Consumer decision making process and its influencing factors

AcknowledgementFirst of all I would like to thank Almighty Allah for helping me in every difficult time in completing my research. I would also like to thank my Parents and my Friends whom helped me in every possible way they can. Then I would like to take this opportunity to thank our instructor Mr. Sohail Chohan who helped us in every difficult situation which I faced in my whole Project. And last but not the least, I would like to thanks all the people who took their time to fill the questionnaires and helped me in completing my research properly.

Table of contentsTopics page noAbstract...............................................................................4Introduction.........................................................................5 Need to understand.............................................................5 Consumer purchase decision process..................................6 Factors that affect decision making process........................8 Types of buying behaviour..................................................14Literature review..................................................................15Objectives.............................................................................18 Variables.............................................................................18Hypothesis.............................................................................19Methodology.........................................................................19Results...................................................................................19Conclusion..............................................................................21References.............................................................................22Appendix................................................................................24

1. Abstract The purpose of this report is to outline and discuss the consumers purchase decision process and identify the factors that affect the decision process. This report will first outline and discuss the consumers purchase decision process including recognizing needs, gathering information, evaluating options, deciding to purchase and post purchase behaviour. Secondly, the report will identify the factors that affect the decision process including cultural, social, personal and psychological factors.

2. Introduction: In addition to understanding the needs of your customers, you also need to understand what motivates them to purchase, and how you can influence the buying process to ensure that your products or services are on the shopping list. Understanding your customers will help you to develop and distribute your product, as well as getting the right price point and developing successful promotional activities. The psychology of the buying process has been widely studied, and no matter what size your business, knowledge of this process can help you become more successful. Both businesses and consumers exhibit patterns of buying behaviour. The business model is less open to debate as your business customers will almost certainly have some formalised process of buying in place. Your task is to understand the process and match your marketing activities to the different stages of the process. This means that the customer will receive the right kind of contact at the right time.Consumer behavior is the study of individuals, groups, or organizations and the processes they use to select, secure, and dispose of products, services, experiences, or ideas to satisfy needs and the impacts that these processes have on the consumer and society.[1] It blends elements from psychology, sociology, social anthropology and economics. It attempts to understand the decision-making processes of buyers, both individually and in groups. It studies characteristics of individual consumers such as demographics and behavioral variables in an attempt to understand people's wants. It also tries to assess influences on the consumer from groups such as family, friends, reference groups, and society in general.Customer behavior study is based on consumer buying behavior, with the customer playing the three distinct roles of user, payer and buyer. Research has shown that consumer behavior is difficult to predict, even for experts in the field. Relationship marketing is an influential asset for customer behavior analysis as it has a keen interest in the re-discovery of the true meaning of marketing through the re-affirmation of the importance of the customer or buyer. A greater importance is also placed on consumer retention, customer relationship management, personalization, customization and one-to-one marketing. Social functions can be categorized into social choice and welfare functions.

2.1 Need to understand: Why consumers make the purchases that they make? What factors influence consumer purchases?The changing factors in our society .Consumer Buying Behaviour refers to the buying behaviour of the ultimate consumer.A consumers buyer behaviour is influenced by four major factors:1) Cultural,2) Social3) Personal4) Psychological.These factors cause consumers to develop product and brand preferences. Although many of these factors cannot be directly controlled by marketers, understanding of their impact is essential as marketing mix strategies can be developed to appeal to the preferences of the target market.When purchasing any product, a consumer goes through a decision process. This process consists of up to five stages:- Stage 1: problem recognition,- Stage 2: information search,- Stage 3: evaluation of alternatives,- Stage 4: purchase decision- Stage 5: post purchase behaviour.

