CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

Lecture 1 – Chapter 1
Spring Semester 2024

Course Lecturer:
Dr. Sara El-Deeb

E-Mail:
sara.eldeeb@guc.edu.eg

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Dr. Sara El-Deeb
Consumer Behavior (MRKT602)
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 Course Assessment
Coursework (40%)

• Assignment – 5%
– TCR
– Show Don’t Tell
• Case Report (in Groups) – 10%
• 3 Quizzes (best 2 out of 3) – 5%
• Project (Case Study)
Phase 1 – 10%
Phase 2 – 10%
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Consumer Behavior (MRKT602)
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 Learning Objectives

• Define consumer behavior

1

• To understand the evolution of the marketing concept, and the

2 relationship between value, customer retention and satisfaction

• Explain how consumer behavior can be used to develop

3 marketing strategy

• Market Analysis Components

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• Transformative Consumer Research (TCR)

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Consumer Behavior (MRKT602)
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 What do you think Consumer Behavior is all about?

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Consumer Behavior (MRKT602)
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Dr. Sara El-Deeb
Consumer Behavior (MRKT602)
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 How engineers create artificial sounds to fool us
.

Many of the sounds we hear every day are entirely fabricated by engineers to
persuade us to buy things

Hundreds of items have their acoustics deliberately

tweaked to make us happy, according to Trevor Cox,
professor of acoustic engineering at the University of
Salford. What you hear when you close a car door, for
example, can be traced back to changes in the car
manufacturing industry about 10 years ago.

"What manufacturers realised is when you go to see a

car in a showroom you don't hear the engine first,"
says Prof Cox. "What you hear is the sound of the
door opening and the sound of the door closing.”

"It's a really important first impression sound.“

But when manufacturers had to put extra bars in their

side doors to comply with new safety standards the
sounds of their doors started to change. To
compensate for the added weight they had to make
other parts of the car lighter and took weight from the
catches and door mechanisms. As a result, doors no
longer made a satisfying clunk but had a tinny sound.

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Consumer Behavior (MRKT602)
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 "They thought 'How can we go about re-engineering
the sound so it sounds more expensive and more high
quality?'," explained Prof Cox. Manufacturers then
started experimenting with different sound effects.
Dampeners were introduced into the door cavity to
muffle the tiny effect and engineers altered the
locking mechanism to make just the right sort of
click. The engineering of everyday sounds has since
spread to other industries. The shutter noise on a
digital camera is just one example of a sound entirely
fabricated to make a modern gadget imitate older
technology.

"I find myself drawn to digital cameras with a very

strong shutter sound on them," says BBC technology
correspondent Clark Boyd. "What is clear is that we
associate certain sounds with the quality of a
product." In some cases sounds are engineered to do
more than just please or fool the consumer. As in the
case of the electric car, they are created in the
interest of safety. Nissan's new electric vehicle has a
speaker fitted under its bonnet and a synthesiser in
the dash to generate engine noise.

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Consumer Behavior (MRKT602)
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 Likewise, the silent ENV hydrogen-powered motorbike
is fitted with an artificial roar to warn road users it is
approaching. Indeed the sound of a motorbike engine
is something that some manufacturers have been
keen to protect. In 1994 the iconic motorbike makers
Harley Davidson began an application to trademark
the distinctive chug sound of their products. They
claimed that Japanese manufacturers had mimicked
the sound of their renowned V-twin engines. The case
went on for six years and in 2000 Harley Davidson
dropped the application, claiming they had won in the
court of public opinion.

"One of the funny thing about these technologies is

how some of the old sounds and imagery lives on,"
said Prof Cox.

"When you drive around Britain, if you look for the

sign for a level crossing, it's a steam train - but the
last time I saw a steam train was many years ago.

