CON SUM ER BE HAV IOU R

Effective marketing requires insight into consumers’ mind. It ensures that the right
product are conceived, produced & offered to the right consumer in the right way.

What influence consumer behavior: - There are 3 factors that influence consumer
behavior:

3. Personal factors
-Age & stage in
1. Cultural factor the life cycle
- Culture 2. Social factors -Occupation &
- Sub culture -Reference group Economic
- Social life -Family circumstances
-Roles & Statuses -Personality & self
concept
-Lifestyle & values

1. Cultural factors: - Culture : It is the fundamental determinant of a person’s want

& behavior. Ex. - American child > Material comfort, achieve & success, freedom,
activity, external comfort, individualism, youthfulness AND Indian middle class
child > Respect & care the elders, Honesty, integrity, hard work, achievements &
success, sacrifice etc.
Sub-culture : Each culture consists of smaller sub-culture that provides more
specific identification & socialization for their members. Subcultures include
nationalities, religious, racial group and demographic region. Multicultural marketing
came from this concept.
So cia l lif e : All of the human societies have any social life. Social classes have
several characteristics. First one social classes differ in dress, speech pattern, and
many other characteristics. Second one, persons are perceived as occupying inferior
or superior positions according to social classes. Third, social classes indicated by a
cluster of variable for example, occupation, income, wealth, education & value system
etc. And fourth one individual can move up and down the social-class ladder during
the lifetime.
Social classes show distinct product & brand preferences in many areas including
clothing, home furnishing, leisure activities and automobiles. For example
KELLOGG INDIA : Kellogg cornflakes : Indian consumer use hot milk {Firstly failed.}
GE FINANCIAL : Hispanic community (from Spain) : 2 years research, Spanish
language call centre, launch web-site, tapped bilingual agents in key cities to sell GE
product.
2. Social factors: - Reference group : A person’s reference consists of all the group
that have a direct (face to face) or indirect influence on his/her attitude and
behavior. There are 3 type of Reference group (a.) Membership group: Groups
having a direct influence on person. Some membership groups are primary grou p
such as family, friend, neighbors, colleagues, etc. People also belongs to se condary
group like religious, professional and trade unions etc. (b.) Aspirational groups:
People are also influence by groups they do not belong & hopes to belong. (c.)
Dissociative group: These are those whose values or behavior an individual rejects.
Family : The family is the imp. consumer buying orgn. in society and family
members constitute the most influential primary reference group. Family members
influence buying decisions. In the traditional joint family grand parents. Nuclear
family husband & wife both. Children & teenagers are targeted by internet.

The Porvogue Website is targeted at the youth market.

A person participates in many groups – Family, clubs, orgn. etc. The persons’
position in each group can be defined in terms pf roles & sta tus .
ROLES: A role consists of the activities a person is expected to perform.
STATUS: Each role carries a status.
People choose product that reflect & communicate their roles & actual status in the
society. For ex.-

Mercedes, BMW etc.

3. Personal factors: - A buyer’s decision also influence by personal characteristics,

following:
Age & stage in life c ycle : People buy different goods and services over a life time.
Marketers should also consider life events like marriage, childbirth, illness, divorce,
widowhood etc. as giving rise to new needs. Ex.-
BANK OF AMERICA (BOA) : Client manager : for help the person’s help
Oc cupa tion & econ omic c ircu mstances: Blue caller workers : Work clothe,
work shoes, lunchboxes. President : Dress suit, air travel, country club membership.
Economic circumstances : Spendable income (level, stability, time pattern) , saving,
assets, debts, borrowing power etc.
Personality & self -con cept : Each person has personality characteristics that
influence his or her buying behavior. Perso nal ity : Self confidence, dominance,
sociability, autonomy, adaptability etc. Personality is a useful variable to analyzing
customer brand & choice. Self- con cept: 1. Actual self-concept: - How one views
oneself ? 2. Ideal self-concept: - How one would like to view oneself ? 3. Others’ self-
concept: - How one thinks other see one?
Lif estyle & values : - Lifestyle : It is a persons’ pattern of living in the world as
expressed in activities, interests & opinions.
People from the same subculture, social class & occupation may lead quite different life
style. Consumer decisions are also influenced by core values , the belief systems that
underlie consumer attitudes & behaviors.

Key ps ych olo gica l p rocess : -

Motivation : A motive is a need that is sufficient pressing to drive the person to act.
Three of the best known theories of human motivation: -
• FREUD’S Theory: - Sigmund Freud assumed that the psychological shaping people’s
behavior is largely unconscious and that a person can’t fully understand his or her
own motivation. A technique is called ‘laddering’ can be used to trace a person’s
motivation from the stated instrumental ones to the more terminal ones. Then the
marketer can decide at what level to develop the message & appeal.
• MASLOW’S ’Theory: - Abraham Maslow sought to explain ‘why people are driven
by particular need at particular time. Why does one person spend considerable time
& energy on personal safety?’ This theory helps marketers understand how various
products fit into the plans, goals & lives of consumers.
• HERZBERG’S Theory: - Fredrick Herzberg develop a two factor theory that tell between
‘Dissatisfiers’ (factor that cause dissatisfaction) & ‘Satisfier’ (factor that cause satisfaction).
The absence of ‘Dissatisfiers’ is not enough; ‘Satisfier’ must be present to motivate a
purchase. Ex.-

A Computer without warranty is dissatisfier and with warranty is satisfier or motivator.

This theory has two implications. First, seller should do their best to avoid dissatisfiers &
Second, the sellers should identify the major satisfier or motivator of purchase in the market &
supply them.