2.2 Consumers purchase decision process In a complex purchase, consumers purchase decision process includes recognizing needs, gathering information, evaluating options, deciding to purchase and post purchase behaviour. Recognizing needNeed is consumers unsatisfactory state which is encouraging consumers to take action to improve it (Henry et al, 2007). Needs are closely linked and human activities. Peoples buying products or receiving services are to meet certain needs. After a need is met, new needs will be produced. Therefore, people needs will not be completely satisfied and will never have an end. For example, when hungry, consumers will take action to find food. However, faced with bread, biscuits, noodles, fast food and many other choice objects, in the end what food to eat is not entirely determined by the needs. In other words, needs only determine categories of alternative products. It does not provide full answers to why people buy a particular product, service or a particular brand of products and services. Gathering informationAfter recognizing what they need, consumers will gather information about the products or service to lay the groundwork to make a purchase decision. In general, Sources of information consumers would like to gather include personal sources (such as family, friends, neighbors, and acquaintances), commercial sources (such as advertising, salesmen, distributors, packaging, and exhibitions), public sources (such as mass media, consumer review organizations, etc.) and experience sources (such as the handling, inspection and use of products). For example, consumers may often see their neighbors, colleagues and friends frequently buy Coca-Cola's products but the market is also filled with a variety of beverage products. When they feel thirst and need to buy drinks, they may ask their neighbors, colleagues and friends for product information, including price, taste and so on.Evaluating optionsAfter gathering information about the products or brands, consumers may make out some options for the buying behavior. All kinds of information that consumers get may be repeated and even contradictory. Therefore, consumers also need to analyze, evaluate and select. This is a decisive part in the decision-making process. In the consumer's evaluation process, product performance is the primary issue considered by the purchaser. Different consumers show different degree of attention to the various properties of the product. For example, a young couple plans to buy a car. The husband who will be the main user of the car will be collect information focusing on the price and performance starting from the needs for going out by car instead of walking. Wife may place more emphasis on style and brand of choice.

Deciding to buyAfter the comparison and selection of information of products or service, consumers purchase intention may have been formed. That is to say that consumer will make purchase decisions at this stage. Consumer will make purchase decisions to determine why to buy, when to buy, who buy, how to buy, what products to buy and where to buy. The so-called pre-consumer psychology means the mental process in which the consumers make the decision. For example, when consumers feel hungry, they want to eat fast food. They may collect information about fast food restaurants from various channels including, as discussed before, personal sources commercial sources public sources and experience sources. By comparison and selection, Consumers may think McDonald's is the best choice because McDonald's is a multinational food company, and it is more than superior to other small shops and McDonald's is a well-known brand and they like the environment and services. Finally, consumers decide to buy fast food at McDonald's. For another example, when a consumer need lodging and go to a hotel and then determine which hotel to choose, in the process, he will consider many factors. The hotel's location and environment, dishes taste, health, price is an important factor affecting customers decision of the choice. After evaluation, he will choose a hotel with comfortable environment which can create and bring a good mood for guests.

Postpurchase behaviorAfter the purchase, consumers will make the evaluation of the product or service. The level of consumer satisfaction depends on the comparison between consumer expectations of product performance and the actual performance of product in use. The level of consumer satisfaction determines consumer activities after the purchase, determines whether the consumers repeat purchase the product and determines the attitude of consumers to the brand. In addition, the level of consumer satisfaction also affects other consumers and will result in a formation of a chain reaction. For example, in consumption in a hotel, customers have psychological needs for respect. The customer expects to get courteous reception, the courteous greeting and reception of hotel staffs in the service process. The customer also expects to get equal service. In the service, the customer does not want to be ignored or treated unfairly. The customer expects convenient and efficient service. The consumer wants to minimize the waiting time in the period staying in the hotel. After purchase the service, the consumer finds that none of his expectations has been met. The consumer makes a highly negative assessment of the hotel. Since then, the consumer will not patronize the hotel. To make matters worse for the hotel, the consumer will affect the buying behavior of his friends.2.3 Factors that affect the decision making process Consumer purchasing decision is affected by numerous factors to a large extent (Fraj & Martinez, 2007). There have been a lot of literatures on the impact factors of the consumer purchasing decision. Mastering the consumer behaviors of the target consumer source is undoubtedly great helpful for market segmentation, positioning, and restaurant food product development and service design. Most of the existing literatures are the studies on cultural, social, personal and psychological factors.

