Consumer Behavior

While looking for a pg I met 1 of the owners and he asked me what am I working on and I told him branding and packaging and I don't know why but he was surprised to see a graphic designer working on packaging. But he happened to be in the packaging field....he used to be a manufacturer. He got interested and asked me in detail about the project and advised me to visit few manufacturers and asked me what was my plan. I said I was looking for plastic pouch so he said don't go for plastic pouch, go for plastic bottles instead since people prefer it more because they are reusable. That is when I decided to concentrate on consumer behavior. And in India where culture and religion influences consumers buying pattern, it is essential to know consumer behavior

Why consumer behavior?

The very existence of organizations/business companies is due to the existence of consumers. If there are no consumers or less than required for a business to run, there is no need to run a business. Or otherwise it will go to loss. Consumer behavior is a very vast topic as it directly influences the performance of businesses. Most of the times companies commence market/customer/consumer analysis to get the trends in market. We may refer psychographical segmentation, geographical segmentation and behavioral segmentation. After getting ample knowledge about the consumer behavior the business executives, market analysts and entrepreneurs may manage their business operations and priorities accordingly.

Few observations done by me on consumer behavior:
-it is good to have a bigger package than required since consumer tends to think that bigger the bottle, more the quantity.

-people would prefer a plastic bottle over a plastic pouch since they are reusable.

-people tend to buy a product if recommended by a friend or family member.

-people look for products that have discount or freebies

-Indian consumers always thinks of value for money

-consumers mostly compare prices of similar products

A customer’s want has to be identified and his expectations must be matched with the other economic and social factors so that their product is receptive.

It’s just that they want the product to be flexible and adaptable to their needs and preferences.

Does consumers' selection of retail outlets depend on the brands available or is it the retail outlet first and the brand next?

There are three fundamental patterns which a consumer can follow and they could be:

(I) Brand first, retail outlet second

(ii) Retail outlet first, brand second

(iii) Brand and retail outlet simultaneously

Reference: thehindubusinessline.com, blurtit.com