Introduction to Consumer

Behavior
Session 1
 Chapter Objectives
1. Describe Consumer Behavior as a process
2. Describe why marketers needs to understand
the wants and needs of different consumer
segments
3. Describe how the internet has changed patterns
of consumer behavior
4. Identify and describe behaviors that are termed
as “the negative side” of consumer behavior
 What is Consumer Behavior?
. is defined as the study
..

of the buying units and

the exchange processes
involved in acquiring,
consuming, and disposing
of goods, services,
experiences, and ideas
 Consumer behavior is a Process
• Most marketers recognize that consumer behavior is an
ongoing process, not merely what happens at the moment a
consumer hands over money or a credit card and in turn
receives some good or service (buyer behavior).
• The exchange—a transaction where two or more
organizations or people give and receive something of value
—is an integral part of marketing.
• The expanded view emphasizes the entire consumption
process.
• This view would include issues that influence the consumer
before, during, and after a purchase
Stages in the Consumption Process
 . Consumer Behavior Involves Many
Different Actors
• A consumer is generally thought of
as a person who identifies a need or
desire, makes a purchase, and then
disposes of the product during the
three stages in the consumption
process.
• The purchaser and user of a product
might not be the same person.
• A separate person might be an
influencer. This person provides
recommendations for or against
certain products without actually
buying or using them.
• Consumers may be organizations or
groups (in which one person may
make the decision for the group).
Consumers’ Impact on Marketing Strategy
 Marketers attempt to satisfy needs and
wants of their target market
 Marketing involves the study of
exchange process between two parties
 For marketers to create a successful
exchange they must understand the
factors that influence consumers’
needs and wants
 Consumer primacy is the principle on
which the entire field of marketing rest
 The principle insists that consumer
should be at the center of the
marketing effort
Consumers’ Impact on Marketing Strategy
• Consumers are surrounded by stimuli in the form of:
 Advertising
 Stores
 Products
 All competing for consumers’ attention and purse
 Marketers filter much of what consumer learn about the world whether through:
 The affluence they depict in glamorous magazines or
 The roles actors play in advertisement
 In many ways consumers are also “at the mercy” of marketers. Since they rely on
marketers to:
 Sell products that are safe
 Performs as promised
 Tell the truth about what they selling
 To price and distribute the products safely
Consumers’ Impact on Marketing Strategy

• Consumers Are Different! How We Divide Them Up

 Four Classifications of Segmentation Variables
• Characteristics of the Person
• Nature of the Situation in Which the Product or
Service May Be Purchased
• Geography
• Culture and Subculture Adopted by the
Consumer
Characteristics of the Person
• Demographic Characteristics
• Behavioral Segmentation: price
elasticity, benefits sought, usage rate,
brand loyalty
• Benefit Segmentation
• Psychographic and Personality
Characteristic
 Consumer Situations .
Consist of the temporary environmental factors
that form the context within which a consumer
activity occurs at a particular time and place
Types of situations: social, physical, task
definition, time
 Geographic Segmentation
• Can include region, size of cities and counties,
census blocks, population density, and climate
• Geodemographics is the combination of
geography and demographics
• Culture and Subculture
• Culture is the way of life of the people of a society
• Subculture is a subdivision of a national culture
and is based on some unifying characteristic, such
as social status or nationality
 Discussion Question
• How would you describe yourself
demographically.?
• Does this have any bearing on your purchase
patterns?
• How could a marketer find out about you in a
demographic sense?
• Describe one purchase occasion where a
demographic dimension had an impact on your
purchase decision
 Consumers’ Impact on Marketing Strategy

• Relationship and Database Marketing

• Relationship marketing
 occurs when a company makes an effort to interact with
customers on a regular basis, giving them reasons to
maintain a bond with the company over time.
• Database marketing
 involves tracking consumers’ buying habits very closely
and crafting products and messages tailored precisely to
people’s wants and needs based on this information
 Discussion Question
• How can database marketing help an
organization improve its relationship
marketing?
• What databases are you in? How did you get
there?
 Marketing’s Impact on Consumers

• Popular Culture
 Popular culture consists of the music, movies, sports, books,
celebrities, and other forms of entertainment consumed by the
mass market; it is both a product of and an inspiration for
marketers.
 Product icons often become central figures in popular culture
• Consumer-Generated Content
 Consumer-generated content is the content created when everyday
people voice their opinions about products, brands, and companies
on blogs, podcasts, and social networking sites such as Facebook
and MySpace.
 It even includes consumer-generated commercials.
 Marketing’s Impact on Consumers

• What Does It Mean to Consume?