Cultural factorsCulture is the most basic determinants of human desires and behavior (Dittmar & Drury, 2000). In general, the impact of it on the consumer behavior is more profound than other factors. A kind of culture is composed of many elements, such as the spirit, attitude, norms, and customs and so on. For example, as a part of national culture, Food culture has a direct impact consumer behavior when they making decision for food or restaurant service. Western consumers might be more willing to opt for fast food, and Asians may be like Chinese food. For another example, General Motor (GM) failed to launch its luxury brand Cadillac into Japanese market, because it ignored the cultural factors. Cadillac represented the typical American culture with a symbol of the spirit of the United States. It turned out that the company ignored that oriental culture was introverted compared to American culture. The Japanese preferred to Toyotas Century rather than luxury Cadillac (Kacen & Lee, 2002).Social factorsConsumption behavior of consumers is also affected by a series of social factors, such as the relevant groups, family and social roles and status. Related groups are those groups have reference value to the consumer behavior (Marieke & Mooij, 2004). The related groups play two roles in consumer behavior. First, it provides a standardized code of conduct for the consumers. Second, it provides comparative reference for consumers. Families have a direct impact on the hotel consumer behavior. For example, food consumption habits of parents will influence their childrens. In a family, children will affect family buying decision on some specific types of product which are directly related to the childrens life such as snacks, recreational and school supplies. Personal factorsConsumer behavior is affected by the personal characteristics including stable factors and such as economic income, age, lifestyle and occupation and also including random factors (Steinfield, 2003). Stable factors will not only affect the purchase decision-making process, but also affect the speed of decision-making process. In a particular stage of decision-making process, purchase behavior depends in part on stable factors. For example, in the stage of collecting information, the age and income will largely affect the quantity and types of information sources and will also affect the time spent in the collect information Stable factors also have affect the consumer needs of products or service. For example, it is assumed that the annual income of a university professor is as much as that of an administrative officer, but the distribution of these revenues will vary considerably. This is because the two professional differences. They will need different things required in their work and different household items.Random factors refer to events that may occur when consumers purchase decision. Sometimes, the consumer purchase decision is made in unexpected circumstances (Lafferty & Hult, 2001). For example, someone might want to purchase a plane ticket and to spend their final days with his dying relative. The emergency situation of his relatives is a variable factor which affects the consumer's purchase decision because the consumer never usually purchases a plane ticket but often takes the train. The emergence of a situation may delay or reduce the people's decision making process (Park & Kim, 2003). For example, a consumer who is considering buying a computer may be hesitant in the evaluation and selection and this hesitation will certainly slow down the decision-making process or lead him to give up such purchases. However, if the consumer suddenly gets a high bonus for his excellent work performance, the consumer may immediately determine to buy a computer. As a result, decision-making process is shortened because of this unexpected factor.

Psychological factorsConsumer purchase decisions are affected by some psychological factors including attitudes, motivation, learning, perception as well as beliefs. Motivation is a need, which can lead people to seek to meet the target needs (Hausman, 2000). Perception depends on the physical characteristics of stimuli, but also depends on the relationship between stimulus and personal with the environment. People get their beliefs and attitudes through behavior and learning. In turn, consumer beliefs and attitudes will affect their buying behavior. For example, consumers purchase of McDonald's service and Coca-Cola's products is affected by buying motivation. Consumer needs determine what they want before the purchase decisions. Consumers need perfect dining environment and service when eating out and want new flavors when they want to drink. So, McDonalds focus on its dining environment and the service system is perfect in order to produce consumer motivation. Coca-Cola also continues to develop new flavors to produce consumer motivation. The two companies use marketing means such as coupons and prize-giving sales to promote consumption. Consumer motivation can lead to consumer decision-making. Influences on Decision-makingExternal factors

Group such as culture, family, friends, the referrer

Environmental factors such as time, temperature, etc.

