2. Consumer Behavior and Consumer Research
Week 1 -
(Chapter 1a)
Consumer Behavior and Consumer Research

3. A) What Is Consumer Behavior?
Def: Activities people undertake when obtaining, consuming, and disposing of products and services Or
Def: a field of study that focuses on consumer activities

4. ORGANIZATIONAL INFLUENCES
CONSUMER INFLUENCES
Culture Ethnicity
Personality Family
Life-stage Values
Income Available Resources
Attitudes Opinions
Motivations Past Experiences
Feelings Peer Groups
Knowledge
ORGANIZATIONAL INFLUENCES
Brand Product Features
Advertising Word of Mouth
Promotions Retail Displays
Price Quality
Service Store Ambiance
Convenience Loyalty Programs
Packaging Product Availability
OBTAINING
How you decide you want to buy
Other products you consider buying
Where you buy
How you pay for product
How you transport product home
CONSUMING
How you use the product
How you store the product in your home
Who uses the product
How much you consume
How product compares with expectations
DISPOSING
How you get rid of remaining product
How much you throw away after use
If you resell items yourself or through a consignment store
How you recycle some products
Consumer Behavior

5. The Study of Consumer Behaviour
Focused on CB (e.g: why people buy?)
Now: consumption analysis (e.g: Why and how people use products in addition to why and how they buy)

6. B) Why Study Consumer Behavior?
Consumer Behavior Determines the Economic Health of a Nation – vote for firms, hence provide jobs
Consumer Behavior Determines the Success of Marketing Programs

7. Organization influenced by consumer needs and wants
Marketing can be used to influence brand choice and purchase, while Demarketing can influence people to stop harmful consumption
“The Customer is King”
Organization influenced by consumer needs and wants
Hence, organizations that are Customer-centric use a total marketing approach to focus their resources on satisfying customers

8. Why Study Consumer Behavior?
Consumer Behavior Determines the Economic Health of Everyone
The individual’s decisions as a consumer determine their economic health by making more effective consumption decisions while avoiding deceptive practices harmful to them
E.g. buyer beware…
New
Old

9. Educating Consumers About Health
Understanding consumers’ issues or problems and developing methods to reach and educate consumers

10. Educating Consumers About Health
Understanding consumers’ issues or problems and developing methods to reach and educate consumers

11. Helps Formulate Public Policy
Government Protection and Education
Understanding consumers’ needs to formulate public policy and predicting behavioral changes that follow
Interest rates
Economics
Social Welfare
Family Planning
Warning labels
Government Regulations
Protection from Competitive Markets

12. Why Study Consumer Behavior?
Consumer Behavior Affects Personal Policy
Personal policy includes how you behave towards others and in buying situations, your values and beliefs, and how you live your life
A person’s economic quality of life is determined by personal policy

13. Consumers’ Increasing Influence
C) Evolution of Consumer Behavior
Consumers’ Increasing Influence
Wholesaler Manufacturer Retailer Consumer
Manufacturing
Orientation
Selling
Orientation
Marketing
Orientation
Consumer
Orientation
U.S WWII
Europe WWII

14. Evolution of Consumer Behavior
Manufacturing Orientation
Selling Orientation
Marketing Orientation (motivation research, positivism (empirical data that use 1) to understand & predict CB 2) discover cause and effect relationship), postmodernism-qualitative and others method to study example emotion)
Consumer Orientation

15. Consumer Orientation Beyond a marketing focus
How all organizations in a demand chain adapt to changing consumer lifestyles and behaviors bringing product design, logistics, manufacturing, and retailing together
Role of consumers in shaping many aspects of life—society, government, social programs, health cares, and other areas

16. D) Consumer Research Methods
Observation
In-home observation: examining how and when consumers use and consume products in their households
Shadowing: following and observing consumers in the shopping and consumption processes. Researchers may ask questions about reasons for behaviors
Physiological methods: Techniques borrowed from medicine, psychology and other sciences including cameras to measure eye movement, galvanic skin response, and MRI

17. Interviews and Surveys
Consumer Research Methods
Interviews and Surveys
Surveys: efficient method for gathering information from a large sample of consumers by asking questions and recording responses (telephone and Internet surveys, mall intercepts, and mail questionnaires)
Focus Groups: a group discussion led by a moderator skilled in persuading consumers to thoroughly discuss a topic of interest
Longitudinal Studies: repeated measures of activities over time to determine changes in opinions, buying, and consumption behaviors . (e.g: panel data, membership

18. Consumer Research Methods
Experimentation
Attempts to understand cause-and-effect relationships by carefully manipulating independent variables to determine how these changes affect dependent variables
- Laboratory experiment - Field experiment
Independent variables might include number of advertisements and package design
Dependent variables might include purchase intent or behavior

19. Consumer Research Methods
Consumption Research
Builds on the three primary research methods to examine how people use products and services rather than how they buy them
May use ethnographic tools to under-stand how values and culture influence usage of products and other behaviors
May identify new uses for existing products or new product to satisfy unmet or changing consumer needs

20. E) The Underlying Principles of Consumer Behavior
Consumer is sovereign / autonomous
Consumer may reject the services
Consumer is global
Global consumer buy same product from same retailer
Consumer are different/ alike
Similarities in group but different between group
Consumer has right
Consumer has right upon product/ service

21. F) Challenges for the Future
Gathering and interpreting information that organizations need to meet changing needs of consumers
Developing effective consumer research methods to capture changes in trends and lifestyles
Understanding consumer behavior from a broader perspective as an important part of life
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