Hi everyone,
Its been quiet a while since i wrote my last blog. The last few months went so fast and the decade too!
I have a habit of observing people and understanding them by their behaviour. And any shopping mall is an ultimate place to observe all kinds of people. The idea of this blog hit me today morning when i failed to get the tickets for the 11:15 am show and instead bought the tickets for the 2:00 pm show, so i had lots of time for observing and understanding the Indian consumer behaviour!
How many times has it happened with you that you bought a pair of jeans or sunglasses or any mobile device on a split second decision or purely based on instinct and then later regretted over it?
I guess most of us have had that kind of a experience once in our life. And that feeling is really bad. So then why buy the wrong thing in the first place?
I have categorized shoppers into the following :
1. The ones who just want to shop to spend time/ they'll die if they don't shop every weekend/if their friend buys a new phone they'll buy the next model of that phone..i think you got it.
2.The ones who are cautious shoppers/ they'll save money if they don't have it but eventually will buy the stuff they want/they'll buy the things which they need not the unnecessary stuff.
3.These are the ones who like to check the price tags of everything/ usually just curious, most probably they won't buy anything/like to spend time at the malls without shopping.
Lets call these cat1,2,3.
This blog is about understanding what goes into the mind of a cat 2 shoppers when they go out to buy things because the cat 1 people don't think much when they buy things because a month has 4 weeks! The cat 3 people are out of the picture here.
Confusion, money, quality, quantity, liking, need, greed are some qualities related to cat 2 shoppers.
Interesting thing is a cat 2 person can sometimes behave as cat 1 and viceversa!
Lets face it, we all want to be content with the things we buy because crying over spilled milk is no good right? So if we shop smartly and logically we will end up buying the right thing.
Recently i was planning to go home for holidays and was not getting the bus tickets so postponed it but then this agent called me and told me that the bus leaves in 2 hrs. So that gave me just an hour for packing.
But theirs more, i was so disappointed to find that i had no travel bag(old one got ripped off!)!
So i decided to buy one and then come home and do the packing.
And when it comes to buying things i always go for quality not quantity.. Its like if my dad gives me a 1000 bugs and tells me to get myself 2 T shirts i would go for 1 T-shirt worth a thousand bugs.
OK, coming back to the travel bag thing, so i went to this Nike store and i saw what i was looking for. I found a huge travel handbag. It was awesome but then i also saw the travel sacks and found them cool as well. So there i was all confused whether to go for the huge bag, the one which i needed the most right now or to go for the sack, for which i now feel i was infatuated to. And i had to make that decision in about 10 mins.
And guess what i ended up buying the sack, came home and to no ones surprise it was too small to carry all my clothes and i was in a hurry, so a friend of mine helped me out and i borrowed his bag.
I still don't know why i bought that bag. When i came back, i exchanged the sack and got the handbag i needed (Thanks to Nike!). I felt so content after that and that was because i could exchange it.
I have learned some things about shopping which are:
Its been quiet a while since i wrote my last blog. The last few months went so fast and the decade too!
I have a habit of observing people and understanding them by their behaviour. And any shopping mall is an ultimate place to observe all kinds of people. The idea of this blog hit me today morning when i failed to get the tickets for the 11:15 am show and instead bought the tickets for the 2:00 pm show, so i had lots of time for observing and understanding the Indian consumer behaviour!
How many times has it happened with you that you bought a pair of jeans or sunglasses or any mobile device on a split second decision or purely based on instinct and then later regretted over it?
I guess most of us have had that kind of a experience once in our life. And that feeling is really bad. So then why buy the wrong thing in the first place?
I have categorized shoppers into the following :
1. The ones who just want to shop to spend time/ they'll die if they don't shop every weekend/if their friend buys a new phone they'll buy the next model of that phone..i think you got it.
2.The ones who are cautious shoppers/ they'll save money if they don't have it but eventually will buy the stuff they want/they'll buy the things which they need not the unnecessary stuff.
3.These are the ones who like to check the price tags of everything/ usually just curious, most probably they won't buy anything/like to spend time at the malls without shopping.
Lets call these cat1,2,3.
This blog is about understanding what goes into the mind of a cat 2 shoppers when they go out to buy things because the cat 1 people don't think much when they buy things because a month has 4 weeks! The cat 3 people are out of the picture here.
Confusion, money, quality, quantity, liking, need, greed are some qualities related to cat 2 shoppers.
Interesting thing is a cat 2 person can sometimes behave as cat 1 and viceversa!
Lets face it, we all want to be content with the things we buy because crying over spilled milk is no good right? So if we shop smartly and logically we will end up buying the right thing.
Recently i was planning to go home for holidays and was not getting the bus tickets so postponed it but then this agent called me and told me that the bus leaves in 2 hrs. So that gave me just an hour for packing.
But theirs more, i was so disappointed to find that i had no travel bag(old one got ripped off!)!
So i decided to buy one and then come home and do the packing.
And when it comes to buying things i always go for quality not quantity.. Its like if my dad gives me a 1000 bugs and tells me to get myself 2 T shirts i would go for 1 T-shirt worth a thousand bugs.
OK, coming back to the travel bag thing, so i went to this Nike store and i saw what i was looking for. I found a huge travel handbag. It was awesome but then i also saw the travel sacks and found them cool as well. So there i was all confused whether to go for the huge bag, the one which i needed the most right now or to go for the sack, for which i now feel i was infatuated to. And i had to make that decision in about 10 mins.
And guess what i ended up buying the sack, came home and to no ones surprise it was too small to carry all my clothes and i was in a hurry, so a friend of mine helped me out and i borrowed his bag.
I still don't know why i bought that bag. When i came back, i exchanged the sack and got the handbag i needed (Thanks to Nike!). I felt so content after that and that was because i could exchange it.
I have learned some things about shopping which are:
- Think a thousand times before buying anything and not after you buy that thing.
- Don't let the temptation get on you.
- Go for quality.
- Don't let the shopkeeper/ sales guy influence your decision, listen to what they are saying but in the end buy what you think is right for you.
- Study all the features/ specifications of the product you want to buy before actually buying it.
- And last but not the least, ask for the bill!
So that's it people, hope you have liked this blog, and hope it will help you when you go out for shopping! If you would like to add something then please point it out in the comments. Cheers!
nice one..I knw u do observe people around u..thts why u know who enters the class first n who enters last..!! I would love to read your blog related to engineering or 3 idiots..
ReplyDeleteso here are some shoppin tips from rj..!!Nice sub. I have always loved shopping.Esp shopping with less money in pocket is tricky one.Even I have been through such confusing situations many times and I totally agree with the thing that we should go for what we need most at that moment..
ReplyDeletehey, i love observing n predicting people too..n ya,Don't let the temptation get on u..rite!!;)
People watching is indeed a great way to learn. Success in any field is dependent on inter-personal relationships, to understand why people behave the way they do, is the first step to develop the necessary empathy, which goes a long way in the establishment of these relationships.
ReplyDeleteRegarding 'Purchasing' decisions, the best approach is allowing a 'cooling off' period from the time a 'requirement' arises to the time the 'purchase' is done, this gives us all the time required to think of all the alternatives, and the cost to benefit ratios attached to them, leading us to a good decision.
Well Ranu, its indeed a good observation & very nicely put, a small comment to add to ur's > I feel that it indeed varies from person to person & also the age factor which keeps on changing not like the gender which remains constant (Male / Female), all individuals gradually go thru all the above mentioned types of shoppers at some point in their life ... & finally stops in total & depends on somebody else to do it !
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