Internal factors

Lifestyle, personality, decision making process, motivation, etc.Word of mouthAccording to East et al. (2008), identification of the people who give advice is the third concern of market researchers as to target this group of people as there is evidence that word of mouth can be a very effective strategy in which a lot of companies offer incentives to encourage the referrals (Buttle, 1998; Danaher and Rust, 1996, cited in East et al., 2008). However, it is not clearly identify if the people received the message would reconsider, knowing that the referrers are incentivized.Demographic factors Kotler (1997) mentioned that demographic factors influenced customer's buying decision are the internal factors including gender, age, income, education level and family size.

Kotler (2000) commented that the market is divided based on factors like age, gender, income, occupation, education, family size, and religion, race, generation, nationality and social class. These factors are the basic factors to differentiate customer groups as the customer wants, preferences and usage are usually involve demographic factors.Age Age is one of the demographic variables that often use to divide the market segment as it helps marketers to understand and keep themselves up to date of the changing life cycle of each generation (Dibb et al., 2006).

According to Flynn (1995), age is a very important demographic factors that influences on the decision making process on the purchase because natural factor, easy to measure and use it a lot of social science theories. Kotler (2000) mentioned that the different needs and wants are different in different age groups. People of different age have different needs and wants and buy different goods and services over their life time.Gender: Decision making may also be influenced on gender basis, certain products such as cosmetics etc are just used by females moreover some other products such as after shaves, shaving foams etc are used by males only so these factors affect purchasing.Education level Skinner (1994) has mentioned that educated customers tend to find more information on the product they are purchasing and demand better quality products and so education becomes one of the factors that influences the decision making process.

Solomon (2006) stated that the level of education might be related to the income level and occupation as the certain education level will be accepted by a certain social class in which education is also one of the factors that's being use to identify the social class in some area.

According to Dunne and Lusch (1999), the accomplishment in the education field is the most reliable index for the income potential, attitudes and the way of spending of a person. For example, graduate students have different buying behavior comparing to the undergraduate students even though they might stand in the same age group. They are more conscious of the quality, price and services.Occupation In accordance with Kotler and Armstrong (2001), the purchase made for goods and services are affected by a person's occupation. Identifying the occupational groups according to the interest in their products is an important thing for the marketers to do as a company will be able to focus on the target customers or even specialize on a certain products that will fit with the customers' needs.

Hawkins, Best and Coney (2001) mentioned the differences in consuming the products and services among the different occupational classes, whether it would be normal grocery like soap or food or even the electronic products like mobile phone or computer. It's not just the differences in the consumption, but also the media preferences and shopping patterns.Income According to Statt (1997), income is one of the variables that is used to identify the status of a person. It is considered to be one of the most important socio-economic status variable as the quantification can be easily done and compel the entry to some markets. Peter and Oslon (1996) have indicate that the different in the income level of people has influences on the value, behaviors and lifestyles.

In agreement with Solomon (1999), the buying power and market potential is also define by income of a person, as people obtain goods and services that they need to show their choices, in which more money will be required to do so.

Culture According to Solomon (2006), culture is a society's character that includes theoretical ideas like values and ethics and physical matters and services like automobile, clothes, food, sports, etc, that are delivered or respect by a society. In the other word, it's a set of belief, norms, values and traditions that share among the members.

