STORY 4

Consumer Markets and Consumer

Buying Behavior

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 Consumer Buying Behavior
 Consumer Buying Behavior refers to the
buying behavior of final consumers -
individuals & households who buy goods
and services for personal consumption.
 All these consumers make up the
consumer market.
 The central question for marketers is:
 “How do consumers respond to various
marketing efforts the company might use?”
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 Model of Buyer Behavior
(Fig. 5.1)
Marketing and Buyer’s Black Box Buyer Responses
Other Stimuli

Marketing Buyer Characteristics Product Choice

Product Buyer Decision Process Brand Choice
Price Dealer Choice
Place
Promotion
Other Purchase Timing
Economic Purchase Amount
Technological
Political
Cultural

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 Factors Influencing
Consumer Behavior (Fig. 5.2)
Cultural
Social
Personal
Age and Psycho-
Culture Reference life-cycle logical
groups
Occupation Motivation
Economic Perception Buyer
Sub-
culture Family situation Learning
Lifestyle Beliefs and
Roles attitudes
Social Personality
and and
class status self-concept

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 Factors Affecting Consumer
Behavior: Culture
Culture is the Most Basic Cause of a Person's Wants and
Behavior.
•Set of values norms, attitudes, and other meaningful
symbols that shape human behavior and the artifacts, or
products, of that behavior as they are transmitted from one
generation to the next.
Subculture
• Group of people with shared value systems based on
common life experiences.
• African American Consumers
• Asian American Consumers 5
 Factors Affecting Consumer
Behavior: Culture
Culture is the Set of Values, Perceptions, Wants &
Behavior Learned by a Member of Society from
Family.
Social Class
• Society’s relatively permanent
& ordered divisions whose
members share similar values,
interests, and behaviors.
• Measured by: Occupation,
Income, Education, Wealth and
Other Variables.

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 Factors Affecting Consumer
Behavior: Social
Groups
•Membership
•Reference

Family (most important)

•Husband, wife, kids Social Factors
•Influencer, buyer, user

Roles and Status

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 Factors Affecting Consumer
Behavior: Social
Social Class
A group of people in a society who are considered nearly
equal in status or community esteem, who regularly
socialize among themselves both formally and informally,
and who share behavioral norms.

Society’s relatively permanent & ordered divisions whose

members share similar values, interests, and behaviors.
Measured by: Occupation, Income, Education, Wealth and
Other Variables.

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 Factors Affecting Consumer
Behavior: Social
Reference Group

A group in society that influences an individual’s

purchasing behavior.

Implications of Reference Groups

They serve as information sources and influence
perceptions
They affect an individual’s aspiration levels
Their norms either constrain or stimulate consumer
behavior
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Social Factors: Reference Groups
Primary
Small, informal group

Direct
Face to face

Secondary
Large, formal group

Reference
Groups
Aspirational
Desired to be a member

Indirect

Non-Aspirational
Avoids membership

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 Consumer Decision Making:
Family Buying Roles

 Initiator
 Family member who initiates thinking about buying
products (gatekeeper)
 Family member who initiates information gathering

 Influencer
 Family member whose opinion is sought about
purchases
 Provides information about brands and evaluative
criteria

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 Consumer Decision Making:
Family Buying Roles

 Decider
 Family member who has financial authority

and/or power to purchase the product

 Buyer
 Family member who acts as the purchasing agent
 Performs the logistics (going to the store,
writing the check, etc.) of the purchase

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 Consumer Decision Making:
Family Buying Roles…

 User
 Family member who actually uses or
consumes the product

Family life-cycle
 a series of stages
 attitudes, behaviour and particularly buyer
behaviour change over time

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 Factors Affecting Consumer
Behavior: Personal
Personal
Personal Influences
Influences

Age
Age and
and Life
Life Economic
Economic Personality
Personality &&
Cycle Occupation
Occupation
Cycle Stage
Stage Situation
Situation Self-Concept
Self-Concept

Lifestyle
Lifestyle Identification
Identification

Activities
Activities Interests
Interests Opinions
Opinions

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 SRI Values and Lifestyles
(VALS) (Fig. 5.3)
Actualizers High Innovation
High Resources

Fulfilleds Achievers Experiencers

Believers Strivers Makers

Strugglers
Low Resources Low Innovation
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 Factors Affecting Consumer
Behavior: Psychological
Motivation

Psychological
Factors
Beliefs and Affecting Perception
Attitudes Buyers
Choices

Learning
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Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
(Fig. 5.4)
Self

Actualization
Esteem Needs
(self-esteem)

Social Needs
(sense of belonging, love)

Safety Needs
(security, protection)

Physiological Needs
(hunger, thirst)
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 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs…

Physiological….
 Products:
 Limited in the United States. Generic foods,
medicines, special drinks, and foods for athletes
 Specific themes:
 Campbell’s Soup - “Soup is good food,” with
advertising copy that stresses the nutritional benefits
of soup
 Raisins - “Thank goodness I found a snack kids will sit

for. And mothers will stand for.”

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 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs…

Safety….
 Products:
 Smoke detectors, preventive medicines, insurance,

social security, seat belts, safes

 Specific themes:
 Sleep Safe - “We’ve designed a travel alarm that

might wake you in the middle of the night… You

see, ours is a smoke alarm as well as an alarm clock”
 Alka Seltzer - “Will it be there when you need it?”

