Introduction

A consumer is an individual or group of people who intend to purchase or purchase goods &
services for personal use. A distinction that needs to be made is that consumers buy products for
their own use, not for resale or commercial use. In an economic sense, consumers are all human
beings. They buy products in exchange for money, which creates the economy. Without demands
from consumers, there will be no motivation for producers to produce and sell products to
consumers (Singh and Dall'Olmo Riley, 2021).

Consumer behavior is the tool used by marketers to study the buying behavior of the consumer
and trends. With the rise of the internet and the invention of social media consumer behavior is
rapidly changing at a speed that is becoming hard to keep pace with. Marketers nowadays need to
be more proactive than reactive. Consumers nowadays are more focusing on values rather than
impulse buying. Traditional shops are closing as sales occur more on social media and online
platforms. Study of consumer behavior or behavioral economics is more important now than
ever.
Contemporary Perspectives on Consumption.
Consumption is defined as the use of resources, i.e. goods & services, to satisfy the needs and
wants of the human being. Consumption is the main purpose of all financial activities.
Economists measure consumption for two reasons, such as assessing the total saving of each
household that is the portion of income that is not used for goods & services, which indicate
the aggregate supply of capital, and study of consumer behavior, which provide a good
indicator for aggregate national output of the economy (Earl, 2022).

Consumption history has been changing throughout the course of human lives. In the early
days, humans used to produce only that amount they could consume, called subsistence level
of consumption. But as the productions and needs of human being diversified, humans started
to share resources through bartering. The most important turn was the use of exchange of
money for resources as bartering created the problem of misevaluation of goods and services.
Consumption really changed with the industrial revolution. Commercialization of goods and
services and trade across the borders gave birth to the modern economy and globalization.
Contemporary Perspectives on Consumption.

Contemporary perspectives of consumption are highly associated with consumer behavior.

Consumer behavior is important because as consumer behavior changes consumption habit of
people changes. Consumer behavior is influenced by the following factors: behavioral insight,
technological advancement, innovation, social media, and neuromarketing. Consumer
behavior detects the buying habits of individual that is either automatic or reflective.
Automatic buying is also considered as impulse buying that is buying goods & services
without rationality and reflective buying is when an individual consciously buys what is
essential for him/her. Technological advancement and innovation allowed more targeted
products with affordable costs. Social media and neuromarketing have allowed buyers to
target consumers more effectively.
Individual Decision Making and Involvement.
 

Consumer involvement is the study of consumer behavior that motivates an individual to make a
buying decision or what influences the decision making of the individual when placing orders for
products & services (Nguyen and Johnson, 2020). Consumer involvement is influenced by various
factors, which ultimately affect the individual decision-making process.

There are three types of consumer involvement. Low involvement, consumption decision that is
considered a habitual decision, products, and services that an individual buys regularly and does not
have to do any research. Moderate involvement, consumption decision that is considered simple
decision, made in the store and does not take a long time to conduct research. High involvement,
consumption decision that takes a considerable amount of time and research, consider a one-time
purchase and takes good amount money.
Individual Decision Making and Involvement.

Based consumer involvement decision-making process of individual changes. For example, in the
high involvement consumption decision-making process an individual consciously or
subconsciously goes through the following steps consecutively: problem recognition, search,
intention, alternative evaluation, choice, and outcomes of choice. The low involvement
consumption decision-making process includes the following steps: problem recognition,
intention, choice, and outcomes of choice. We can clearly see the difference. In a high
involvement decision, the individual spends more time and effort on research as it requires more
money.
Importance of Perceptual Processes in Understanding Individual Consumer.
 

Consumer perception is the process through which an individual senses marketing stimulus for
products and gives attention to them, interprets their needs, and makes a decision toward them
(Culiberg, 2013). The consumer perception process comprises of four components, such as:

 Sensory Receptors: Sensory receptor refers to an individual’s acceptance of various marketing

stimuli, such as sight, sound, smell, taste, and texture. These stimuli are delivered to the
individual through various ways, such as words, visuals, graphics, symbolism, brand names,
label, and/or any other physical properties.

Before designing the marketing advertisements, marketing operative should recognize the
individual need and what triggers them to purchase the product.
 
Importance of Perceptual Processes in Understanding
Individual Consumer.

