Consumer Markets and
Consumer Buying
Behavior
CHAPTER 6
Kotler, Bowen, and Makens. Marketing for Hospitality and Tourism. 6e. Pearson Higher
Education. 2014
Example

Female business travelers
 1970:
1%
 1991:
25%

Deliver a bundle of services, amenities, and
facilities that elicit an emotional response from
the guest

Security measures: lighting in parking lots,
escorts, non-connecting rooms, no mention of
room numbers at check in

Comfort

Empowerment
Buying Behavior

THE critical task of marketers is understanding
buyer behavior

Consumer behavior is dynamic; it is always
changing

Must understand behavior and wants so we can
make effective marketing mix strategies

Us market: 300 million consumers worth $12 trillion
 Grows
every year by a few million consumers, and
$100 billion
How to understand / predict
consumer responses

We want to know what they will choose to buy, which brand, from
where / whom, at what time, and how much of it
Personal Characteristics that Affect
Consumer Behavior
Cultural Factors
-Culture
 Most
basic determinant of a person’s wants and
behaviors
 basic values, perceptions, preferences, and behaviors
that a person learns continuously in a society
 From
formal institutions, social institutions, family, church,
school, government, those around you
 Culture
changes, and marketers try to catch it in time
to take advantage
 Healthy
food and fitness, metrosexuality, manliness
Cultural Factors
- Subculture
 Groups
of people with shared value systems
based on common life experiences and situations
 Nationality,
religion, race, geography
 Turkish
culture  Istanbul subculture, Adana
subculture…
 Health
culture  vegetarian subculture, vegan,
pescatarian, carb-free, protein only…
 Turkish
culture  Turks, Kurds, Arabs, Greek,
Circassian, Laz
Examples of Effects of International
Culture

Germans: punctuality

Japanese: don’t appreciate friendly service, or formal
service

Arab countries: treat men differently than women

Americans: ice in our drinks!

Israelis: kosher food

Turks: no pork products

Failing to understand such things can lead to disaster
Cultural Factors
- Social class

Relatively permanent and ordered divisions in a society whose
members share similar values, interests, and behaviors

In the US


Upper uppers 1%

Lower uppers 2%

Upper middles 12%

Middle 32%

Working 38%

Upper lowers 9%

Lower lowers 7%

Determined by income and other factors (occupation, education, wealth)
Tend to exhibit similar behaviors
Example

Uppers : Four Seasons

Lowers: motel 6, hostels

Uppers: TV drama and news

Lowers: soap operas and sports

Uppers: Starbucks

Lowers: McDonals, Dunkin Donuts, Amigo
Personal Characteristics that Affect
Consumer Behavior
Social Factors
- Reference Groups
 Membership
Group – person belongs to it and has a
direct influence
 Primary:
 Family,
regular, informal interaction
friends, neighbors, coworkers, classmates
 Secondary:
more formal, less regular
 Religious
groups, professional associations, trade groups
 Religion:
alcohol, food, attitudes towards women, purchase
patterns
Social Factors
- Reference Groups
 Aspirational
group: indirect; do not belong, but
really want to
 Sports
teams, exclusive social clubs, patrons of certain
clubs or hotels, professional achievement
 Emulate
 Your
what they do, wear, buy…
aspirational groups?
 Private
versus public use of products
Social Factors
- Reference Groups
 Opinion
leaders: exert strong social influence on others
based on some skills, knowledge, personality, or other
factor
 This
word-of-mouth credibility is incredibly valuable, and
marketers try to identify these people
 Could
be religious group leaders, celebrities, bloggers,
local socialites
Social Factors
- Reference Groups
 Buzz
marketing: company enlists or creates its own
opinion leaders to spread word-of-mouth
 More
active approach
 “brand
ambassadors”: extremely common in the
states at universities, host events, recruit student
leaders
 Jet
Blue CrewBLue
Social Factors
- Reference Groups
 Online
Social Networks
 Provide
new, digital platform for opinion leaders,
fans, brand ambassadors to interact in two-way
communication with company
 Blogs,
Facebook, Twitter
 Promotes
 John
even more word of mouth influence
Heald blog for Carnival
Social Factors
- Family

Most important consumer buying organization

Buying roles
 Changing:
traditionally wife did food and clothing shopping
 Changing:
traditionally men made car – related decisions

Children often the main influencer, even though they
don’t have money

Gate-keeper, Decision maker

Vacation or restaurant marketers rethink where they might
deliver their advertising
Social Factors
- Roles and Status

Role: consists of the activities a person is expected to
perform according to those around him/her

Do you act differently at a restaurant depending on who
you are with?

