© 2007 McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., McGraw-Hill/Irwin
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PART IV: CONSUMER DECISION PROCESS
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CHAPTER
13
SITUATIONAL
INFLUENCES
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Consumer Behavior In The News…
A Rose by any other name…?
 Mother’s Day is an $11 billion + holiday in the U.S.!
 What are the primary Mother’s Day gifts?
 Can you guess what’s new in Mother’s Day giving?
Source: M. Brosk, “Electronics replacing flowers for Mom,” Knight Ridder Tribune Business News, May 7, 2005, p. 1.
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Consumer Behavior In The News…
A Rose by Any Other Name?
 What are the primary Mother’s Day gifts?
 Flowers and greeting cards – 50% of market.
 Can you guess what’s new in Mother’s Day giving?
 Electronics products!
 26% of market!
 Example: Heavy advertising and special promo
deals by Verizon and Cingular.
Source: M. Brosk, “Electronics replacing flowers for Mom,” Knight Ridder Tribune Business News, May 7, 2005, p. 1.
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The Nature of Situational Influence
Situational influence includes
all those factors particular to a
time and place that do not
follow from a knowledge of the
stable attributes of the
consumer and the stimulus
and that have an effect on
current behavior.
Consumers often behave very
differently depending on
situation.
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The Nature of Situational Influence
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The Nature of Situational Influence
Four types of situations:
1. The Communications Situation
2. The Purchase Situation
3. The Usage Situation, and
4. The Disposition Situation
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The Nature of Situational Influences
The Communications Situation
The situation in which consumers receive information has
an impact on their behavior.
Marketers attempt to place
ads in appropriate media
contexts to enhance
effectiveness.
Movie ads are strategically place so
that consumers see them on their
way to and from work
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The Nature of Situational Influences
The Purchase Situation
The situation in which a purchase is made can influence
consumer behavior.
Marketers must adapt
strategies to the purchase
situation.
Home purchases occur in a
unique social situation.
To succeed, realtors must take
the opportunity to develop
interpersonal relationships.
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The Nature of Situational Influences
The Usage Situation
Marketers need to understand the usage situations for
which their products are, or may become, appropriate.
Research indicates that expanded usage situation
strategies can produce major sales gains.
Classic: Arm and Hammer baking soda, where
many uses have been found and marketed resulting
in increased sales.
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The Nature of Situational Influences
The Disposition Situation
Consumers must frequently dispose of products or product
packages.
Disposal can create significant
social problems as well as
opportunities for marketers.
Some consumers consider ease
of disposition an important
product attribute.
Appliances at a dump in
the United Kingdom
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Situational Characteristics and
Consumption Behavior
Situations can be described on a number of dimensions
which determine their influence on consumer behavior.
The five key dimensions or characteristics are
1. Physical surroundings
2. Social surroundings
3. Temporal perspectives
4. Task definition
5. Antecedent states
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Situational Characteristics and
Consumption Behavior
Physical Surroundings
Decor
Material Around
Stimulus Object
Sounds
Configurations
of Merchandise
Aromas
Weather
Lighting
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Situational Characteristics and
Consumption Behavior
Physical Surroundings
Atmospherics is the sum of all the physical features of
a retail environment.
Atmospherics influences consumer judgments of
the quality of the store and the store’s image.
Atmosphere is referred to as servicescape when
describing a service business such as a hospital,
bank or restaurant.
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Situational Characteristics and
Consumption Behavior
Physical Surroundings
Typology of Service Environments
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Situational Characteristics and
Consumption Behavior
Components of physical surroundings:
1. Colors
2. Aromas
3. Music
4. Crowding
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Situational Characteristics and
Consumption Behavior
Physical Surroundings
Colors
Certain colors and color characteristics create feelings of
excitement and arousal which are related to attention.
Brighter colors are more
arousing than dull ones.
Warm colors such as
reds and yellows are
more arousing than cool
colors such as blues and
grays.
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Situational Characteristics and
Consumption Behavior
Physical Surroundings
Aromas
There is increasing evidence that odors can affect consumer
shopping. Several aroma studies have found the following:
1. A scented environment produced a greater intent to revisit
the store, higher purchase intention for some items, and a
reduced sense of time spent shopping.
2. A pleasantly scented environment enhanced brand recall
and evaluations particularly for unfamiliar brands.
