Chapter 1 – Intro to Consumer Behavior
Consumer Behaviour as a Process
Consumer behaviour is the study of the process of consumers selecting, purchasing, using and disposing of products, services, ideas and experiences to satisfy a need or desires
3 stages involve consumer or marketer perspectives
Pre-purchase
Consumer: How to decide if she needs a product and where to get information about alternatives
Marketer: How consumer attitudes towards product are formed and changed and what cues are used to identify a superior product.
During Purchase
Consumer: Is the purchase experience smooth or stressful?
Marketer: how do situational factors such as displays and time pressure affect the purchase decision?
Post purchase
Consumer: Does product satisfy need/desire or perform intended function? How is the product disposed of? What is the environmental impact?
Marketer: what determines customer satisfaction, repurchase decisions, and customer talking about experiences (advertising via word of mouth?)
Many different participants in the process
Payer – person who purchases product - maximizes buying power
Consumer – person who uses product – delivery of social benefits
Influencer – person who recommends/discourages against it –organizes individual decisions
Buyer – person who identifies the need/want
EX – Weddings. Often influencer is other family/planner, consumer is bride, payer is father of bride, buyer is mother of bride (showed clips from film father of the bride)
Involves focusing on consumer, their beliefs, thoughts and emotions, and meanings and symbols in order for organizations to develop a competitive advantage
Peter Drucker & Bob Lauterborn – “Know Thy Customer” because doing this increases competitive advantage.
Theodore Levitt.
Consumer behaviour focuses not just on present but future. Focuses on consumer not just product. Marketing myopia is having short-sighted view of industry and results in failure to adapt to future.
People really buy solutions to problems. Product value resides in consumer perceived benefits of a product not in its features
Sidney Levy
People buy symbols. They buy things not just for function but for what they mean and represent.
Ernest Dichter
Thoughts and emotions. Consumer behaviour is the result of unconscious motives that are uncovered via psychological techniques.
Consumer Impact on Marketing Strategy
Marketing Segmentation identifies groups of consumers that are similar to one another and develops marketing strategies that appeal to one or more groups. Examples of grouping:
Loyalty
Demographics – age, gender, family structure (single, married, divorced, newlyweds, families with new borns), social class and income, ethnicity, geography
Beyond demographics – values, beliefs, lifestyles.
Relationship Marketing is the process of building relationships that will last a lifetime between brands and customers. This is made easier by database marketing which involves tracking consumers’ buying habits and tailoring messages and products precisely to their wants and needs based on this. Types of relationships consumers can have with product:
Self-concept attachment: product helps form user’s identity
Nostalgic attachment: helps link with a past self
Interdependence: part of a user’s daily routine
Love: elicits emotional bonds of warmth, passion and other strong emotions
Marketing’s Impact on Consumers
Since we are surrounded by marketing stimuli, we are often influenced by them. Ads show us how to act in different situations e.g. recycling, alcohol consumption, types of cars and houses to own etc.
Pop culture is the music, movies, sports, books, celebrities, and other forms of entertainment consumed by the mass market. It is both the inspiration and products of marketers.
Consumer generated content where everyday people voice opinions about products, brands, companies via blogs, podcasts, social networking etc.
Web 2.0 is the rebirth of internet as