UNDERSTANDING CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

Understanding Consumer Behaviour

Understanding Consumer Behaviour

Introduction

The course of the study will focus on the understanding of the consumer behaviour and the key factors that can be used to influence the consumer buying behaviour. The study will critically analyze the consumer and business buyer behaviour towards both electricity and gas consumption. In this modern era, where technology has revolutionized everything, the use of energy has also increased. The problematic factor in this regard is that the energy resources are still at the same level or have not increased with the same pace which has created critical issues and, it is expected that the current oil reserves of oil are going to last for the next fifteen years only (Laura 2009, Pp. 139-165). The research and exploration of alternate energy resources are getting popularity but they are not the solution as the demand for energy is so enormous that it cannot be replaced with the current available energy alternates.

What can be done to cater this pertaining issue is to influence the consumption of energy and convince people to use minimum energy and safe it for the future generations as it is expected to become expensive with the time. The current consumption pattern of natural energy resources specifically oil and gas are very high and in fact, they are wasted by the people in the developed countries especially. The study will discuss how the consumers and businesses behaviour toward to the use of energy and in particular gas and electricity can be influenced positively (efficient use). Different marketing and advertising tools can be used to educate people about the consequences of wastage and excessive consumption of energy resources.

Discussion

With increased global warming, the swift growth of the world population, and the depletion of natural resources, corporations and governments have been forced to give some consideration to environmental issues that they may have chosen to ignore only a few decades ago (Wayne 2009, Pp. 11-46). As it becomes increasingly clear to consumers that the policy of “business as usual” is not sustainable for our planet, businesses are responding to pressure from consumers to become more sustainable: advertising one's environmental concerns and sustainable practices has become one among many marketing tools available to businesses.

The challenge of a reasonable consumption of energy can be reduced to one basic question: Can we imagine an infinite growth on a finite planet? The answer is of course not. The resources of nature are finite and, our land impoverished every year with the population explosion and, the consumer frenzy of our time (Novelli 1994, Pp. 59-89). The figures are instructive, for a century the world population has increased by more than 4 billion people. If this is hard to imagine that a century is, know that every day there are 200,000 more people than the day before and that each person has energy needs. Long ago, our ancestors used wood for heat, to cook their food and then it was coal, gas, ...