Why People Buy:

Consumer Behavior
 Consumer Behavior
• The process individuals and groups go
through to select, purchase, or use goods,
services, ideas, or experiences
The Consumer Decision Process

Problem Recognition

Information Search

Alternative Evaluation

Product Choice

Post purchase Evaluation

 Problem Recognition
• Occurs whenever a consumer recognizes a
difference between the current state and the
ideal or desired state
• Internal cues - consumers recognize state of
discomfort
• External cues - marketers may stimulate
consumers to recognize problem
 Information Search
• Consumer checks memory and surveys
environment to identify what options are
available
• Sources might include personal experience
and knowledge, friends, advertising, web
sites, and magazines.
 Evaluation of Alternatives
• Identify consideration set
• Narrow list and compare pros and cons
• Use evaluative criteria to decide among
remaining choices
 Product Choice

• People may ultimately make the choice

based on heuristics
• Heuristics represent rules of thumb
– brand loyalty
– country of origin
– liking
 Post purchase Evaluation

• How good a choice was it?

• Customer satisfaction/dissatisfaction –
“buyer’s remorse”
• Ultimately affects future decisions and word
of mouth communication
Consumer Decision Making Influences

Internal Influences:
Perception Situational Influences:
Attitudes Physical Environment
Learning Time
Motivation
Lifestyle
Age groups Decision
Personality Process
Social Influences:
Social class, Culture,
PURCHASE
Group memberships
 Internal Influences
• Perception
• Attitudes
• Learning
• Motivation
• Lifestyle
• Age
• Personality
 Perception
• Process by which people select, organize,
and interpret information
– Exposure: stimulus must be within sensory
receptors to be noticed
– Perceptual Selection: consumers will pay
attention to some stimuli and not to others
– Interpretation: consumers assign meaning to
stimuli
 Perception
• Process by which people select, organize,
and interpret information
– Exposure: stimulus must be within sensory
receptors to be noticed
– Perceptual Selection: consumers will pay
attention to some stimuli and not to others
– Interpretation: consumers assign meaning to
stimuli
 Motivation

• An internal state that drives us to satisfy

needs
• Once we activate a need, a state of tension
exists that drives the consumer to some goal
that will reduce this tension and eliminate
the need
• Consequently, only unmet needs motivate
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Self-
Actualization

Ego Needs

Belongingness

Safety

Physiological
 Learning
• A change in behavior caused by information
or experience
• Behavior learning theories assume learning
takes place as the result of connections
formed between events
• Cognitive learning occurs when consumers
make a connection between ideas or by
observing things in their environment
“Social Learning theory”
(Albert Bandura)
=MODELLING=
A-attention( attracted)
R-retention (memory)
M-motor reproduction(imitate)
M-motivation (willingness)
 Attitudes

 Attitudes:
– Lasting evaluations of a person, object, or
issue
– Three attitude components
• Cognition (knowing): beliefs or knowledge
• Affect (feeling): emotional response
• Behavior (doing): intention to do something

5-17 Copyright 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

 Attitudes

 Attitudes:
– Lasting evaluations of a person, object, or
issue
– Three attitude components
• Cognition (knowing): beliefs or knowledge
• Affection (feeling): emotional response
• Behavior (doing): intention to do something

5-18 Copyright 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

 Attitudes

 Attitudes:
– Lasting evaluations of a person, object, or
issue
– Three attitude components
• Cognition (knowing)
• Affection (feeling)
• Behavior (doing)
– Marketers decide which attitude component
will drive consumer preferences
5-19 Copyright 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall
 Personality

• The set of unique psychological

characteristics that consistently influences
the way a person responds to situations in
the environment
–S
–I
–S
 Personality

• The set of unique psychological

characteristics that consistently influences
the way a person responds to situations in
the environment
– Self-confidence
– Innovativeness
– Sociability
 Family Life Cycle

• Related to age groups, our purchases also

depend on our current position in the family
life cycle
– stages through which family members pass as
they grow older
 Lifestyles
• Pattern of living that determines how people
choose to spend their time, money, energy and
reflects their values, tastes, and preferences
• Expressed through preferences for sports
activities, music interests, and political opinions
• Psychographics is the segmentation tool used to
group consumers according to AIOs
 Situational Influences
• Physical Environment
– arousal
– pleasure
• Time
– time poverty
 Social Influences

• Culture and Subcultures

• Social Class
• Group Behavior and Reference Groups
• Opinion Leaders
 Cultures and Subcultures
• Culture is the values, beliefs, customs, and
tastes produced and valued by a group of
people
• A subculture is a group coexisting with
other groups in a larger culture whose
members share a distinctive set of beliefs or
characteristics
 Social Class

• Social class is the overall rank of people in

a society
• People in the same class tend to have
similar occupations, similar income levels,
share common tastes in clothes, decorating
styles, and leisure activities. They may
share political and religious beliefs.
 Reference Groups
• A reference group is a set of people a
consumer wants to please or imitate
• The “group” can be composed of one
person, a few people, or many people. They
may be people you know or don’t know
– Conformity is at work when people change as a
reaction to real or imagined group pressure
– Sex roles are society’s expectations regarding
appropriate attitudes, behaviors, and appearances for
men and women
 Opinion Leaders

• A person who influences others’ attitudes or

behaviors because they are perceived as
possessing expertise about the product
 CB topic

 Comprehension.
 Intentional & Unintentional Learning
– Types of learning (psychologist approach)
– RECAP of some topics (CAP to CAB)
 Behaviorism & Cognitive Theories
 Classical Conditioning

5-31
 COMPREHENSION

 is the interpretation of or understanding

that a consumer develop about an
attended stimulus.
 It allows consumers to interpret in the
intended way

5-32
 COMPREHENSION

 is the interpretation of or understanding

that a consumer develop about an
attended stimulus.
 It allows consumers to interpret in the
intended way
KC –ApAnSE (Original Version)
RU –ApAnEC (Revise Version)

5-33
 Unintentional & Intentional
Learning
 Unintentional Learning
– Consumers simply sense and react
(or respond) to the environment.
– Do not attempt to comprehend the
information.

5-34
 Unintentional & Intentional
Learning
 Intentional Learning
– Consumers set out to specifically learn
information devoted to a certain subject.

5-35
 Specific Traits Examined in
Consumer Research
 Value Consciousness
– Represent the tendency for consumer to
focus on maximizing what is received in
the transaction as compared to what is
given

5-36
 Specific Traits Examined in
Consumer Research
 Materialism
– Refers to the extent which material goods
have importance in consumer’s life
• Possessiveness
• Nongenerosity
• Envy

5-37
 Specific Traits Examined in
Consumer Research
 Innovativeness
– Refers to the degree to which an
individual is open to new ideas and tends
to be relatively early in adopting new
products, services or experiences.

5-38
 Specific Traits Examined in
Consumer Research
 Need for Cognition
– Refers to the degree to which consumers
enjoy engaging in effortful cognitive
information processing.

5-39
 Specific Traits Examined in
Consumer Research
 Competivetiveness
– Enduring tendency to strive to be better
than others.

5-40
 Other traits found in
Consumer Research
 Frugality
 Impulsiveness
 Trait Anxiety
 Bargaining Proness
 Trait Vanity

5-41
 FFM (the Multiple Trait
Approach)
 Extroversion
 Agreeableness
 Openness to Experience
 Stability
 Consciousness

5-42