Consumer Behavior

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Consumer Behavior

• Readings Flat World
• Chapters 10, 3,
• Primary and Secondary Research (http//www.allbusi
  ness.com/marketing/market-research/1310-1.html)
• Skill Soft MKT0203 Competitive Factors in
  Strategic Marketing
• WGU Library E-Reserves
• Figure 8.2 Types of Primary Research
  (Contemporary Marketing pg. 251)

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 Consumer behavior Process through which
buyers make decisions.  Marketers borrow
extensively from psychology and sociology to
better understand consumer behavior.  Consumer
behavior is usually understood as a function of
interpersonal influences and personal factors.
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INTERPERSONAL DETERMINANTS OFCONSUMER BEHAVIOR
CULTURAL INFLUENCES  Culture Values, beliefs,
preferences, and tastes handed down from one
generation to the next.  Culture is a broad
environmental determinant of behavior. Core
Values in U.S. Culture  Work ethic and desire
the accumulate wealth.  Importance of family and
home life.  Individualism, education, freedom,
youth, health, and others. Consumers are
adopting new values as communication technology
changes.
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International Perspective on Cultural
Influences  Successful strategies in one country
may not extend to others.  Example McDonalds
allows local managers to run their own
advertising campaigns tailored to the preferences
of their customers. Subcultures  Groups within a
culture that have their own modes of
behavior.  In U.S. subcultures can differ by
ethnicity, nationality, age, rural versus urban
location, religion, and geographic
distribution.  Population mix in U.S. is
changing as the Hispanic, African American, and
Asian populations grow.
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Hispanic-American Consumers  Forty-eight million
Hispanics in U.S. are not homogenous.  Acculturat
ionthe degree to which newcomers have adopted
U.S. cultureshapes consumer behavior.  Despite
differences among the various Hispanic segments,
the Hispanic market in general is large and fast
growing.  Some other important trends for
marketers to consider  Hispanics control more
disposable income than any other minority group,
a figure expected to hit 1.3 trillion by
2012.  During recent years, large consumer
goods companies have invested huge sums in
advertising to Hispanic consumers, in both
English and Spanish.  Hispanic families tend
to be somewhat larger than those of other
population groups. They also tend to be younger,
so deaths dont balance out births.
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African American Consumers  Thirty-eight million
today expected to grow to more than 61 million
by 2050.  Buying power expected to be 1.1
trillion by 2012.  As with other subcultures,
demographic factors such as age, language, and
educational level all affect how marketers appeal
to different segments of the African-American
segment. Asian American Consumers  More than 14
million Asian Americans are spread
among culturally diverse groups.  Asian American
consumers are expected to wield 670 billion in
buying power by 2012.  Many culturally diverse
segments within this group, including Chinese,
Filipinos, Japanese, Koreans, Indians,
Vietnamese, and others.  Marketers today are
working to better understand the needs of this
market.
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SOCIAL INFLUENCES  Everyone belongs to multiple
social groups family, neighborhood, clubs, and
sports teams.  Group membership influences
buying decisions.  Groups establish norms of
behaviorvalues, attitudes, and behaviors that a
group deems appropriate for its
members.  Differences in status and roles within
groups also influence behavior.  Some Americans
make purchases to enhance their status within
social groups, and others work to reduce their
consumption dramatically. The Asch
Phenomenon  Theory of psychologist S. E. Asch
that individuals conform to majority rule, even
if that majority rule goes against their beliefs.
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Reference Groups  Reference groups People or
institutions whose opinions are valued and to
whom a person looks for guidance in his or her
own behavior, values, and conduct, such as
family, friends, or celebrities.  Influence of
reference group depends on two conditions  Purc
hased product must be seen and identifiable.  Pu
rchased product must be conspicuous, something
not everybody owns. Social Classes  Six
classes upper-upper, lower-upper, upper-middle,
lower-middle, working class, lower
class.  Income not always a primary
factor.  Individuals buying habits sometimes
reflect the class to which they aspire.
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Opinion Leaders  Opinion leaders Trendsetters
who purchase new products before others in
agroup and then influence others in their
purchases.  Individuals tend to act as opinion
leaders for specific goods or services.  Informa
tion sometimes flows from massmedia to opinion
leaders to consumers sometimes flows directly
to consumers.
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FAMILY INFLUENCES  Like other influences,
families have norms of expected behavior, status
relationships, and roles.  Family structure
changing.  Only about half of all households are
headed by married couples.  Many couples are
separated or divorced, so single heads of
households are more common.
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FAMILY INFLUENCES  Four roles of
spouses  Autonomic rolepartners independently
make an equal number of decisions.  Husband-do
minant rolehusband usually makes certain buying
decisions, such as purchasing life
insurance.  Wife-dominant rolewife makes
buying decisions, such as buying childrens
