Traditionally, marketers segmented huge databases of customers by geography as well as purchase history. However, as consumer and buying behaviour has become more trackable, marketers are using that data to categorise consumers on a deeper level and target them with unprecedented precision. Segmentation based on buying behaviour, especially online, is helping marketers better detect patterns.
The Importance Of Understanding Consumer Buying Behaviour
For marketing companies, understanding the consumer buying behaviour is critical. Buying behaviour of consumers can be classified depending upon the type of product that the customers are looking to buy.
Depending upon their involvement and difference between products, consumers can be classified as:
- Complex-buying consumers,
- Variety-seeking consumers,
- Dissonance-reducing consumers, and
- Habitual-buying behaviour.
Complex-buying behaviour is shown by consumers who seek high involvement in a product which is usually in the premium niche market and has a higher value. Customers buying laptops and cars are examples of complex-buying behaviour.
On the other hand, when a huge variety of high-involvement products are available, customers tend to show dissonance-reducing buying behaviour. This is in the case of mobile phones.
Customers also tend to be variety-seeking when a low involvement is there. This is as in the case of customers buying biscuits, wafers, soft drinks, etc. However, there are certain products which customers have to buy as a routine and hence they show a habitual-buying behaviour like in the case of salt, rice, etc.
