Simulation modelling of behaviour for different types of consumers based on an expert approach

Abstract

It is not possible to create an optimal offer for buyers without considering their needs. The purpose of the article is to display different types of consumers using price and quality parameters based on an event-discrete simulation model. These parameters are supposed to be dependent on each other. Sequential inverse functions method, pairwise comparison matrices are used to construct distributions that represent different types of buyers. The Saaty scale is used to obtain pairwise comparison matrices. The article describes the following types of consumers: “greedy”, “especially greedy”, premium and medium. For example, a premium buyer, taking into account the quality of products and prestige, chooses the product with the highest price among similar products. For each of the matrices of pairwise comparisons that characterize the types of consumers, a constraint is introduced to ensure a high correlation between price and quality. The adequacy of results is checked using Pearson’s correlation coefficient. Using the example of premium buyers, it is shown how probabilities for price and quality parameters are obtained and a table distribution is built. To build a table, the required row or column is taken from the conditional probability matrices of specific parameters. In the same example, a generalized demand is obtained and a constraint is applied to the pairwise comparison matrix. A strong or noticeable relation between the studied parameters was obtained in practice when analyzing the results for various types of consumers. Theoretical build-ups and practical results are useful for considering other markets.