Page 10 - DMGT506_CONSUMER_BEHAVIOUR

Unit 1: Introduction to Consumer Behaviour

Other important factors that contributed to the development of consumer behaviour as a Notes
marketing discipline include shorter product life cycles, increased environmental concerns,
interest in consumer protection, growth of services marketing, opening up of international
markets and the development of computers and sophisticated techniques of statistical analysis.

1.4.1 Development of Marketing Concept

Marketing concept evolved in late 1950s and the field of consumer behaviour is deeply rooted in
this concept.
After World War II, there was great demand for almost all sorts of products and the marketing
philosophy was to produce cheap goods and make them available at as many places as possible.
This approach suited the marketers because demand exceeded supply and consumers were more
interested in obtaining the product rather than in any specific features.
This approach is called a production orientation and is based on the assumption that consumers
will buy what is available and would not wait for what they really want. The marketer does not
really care to know what consumer preferences are.
The next stage has been product orientation, which assumes that consumers will buy the product
that offers them the highest quality in terms of performance and features. The company makes
all efforts to improve product quality. The focus is on the product rather than on what the
consumers need or want. Professor Levitt has called this excessive focus on product quality as
“marketing myopia.” This we see happen in highly competitive markets where some companies
keep on adding unnecessary features, passing their cost on to the consumers, in hopes of attracting
them.
Selling orientation evolved as a natural consequence of production orientation and product
orientation. The marketer is primarily focused on selling the product that it unilaterally decided
to produce. The assumption of this approach is that consumers would not buy enough of this
product unless they are actively and aggressively persuaded to do so. This approach is known as
“hard-sell” and consumers are induced to buy what they do not want or need. The problem with
this approach is that it does not take consumer satisfaction into account. This often leads to
dissatisfaction and unhappiness in consumers and is likely to be communicated by word-of-
mouth to other potential consumers, discouraging them to buy the product.

Soon marketers realised that they could easily sell more goods if they produced only those
goods that they had first confirmed consumers would buy. Thus, consumer needs and wants
became the marketer’s primary focus. This consumer-oriented marketing approach came to be
called as the marketing concept. The important assumption underlying marketing concept is
that a company must determine the needs and wants of its target markets and deliver the desired
satisfactions more efficiently and effectively than the competition. This is the key to successful
marketing.
1.4.2 Disciplines involved in the Study of Consumer Behaviour

Consumer behaviour was a relatively new field of study during the second half of 1960s without
a history or research of its own. It is in fact a subset of human behaviour and it is often difficult
to draw a distinct line between consumer-related behaviour and other aspects of human
behaviour. The discipline of consumer behaviour has borrowed heavily from concepts developed
in other disciplines of study such as psychology, sociology, social psychology, cultural
anthropology and economics.

1. Psychology is the study of the individual which includes motivation, perception, attitudes,
personality and learning theories. All these factors are critical to an understanding of
consumer behaviour and help us to comprehend consumption related needs of individuals,

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