Introduction

Marketers need to understand the personal and group influences that affect consumer decisions, and how these decisions are made. Through the study of consumer behavior marketers will be able to understand why and how consumers make their purchase decisions, thus enabling marketers to design more effective marketing strategies.

The study of consumer behavior focuses on how individuals make decisions to spend their available resources (time, money, effort) on consumption related items. That includes what they buy, where they buy it, how often they buy it, and how often they use it.

In the following part the concept of consumer behavior will be discussed in details focusing on the consumer decision making, definition of consumer behavior, types, values, and importance. The relationship between the market ethics and social responsibility will also be discussed.