Consumer behavior refers to the selection, purchase and consumption of goods and services for the satisfaction of their wants. There are different processes involved in the consumer behavior. Initially the consumer tries to find what commodities he would like to consume, then he selects only those commodities that promise greater utility. There are various factors influencing the purchases of consumer such as personal and psychological. Some of the important personal factors that influence the buying behavior are: lifestyle, economic situation, occupation, age, personality and self-concept. Age and life-cycle have potential impact on the consumer buying behavior. When it comes to the psychological factors there are four important things affecting the consumer buying behavior, that is, perception, motivation, learning, beliefs and attitudes.
37 saw the conception of social problem novels like Dickens’ ‘Oliver Twist’ (1838) and Charlotte Brontë’s ‘Shirley’ (1849), which were more nuanced in their exploration of contemporary social issues.
As a result, then, it is clear that the novel as a form has been socially ‘useful’ in addressing moral and societal issues in England since its popular conception. However, with the rise of other forms of media and a shift in public taste, as well as the growth of mass printing and changes in education, there is cause to explore whether, in the late 20th and 21st Century, the novel has ceased to serve this function and does not hold the same level of social influence as it did before. Similarly, there seems to be less emphasis on (and certainly less prevalence of) what can be loosely termed ‘literary fiction’, as opposed to ‘genre fiction’. The difference between these two is difficult to define objectively, but can be attributed to things like an emphasis on style and concepts rather than narrative and characters on the part of literary fiction. Literary fiction is written with an artistic emphasis, using literary techniques like metaphoric language and intertextuality to achieve an effect beyond furthering the narrative. This is not to say that genre fiction cannot have stylistic features, but that there is not an overall artistic emphasis: ‘The Girl on the Train’, a modern example of genre fiction (in this case, a crime thriller) employs some descriptive imagery. This imagery’s purpose, however, is characterisation, and beyond this the advancement of the character’s storyline. Ultimately what matters to the reader and author in a piece of genre fiction is the storyline.
It is also necessary for this essay to define ‘fiction’,
Evidence for the decline of the novel can be found in (book sales, closing of book stores, literary supplements, primacy of non-fiction in publishing, people taking English lit up to degree level?!- Needs more solid research). It seems reasonable to conclude that there is less public interest in and desire to read literary fiction and literature in general, and the novel is suffering within this. However, this data does not offer a complete perspective because it doesn’t give a clear indication as to why the novel is losing popularity. This is a largely subjective issue, and to argue definitively that the novel is obsolete would be to ignore the fact that reading is a solitary pursuit. Because we read alone, and because we bring our own experience and interpretations to books, our personal response to a novel and the individual influence or effect it has on us does not become widely known and aggregated as data. There isn’t definite data available, then, to prove that the novel is ceasing to have the same personal effect as it did once for specific individuals who read it. What is clear is that sales of fiction novels are in decline while other forms of entertainment, including non-fiction, seem to take th
