Factors influencing consumer buying behaviour

New findings from neuroscience, psychology and marketing disciplines to a certain extent disprove existing economic postulates and bring a different view on consumer behaviour, who do not behave rationally on purchase, but act based on simplified stimuli, such as emotion or intuition. The result is the emergence of manipulative techniques, which can be used to increase the effectiveness of sales, but simultaneously can be misused for activities exceeding the ethical and legal standards. The main subject of this thesis is an analysis of these techniques with focus on their usage and effectiveness in the Internet environment. The aim is to determine the extent to which a customer can be influenced before purchasing the product or service. To achieve the goal it is necessary to describe the key areas of consumer purchase process, to explain the basic principles of human brain functioning and especially to analyze the individual methods and their application in practice. With the Internet development the issues are also reflected on the web, where the entree to the entrepreneurship is becoming much easier. In the research there are examined techniques of manipulation tested through an interactive online questionnaire and subsequently analyzed in detail. Based on the data collected, the author formulates specific recommendations. The outputs can help an average consumer in defence against the manipulation and, at the same time, it offers a clear list of methods supporting sales for organisations.