You are on page 1of 4

Available online at http://www.ijasrd.

org/in

International Journal of Advanced Scientific


Research & Development
Vol. 03, Iss. 03, Ver. I, Jul Sep 2016, pp. 83 86

e-ISSN: 2395-6089
p-ISSN: 2394-8906

A Study on Habitual Buyers with Special Reference to


Household Products
Dr. O. M. HAJAMOHIDEEN
Asso. Prof., Research Supervisor & Head, Dept of Busines Administration, Khadir Mohideen College,
Adirampattinam 614 701.

Dr. J. MOHAN RAJ


Asso. Prof., Dept. of Business Administration, Don Bosco College of Arts & Science, Thamanangudy,
Karaikal 609 601.

ARTICLE INFO

ABSTRACT

Article History:

The country is having more market potential and difference


in customer behavior in buying goods and services. A
persons income is a determinant factor in the product
purchases with some choice and alternatives. So the
marketer has to understand the behaviour of habitual buyers
towards the sub product categories and to design promotional
programs for that particular group.

Received: 25 Sep 2016;


Received in revised form:
28 Sep 2016;
Accepted: 29 Sep 2016;
Published online: 30 Sep 2016.

Key words:
Habitual,
Behaviour,
Tradeoff Strategy,
Personal Factors

JEC Classification:
Copyright 2016 IJASRD. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Common Attibution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original
work is properly cited.

INTRODUCTION
The customer buying behavior rapidly changes in India due to demographic
variables like gender, qualification, income, age, religion and region. The technological
developments have played an important role in customers purchasing behavior of goods and
services. Similarly the purchasing behavior of customers varies from one country to other
country. Especially the habitual buying behavior of customers involves, that requires low
involvement and are meant for quick consumption.
1.1 Need for the Study
The marketer has to understand the customer expectation of the particular segment
and has to create a competitive advantage over it. This will be helpful for developing new
products, designing of integrated marketing programs, customer loyalty and to provide good
customer service.
How to cite this article: Hajamohideen, O. M. & Raj, M. J. (2016). A Study on Habitual Buyers with Special Reference to
Household Products. International Journal of Advanced Scientific Research & Development (IJASRD), 03 (03/I), pp. 83 86.

A Study on Habitual Buyers with Special Reference to Household Products

1.2 Statement of the Problem


The buying process of habitual customer group changes in terms of need and wants,
information search,decision making, spending pattern, price, preference product categories,
purchasing factors and the level of customer satisfaction. Hence there is a need to study
about the influence of various factors that determine the buying behaviour of habitual
buyers.
1.3 Objectives of the Study
To study the determinants of buying behaviour of habitual buyers.
To examine the consumer decision making in purchasing of products with regard to
the habitual buyers.
To analyse the customer satisfaction of habitual buyers while purchasing the
products.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The researcher has reviewed the secondary sources of information from the journals
and study related research reports which is useful to understand the habitual customer
behaviour and to bridge the gap between the target customer group and the product. The
research is exploratory in nature. The secondary data is collected from the various sources
like journals magazines, research reports, internet and newspapers.
2.1 Review of Literature
The Weendy Wood et.al (2009), highlighted the customer habits occur due to
previous experience, automatically and reacting towards the current environment. This is
mainly due to family heredity and cue and their focus is to achieve the long term objectives
in his life. The habits are influencing the customer to take decisions in purchasing the
products and in some other activities. Natascha Loebnitz et. al (2015), illustrated the
product attributes and values it matches towards the needs and wants of the customer.
Jouni T. Kujala et.al (1993) Fritz Strack et.al (2006), explained his concept through dual
system assumption model where the consumer purchases are based on individual personal
factors and needs.
Ninya Maubach et.al (2009) highlighted the parentspreference to buy good quality
products for their family consumption. Francis J Mulhern et.al (1998) described that, the
price is directly associated with the household income. The income is the primary factor in
choosing the products for their consumption and it will create the future demand for the
product. Mindy F. Ji et.al (2007) highlighted the purchase and consumption of products and
service is regular in our daily life. The habitual customer purchases the products based on
environmental cue and notonanalysing the information for decision making.
M. Y. Lin & L. H. Chang (2003) described customers factors towards purchasing like
brand awareness, price, availability, accessibility and customer service. The ultimate goal is
to satisfy the customers and to retain the customer in competitive environment. Ram
Herstein et.al (2007) studied the particular customer group, customer willingness towards
the different product categories that would be helpful to develop the business in particular
region. Klas Hiort et.al (2013) highlighted the segmentation of customer based on product,
price, sales and service differentiation.
Volume 03, Issue 03, Version I, Jul Sep 2016

84

Hajamohideen et al. (2016)

