The 1990s have borne witness to dramatic shifts in
the marketplace triggered by sharp changes in the lifestyle patterns of the
past and present and the radical revolution in the telecommunication
technology. Time tested concepts on Brand loyalty and Mass Marketing, are being
turned on their heads as they fail to gauge the Behaviour of new generation
customers. The behaviour is characterized by the uniqueness of individual
expectations, the preference for multiple options, propensity to abandon Brand
loyalty and switch to competition Brands that give higher (perceived) value.
The new breed is even willing to import to satisfy specific requirement. It is
difficult to classify this generation by conventional Demographic factors and
unless their thought process and buying behaviour are fully understood,
decisions on product designs and packaging, Branding and Distribution channels
are likely to be misplaced. With the inevitability of change looming large over
the horizon, Indian companies must learn from their western counterparts; not
only to identify the sources, timing and direction of the changes likely to
affect India, but also the new competencies and perspective that will enable
them to respond to these changes, comprehensively and effectively. Companies
offering Product or Services will need to understand this new face of the
customers. The changing Demographic profile of the population in terms of
education, income, size of family and so on, are important by what will be more
substantive in days to come will be the Psychographics of customers that is how
they feel, think or behave. Markers will have to constantly monitor and
understand the underlying Psychographics to map their respective industries are
moving and decide what needs to be done, by way of adding value that motivates
customers to buy the company’s products and influence the future industry
structure.
LITERATURE REVIEW
AWARENESS : This means to know about the
existence of the product in the market. It is the first stage of the adoption
process. The consumers are exposed to the product innovation. The consumers at
this stage are not interested in more information about the product.
PERCEPTION : It is defined as the process by
which an individual selects, organizes and interprets stimuli into a meaningful
and coherent of the world. It is how we see the world around us’. Two persons
subject to the same stimulus under the same conditions will react differently.
A stimulus is any unit of input to any of the senses. The study of perception
is largely the study of what we subconsciously add to or subtract from raw
sensory to produce our own private picture of the world.
ATTITUDE : In simple dictionary meaning
‘attitude; means a way of thinking is a learned predisposition to behave in a
consistently favorable or unfavorable way with respect to a given object.
Attitudes are learned may be because of a previous experience with the product,
information acquired from others, and exposure to mass media. Attitudes are not
permanent, they do change over a period of time.
Consumer Behavior
The study of consumers helps firms and
organizations improve their marketing strategies by understanding issues such
as how consumers think, feel, reason, and select between different alternatives
(e.g., brands, products);
The psychology of how the consumer is influenced by
his or her environment (e.g., culture, family, signs, media);
The behavior of consumers while shopping or making
other marketing decisions;
Limitations in consumer knowledge or information
processing abilities influence decisions and marketing outcome;
How consumer motivation and decision strategies
differ between products that differ in their level of importance or interest
that they entail for the consumer; and how marketers can adapt and improve
their marketing campaigns and marketing strategies to more effectively reach
the consumer.
Understanding these issues helps in adapting
strategies by taking the consumer into consideration. For example, by
understanding that a number of different messages compete for our potential
customers’ attention, one learns that to be effective, advertisements must
usually be repeated extensively. It is also learnt that consumers will
sometimes be persuaded more by logical arguments, but at other times will be
persuaded more by emotional or symbolic appeals. By understanding the consumer,
the company will be able to make a more informed decision as to which strategy
to employ.
The "official" definition of consumer
behavior given in the text is "The study of individuals, groups, or
organizations and the processes they use to select, secure, use, and dispose of
products, services, experiences, or ideas to satisfy needs and the impacts that
these processes have on the consumer and society.
Behavior occurs either for the individual, or in
the context of a group (e.g., friends influence what kinds of clothes a person
wears) or an organization (people on the job make decisions as to which
products the firm should use).
Consumer behavior involves the use and disposal of
products as well as the study of how they are purchased. Product use is often
of great interest to the marketer, because this may influence how a product is
best positioned or how we can encourage increased consumption. Since many environmental
problems result from product disposal (e.g., motor oil being sent into sewage
systems to save the recycling fee, or garbage piling up at landfills) this is
also an area of interest.
Consumer behavior involves services and ideas as
well as tangible products.
