Segmenting customer buying approach

In the corporate world they say that for profitable growth there is one fundamental task and i.e. know thy customer. But what we can know? The starting point of consumer research is demographic analysis and it slowly moves into realm of psychographic analysis such as impact of attitude on buying decision or impact of involvement on buying decision etc. Buying approach of the customer is one among the prominent area of study and always been area of interests for marketing managers. How she is going to take the final call is still part of black box; but can we understand and classify her buying approach? Her buying approach may be emotional, rational or casual depending upon numerous reasons, but it is for sure that the buying approach is going to play the significant role in understanding the consumer behavior in total.

Fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) or Consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry presents a good platform to run the tests and understand the behavior because lot of transactions’ takes place in this industry. Everybody (almost) is using the products and buying the same. The most obvious evidence is the size and growth of the industry in India. According to a CII report, Indian Consumer packaged goods sector is the fourth largest sector in the economy with a total market size in excess of US$ 13.1 billion and the CAGR is 14.7% (Building Business Leadership, 2014).

The paper is an attempt to understand and segment consumers buying approach in case of Consumer packaged goods purchase.