Consumer Behavior Chapter 1 PDF

**CONSUMER BEHAVIOR CHAPTER 1** **Consumer behavior -** The study of how consumers SELECT, PURCHASE, USE and DISPOSE goods and services in the process of satisfying their personal and household needs and wants. **Why did consumer behavior become a separate discipline from marketing?** - Markete...

**CONSUMER BEHAVIOR CHAPTER 1** **Consumer behavior -** The study of how consumers SELECT, PURCHASE, USE and DISPOSE goods and services in the process of satisfying their personal and household needs and wants. **Why did consumer behavior become a separate discipline from marketing?** - Marketers came to realize that consumers did not always act or react as marketing theory suggested they would. - Consumers rejected mass-marketed products, preferring differentiated products that reflected their own special needs, personalities and lifestyles. - Even in industrial markets, where needs are more homogeneous than consumer markets, buyers exhibited diversified preferences and less predictable purchase behavior. **Other factors that contributed to the growing interest in consumer** behavior 1. The accelerated rate of new product development 2. The consumer movement 3. Public policy considerations 4. Environmental concerns 5. The opening of national markets throughout the world **Consumer behavior is more than just purchasing** **Consumer Behavior involves:** 1. Exposure to the media 2. Browsing 3. Influencing others 4. Being influenced by others 5. Complaining about and returning products **Economics alone does not explain consumer behavior** - Early theories based on notions that individuals act rationally to maximize their benefits (satisfactions) from purchasing. - Later research discovered that consumers are just as likely to - Purchase impulsively - Be influenced by friends, family, advertisements, and role models. - Be influenced just as strongly by mood, situations, and emotion. **Interdisciplinary field of Consumer Behavior** 1. Psychology 2. Social Psychology 3. Anthropology 4. Economy 5. Other fields **What do buying decisions involve? (When acquiring a pet)** 1. Where to learn about pets 2. Where to purchase the selected pets 3. How much to pay for it 4. Who will take care of it 5. What supplies or services are needed for it 6. Where to purchase such supplies or services 7. How much to pay for supplies and services **Consumer Behavior according to Asian Marketing Association --** The dynamic interaction of affect and cognition, behavior, and the environment by which human beings conduct the exchange aspects of their lives. - In other words, consumer behavior involves the thoughts and feelings people experience and the actions they perform in the consumption process. - It also includes the things in the environments that influence these thoughts, feelings, actions. - These includes comments from other consumers, advertisements, price information, packaging, product appearance, blogs, and many others. - It is important to recognize from this definition that consumer behavior is DYNAMIC, INVOLVES INTERACTION, AND INVOLVES EXCHANGES. - Consumer behavior is dynamic because the thinking, feelings, and actions of individual consumers, targeted consumer groups, and society at large are CONSTANTLY CHANGING. - The fact that the consumers and their environments are constantly changing highlights the importance of ongoing consumer research and analysis by marketers to keep abreast of important trends. - The dynamic nature of consumer behavior makes the development of marketing strategies an exciting yet difficult task. - Strategies that may work at one time or in one market may fail miserably at other times or in other markets. - Because product life cycle is shorter than ever before, many companies have to innovate constantly to create a superior value for consumers and stay profitable. - This involves creating of new products, new version of existing products, new brands, and new strategies for them. - Product development - Introduction - Growth - Maturity - Decline **CONSUMER BEHAVIOR INVOLVES INTERACTION** - Consumer behavior involves interactions among people's thinking, feelings, and action and the environment. - Thus marketers need to understand what products and brands mean to consumers, what consumers must do to purchase and use them, and what influences shopping, purchase, and consumption. - The more marketers know about how these interactions influences individual consumers, target markets of similar consumers, and society at large, the better they can satisfy consumer needs and wants and create value for them. **CONSUMER BEHAVIOR INVOLES EXCHANGES** - Consumer behavior involves exchanges among human beings. - People give up something of value to others and receive something in return. - Much of consumer behavior involves people giving up money or other things to obtain products and services, that is, exchanges between buyers (consumers) and sellers (marketers). **APPROACHES TO CONSUMER BEHAVIOR** - Consumer behavior is a complex phenomenon and an eclectic field. - The majority of published research is done by marketing academics who vary greatly in their training, objectives, and methods. 1. **Interpretive Approach --** Is relatively new to the field and has become quite influential. - This approach seeks to develop a deep understanding of consumption and its meanings. - This study uses long interviews and focus groups to understand such things as what products and services mean to consumers and what consumers experience in purchasing and using them. - Other studies might concern how advertising depicts women, how art and films reflect consumption meaning, and how possession influences self-images. 2. **Traditional Approach --** Based on theories and methods from cognitive, social, and behavior psychology as well as sociology. - It seeks to develop theories and methods to explain consumer decision making and behavior. - Study involves experiments and surveys to test theories and develop insights into such things as consumer information processing, decision processes, and social influences on consumer behavior. 3. **Marketing Science Approach --** Based on theories and methods from economics and statistics. - It commonly involves mathematical models to predict the impact of marketing strategies on consumer choice and behavior. - This approach has become a mainstay in the consumer packaged goods industry because it can handle large scanner data sets in an efficient manner to help solve marketing problems. - In consumer markets, marketing strategies are typically designed to increase the chances that consumers will have favorable thoughts and feelings about particular products, services, and brands, and will try them and repeatedly purchase them. - Also, marketing strategies are developed by retail stores, catalog retailers, e-tailers and other direct marketers to increase the chances that consumers will have favorable thoughts and feelings about purchasing from them and will actually do so.