Consumer Behavior

Forecast where your customers are moving and be in

front of them
Philip Kotler

Understand the processes a consumer uses to make

purchase decisions as well as to use and to dispose
the purchased goods or services which also includes
factors that influence purchase decisions and the
product use

Consumer

User

Ultimate user and may not have paid

for the product or service
May not be the actual user of the product Will be the user of the product or
or service
service
Purchases and Pays for the product

Maybe the evaluator

Will be the user

Parents at the toy shops

Children at the toy shops

Eg: Food Manufacturing business makes Consumer is someone who eats that
ready made meals for supermarkets
meal

Why study Consumer Behavior Psychology of

Marketing
Consumers
Have extreme choices
Range of Product Attributes
Range of Cost and Payment Choices (Price)
They can order anywhere and get supplied
anywhere (Place)
They are bombarded with more
communications from more channels
(Promotion)
They are confused.

Why study Consumer Behavior Psychology of

Marketing
Marketing
Purpose is to sell
More products to
More people
More often for
More money in order to
Make more profit
Cannot sell by force or by alluring
Customers are very informed , knowledgeable and
demanding
Marketers has to earn them
are they after using it

Why study Consumer Behavior Psychology of

Marketing
Learn how
What consumers buy
Why they buy it
When, where and how they buy it
How often they buy it
How they consume and dispose
How satisfied/dis satisfied are they after using it

Why study Consumer Behavior Psychology of

Marketing
Psychology of how consumers think, feel, reason & select
different alternatives(Products, Retailers)
Psychology of how the consumer is influenced by their
environment (Culture, Family, Media)
Behavior of consumers while shopping or making other
market decisions
Limitations in consumer knowledge or information
processing which influence decisions for marketing
outcome
How consumer motivation & decision strategies differ
between products that differ in their levels of importance of
interest that consumer
How Marketers can adopt and improve their marketing
strategies and campaigns to effectively reach the customer

Why study Consumer Behavior Psychology of

Marketing
The study of individual , groups or organizations
and the processes that use to select, secure, use
and dispose products/services to satisfy needs and
the impact that these processes have on the
consumer and on the society.
Behavior occurs for the individual in the
context of
Groups (Friends/ Family on what clothes to
wear)
Organizations (People decide on the job on
which products to use)

Why study Consumer Behavior Psychology of

Marketing
Involves the use and disposal of products and
also on how they are purchased. Product use is
important because this will influence how a
product is best positioned or how we can
encourage increased consumption.
Involves services and ideas as well as tangible
products
CB on society is also important. For eg,
aggressive marketing of high fat foods or easy
credit may have implications for national health
or economy

Why study Consumer Behavior Psychology of

Marketing
Four main application of consumer behavior
Marketing Strategy Making better marketing campaigns.
Schedule snack advertisements late in the afternoon.
Have enough money for new products
Social Marketing Involves getting ideas across to
customers rather than selling something.
Make us better consumers. Buy more, spend less per unit
Fine tune our product and market to suit the customer
Food No beef and No Pork for certain religions and
Fish in East India
Clothes Normally by Weather, Dhoti in TamilNadu
Housing Eastern World to flaunt and Western World
As a shelter

Why study Consumer Behavior Psychology of

Marketing
Research shows that two different buyers buying
the same product have done it for
Different reasons
Paid different price
Used it in different ways
Have different emotional attachments towards
the things
Purpose of marketing is to create, keep and grow
customers

Factors Influencing Consumer Behavior

Cultural
Culture

Social
Reference
groups
Family
Roles &
Status

Personal
Age & Life
cycle stage
Occupation
Economic
Situation
Lifestyle
Personality &
Self Concepet

Psychological
Motivation
Perception
Learning

4 factors influencing consumer behavior

Cultural Factors
Individuals are influenced by family, friends,
cultural environment that will teach values,
preferences, common behaviors
Brand has to adapt the product or marketing
strategy
Western Culture Vs Japanese Culture
McDonalds adopting to different cultures and
changing menu items

4 factors influencing consumer behavior

Cultural Values
Individualism Vs Collectivism Cultures
Individual Decision Vs Group Decision
Masculinity Vs Femininity
Value on Monetory gain, Material Possessions,
Competition Vs Nurturing, Family, Quality of life etc
High Vs Low Power Distance
Accepting high social inequality Vs equality in society
High Vs Low uncertainty Avoidance
Accepting Vs Not Accepting Uncertainity
Abstractive Vs Associative thinking
Cause and Effect thinking where people are willing to
think new Vs Associating products with people,
celebrities, events etc

4 factors influencing consumer behavior

Sub Cultural Factors
A society is composed of several subcultures in which
groups of people share the same values based on a
common experience or a similar lifestyle in general.
An Individual can be part of many subcultures Age group, Religion, Culture
Brands should adapt a product or communication
strategy to the values or the specific needs of this
segment
Eg , Ethnic cosmetics has greatly expanded. Suited
towards non Caucasian populations and to types of skin
pigmentation for African, Arab and Indian populations
for eg.

4 factors influencing consumer behavior

Eg: Diet coke targeting a female target
Coke zero male but more manly packaging, more raw
and ad campaigns targeted at people who have social
and psychological resistances to the idea of buying a
diet soft drink
Categorized on
Nationality : Indian, Nigerian, Chinese
Religion: Hindu, Christian, Muslim, Jew
Age: Young, Middle aged, Elderly
Race: Asian , African, White
Gender: Male, Female
Occupation: Farmer, Teacher
Social Class: Upper, Middle, Lower
Geographic: South India, East India

4 factors influencing consumer behavior

Social Classes
Groups more or less homogenous and ranked
against each other according to form of social
hierarchy.. Three assumed general categories
Lower Class
Middle Class
Upper Class
Doesnt mean that all these classes will watch the
same TV, buy the same products, do not choose the
same vacation, do not read the same magazines
Luxury items retailers target the upper class while
discount stores target the lower class

4 factors influencing consumer behavior

Cultural Trends
Trends followed by people and which are
amplified by their mere popularity and by
conformity or compliance with social pressure
Social pressure or belonging to a group, desire
to follow fashion trends or simply due to high
visibility provided by media, consumers will be
influenced , consciously or sub consciously by
these trends. Eg Facebook, Smart Phone

4 factors influencing consumer behavior

Social Factors
Individuals belonging to social groups which will
influence him
This can be related to social origin, age, place of
residence, work, hobbies, leisure etc.
Provides some points of comparison about the
individual behavior, lifestyle, desire, consumer habits.
Individuals can also be referred by a group to which he
does not belong to but wishes to be a part of
Aspirational group. The group will have a direct
influence on the consumer who wishing to belong to this
group and look likes its members will try to buy the
same products.
Eg: Early golfers buying products

4 factors influencing consumer behavior

The roles in a reference group
Initiator The person who suggests buying a
product or service
Influencer Whose point of view or advice will
influence the buying decision. May be a person
outside the group but on who the group members
will rely on
Decision maker person will choose which product
to buy. May be another person. Leader of soccer
supporters group (membership group) that will
define for the whole group which supporters scar
buy and bear during the next game
Buyer The person who will buy the product. Final
consumer