Possibly the most challenging concept in the marketing is to deal with understanding the buyer behaviour. Consumer Buying Behaviour refers to the buying behaviour of the final customers, and households who buy goods and services for personal consumption. It is fascinating but different area to research and this is particularly relevant in the tourism field, where the decision to purchase by a consumer is of emotional significance. Consumers vary tremendously in age, income, education level and tastes and they buy an incredible variety of goods and services. Today market place has become very competitive. During the last 20 years hundreds of hotel companies developed new restaurants and hotels around the globe. In addition hospitality and tourism industry have undergone globalisation which has increased the competitors within the industry. So to attract the customers, the company that really understand how consumers will respond to different product features, price and advertising appeal has a great advantage over its competitors. Consumer behaviour is affected by many uncontrollable factors and their purchases are strongly influenced by cultural, social, personal and psychological factors. These factors cannot be control by marketers but must be taken into account before launching product or advertising the product.
Factors affecting consumer buying behaviour
Consumer decision making is essentially a problem solving process. Most customers, whether individual customers or organisational buyers, go through similar mental processes in deciding which products and brands to buy. The more marketers know about the factors affecting their customers buying behaviour the greater their ability to design attractive product or service offerings to define and target meaningful market segments, and to develop marketing programs to fit the concerns and desires of those segments. The factors affecting consumer behaviour are as follows:-
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References: 1. Philip Kotler, John T. Bowen, James C. Makens 2006 Fourth Edition, Marketing for Hospitality and Tourism, Prentice Hall, New Jersey. 2. Frances Brassington, Stephen Pettit 2007 Second Edition, Essentials of Marketing, Prentice Hall, England. 3. John W. Mullins, Orville C.Walker Jr. , Harper W. Boyd Jr. , Jean- Claude Larreche 2005 Fifth Edition, Marketing Management – A Strategic Decision Making Approach, McGraw-Hill Irwin, New York. 4. Williams, K.C 1981, Behavioural Aspects of Marketing, Heinemann Professional Publishing. 5. Angelina Harvey 2007, Lecturer Notes of Marketing Management and Research, Griffith College Dublin Ireland