Overview

An understanding of consumer behaviour is critical to understanding all marketing activity which aims to develop, promote and sell products. By understanding how consumers make their decisions to purchase and/or consume products we are able to gain a better understanding of when we need to intervene in their decision-making process. Appropriate intervention can, in turn, be used to persuade them to purchase our product. As Swarbrooke and Horner (1999:3) argue, We will know who to target at a particular time with a particular product. More importantly, we will know how to persuade them to choose certain products which we will have designed more effectively to meet their particular needs and wants. An understanding of consumer behaviour is therefore crucial to make marketing activity more successful .

Consumer behaviour is the behaviour that consumers display in searching for, purchasing, using, evaluating, and disposing of products, services and ideas which they expect will satisfy their needs (Schiffman and Kanuk 1987:6). Consumers are influenced in their decision-making processes by many internal and external motivators and determinants when they choose products. Consumer behaviour research is the study of why people, either individually or in groups, buy the product they do and how they make their decision (Swarbrooke and Horner 1999). Such research therefore examines a range of internal (e.g. motivation, attitudes and beliefs, learning, lifestyles and personality) and external (e.g. demographics, reference groups and culture) influences on decision-making (e.g. purchase decision, choice, brand awareness and loyalty,...