For marketers, understanding how buyers and consumers behave is an integral part of correctly identifying their needs, and developing effective marketing strategies. Buyers often go through decision-making processes before making a purchase or making a decision to continue to buy and to consume a product or service. Thus, consumer decision-making, and the popular use of the term consumer behaviour, refers to the decision-making processes and behaviours of consumers. Understanding consumer behaviour enables marketing managers to critically analyse their potential or current target markets and design strategies tailored to meet their needs.

The focus of this unit is on developing students knowledge of consumer decision-making processes and the factors that influence consumers decisions, purchases and consumption of products and services. The unit will help students identify, synthesise and critically evaluate how consumers perceive marketing stimuli and make decisions to purchase. The unit will develop students theoretical and applied knowledge of consumer behaviour theories and concepts in order to analyse, explain and predict consumers behaviour. The unit will help students to identify what stimuli marketers can use to influence consumers decision-making, purchase and consumption.