Consumer Behaviour
Buying, Having, and Being
Learning Objectives
Explain consumer behaviour
Why study consumer behaviour
How to study consumer
behaviour
What is Consumer Behavior?
“Consumer behavior is the study of the processes involved when
individuals or groups select, purchase, use or dispose of products,
services, ideas, or experiences, to satisfy needs and desires” (Solomon,
2018)
Consumer Behaviour is a Process
The Exchange: a transaction in which two or more organisations or
people give and receive soemthos of value.
Consumer: a person who identifies a need or desire, makes a purchase,
and then disposes of the product.
Why Study Consumer
behaviour?

Understand from a scientific point of view how and why we behave as
consumers.
Factors that influence
consumer behaviour
People in the Market Place
Segmentation
Separation of a
heterogeneous group of
customers with different
needs into homogeneous
subgroups or segments of
customers with similar needs
and preferences.
Why?

People in the Market Place
Market segmentation strategies
Heavy users (80/20 rule)
Demographics : statistics that measure observable aspects
of a population.
Psychographics : Values, Attitudes, Lifestyle
Behavior
STP Process
Marketers exert
“Type
a huge
a quote
impact
here.”
on the way we live
–Johnny Appleseed

The World is a Stage
Role theory
Consumer-Brand Relationships
•Self-concept attachment: the product helps to establish the user’s
identity.
•Nostalgic attachment: the product serves as a link with a past self.
•Interdependence: the product is part of a daily routine.
•Love : the product elicits emotional bonds of warmth, passion, or
other strong emotions.
Needs & Wants
Need: something a person must have
to live or achieve a goal.
Want: is a specific manifestation of a
need that personal and cultural
factors determine.
The Pyramid of
Consumer
Behaviour
How to Study Consumer
Behaviour
Secondary data
Primary data: original data collected for the specific project at
hand.
Research Technics
Quantitative research
Qualitative research
Observational research
Two Perspectives on Consumer
Research
Paradigm: a set of beliefs that guide our understanding of the
world.
Positivism (modernism): the basic set of assumptions
underlying the dominant paradigm at this point in time. It
emphaszes that human reason is supreme and that there is
a single, objective truth that science can discover.
Interpretivism (postmodernism): It argues that our society
emphasises science and technology too much. Believes the
rational view of behaviour ignores complex social and cultural
world in which we live.
importance of symbolic and subjective experiences.
Meaning is in the mind of the person.
Regards consumption as offering as offering a set of diverse
experiences.
Consumer Culture Theory (CCT) : Regards consumption
from a social and cultural point of view rather than merely
as an economic exchange.
Positivist vs Interpretivist Approaches to
CB
Assumptions Positivist Approach Interpretivist Approach
Nature of reality Objective, tangible, single Socially constructed multiple
goal prediction understanding
Knowledge Time-free, context
Time-bound, context dependent
generated independent
Multiple, simultaneous shaping
View of causality Existence of real causes
events
Interactive, cooperative with
Research Separation between
researcher being part of the
Relationship researcher and subject
phenomenon under study
REMEMBER
Consumer behavior is a process.
Marketers have to understand the wants and needs of different
consumer segments.
Our motivations to consume are complex and varied.
Technology and culture create a new “always on” consumer.
There are differing perspectives regarding how and what we should
understand about consumer behaviour.

For Refection
•How do you decide that you need a product?
•What about a purchase makes it pleasant or
stressful for you?
•When using the product, what determines if the
experience is pleasant?
Consumer and Social Well-Being
Chapter 2
Learning Objectives
Ethical business is good business.
Marketers have an obligation to provide safe and
functional products as part of their business
activities.
Consumer behavior impacts directly on major public
policy issues that confront our society.
Consumer behavior can be harmful to individuals and
to society.
Marketing Ethics and Public
Policy
Business ethics are rules of conduct that guide actions in the
marketplace
There are cultural differences in what is considered ethical
Do marketers give people what they
want or do they tell people what they
should want?
Who controls the market,
companies or consumers?
Do marketers create artificial
needs? Do they promise miracles?
Marketers have an obligation to provide safe and functional
products as part of their business activities.
Marketers have an obligation to provide safe and
functional products as part of their business activities.
Voice response
Private response (tell others or
boycott the product/service.
Third party response: take legal
action
Social Mktg & CSR
TCR (transformative consumer research) promotes research projects
that include the goal of helping people or bringing about social change
Social marketing strategies use marketing techniques to encourage
positive behaviors such as increased literacy and to discourage
negative activities such as drunk driving
CSR is the process of encourage organizations to make a positive
impact on stakeholders
Cause marketing is a strategy that aligns businesses with a cause.
Do you purchase a certain product because of their
cause? Why?
Do you think organizations support a cause for
profits or because they want to be active in their
community?
Market Access
Disabilities
Food deserts
Literacy (functional and media)
Consumer behavior impacts directly on major
public policy issues that confront our society.
Sustainability and Environmental
Stewardship
A triple bottom-line orientation: business strategies that strive to
maximize return in three ways:
Financial
Social
Environmental
Cradle to cradle :target - A product made from natural materials that
is fully reusable or recyclable so that the company actually uses zero
resources to make it.
Conscientious consumerism
Green Marketing and Greenwashing
What are some sustainable methods used in
your school, workplace or home?
The Dark Side of Consumer Behaviour
Consumer Terrorism
Cyberterrorism
Guerrilla marketing
Addictive behaviour
phantom vibration syndrome who’s really chatting online with our
child?
social media addiction
Compulsive consumption
CONSUMED CONSUMERS
people who are used or
exploited, willingly or not, for
commercial gain in the
marketplace
Prostitutes
Organ, blood and hair donors
Babies for sale
P
r
o
Remember
Ethical business is good business.
Marketers have an obligation to provide safe and functional products as part
of their business activities.
Consumer behavior impacts directly on major public policy issues that
confront our society.Consumer behavior can be harmful to individuals and to
society.
Consumer behavior can be harmful to individuals and to society.
