0. Consumer Markets and Consumer Buyer Behavior
Chapter 6

1. Objectives
Be able to define the consumer market and construct a simple model of consumer buyer behavior.
Know the four major factors that influence consumer buyer behavior.

2. Objectives
Understand the major types of buying decision behavior and the stages in the buyer decision process.
Be able to describe the adoption and diffusion process for new products.

3. Harley-Davidson Harley “Hogs” account for 1/5 of U.S. cycle sales
Sales have exceeded supply for years
: Four stock splits, increase of 7,100%
Fiercely loyal clientele revolves around 7 core customer types
Harley owners use their bikes to express their lifestyle and attitudes
Advertising reflects the Harley mystique

4. Consumer Buying Behavior
Consumer Buying Behavior refers to the buying behavior of final consumers (individuals & households) who buy goods and services for personal consumption.
Study consumer behavior to answer:“How do consumers respond to marketing efforts the company might use?”

5. Model of Consumer Behavior
Marketing and
Other Stimuli
Model of Consumer Behavior
Model of Consumer Behavior
This CTR corresponds to Figure 5-1 on p. 135 and to the material on pp
Product
Price
Place
Promotion
Economic
Technological
Political
Cultural
Buyer’s Black Box
Consumer Behavior
Consumer behavior refers to the buying behavior of final consumers -- individuals and households who buy goods and services for personal consumption.
Model of Consumer Behavior
Marketers control the stimuli or inputs consisting of the four Ps: Product, Place, Price, and Promotion. Environmental and situational influences, though perhaps beyond the control of the marketer, also influence many consumer choices. But what happens between the marketing stimuli input and the buyer’s response or output? That “black box” processing is the central question for marketers.
Teaching Tip: You may wish to discuss the “buyer’s black box” in more detail at this stage. Students sometimes become involved in the controversy regarding the presence or absence of consciousness in consumers. Consider using a two-side in-class discussion:
Side A: Experimental psychologists argue that what we call consciousness is merely a set of complex learned responses -- an ordinary physiological function.
Side B: Sociologists and social psychologists argue that consciousness is greater than the sum of its physiological parts. For marketers, the issue is sometimes linked to free will: Do marketers create needs by conditioning consumers? Do marketers offer need-fulfillers to needs consumer’s create in their “black box?”
Buyer’s Decision Process
Buyer Characteristics Affecting Consumer Behavior
Buyer’s Response
Purchase Timing
Purchase Amount
Product Choice
Brand Choice
Dealer Choice

6. Characteristics Affecting Consumer Behavior
This CTR relates to Figure 5-2 on p.135 and previews the material on pp
Characteristics Affecting Consumer Behavior
Culture
Social
Influences on Consumers
Cultural. Culture is the most basic influence on a person's values, priorities, and beliefs. Cultural shifts make marketing opportunities although most such changes are in secondary rather than core cultural values. Subcultures are important markets as these groups are often significantly different in their needs to warrant different marketing approaches.
Social. Social class is determined by a combination of income, occupation, education, wealth and other variables. Social factors within one's class that affect consumer behavior include reference groups & aspirational groups. Families also exert strong social influences. Finally, each relationship a person has with his or her group carries with it certain roles and status that may carry consumptive responsibilities.
Personal. Major personal factors are age and life cycle stage, occupation, economic situation, life style and personality/self-concept. Texts vary in their treatment of the PLC stages but it is clear that singles buy different products than do young marrieds with small children. Occupations differ in time constraints and social pressures to conform that affect consumption decisions. Lifestyles measured by AIO or VALS typologies can reveal different consumption patterns across otherwise dissimilar groups. The unique characteristics of each person that make up their personality also affect behavior.
Psychological. Maslow's hierarchy reminds marketers that need states vary in their intensity or motivation. Perception is the process of organizing stimuli and is influenced by selective exposure, distortion, & retention. Learning occurs in response to the presentation of information linked to relevant drives, cues, responses, and reinforcement only some of which is under the control of the marketer. Beliefs and attitudes, though shaped by cultural and social forces, may vary considerably on the individual level.
Personal
Psychological
Buyer

7. Factors Affecting Consumer Behavior: Culture
Most basic cause of a person's wants and behavior.
Values
Perceptions learned by a member of society
Subculture
A group of people with shared value systems based on common life experiences.
Hispanic Consumers
African American Consumers
Asian American Consumers
Mature Consumers
Social Class
People within a social class tend to exhibit similar buying behavior.
Occupation
Income
Education
Wealth

8. Factors Affecting Consumer Behavior: Social
Groups
Membership
Reference
Family (most important)
Husband, wife, kids
Influencer, buyer, user
Social Factors
Roles and Status

