Chapter 4: Consumer buyer behavior and

consumer market
Consumer buyer behavior refers to the buying
behavior of final consumers—individuals and
households who buy goods and services for
.personal consumption
Consumer market refers to all of the personal
.consumption of final consumers

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 Model of Buyer Behaviour

Buyer responses :
The environment
Buyer black box: Buyer attitudes and
Marketing stimuli through
which involves buyer preferences.
4Ps + others as economic,
characteristics and Buyer purchase
cultural, personal ,
buyer decision behavior: what the
psychological, social and
process buyer buys, when,
technological
how much

Model of buyer behaviour

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 Cultural (culture, subculture and social
class)
• Culture is the most basic cause of a person’s wants and behavior.
Human behavior is largely learned. Growing up in a society, a
child learns basic values, perceptions, wants, and behaviors from
his or her family and other important institutions. Culture is the
set of basic values, perceptions, wants, and behavior learned from
family and other important institutions.

• Each culture contains smaller subcultures, or groups of people

with shared value systems based on common life experiences and
situations. Subcultures include nationalities, religions, racial
groups, and geographic regions. Many subcultures make up
important market segments.

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Social Class

• Almost every society has some form of social class structure. Social
classes are society’s relatively permanent and ordered divisions
whose members share similar values, interests, and behaviors.
• Social class is not determined by a single factor, such as income, but
is measured as a combination of occupation, income, education,
wealth, and other variables. In some social systems, members of
different classes are reared for certain roles and cannot change their
social positions. In the United States, however, the lines between
social classes are not fixed and rigid; people can move to a higher
social class or drop into a lower one.
• Marketers are interested in social class because people within a
given social class tend to exhibit similar buying behavior. Social
classes show distinct product and brand preferences in areas such as
clothing, home furnishings, leisure activity, and automobiles.

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Social factors: as those coming from groups and social networks,
or opinion leaders who affect buyers through word of mouth,
family members. Also, the role of the person in the group
he/she belongs to does affect the buying behavior.
Groups and Social Networks
• Many small groups influence a person’s behavior. Groups
that have a direct influence and to which a person belongs
are called membership groups. In contrast, reference groups
serve as direct(face-to-face) or indirect points of comparison
or reference in forming person’s attitudes or behavior. People
often are influenced by reference groups to which they do
not belong. Reference groups expose a person to new
behaviors and lifestyles, influence the person’s attitudes and
self concept, and create pressures to conform that may affect
the person’s product and brand choices.
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• Word-of-Mouth Influence and Buzz Marketing. Word-of-mouth
influence can have a powerful impact on consumer buying behavior.
The personal words and recommendations of trusted friends,
associates, and other consumers tend to be more credible than those
coming from commercial sources, such as advertisements or
salespeople. Most word-of-mouth influence happens naturally:
Consumers start chatting about a brand they use or feel strongly
about one way or the other. Often, however, rather than leaving it to
chance, marketers can help to create positive conversations about
their brands.
• Marketers of brands subjected to strong group influence must figure
out how to reach opinion leaders—people within a reference group
who, because of special skills, knowledge, personality, or other
characteristics, exert social influence on others. Some experts call this
group the influentials or leading adopters. Buzz marketing involves
enlisting or even creating opinion leaders to serve as “brand
ambassadors” who spread the word about a company’s products.
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Online social networks
are online communities where people socialize or exchange
information and opinions. Social networking media range from
blogs (Gizmodo) and message boards (Craigslist) to social
networking Web sites (Facebook and Twitter) and virtual worlds
(Second Life). This new form of consumer-to-consumer and
business-to-consumer dialog has big implications for marketers.
• Marketers are working to harness the power of these new
social networks and other “word-of-Web” opportunities to
promote their products and build closer customer relationships.
• Instead of throwing more one-way commercial messages at
consumers, they hope to use the Internet and social networks
to interact with consumers and become a part of their
conversations and lives

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• Family members can strongly influence buyer behavior. The
family is the most important consumer buying organization in
society, and it has been researched extensively. Marketers are
interested in the roles and influence of the husband, wife,
and children on the purchase of different products and
services. Husband-wife involvement varies widely by product
category and by stage in the buying process. Buying roles
change with evolving consumer lifestyles
• A person belongs to many groups—family, clubs,
organizations, online communities. The person’s position in
each group can be defined in terms of both role and status. A
role consists of the activities people are expected to perform
according to the people around them. Each role carries a
status reflecting the general esteem given to it by society.
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Personal factors: age and life-cycle stage, occupation, economic
situation, lifestyle, personality and self concept.
• Lifestyle is a person’s pattern of living as expressed in his or her
psychographics. It involves measuring consumers’ major AIO
dimensions—activities (work, hobbies, shopping, sports, social
events), interests (food, fashion, family, recreation), and opinions
(about themselves, social issues, business, products). Lifestyle
captures something more than the person’s social class or
personality. It profiles a person’s whole pattern of acting and
interacting in the world.
• When used carefully, the lifestyle concept can help marketers
understand changing consumer values and how they affect buying
behavior. Consumers don’t just buy products; they buy the values
and lifestyles those products represent Psychological factors: a
person’s buying choices are further influenced by four major
psychological factors: motivation, perception, learning and beliefs
and attitudes.
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Personality refers
• to the unique psychological characteristics that distinguish a person
or group. Personality is usually described in terms of traits such as
self-confidence, dominance, sociability, defensiveness, adaptability,
and aggressiveness. Personality can be useful in analyzing
• consumer behavior for certain product or brand choices.
• The idea is that brands also have personalities, and consumers are
likely to choose brands with personalities that match their own. A
brand personality is the specific mix of human traits that may be
attributed to a particular brand. One researcher identified five
brand personality traits: sincerity (down-to-earth, honest, holesome,
and cheerful); excitement (daring, spirited, imaginative, and up-to-
date); competence (reliable, intelligent, and successful);
sophistication (upper class and charming); and ruggedness
(outdoorsy and tough)