The literature review describes the consumer decision making towards goods and
services purchases based on psychographic factors, customer profile analysis and utility
function. Seung PyoJun et.al (2016) highlighted that,the product information search, price
and repetition of purchase is are the most important factor in non-durable goods. Pat Auger
et.al (2010) illustrated that the trade off between the environmental and labour income is
the purchasing decisions of products. Sporles et.al(1986) highlights the customer minds
works with choice and alternatives in purchasing the products from any place. Bae et.al
(2009) identified difference between the gender of consumer and purchasing decisions. Hiu
et.al (2001) highlighted the different styles of decision making between the male and female
customers.
Chun-Hua Hsiao et.al (2016) discussed that the customer satisfaction level will make
repeat purchase of the products for their consumption. David M. Woisetschlager et.al
(2011), described the behavior of customer towards products satisfaction, switching and
loyalty behaviour of the customers due to the influence of members of the family or
community group. The study has minimum reviews and related to different industries
perspective.
FINDINGS OF THE STUDY
The habitual customer behavior based on family lifestyle, satisfaction and incomeare
the primary factors in consumption of product and services. They are more utility
consciousness and satisfaction of product (or) service lead to repeat purchases and take less
involvement in decision making. The major findings of the study is that environment and
gender wise decision making varies with respect to product preference, price and other
benefits is calculated by the choice and alternatives offered by the marketers.
RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE STUDY
The application of classical conditional theory and the repetition of product
advertisement in media will change the involvement level of the productand familiarity to
the customer.
CONCLUSION
The customers in this group have limited knowledge about the product and they
made repeated purchases of product based on needs and price. The marketers can
understand and develop customer attitude and familiarity of product by advertisement in
media. The customer should be made to recognise and recall the product information. It will
increase the sales and create a competitive advantage over other sellers.
REFERENCES
[1] Auger, P., Devinney, T. M. Louviere, J. J. & Burke, P. F. (2010), "The Importance of Social
Product Attributes in Consumer Purchasing Decisions: A Multi-Country Comparative
Study", International Business Review, 19 (2), pp. 140 - 159. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.1270474.
[2] Bae, S., & Miller, J. (2009). "Consumer Decision-Making Styles for Sport Apparel: Gender
Comparisons Between College Consumers". Journal of Research, 4 (1), pp. 40 - 45.
85

Volume 03, Issue 03, Version I, Jul Sep 2016

A Study on Habitual Buyers with Special Reference to Household Products

[3] Herstein, R. & Tifferet. S. (2007), "An Investigation of the New Generic Consumer", Journal
of
Consumer
Marketing,
24
(3),
pp.133

141.
DOI:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/07363760710746139.
[4] Hiu, S. Y., Siu, Y. M., Wang, C. L., & Chang M. K. (2001). "An Investigation of DecisionMaking Styles of Consumers in China". Journal of Consumer Affairs, 35, pp. 326 - 345.
DOI: 10.1111/j.1745-6606.2001.tb00117.x.
[5] Hjort, K., Lantz, B., Ericsson, D. & Gattorna, J. (2013), "Customer Segmentation Based on
Buying and Returning Behaviour", International Journal of Physical Distribution &
Logistics Management, 43 (10), pp. 852 865. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/IJPDLM-022013-0020.
[6] Kujala, J. T. & Johnson, M. D. (1993), "Price Knowledge and Search Behavior for Habitual,
Low Involvement Food Purchases", Journal of Economic Pychology, 14 (2), pp. 249 - 265.
DOI: 10.1016/0167-4870(93)90002-3.
[7] Lin, M. Y. & Chang, L. H. (2003), "Determinants of Habitual Behavior for National and
Leading Brands in China", Journal of Product & Brand Management, 12 (2), pp.94
107.
[8] Loebnitz, N., Loose, S. M. & Grunert, K. G. (2015), "Impacts of Situational Factors on Process
Attribute Uses for Food Purchases", Food Quality and Preference, 44, pp. 84 - 91. DOI:
10.1016/j.foodqual.2015.03.014.
[9] Sproles, G. B. & Kendall, E. (1986). "A Methodology for Profiling Consumers Decision
Making Styles". Journal of Consumer Affairs, 20, pp. 267 - 279. DOI: 10.1111/j.17456606.1986.tb00382.x.
[10] Sproles, G. B. (1983). "Conceptualisation and Measurement of Optimal Consumer DecisionMaking". Journal of Consumer Affairs, 17, pp. 421 - 438.
[11] Strack, F., Werth, L. & Deutsch, R. (2006), "Reflective and Impulsive Determinants of
Consumer Behavior", Journal of Consumer Psychology, 16 (3), pp. 205 - 216. DOI:
10.1207/s15327663jcp1603_2.
[12] Woisetschlager, D. M., Lentz, P. & Evanschitzky. H. (2011), "How Habits, Social Ties, and
Economic Switching Barriers Affect Customer Loyalty in Contractual Service Settings",
Journal
of
Business
Research,
64
(8),
pp.
800

808.
DOI:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2010.10.007.
[13] Wood, W. & Neal, D. T. (2009). "The Habitual Consumer", Journal of Consumer Psychology,
19 (4), pp. 579 - 592. DOI: 10.1016/j.jcps.2009.08.003.

Volume 03, Issue 03, Version I, Jul Sep 2016

86

You might also like