ABSTRACT
Ability of the Marketing executive to effectively and efficiently design, plan and produce a product, price it, strategically promote and distinctively distribute it, is determined by his ability to make the product satisfactory to a complex set of consumers. McCarthy (1971) opines that, Marketing is the performance of business activities that direct the flow of goods and services from the producers to consumers or users in order to satisfy customers and accomplish the firm’s objectives. The consumer is the pivot on which all marketing activities and decisions revolve. The consumer as the central focus of marketing activities has remained complex and unpredictable. What motivates, induces or informs his choice of one product brand rather than the other has been a subject of investigations and researches. The formulation and adoption of major classic and contemporary models in consumer and organizational behaviour formanagerial decision-making in marketing practice is justified on the need to ensure knowledge of consumers for effective and efficient service delivery.
Consequently, this paper broadly reviews major classic contour behaviour models in relationship to managerial decision-making in marketing practice.
Keywords: Consumer Behaviour, Classic models, marketing practice, managerial decision-makings.
INTRODUCTION
The subject of consumer behaviour has dominated most part of contemporary Marketing literature. Colossal investments made in product design, packaging, quality distinction, advertising, sales promotion, among others are all aimed at wooing the customer to make favorable decisions towards a firm’s product offering.
The firm’s task is made even more complex because the complexity of the consumer makes it apparently difficult to instantly determine his needs and wants. The consumer makes decisions based on a lot of priorities, including among others personal beliefs, peer groupinfluences, social status, economic status, cultural affinity, and other environmental variables. Therefore, firmsare expected to sufficiently demonstrate how distinctive their product offerings qualify to receive the patronage of consumers.
Much as it is the obvious task of the firm to studyand identify the complexities in a consumer in order to serve him better, so also would the consumer consciously make deliberate efforts to choose between one firm’s offering and another.
A great deal of instruments is used by firms to determine consumer’s responses to their product brand,offerings and motivational appeals. Most prominent among themis consumer behaviour models.
These models attempt to diagrammatically and pictorially demonstrate the processes which the consumer,his environment and indeed the firm undergo before arriving at a purchase-decision.
In the circumstances these models standout as acceptable instruments which act as guide for managerial decision-making in marketing practice. Therefore discussions in this paper will be centered mainly on major classic and cotemporary models of consumer and organizational buying behaviour as they affect manageable decision making in marketing practice.
MEANING OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
Consumers are final users of finished products; they could be industrial, institutional, government, intermediate or households.
Essentially, purchases are made either for immediate consumption or for further production.
In the view of Nicosia (1996) a consumer is an individual who purchases, or has the capacity to purchase goods and services offered for sale by marketing