What is consumer behaviour?

According to Senguttuvan (2007) “Consumer behaviour is the study of people’s mind: how they buy, conceal and dispose of product or services.”

In a simple term, consumer behaviour is the understanding of how people spend their income in satisfaction of their needs and wants.

Customers go through five steps of decision making, as BD (2018) wrote, consumer decision making is the “Process by which consumers identify their needs, collect information, evaluate alternatives, and make the purchase decision. These actions are determined by psychological and economical factors, and are influenced by environmental factors such as cultural, group, and social values.”

There are two major forces that shape who we are and what we buy. Our personal motivation, attitude and decision-making ability to influence our consumption behaviour. At the same time, our families, friends, culture, lifestyle and a dozen more factors Influence our behaviour. Moreover, there are other factors that can influence our consumer behaviour, some of these extra factors are push factors (relaxation, health, VFR, etc.) and Pull Factors (landmark, historical value, accessible infrastructure, etc.)

Swarbrooke et al (2016) mentioned that when we are motivated to buy something, we enter the phase of processing information. This process could take a few seconds or months research depending on different factors like the importance or cost, decision-making comes right after the process of the information and different factors like needs, social environment, importance, cost, personality, trust and loyalty which can influence our decisions.

Our decision-making pattern changes throughout our lifetime, also external factors can influence us to change our decision, for instance, climate change or inaccessibility could affect our decision. These steps will lead to taking the risk and making the purchase.

For example, if we like to buy a drink, we will buy it at the first possible moment. However, when it comes to holiday, we tend to research, we will ask friends and family even co-workers that we know they may have the knowledge.

After the purchase (holiday), the experience we had, will help us to evaluate the decision that we have made; this process could lead to satisfaction or disappointment.

How consumer behaviour links to Disability?

Process and understanding the consumer behaviour in accessible-tourism is difficult, as there are different types of disability in the world and each requires their specific adaptation like ‘Audio induction loop’ also known as ‘hearing loop’, braille writing, or ramps. For instance, some wheelchair users are able to stand and transfer while others may need equipment (e.g. hoist) and someone’s help (carer) to enable them to do the transfer.

Therefore, the need-factor plays an important role in any accessible-tourism consumer behaviour.

Like everyone else we (people with disability) feel the need to go on holiday, we experience somewhat the same motives as everyone else, however when it comes to research, we need to spend more time, we cannot just go on a website and book a holiday. When it comes to purchasing, it’s a daunting experience as we need to trust someone behind the line who reassures us that the holiday is accessible, which surprisingly it’s not always true as I have experienced the situation many times. Booking a holiday, in general, is risky, as you are purchasing a dream based on image and expectation, without the knowledge of how good it is going to be. For the able-bodied person, if the holiday does not fulfil their expectation, they can manage total discomfort for a short period of time, however, if the holiday does not have the required accessibility, people with disability cannot even stay for a day.

What motivates us, (People with a disability) to travel?

We have the same dreams and desire. however, for instance, one of the main motivators could be a change of scenery, relaxation or medical purposes, like visiting a doctor or natural spa, especially when it is based on the experience of other holidaymakers with a disability that can reassure us about the accessibility. However, finding these resorts/holidays are not easy.

Adapted activities that enable people with disability to experience the thrill can be another motivator. Paralympic and The Invictus Games are also good examples of motivators as they convey the feeling of empowerment.

Other factors can be visiting landmarks, art galleries, going shopping and my personal favourite museums are other motivators.

We, humans, are complex beings that cannot be categorised into a study model, many behaviourists tried and still are trying to fit us into categories, however, as Holloway et al (2009, p.70) said, “If all consumers responded in the same way to given stimuli, the lives of marketing managers would become much easier.”

 

References

BD.(2018). Business Dictionary. Retrieved from Business Dictionary: http://www.businessdictionary.com/

Holloway, J. C., Humphreys, C., & Davidson, R. (2009). The demand for tourism. In J. C. Holloway, The Business of Tourism (8th ed., pp. 59-84). Harlow, London, New York,etc.: Financial Times.

Moutinho, L. (1987). Consumer Behaviour. In L. Moutinho, Strategic Management in Tourism (pp. 41-78). New York, London, Glasgow: CABI.

Senguttuvan, P. S. (2007). Consumer Behaviour. In P. S. Senguttuvan, Principles of Airport Economics (1st ed., pp. 29-53). New Delhi, India: Excel Books.

Swarbrooke, J., & Horner, S. (2016). Consumer Behaviour in Tourism (3nd ed.). New York: Routledge.