Culture is being learned and has a long effect on the behavior of an individual. As an example of cultural influences, consider how the salesperson in a car showroom in England should approach the different couples of customers that visit as in some cultures the husband will be the one making the decision, while in the other it's the wife.Social Class This can be simply defined by set of factors like income, family background and occupation. "Social class is a much a state of being as it is of having: As Phile saw, class is also a matter of what one does with one's money and how one defines his rold in society". (Solomon 2006) However, it is mentioned in Solomon (2006) as one wealthy woman observed when she was asked to define social class: "I would suppose social class means where you went to school and how far. Your intelligence. Where you live... Where you send your children to school. The hobbies you have. Skiing, for example, is higher than the snowmobile... It can't be [just] money, because nobody ever knows that about you for sure."Lifestyle "Lifestyle is a person's pattern of living as expressed in his or her psychographics. It involves measuring consumer' major AIO dimension activities (work, hobbies, shopping, sports, social events), interest (food, fashion, family, recreation), and opinions (about themselves, social issues, business, products)." According to Kotler and Armstrong (2001), lifestyle is not just all about social class or personality, but it involves the entire life of a person. People from the same family, social class, or income level can have totally different lifestyles.

2.4 Types of buying decision behaviour According to Kotler and Armstrong (2001), the process of buying differs from each product or service, a bottle of shampoo, a tennis racket, an expensive mobile phone or computer and a new car. The harder the decision, it's usually the more expensive the product is and therefore require mostly more people and time to consider before making the decision. High Involvement Low InvolvementSignificant differences Complex buying Variety seekingBetween brands Behaviour Buying behaviourFew differences Dissonance-reducingHabitual buyingBetween brands Buying behaviour Behaviour

