Observation of Consumer Shopping and Browsing Behaviour - Essay Example

Consumer behaviour - Individual Report: observation of consumer shopping/browsing behaviour Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Location Details 3 Theoretical Concepts of Consumer and Shopping Behaviour 4 Stages of consumer buying behaviour 5 The Theories of observation 6 Black Box model 7 Summary of the Observation 8 References 9 Introduction Consumer behaviour can be referred to as the study of groups, organizations or individuals and the methods use to choose the products and services. It also takes into account elements from social anthropology sociology, economics and psychology. In addition, consumer buying behaviour is about studying the aspects of individual consumers in terms of their behavioural and demographics variables. However the most important part of consumer behaviour is the study of understanding the decision-making processes of buyers. Some of the eminent scholars portrayed the fact that the study of consumer behaviour is about the evaluation of a consumer and whether or not they get influenced by their family, relatives, society, friends and other reference groups. Thus for an origination to cater effectively to its target audience, it is essential to carry out an in-depth analysis of the consumer needs and wants (Hoyer and Macinnis, 2008, p.3-4). Although a lot of research has been carried out in this field of study but there are hardly any accepted theories that scientifically and clearly underline the buying or purchasing behaviour of a consumer. Now in this context of the study, that is, to uncover consumer buying behaviour Leeds city centre has been chosen as the ‘shopping location’ where customers will be observed. This report will present a brief overview of the location of the Leeds city centre along with the date and time of observation. The report will also present theoretical concepts of consumer and shopping behaviour. Additionally, theories of observation as a research approach will be also enlightened. Lastly, based on the findings from the situation, regarding how people appear to conduct their shopping or browsing, the behaviour of the consumers will be presented. Location Details Leeds City centre can be regarded as the hub of shopping in Leeds. It is also known as the central business districts of Leeds, United Kingdom. The shopping centre is situated at the parliamentary region of Leeds central. The term ‘central Leeds’ is generally used to point out to the Leeds city centre. However it refers to a wider area that is usually described as the area that covers Ring road, Holbeck and Hunslet. This place is also characterised by a large shopping area where thousands of people gather everyday to buy their favourite items. Some of the largest shops of the city are found here. Like any other major shopping destination, it is also the home of largest MNCs and also global retail chains. Global players such as Marks & Spencer, McDonalds, Burger King and Nandos and Zara among others are present in this market. However, this location is also regarded by the availability of cheap and value shops. Hence buyers from every segment of the society visit this market to purchase goods. The date was 27th November at the afternoon session and the time was approximately 6.30 p. m. when the observation was made. Since it was a pre Christmas period the shops were almost full. The condition was such that few people were finding difficult to purchase things properly. The observations were mainly regarding the purchasing or buying behaviour of the consumers. Nevertheless the primary intention was to uncover the shopping behaviour of the consumer. It was basically about the preferences of the consumers about how they perceive about a brand, does the consumer looks for quality or price or a blend of both. Answers to several such questions will be addressed through this study. Theoretical Concepts of Consumer and Shopping Behaviour Consumer buying behaviour is a broader area of study. It can be differentiated on the basis of level of the customer involvement in the purchasing decision and also the intensity and importance of that particular product in a certain situation ( Pride and Ferrell, 2006, p.233). For example high involvement purchase is generally observed when a consumer generally purchases highly priced products, and high risk involvement, such as a four wheeler car. The risks in this context come in the form of social risk, personal risk and economical risk. Hence depending upon the aforementioned factors consumer behaviour is segmented into four groups. The segments are detailed below: - Routine Response/Programmed Behaviour: - Routine response or programmed behaviour can be portrayed as a type of purchasing behaviour that has low involvement level of the buyers. The things that consumers purchases on a regular basis are exemplified as routine response or programmed behaviour. In addition, this type of purchase need limited decision and search effort. Some of the items that falls into this category are foods, milk etc. Limited Decision Making: - This type of purchase appears when a consumer buys an occasional product or a product that he or she buys occasionally. This type of buying behaviour generates when the consumer needs to gather information regarding an unfamiliar product or a brand. Furthermore, it also requires certain amount of time to gather information regarding the product. Some of the items that foster such behaviour are branded clothes, bicycle etc. Extensive Decision Making: - This type of purchasing behaviour is exhibited by the consumers when purchasing a product requires high involvement. The product characteristics in this context are expensive, unfamiliar and rare bought commodity for the consumer. Moreover it also involves high psychological, economic and performance risk. Some of the products that require extensive decision making are computers, home, car, property etc. This is only buying behaviour where the consumer passes through all the five stages of purchasing. Impulse Buying: - As the name suggest, this type of behaviour is about buying a product without any prior planning. For example a customer visits a departmental store to buy sunglasses but he buys a pair of shoes. This is regarded as impulse buying where customers take instant decision (Udel, n.d.). Stages of consumer buying behaviour 1. Problem Recognition: - Problem recognition is the first stage of the consumer buying process. It is the state which is characterized by the actual condition and the desired condition of the consumer. In this stage the need for a product or service is aroused (Kumar and Tyagi, 2004, p.55). The need mainly generates by sighting new things, or listening about the product from others. 2. Information search­ – Once the need gets aroused, the consumer starts to search information about the product category. Several products of the same category are identified in this step (Loudon and Bitta, 2002, p.504). Some of the sources from where a consumer generally gets information are as follows:- Personal sources (such as friends, family members etc). Public sources (such as consumer rating organization and mass media). Commercial sources (such as salesman, advertisements etc). Experiential sources.   