The impact of consumer behavior on society is also
of relevance. For example, aggressive marketing of high fat foods, or
aggressive marketing of easy credit, may have serious repercussions for the
national health and economy.
There are four main applications of consumer
behavior:
The most obvious is for marketing strategy—i.e.,
for making better marketing campaigns. For example, by understanding that
consumers are more receptive to food advertising when they are hungry, we learn
to schedule snack advertisements late in the afternoon. By understanding that
new products are usually initially adopted by a few consumers and only spread
later, and then only gradually, to the rest of the population, we learn that
(1) companies that introduce new products must be well financed so that they
can stay afloat until their products become a commercial success and (2) it is
important to please initial customers, since they will in turn influence many
subsequent customers’ brand choices.
As a final benefit, studying consumer behavior
should make us better consumers. Common sense suggests, for example, that if
you buy a 64 liquid ounce bottle of laundry detergent, you should pay less per
ounce than if you bought two 32 ounce bottles. In practice, however, you often
pay a size premium by buying the larger quantity. In other words, in
this case, knowing this fact will sensitize you to the need to check the unit
cost labels to determine if you are really getting a bargain. There are
several units in the market that can be analyzed.
Research Methods
There are two main categories of research methods. Secondary
research uses research that has already been done by someone else. For
example, marketers often find information compiled by the U.S. Census very
useful. However, in some cases, information specific enough to satisfy a firm’s
needs is not publicly available. Original research that a firm does for itself
is known as primary research.
There is no one perfect primary research method.
Each has strengths and weaknesses, and thus the appropriate method must be
selected based on research needs.
Surveys are useful for getting a great deal of specific
information. Surveys can contain open-ended questions or closed-ended, where
the respondent is asked to select answers from a brief list. Open ended
questions have the advantage that the respondent is not limited to the options
listed, and that the respondent is not being influenced by seeing a list of
responses. However, open-ended questions are often skipped by respondents, and
coding them can be quite a challenge. In general, for surveys to yield
meaningful responses, sample sizes of over 100 are usually required because
precision is essential.
Surveys come in several different forms. Mail
surveys are relatively inexpensive, but response rates are typically quite
low—typically from 5-20%. Phone-surveys get somewhat higher response rates, but
not many questions can be asked because many answer options have to be repeated
and few people are willing to stay on the phone for more than five minutes.
Mall intercepts are a convenient way to reach consumers, but respondents may be
reluctant to discuss anything sensitive face-to-face with an interviewer.
Focus groups involve getting a group of 6-12 consumers together
to discuss product usage. Focus groups are especially useful if we do not have
specific questions to ask yet, since we don’t know what consumers’ concerns
might be. Drawbacks of focus groups include high costs and the fact that
generalization toward the entire population is difficult for such small sample
sizes. The fact that focus groups involve social interaction also means that
participants may say what they think will make themselves look good rather than
what they really believe (the social desirability bias).
Personal interviews involve in-depth questioning of
an individual about his or her interest in or experiences with a product. The
benefit here is that one can get really into depth . but this method of
research is costly and can be extremely vulnerable to interviewer bias.
Projective techniques are used when a consumer may
feel embarrassed to admit to certain opinions, feelings, or preferences. The
main problem with this method is that it is difficult to analyze responses.
Observation of consumers is often a powerful tool.
Looking at how consumers select products may yield insights into how they make
decisions and what they look for. Observation may help in determining how much
time consumers spend comparing prices, or whether nutritional labels are being
consulted.
Physiological measures are occasionally used to
examine consumer response. For example, advertisers may want to measure a
consumer’s level of arousal during various parts of an advertisement.
Segmentation
Segmentation basically involves dividing consumers
into groups such that members of a group (1) are as similar as possible to
members of that same group but (2) differ as much as possible from members
other segments. This enables us then to "treat" each segment
differently—e.g., by:
Providing different products (e.g., some consumers
like cola taste, while others prefer lime) . Offering different prices (some
consumers will take the cheapest product available, while others will pay for
desired features). Distributing the products where they are likely to be bought
by the targeted segment.