Perce ption : A motivated person is ready to act. Perception is the process by which
individual selects, organizes & interprets information inputs to create a meaningful
picture of the world. Perception not only depends on the physical stimuli but also on
the stimuli’s relation to the surrounding field and on conditions within the individuals.
In marketing, perceptions are more imp. than the reality. It will affect consumer’s
actual behavior. It has three process :
• Selective attention : It means that marketer have to work hard to attract the
consumer’s notice. People like following types of stimuli :
1. That relate to a current need (Which thing want to buy that ad’s attract
consumer.)
2. That they anticipate (Radios in the computer stores.)
3. Whose deviation are large in the relation to the normal size of stimuli (5 Rs. off
or 100 Rs. off)
• Selective distortion : It is the tendency to interpret inf. in a way that will fit our
preconceptions. It can work to the advantage of marketers with strong brand
when consumers distort neutral brand inf. to the it more positive.

• Selective retention : People will fail to register much inf. to which they are
exposed in memory but will tend to retain inf. that supports their attitudes &
beliefs Because of selective retention. It means we are like to remember goods
points about a product which we like & forgot good points about the competitors.

Consumer
Psychology

Marketing Other stimuli -Motivation

stimuli -Perception
-Learning Buying decision
-Product & -Economic process
services -Tech. -Memory
-Problem
- Price -Political
-Distribution - Cultural recognition
& - Inf. search
Communicati- -Evaluation of
on Consumer alternatives
Characteristics -Purchase
decision
-Cultural -Post purchase
-Social behavior
- Personal

Purchase decision

-Product choice
-Brand choice
-Dealer choice
-Purchase amt.
-Purchase
timing
-Payment method

MODEL O F CONSUMER BEHA VIOR

Learning : Learning involves change in an individual behavior arising from
experience. Learning is produce through the interplay of drives, cues &
reinforcement.
A drive is a strong internal stimulus impelling action. Cues are minor stimuli
that determine when, where & how a person responds. For Ex.-

*Dell computers : computer good : printer also good (Hypothetical thinking)

Learning theory teaches marketer that they can build demand for a product by
using motivating cues & providing +ve reinforcement.

Memory : Long term memory & Short term memory.

Memory process : 1. Encoding : It refers to that how & where inf. gets into
memory Form contents and situations of the market or consumer. 2. Retrieval : It
refers to how inf. gets out from the mind.

Buying decision pro cess : It is a five stage model :

Problem Information Evaluation Purchase Post

Recognition search of decision purchase
alternatives behavior

Five stage model of consumer buying process

Problem re cognition : The buying process starts from the problem recognition.
The can be triggered by the internal or external stimuli. For ex. –

A London’s Restaurant : HOT NOW : Sign that hot food everytime.

Marketers need to identify the circumstances that trigger a particular need by

gathering inf. from a no. of consumer.

Inf. sear ch : - We can search the inf. from various path :

• Personal : Family, Friends, neighbor etc.
• Commercial : Advertising, Web-sites, Salesperson, Dealers, Display.
• Public : Mass media, Consumer rating orgn.
• Experimental : Handling, examining, using the product.
Evaluation of alterna tives : No single process is used by all consumers or by one
consumer in all buying situation.
Some basic concepts will help us understand consumer evaluation process : First, the
consumer is trying to satisfy need. Second, the consumer is looking for certain
benefits from the product solution & third one consumer sees each product like a
need satisfier.
Now the question is that what things reflect evaluation.

• Bel iefs & atti tudes : Through experience & learning, people acquire beliefs &
attitudes. These influence buying behavior. A belief is a thought that a person
hold about something. And an attitude is person’s enduring favorable or
nonfavorable evaluation, emotion feeling, Action tendency towards some action &
idea.
• Expe ctan cy value m ode l : Which brand consumer like he expect that the
satisfaction of that particular brand which he/she like. for ex. –

SONY Computer (like) : Purchase : Satisfy : again buy SONY product.

Pur chase decision : In the decision making to purchase a product from market
the consumer has five sub-decision : Brand. Dealer, Quantity, Timing & payment
method.

Purchase
decision

Attitudes Unanticipated
of others situational factor

Purchase
intention

Evaluation of
alternatives

Steps between evaluation of alternatives and a purchase decision

A consumer’s decision to modify, postpone, or avoid a purchase decision is heavily
influenced by risks, they are following :
• Functional risk : The product does not perform up to expectation.
• Physical Risk : The product’s negative affect on the consumer’s or other’s health.
• Financial risk : The product is not worth the price which paid.
• Social risk : The product results in embarrassment from others.
• Psychological risk : The product affects the mental well-being of the user.
• Time risk : The failure of the product in an opportunity cost of finding another
satisfactory product. (The TATA’s Lakhtakia car. )

Postpurchase behavior : After the purchase the consumer might experience about the
marketing strategies. Marketing communication should supply beliefs & evaluations that
support the consumer’s choice & help him or her feel good about the brand.
• Postpurchase satisfaction : Satisfaction is a function of the closeness between
expectation & the product performance.
• Postpurchase action : It depends on the consumer’s satisfaction. If he/she
• Postpurchase use & disposal : marketers should also monitor how buyers use &
dispose of the product.
 Upbeat
Colou Sunshi
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Fun
Singles

Nutriti
Fruits
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Healthy DOLE Female

Fresh- Contem
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Pinea- Innov-
pple ative

Escape Useful
Refres
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Hyp othet ical dol e men tal m ap