Consumer Behavior

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Consumer Behavior
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Consumer Behavior

• Buyer Behavior
• process by which consumers and organizational
  buyers make purchase decisions
• broad term that applies to both
• ultimate consumer
• organizational buyers
• Consumer Behavior
• buyer behavior of ultimate consumers

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Consumer Behavior

• Understanding human behavior in
  purchase/nonpurchase situations
• Borrows from psychology and sociology Lewins
  General Model of Behavior
• predicts that understanding consumer behavior
  requires understanding of
• individuals psychological makeup
• influences of others on the individual

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Consumer Behavior

• Lewins General Model of Behavior (cont)
• model offers a convenient classification of
  buying behavior influences
• B f (PE) where
• behavior (B) is a
• function (f) of interactions of
• personal influences (P) and the pressures
  exerted by
• environmental forces (E)

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Consumer Behavior

• Lewins Model Applied to Consumer Behavior
• B f (IP)
• B is a function of
• interpersonal determinants (I) and
• reference groups
• culture
• personal determinants (P)
• attitudes
• learning
• perception

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Interpersonal Determinants of Consumer Behavior

• Cultural Influences
• Culture
• values
• beliefs
• preferences
• tastes
• handed down from one generation to the next
• Basic core values slow to change but do change
  over time

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Interpersonal Determinants of Consumer Behavior

• Cultural Influences (cont)
• Subcultures - numerous subgroupings with their
  own distinguishing modes of behavior
• based on factors such as
• race
• nationality
• age
• rural vs. urban
• sex
• religion
• geographical distribution

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Interpersonal Determinants of Consumer Behavior

• Cultural Influences (cont)
• African American consumers
• growing market
• groups most distinguishing feature is
  self-description as bargain hunters
• group shops more frequently than other groups
• Hispanic consumers
• heterogeneous in their national heritage cultural
  norms
• consistent tendency to be brand loyal
  conservative buyers family-oriented

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Interpersonal Determinants of Consumer Behavior

• Cultural Influences (cont)
• Asian American consumers
• very culturally diverse
• almost two dozen different Asian language groups
  represented in U.S. ( several dialects)
• subgroups differ depending on their level of
  acculturation

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Interpersonal Determinants of Consumer Behavior

• Social Influences
• Includes all influences resulting from both
  formal and informal group memberships other than
  the family
• From group memberships individuals receive
• norms
• status
• roles

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Interpersonal Determinants of Consumer Behavior

• Norms
• values
• attitudes
• behaviors
• that the group deems appropriate for its members
• Status
• each persons relative position in a group
• Roles
• what members of the group expect from the
  individual

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Interpersonal Determinants of Consumer Behavior

• Asch Phenomenon
• research project that demonstrated the impact
  groups and group norms have on an individuals
  behavior
• Reference Groups
• those groups whose value structures and standards
  influence a persons behavior
• a person need not be an actual member of a
  reference group to be influenced by it

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Interpersonal Determinants of Consumer Behavior

• Reference Groups
• Two conditions necessary for strong influence by
  a group on a members purchase
• purchased product must be one that others can see
  and identify
• purchased product must be conspicuous a brand or
  product not everybody owns

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Interpersonal Determinants of Consumer Behavior

• Social Class Membership
• can affect both lifestyle and purchasing behavior
• extent has not been fully determined
• Lloyd Warner developed six-class system
• social structures of small and large cities
• Upper-upper Lower-upper
• Upper-middle Lower-middle
• Working class Lower class

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Interpersonal Determinants of Consumer Behavior

• Social Class
• Opinion leaders (influencials trendsetters)
  serve as information sources about acceptance of
  new products and services
• present in almost any group
• gatekeepers

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Interpersonal Determinants of Consumer Behavior

• Family Influences
• characterized by close continuing interactions
  among family members
• family often represents strongest source of group
  influence
• family has set of norms roles status
• four role categories in family decision-making
• autonomic husband-dominant
• wife-dominant syncratic

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Interpersonal Determinants of Consumer Behavior

• Family Influences (cont)
• role of young children in purchasing decisions is
  changing
• children influence parents to buy
• toys clothing
• cereals homes () vacations
  ()
• teenagers in many cases have become household
  purchasing agents in their families

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Personal Determinants of Consumer Behavior

• Needs and Motives
• Perceptions
• Attitudes
• Self-Concept

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Needs and Motives

• Need
• a lack of something useful
• imbalance between actual and desired state
• a need must be sufficiently aroused before it can
  serve as a motive to buy something
• Motive
• inner state that directs a person toward the goal
  of satisfying a felt need
• person takes action to reduce tension and regain
  equilibrium

