies conduct market research to better understand the consumers, their needs and their satisfaction level.  After conducting various surveys and focus groups, companies analyze the consumer data and then make recommendations based on the results.  Developing Research Objectives  The first step in the consumer research process is developing the research objectives which involves defining the purposes and objectives to ensure an appropriate design. A statement of objective helps to define the type and level of information needed.  Collect Secondary Data  There are two distinct sources of secondary data − internal and external. Always seek internal sources first. Most go straight to Google without considering the fact that data might exist within the organization itself. This can sometimes be in the ‘heads’ of the personnel.  External Sources   External sources are numerous. Consumer Generated Media (CGM), especially, has grown in importance as a data source. The key is to avoid spending too much time following ‘blind alleys’. This is where the time and cost can escalate sharply.  Thanks to a thorough understanding of consumer behaviour – how and for what purpose consumers use a given product or service - it is possible to properly adapt a company’s offering to market needs. Consumer behaviour research is the most general category of studies related to consumers. It helps companies look at their products and services from the consumer’s point of view.  A properly focused examination of consumer behaviour allows a researcher to show product or sales managers completely new functions of a product and new ways of service delivery by sellers. Consumer behaviour research is designed in such a way as to provide information on consumers’ actual behaviour. The study may be carried out either at the point of purchase or consumption.  The study identifies how the manufacturer’s idea of the product and how it should be used relates to actual consumer behaviour. A relevant report presents areas in which consumers behave quite differently from producers’ intentions. Sometimes the difference results from finding new applications for a product, which may be directly recognised as its extra advantage, and sometimes the study provides information on the obstacles to using the product’s intended functions designed at the product development stage in full. 57 | P a g e To provide a comprehensive view of consumer behaviour, the PMR Research team uses a combination of qualitative and quantitative research techniques. The initial, qualitative phase is aimed at exploring the subject of the study. Following its analysis with the support of internal sources of information, we progress to the quantitative study of the frequency and intensity of specific consumer behaviours. Thanks to a thorough understanding of consumer behaviour – how and for what purpose consumers use a given product or service - it is possible to properly adapt a company’s offering to market needs. Consumer behaviour research is the most general category of studies related to consumers. It helps companies look at their products and services from the consumer’s point of view. A properly focused examination of consumer behaviour allows a researcher to show product sales managers completely new functions of a product and new ways of service delivery by sellers. Consumer behaviour research is designed in such a way as to provide information on consumers’ actual behaviour. The study may be carried out either at the point of purchase or consumption. The study identifies how the manufacturer’s idea of the product and how it should be used relates to actual consumer behaviour. A relevant report presents areas in which consumers behave quite differently from producers’ intentions. Sometimes the difference results from finding new applications for a product, which may be directly recognised as its extra advantage, and sometimes the study provides information on the obstacles to using the product’s intended functions designed at the product development stage in full. To provide a comprehensive view of consumer behaviour, the PMR Research team uses a combination of qualitative and quantitative research techniques. The initial, qualitative phase is aimed at exploring the subject of the study. Following its analysis with the support of internal sources of information, we progress to the quantitative study of the frequency and intensity of specific consumer behaviours. They adopted Bloch et al.’ argument and classified consumer search objectives into pre-purchase search and continuous search. According to Bloch et al. [36], we cannot explain consumer information search for entertainment purposes with only the scheme of pre-purchase search. Hence, they provided an alternative search purpose – continuous search. 108 B-J. Moon The KNP Report on the Internet User published by IMResearch showed that user satisfaction with the website is decided by information quantity, design, transmission speed, user-friendliness of search structure, and update pace. It suggests that website characteristics are likely to influence consumer information search through the internet. Based upon the previous research discussed earlier, we can sum up the influencing factors of consumer information search through the internet into three categories – consumer characteristics, information search objectives, and website characteristics. If we plug the variables into the contingent consumer decision-making model provided by Bettman et al., consumer characteristics of our model correspond to the person in Bettman et al.’s model, search objectives correspond to problem, and website characteristics correspond to context. These factors are likely to influence a consumers’ decision regarding whether they will use offline channels or online channels for their information search. We sum up the consumer characteristics variables into the five factors – knowledge level, internet usage skill, challenging mindset towards the internet, lifestyle, and demographic characteristics. We apply the binary information search objective scheme – continuous scheme 60 | P a g e Cultural studies: similar to traditional ethnography; extended stays with a group or tribe with a view to uncoveri They adopted Bloch et al.’ argument and classified consumer search objectives into pre-purchase search and continuous search. According to Bloch et al. [36], we cannot explain consumer information search for entertainment purposes with only the scheme of pre- purchase search. Hence, they provided an alternative search purpose – continuous search. 