Literature Review of Buyer Behaviour Models

Literature Review of Buyer Behaviour ModelsThe purpose of marketing is to make consumers develop an crusade for a detail product even if they be not looking for the same. That is why organisations atomic number 18 required to understand the behaviour of customers before marketing their products in a more desirable way. Consumer behaviour is defined as the way the consumers act or be deal when looking for, purchase and using products (ODougherty, Haynes, Davies OConnor, 2007). Consumer behaviour is authoritative to byplayes as they determine the nature of the prospective buyers. Knowing consumer behaviour helps business enterprises to find out the best way to advertise the products in order to drag a particular set of consumers.In the earlier times, shop keepers were able to acquire a fair understanding of consumer behaviour because they sold their products directly to the customers. However, with the increase growth in the size of firms, opportunities of direct contact with consumers feed lowered. Increasingly, managers are investing more to gain an insight on consumer behaviour. As a consequence, business and academic researchers invest more resources in studying consumer energy for the improvement of businesses.Literature ReviewSeveral academics and professional have conducted their research on consumer behaviour. A review of the literatures would include significant theories and studies in this perspective.Stimulus-Behaviour ModelOne of the oldest ideals in regards to consumer behaviour is stimulus-behaviour model. The following model propagates that marketing and other stimuli influence the buyers black box, producing real responses (The Institute for workings Futures, n.d.). The stimuli can be of two kinds. The marketing stimuli or the marketing mix consist of 4 Ps including product, price, place and promotion. Others include economic, technological, governmental and cultural stimuli. All these stimuli move through the consumers black box and help them to make the product choice, brand choice, purchasing timing and purchasing amount.Figure 1 Stimulus-Behaviour Model(Source Tyagi Kumar, 2004)Apart from this simplified model, several other models have been genuine by the marketing scholars in the field of consumer behaviour. The most prominent models have been developed by John A. Howard and Jagdish N Sheth, Francesco M. Nicosia, James F. Engel, Roger D. Blackwell and David T. Kollat. The five stage model of buying process includes steps like recognizing the problems, searching for information, evaluating the alternatives, purchasing decision and bet purchase behaviour of the consumers. After purchasing the products, the buyer is expected to feel some level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction regarding the product or service acquired.The make out of organisational buying processes can be sort of large. Product and service marketers have recognized that at every step of the buying process, the purchaser can have differ ent requirements and various groups can get involved in the same.Buy Grid ModelAccording to the Buy Grid model, the process of decision devising within an organisation has two parts including buy phase model and buy class model. The stages in the Buy Phase model are quite similar to the buying stages discussed above. After identifying the requirements, industrial buyers pass through a number of processes including determination of requirements, specific description of the same, search for probable sources, assessment of the sources, filling of the same, establishment of order routine and appraisal of the performance feedback (Baker Hart, 2003).Figure 2 Buy Grid Model(Source Baker Hart, 2003)Buy class has been added to the same model to create a grid. Buy class model refers to the various types of buying decisions the decisions are mostly based on consumers experience about specific products or services. The new buying decision takes into account the products and services which h ave never been acquired, along with the unblemished process. The straight re-buy process and modified re-buy process consider little number of tasks as consumers do not need to spend time on searching for sources (Dwyer Fanner, 2008).Industrial Buying BehaviourBack in the division 1973, Sheth had proposed a model on the industrial buyers behaviour. The model is a complex one with a large number of inconsistents integrated in it.Figure 3 An Integrated Model of Industrial Buying Behaviour(Source Sheth, 1973)The model considers many variables. However, all of these variables hold relevance in the process that determines purchase decisions. Certain conditions are there which can be simplified depending on the situation. Prior to that, in the year 1966, Nicosia has proposed a model which included attitude, motivation and experience as the driving force behind the purchase process (Swarbrooke Horner, 2007).Buyer Seller InteractionIn 1985, Campbell criticized the Sheth model for not considering the interplay between the marketing and purchasing strategies and their antecedents. another(prenominal) disadvantage is that the model concentrates on the buyers side rather than paying attention to the sellers influence on buying behaviour. In contrast, an interaction model introduced by pixie group has focussed mostly on the interaction of the two parties giving almost equal importance to the characteristics of both the buyers and the sellers.According to the Campbell, the model includes three variable groups the buyers characteristics, the product and the supplier.Figure 4 Buyer Seller Interaction(Source Baker Hart, 2003)The above model considers few probable types of buyer and seller interaction strategies. These are competitive, cooperative and command. A joint occurrence of the above mentioned strategies can happen if both the parties have almost similar level of power and the switching hail to other suppliers is almost equal for every case. In command buying, the consumer is expected to have more power than the vendor. Cooperative buying mostly happens between the manufacturing business and the distributor of the products, when cooperation is required between the two. The above model shows buyers and sellers characteristics with detailed discussion on the interaction. in that location are certain other concepts related to consumers buying behaviour. There are a number of people, directly and indirectly involved in the purchasing processes. The buying centre is comprised of all the people involved in the buying process. The initiator, user, buyer, influencer, decider and gatekeeper are individuals or groups involved in the various stages of the process. The initiator is the individual or group who first suggests the need of purchasing a particular product. The influencer is the individual or group, who would have his or her input in the entire process. People, controlling the information flow and access to concerned individuals in the org anisations, are the gatekeepers of the entire process (Folsom Boulware, 2004). Apart from those mentioned above, there are several others involved in significant stages of the process.ConclusionAfter critically examining all these models, it was understood that most of these models have taken into account a number of broad factors which are comprehended according to the model specifications. Most of these models start with the initiation of expectations among the consumers. Certain other factors much(prenominal)(prenominal) as lifestyle of the users, status of the consumers, information sources such as exhibition and shows, advertisements, word- of-mouth may result in influential factors behind the consumers purchasing processes. Certain factors, such as time pressure and inherent risk are quite specific to the respective product and have the ability to put an impact on purchasing process. Apart from these, there can be certain other situational and company specific factors influe ncing the choice of suppliers (Sheth, 1973). Post-purchase satisfaction also triggers the re-buying process.ReferenceBaker, J., M Hart, S. 2003. The merchandise Book. Butterworth-Heineman.Dwyer, R., F. Fanner, F., J. 2008. Business Marketing. New York McGraw Hill.Folsom, D. W. Boulware, R. 2004. Encyclopedia of American business. NewYork Infobase Publishing.ODougherty, D., Haynes, R., Davies, V. M. OConnor, M. 2007. Consumer Behavior. South Africa Pearson Education.Sheth, N. J. 1973. A Model of Industrial Buyer Behaviur. Pdf. Available at http//www.jagsheth.net/docs/A%20Model%20of%20Industrial%20BuyerBehavior.pdf Accessed on November 01, 2010.The Institute for Working Futures. No Date. Consumer Buying Behavior. Online. Available at http//www.marcbowles.com/courses/adv_dip/module12/chapter4/amc12_ch4_two.htm Accessed on November 01, 2010.Tyagi, L., C. Kumar, A. 2004. Consumer Behaviour. Atlantic Publishers Distribution.Swarbrooke, J. Horner, S. 2007. Consumer behaviour in tou rism. USA Elsevier Ltd.