In order for a segment structure to be useful:
v Each segment must have an identity—i.e., it must
contain members that can be described in some way (e.g., price sensitive) that
behave differently from another segment.
v Each segment must engage in systematic behaviors
(e.g., a price sensitive segment should consistently prefer the low price item
rather than randomly switching between high and low priced brands).
v Each segment must offer marketing mix efficiency
potential—i.e., it must be profitable to serve. For example, A smaller segment
may be profitable if, for example, it is price insensitive or can be targeted
efficiently . Some segments are not cost effective.
There are three "levels" of segmentation.
Levels here refer to the tradeoff between the difficulty of implementing a
segmentation scheme and the benefits that result.
v The first level of segmentation involves personal
characteristics—e.g., demographics. The trouble with this method of
segmentation, however, is that there is often not a good correlation between
personal characteristics of consumers and what they want to buy. Psychographics
includes a bit more information about the consumer than his or her mere
descriptive characteristics.
v The second level is benefit desired—that is,
segmenting on what someone wants rather than who he or she is. Implementing
segmentation on benefit desired is more difficult. The benefit, however, is
that one can now make product that matches more closely a particular segment’s
specific desires, and one can promote, price, and distribute it according to
the desires of the segment. This method, then, lends itself extremely well to
strong product positioning—one make a product that offers specific benefits,
and we aggressively promote this fact to interested consumers. A drawback,
however, is some efficiency is lost in marketing communication.
v The third level is segmentation based on behavior.
Behavior here refers to a person’s response (or lack of response) to a given
treatment. The rewards are often great, because one can tailor the kind of deal
we give a consumer to the minimum concession needed to get that consumer to buy
our (as opposed to a competing) product.
Direct marketing offers exceptional opportunities
for segmentation because marketers can buy lists of consumer names, addresses,
and phone-numbers that indicate their specific interests.
Culture
Culture is part of the external influences
that impact the consumer. That is, culture represents influences that
are imposed on the consumer by other individuals.
The definition of culture offered in the text is
"That complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, custom,
and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man person as a member of
society." From this definition, one can make the following observations:
Culture, as a "complex whole," is a
system of interdependent components.
Knowledge and beliefs are important parts. Other
issues are relevant. Art, for example, may be reflected in the rather arbitrary
practice of wearing ties in some countries and wearing turbans in others.
Culture has several important characteristics: (1)
Culture is comprehensive. This means that all parts must fit together in
some logical fashion. (2) Culture is learned rather than being something
we are born with. (3) Culture is manifested within boundaries of
acceptable behavior.. (4) Conscious awareness of cultural standards is limited.
(5) Cultures fall somewhere on a continuum between static and dynamic depending
on how quickly they accept change.
Cultural rules can be categorized into three types.
Formal rules carry relatively explicit standards as to how one should
behave, and violations often carry severe sanctions. Informal rules, on
the other hand, are less explicit and may not carry sanctions for violation.
Finally, technical cultural rules involve implicit standards as to what
constitutes a good product.
Language is an important element of culture. It
should be realized that regional differences may be subtle.
Subculture is often categorized on the basis of
demographics. While part of the overall culture, these groups often have distinguishing
characteristics. An important consequence is that a person who is part of two
subcultures may experience some conflict.
Values are often greatly associated with age groups
because people within an age-group have shared experiences. Regional influence,
both in the United States and other areas, is significant.
Family Decision Making
The Family Life Cycle. Individuals and families tend
to go through a "life cycle." The simple life cycle goes from
child/teenager ---> young single ---> young
couple* ---> full nest
---> empty nest ---> widow(er).
A "couple" may either be married or
merely involve living together. The breakup of a non-marital relationship
involving cohabitation is similarly considered equivalent to a divorce.
full nest ---> single parent
This situation can result either from divorce or
from the death of one parent. Divorce usually entails a significant change in
the relative wealth of spouses. In some cases, the non-custodial parent
(usually the father) will not pay the required child support, and even if he or
she does, that still may not leave the custodial parent and children as well
off as they were during the marriage. On the other hand, in some cases, some
non-custodial parents will be called on to pay a large part of their income in
child support. This is particularly a problem when the non-custodial parent
remarries and has additional children in the second (or subsequent marriages).