9. Factors Affecting Consumer Behavior: Personal
Personal Influences
Factors Affecting Consumer Behavior:
Personal
This CTR corresponds to Table 5-2 on p. 142 and the material on pp
Lifestyle Identification
Factors Affecting Consumer Behavior: Personal
Age and Family Life Cycle
Stage
Occupation
Economic Situation
Personality & Self-Concept
Personal Factors
Age and Family Life-Cycle Stage. Buyers’ choices are affected by changes in their age and family structure over time. Young singles have different tastes in clothes, furniture, food, and recreation than do middle aged persons with their own children. Older consumers continue to change in their preferences and additionally acquire new buyer needs such as increased health care needs.
Occupation. A person’s occupation carries with it distinct consumptive needs. White collar workers need different clothes than blue collar workers. Also, occupations usually carry their own subcultural norms and values that influence buyer behavior.
Economic Situation. Means constrain buyer behavior for almost everyone except for the most wealthy.
Personality and Self-Concept. Personality refers to the unique psychological characteristics that lead to relatively consistent and lasting response to one’s own environment. Self-concept is the basic perception that people have about who they are.
Lifestyle
Lifestyle is a person’s pattern of living as expressed in her or his activities, interests, and opinions. Determining lifestyle involves measuring AIO dimensions -- the Activities, Interests, and Opinions of consumers.
Psychographics. Lifestyle measures combined with demographic information can identify distinct market segments for consumer products and services. The best known of these methods, VALS 2, is addressed on the following CTR.
Activities
Opinions
Interests

10. Lifestyles:
Jeep targets people who want to “leave the civilized world behind”
What other types of images could be used to appeal to this lifestyle?

11. VALS Lifestyle Classification
Figure 6-3:
VALS Lifestyle Classification
Learn more about VALS and take the VALS survey online by clicking the web link icon below.

12. Characteristics Affecting Consumer Behavior
Brand Personality Dimensions
Sincerity
Ruggedness
Excitement
Competence
Sophistication

13. Factor Affecting Consumer Behavior: Psychological
Motivation
Psychological
Factors
Perception
Beliefs and
Attitudes
Learning

14. Psychological Factors
Motivation
Freud
Maslow (Hierarchy of Needs)*
Perception
Learning
generalization (one Honda model good... all good)
discrimination (becoming a stereophile)
Belief (descriptive thought about object)
Attitude (general evaluation of object)
Freud: unconscious motives
Motives: sufficiently pressing needs
Perception: select, organize, and interpret information
Learning: changes in individual’s behavior arising from experience

15. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
This CTR relates to the material on p and corresponds to Figure 5-4.
Self
Actualization
(Self-development)
Esteem Needs
(self-esteem, status)
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow suggests that lower level needs must be satisfied before individuals become motivated to satisfy higher level needs. Thus consumers will respond to lower level products and promotions until those needs are met. Only then can other marketing offers be of interest. Needs include:
Physiological. Physical needs such as hunger, thirst, and bodily functions are the lowest level need and require satisfaction before other needs become important to the individual. Sometimes this helps students understand the difference between needs and wants. A thirsty person may still want an expensive car but if thirsty enough will take a drink of water.
Safety. Safety needs for security and protection are the next level needs in the hierarchy. So long as physiological needs are met, safety needs will take precedence over other needs. Fear appeals for consumer products are often linked to safety needs.
Social. Human beings are social, gregarious animals. We group together in part to fulfill physiological and safety needs but also because we enjoy and need the company of others. Going to malls to "hang out" fulfills social needs.
Esteem. To be recognized as an individual fulfills esteem needs. Self-esteem is the value a person places on himself or herself. As lower level needs become more stable, esteem needs become more important to the individual.
Self-actualization. Beyond esteem needs very successful people may still be driven to improve themselves and "accomplish something." These people are driven to self-actualize their potential.
Social Needs
(sense of belonging, love)
Safety Needs
(security, protection)
Physiological Needs
(hunger, thirst)

16. Selective Perception Attention (screen)
too much information to process
Distortion (adjust)
make it fit what we believe
Retention (forget)
much is forgotten

17. The milk moustache campaign changed attitudes toward milk.

18. The Buyer Decision Process*
Need Recognition
Information Search
The Buyer Decision Making Process
This CTR corresponds to Figure 5-6 on p. 153 and relates to the material on pp
Teaching Tip: Consider asking students to describe some of their purchases decisions made at the beginning of the term and link them to steps in the process.
Evaluation of Alternatives
The Buyer Decision Process*
Purchase Decision
Postpurchase Behavior
Stages in the Buyer Decision Process
Need Recognition. Problems are recognized when people sense a difference between an actual state and some desired state. Problem recognition can be triggered by either internal or external stimuli.
Information Search. Consumers vary in the amount of information search they conduct. Information search may be a survey of information stored in memory or may be based upon information available externally. Search effort varies from heightened awareness corresponding to increased receptivity for relevant information to active information search modes where the person expends some energy to obtain information that is desired. External information vary in their informational and legitimizing characteristics. Riskier decisions usually elicit more search behavior than non-risky decisions.
Evaluation of Alternatives. Following information search, the person compares decisional alternatives available. Criterion for evaluation compares product attributes of the alternatives against degrees of importance each attribute has in meeting needs, beliefs about the product or brand's ability and utility, and an evaluation procedure that ranks the alternatives by preference that forms an intention to buy.
Purchase Decision. - The individual buys a product. Purchasing other than the intended product may be due to attitudes of others exerted after the evaluation of alternatives is completed or unexpected situational factors such as point of purchases promotions that affect the alternatives' ranking.
Post-purchase Behavior. This involves comparing the expected performance of the product against the perceived performance received. Cognitive dissonance describes the tendency to accentuate benefits and downplay shortcomings.

