Chapter Five

Consumer Markets and Consumer

Buyer Behavior
 Consumer Behavior
Consumer Buying Behavior refers
to the buying behavior of final
consumers- individuals &
Consumer households who buy goods and
Behavior services for personal
consumption.

The central question for marketers

is:
“How do consumers respond to
various marketing efforts the
company might use?
 Model of Buyer Behavior
Marketing and Buyer’s Black Box Buyer Responses
Other Stimuli

Marketing Buyer Characteristics Product Choice

Product Buyer Decision Process Brand Choice
Price
Place
Promotion
Other
Economic
Purchase Timing
Technological Purchase Amount
Political
Cultural
Identify and understand factors that
affect consumer
buying decisions
 Factors Influencing Buying
Decisions
Cultural
Social
Personal
Psycho-
Culture Reference Age and logical
Culture groups life-cycle
Occupation
Motivation Buyer
Perception Consumer
Sub-
Sub- Family Economic Decision Making
culture situation Learning
culture
Lifestyle Beliefs and
Roles Personality attitudes
Social
Social and and BUY
BUY/ /
class status self-concept DON’T
class DON’TBUY
BUY

5
 A. Culture Factors

Set of values, norms, attitudes, and

Culture 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.
Components of Culture
Values

Language

Myths

Customs

Rituals
Laws

Material artifacts
 Culture is. . .
Pervasive

Functional

Learned

Dynamic
 Value

Value Enduring belief that a specific

mode of conduct is personally or
socially preferable to another
mode of conduct.
Core American Values

Success

Materialism

Freedom

Progress

Youth

Capitalism
 Subculture

Subculture A homogeneous group

of people who share elements of
the overall culture as well as
unique elements of their own
group.
 Social Class

A group of people in a society who

Social Class are considered nearly equal in
status or community esteem, who
regularly socialize among
themselves both formally and
informally, and who share
behavioral norms.
Social Class Measurements
Occupation

Income

Education

Wealth

Other Variables
Social Class and Education
 The Impact of Social Class on
Marketing

• Indicates which
medium to use for
communication

• Helps determine the

best distribution for
products
 Social Influences on
Consumer Buying Decisions

Identify and understand the

social factors that affect consumer buying
decisions
B. Social Influences
Reference
Groups

Opinion
Leaders

Family
Members
 Reference Group
A group in society that influences an
Reference Group
individual’s purchasing behavior.

Primary
Direct
Secondary
Reference
Groups
Aspirational
Indirect
Nonaspirational
 Influences 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.
 Opinion Leaders
An individual who influences
Opinion Leaders the opinion of others.

Marketers are looking to Web logs, or

blogs, to find opinion leaders

 Teenagers

 Movie stars

 Sports figures

 Celebrities
 Family

Purchase Process Roles in the Family

 Initiators • Family member who initiates thinking about

buying products; initiates information
gathering
 Influencers • Family member whose opinion is sought
about purchases; provides information
 Decision Makers about brands and evaluative criteria
• Family member that makes purchase
 Purchasers decision
• Family member who actually makes the
purchase
 Consumers • Family member(s) who actually uses the
product
Relationships among Purchasers and
Consumers in the Family
 Social Factors – Re-cap

Constrain or
Reference Affect aspiration stimulate
Information sources
Groups levels consumer behavior

Opinion
People You Know Celebrities
Leaders

Socialization Process
Family Initiators Decision Makers Consumers
Influencers Purchasers
 Individual Influences on
Consumer Buying Decisions

Identify and understand the individual

factors that affect consumer buying
decisions
 C. Individual Influences

Personality
Age
Gender Self-Concept
Life Cycle
Lifestyle
 Psychological Influences on
Consumer Buying Decisions

Identify and understand the psychological

factors that affect consumer buying
decisions
C. Psychological Influences

Perception

Motivation

Learning

Beliefs & Attitudes

 Perception

Perception

Process by which people select,

organize, and interpret stimuli into a
meaningful and coherent picture.
 Perception

Selective Consumer notices certain stimuli

attention and ignores others

Consumer changes or distorts

Selective
information that conflicts
Distortion
with feelings or beliefs
Consumer remembers only
Selective
that information that
Retention
supports personal beliefs
 Marketing Implications
of Perception

 Important attributes
 Price
 Brand names
 Quality and reliability
 Threshold level of perception
 Product or repositioning changes
 Foreign consumer perception
 Motivation

Maslow’s
Hierarchy
of Needs
A method of classifying human
needs and motivations into five
categories in ascending order of
importance.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
 Types of Learning

Experiential An experience changes behavior

Not learned through direct

Conceptual
experience
 Beliefs and Attitudes

An organized pattern of knowledge

Belief that an individual holds as true about
his or her world.

A learned tendency to respond

Attitude consistently toward a given object.
 Changing Attitudes

 Change beliefs about the brand’s attributes

 Change the relative importance of these beliefs
 Add new beliefs
 Psychological Factors – Re-cap

Selective Attention
Perception
Selective Distortion Selective Retention

Needs
Motivation
Psychological Safety Social Esteem Esteem

Learning Experiential Conceptual

Changing Changing
Beliefs & Adding
Beliefs about Importance of
Attitudes New Beliefs
Attributes Beliefs
Types of Buying Decision Behavior
1. Complex
– Highly involved, significant brand differences
– Focus on educating buyers
– Example – computer
2. Dissonance-reducing
– Highly involved, little brand differences
– Focus on after sales service
– Example – carpeting
3. Habitual
– Low involvement, little brand differences
– Focus on price and sales promotions; features/enhancements too
– Example – salt
4. Variety-seeking
– Low involvement, significant perceived brand differences
– Focus on dominating shelf space, keeping shelves fully stocked, and running frequent
reminder advertising
– Example – cookies
Consumer
Decision-Making Process
Consumer
Decision-Making
Process A five-step process used
by consumers when
buying goods or services.
 Consumer
Decision-Making Process

