Page 148 - DMGT551_RETAIL_BUSINESS_ENVIRONMENT

Unit 7: The Customers and the Retail Business: Knowing Your Customers

There are three fundamental patterns which a consumer can follow and they could be: (i) Notes
Brand first, retail outlet second, (ii) Retail outlet first, brand second, and (iii) Brand and
retail outlet simultaneously.

7.8 Keywords

Attitude: It is a favorable or unfavorable predisposition that consumers hold towards products
and services.

Beliefs: These are the descriptive thoughts that people hold towards products and services.
Consumer: An individual or organisation unit that uses or consumes a product service.
Culture: It is the wholesome way of consumers and explains his mosaic of living. It is a way of
living that distinguishes a group of people from others. Culture is learned and transmitted from
one generation to another.
Evoked set: A group of relevant brands that a prospective consumer is favorably familiar with
when they are thinking about making a purchase.
Family: A group of two or more people related by blood, marriage or adoption, living together
in a household.
Impulse Buying: A type of low involvement decision making where purchases are made with
little or no advance planning
Perception: It is the process by which people select, organize, and interpret information to form
a meaningful picture of the world.

Reference group: People whose attitudes, behavior, beliefs, opinions, preferences, and values are
used by an individual as the basis for his or her judgment.

7.9 Review Questions

1. Examine the role of studying consumer behaviour in success of retail brands like Big
Bazaar and Shoppers Stop.
2. Discuss two situations, with examples, that show the influence of culture/Sub- culture on
consumer purchase behaviour.

3. Describe how reference groups can influence consumers’ buying behaviour. Give two
examples.
4. Discuss the impact of psychological variables on consumer behaviour, with examples.

5. Discuss the consumer decision making process in brief.
6. What characterizes consumers’ shopping behaviour? How can the retailers ensure that
consumers’ choose their outlet to shop?

7. For a retailer of your choice, discuss how elements in the product/service offer reflect the
lifestyle of their customers.
8. Discuss the cultural changes that are taking place within your country. Identify retailers
who stand to gain and those who may lose out because of these changes.
9. Review the buying process that you went through when you last purchased a high
involvement product. To what extent did the retail outlet (rather than the product itself)
influence your choice of product and store? Can you think of anything further retailers

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