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 Characteristics Affecting Consumer Behavior
Personal Factors

Occupation affects the goods and services bought

.by consumers
:Economic situation includes trends in

Personal income Savings Interest rates

11- Ch 5 Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education

 Characteristics Affecting Consumer Behavior
Personal Factors
•Personality and self-concept
• Personality refers to the unique psychological
characteristics that lead to consistent and lasting
responses to the consumer’s environment: Self-
confidence, Sociability, Autonomy, Defensiveness,
Adaptability, Aggressiveness.
• Self-concept or self-image premise is that people’s
possessions contribute to and reflect their identities
—that is, ‘we are what we have’.

12- Ch 5 Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education

 Characteristics Affecting Consumer Behavior
Psychological Factors

Motivation

Perception

Learning

Beliefs and attitudes

13- Ch 5 Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education

 Characteristics Affecting Consumer Behavior
Psychological Factors

Motivation
A motive is a need that is sufficiently pressing
to direct the person to seek satisfaction.

Motivation research refers to qualitative

research designed to probe consumers’
hidden, subconscious motivations.

14- Ch 5 Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education

 Characteristics Affecting Consumer Behavior

15- Ch 5 Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education

 Characteristics Affecting Consumer Behavior
Psychological Factors

Perception is the process by which people

select, organize, and interpret information to
form a meaningful picture of the world from
three perceptual processes.
• Selective attention
• Selective distortion
• Selective retention

16- Ch 5 Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education

 Characteristics Affecting Consumer Behavior
Psychological Factors

•Beliefs and Attitudes

Belief is a descriptive thought that a person has about

something based on:
• Knowledge
• Opinion
• Faith
Attitudes describe a person’s relatively consistent
evaluations, feelings, and tendencies toward an object or
idea.

17- Ch 5 Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education

 The Buyer Decision Process
Need recognition .1
2. Information search
3. Evaluation of alternatives
4. Purchase Decision
5. Post-Purchase Behavior: either satisfied or develop cognitive
dissonance which is a feel of discomfort and dissatisfaction

By studying the overall buyer decision, marketers might be able

to find ways to help consumers move towards through it.

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• The buying process starts with need recognition—the
buyer recognizes a problem or need. The need can be
triggered by internal stimuli when one of the person’s
normal needs—for example, hunger or thirst—rises to a
level high enough to become a drive. A need can also be
triggered by external stimuli.
• Information Search: An interested consumer may or
may not search for more information. This depends on
product cost and riskness. If the consumer’s drive is
strong and a satisfying product is near at hand, he or
she is likely to buy it then. If not, the consumer may
store the need in memory or undertake an information
search related to the need.
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• Consumers can obtain information from any of
several sources. These include personal
sources (family, friends, neighbours,
acquaintances), commercial sources
(advertising, salespeople, dealer Web sites,
packaging, displays), public sources (mass
media, consumer rating organizations, Internet
searches), and experiential sources (handling,
examining, using the product).
• The relative influence of these information
sources varies with the product and the buyer.
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In reality, need information and evaluation of •
.alternatives are not necessarily separated
During information collection the consumer •
build awareness set of competitive brands,
that are reduced in the evaluation stage to
.consideration then choice set

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• evaluation
• The stage of the buyer decision process in which
the consumer uses information to evaluate
alternative brands in the choice set.
• Marketers need to know about alternative
evaluation, that is, how the consumer processes
information to arrive at brand choices.
Unfortunately, consumers do not use a simple and
single evaluation process in all buying situations.
Instead, several evaluation processes are at work.
How consumers go about evaluating purchase
alternatives depends on the individual consumer
and the specific buying situation.
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• Purchase Decision
• In the evaluation stage, the consumer ranks brands and
forms purchase intentions. Generally, the consumer’s
purchase decision will be to buy the most preferred
brand, but two factors can come between the purchase
intention and the purchase decision.
• The first factor is the attitudes of others. If someone
important to you thinks that you should buy the lowest
priced car, then the chances of you buying a more
expensive car are reduced.
• The second factor is unexpected situational factors. The
consumer may form a purchase intention based on factors
such as expected income, expected price, and expected
product benefits.
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• Postpurchase Behavior
• The marketer’s job does not end when the product is
bought. After purchasing the product, the consumer
will either be satisfied or dissatisfied and will engage
in post-purchase behavior of interest to the
marketer. What determines whether the buyer is
satisfied or dissatisfied with a purchase? The answer
lies in the relationship between the consumer’s
expectations and the product’s perceived
performance. If the product falls short of
expectations, the consumer is disappointed; if it
meets expectations, the consumer is satisfied; if it
exceeds expectations, the consumer is delighted
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• Consumers might skip some stages in the
consumer buying process. When?
• When the purchase situation is of low
involvement .
• Previous experience
• In case of variety seeking behaviour

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 Types of Buying Decision Behavior

Both complex and habitual is on extremes of a continuum

Complex (extended) buying behavior: consumer buying behavior in
situations characterized by high consumer involvement in a purchase
and significant perceived differences among brands. Consumers may
be highly involved when the product is expensive, risky, purchased
infrequently, and highly self-expressive. This buyer will pass through a
learning process first developing beliefs about the product, then
attitudes and then making a thoughtful purchase choice.

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Habitual (routine) Buying Behavior: occurs under conditions of low
consumer involvement and little brand differences, as in buying dairy
products. In this case, buyers mostly are not committed to any brands,
thus marketers use prices and sales promotion to stimulate product
trial.

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