Need Recognition

Information Search
Cultural, Social,
Individual and
Psychological
Evaluation
Factors of Alternatives
affect
all steps Purchase

Postpurchase
Behavior
1. Need Recognition

Need
Recognition

Result of an imbalance between

actual and desired states.
1. Need Recognition

Int
e
Sti rnal
mu
li

Preferred
Present State
Status
n al
t e r li
Ex timu
S Marketing helps consumers
recognize an imbalance between
present status and preferred
state.
Stimulus
Stimulus

Any unit of input affecting

one or more of the five senses:
 sight
 smell
 taste
 touch
 hearing
Recognition of
Unfulfilled Wants

 When a current product

isn’t performing properly
 When the consumer is
running out of a product
 When another product seems
superior to the one currently used
2. Information Search
Internal Information Search

 Recall information in memory

External Information search

 Seek information in outside

environment
 Nonmarketing controlled
 Marketing controlled
External Information
Searches
Need Less Need More
Information Information

Less Risk More Risk

More knowledge Less knowledge
More product experience Less product experience
Low level of interest High level of interest
Confidence in decision Lack of confidence
3. Evaluation of Alternatives
Product
ProductAttributes
Attributes
Evaluation
Evaluationof
ofQuality,
Quality,Price,
Price,&&Features
Features

Degree
Degreeof
ofImportance
Importance
Which
Whichattributes
attributesmatter
mattermost
mostto
tome?
me?

Brand
BrandBeliefs
Beliefs
What
Whatdo
doIIbelieve
believeabout
abouteach
eachavailable
availablebrand?
brand?

Total
TotalProduct
ProductSatisfaction
Satisfaction
Based
Basedon
onwhat
whatI’m
I’mlooking
lookingfor,
for,how
howsatisfied
satisfied
would
wouldIIbe
bewith
witheach
eachproduct?
product?
Evaluation
EvaluationProcedures
Procedures
Choosing
Choosingaaproduct
product(and
(andbrand)
brand)based
basedon
onone
one
or
ormore
moreattributes.
attributes.
 3. Evaluation of Alternatives and
4. Purchase

Evoked Set Analyze product

attributes

Use cutoff criteria

Rank attributes by
importance
To buy Determines which attributes
or not to are most important in
buy... influencing a consumer’s
choice
Purchase!
 Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Inner tension that a consumer
Dissonance experiences after recognizing an
inconsistency between behavior and
values or opinions.

Consumer satisfaction is a function of consumer

expectations and perceived product performance.
?
Did I make a good decision?
• Performance < Expectations ----- Disappointment Did I buy the right product?
• Performance = Expectations ----- Satisfaction Did I get a good value?
• Performance > Expectations ----- Delight Am I satisfied?
5. Post-purchase Behavior
Consumers can reduce dissonance by:

 Seeking information that reinforces positive

ideas about the purchase
 Avoiding information that contradicts the
purchase decision
 Revoking the original decision by returning
the product

Marketing can minimize through:

Effective Communication
Follow-up
Guarantees
Warranties
Consumer Buying Decisions
and Consumer Involvement

Identify the types of consumer buying

decisions and discuss the significance
a of consumer involvement
 Five Factors
Influencing Decisions
1. Level of consumer involvement

2. Length of time to make decision

3. Cost of good or service

4. Degree of information search

5. Number of alternatives considered

Continuum of Consumer
Buying Decisions
Factors Determining the Level
of Consumer Involvement

Previous Experience

Interest

Perceived Risk of
Negative Consequences

Situation

Social Visibility
 Marketing Implications
of Involvement

High-involvement Extensive and informative

purchases require: promotion to target market

In-store promotion,
eye-catching package
Low-involvement
design, and good displays.
purchases require: Coupons, cents-off,
2-for-1 offers
 Stages in the Adoption Process

34% 34%
Early Late
2.5% Majority Majority
13.5%
Innovators 16%
Early
Adopters Laggards

X - 2σ X-σ X X+σ

Time of adoption of innovations

Suspicious of change
Try new ideas at some risk. Before the average person

Opinion Leaders – adopt new Only after majority has tried it

ideas early but carefully
 Stages in the Adoption Process
Adoption process is the mental process through which an
individual passes from first hearing about an innovation to final
adoption.
• Awareness: The consumer becomes aware of the new
product but lacks information about it.
• Interest: The consumer seeks information about the new
product.
• Evaluation: The consumer considers whether trying the new
product makes sense.
• Trial: The consumer tries the new product on a small scale to
improve his or her estimate of its value.
• Adoption: The consumer decides to make full and regular use
of the new product.
 Product Adopter Categories
• Innovators: venturesome, try new ideas at some
risk.
• Early adopters: opinion leaders who adopt new
ideas early, but carefully.
• Early majority: deliberate adopters, who adopt
before the average person.
• Late majority: skeptical, adopt only after the
majority of people have tried a product.
• Laggards: last to adopt, tradition bound, and
skeptical of change.
Influence of Product Characteristics on
Rate of Adoption
• Relative Advantage: Is the
innovation superior to existing Picture quality & ease of viewing
products?
• Compatibility: Does the innovation Programming & broadcasting
fit the values and experience of systems are not very compatible
the target market?
• Complexity: Is the innovation
HDTV is not complex
difficult to understand or use?
• Divisibility: Can the innovation be HDTVs are expensive, but leasing
used on a limited basis? extends the adoption
• Communicability: Can results be
easily observed or described to Lends itself to demonstration
others?