BUS 348 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Consumer Behaviour, Social Rejection, Marketing Mix
9 Jun 2018
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BUS 348
Lecture 6: Understand Consumer and Business Markets
• The Consumer Decision-Making Process
o Consumer behavior - the process we use to select, purchase, use, and dispose of goods,
services, ideas, or experiences to satisfy needs/desires
o In order to execute the marketing concept, marketers must understand the needs of
consumers. Studying consumer behavior is essential for this reason.
o Understanding how and when goods are consumed is also important. For example, if
consumers of a particular brand cereal primarily use that product as a dry snack, as opposed
to a true breakfast product, the marketing communications strategy would want to reflect
that usage in TV advertising and other communications.
o As the goal of marketing is to influence consumer behavior, understanding the internal,
situational and social factors which influence behavior is also important, as each of these
factors represent opportunities for customizing the marketing mix in a way that will most
appeal to consumers.
• Not All Decisions Are the Same
o The amount of effort expended in decision-making varies according to the nature of the
task:
• Extended problem-solving
• Limited problem-solving
• Habitual decision-making
o Think about the process you (or your parents) used to purchase your last car, and compare
it the process which guided your decision the last time you decided to eat out at a
restaurant. Did you spend an equal amount of time and effort on both of these tasks? Of
course not!
o Consumer decision-making varies in the amount of the time and effort expended, and is
probably best thought of as spanning a continuum anchored by habitual decision-making on
one end, and extended problem-solving on the other end, with limited problem solving
sitting in the middle.
• Extended Problem-Solving vs. Habitual Decision-Making
o The amount of effort devoted by consumers to buying decisions varies according to the level
of involvement – how important the decision is perceived to be by consumers.
o The level of perceived risk correlates strongly with involvement – the more expensive the
product or the more complex it is, the higher the level of perceived risk. The higher the
consequences of making a wrong choice, in terms of embarrassment, social rejection, the
higher the level of perceived risk.
o Consumers are more likely to spend a great deal of time in the decision making process,
carefully collecting and processing all of the available information when involved in
extended problem solving. This is because the consequences of the purchase are important
and risky, as the wrong choice could result in significant financial loses, embarrassment, or
other negative outcomes. The opposite is true for habitual decision making.
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o Uderstadig the tpe of deisio akig that guides the ajorit of the target arket’s
choice is important, as it suggests differing tactics that marketers should use to appeal to
consumers.
• The Consumer Decision-Making Process
o
o Consumers who engage in extended problem-solving follow each of the steps outlined in
the consumer-decision making process: problem recognition, information search, evaluation
of alternatives, product choice, and post purchase evaluation. On the other end of the
scale, routine purchases (milk, soft drinks, eggs) are often habitual in nature requiring little if
any conscious effort on the part of the consumer. Of course quite a few decisions are
characterized by limited problem-solving, rules of thumb may be used to help make a
decision (ask a friend for recommendations, only consider well-known brands, etc.)
• Influences on Consumer Decision Making
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o
o Marketers also try to understand the influence of each of the factors shown here, and how
they impact the decision making process. These include factors internal to the consumer,
situational influences, and social influences.
• Internal Influences on Consumer's Decisions Perception
o Perception - process by which we select, organize, and interpret information from outside
world
o Three factors are necessary for perception to occur
• Exposure - capable of registering a stimulus
• Attention - mental processing activity
• Interpretation - assigning meaning to a stimulus
o Multiple internal factors cause individual consumers to interpret information about the
outside world differently, including perception.
o Perception is the process by which we select, organize, and interpret information form the
outside world. Information is received from our visual, aural, and tactile senses and then
interpreted in light of our past experiences, or lack thereof.
o Obviously marketers want consumers to perceive messages in the manner in which they
were intended. For this to occur, consumers must be exposed to the message (i.e., be
capable of registering the stimulus delivered in the marketing communications); they must
pay attention to the message by mentally processing the information and cues it contains,
and finally, they must interpret the message correctly by assigning the proper meaning to
the words and symbols it contains.
o Marketers work hard to achieve exposure for their products, for example, by placing
marketing communications in a variety of media and contexts. While some consumers have
ee oered that arketers a aipulate the ito uig thigs the do’t eed or
want via subliminal advertising – hidden messages that supposedly influence our ID and
thus work below the conscious threshold – o eidee of suliial adertisig’s
effectiveness exists.
o Multi-tasking by consumers and the large number of communications to which consumers
are exposed make attracting attention very difficult, though various creative tactics, such as
the use of humor and celebrities, can be helpful.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Lecture 6: understand consumer and business markets: the consumer decision-making process, consumer behavior - the process we use to select, purchase, use, and dispose of goods, services, ideas, or experiences to satisfy needs/desires. In order to execute the marketing concept, marketers must understand the needs of consumers. Studying consumer behavior is essential for this reason: understanding how and when goods are consumed is also important. Limited problem-solving: habitual decision-making, think about the process you (or your parents) used to purchase your last car, and compare it the process which guided your decision the last time you decided to eat out at a restaurant. This is because the consequences of the purchase are important and risky, as the wrong choice could result in significant financial loses, embarrassment, or other negative outcomes. On the other end of the scale, routine purchases (milk, soft drinks, eggs) are often habitual in nature requiring little if any conscious effort on the part of the consumer.