Would you vacation in the same place if you go with your
friends vs a religious group

Coworkers vs friends
Social Factors
- Role and Status

Every role carries a status that reflects the
esteem given to it by society

Status symbols prevail in every industry

Your status affects your buying behavior
because you want to maintain this perception

How does the type of hotel you stay at depend
on society’s perception

Rental car, Type of wine, First class
Personal Characteristics that Affect
Consumer Behavior
Personal Factors
- Age and Life-Cycle Stage

The types of things people buy depends on how old they are
 Text
e.g.: features like assistance bars in the bathroom, large text print,
good lighting usually not listed in advertising

Family life cycle stages
 Young
and single: more freedom to spend, few financial obligations,
spend on entertainment
 Young
and married w/out kids: most likely to eat out at a restaurant,
high discretionary income
 Married

with kids: dining out less, carry out
Cancun, Mexico in spring, or Ibiza promotes itself for families or
the elderly? Think of your customers as lifetime guests
Personal Factors
- Occupation
 What
the person does for work can affect what
they buy
 Do
you think construction workers and politicians
eat at the same kind of places at lunch time?
Personal Factors
- Economic situation
 Keep
track of personal income, savings, and
interest rate trends
 If
one of these factors fluctuates amongst a target
market, will affect their purchase behavior
 On
the downturn, the value and price-conscious
restaurants took advantage
Personal Factors
- Lifestyle

Even people coming from the same subculture, social class, and occupation
may have quite different lifestyles

Lifestyle: a person’s pattern of living as expressed in his or her activities,
interests, and opinions (Hollywood or rock star lifestyle)

E.g.: people who purchase all-inclusive vacations have a different lifestyle
characteristics than those who arrange everything independently


Goes beyond geography, demographics to predict behavior
VALS: Values and Lifestyles System

Psychographics

Intangible

Idea is if you know what they are thinking, you can make marketing mix for them

Available Resources:
income, education,
intelligence, emotional
support

Primary motivation: what
drives the person
 Knowledge,
being social
achievement,

Innovators – The class of consumer at the
top of the vals framework. They are
characterized by High income and high
resource individuals for whom
independence is very important. They
have their own individual taste in things
and are motivated in achieving the finer
things in life.

Thinkers – A well educated professional is
an excellent example of Thinkers in the
vals framework. These are the people
who have high resources and are
motivated by their knowledge. These are
the rational decision making consumers
and are well informed about their
surroundings. These consumers are likely
to accept any social change because of
their knowledge level.


Believers: principle-oriented
consumers with average income.

Conservative and predictable

Favor domestic brands with decent
reputation

Hold the family, religion, community,
and country in high regard
Achievers: very successful and
devoted to their jobs and families

Politically conservative, conform to
authority, and maintain status quo,
norms

Favor well-established products that
reflect their status

Strivers – Low resource consumer group
which wants to reach some achievement
are known as strivers. These customers do
not have the resources to be an achiever.
But as they have values similar to an
achiever, they fall under the striver
category. If a striver can gain the
necessary resources such as a high
income or social status then he can move
on to becoming an achiever.

Experiencers – The group of consumers
who have high resources but also need a
mode of self expression are known as
Experiencers. Mostly characterized by
young adults, it consists of people who
want to experience being different. This
class of consumers is filled up with early
adopters who spend heavily on food,
clothing and other youthful products and
services

Marketin91.com

Makers – These are consumers who also
want self expression but they are limited by
the number of resources they have. Thus
they would be more focused towards
building a better family rather than going
out and actually spending higher amount
of money. Making themselves into better
individuals and families becomes a form of
self expression for the Makers.

Survivors – The class of consumers in the
Vals framework with the least resources and
therefore the least likely to adopt any
innovation. As they are not likely to change
their course of action regularly, they form
into brand loyal customers. An example
can include old age pension earners living
alone for whom the basic necessities are
important and they are least likely to
concentrate on anything else

Marketing91.com
Personal Characteristics that Affect
Consumer Behavior
Psychological Factors
- Motivation

A person has many needs at any given time

A need becomes a motive when it is aroused to a sufficient
level of intensity

Maslow
 Seeks
to explain why people are driven by particular needs at
particular times
 E.g.:
a starving man will not have a need to know the latest news in
the world of art or fashion
Maslow’s Theory
Psychological Factors
- Motivation

