The typology of buyers and buying actions contracts are specific categories of consumer
behaviour, determining group buyers and buying actions in classes, to fragment the markets. Market
fragmentation through buyer typoligy and/or segmentation is presently characterized by a multitude
of theoretical approaches and are especially generated by the common practice in the respective
business. These two concepts are used for the same purpose, the essential difference being their starting
point: the segmentation fragments the markets as a whole, while the typology of the buyer and of
buying actions generate classifications starting from individual cases

Felicia-Aurelia Stancioiu

Nicolae Al. Pop

Nicolae Teodorescu

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35Typological Analysis of Buying ActionsTypological Analysis of Buying ActionsNicolae TeodorescuPh.D. ProfessorNicolae Al. PopPh.D. ProfessorFelicia-Aurelia StãncioiuPh.D. ProfessorAcademy of Economic Studies, BucharestAbstract. The typology of buyers and buying actions contracts are specific categories of consumerbehaviour, determining group buyers and buying actions in classes, to fragment the markets. Marketfragmentation through buyer typoligy and/or segmentation is presently characterized by a multitudeof theoretical approaches and are especially generated by the common practice in the respectivebusiness. These two concepts are used for the same purpose, the essential difference being their start-ing point: the segmentation fragments the markets as a whole, while the typology of the buyer and ofbuying actions generate classifications starting from individual cases.Key words: buyer typlogy; buying actions typology; market fragmentation; statistical methods in buy-ing typology.On a conceptual basis, specialists distinguish thefollowing main categories when referring to the typologyof the buyer and of buying actions: the usual buying behaviour; the buying behaviour focused on variety; the buying behaviour focused on reducing thedissonance; the complex buying behaviour.The usual buying behaviour is represented by thattype of buyers who are not too implicated in acquiringproducts or services, when there are sortiments and brandsin the market with no significant differences. In suchsituations, the consumers are in most cases used to a brandor another as a result of price and promotion and thedecision processes is based on habit rather than personalevaluations.The buying behaviour focused on variety also referrsto a reduced consumer implication in acquiring goods andservices, but under the conditions that sortiments andbrands found on the market are significantly different. ThisJEL Classification: D11, M31.36Theoretical and Applied Economics type of consumer frequently changes the bought brandsnot due to insatisfaction but rather due to a need of variety.The buying behaviour focused on reducing thedissonance is characteristic for the consumer type who isstongly implicated in the buying process, while thedifferences bewteen brands and sortiments on the marketare vaguely relevant. Such situations are common betweenexpensive products or services, with a reduced buyingfrequency, which demonstrates a risk of cognitivedissonance.The complex buying behaviour is associated with theconsumers who are very implicated in the buying processand who perceive significant differences between brandsand sortiments existing on the market. In such cases wespeak about expensive goods as well, with a reducedbuying frequency, which expose consumers to cognitivedissonance.From a methodological point of view, the approachto the typology of buyers and buying actions can berealized through a multitude of methods, technics orprocedures. In this context an example based on theanalysis of the multiple liniar discriminant is consideredas instructive.The discriminant analysis is one of the statisticalmethods applied in various studies of typology of thebuyer and of buying actions, as well as in classifyingproblems in general. The interest of experts – statisticians,researchers, marketing people etc. – for the applicationof this statistical method is thoroughly justified, asmarkets are exceedingly heterogenous, and sometraditional criteria of segmentation and typology (likestatistical data regarding incomes, age, gender oroccupation of consumers) have prove to be insufficientfor adequately basing complex marketing decisions.Therefore, grouping the population in buyers and non-buyers (of a product or a brand) can be much moreattractive and pragmatic for decision takers in realmarketing, in comparison to the traditional grouping,according to some purely statistical criteria.The discriminant analysis thoroughly satisfies suchpractical needs, because the types of consumers have topresent a big internal homogeneity and simultaneouslyan external heterogeneity (they have to be as diverse aspossible). Using and interpreting the discriminant analysisis very similar to the multiple regression analysis: a liniarcombination of numerical values of several independentvariables is used to predict the beaviour of a dependentvariable.In order to apply the analysis of the multiple liniardiscriminant several steps have to be followed. In ahypothetical example, these would be as follows: Suppose a colour TV producer is interested