Principles+of+Consumer+Behavior

===Wal-Mart is the world’s largest retailer. It is also a huge customer. Manufacturers work hard to sell their products to Wal-Mart. These businesses know that a sale to the giant retailer can have a dramatic effect on their success. Because of its size, Wal-Mart can often dictate how other businesses operate. ===

**Need, Want and Behaviors **
===Why do you purchase a certain product? When is a brand name important? What causes you to return a product? Do you frequently try new products or buy from companies with which you are not familiar? The answers to these questions describe your behavior as a consumer. ===

===**Consumer behavior ** is the study of how people make decisions about the purchase and use of products and services. Businesses study consumer behavior in order to understand what they must do to satisfy customer needs. With careful study, businesses can make better decisions about the target markets they plan to serve and the marketing mixes they will use to satisfy their customers. Effective marketing results in satisfying exchanges. Understanding consumer behavior helps businesses improve customer satisfaction. ===

===E-commerce presents new challenges for businesses. Many of the principles of consumer behavior that have worked in traditional businesses will apply to e-commerce. However, purchasing on the Internet is different in some ways. ===

**Understanding Consumer Needs **
===Consumers use resources (money) to purchase products and services that satisfy their needs and wants. Most people do not have enough money to purchase everything they want. They must gather information and decide if a purchase will provide enough satisfaction to be worth the price. ===

===Needs are those things that are required for you to live. Wants are unfulfilled desires. Examples of needs are food that prevents you from starving and shelter that provides you with a safe and comfortable place to live. Many consumers have adequate resources to meet basic needs. Therefore, they don’t devote a great deal of time and effort in making decisions about need satisfaction. Instead, they must decide which of their wants are most important and the products and services that will best satisfy these wants. A number of factors influence a consumer’s choices. ===

===Consumers usually want to make rational decisions. They will consider several alternatives to determine which is the greatest value. The “greatest value” does not always mean the product with the lowest price. Rather, it is the product that will provide the greatest satisfaction for the cost. ===

===Other factors can make the purchase decision more emotional than rational. Fear, guilt, excitement, or emergency situations may be reasons for selecting a certain product. Personality and self-image have a strong influence on consumer behavior. Also, the social groups to which a person belongs or with which a person wants to identify will affect purchase decisions. Emotional motives are more difficult to predict than rational motives. As you examine everything from a brand’s package design to advertising messages, you can see the power of emotions on purchasing decisions. ===

**Features and Benefits **
===Businesses offer products with a number of features. A **feature** is a specific characteristic of a product. Examples of features for a shirt are the fabric, style, and color. Some features of a product may be quite similar to those of other products. Other features are unique. Businesses design products with features that they believe will best meet customer needs. ===

===Features have little value to consumers unless they see the associated benefits. A **benefit** is the advantage gained from a product feature. Have you ever read the technical descriptions of several computers and wondered what each meant and whether it was important to you? Until you understand the benefit of each feature, it is difficult to choose the computer that is best for you. Businesses must understand customer needs and how their products’ features benefit the customer. Then they must communicate those benefits in a way that the customer understands. ===