Divorced parents frequently remarry, or become
involved in other non-marital relationships; thus, we may see
full nest ---> single parent ---> blended
family
Another variation involves
young single ---> single parent
Generally, there are two main themes in the Family
Life Cycle, subject to significant exceptions:
As a person gets older, he or she tends to advance
in his or her career and tends to get greater income (exceptions: maternity
leave, divorce, retirement).
Unfortunately, obligations also tend to increase
with time (at least until one’s mortgage has been paid off). Children and
paying for one’s house are two of the greatest expenses.
Note that although a single person may have a lower
income than a married couple, the single may be able to buy more discretionary
items.
Family Decision Making: Individual members of families
often serve different roles in decisions that ultimately draw on shared family
resources. Some individuals are information gatherers/holders, who seek
out information about products of relevance. These individuals often have a
great deal of power because they may selectively pass on information that
favors their chosen alternatives. Influencers do not ultimately have the
power decide between alternatives, but they may make their wishes known by
asking for specific products or causing embarrassing situations if their demands
are not met. The decision maker(s) have the power to determine issues
such as:
·
whether
to buy;
·
which
product to buy (pick-up or passenger car?);
·
which
brand to buy;
·
where to
buy it; and
·
when to
buy.
One is bargaining—one member will give up
something in return for someone else. strategy is reasoning—trying to
get the other person(s) to accept one’s view through logical argumentation.
Group Influences
Humans are inherently social animals, and
individuals greatly influence each other. A useful framework of analysis of
group influence on the individual is the so called reference group—the
term comes about because an individual uses a relevant group as a standard of
reference against which oneself is compared. Reference groups come in several
different forms. The aspirational reference group refers to those others
against whom one would like to compare oneself. Associative reference
groups include people who more realistically represent the individuals’ current
equals or near-equals—e.g., coworkers, neighbors, or members of churches,
clubs, and organizations. Finally, the dissociative reference group
includes people that the individual would not like to be like.
Reference groups come with various degrees of
influence. Primary reference groups come with a great deal of
influence—e.g., members of a fraternity/sorority. Secondary reference
groups tend to have somewhat less influence—e.g., members of a boating club
that one encounters only during week-ends are likely to have their influence
limited to consumption during that time period.
Another typology divides reference groups into the informational
kind (influence is based almost entirely on members’ knowledge), normative
(members influence what is perceived to be "right,"
"proper," "responsible," or "cool"), or identification.
The difference between the latter two categories involves the individual’s
motivation for compliance. In case of the normative reference group, the
individual tends to comply largely for utilitarian reasons—dressing according
to company standards is likely to help your career, but there is no real
motivation to dress that way outside the job. In contrast, people comply with
identification groups’ standards for the sake of belonging—for example, a
member of a religious group may wear a symbol even outside the house of worship
because the religion is a part of the person’s identity.
Diffusion of Innovation
The diffusion of innovation refers to the tendency
of new products, practices, or ideas to spread among people. Usually, when new
products or ideas come about, they are only adopted by a small group of people
initially; later, many innovations spread to other people. The saturation
point is the maximum proportion of consumers likely to adopt .
Several forces often work against innovation. One
is risk, which can be either social or financial. Another risk is being
perceived by others as being weird for trying a "fringe" product or
idea. Other sources of resistance include the initial effort needed to learn to
use new products (e.g., it takes time to learn to meditate or to learn how to
use a computer) and concerns about compatibility with the existing culture or
technology. Innovations come in different degrees. A continuous
innovation includes slight improvements over time. A dynamically continuous
innovation involves some change in technology, although the product is used
much the same way that its predecessors were used—e.g., jet vs. propeller
aircraft. A discontinous innovation involves a product that
fundamentally changes the way that things are done—e.g., the fax and
photocopiers.
Some cultures tend to adopt new products more
quickly than others, based on several factors:
v Modernity: The extent to which the culture
is receptive to new things. In some countries, such as Britain and Saudi
Arabia, tradition is greatly valued—thus, new products often don’t fare too
well. The United States, in contrast, tends to value progress.
v Homophily: The more similar to each other
that members of a culture are, the more likely an innovation is to
spread—people are more likely to imitate similar than different models. The two
most rapidly adopting countries in the World are the U.S. and Japan. While the
U.S. interestingly scores very low, Japan scores high.
v Physical distance: The greater the distance between
people, the less likely innovation is to spread.
v Opinion leadership: The more opinion leaders are
valued and respected, the more likely an innovation is to spread. The style of
opinion leaders moderates this influence, however. In less innovative
countries, opinion leaders tend to be more conservative, i.e., to reflect the
local norms of resistance.