inknowing the potential demand for a brand hewants to put on the market, on four characteristicsconsidered as relevant: diagonal dimension of 57cm (X1), memory for 90 chanels (X2), guarantyperiod of 3 years (X3) and the sales price of 800lei (X4). In other words, the producer is interestedto understand the relative importance potentialbuyers grant to each of the four characteristics.E.g. if a response “I would buy the product” isalways associated with a high grade forcharacteristic “diagonal dimension of 57 cm”, andthe response “I would not buy the product” witha low grade of this attribute, we could concludethat the diagonal dimension is a gooddiscrimination for separating buyers from non-buyers. Another characteristic, e.g. the capacityto memorize 90 channels, can have the same levelfor potential buyers as well as non-buyers,implying a reduced capacity to discriminate thisattribute, in comparison to the diagonaldimension of 57 cm. A reduced number of potential buyers is requested(e.g. 20) to give a grade between 1 to 10 (10 beingthe best grade), for each of the four attributes, andto state, based on the given grades, if they wouldbuy such a product or not. The received responsesallow calculation of some arithmetic averages foreach considered attribute, separately for thepotential buyers and non-buyers. To determine the multiple liniar discriminantequasion we first need to calculate the differencesbetween the average of the grades given by thepersons who intend to buy the product and theaverage of the grades given by the persons who donot intend to buy this product, for every consideredattribute.37Typological Analysis of Buying Actions Further we determine the sums, the squared sumand the multiplied sum for the consideredattributes, without taking into account whetherthese belong to the buyer or the non-buyer. Applying the formula:NXXXXXXjijiji∑ ∑∑ ∑ −=                         (1)the squared and multiplied sums can be expressed asdeviations from their own average. In this formula, Xrepresents the attributes considered and N the number ofpersons included in the research. Based on the deviations from the average ofsquared and multiplied sums, the coefficients ofthe multiple linear discriminant equation (a, b, c,d) are obtained, by solving a system of foursimultaneous linear equations. The coefficients canhave, of course, positive or negative values, as thecase may be. In this way a linear equation is derived, that isused to evaluate the relative importance of eachattribute considered, in the general selection, thatcan be performed in the decision to buy or not tobuy the respective product. This linear equationis the abstract form of the discriminant, that in ourcase has the following content:D = a × X1 + b × X2 + c × X3 + d × X4                (2)In this equation the values X1, X2, X3 ºi X4 representthe given grades for all four considered attributes (or theaverage of the given grades), whereas a, b, c and drepresent the values of the calculated coefficients. If in the equation (2) above the evaluations of X1,X2, X3 and X4 related to the buyers are used, anumerical index Dc is obtained, describing thegroup of potential buyers, and if the evaluationsfor X1, X2, X3 and X4 of the non-buyers are usedthen a numerical index Dn is obtained describingthe group of potential non-buyers. If the values of X1, X2, X3 and X4 related toindividual grades given by a new personcontained in the research are introduced inequation (2) then a specific index will be used,and the respective person will be classified as apotential buyer or non-buyer as the numericindex value is closer to Dc or to Dn. Suppose Dc =0.578, Dn = 0.191, and the value of D for a newperson who is asked to evaluate the four attributes(without being asked if he/she will buy theconsidered product or not) is Dspecific = 0.412. Thisvalue is closer to Dc,  which leads to theconclusion that this person can be included inthe buyer group. A similar reasoning is appliedfor any other person in the research who will beincluded in the potential buyer or potential non-buyer category, according to the specific valuesof the discriminant numerical index.ReferencesBemmaor, A.C., Wagner, U., „A Multiple-Item Model ofPaired Comparisons: Separating Chance from LatentPreference”, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. XXXVII,November 2000Dahl, D.W., Page Moreau, C., „Thinking Inside the Box:Why Consumers Enjoy Constrained Creative Experiences”,Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. XLIV, No. 3,August 200738Theoretical and Applied Economics Demetrescu, M.C. (1971). Metode  cantitative  în  marketing,Editura  ªtiinþificã, BucureºtiKotler, Ph., Saunders, J., Armstrong, G., Wong, V. (1998).Principiile marketingului, Editura Teora, BucureºtiOlorunniwo, F., Hsu, M.K., „A typology analysis of servicequality, customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions in massservices”, Managing Service Quality Journal, ISSN:0960-4529, vol. 16, nr. 2, 2006, Emerald Group PublishingLimited, Bradford, UKPark, W.C., Jun, Y.S., Macinnis, D.J., „Choosing WhatI Want Versus Rejecting What I Do Not Want: An Applica-tion of Decision Framing to Product Option ChoiceDecisions”, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. XXXVII,May 2000

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