clothing.  Syncratic rolebuying decision made
jointly.  Increasing occurrence of two-income
households increases likelihood of spouses making
joint buying decisions. Children and Teenagers in
Family Purchases  Preteens and teens will spend
200 billion each year by 2011, and marketers are
taking notice.
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PERSONAL DETERMINANTS OFCONSUMER BEHAVIOR
NEEDS AND MOTIVES Need Imbalance between a
consumers actual and desired states. Motive
Inner state that directs a person toward the goal
of satisfying a need. Maslows Hierarchy of
Needs  Developed by psychologist Abraham H.
Maslow Identifies five levels of human
needs.  Person must at least partially satisfy
lower-level needs before higher-level needs
affect behavior.
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PERCEPTIONS Perception Meaning that a person
attributes to incoming stimuli gathered through
the five senses.  Results from two types of
factors  Stimulus factorscharacteristics of
the physical object such as size, color,
weight, and shape.  Individual factorsunique
characteristics of the individual, including
not only sensory processes but also experiences
with similar inputs and basic motivations and
expectations. Perceptual Screens  Consumers are
bombarded by commercial messages. Perceptual
screens help people filter out some messages.
Advertisers work to break through these screens
such as through using large ads, word-of-mouth
advertising, and virtual reality.
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Subliminal Perception  Subconscious receipt of
incoming information. Use is aimed at
subverting perceptual screens. Unlikely to work
in customers not already inclined to
buy.  Example Retailers beaming commercials to
individual customers in specific areas of the
store, such as the cereal aisle. ATTITUDES
Attitudes Persons enduring favorable or
unfavorable evaluations, emotions, or action
tendencies toward some object or idea. Attitude
Components Cognitiveindividuals knowledge
about an object or concept.  Affectivedeals
with feelings or emotional reactions.  Behavioral
tendencies to act in a certain manner.
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Changing Consumer Attitudes  Marketers have two
choices for appealing to consumer attitudes
Attempt to produce consumer attitudes that
will motivate purchase of a particular
product. Evaluate existing consumer attitudes
and then make the product features appeal to
them. Attitudes may not be unfavorable, just
not motivating the consumer toward a
purchase. Modifying the Components of Attitude
Provide information about product benefits and
correcting misconceptions.  Engaging buyers in
new behavior.  New technologies can encourage
changes in customers attitudes.
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LEARNING Learning Knowledge or skill that is
acquired as a result of experience, which changes
consumer behavior.  Learning process  Drivean
y strong stimulus that impels action.  Cueany
object in the environment that determines the
nature of the consumers response to a
drive.  Responsean individuals reaction to a
set of cues and drives.  Reinforcementthe
reduction in drive that results from a proper
response creates bond between the drive and
the purchase of the product.
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Applying Learning Theory to Marketing
Decisions  Marketers use shaping, the process of
applying a series of rewards and reinforcements
to permit more complex behavior to evolve.
Product and promotional strategy work together in
the shaping process. First step customer
receives a free sample that includes a
substantial discount for first purchase. Second
step Customer likes product and purchases it
with little financial risk. Third step
Customer uses discount coupon to buy at moderate
cost.  Final step Customer decided whether to
buy the item at its true price. SELF-CONCEPT
THEORY Self-concept Persons multifaceted
picture of himself or herself.  Four
componentsreal self, self-image, looking-glass
self, and ideal self influence purchasing
decisions.
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THE CONSUMER DECISION PROCESS
 High-involvement purchasing decisions include
purchasing a condominium. Low-involvement
purchasing decisions include buying a candy bar.
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PURCHASE DECISION AND PURCHASE ACT  Consumer
decides where or from whom to make the purchase.
POST-PURCHASE EVALUATION  Buyer feels either
satisfaction at the removal of the discrepancy
between the existing and desired states or
dissatisfaction with the purchase. Cognitive
dissonance Imbalance among knowledge, beliefs,
and attitudes that occurs after an action or
decision, such as a purchase.  Reasons
dissonance may increase The dollar value of a
purchase increases.  The rejected alternatives
have desirable features that the chosen
alternatives do not provide.  The purchase
decision has a major effect on the buyer.
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CLASSIFYING CONSUMER PROBLEM-SOLVING
PROCESSES  Results from two types of
factors Routinized Response Behavior  Consumer
makes many purchases routinely by choosing a
preferred brand or one of a limited group of
acceptable brands. Limited Problem
Solving  Consumer has previously set evaluative
criteria for a particular kind of purchase but
then encounters a new, unknown brand. Extended
Problem Solving  Results when brands are
difficult to categorize or evaluate.  Typical of
high-involvement purchases.
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VIDEO

• Watch Mitsubishi Video
• Watch Cadillac Video
• Compare the Cadillac and Mitsubishi ads.  Which
  type of information source(s) does each make use
  of to tout its product?  What competitive
  advantage is demonstrated by each vehicle?  Which
  ad is most effective?  Why?