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 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs…

Social/Belongingness…
Products:
 Personal grooming, foods, entertainment,
clothing, and many others.
 Specific themes:

 Oil of Olay - “When was the last time you

and your husband met for lunch?”

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 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs…

Esteem…
 Products:
 Clothing, furniture, liquors, hobbies, stores, cars,

and many others

 Specific themes:
 Sheaffer - “Your hand should look as contemporary

as the rest of you”

 St. Pauli Girl - “People who know the difference in

fine things know the difference between imported

beer and St. Pauli Girl
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 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs…

Self-Actualization…
 Products:
 Education, hobbies, sports, some vacations,

gourmet foods, museums

 Specific themes:
 U.S. Army - “Be all you can be”

 U.S. Home - “Make the rest of your life…

the best of your life”

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 Types of Buying Decision
Behavior (Fig. 5.5)
High Low
Involvement Involvement
Significant Complex Variety-
differences Buying Seeking
between Behavior Behavior
brands
Few Dissonance- Habitual
differences Reducing Buying Buying
between Behavior Behavior
brands

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 Types of Buying Decision Behavior
High Low
Involvement Involvement

Complex Buying Variety-Seeking

Behavior: PC/Laptop Behavior: Cookie purchase.
Significant Do a lot of brand switching.
Expensive, risky,
differences Purchased infrequent and highly First hold a belief,
between self expressive. Learning, beliefs, choose a brand, consume and
Evaluate. Brand switch occur
brands attitudes, and making a thoughtful
For the sake of variety. Encourage
purchase choice. Salespeople
should influence the through lower price,
coupons, free samples and
final brand choice. advertising.

Habitual Buying
Few Dissonance- Behavior: Salt purchase.
Reducing Buying Passively received information
differences Behavior: Carpet buying. through TV and magazine
between Expensive, risky and to create brand familiarity.
brands Infrequent purchase Passive learning through
and post purchase Purchase and may not followed
communication can reduce Evaluation. Price and sales
this Promotions to enhance trial.

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 High versus Low Involvement…
High Involvement purchase occasions can be

1. expensive, have serious personal consequences,

2. and/or reflect one’s social image.
3. These occasions typically involve extensive
information search, consideration of several
product attributes and brands, the formation of
attitudes, and word-of-mouth communication.
4. An example would be the purchase of an
automobile or stereo system.
5. extensive promotion to target market and good
advertisement
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 High versus Low Involvement…
Low Involvement purchase occasions typically involve

1. little information search

2. or consideration of various brands, except on the

basis of price.
3. They usually don’t involve any personal
consequences. They tend to be privately consumed.

4. An example would be the purchase of soap or

toothpaste.
5. In-store promotion and eye-catching package design
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 Buyer Decision Process
(Fig. 5.6)
Purchase
Decision
Evaluation Postpurchase
of Alternatives Behavior
Information
Search
Need
Recognition 27
 Buyer Decision Process
Step 1. Need Recognition

Buyer
Recognizes Needs Arising
State Where the From:
Buyer’s Needs a
are Fulfilled and Problem Internal Stimuli –
the Buyer is or a
Need. Hunger
Satisfied.
External Stimuli-
Friends

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The Buyer Decision Process
Step 2. Information Search

Personal Sources •Family, friends, neighbors

•Most effective source of
information

Commercial Sources •Advertising, salespeople

•Receives most information from
these sources

Public Sources •Mass Media

•Consumer-rating groups

•Handling the product

Experiential Sources •Examining the product
•Using the product

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 The Buyer Decision Process
Step 4. Evaluation of Alternatives
Consumer May Use Careful
Calculations & Logical Thinking

Consumers May Buy on Impulse and

Rely on Intuition
Consumers May Make Buying Decisions
on Their Own.

Consumers May Make Buying Decisions

Only After Consulting Others.

Marketers Must Study Buyers to Find Out

How They Evaluate Brand Alternatives
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The Buyer Decision Process
Step 5. Purchase Decision
Purchase Intention
Desire to buy the most preferred brand

Attitudes Unexpected
of Others Situational
Factors

Purchase Decision
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The Buyer Decision Process
Step 6. Postpurchase Behavior

Satisfied Customer!

Consumer’s

Cognitive Dissonance
Expectations of Product’s Performance.
Product’s Perceived
Performance.

Dissatisfied Customer
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 Discussion Connections
 Form small groups to discuss a specific
major purchase that one of you has
made recently.
 What type of buying decision was it?
(slide #12)
 Discuss the Buyer Decision Process and
what major factors influenced your
decisions.
 Stages in the Adoption
Process
Awareness: Consumer is aware of
product, but lacks information.
Interest: Consumer seeks
Information about new product.

Evaluation: Consumer considers

trying new product.
Trial: Consumer tries new
product on a small scale.

Adoption: Consumer decides

to make regular use of product.

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 Adopter Categories (Fig. 5.7)
Percentage of Adopters

Early Majority Late Majority

Innovators

Early
34% 34% Laggards
Adopters

13.5% 16%
2.5% Time of Adoption
Early Late

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 Influence of Product Characteristics
on Rate of Adoption
Communicability Relative Advantage
Can results be easily
observed or described Is the innovation
to others? superior to existing
products?

Divisibility Compatibility
Can the innovation Does the innovation
be used on a fit the values and
trial basis? experience of the
target market?
Complexity
Is the innovation
difficult to
understand or use?
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