3. Literature Review: The topic of consumer behaviour is one of the massively studied topics by the researchers and marketers in the past and still being studied. Researchers show different reasons as to why consumer behaviour has been the topic of many academics and researchers. One of the common views is that understanding consumer behaviour has become a factor that has a direct impact on the overall performance of the businesses (Kotler and Keller, 2012). Another view suggests that understanding consumer behaviour has become crucial especially due to fierce competition in retail industry in the UK and worldwide (Lancaster et al, 2002). This chapter will introduce some other areas of research background of consumer behaviour addressing the works ofresearchersand marketers. Moreover, consumer decision making process, in particular, five stages of consumer decision making process will be discussed in detail.It is worth noting that consumer buying behaviour is studied as a part of the marketing and its main objective it to learn the way how the individuals, groups or organizations choose, buy use and dispose the goods and the factors such as their previous experience, taste, price and branding on which the consumers base their purchasing decisions (Kotler and Keller, 2012).One of such studies of consumer buying behaviour has been conducted by Acebron et al (2000). The aim of the study was to analyze the impact of previous experience on buying behaviour of fresh foods, particularly mussels. In their studies the authors used structural equation model in order to identify the relationship between the habits and previous experience on the consumer buying decision. Their findings show that personal habits and previous experience on of the consumers have a direct impact on the consumers purchase decision in the example of purchasing fresh mussels. They also found that the image of the product has a crucial impact on the purchasing decision of the consumer and further recommended that the product image should continuously be improved in order to encourage the consumers towards purchasing.Another study conducted by Variawa (2010) analyzed the influence of packaging on consumer decision making process for Fast Moving Consumer Goods. The aim of the research was to analyze the impact of packaging for decision making processes of low-income consumers in retail shopping. A survey method has been used in order to reach the research objectives. In a survey conducted in Star Hyper in the town of Canterville 250 respondents participated. The findings of the research indicate that low-income consumers have more preferences towards premium packaging as this can also be re-used after the product has been consumed. Although the findings indicate that there is a weak relationship between the product packaging and brand experience. However, it has been proven by the findings of the research that low-income consumers have greater brand experience from the purchase of premium products when compared to their experience from purchasing cheap brand products.Lee (2005) carried out study to learn the five stages of consumer decision making process in the example of China. The researcher focuses on the facts that affect the consumer decision making process on purchasing imported health food products, in particular demographic effects such as gender, education, income and marital status. The author employed questionnaire method in order to reach the objectives of the research. Analysis of five stages of consumer decision making process indicate that impact of family members on the consumer decision making process of purchasing imported health food products was significant.The author further explains this by the fact Chinese tradition of taking care of young and old family members have long been developed and marriage is considered to be extremely important in Chinese tradition. This reflects in the findings of the study that the purchase of imported health food products made by a person for the people outside the family is declined significantly by both male and female Chinese after they get married.Five Stages Model of consumer decision making process has also been studied by a number of other researchers. Although different researchers offer various tendencies towards the definitions of five stages, all of them have common views as they describe the stages in similar ways. One of the common models of consumer decision making process has been offered by Blackwell et al (2006). According to him, the five stages of consumer decision making process are followings: problem/need recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision made and post-purchase evaluation.Each stage is then defined by a number of researchers varying slightly but leading to a common view about what each stage involves. For example, according to Bruner (1993) first stage, need recognition occurs when an individual recognizes the difference between what they have and what they want/need to have. This view is also supported by Neal and Questel (2006) stating that need recognition occurs due to several factors and circumstances such as personal, professional and lifestyle which in turn lead to formation of idea of purchasing.In the next stage, consumer searches information related to desired product or service (Schiffman and Kanuk, 2007). Information search process can be internal and external. While internal search refers to the process where consumers rely on their personal experiences and believes, external search involves wide search of information which includes addressing the media and advertising or feedbacks from other people (Rose and Samouel, 2009).Once the relevant information about the product or service is obtained the next stage involves analyzing the alternatives. Kotler and Keller (2005) consider this stage as one of the important stages as the consumer considers all the types and alternatives taking into account the factors such as size, quality and also price.Backhaus et al (2007) suggested that purchase decision is one of the important stages as this stage refers to occurrence of transaction. In other words, once the consumer recognized the need, searched for relevant information and considered the alternatives he/she makes decision whether or not to make the decision. Purchasing decision can further be divided into planned purchase, partially purchase or impulse purchase as stated by Kacen (2002) which will be discussed further in detail in the next chapters.Finally, post-purchase decision involves experience of the consumer about their purchase. Although the importance of this stage is not highlighted by many authors Neal et al (2004) argues that this is perhaps one of the most important stages in the consumer decision making process as it directly affects the consumers purchases of the same product or service from the same supplier in the future.The most noteworthy writers that serve as academic advocates of The Five Stage Model of consumer decision making include Tyagi (2004), Kahle and Close (2006) Blackwell et al. (2006), and others.It is important to note that The Five Stage Model is not the only model related to consumer decision-making, and there are also a range of competing models that include Stimulus-Organism-Response Model of Decision Making developed by Hebb in 1950s, Prescriptive Cognitive Models, The Theory of Trying (Bagozzi and Warsaw, 1990), Model of Goal Directed Behaviour (Perugini and Bagozzi, 2001) and others. All of these models are analysed in great detail in Literature Review chapter of this work.

4. Objectives: The objective of consumer behaviour is that the consumer seeks to gain the best or the most goods and services for the least amount of money possible.4.1 Variables: Variable may refer to:a logical set of attributes The independent variable is also called an experimental variable. It is the variable being manipulated in the experiment in order to show the effect on the dependent variable. The dependent variable is also called the response variable. It is the variable being observed in the experiment. A change in the independent variable is what causes the change (if any) in the dependent variable, which is the purpose of the experiment.There are several variables in the consumer decision making process,that may affect them in some or in many ways:

5. Hypothesis: External factors may affect buying behaviour. Environmental factors may influence buying behaviour. Internal factors may change the buying behaviour of an individual.

6. Methodology: Several methods are used to identify the problems and their solutions. I have done a research work regarding the consumer buying decision behaviour and its influencing factors. The result is gathered by using a questionnaire method. It is a small research to know about the buying patterns of the consumer. From the population a sample of 20 respondents is chosen. They are well educated and aged from 18 to onwards. The scale used is likert scale, which measures strongly agreed, agreed, undecided, disagree and strongly disagreed. The respondents were given a questionnaire to share their views about the statements given in the questionnaire.

