Consumers Rule
Chapter 1
Factors in Consumer Behavior
• The story of Gail in the marketplace…
– Demographics
– Psychographics
– Opinions and behaviors of others
• Market segmentation
– Targeting a brand only to specific groups of
consumers rather than to everybody
1-2
What is Consumer Behavior?
• The study of the
processes involved
when individuals or
groups select, purchase,
use, or dispose of
products, services, ideas,
or experiences to satisfy
needs and desires
1-3
Consumer Behavior is a “Process”
CONSUMER’S
PERSPECTIVE
MARKETER’S
PERSPECTIVE
PREPURCHASE
ISSUES
How does a consumer
decide about needing
a product?
How are consumer
attitudes
formed/changed?
PURCHASE
ISSUES
Is product acquisition
a stressful or pleasant
experience?
How do situational
factors affect
purchase decision?
POSTPURCHASE
ISSUES
Does product provide
pleasure or perform
function? How is
product disposed of?
What determines
customer satisfaction
and repurchase?
Figure 1.1 (Abridged)
1-4
Actors in Consumer Behavior
• Consumer: A person who identifies a need
or desire, makes a purchase, and then
disposes of the product
– Purchaser vs. user vs. influencer
– Organization/group as consumer
1-5
Segmenting Consumers
• Market Segmentation
– Similar consumers
• Example: “Heavy Users” of
fast-food industry
1-6
Market Segmentation
Finely-tuned
marketing
segmentation
strategies
allow marketers to
reach only those
consumers likely to be
interested in buying
their products.
1-7
Segmenting Consumers:
Demographics
•
•
•
•
•
•
Age
Gender
Family Structure & Marital Status
Social Class & Income
Race & Ethnicity
Geography
1-8
A Lesson Learned
• Nike was forced to pull
this advertisement for a
running shoe after
disabilities rights
groups claimed the ads
were offensive.
• How could Nike have
done a better job of
getting its message
across without
offending a powerful
demographic?
1-9
Segmenting Consumers: Lifestyles
• Psychographics
– The way we feel
about ourselves
– The things we value
– The things we do in
our spare time
1-10
Relationship Marketing
• Success = building lifetime relationships
between brands and customers
– Regular interaction with customers
– Database Marketing
1-11
Marketing’s Impact on Consumers
• Marketers significantly influence the world
and the information we learn!
– Advertisements, stores, and products
communicate and persuade
1-12
The Meaning
of Consumption
• People often buy products not for what
they do, but for what they mean
– Brands…
• …Convey image/personality
• …Define our place in modern society
• …Help us to form bonds with others who share
similar preferences
1-13
Brand Relationship Types
•
•
•
•
Self-Concept Attachment
Nostalgic Attachment
Interdependence
Love
CLICK ON LOGO TO SEE
VIDEO ABOUT
CONSUMERS’ LOVE OF
HARLEY DAVIDSON
1-14
The Global Consumer
• Global Consumer
Culture
– People united by common
devotion to:
• Brand name consumer
goods
• Movie stars
• Celebrities
• Leisure activities
– Pressure to understand
similarities and
differences of customers
in various countries
1-15
Virtual Consumption
• Impact of the Web on consumer behavior
– 24/7 shopping without leaving home
– Instantaneous access to news
– Handheld devices & wireless communications
• C2C e-commerce
– Virtual brand communities.
– Consumer chat rooms
AMAZON.COM
1-16
Virtual Consumption (Cont’d)
• “Wired” Americans spend…
– …Less time with friends/family
– …Less time shopping in stores
– …More time working at home after hours
• But, many report that e-mail strengthens
family ties
1-17
Marketing and Reality
• “Blurred boundaries” between marketing
efforts and “the real world”
– Popular culture shaped by marketers
1-18
Marketing Ethics and Public Policy
• Business Ethics: rules of conduct that
guide actions in the marketplace
– What is “Right vs. Wrong”
• Differs among people, organizations, and cultures
1-19
Discussion
• There is a computer game
called JFK Reloaded that
lets players reenact
President Kennedy’s
assassination.
– Have the game’s developers
gone too far, or is any
historical event “fair game” to
be adapted into an
entertainment vehicle?
1-20
Marketing Ethics
and Public Policy (cont’d)
• Consumers think better of products made
by firms they feel behave ethically
– Marketing “violators”
• Mislabeling package contents
• “Bait-and-switch” selling strategy
• Alcohol/tobacco billboards in low-income
neighborhoods
RJRT.COM
1-21
Needs and Wants:
Do Marketers Manipulate Consumers?
• Consumerspace
• Do marketers create artificial needs?
– Need: A basic biological motive
– Want: One way that society has taught us that need
can be satisfied
• Are advertising and marketing necessary?
– Economics of information perspective: Advertising is
an important source of consumer information.
• Do marketers promise miracles?
– Advertisers simply don’t know enough to manipulate
people.
1-22
Manipulating Needs & Wants
• Marketers tell
people what they
should want
– Marketerspace vs.
Consumerspace
– Response:
Marketers
recommend ways to
satisfy basic
biological needs
1-23
Public Policy & Consumerism
• Concern for the welfare of consumers
– Department of Agriculture
– Federal Trade Commission
– Food and Drug Administration
– Securities and Exchange Commission
– Environmental Protection Agency
CPSC.GOV
1-24
Consumer Activism
• Adbusters: America = Corporate Brand
– Buy Nothing Day & TV Turnoff Week
• Culture Jamming
– Disrupt corporate efforts in cultural landscape
1-25
Adbusters’ Blackspot sneakers in response to Nike’s unfair labor practices
ADBUSTERS.ORG
1-26
Consumer Related Issues
• UNICEF sponsored this advertising campaign against child
labor. The field of consumer behavior plays a role in
addressing important consumer issues such as child 1-27
exploitation.
The Dark Side of
Consumer Behavior
• Consumer Terrorism:
– An example: Susceptibility of the nation’s
food supply to bioterrorism
• Addictive Consumption:
– Consumer addiction:
• A physiological and/or psychological dependency
on products or services
• Compulsive Consumption:
– Repetitive shopping as an antidote to tension,
anxiety, depression, or boredom
1-28
The Dark Side of
Consumer Behavior (cont.)
• Consumed Consumers:
– People who are used or exploited, willingly or not, for
commercial gain in the marketplace
• Illegal Activities:
– Consumer Theft:
• Shrinkage: The industry term for inventory and
cash losses from shoplifting and employee theft
– Anticonsumption:
• Events in which products and services are
deliberately defaced or mutilated
1-29
Study of Consumer Behavior
• Interdisciplinary Influences
– Many different perspectives/fields
• Consumer Behavior Employers
– Universities, manufacturers, museums,
advertising agencies, and governments
1-30
Figure 1.2 (Abridged)
MICRO CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
(INDIVIDUAL FOCUS)
MACRO CONS BEHAV
(SOCIAL FOCUS)
Exp Psych
Clinic Psych
Develop Psych
Human Ecology
Microeconomics
Social Psych
Sociology
Macroeconomics
Semiotics/Literary Criticism
Demography
History
Cultural Anthropology
1-31
Journal of Consumer Research
1-32
Wheel of Consumer Behavior
Figure 1.3
1-33