"Or if you go to your computer and look at the save

sign, it's a floppy disk. How many people are saving
on to a floppy disk nowadays?“

In a similar way manufacturers of cars, phones and

cameras are merely responding to their own archaic
ideas of how things should sound.
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Consumer Behavior (MRKT602)
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 Designing a Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy
Marketing and Consumer Behavior stem from Marketing Concept

Marketing is the activity, set of

institutions, and processes for creating,
communicating, delivering, and
exchanging offerings that have value for
customers, clients, partners and society

Consumer behavior is the study of

individuals, groups, or organizations and
the processes they use to select, secure,
use, and dispose of products, services,
experiences, or ideas to satisfy needs and
the impacts that these processes have on
the consumer and society.

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 Applications in Consumer Behavior

1. Marketing Strategy

2. Regulatory Policy

3. Social Marketing

4. Informed Individuals

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 Applications in Consumer Behavior
Marketing Strategy

Based on explicit or implicit beliefs about consumer behavior

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 Applications in Consumer Behavior
Marketing Strategy

Provide customer value.

• Defined as the ratio between the customer’s perceived

benefits and the cost

• Perceived value is subjective

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 Applications in Consumer Behavior
Marketing Strategy – Value

Expensive jeans vs. cheap suit?

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 Applications in Consumer Behavior
Marketing Strategy – Value

Utilitarian value: The value derived from a product that

helps the customer with some tasks

Hedonic value: The value derived from the immediate

gratification that comes from some activity

Low UV High UV

Low HV Negative Position OK Position

High HV OK Position Super Position

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 Applications in Consumer Behavior
Regulatory Policy

Various regulatory bodies

exist to develop, interpret,
and/or implement policies
designed to protect and aid
consumers.

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 Applications in Consumer Behavior
Social Marketing

Social marketing is the application of marketing strategies and

tactics to alter or create behaviors that have a positive effect
on the targeted individuals or society as a whole.

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 Applications in Consumer Behavior
Informed Individuals

• Thousands of firms are spending millions of dollars to

influence you, your family, and your friends.

• It is important that consumers accurately understand the

strategies and tactics being used so that we can set
appropriate limits on them when required.

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 Marketing Strategy and Consumer Behavior

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 Marketing Strategy and Consumer Behavior
Market Analysis Components

1. Consumers

2. Company

3. Competitors

4. Conditions

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 Marketing Strategy and Consumer Behavior
Market Segmentation

Market segmentation is a portion of a larger market whose

needs differ from the larger market.

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 Marketing Strategy and Consumer Behavior
Market Segmentation

Market Segmentation Involves Four Steps:

1. Identifying Product-Related Need Sets

2. Grouping Customers with Similar Need

Sets

3. Describing Each Group

4. Selecting an Attractive Segment(s) to

Serve

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 Marketing Strategy and Consumer Behavior
Marketing Strategy

 Marketing Strategy is the answer to the question: How

will we provide superior customer value to our target
market?
 This requires the formulation of a consistent marketing
mix, which includes the
• Product
• Price
• Place
• Promotion, and
• Service

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 Marketing Strategy and Consumer Behavior
Consumer Decisions

The firm can succeed only if

consumers see a need that its
product can solve, become
aware of the product and its
capabilities, decide that it is the
best available solution, proceed
to buy it, and become satisfied
with the result of the purchase.

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 Marketing Strategy and Consumer Behavior
Outcomes

1. Firm Outcomes – Product position, sales & profit, customer

satisfaction

2. Individual Outcomes – need satisfaction & injurious consumption

3. Society Outcomes – economic & physical environment

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 The Nature of Consumer Behavior
Overall Conceptual Model of Consumer Behavior

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 Assignment Part 1: Trends in Consumer Research

• Consumer Social Responsibility (CnSR) ([1]responsible living

[counterfeits – software piracy] [2] Sustainable
Consumption)

• Transformative Consumer Research (TCR) ([1]vulnerable

populations (e.g., the poor, illiterate, elderly, etc.), [2]
negative consumer behaviors (e.g., smoking, poor
nutritional habits, high-risk behaviors, etc.), [3] and
positive consumer behaviors (e.g., environmentally
responsible behavior, volunteer work, organ donation, etc.)

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 Trends in Consumer Research
Transformative Consumer Research

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 Assignment Part 2: Show Don’t Tell

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