Consumer Psychology

This subject revolves around the two basic terms, Consumer and Psychology. Psychology is a scientific study about humans and their behaviour. It also talks about the preferences, habits and thinking of the consumer. The Consumer Psychologist studies the attitude and mindset of a consumer to help design advertisements and launch new products according to the consumer. Further, human behaviour is divided into four categories: Variety-seeking behaviour, Habitual buying behaviour, Complex buying behaviour and Dissonance-reducing buying behaviour. These four types of behaviour later decide the choice of consumers. Let us know them one by one. 

The discipline of the subject

The subject carries profound importance in Applied Social Sciences. It helps analyse “behaviour principles to understand the Consumer’s satisfaction”. The subject is a blend of Marketing Science and Economic Psychology. It teaches the various ways of studying the consumer’s behaviour while buying a product. 

Variety Seeking Behaviour

As the name suggests, this type of behaviour is shown by a customer who prefers a variety of goods. They do not go after a particular good or a product. They demand the alternate product or the product with similar qualities other than the one in hand. However, they love the product in hand but get even better. They never choose the brand products, go with the pretty available products, and look almost like a brand product. The best example of this behaviour is while a customer buys a coffee. Though he loves a specific toffee and knows its taste, he demands more toffee, which is similar in taste to the first one, caring least about the brand of toffees or their shape.

Habitual Buying Behaviour

It is the type of behaviour in which customers buy goods because they are in the habit of buying. They do not care about the brand or the value of the product. This behaviour is shown when the customer is not buying and buying for fun or recreation. Purchasing a regular product like a soap comes under this behaviour. The customer buys the particular soap because they like its fragrance or the brand of the soap. It may also be due to the influence of a celebrity or their favourite person appearing in the soap advertisement. So, the customer does not give up her choice for the same. She ignores another brand and always chooses the same. 

Complex Buying Behaviour 

This type of behaviour deals with the insecurity of buying a good. Complex buying behaviour is the perfect example when buying things that carry high prices like cars, houses, and businesses. Purchasing these things is rather complicated as it involves a considerable amount of money and high risk. So, this type of behaviour is typical during the deal. If a middle-class person buys a good worth that takes half of his salary, buying becomes complicated. An example of this behaviour is buying an expensive mobile like an iPhone. These cell phones may cost around 75-100K, which is a considerable price to pay. Buying it may cause a customer to think twice or thrice as it may complicate their regular expenses if their salary is around 70K. So, it creates a complex situation, which is why it is called Complex Buying behaviour.

Dissonance-reducing buying behaviour

This type of behaviour is towards a particular good regardless of the brand. Under this behaviour, the customer focuses more on the product, disregarding the brand’s quality. Customers may get deeply involved during buying, but they only check the quality of the product at hand. The product may belong to any brand, but it would be bought if it suits the customer. This behaviour is agreeable when a brand does not affect the importance of the material.

An example is when buying a diamond ring. Diamonds are high in cost, but it is due to the diamond present, not the brand. Under this behaviour, the brands play no importance.

Similarly, it does not matter what brand is used when buying a Notebook. The only thing that matters is how many pages it has or is it easy to carry. It depicts that brands do not carry importance in this behaviour.

Conclusion

Consumer Psychology plays a vital role in Social Psychology. It helps us understand a consumer’s behaviour through various behavioural studies. The studies mainly help to know about the preferences and habits. Further, the subject is divided into four types of behaviours: Variety-seeking behaviour, Habitual buying behaviour, Complex buying behaviour and Dissonance-reducing buying behaviour. This classification helps to understand the nature of customers and their cognitive thinking. As the name suggests, each category has its merit and demerit and relates to the brand and its importance. It also helps to know the involvement and choices of the customer and the different strategies to develop goods according to the customer’s needs.