108 B- J. Moon The KNP Report on the Internet User published by IMResearch showed that user satisfaction with the website is decided by information quantity, design, transmission speed, user-friendliness of search structure, and update pace. It suggests that website characteristics are likely to influence consumer information search through the internet. Based upon the previous research discussed earlier, we can sum up the influencing factors of consumer information search through the internet into three categories – consumer characteristics, information search objectives, and website characteristics. If we plug the variables into the contingent consumer decision-making model provided by Bettman et al., consumer characteristics of our model correspond to the person in Bettman et al.’s model, search objectives correspond to problem, and website characteristics correspond to context. These factors are likely to influence a consumers’ decision regarding whether they will use offline channels or online channels for their information search. We sum up the consumer characteristics variables into the five factors – knowledge level, internet usage skill, challenging mindset towards the internet, lifestyle, and demographic characteristics. We apply the binary information search objective scheme – continuous scheme versus pre-purchase search – provided by Bloch et al. and adopted by Yang and Cho. We sum up the website characteristics into the five factors – information quantity, design, access and transmission speed, user-friendliness of search structure, and update frequency – suggested by the IMResearch . Meanwhile, regarding consumer purchase through the internet, Peterson et al. have classified products into two types – search products and experience products – based upon the information source of consumer product evaluation. According to their scheme, consumers use primarily external information to evaluate the search products. Conversely, consumers use primarily their own experience to evaluate the experience products. They then argued that search products are more appropriate to distribute through the internet than experience products. They also contended that tangible products are more appropriate than intangible products and shopping products are more appropriate than convenience products for retailing through the internet considering the distribution cost. Kim and Park showed that benefits of internet transactions such as time saving and convenience enhance consumer purchase intention through the internet; On the other hand, risks associated with internet transactions such as delivery risk and payment risk discourage consumers from buying through the internet. Song and Shin regarded consumer purchase through the internet as a form of innovation. They then showed that the internet transaction characteristic variables such as relative benefits, complexity, and compatibility influence consumer adoption of the internet shopping. Based upon the previous research discussed earlier, we can sum up the influencing factors of consumer product purchase through the internet into three categories – product type, benefits of internet transactions, and risks of internet transactions. If we also plug the variables into the contingent consumer decision-making model provided by Bettman et al., product type of our model corresponds to the problem of Bettman et al.’s model, and benefits and risks of internet transactions are construed to correspond to context. These factors are likely to influence consumers’ decisions regarding whether they will use offline channels or online channels for their product purchase. We categorise products type into search products versus experience products, convenience products versus shopping products, and tangible products versus intangible products. We condense the benefits of online purchase 61 | P a g e into five factors – product quality superiority, price advantage, assortment, time saving, and convenience. To the risks of online Consumer adoption of the internet 109 purchase, we apply product related risk (functional risk, product, quality, assortment), purchase method risk (difficulty of comparison, impulse buying, and other purchase risk), service related risk (delivery, refunds, contract related risk), and payment related risk (credit card and transaction information related risk) provided and used by Kim and Park . The internet provides the best environment for concurrent information search and product purchase and this fact is an important characteristic differentiating the internet from traditional channels. Consumers search information affected by consumer characteristics, information search objectives, and website characteristics and then they may also buy through the internet. Alternatively, the purchase may be made through offline channels even after consumers search information through the internet. That is, the possibility that consumers will buy products through the internet instead of an offline channel after they search information through the internet is likely to be moderated by the types of goods they are going to buy, benefits of online purchase, and risks of online purchase. Furthermore, product type, benefits and risks of online purchase may also influence the possibility of online purchases directly and independently. However, for the simplicity of our conceptual model, we do not include this influencing route. Our model is pictorially depicted in Influencing factors of consumer information search and buying behaviour through The thesis offers a detailed study of that part of consumer behaviour which is status-directed and which encourages individuals to purchase and consume products not for their intrinsic value (i.e. their value in use) but for their extrinsic (i.e. prestige) value. The work is in two parts. Part One explores the nature of conspicuous consumption and seeks to explain why and under what conditions such exceptional behaviour occurs. The treatment of conspicuous consumption in economic and social thought is examined and evaluated and proposes a theoretical explanation of the propensity to conspicuously consumer. develops a research methodology appropriate to the theory., then comprise a study of conspicuous consumption as observed in traditional, achieving and affluent societies, while draws these studies together in perspective. Part 2 focuses more specifically on conspicuous consumption in the modern, affluent society and seeks to develop a theoretical model of consumer decision processes relating to such behaviour. Chapter 8 is concerned with evaluating the treatment of conspicuous consumption within behavioural theories of consumer demand. Chapter 9 complements Chapter 8 in assessing the contribution of economics and of economic demand theories to the subject. Drawing on Chapters 8 and 9, Chapter 10 then proposes a theoretical model of consumer decision processes with respect to conspicuous consumption in the modern, industrialised society. To gain insights into consumer behaviour, researchers uses the standard battery of market research methods such as surveys, depth interviews and focus groups. Increasingly, researchers are turning to newer methodologies and technologies in an effort to seek deeper understandings of why consumers behave in certain ways. These newer methods include ethnographic research (also known as participant observation) and neuroscience as well as experimental lab designs. In addition, researchers often turn to separate disciplines for insights with potential to inform the study of consumer behaviour. For instance, behavioural economics is adding fresh, new insights into certain aspects of consumer behaviour. 