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Needs and Motives

• Maslows Hierarchy of Needs
• Physiological
• food shelter clothing
• Safety/belonging
• protection from physical harm need for security
  avoidance of the unexpected
• Social
• being accepted by family and other group

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Needs and Motives

• Maslows Hierarchy of Needs (cont)
• Esteem
• desire to feel a sense of accomplishment
  achievement and respect from others
• Self-actualization
• desire to feel fulfilled to realize ones own
  potential to fully use ones talents and
  capabilities

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Perceptions

• The meaning each person attributes to incoming
  stimuli through the five senses
• Occurrence of perception determined by
  interaction of two types of factors
• stimulus factors
• characteristics of the physical object
• individual factors
• characteristics of the person receiving the
  incoming stimuli

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Perceptions

• Selective Perception
• too many incoming stimuli for individual to react
  to all
• most are filtered by individuals perceptual
  screens
• only interesting unusual and/or problem-solving
  stimuli will be consciously perceived

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Perceptions

• Closure
• persons tendency to produce a complete picture
• many successful advertisements utilize this
  characteristic
• Subliminal Perceptions
• research shows that subliminal messages cannot
  force receivers to buy goods they would not
  consciously want

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Attitudes

• A persons enduring favorable or unfavorable
• evaluations
• emotional feelings
• actions
• toward some object or idea

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Attitudes

• Three components of attitude
• cognitive
• individuals information or knowledge about an
  object or concept
• affective
• feelings or emotional reactions
• behavioral
• tendencies to act or to behave in a certain manner

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Attitudes

• Attitude changes come from
• cognitive
• introduction of new information
• affective
• relating the use of the new good or service to
  desirable consequences for the user
• behavioral
• inducing the person to engage in
  attitude-discrepant behavior by giving free
  samples

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Learning Theory and Self-Concept

• Learning
• changes in behavior immediate or expected as a
  result of experience
• Components of the learning process
• drives
• strong stimuli that impel action
• cues
• objects that determine nature of response to
  drive
• reinforcement (reward)
• Reduction in drive that results from proper
  response

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Learning Theory and Self-Concept

• Learning theory is applied to marketing through
  the shaping process
• shaping process
• process of applying a series of rewards and
  reinforcements to permit more complex behaviors
  to evolve over time
• example use of discount coupons

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Self-Concept

• Components
• real self
• you as you really are objective view
• self-image
• the way you see yourself
• ideal self
• the way you would like to look
• looking-glass self
• the way you think others see you

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Self-Concept

• Individuals make decisions and buy products they
  feel will move them towards their ideal self-image

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The Consumer Decision Process

• Problem recognition
• result of consumer awareness of a discrepancy
  between existing state of affairs and desired
  state
• may result from
• routine depletion of individuals stock of
  products
• consumers possession of inadequate assortment of
  products changed financial status
• dissatisfaction with present brand or product
  type
• boredom with current products desire for novelty

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The Consumer Decision Process

• Search
• gathering of information related to the
  attainment of a desired state
• Internal Search
• mental review of stored information relevant to
  the problem situation
• External Search
• gathering of information from outside sources by
  consumer engaged in the research process

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The Consumer Decision Process

• Evoked Set
• number of brands a consumer actually considers in
  making a purchase decision
• Evaluation of Alternatives/Purchase Act
• involves evaluative criteria
• purchase decision and purchase act are end
  results of the search and alternative evaluation
  stages of decision process

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The Consumer Decision Process

• Postpurchase Evaluation
• deals with consumer satisfaction with purchase
• common for consumer to experience postpurchase
  anxieties in certain instances
• Festinger - postpurchase doubt cognitive
  dissonance
• psychologically unpleasant state that occurs
  when an imbalance exists among a persons
  cognitions (knowledge beliefs attitudes)

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The Consumer Decision Process

• Cognitive Dissonance
• more likely to occur where
• dollar value of purchase is high
• rejected alternatives have desirable features not
  present in chosen alternative
• decision is major one

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The Consumer Decision Process

• Reduction of Cognitive Dissonance
• seek out advertisements and other information
  supporting the chosen alternative
• seek reassurance from other satisfied customers
• avoid information favorable to the unchosen
  alternatives
• consumer can change opinions
• marketeers can provide informational support to
  reduce dissonance

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Consumer Problem-Solving Processes

• Routinized response behavior
• speed buy
• made based on brand preference selection from
  limited group of brands
• Limited problem-solving
• situation where evaluative criteria are set but
  a new brand is encountered
• Extended problem-solving
• brand is difficult to categorize or evaluate
  requires considerable external search