Wheels of Consumer Behaviour on Industry and Individual

Consumer analysis is the tool used to study, analyse and understand consumers and this framework is called the wheel of consumer analysis. This consists of three parts which are affect and cognition, behaviour and environment. Affect and Cognition deals with feelings and thinking that is the feelings consumers have towards a good. The feelings can either be positive or negative and they show a passion of love, joy or boredom, anger or fear. Cognition which is thinking shows the knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes and attention the consumers have to understanding the aspects of the environment and towards making purchasing decisions. Behaviour is the way the consumer act especially when visiting a store and at looking at products, examining the goods which are set in the store which influences the consumer to buy. Environment consists of all the physical and social characteristics of the consumer world. This includes the objects in the shop, other people you meet in the shop who are also shopping, and the way the consumer is influenced towards the products displayed in the shop, how the goods are packaged, the way the salespeople make the presentations and also the price tags just to mention a few Therefore, this essay explains the reason why the consumer analysis is vital and the levels at which it can be applied.

The Wheel of Consumer Analysis is a useful framework which is vital to the marketer because it helps him study, analyse and understand the consumer behaviour which in turn helps the marketer to develop the marketing strategies. (Peter P.J. and Olson J.C. Understanding Consumer Behaviour (1994)(p.16-18). This can be done in several ways but just a few will be mentioned.

Firstly, a comprehensive analysis on the consumer behaviour must be made in order to understand the wheel of consumer analysis.

Secondly, it is important to understand the relationships among the elements of the wheel of consumer behaviour because these can influence each other at any given time. For example, it should not be assumed that affect and cognitive cause behaviour and forget about environment. A consumer is influenced by the environment which makes him have feelings and think about something which affects him and makes him behave in a certain way.

Thirdly, any of the elements can be the starting point that is you first study the behaviour, then look at the environment and lastly see how the consumers feel and think.

Lastly, since consumer behaviour is viewed as a dynamic process of a continuous change, a marketer needs to develop a sound marketing strategy where an analysis of the components and description of the consumers is done. The strategy can change depending on the consumers affect and cognition, behaviour or environment.

The wheel of consumer analysis starts with a focus on the decision and is done at four levels and these are: society, industry, market segment and individual.

Society is affected by the behaviour of people, affect and cognitive that is what they think and believe. For example, in Malawi, Mangochi is a Muslim district and the culture of the Muslims is