19. The Buyer Decision Process
Stages
Needs can be triggered by:
Internal stimuli
Normal needs become strong enough to drive behavior
External stimuli
Advertisements
Friends of friends
Need recognition
Information search
Evaluation of alternatives
Purchase decision
Postpurchase behavior

20. Attempt to stimulate need recognition

21. The Buyer Decision Process
Stages
Consumers exhibit heightened attention or actively search for information.
Sources of information:
Personal
Commercial
Public
Experiential
Word-of-mouth
Need recognition
Information search
Evaluation of alternatives
Purchase decision
Postpurchase behavior

22. The Buyer Decision Process
Stages
Evaluation procedure depends on the consumer and the buying situation.
Most buyers evaluate multiple attributes, each of which is weighted differently.
At the end of the evaluation stage, purchase intentions are formed.
Need recognition
Information search
Evaluation of alternatives
Purchase decision
Postpurchase behavior

23. Consumer Buying Decision Process: Step 3: Evaluation of Alternatives
Product Attributes
Evaluation of Quality, Price, & Features
Degree of Importance
Which attributes matter most to me?
Brand Beliefs
What do I believe about each available brand?
Total Product Satisfaction
Based on what I’m looking for, how satisfied
would I be with each product?
Evaluation Procedures
Choosing a product (and brand) based on one
or more attributes.

24. The Buyer Decision Process
Stages
Two factors intercede between purchase intentions and the actual decision:
Attitudes of others
Unexpected situational factors
Need recognition
Information search
Evaluation of alternatives
Purchase decision
Postpurchase behavior

25. Consumer’s Expectations of Product’s Performance Dissatisfied Customer
The Buyer Decision Process
Step 5. Postpurchase Behavior
Consumer’s Expectations of
Product’s Performance
Product’s Perceived
Performance
Satisfied
Customer!
Dissatisfied Customer
Cognitive Dissonance

26. Types of Buying Behavior*
Figure 6-5:
Types of Buying Behavior*

27. Four Types of Buying Behavior
Differences Between Brands
Low Involvement
High Involvement
Cars
Houses
Cookies
Significant
Carpeting
Toothpaste
Salt
Few
Placement determined by person not the product

28. Buyer Decision Process for New Products
Good, service or idea that is perceived by customers as new.

29. Buyer Decision Process for New Products
Stages in the Adoption Process
Marketers should help consumers move from awareness to adoption.

30. Stages in the Adoption Process
Awareness
Stages in the Adoption Process
Stages in the Adoption Process
This CTR relates to the material on p. 157.
Interest
Evaluation
Trial
Stages in the Adoption Process
The new product adoption process parallels the buyer decision process but focuses more on the interaction of consumer needs with product adoption. The new product adoption process may work best to explain how regularly used products requiring re-purchase are considered for inclusion in the consumer's consumptive behavior patterns but may also apply to some durables as well.
Awareness. In this stage the consumer is aware of the new product but lacks further information about it.
Interest. The consumer is motivated to seek information about the new product.
Evaluation. The consumer determines whether or not to try the new product.
Trial. The consumer tries the new product on a small scale to test its efficacy in meeting his or her needs. Trial can be imagined use of the product in some cases.
Adoption. The consumer decides to make use of the product on a regular basis.
Adoption

31. Adopter Categories Based on Relative Time of Adoption
Figure 6-7:
Adopter Categories Based on Relative Time of Adoption

32. Buyer Decision Process for New Products
Individual Differences in Innovativeness
Consumers can be classified into five adopter categories, each of which behaves differently toward new products.

33. Buyer Decision Process for New Products
Product Characteristics and Adoption
Five product characteristics influence the adoption rate.

34. Influences on the Rate of Adoption of New Products*
This CTR relates to the material on pp
Teaching Tip: The adoption of innovations may be initially confusing to students but they will usually become involved in discussion when new products of importance to them are used as examples.
Influences on the Rate of Adoption of New Products*
Communicability
Can results be easily observed or described
to others?
Relative Advantage
Is the innovation superior to existing products?
Product Characteristics Influences
Relative Advantage. This refers to the degree to which the innovation appears superior to existing products. The greater the perceived relative advantage, the sooner the innovation will be adopted.
Compatibility. This refers to the degree to which the innovation fits the values and experiences of the potential consumers. Increased compatibility will accelerate adoption of the innovation.
Complexity. This refers to the degree to which the innovation is difficult to understand or use. Greater complexity will slow the rate of adoption of the innovation.
Divisibility. This refers to the degree to which the innovation can be tried on a limited basis. Greater divisibility will help increase the rate of adoption of the innovation.
Communicability. This refers to the degree to which the results of using the innovation can be observed or described to others. Greater communicability will increase the rate of adoption of innovation.
Product
Characteristics
Compatibility
Does the innovation
fit the values and
experience of the
target market?
Divisibility
Can the innovation
be used on a
trial basis?
Complexity
Is the innovation
difficult to
understand or use?