Perception
Background. Our perception is an approximation of reality.
Our brain attempts to make sense out of the stimuli to which we are exposed.
Factors in percpetion. Several sequential factors
influence our perception. Exposure involves the extent to which we
encounter a stimulus. Most of this exposure is random—we don’t plan to seek it
out. Exposure is not enough to significantly impact the individual—at least not
based on a single trial In order for stimuli to be consciously processed, attention
is needed. Interpretation involves making sense out of the stimulus. Weber’s
Law suggests that consumers’ ability to detect changes in stimulus
intensity appear to be strongly related to the intensity of that stimulus to
begin with.
Several factors influence the extent to which
stimuli will be noticed. One obvious issue is relevance. Consumers, when
they have a choice, are also more likely to attend to pleasant stimuli
(but when the consumer can’t escape, very unpleasant stimuli are also likely to
get attention—thus, many very irritating advertisements are remarkably
effective). Surprising stimuli are likely to get more attention—survival
instinct requires us to give more attention to something unknown that may
require action. A greater contrast (difference between the stimulus and
its surroundings) as well as greater prominence (e.g., greater size,
center placement) also tend to increase likelihood of processing.
Learning and Memory
Background. Learning involves "a change in the content or
organization of long term memory and/or behavior." The first part of the
definition focuses on what we know (and can thus put to use) while the second
focuses on concrete behavior.
Classical conditioning. Pavlov’s early work on dogs was
known as classical conditioning. Pavlov discovered that when dogs were
fed meat powder they salivated. Pavlov then discovered that if a bell were rung
before the dogs were fed, the dogs would begin salivating in anticipation
of being fed (this was efficient, since they could then begin digesting the
meat powder immediately). Pavlov then found that after the meat had been
"paired" with the meat powder enough times, Pavlov could ring the
bell without feeding the dogs and they would still salivate.
In the jargon of classical conditioning, the meat
powder was an unconditioned stimulus (US) and the By pairing the
bell with the unconditioned stimulus, the bell became a conditioned
stimulus (CS) and salivation in response to the bell (with no meat powder)
became a conditioned response (CR).
Operant conditioning. Instrumental, or operant,
conditioning, involves a different series of events, and this what we usually
think of as learning. The general pattern is:
Behavior ---> consequences ---> behavior is
more or less likely to be repeated
There are three major forms of operant learning. In
positive reinforcement, an individual does something and is
rewarded. He or she is then more likely to repeat the behavior.
Punishment is the opposite. It should be noted that negative
reinforcement is very different from punishment.
In general, marketers usually have relatively
little power to use punishment or negative reinforcement.
Several factors influence the effectiveness of
operant learning. In general, the closer in time the consequences are to
the behavior, the more effective the learning. However, it is not necessary to
reward a behavior every time for learning to occur. Even if a behavior is only
rewarded some of the time, the behavior may be learned.
Memory. There are two kinds of memory. When you see an ad
on TV for a mail order product you might like to buy, you only keep the phone
number in memory until you have dialed it. This is known as short term memory.
In order for something to enter into long term memory, which is more
permanent, you must usually "rehearse" it several times. A special
issue in memory are so called "scripts," or procedures we remember
for doing things. Scripts involve a series of steps for doing various things
(e.g., how to send a package).
Motivation, Personality, and Emotion
Perspectives on Consumer Behavior and Motivation: People considered several
perspectives on behavior as a way to understand what motivates the consumer.
Each of these perspectives suggests different things as to what the marketer
should do and what can (and cannot) be controlled.
The Hard Core Behavioral perspective is
based on learning theories such as operant and classical conditioning. These
theories suggest that consumers must learn from their own experiences
rather than merely observing other people who overeat and get sick.
The Social Learning Perspective, in
contrast, allows for vicarious learning--i.e., learning obtained by
watching others getting good or bad consequences for behavior. The models
that may be observed and imitated include peers and family members as well as
relevant others that may be observed in advertising. Certain people are more
likely to be imitated than othersGenerally, observations are made of overt
behavior, but some room is made for individual reasoning in learning from
others. This perspective is clearly more realistic than that of the "Hard
Core" view.