 Attention: Once these stimuli are detected by the individual he/she selects the
stimuli attractive to him/her, organizes them, and interprets to his/her likings. A
combination of these three, i.e. perceptual selection, perceptual organization,
and perceptual interpretation is known as the perceptual mechanism.  

 Interpretation: The next step of the perceptual process is interpretation. As

stimuli are interpreted they start to form emotion, mood, belief, opinion, and
attitude toward the products.

 Response or Decision Making: Based on the formed emotion, mood, belief,

opinion, and attitude toward the products individual make a response or
decision. The individual evaluates, research, and search for alternatives. The
final decision is to purchase the product, defer it for the future or reject it.
Consumers in Society.
 

Reference groups are a group of people that an individual uses as a basis for comparison and guidance when
forming form emotion, mood, belief, opinion, attitude, and behavior. People live in a society as a group. No
one can live in isolation. Consumer behavior is largely influenced by the people of society (Thaichon, Cheah
and Ting, 2022). Individuals purchase products that other individuals purchase and ask their opinion on the
products.
Consumers in Society.

Society is a group of people who live together. Every individual in a society is influenced by
others. Except for the society of megacity, we see a large cluster of people of the same kind of
beliefs, norms, culture, and attitudes. These societies act as one and thus it has strong base
power. Their beliefs, norms, culture, and attitude are distinct, and choose specific products.
Word of mouth plays a vital role in society. Word of mouth is an informal communication
system, through which an individual expresses an opinion, either positive or negative, about a
product or brand. Word of mouth of a social influencer, religious leader, or political leader
can change or influence consumer behavior.

The culture of the society also influences consumer behavior. Culture refers to accumulated
ideas, beliefs, values, knowledge, and customs that influence or govern the behavior of the
individual of a particular society. Social culture often promotes some kind of product and
prohibits the use of some products.
Where It Is Heading – Future Trends in Consumer Behavior.
 

Consumer behavior is not a constant thing. Consumer behavior changes as underlying factor changes or new
influencing factors emerge. Some factors that influence consumer behaviors are technological innovation,
consumer literacy, and economic stability.

New technologies like quantified self, radio frequency identification, QR codes, and big data are changing
consumer behavior. People are more informed about themselves. They are getting reviews about products
from peers' experiences and sharings. Social media has changed the traditional scenario of shopping malls.
Livestream review of products has proliferated the use of the online shop. The collection of big data on
consumers gives marketers new insights into consumer behavior (Putit, Teoh and Amily Fikry., 2015). Big
data is allowing consumers to target more accurately.

Today’s consumers are more informed about their needs and want. Widespread use of the internet is providing more up-to-
date about products and alternatives. Furthermore, climate crises also influence consumer behavior. Millennials are okay
with paying more price sustainable products. They are conscious of food waste and rise poverty so they are buying as much
as they need, not hoarding stock.
Where It Is Heading – Future Trends in Consumer
Behavior.

Economic instability, such as recession and wealth gap influences the consumer to save more rather
than spend more on consumption. The new generation is asset-light, that is, they are not inclined to
own stuff. They are more comfortable with access-based consumption, lease, or rental of the
products.

Another trend that is more frequent in the new generation is consumer misbehavior, such as
compulsive buying, excessive consumption, and theft. Compulsive buying irrational obsession with
shopping. Excessive buying leads to hoarding of products, which leads to inflation and obesity.
Consumer theft is the desire to acquire products without license and permission.
Conclusion
 

The 21st century is seeing more entrepreneurs than ever. Millennials are more interested in
being owners and leaders than working under someone else. That’s why they are building new
businesses. These new businesses are mostly social media and online platform-oriented than a
traditional shop. They are not setting up new shops but new distribution and fulfillment centers.
This growth is mostly fueled by the young generation and Gen-Z.

The new generation is so unpredictable and erratic. Formally study of consumer behavior,
which is the investigation of consumer demography, personal lifestyle, behavioral attributes,
such as previous usage, occasion, brand loyalty, referrals used to give new insights into the
future buying trends. But nowadays drastic changes in trends make it harder for marketers to
stay ahead. The old idea of being reactive is costing business. Marketers need to the proactive,
keep up with social changes, and be conscious about consumers’ pulse.