Habitual Buying Behavior

Habitual buying behaviour takes place under conditions of low consumer involvement and little importance brand difference. For instance, take salt. Consumers have little involvement in this product category-they easily go to the store and reach for a brand. If they keep reaching for the similar brand, it is out of habit instead than strong brand loyalty. Consumers appear to have low involvement for most low-cost, frequently purchased products.

In  such  type of cases,  consumer  behaviour  does  not  pass  through  usual  belief-attitude-behaviour sequence. Consumers do not find extensively for information regarding the brands, evaluate brand characteristics, & make weighty decisions regarding which brands to buy. Rather, they passively retains information as they watch television or read magazines.  Ad repetition generates brand familiarity instead than brand conviction. Consumers do not form tough attitudes toward a brand; they choose the brand because it is familiar. Because they are not highly involved with the product, consumers can't evaluate the option even after purchase. Therefore, the buying procedure involves brand beliefs formed by passive learning, followed by purchase behaviour, which can or cannot be followed by evaluation.

Because buyers are not greatly committed to any brands, marketers of low-involvement products with few brand differences frequently use price and sales promotions to stimulate product trial. In advertising for a low-involvement product, ad copy would stress just a few key points. Visual symbols and imagery are significant because they may be remembered easily and connected with the brand. Ad campaigns should include great repetition of short-duration messages. Television is typically more effective than print media because it is a low-involvement medium appropriate for passive learning. Advertising planning would be based on classical conditioning theory, in which buyers learn to recognize a certain product by a symbol repeatedly connected to it.

Marketers may try to convert low-involvement products into the higher-involvement ones by linking them to some involving subject. Procter & Gamble does this while it links Crest toothpaste to avoiding cavities.  At  best,  these  strategies  can  grow  consumer  involvement  from  a  low  to  a moderate level. But, they are not likely to propel the consumer into greatly involved buying behaviour.