3. Evaluation of Alternatives – In the third step the consumer examines and compares the alternatives. In addition, the authenticity and validity of the collected information is also examined. The evaluation is done on conscious and rational basis. Also factors such as product attribute, brand image, brand value, design and attitude are considered for evaluation. Depending upon all these factors the customer takes a decision regarding the purchase. 4. Purchase decision – The evaluation of the alternatives in the previous step helps the consumer to rank the products on the basis of their attributes. Consumers before buying takes into account three factors namely anticipated situational factors, attitudes and unanticipated situational factors (Kardes, Cronley and Cline, 2011, p.205-206). This is also the step where actually consumers buy the goods. 5. Post-Purchase Evaluation – Once the purchase is completed, consumers have a tendency to evaluate the goods after the purchase has been made. This step is therefore known as the post purchase evaluation (Raji, 2007, p.13). However this step arises once the consumers feel satisfaction or dissatisfaction regarding the purchase. The satisfaction or dissatisfaction level is determined by comparing pre purchase expectation and post purchase experience from the product. The Theories of observation Observation method is one of the most popular methods used to understand consumer behaviour. It is method through which a large number of consumers are assessed or observed to reduce any form of error or biasness. It mainly includes observing the consumer while they are shopping or buying products and implying those observations in a scientific way to determine behaviours of the consumers (Ereaut, Imms and Callingham, 2002, p.106). Meanwhile, in this process the researcher needs to be physically present where the event is actually taking place in order to record or observe the happenings. The observation method takes into account mechanical or human observation about what consumers actually do or what events occur during the consumption or buying situation of consumers. It also offers a number of advantages to the researcher. Some of the advantages of this method are highlighted below:- The researchers do not have to rely on the willingness of the respondents or do not have to do sampling for choosing a set of respondents. Rather they can directly observe consumers and record events. The total cost to carry out the study reduces to a large extent (Hair, Bush and Ortinau, 2007, p.269). There is no biased activity from the consumers. In addition the data collected for a specific purpose is absolutely authentic and up-to-date. However the only negative characteristic of this form of research is that, it takes slightly more time. In this aspect of the study observation is made for 30 minutes, and around 10 consumers were observed. Although it was a difficult task to observe 10 consumers, but at last the observation and recording of data was made successfully. One of the important models used for determining the behaviour of consumers is the Black box model. The description of the model is presented below:- Black Box model The black box model is one of the most important and useful models to determine the behaviour of customers. It illustrates the consumer characteristics, consumer responses, decision making process and also the interaction of stimuli. It can be further classified into intrapersonal stimuli and interpersonal stimuli. The interpersonal stimuli is about the interaction between people while, intrapersonal stimuli is about the interaction within people. The model is primarily related with the theory of black box or behaviourism. It is context the concentration is not set on the process within a consumer, rather the relation or link among the response of the consumer and stimuli is taken into account. The below diagram will further clarify the model. Environmental Factors Black Box (Buyers) Response of the Buyers Marketing Stimuli Environmental Stimuli Buyers Characteristics Process of Decision   Promotion Political Motivation Information Search Brand choice price Legal Perception Problem Recognition Dealer choice Product Environmental Attitude Alternative Evaluation purchase amount Place Social Lifestyle Purchase Decision Product Choice   Economical Personality Post purchase behaviour purchase timings   Technological Knowledge     (Source: Sandhusen, 2000, p.218) Based on all the aforementioned theories of consumer behaviour and observation theories, the next half of the report will shed light on what was actually observed at the Leeds city centre. Also several other facets will be demonstrated through the section. Summary of the Observation In this study, the numbers of people observed were 10. Since, it was a busy place and extremely crowded, observation of more than 10 people would have been a complex task. The observation was mainly made on different demographical aspects. However ‘age’ was the primary factor of distinction. The outlets chosen for this study were branded clothing shops, branded retail food chains, and also cheap and value shops. The study revealed that there were different types of consumers and exhibited different buying behaviours. For example when a person went on to buy a costly Jeans, it has been observed that he spend more time than what he spent to purchase a hat. This clearly displays that when it comes to buy a costly item, people display extensive decision making behaviour and also have high involvements. On the other hand, the customer had less involvement when he bought low cost items. Similarly, when a customer visited a retail food, he spends more time to choose her menu and displayed extensive decision making behaviour. Also there were consumers who showed signs of impulse purchase. Thus, it shows how a customer evaluates alternatives while purchasing costly products. Apart from that this study also revealed that consumers become brand conscious when it comes to buy occasional products, however for regular products they consider value and cheap items. Hence from this study it can be concluded that consumer behaviour is dynamic in nature and it’s hard to exactly predict what consumer actually wants. Thus, it can be sated that purchasing behaviour of the consumers depends upon the intensity and type of purchase. References Ereaut, G., Imms, M., and Callingham, M., 2002. Qualitative Market Research: Principle & Practice. London: SAGE. Hair, F., Bush, R. P., and Ortinau, D. J., 2007. Marketing Research. 3rd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Education. Hoyer, W. D., and Macinnis, D. J., 2008. Consumer Behaviour. 5th ed. Connecticut: Cengage Learning. Kardes, F. R., Cronley, M. L., and Cline, T. W., 2011. Consumer Behaviour. Connecticut: Cengage Learning. Kumar, A., and Tyagi, C. L., 2004. Consumer Behaviour. New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers & Dist. Loudon, D. L., and Bitta, A. J. D., 2002. Consumer Behaviour. 4th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Education. Pride, W. M., and Ferrell, O. C., 2006. Marketing: Concepts and Strategies. 13th ed. Connecticut: Cengage Learning. Raji, P. T., 2007. Secrets of Consumer Buying Behaviors Revealed. California: E-Fortune. Sandhusen, R. L., 2000. Marketing, Business Review. 3rd ed. New York: Barrons Educational Series. Udel, No Date. What is Consumer Buying Behavior. [online] Available at: [Accessed 28 November 2012]. Read More