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Situational Characteristics and
Consumption Behavior
Physical Surroundings
Music
Music influences consumers’ moods, and in turn, influences a
variety of consumption behaviors.
Firms exist to develop music programs to meet the
unique needs of specific retailers.
An emerging trend is having music more in the
foreground so it becomes part of the shopping experience
and drives store image.
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Situational Characteristics and
Consumption Behavior
Physical Surroundings
The Impact of Background Music on Restaurant Patrons
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Situational Characteristics and
Consumption Behavior
Physical Surroundings
Crowding
Most consumers find feelings of crowding to be unpleasant
resulting in:
•Less time in the store and less buying
•Faster decisions and less use of information
Crowding can lead to less satisfactory purchases, unpleasant
shopping, and reduced likelihood of returning to the store.
Marketers need to design outlets to reduce crowding
perceptions.
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Situational Characteristics and
Consumption Behavior
Social Surroundings
Social surroundings are the other individuals present in
the particular situation.
Social influence is a significant force.
Individuals tend to comply with group expectations,
particularly when the behavior is visible.
Shopping is a highly visible activity.
The use of many publicly consumed brands are
subject to social influences.
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Situational Characteristics and
Consumption Behavior
Social Surroundings
Embarrassment is a negative emotion influenced both by the
product and the situation.
Certain products are more
embarrassing than others, and
Embarrassment is driven by the
presence of others.
For extremely sensitive products,
strategies include home delivery
options.
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Situational Characteristics and
Consumption Behavior
Temporal Perspectives
Temporal perspectives deal with the effect of time on
consumer behavior.
Limited purchase time often
limits search
Internet shopping is growing
rapidly as a result of the time
pressures felt by consumers.
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Situational Characteristics and
Consumption Behavior
Task Definition
Task definition is the reason the
consumption activity is occurring.
Major distinction between
purchases for self versus gift.
Consumers give gifts for many
reasons:
•social expectations
•ritualized situations
•to elicit return favors
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Situational Characteristics and
Consumption Behavior
Antecedent States
Antecedent states are
features of the individual
person that are not lasting
characteristics
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Situational Characteristics and
Consumption Behavior
Types of antecedent states:
 Moods
•
Transient feeling states that are generally not tied to a
specific event of object.
 Momentary Conditions
•
Temporary states of being (tired, ill, having extra money,
being broke, etc.)
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Situational Characteristics and
Consumption Behavior
Moods
Moods tend to be less intense than emotions and may
operate without the individual’s awareness.
Although moods may affect all aspects of a person’s
behavior, they generally do not completely interrupt
ongoing behavior as an emotion might.
Consumers actively manager their mood states,
often seeking situations, activities, or objects that will
alleviate negative moods or enhance positive ones.
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Situational Characteristics and
Consumption Behavior
Momentary Conditions
As with moods, individuals attempt to manage their
momentary conditions, often through the purchase or
consumption of products and services.
Thus, a great deal of
marketing activity is directed
toward momentary
conditions.
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Ritual Situations
A ritual situation is a socially defined occasion that triggers
a set of interrelated behaviors that occur in a structured
format and that have symbolic meaning.
Critical to marketers because
they often involve prescribed
consumption behaviors.
However, ritual behavior can
involve injurious consumption,
such as binge drinking.
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Applications in Consumer Behavior
The Bigelow tea ad
is a great example of
presenting a product
as a ritual.
Courtesy R.C. Bigelow: Agency: Mason, Inc.
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Situational Influences and Marketing
Strategy
Identify the different situations that might involve the
consumption of a product
Determine which products or brands are most likely to be
purchased or consumed across those situations.
One method of dealing with this question is to jointly
scale situations and products.
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Situational Influences and Marketing
Strategy
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Situational Influences and Marketing
Strategy
Five Steps for Developing Situation-Based Marketing Strategies
1.
Use observational studies, focus group discussions, depth
interviews, and secondary data to discover the various usage
satiations that influence the consumption of the product.
2.
Survey a larger sample of consumers to better understand and
quantify how the product is used and the benefits sought in the
usage situation by the market segment.
3.
Construct a person-situation segmentation matrix.
4.
Evaluate each cell in terms of potential.
5.
Develop and implement a marketing strategy for those cells
that offer sufficient profit potential given your capabilities.
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Situational Influences and Marketing
Strategy
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