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1-1

Chapter
Chapter
11
An Introduction to
Consumer Behavior
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1-2
 “Remember
1-3

“Remember
1-3

Me?”
Me?”
I'm the fellow who goes into a restaurant, sits down and patiently
waits while the waitresses do everything but take my order. I'm
the fellow who goes into a department store and stands quietly
while the sales clerks finish their little chitchat. I'm the man who
drives into a gasoline station and never blows his horn, but waits
patiently while the attendant finishes reading his comic book.

"Yes, you might say, I'm a good guy. But do you know who else I
am? I am the fellow who never comes back, and it amuses me to
see you spending thousands of dollars every year to get me back
into your store, when I was there in the first place, and all you
had to do to keep me was to give me a little service; show me a
little courtesy."

Source: From a Better Business Bureau bulletin submitted by An

Arkansas Reader to Dear Abby
Defining
Defining Consumer
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Consumer
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Behavior
Behavior

Consumer Behavior is the Process

Involved When Individuals or Groups
Select, Use, or Dispose of Products,
Services, Ideas or Experiences
(Exchange) to Satisfy Needs and
Desires.
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1-5

Issues
Issues During
During Stages
Stages in
in
the
the
Consumption
Consumption Process
Process
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Consumers’
Consumers’ Impact
Impact on
on
1-6

Marketing
Marketing
• Strategy
Strategy
Understanding consumer behavior is good
business.
– Firms exist to satisfy consumers’ needs, so
– Firms must understand consumers needs to satisfy
them.

• The Process of Marketing Segmentation:

– Identifies Groups of Consumers Who are Similar to
One Another in One or More Ways, and
– Devises Marketing Strategies that Appeal to One or
More of These Groups.
Segmenting
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Segmenting
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Consumers
Consumers by by
Demographic
Demographic
Demographics are Statistics That Measure Observable
Dimensions
Aspects of a Population Such As:
Dimensions
Geography
Geography Age
Age

Race
Race and
and
Ethnicity Gender
Gender
Ethnicity

Social
Social Class
Class Family
Family Structure
Structure
and
and Income
Income
Consumers’
Consumers’ Impact
Impact On On Marketing
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Marketing
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Strategy:
Strategy: Building
Building Bonds
Bonds With
With
Consumers
Consumers
• Relationship Marketing occurs when a
Relationship Marketing
company makes an effort to interact with
customers on a regular basis, and gives them
reasons to maintain a bond with the company
over time.

• Database Marketing involves tracking

consumers’ buying habits very closely, and
crafting products and messages tailored
precisely to people’s wants and needs based
on this information.
 1-9
Marketing’s
Marketing’s Impact
Impact on
on
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Consumers:
Consumers:
The
The Meaning
TypesMeaning of
of Consumption
Consumption
of Relationships a Person May Have With a
Product:

Self-Concept Attachment
Helps to Establish the User’s Identity

Nostalgic Attachment
Serves as a Link With a Past Self

Interdependence
Part of the User’s Daily Routine
Love
Elicits Bonds of Warmth, Passion, or Other
Strong Emotion
Marketing’s
Marketing’s Impact
Impact on
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on
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Consumers:
Consumers:
Consumption Typology Explores the Different Ways
That Products and Experiences Can Provide Meaning
to People.
There Are 4 Distinct Types of Consumption Activities:
An Emotional or Aesthetic
Consuming as Experience
Reaction to Consumption Objects

Consuming as Integration Express Aspects of Self or

Society

Consuming as Classification Communicate Their Association

With Objects, Both to Self/ Others

Consuming as Play Participate in a Mutual Experience

and Merge Self With Group
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Marketing’s
Marketing’s ImpactImpact on
on
Consumers
Consumers
– Marketing and Culture
• Popular Culture
– Intangible and Tangible Objects
– The Global Consumer
• Global Consumer Culture
– Virtual Consumption
• Business to Consumer Selling (B2C Commerce)
• Consumer to Consumer Selling (B2B Commerce)
• Virtual Brand Communities
– Blurred Boundaries: Marketing and Reality
Marketing
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Marketing
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Ethics
Ethics
Business Ethics are Rules of Conduct That Guide
Actions in the Marketplace - the Standards Against
Which Most People in a Culture Judge What is
Right and What is Wrong, Good or Bad.
Other
Other Marketing
Marketing Ethics
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Ethics
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Issues
Issues
• Do Marketers Create Artificial Needs?
– Response: Marketing attempts to create awareness
that these needs do exist, rather than to create them.

• Are Advertising and Marketing Necessary?

– Response: Yes, if approached from an information
dissemination perspective.

• Do Marketers Promise Miracles?

– Not if they are honest; they do not have the ability to
create miracles.
The
The Dark
Dark Side
Side of
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of
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Consumer
Consumer
Behavior
Behavior
Compulsive Consumption Addictive Consumption
>Behavior is Not Done by Choice > Gambling
>Gratification is Short-Lived
>Strong Feelings of Regret or
Guilt Afterwards

Illegal Activities Consumed Consumers

> Consumer Theft (Shrinkage) > People Who Are Exploited for
>Anti-consumption Commercial Gain in the
– Culture Jamming Marketplace.
– Cultural Resistance
Interdisciplinary
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Interdisciplinary
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Influences
Influences Individual
IndividualFocus
Focus

Experimental Psychology
Clinical Psychology
Developmental Psychology
Human Ecology
Microeconomics
Social Psychology
Sociology
Macroeconomics
Semiotics/Literary Criticism
Demography
History
Cultural Anthropology
Social
SocialFocus
Focus
Two
Two Perspective
Perspective on
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on
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Consumer
Consumer
Research
Research
Positivist
Positivist Interpretivist
Interpretivist
Approach
Approach Approach
Approach

Socially
Socially
Objective
Objective Constructed
Constructed

Prediction
Prediction Understanding
Understanding

Independent
Independent Contextual
Contextual

Simultaneous
Simultaneous
Real
RealCause
Cause Shaping
Shaping

Separation
Separation Interaction
Interaction
Taking
Taking itit From
1-17

From
1-17

Here:
Here:
The
The Plan
Plan of
of the
the
• Section II: Consumers As Individuals
Book
Book
• Section III: Consumers As Decision
Makers
• Section IV: Consumers and
Subcultures
• Section V: Consumers and Culture
 1-18
The
The Wheel
Wheel of
of Consumer
Consumer
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Behavior
Behavior