Frederick Herzberg’s Two-factor theory

Dissatisfiers

Satisfiers

Remove one and add the other AT THE SAME
TIME

Will not purchase something just because there
is an absence of dissatisfiers only
Psychological Factors
- Perception
A motivated person is ready to act. How that person acts is influenced by his or
her perception of the situation
 Perception: process by which an individual selects, organizes, and interprets
information to create a meaningful picture of the world
 Two consumers placed in the same situation with the same motivation, to eat at a
restaurant for example, will act differently based on how they perceive things
 Friendly, talkative waiters

Too casual, unsophisticated
 Cheerful and spontaneous and genuine
 American would like it, Japanese would hate it

 Fast-talking
sales representative
Aggressive, sneaky, insincere
 Knowledgeable, helpful

Psychological Factors
- Perception
Psychological Factors
- Perception

People are exposed to a tremendous amount of
daily stimuli:
 over
1,500 ads a day

Since you can’t possibly attend to all of these,
most stimuli is screened out—a process called
selective attention

means that marketers have to work hard to
attract consumers’ notice
Psychological Factors
- Perception
 Selective
distortion is the tendency to twist
information into personal meanings and
interpret information in a way that will fit
our preconceptions
 Can’t
really do anything about it
Psychological Factors
- Perception
 People
forget most of what they
hear, but remember information that
supports or confirms their attitudes or
beliefs
Buyer Decision Process
Need
Recognition
Purchase
Decision
Information
Search
Evaluation
of
Alternatives
Postpurchase
Behavior
Buyer Decision Process
1. Need Recognition
recognizes a problem or
need, and the marketer must
determine what triggers it
Pre-Encounter
Stage
 Buyer
 Internal
and external stimuli
Service Encounter
Stage
 Basic
e.g.: feel hungry vs seeing ad
for restaurant
 E.g.:
Black Friday
 Christmas
shopping
Post-Encounter
Stage
Buyer Decision Process
2. Information Search
 Extent
of information search can vary by
product and person
 Impulsive purchases have short search period,
like stopping to eat somewhere as you walk
down the street
 Vacations would have much longer period,
and be more involved
Buyer Decision Process
2. Information Search
Sources
 Personal
 Family,

friends, neighbors, people you know
Commercial
 Advertising,

salespeople, product packaging, displays
Public
 Reviews
and critiques, editorials in travel magazines or trade publications,
consumer-rating organizations

Internet
 Company

website, user reviews and comments in various places
Which are the most important in hospitality / travel products?
Buyer Decision Process
3. Evaluating Alternatives

Based on idea that consumers see a product as a bundle of
product attributes
 Restaurant
 Food
quality, menu selection and variety, service quality, atmosphere,
location, price
 Consumers
assign an importance weight to attributes based on their needs

Develop a short list of options, and rank them

Consumer develops a set of beliefs about how each brand can
best deliver on those attributes (brand image)

Devlops purchase intentions
Buyer Decision Process
3. Evaluating Alternatives
 Dominos
example of a response
Ranked
high in delivery speed attribute, but low in
taste attribute
Conducted
market research through Focus Groups,
realized how negative people’s beliefs and attitudes
were
New
ad campaign admitting to inferior taste, but
showing new chefs and new recipes
Buyer Decision Process
4. Purchase Decision
 In
general, consumers logically choose their
preferred brand, the one that ranks highest in the
attributes they want
 BUT, two factors can affect the transition from
Purchase Intention to Purchase Decision
Need
Recognition
Information
Search
Purchase
Intention
Evaluation of
alternatives
Attitudes of
others
Unexpected
situation
factors
Purchase
Decision
Postpurchase
behavior
Purchase
Decision
Buyer Decision Process
5. Post Purchase behavior

Determined by level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction, which is determined
by the gap between perceived product performance and expectations
Expected Service
Customer
Customer Gap
Perceived Service
Listening Gap
Service Delivery
Communication
Gap
Performance Gap
External
Communications
to Customers
Customer-Driven Service
Design and Standards
Company
Service Design and Standards Gap
Company Perceptions
of Consumer
Expectations
Buyer Decision Process
5. Post Purchase behavior

Cognitive Dissonance: discomfor caused by
postpurchase conflict

Regret

Return product, lawsuit, stop buying

Marketers can help reduce dissonance
 How?
 Reassure
them about their good decision later, thank
you letter, positive testimonials from others

Kotler, Bowen, and Makens. Marketing for Hospitality and Tourism.
6e. Pearson Higher Education. 2014.