The Cognitive approach emphasizes consumer thinking
rather than mere behavior.Here, the emphasis is on how people reason themselves
to the consequences of their behavior. It is often somewhat more difficult to attempt
to "get into" a consumer’s head than it is to merely observe his or
her behavior, and what we "observe" is somewhat more subjective.
The Biological approach suggests that most
behavior is determined by genetics or other biological bases. By this perspective,
it is suggested that consumers eat the foods they eat in large part because the
body craves these foods. The main implication of biological determinism
is that the marketer must adapt--for example, food advertisements are
more likely to be effective when people are hungry, and thus they might better
be run in the late afternoon rather than in the late morning.
The Rational Expectations perspective is
based on an economic way of looking at the World. The Psychoanalytic
perspective is based on the work of historical psychologists such as Sigmund
Freud who suggest that (1) much behavior has a biological basis which is (2)
often sexual in nature, and (3) that early experiences in childhood will have a
profound, but unconscious effect on later life. Although modern
psychologists certainly recognize that early experiences may influence later
psychological well being, the psychoanalytic view has largely been discredited
today as being much too centered on the issue of sex.
Properties of motivation: Motivation is described through
several properties:
v Motivation is composed of energy
and direction. A person
may or may not have enough motivation to engage in a given activity.
v Motives may be overt, hidden, and
multiple. Some
motivations are publicly expressed (e.g., the desire to buy an energy efficient
house), while others (e.g., the desire to look wealthy by buying a fancy car)
are not.
v Many motivations are driven by
the desire for tension reduction (e.g., eliminate thirst or hunger).
v Motivations can be driven by both
internal and external factors.
v Motivations may have either a
positive or negative valence--people may either be motivated to achieve
something (e.g., get a promotion at work) or avoid something (e.g., being
hospitalized without having adequate insurance).
v Consumers are motivated to
achieve goals.
Achieving these goals may require sustained activity over time (e.g.,
exercising every day for months or years) as opposed to just taking some action
once.
v Consumers maintain a balance
between the desires for stability and variety. M
v Motivation reflects individual
differences.
Different consumers are motivated to achieve different things, and it may be
difficult to infer motivations from looking at actual behavior without
understanding these differences in desired outcomes.
Personality and consumer behavior: Traditional research in
marketing has not been particularly successful in finding a link between
personality and consumer behavior. Emotion. Emotion impacts marketing
efforts in several ways. One purpose is to get attention to a stimulus
(since emotionally charged individuals tend to be less predictable than calmer
ones, there has been an evolutionary advantage in paying attention to emotion).
Secondly, emotion influences information processing.
Attitudes
Definition. Consumer attitudes are a composite of a
consumer’s (1) beliefs about, (2) feelings about, (3) and behavioral intentions
toward some object within the context of marketing, usually a brand or retail
store. These components are viewed together since they are highly interdependent
and together represent forces that influence how the consumer will react to the
object.
Beliefs. The first component is beliefs. A consumer
may hold both positive beliefs toward an object (e.g., coffee tastes good) as
well as negative beliefs (e.g., coffee is easily spilled and stains papers). In
addition, some beliefs may be neutral.
Affect. Consumers also hold certain feelings toward
brands or other objects. Sometimes these feelings are based on the beliefs
(e.g., a person feels nauseated when thinking about a hamburger because of the
tremendous amount of fat it contains), but there may also be feelings which are
relatively independent of beliefs.
Behavioral intention. The behavioral intention is
what the consumer plans to do with respect to the object (e.g., buy or not buy
the brand). As with affect, this is sometimes a logical consequence of beliefs
(or affect), but may sometimes reflect other circumstances.
Attitude-Behavior Consistency. Consumers often do not behave
consistently with their attitudes for several reasons:
v Ability. He or she may be unable to do so.
v Competing demands for resources.
v Social influence.
v Measurement problems. Measuring attitudes is
difficult. In many situations, consumers do not consciously set out to
enumerate how positively or negatively they feel about mopeds.