62 | P a g e Ethnographic research Product usage studies are used to improve packaging design.Ethnographic research or ethnography has its origins in anthropology. However, marketers use ethnographic research to study the consumer in terms of cultural trends, lifestyle factors, attitudes and the way that social context influences product selection, consumption and usage. Ethnographic research, also called participant observation, attempts to study consumer behaviour in natural settings rather than in artificial environment such as labs. Different types of ethnographic research are used in marketing including. Observed product usage: observing regular product usage at home or work, to gain insights into how products are opened, prepared, consumed, stored, disposed etc. to gain insights into the usefulness of packaging, labelling and general usage Day-in-the-life studies: extended visits during product usage situations to gain insights into norms and consumer expectations Accompanied purchase or shop-alongs: researcher accompanies a shopper on a purchase expedition to gain insights into consumer responses to merchandising and other sales tactics Cultural studies: similar to traditional ethnography; extended stays with a group or tribe with a view to uncovering the fundamental rules and conventions that govern behaviorGuerilla ethnography: random observations in public settings to help establish research questions or to gain quick insights into specific behaviours ng the fundamental rules and conventions that govern behaviorGuerilla ethnography: random observations in public settings to help establish research questions or to gain quick insights into specific behaviours 65 | P a g e In this chapter, we have illustrated that there are three approaches to price discrimination and product differentiation. Each pricing strategy is employed under various contexts in practice. The key takeaways include the following:  First-degree price discrimination, also called personalized pricing, involves charging different prices to different customers for the same product.  It is difficult to implement first-degree price discrimination because of the difficulty in measuring each consumer’s willingness-to-pay, because some consumers may be irritated when they find out they paid more for the same good, because of arbitrage issues and finally because of the potential legal issues.  Second-degree price discrimination is referred to as product versioning and bundling.  Versioning involves offering a high-end product for nonprice-sensitive consumers, and a low-end product for price-sensitive consumers.  Bundling is a special form of versioning in which two or more products are offered as a package at a single price.  According to Goldilocks pricing, three versions may be just right. The key is to make the versions different enough so that consumer groups can be segmented.  Third-degree price discrimination involves setting different prices for different groups of consumers such as seniors and students and other groups. It is often based on the price sensitivities of the groups.  In some instances, price discrimination can be illegal. If there is any doubt that a business practice is in violation of laws, legal counsel should be sought. 66 | P a g e Despite the government of India enforcing a law by the name of Standards of Weight and Measures Act, 1977, manufacturers blatantly flout the rules and tamper with the packaging of the products. The Act requires definite and conspicuous declaration of name and address of the commodity inside, the net quantity in standard unit of weight or measure, the date of manufacture and the maximum retail price and the expiry date. It has laid down the standards of weights and measures or the number for different commodities so that the commodities are packaged in a rationalised standard quantity by weight measures or number to facilitate the purchase transaction as also the price comparison. Extensive research in several departments reveals the deception in the diminutive print. Packaging of some products do not carry the manufacturing date; some do not have expiry date on them and some brands do not convey the warning like ―best before‖ or ―use by‖. For perishable stuff, such declarations should clearly be conveyed to the consumers. In reality, if you ask any shopkeeper, you get a curt‖ ― It is a fast-moving item. We don‘t stock anything stale.‖ Some manufacturers entertain the buyers by incorporating a treasure hunt for the relevant label. They print the information in colours that merge with the plastics, emboss it so you need to run your fingers on it, or hide it under a decorative flap. The manufacturing date on a toothpaste tube has to be dug out of the crimped tail. As for the expiry date on a battery cell, the number on medium or large ones are visible under a lens, but the script on the seat of a pencil cell is beyond the power of magnifying glass. A well-known manufacturer gets ―20% off‖ printed in big bold letters and in mini print it says: ―On the recommended retail price. Taxes extra as applicable‖. This is a surreptitious way to dupe consumers in buying the product. A large number of unidentified consumers do not get what they pay for. Packaging sizes and container shapes for many products deceive and confuse consumers about the amount of product they contain, and some manufacturers have been increasing package size while decreasing content. It‘s a common practice for manufacturers to tactically reduce the weight contained in a package while keeping the size of the box, bottle, or container the same, and misrepresent the quantity of good sold. The quantity of the product inside the packet is not consistent with what is specified on it. It is not just a question of grams or a few rupees but an unjust enrichment to manufacturers and a needless loss to consumers. Very few buyers check if the packed commodities weigh less than weight marked on the panel. 67 | P a g e If they do so, they don‘t try to question the malpractice. Shopkeepers often do not have electronic weighing machines that can detect small discrepancies. As a matter of fact, the packet should weigh more than the marked weight, because the given weight is actually the net weight of the product inside, which is its weight before packaging. On the contrary, the weight of product inside the packet and that of the packet itself is less than marked weight on the panel of packet. The net result is that consumers are taken for a ride, with erring shopkeepers going scot- free. What consumer should do to control such malpractices? 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