3.

Understanding
Consumer Behaviour

Prof. Vikram Parekh on IMC (mailtovikram@yahoo.com)

 Chapter Takeaways
• Consumer behaviour and its importance in
promotional planning

• Cultural, social, personal and psychological

factors influencing decision-making and
their impact on promotions

• Consumer decision-making processes & the

use of advertising and promotions to
influence them

Prof. Vikram Parekh on IMC (mailtovikram@yahoo.com)

 Concerns of consumer behaviour
• How people buy, what they buy, when they
buy & why they buy

• Processes used to select, buy, use &

dispose off products & the impact of these
processes on marketers

• Study of characteristics of individual

consumers to understand their needs,
behaviours and motivations

Prof. Vikram Parekh on IMC (mailtovikram@yahoo.com)

 Model of buyer behaviour

Marketing Other stimuli Buyer’s Buyer’s Buyer’s

stimuli • Economic characteristics decision decisions
• Product • Political • Cultural process • Product choice
• Price • Technological • Social • Problem • Brand choice
• Place • Cultural • Personal recognition • Dealer choice
• Promotion • Psychological • Information • Purchase timing
search • Purchase amount
• Evaluation of
alternatives
• Purchase decision
• Post-purchase
behaviour

Prof. Vikram Parekh on IMC (mailtovikram@yahoo.com)

 Culture

• Set of values, ideas, attitudes, beliefs, norms, customs,

rituals & symbols learned & transmitted from
generation to generation over time

Abstinence vs. Individualism

materialism vs. freedom

Joint family vs.

Ramayan vs. K-
nuclear family
serials

Prof. Vikram Parekh on IMC (mailtovikram@yahoo.com)

 Culture
Sub-culture Social classes

• Subsets of the larger • Hierarchical division

culture along lines of of the society along
race, religion, lines of occupation,
region, etc. income, education,
• E.g. Gujaratis, lifestyle, etc.
environmentalists, • E.g. Brahmins,
gays, aesthetics, middle class,
urbanites, etc. agricultural class,
etc.

Prof. Vikram Parekh on IMC (mailtovikram@yahoo.com)

 Hidesign caters to the elite class

Prof. Vikram Parekh on IMC (mailtovikram@yahoo.com)

 Social factors

Reference • Groups used as a yardstick in forming one’s

thinking, feeling, values & behaviour
groups • Can be aspiration or dissociative groups

• One of the strongest influences on an individual’s

Family buying behaviour
• Often a single buying unit, with 1 or 2 prime
decision-makers

Role & status • Products are often chosen to communicate one’s

in a group role & status in a society

Prof. Vikram Parekh on IMC (mailtovikram@yahoo.com)

 Airtel influences through
reference groups

Prof. Vikram Parekh on IMC (mailtovikram@yahoo.com)

 Buying roles in a family/ purchase
unit
Initiator

User Influencer

Buyer

Buyer Decider

Prof. Vikram Parekh on IMC (mailtovikram@yahoo.com)

 Marketers target people in specific
roles

Prof. Vikram Parekh on IMC (mailtovikram@yahoo.com)

 Personal factors
• A buyer’s
demographics &
psychographics, such
as age, stage in life
cycle, occupation,
economic situation,
lifestyle, personality
& self-concept, etc.
also affect purchase
decisions

Prof. Vikram Parekh on IMC (mailtovikram@yahoo.com)

 Psychological factors

Motivation • Makes a person move towards goal fulfillment

Perception • The process by which a person selects, organizes & interprets

information to create a meaningful picture of the world

Learning • The process by which individuals acquire the purchase & consumption
knowledge & experience to apply to future related behaviour

Beliefs & • Belief: Descriptive thought regarding the truth or validity of a

proposition
Attitudes • Attitude: Favourable or unfavourable dispositions towards something

Prof. Vikram Parekh on IMC (mailtovikram@yahoo.com)

 Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

Prof. Vikram Parekh on IMC (mailtovikram@yahoo.com)

 Herzberg’s two-factor theory

Motivators

Motivation
to act

Hygiene
factors

Prof. Vikram Parekh on IMC (mailtovikram@yahoo.com)

 Perception
Selective
attention

Selective
comprehension

Selective
retention

Prof. Vikram Parekh on IMC (mailtovikram@yahoo.com)

 How do you perceive these ads?

Prof. Vikram Parekh on IMC (mailtovikram@yahoo.com)

 Learning
Behavioural theories Cognitive theories
• Learning is a result of • Learning occurs from a
action change in mental state
• Drive: Strong internal • Learning relates new
stimulus propelling action information to previously
• Cues: Minor stimuli learned information
determining when, where & • Cognitive processes such as
how a person responds perception, motivation,
• Reinforcement can be positive beliefs & attitudes, etc.
or negative influence behaviour
• Future responses can be by • Effect of environmental
generalization or
discrimination
factors can be minimized

Prof. Vikram Parekh on IMC (mailtovikram@yahoo.com)

 Strategies to change consumer
attitudes

Changing consumer Adding a new attribute to

perceptions on the the attitude formation
importance of an attribute process

Changing or decreasing the

Changing or increasing the
rating of a belief regarding
rating of a belief regarding
an attribute for a
an imp attribute
competing brand

Prof. Vikram Parekh on IMC (mailtovikram@yahoo.com)

 How do the following brands
influence consumer attitudes?

Prof. Vikram Parekh on IMC (mailtovikram@yahoo.com)

 Model of consumer decision-
making

Post-
Problem Information Alternative Purchase
purchase
recognition search evaluation decision
evaluation

A. Stages in the consumer decision-making process

Attitude
Motivation Perception Integration Learning
formation

B. Relevant internal psychological processes

Prof. Vikram Parekh on IMC (mailtovikram@yahoo.com)

 Encouraging problem recognition
through communication

Prof. Vikram Parekh on IMC (mailtovikram@yahoo.com)

 Information search

• Past • Personal
Internal search

External search
experiences sources
• Knowledge • Commercial
regarding sources
alternatives • Public sources
• Personal
experience

Prof. Vikram Parekh on IMC (mailtovikram@yahoo.com)

 Quick Q!
• Which of the following is likely to have
the most influence on a consumer
wanting to purchase a luxury car?
a. Television
b. Print
c. Word-of-mouth
d. Internet

Prof. Vikram Parekh on IMC (mailtovikram@yahoo.com)

 Communication helps evaluate
alternatives

Prof. Vikram Parekh on IMC (mailtovikram@yahoo.com)

 Purchase decision

When to
• To buy or not to buy?
buy?

• Role of How to Purchase Where

unexpected pay? decision to buy?

situational factors

How
much to
buy?

Prof. Vikram Parekh on IMC (mailtovikram@yahoo.com)

 Post-purchase tasks

Managing
Managing Obtaining Regulating
post-
customer customer product
purchase
satisfaction feedback disposal…
dissonance

Prof. Vikram Parekh on IMC (mailtovikram@yahoo.com)