Classification and Selection of Consumer Purchase Behaviour Models

Consumer purchase behaviour analysis situations can be characterized by two extremes: On the one side, a magnitude of models for analyzing data of consumer purchase behaviour is available, on the other side, potential users who are not so familiar with details of the corresponding methodology refrain from applying adequate models in day-to-day activities of market research and marketing. In this paper, we will give a classification of consumer purchase behaviour models and describe a selection procedure which — on the basis of the data provided and the market diagnostics desired — helps to find (an) appropriate model(s).An example based on household panel data provided by a German market research institute is included for illustration.