Attitude Change Strategies. Changing attitudes is generally
very difficult, particularly when consumers suspect that the marketer
has a self-serving agenda in bringing about this change (e.g., to get the
consumer to buy more or to switch brands).
Changing affect. One approach is to try to change affect, which
may or may not involve getting consumers to change their beliefs. One strategy
uses the approach of classical conditioning try to "pair" the
product with a liked stimulus. Finally, products which are better known,
through the mere exposure effect, tend to be better liked--that is, the
more a product is advertised and seen in stores, the more it will generally be
liked, even if consumers to do not develop any specific beliefs about the
product.
Changing behavior. People like to believe that their behavior is
rational; thus, once they use our products, chances are that they will continue
unless someone is able to get them to switch. ----One way to get people to
switch to one brand is to use temporary price discounts and coupons; however,
when consumers buy a product on deal, they may justify the purchase based on
that deal (i.e., the low price) and may then switch to other brands on deal
later. A better way to get people to switch to our brand is to at least
temporarily obtain better shelf space so that the product is more convenient.
Consumers are less likely to use this availability as a rationale for their
purchase and may continue to buy the product even when the product is less
conveniently located. (Notice, by the way, that this represents a case of
shaping).
Changing beliefs. Although attempting to change beliefs is the
obvious way to attempt attitude change, particularly when consumers hold
unfavorable or inaccurate ones, this is often difficult to achieve because
consumers tend to resist. Several approaches to belief change exist:
v Change currently held beliefs. It is generally very difficult
to attempt to change beliefs that people hold, particularly those that are
strongly held, even if they are inaccurate.
v Change the importance of beliefs.
v Add beliefs. Consumers are less likely to
resist the addition of beliefs so long as they do not conflict with existing
beliefs.
v Change ideal. It usually difficult, and very
risky, to attempt to change ideals, and only few firms succeed.
One-sided vs. two-sided appeals. Attitude research has shown that
consumers often tend to react more favorably to advertisements which either (1)
admit something negative about the sponsoring brand or (2) admits something
positive about a competing brand Two-sided appeals must, contain overriding
arguments why the sponsoring brand is ultimately superior.
The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) and
Celebrity Endorsements. The ELM suggests that consumers will scrutinize claims more in
important situations than in unimportant ones.
The ELM suggests that for "unimportant"
products, elaboration will be low. However, for products which are either
expensive or important for some other reason elaboration is likely to be more
extensive, and the endorser is expected to be "congruent," or compatible,
with the product.
Appeal approaches. Several approaches to appeal may be used. The use
of affect to induce empathy with advertising characters may
increase attraction to a product, but may backfire if consumers believe that
people’s feelings are being exploited. Fear appeals appear to work only
if (1) an optimal level of fear is evoked--not so much that people tune it out,
but enough to scare people into action and (2) a way to avoid the feared
stimulus is explicitly indicated. Humor appears to be effective in
gaining attention, but does not appear to increase persuasion in practice. In
addition, a more favorable attitude toward the advertisement may be created by
humorous advertising, which may in turn result in increased sales. Comparative
advertising, which is illegal in many countries, often increases sales for
the sponsoring brand, but may backfire in certain cultures.
Self-Concept, Situational Influences, and Lifestyle
The self-concept. The consumer faces several possible selves. The actual
self reflects how the individual actually is, although the consumer may not be
aware of that reality In contrast, the ideal self reflects a self that a
person would like to have, but does not in fact have. The private self
is one that is not intentionally exposed to others. The key here is to keep in
mind which kind of self one is trying to reach in promotional messages.
Individuals will often seek to augment and enhance
their self concepts, and it may be possible to market products that help
achieve this goal.
Lifestyles. Self-concept often translates into a person’s
lifestyle, or the way that he or she lives his or her life. Attempts have been
made to classify consumers into various segments based on their lifestyles. For
example, both "Achievers" and "Strivers" want public recognition,
but only the Achievers have the resources to bring this about. A global
analogue is the Global Scan.
Situational influences. Specific circumstances often
influence consumer behavior. Consumers whose attention is demanded elsewhere
are likely to disregard commercial messages.
Consumer Decision Making
Definitions. Consumer decision making comes about as an
attempt to solve consumer problems. A problem refers to "a
discrepancy between a desired state and an ideal state which is sufficient to
arouse and activate a decision process."
