Consumer Behaviour

In this post I am going to share my study of consumers behavior. This is a part of management which deals with psychology of the consumers. The main reason to undergo this study are the psychology of how consumers think, feel,reason and select between different alternatives. In the dictionary of management consumer behavior is "The study of individual, groups or organizations and the process they use to select, secure, use and dispose of products, services, experiences or ideas to satisfy needs and the impacts that these processes have on the consumer and society".

The study of this behavior is important in the context of marketing a product. This helps in a better marketing campaigns according the behavior of the consumer and reach the people. This also helps in building marketing strategy for introducing new products. Consider the example a high cost sedan should not be either launched during recession. During the number of people who are ready to buy a luxurious sedan are minimum. Spending a huge amount in marketing about a sedan during this time is absolute waste. This marketing would never have an impact in the mind of the people even during the later stage when there is boom in the market.

A fortune that was worth it

I use the government bus very often. This helps me to connect with the people and helps me to understand the psychology of the people and gives me a view on the culture of the place. This happened when I was in India, a few years back. I was in a place called Chennai, for two years. It was December and it was raining. I was sharing my seat with a female who would be approximately around 20 years. There was an accident and the bus was struck in a traffic jam. We are grown to believe the concept that when we talk with our co-passengers, we intrude into their privacy. But this young girl did not seem to bother about all that and we struck a conversation. As the conversation flowed, she told that she had a weird friend who spent a fortune to have fun! I thought she was talking about party, love and pubs! But I was shocked when I heard the story. Could somebody do it or even if it was done would that be considered weird?

So what was the story about? Her friend, named M, was having a bad day. She did not know what was going wrong, she needed loneliness! She knew that could settle her real bad day. So she hired a taxi, asked him to go about the city and she spent a fortune for the ride. This friend of mine was shocked that could a female do that ever, but I thought it was the perfect thing to do! A drive with breeze on the face and time to be aloof could serve the best healer. Was the way weird or non cultural? I do not have comments for it, but I know that it was the most beautiful way to reconnect with life! And to end it, whatever connects with life is culturally correct.

And.. Happy New year to Everybody out there :).