Imagine you go to your favorite supermarket to buy your favorite instant noodles. Of course, you use consumer behavior in marketing. You always buy your favorite instant noodles because of the taste, portion, packaging, or maybe even the advertisements. 

But where does this favoritism start? And why is it important for a marketer to analyze it?

The marketer of your favorite instant noodles brand probably used their understanding of consumer behavior to make their brand your utmost favorite. In fact, they might even be using it to make me write this article today! Just kidding. 

But as a marketer, it is of utmost importance that you understand what consumer behavior in marketing is. You might already have understood the importance of consumer behavior from the example above, but we will revisit that too. 

In this article, we begin our journey of understanding consumer behavior in marketing, the importance of consumer behavior, factors influencing consumer behavior, and other important related topics.

Consumer behavior in marketing?

Since any organization caters to its consumers, it is crucial for it to understand their buying behavior. Consumers are responsible for the revenue and, ultimately, the business's profit. Therefore, you need to understand how to market the products to leave a dent in the consumers’ brains.

Some other definitions of consumer behavior include:

• “The assumption that people have series of needs which lead to drive state.” (Faison and Edmund)
• “Those acts of individuals directly involved in obtaining, using, and disposing of economic goods and services, including the decision processes that precede and determine these acts.” (Engel et al.)

The knowledge of all these different definitions will help you to understand the different aspects of consumer behavior in marketing. While Faison and Edmund’s definition focuses on needs, Engel’s focuses on acts and individuals. 

To understand these definitions more thoroughly, let us look at an example.

Consumer behavior in marketing example 

Let us take the example we started the chapter with, where you went to the supermarket to buy your favorite instant noodles.

According to Faison and Edmund, you would’ve had ‘a series of needs’ which led you to go to the supermarket in the first place. So instead of just randomly going to the supermarket, you must have first gone home after a long, tiring day. You were really hoping there was something tasty for dinner, but your mom had made something you detested. 

Annoyed, you looked for instant noodles where you usually keep them, but there was not a single packet in sight! Even more irritated, you picked up your wallet and stormed out of the house to get yourself a much-needed treat.

In Engel’s definition, the focus is on acts and individuals. It focuses more on the decision process. So the decision you made to go to the supermarket instead of just eating what your mom had made is the essential aspect of your consumer behavior according to this definition.

Kotler’s definition takes into account much more than just these aspects. It also looks at: 

• How you buy (online or from a supermarket or a corner store), 
• What you buy (your favorite instant noodles each time or are you open to trying new brands too?), 
• When you buy (only in times of dire need or whenever you want to), and 
• Why you buy (your mom made your least favorite dish or a craving for your comfort food).

In the upcoming chapters of this block, we will understand all these different aspects of consumer behavior in marketing under other names. But first, let us understand some terms related to consumer behavior.

Basic terms related to consumer behavior in marketing

To better understand the importance of consumer behavior in marketing (which we will study in the next chapter), it is necessary to understand the basic terms related to consumer behavior. Let us see some of them.

1. Consumer attitude

This includes your attitude towards your favorite brand of instant noodles discussed in the example above. In order to change a consumer’s attitude towards your product or service, you will have to change all four components of consumer attitude, namely

• Beliefs
• Thoughts
• Feelings
• Behaviors

These components of consumer attitude are highly interdependent. These are better known as the forces that impact your decisions regarding a specific product or service. Let us better understand the four components by taking the same example.

You buy only that specific brand of instant noodles because you believe it tastes better than other brands. Its packaging and portion are better too. You might think that some other brand also tastes good, but you want to keep buying the same brand because you are used to it. 

You feel good after consuming instant noodles of this specific brand because you have related it to some positive experiences in the past. Your behavior determines if you will ultimately make the decision to complete the purchase. In this case, you definitely buy the instant noodles due to the beliefs, thoughts, and feelings you associate with them.

2. Consumer perception

When you interact with a brand, either to buy its products or services or to just see if its products or services can satisfy your needs, you form a perception of the brand. This is known as consumer perception. It includes your thoughts, emotions, and opinions about the brand, which can be positive or negative.