Consumer Problem Recognition. Consumers often note problems by
comparing their current, or actual, situation, explicitly or implicitly, to
some desired situation. In terms of the "big picture," what is
compared may be the totality of one’s lifestyle.
Problems come in several different types. A problem
may be an active one (e.g., you have a headache and would like as quick
a solution as possible) or inactive-- you are not aware that your
situation is a problem (e.g., a consumer is not aware that he or she could have
more energy with a new vitamin). Problems may be acknowledged (e.g., a
consumer is aware that his or her car does not accelerate well enough or unacknowledged
(e.g., a consumer will not acknowledge that he or she consumes too much
alcohol). Finally, needs can be relatively specific (generic), as in the need
for enjoyment (which can be satisfied many different ways), or specific, as in
the need for professional attire to wear at a new job.
Creating problems for consumers is a way to
increase sales, albeit a questionably ethical one. One way to create new
problems, and resultant needs, is to create a new ideal state.
There are two main approaches to search. Internal
searches are based on what consumers already know. Thus, it may be
important for certain firms to advertise to consumers before they actually need
the product. A problem is that some excellent ones which are not remembered, or
have never been heard of, are not considered. External searches get
people to either speak to others (getting information by word of mouth) or use
other sources (such as advertisements now sought out or yellow page listings).
Consumers often do not consider all alternatives. Some are not known (the
"unawareness" set), some were once known but are not readily
accessible in memory (the "inert" set), others are ruled out as
unsatisfactory (the "inept" set--e.g., Glad bags attempts to get
"bargain bags" into that set), and those that are considered
represent the "evoked" set, from which one alternative is likely to
be purchased.
The amount of effort a consumer puts into searching
depends on a number of factors such as the market (how many competitors are
there, and how great are differences between brands expected to be?), product
characteristics (how important is this product? How complex is the product? How
obvious are indications of quality?), consumer characteristics (how interested
is a consumer, generally, in analyzing product characteristics and making the
best possible deal?), and situational characteristics (as previously
discussed).
Two interesting issues in decisions are variety
seeking (where consumers seek to try new brands not because these brands
are expected to be "better" in any way, but rather because the
consumer wants a "change of pace," and "impulse"
purchases. Impulse purchases are, generally speaking, unplanned, but
represent a somewhat fuzzy group.
Public Policy Issues
There are certain marketing practices which may
harm consumers. Two main issues are (1) deceptive marketing practices (such as
misleading advertising) and (2) the marketing of dangerous or otherwise harmful
products (e.g., tobacco). The following are some ethical problems that occur in
marketing, and the question arises as to which, if any, kind of government
intervention is appropriate.
v Marketing efforts may encourage
excess consumption (e.g.,
products that consumers cannot afford and do not really need). However there
are many gray areas--e.g., cosmetics, video games, and even something as
politically correct as a gourmet coffee houses. A special case involves
marketing to children, whose parents may be coerced, often out of guilt, to buy
questionable items aimed at children.
v Resource depletion and waste
disposal issues associated with the above consumption. Some European countries have
mandated that manufacturers be required to take back packaging materials for
their products.
v Deceptive marketing practices: Products claim benefits which
really do not result from use of the product (as is done by numerous
manufacturers of nutritional supplements); advertising may be misleading (may
not indicate the true cost of a product up front or may contain "fine
print" that the consumer is unlikely to see or understand)
v Products are unhealthy (e.g., many children’s foods
contain excessive fat).
Government action is often considered, although it
may not always be effective. For example, although the government requires the
use of warning labels on some products, manufacturers will often try to
"water down" the warnings as much as possible. Further, the
prevalence of warning labels today may desensitize consumers since reading all
of them carefully would provide the consumer with information overload.
Another issue is anti-competitive behavior.
Antitrust laws are generally aimed at prohibiting firms from conspiring to
"fix" prices or collectively drop service levels. Antitrust law is,
however, a "thorny" area. Consumers may benefit, for example, as some
less efficient firms are driven out of business, and may benefit from the
efficiencies which may or may not materialize when large firms "gobble
up" smaller ones--a defense used in the Microsoft trial.