7. Results: 1. Do people buy products and services to meet their needs? 70% (14 out of 20) respondents strongly agreed it, means that people always buy products and services to meet their need. 2. 41% (7 out of 20) agreed that people get satisfied when they meet their needs. 3. 45% (8 out of 20) respondents prefer the performance of the product more than anything. 4. 41% (7 out of 20) agreed that they measure satisfaction level about a product by comparing the product with another product. 5. Does culture influence the buying behaviour? So 46% (9 out of 20) agreed that the culture do affect the purchasing pattern. 6. 55% (11 out of 20) also agreed that social factors do affect the buying behaviour. 7. Unexpected factors are responsible for buying behaviour and 50% (10 out of 20) agreed on this statement. 10. Attitudes, learning and beliefs are strongly agreed by 46% (9 out of 20) respondents important for buying behaviour. 11. (7 out of 20) 40% respondents disagreed that they change their buying decision by the word-of-mouth. 12. Do people go through different stages of decision making process? 45% (8 out of 20) agreed that they go through this process before they purchase anything. 13. Consumers are now-a-days more educated about the products and services, as we all know about it and this statement is agreed by 46% (9 out of 20) of the respondents. 14. 41% (7 out of 20) respondents disagreed that they look at the price of the product rather than its quality or performance while purchasing a product. 15. 46% (9 out of 20) agreed that they take hard decisions for expensive products.16. 50% (10 out of 20) respondents agreed that they take their purchases as a learned experience. 17. Branding influenced 40% (7 out of 20) respondents. 18. Information gathering is important for purchase decisions and 60% (12 out of 20) agreed on this. 19. Age related products are good or are purchased by different age groups and 46% (9 out of 20) strongly agreed this statement. 20. Family do influence buying decision and 65% (13 out of 20) agreed this statement. 21. 55% (11 out of 20) strongly agreed that television advertisements influence more than the magazine of printed advertisements. 22. 46% respondents agreed that advertising do influence their behaviour. 23. It remained undecided by 40% (7 out of 20) respondents that exaggerated ads affect negatively on the buying decision. 24. 50% (10 out of 20) strongly agreed that income and occupation plays an important role in buying behaviour of a person.8. Conclusion In purchase, consumers purchase decision process includes Recognizing needs, gathering information, evaluating options, deciding to purchase and post purchase behaviour. Need is consumers unsatisfactory state which is encouraging consumers to take action to improve it. After recognizing what they need, consumers will gather information about the products or service to lay the groundwork to make a purchase decision. After gathering information about the products or brands, consumers may make out some options for the buying behaviour. After the comparison and selection of information of products or service, consumers purchase intention may have been formed. After the purchase, consumers will make the evaluation of the product or service. Consumer purchasing decision is affected by numerous factors such as cultural, social, personal and psychological factors.

9.References:Assael Henry, Pope Nigel, Brennan Linda & Voges Kevin.(2007). Consumer Behaviour: A Strategic Approach. US: John Wiley & Sons