 A fundamental premise of consumer behavior is that people often buy products
not for what they do, but for what they mean.
 People, in general, will choose the brand that has an image (or even a personality)
that is consistent with his or her underlying needs.
 Role theory takes the view that much of consumer behavior resembles actions in
a play. Consumers have roles and they may alter their consumption decisions
depending upon the role being played at the time.
• People may have various relationships with a product:
 Self-concept attachment—the product helps to establish the user’s identity.
 Nostalgic attachment—the product serves as a link with a past self.
 Interdependence—the product is a part of the user’s daily routine.
 Love—the product elicits emotional bonds of warmth, passion, or other
strong emotion
 Discussion Question
• Give some examples of products that might be
consumed strictly for image.
• How does the image of the product enhance
your sense of self when you use or consume the
product?
• Give an illustration of a product that have a
strong attachment for and explain the
relationship. How did this relationship develop?
The Global Consumer
• The global consumer
culture is one that unites
people with a common
devotion to
– Brand name consumer
goods
– Movie stars
– Celebrities

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Do Marketers Create Artificial Needs?

• Objective of marketing: create awareness

that
needs exist, not to create needs
Need: a basic biological motive
versus
Want: one way that society has taught us
that the need can be satisfied
Are Advertising & Marketing Necessary?
• Yes, we can say that advertising and marketing are
necessary because consumers may not know that
solutions to problems exist without the information
provided by advertising and marketing.
• This is the view of the economics of information
perspective.
• It points out that there is an economic cost to
searching for information. Advertising helps
consumers by reducing search time
 Discussion
Advertisers are often blamed for promoting a
materialistic society by making their products
as desirable as possible.
• Do you agree with this?
– If yes, is materialism a bad thing?
– If no, what are your reasons?
 Why Study Consumer Behavior?
• Consumer Analysis as a Foundation of
Marketing Management
 Marketers attempt to satisfy needs and wants
of their target market
 Marketing involves the study of exchange
process in which two parties
 For marketers to create a successful exchange
they must understand the factors that
influence consumers’ needs and wants
 Consumer primacy is the principle on which
the entire field of marketing rest
 The principle insists that that consumer
should be at the center of the marketing
effort
 Why Study Consumer Behavior?
• Public Policy and Consumer Behavior
 The development of laws and
regulations that impact consumer in the
market place
 Elimination of advertisement on
cigarette industry
 The study of consumer misbehavior ,
sometimes called “the dark side of
consumer behavior.”
 Consumers can act unethically , misuse
products, engage in behaviors that risk
life and limb
 The Consumer “Dark Side”

Consumer
Addictive
terrorism
consumption

Compulsive
consumption Consumed
consumers

Illegal activities

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publishing as Prentice Hall
 The Consumer “Dark Side”
•Consumer Terrorism
The terrorist attacks of 2001 had a tremendous impact on consumerism
throughout the world. Such effects give the indication that both natural and
man-made disruptions to financial, electronic, and supply networks can be
devastating.
Although bioterrorism has occurred in the past, the threat of such attacks is
more prevalent than ever.
•Addictive Consumption
•Consumer addiction is a physiological and/or psychological dependency on
products or services. New examples of this might be video gaming or SMS
addictions.

 
 
 The Consumer “Dark Side”
• Compulsive Consumption
 Compulsive consumption refers to repetitive shopping, often
excessive, as an antidote to tension, anxiety, depression, or
boredom.
 These people are often called “shopaholics.”
 Note that compulsive consumption is different from impulse
buying
• Negative or destructive consumer behavior. Three aspects are:
 The behavior is not done by choice.
 The gratification derived from the behavior is short-lived.
 The person experiences strong feelings of regret or guilt afterward
 The Consumer “Dark Side”
• Gambling is an example of consumption addiction that
touches every segment of society
• Consumed Consumers
 People who are used or exploited, whether willingly or
not, for commercial gain in the marketplace can be
thought of as consumed consumers. Examples include:
• Prostitutes
• Organ, blood, and hair donors
• Babies for sale
Three Research Perspectives on Consumer
Behavior
• The Decision-Making
Perspective

• The Experiential
Perspective

• The Behavioral
Influence
Perspective
The Decision-Making Perspective
. . . proposes that • Generic Decision Model
buying results from •Problem Recognition
consumers perceiving
–Search
that they have a
problem and then they –Alternative Evaluation
move through a series –Choice
of rational steps to –Post-acquisition
solve the problem Evaluation
The Experiential Perspective

. . . proposes that in
some instances
buying results from
the consumer’s need
for fun, to create
fantasies, obtain
emotions, and
feelings.
 The Behavioral Influence Perspective

• . . assumes that strong

environmental forces propel
consumers to make purchases
without necessarily first developing
strong feelings or beliefs about the
product.
Wheel of Consumer Behavior

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