Buyer Behavior - Definition & Meaning
What is Buyer Behavior?
Buyer behavior is the study of how an individual or a group of customers select and analyze a product or service. It attempts to understand the decision making process of a customer while selecting a product or service out of all the myriad alternatives available in the market.
There are various factors which play a role in the whole process of decision making:
- Environmental factors
- Economic factors
- Technological factors
- Political factors
- Cultural factors
- Demographic factors
- Market factors – Price, place, promotion, product
- Psychological factors
The following are the various stages:
1. Need recognition- The buyer here recognizes his needs and problems and finds out what product can fulfill his needs.
2. Information search – The customer goes through various means through which he can obtain the information about the product or service that he desires. He comes to know about the various alternatives available.
3. Evaluation of alternatives – at this stage, the prospective buyer analyzes the various available alternatives on the basis of many factors like price, shelf life, usability, duration of use, etc.
4. Purchase decision – The buyer, after sorting out 2-3 alternatives that he finds better suited than the rest, then actually purchases the product. Here the product visibility and availability is important.
5. Post purchase evaluation – The buyer uses the product and evaluates it in terms of the fulfillment of the various needs that the product claims to satisfy. This is important process and may decide whether the buyer will purchase the product again.
Hence, this concludes the definition of Buyer Behavior along with its overview.
This article has been researched & authored by the Business Concepts Team. It has been reviewed & published by the MBA Skool Team. The content on MBA Skool has been created for educational & academic purpose only.
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