Charles William Steinfield. (2003). New Directions in Research on E-Commerce. US: Purdue University Press.Dittmar, H. and Drury, J. (2000). Self-image is it bag? A Qualitative Comparison between Ordinary and Excessive Consumers. Journal of Economic Psychology, 21(2), 109-142.Elena Fraj & Eva Martinez.(2007). Ecological Consumer Behavior: An Empirical Analysis. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 31(1), 2633.Hausman, A. (2000).A Multi-Method Investigation of Consumer Motivations in Impulse Buying Behavior. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 17(15), 403-419.Kacen, J. J., and Lee, J. A. (2002). The Influence of Culture on Consumer Impulse Buying Behavior. Journal of Consumer Impulse Buying Behavior, 12(2), 163-176.Lafferty BA & Hult TM (2001). A Synthesis of Contemporary Market Orientation Perspectives. European Journal of Marketing, 35 (1/2), 92-109.Marieke K. de Mooij.(2004). Consumer Behavior and Culture: Consequences For Global Marketing And Advertising .UK: Sage Publication, Inc.Park C-H.& Kim Y-G.(2003). Identifying Key Factors Affecting Consumer Purchase Behavior in An Online Shopping Context. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 31(1), 16-29.Bagozzi, R. & Warsaw, L. (1990) Trying to Consumer Journal of Consumer Research 17, (2) pp. 127 140.Backhaus, K. Hillig, T. and Wilken, R. (2007) Predicting purchase decision with different conjoint analysis methods, International Journal of Market Research. 49(3). Pp. 341-364.Blackwell, R., Miniard, P. and Engel, J. (2006) Consumer behavior, Mason: ThompsonHoyer, W.D. & Macinnis, D.J. (2008) Consumer Behaviour, 5th edition, Cengage LearningKacen. J. J. and Lee. J. A., (2002) The influence of culture on consumer impulsive buying behaviour, Journal of consumer psychology. 12(2), pp. 163-174.Kahle L.R. and Close, A. (2006) Consumer Behaviour Knowledge for Effective Sports and Event Marketing, Taylor & Francis, New York, USANeal, C., Quester, P. and Pettigrew, S. (2006) Consumer Behaviour: Implications for Marketing Strategy (5th edition) Berkshire: McGraw-HillPerugini, M. & Bagozzi, R. (2001) The role of desires and anticipated emotions in goal-directed behaviours: Broadening and deepening the theory of planned behaviour British Journal of Social Psychology, 40, pp. 79-98.Rose, S. and Samouel, P., (2009) Internal psychological versus external market-driven determinants of the amount of consumer information search amongst online shopper, Journal of Marketing Management. 25(1/2), pp. 171-190Schiffman, L., Hansen H. and Kanuk L. (2007) Consumer Behaviour: A European Outlook, London: Pearson EducationStallworth, P. (2008) Consumer behaviour and marketing strategic, online, pp.9.Tyagi, C. and Kumar, A. (2004) Consumer Behaviour, Atlantic Publishers, US10. Appendix:Name: _________________________ Your Occupation __________________________Gender Age ___________1. Male 2. FemaleStrongly Agreed 1Agree

2Undecided

3Disagree

4Strongly Disagreed

5

#Statements

1Do you buy product and service to meet your needs12345

2Do you think that people gets fully satisfied when they meet their needs12345

3Do you prefer product performance more than anything?12345

4Do you measure your satisfaction level by comparing the product you use with another product?12345

5Do you think your culture influence your purchasing behavior?12345

6DO social factors affect your consumption behavior?12345

7Do unexpected factors affect purchasing of a consumer?12345

8Are attitudes, learning and beliefs necessary for purchasing?12345

9Do you think one needs to be educated to buy a product or service?12345

10Do you change your purchase behavior by a word of mouth?12345

11Do you go through different stages of decision making process before buying a product or service?12345

12Is advertising important for making a purchase decision?12345

13Are consumers more educated about the products today?12345

14Do you only look at the price of the product or service rather than its quality or performance?12345

15Do you make hard decisions for expensive products?12345

16Do you take a purchases as your learned behavior?12345

17Does a brand influence your purchasing behavior?12345

18Do you think life style is not just all about social class or personality, does it involves the entire life of a person?12345

19Do you gather information for any product before you buy it?12345

20Do you like to buy products that suits your age?12345

21Does your family influence your purchasing behavior?12345

22Do you think television ads influence you more than newspaper or magazine ads?12345

23Does advertising influence your behavior positively?12345

24Do you agree that exaggerated ads affects negatively on your purchasing behavior?12345

25 Do you think that income and occupation plays a role in your buying behavior?12345

Figure of purchase decision process

Factors influencing buying behaviour

30