Maybe this brand of instant noodles is your favorite because you have never been disappointed by it, and that’s why you have related it to happiness and need it at the end of a tough day. Another reason for the brand being your favorite can be your negative consumer perception of other instant noodles brands.

3. Consumer motivation

Oxford Dictionary defines motivation as ‘a reason or reasons for acting or behaving in a particular way.’ Similarly, consumer motivation is the internal motivation for consumers to choose to consume certain products or services to fulfill their needs and desires as opposed to others. 

The consumer will repeat their purchase if the product or service they previously purchased satisfied their needs and desires. 

For example, one of the reasons your favorite instant noodles brand is your favorite might be that it satisfies your desire to buy cheap comfort food that tastes good.

4. Consumer buying behavior

A consumer’s acts before and during buying a product or service add up to buying behavior. It is also known as consumer buying behavior. For a marketer, it is extremely important to understand why a consumer even chose to interact with their brand in the first place.

For example, your favorite instant noodle brand must have already identified patterns in buyer behavior and would be actively using tactics to influence it. This will make the interactions more fruitful and beneficial for both parties.

5. Consumerism

Consumerism encourages people to buy more products to portray themselves as superior to someone else. It is the social order which drives people to consume and own more to shape their identity. It is what makes consumers greedier for more. 

For example, you might have gone to the supermarket just to buy your favorite instant noodles. But you see your old friend there who you think is doing better than you simply because he has a more expensive watch and looks ‘better’ dressed than you do.

So instead of checking out with only your favorite instant noodles, you pick up an expensive packet of candy or cheese or anything else so you can shape your identity in front of him. Most probably, you don't even need that expensive item. 

You can find a comprehensive list of the terms related to consumer behavior here.

Consumer behavior in marketing applications

The best method to understand any concept is by looking at examples. Let’s take a look at some examples of consumer behavior in marketing.

1. Hotelling’s law

This law in game theory says that hotels in a straight-line city would be located close to each other right in the middle of the city. This is because consumers would inevitably be drawn to the center of the city anyway. 

If any hotel is located at either end of the city, it would face losses because travelers would prefer to be in a central location instead of anywhere else in the city. They would want to be at an optimal distance from any important location in the city.

This same law is used by supermarkets that place the most purchased goods in the center aisles. Brands that want to place their products in the center aisles have to pay extra money for the location.

Goods that a consumer is not likely to purchase by themselves are placed at the entry and exit points to draw attention during check-ins and check-outs.

2. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a famous tool used by marketers worldwide. The closer a marketing campaign can portray a product or service to basic physiological needs, the more the brand will be able to grow its market. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is shown below.

For example, Cadbury’s Five Star published ads where it celebrated friendships. Even though Five Star is chocolate, consumers started relating it with friendship, which is the third level of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs - social and belongingness needs.

3. Psychoanalytical model

Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory gave birth to this extremely useful consumer behavior model, which says that apart from superficial needs and desires, consumers also have conscious and unconscious motives that drive their buying decisions. These may include social or personal motives so deeply rooted in the consumers’ brains that they might not even be aware of these forces.

For example, you might buy glasses from a brand that advertises its products in an educational setting. You might be unconsciously drawn to this brand simply because it portrays ‘smart’ people wearing its glasses, but you might not be making this decision consciously.

Conclusion and takeaways

This chapter introduced you to the vast field of consumer behavior. You can find various examples online for how your favorite companies apply theories of consumer behavior in marketing campaigns. Some of the key takeaways from this chapter are:

1. Philip Kotler defines consumer behavior as “the study of how people buy, what they buy, when they buy, and why they buy.”
2. Different definitions of consumer behavior in marketing focus on different important aspects of consumer behavior like needs, acts, and individuals.
3. Attitude in consumer behavior refers to the beliefs, thoughts, feelings, and behaviors a consumer has towards a certain product or service.
4. Consumer perception includes your thoughts, emotions, and opinions about the brand, which can be positive or negative.
5. Consumer motivation is the internal motivation for consumers to choose to consume certain products or services to fulfill their needs and desires.
6. Buying behavior include a consumer’s acts before and during buying a product or service.
7. Consumerism is the social order which drives people to consume and own more to shape their identity.

We have understood what consumer behavior is in this chapter. In the next chapter, we will discuss the importance of consumer behavior in marketing.