Buying Decision Making - Essay Example

Second, sleek exteriors and interior designs that fit a driver's proportions as well as easy vehicular entry and exit, minimal maintenance, good visibility, storage space, and effortless parking are important to women and men ". We have found that by meeting women's expectations, we exceeded those of most men," says Hans-Olvo Olsson, president and CEO of Volvo cars, a unit of Ford Motor Company. Not surprisingly, 54% of Volvo buyers in North America are women. Third, women approach car buying in a deliberate manner.

They frequently visit auto-buying websites and scan car advertisements to gather information, but recommendations of friends and relations matter most. Women shop an average of three dealerships before making a purchase decision one more than men. Recognizing that women as purchasers and influencers in car and truck buying have also altered the behaviour of dealers. Many dealers now use a one-price policy and have stopped negotiation a vehicles price. Industry research indicates that 68% of new car buyers dread the price negotiation process involved in buying a car and women often refuse to do it at all (Business week, March 15, 2004).

The above example clearly shows that how women influence purchaser decision-making process. If we carefully study the consumers we find that their behaviour is intricate and complex. Behaviour of the consumers is subtle in nature, making it difficult to understand fully. Consumer behaviour is so prevalent; it significantly affects our lives either through our own action or those of other consumers. Therefore it has a great deal of practical relevance to our daily lives. What is consumer behaviour Consumer behaviour may be defined as: The decision process and physical activity individuals engage in when evaluating acquiring, using or disposing of goods and services.

Potential adopters of free services or even philosophies or ideas can also be encompassed by the definition of consumer. But our primary attention will be directed toward ultimate consumers, those individuals who purchase for the purpose of individual or household consumption. Ultimate consumers also reveals much about industrial and intermediate buyers and others involved in purchasing for business firms and institutions (Harward & Sheth, 1969) But we must recognize that most industrial buyers or purchasing behaviour is unique because it often involves different buying motives and the influence of a large variety of people (Sheth, 1973).

People can take different roles in what we have defined consumer behaviour. Consumer behaviour is seen to involve a mental decision process as well as physical activity. Consumer behaviour is not just an act of purchasing but it is a complex process of decision-making. Viewing consumer behaviour in such a broad context suggests it is actually a subset of human behaviour. Internal influences, such as learning and motives as well as external factors, such as social expectations and constraints, affects us in our role as consumers as well as in our other capacities.

In fact, it is often difficult to draw a distinct line between consumer related behaviour and aspects of human behaviour.Reasons to study consumer behaviour: In a general sense, the most important reasons of studying consumer behav