Consumer Behavior

- Jomy Lawrence
Consumer
Decision
Making
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Major problem: cannot be tested empirically

Western culture; other societies rank needs differently

Goods and services satisfy each need level

Different appeals for the same product can be based

on different needs
Marketing Concept Requirements

Market Segmentation – groups with common needs

Targeting – choose the segment to pursue
Positioning – think about the product versus competition
The Marketing Mix (4 Ps)
Product or service
Price
Place
Promotion
Consumer Journey

Defined
The consumer journey is the newest way of describing the
stages consumers pass through as they develop relationships
with brands before, during, and after purchase.
Input: External Influences

Marketing mix
Sociocultural influences
Family
Peers
Social class
Reference groups
Culture/subculture
Communications
Process: Need Recognition

• Actual state need recognition

• Desired state need recognition
Needs and Goals

Needs
Biogenic
Psychogenic
Goals
Generic
Product-specific
Need Arousal

• Physiological arousal
• Cognitive arousal

Source: The Kraft Heinz Company

Cannot Attain Goals?

Substitute goals
Frustration
Defense mechanisms
Frustration and Defense Mechanisms

Defined
Frustration is the feeling that results from failure to
achieve a goal, and defense mechanisms are cognitive
and behavioral ways to handle frustration.
Defense Mechanisms

Aggression
Rationalization
Regression
Projection
Daydreaming
Identification
Withdrawal
Appeal to Which Need?

Source: Photo courtesy of The Container Store

Decision Spectrum

Extensive Problem Solving

 A lot of information needed
 Must establish a set of criteria for evaluation

Limited Problem Solving

 Criteria for evaluation established
 Fine tuning with additional information

Routinized Response Behavior

 Usually make decisions based on what they already know
 Frequent, low risk purchases
Pre-Purchase Search

Personal experience and external information

Memory Search
Shopping provides external information
Men and women are different
Seek opinions of friends (e.g. shopping selfies)
Search greatest when product category knowledge is low
Cognitive challenge may limit search
Information Search: Contextual Factors

Consumers have limited information-processing capacity

• Task complexity
• Presentation , Format and Content
• Time constraints
Factors That Increase Search

Product Factors
Long periods of time between successive purchases
Frequent changes in product styling
Frequent price changes
Volume purchasing (large number of units)
High price
Many alternative brands
Much variation in features
Evaluation of Alternatives: Brand-Sets

Evoked set
(consideration set)
Inept set
Inert set
Excluded Products Include

Unknown brands or models

Unacceptable brands of poor quality or inappropriate
positioning
Brands that are perceived as not having special benefits
Overlooked brands that have not been clearly positioned
Brands that do not satisfy perceived needs
 Evaluation of Alternatives: Attributes

• Product attribute examples • Price less important when

– Size products are “right”
– Weight
• Brand credibility is affected by
– Sweetness
– Perceived quality
– Color
– Information costs saved
– Packaging
– Perceived risk
• Criteria to assess product may be
advertised
Decision Rules

Compensatory decision rules

Each relevant attribute weighted
Summated score for each brand

Noncompensatory decision rules

Conjunctive
Lexicographic
Disjunctive
Affect Referral decision rule
Recognition Heuristic

Defined
Consumers choose the most familiar product or brand
 Application of Decision Rules
Table 14.1 Applying the Decision Rules to Downloading Smartphone Apps

Decision Rule Rationale

Compensatory “I selected the smartphone app that came out as the best when I
balanced the good ratings against the bad ratings.”

Conjunctive “I selected the smartphone app that had no bad features.”

Disjunctive “I picked the smartphone app that excelled in at least one attribute.”

Lexicographic “I chose the smartphone app that scored the best on the attribute that I
consider to be the most important.”

Affect referral “I bought the smartphone app with the highest overall rating.”

Recognition “I downloaded the smartphone app that seemed familiar.”

Majority Vote “I downloaded the smartphone app that had the most downloads.”
Coping with Incomplete Information

Delay the decision until information is obtained

Ignore missing information
Change the decision strategy to accommodate missing
information
“Construct” the missing information
Consumer Defined
Consumer behavior is the study of consumers’
Behavior choices during searching, evaluating, purchasing,
and using products and services that they believe
would satisfy their needs.
Motivation

Defined
The driving force within individuals that impels them to act.
The
Motivation
Process
Example: Brand Personification

Source: Procter & Gamble Co.

Attitude

A learned predisposition to behave in a consistently

favorable or unfavorable manner with respect to a given
object.
Attitude Formation

Consumers learn attitudes

Sources of attitude formation
Experience
Family and friends
Media/Internet/Social Media
Altering Consumer Attitudes

• Changing beliefs about

products
• Changing brand image
• Changing beliefs about
competing brands

Source: Avocados From Mexico, Mexican Hass

Avocado Importers Association
Projective Techniques

To understand the impact of hidden motives : A “term of art” that refers to qualitative studies
conducted by Dr. Ernest Dichter in the 1950s and 1960s, which were designed to uncover
consumers’ subconscious or hidden motivations in the context of buying and consumption

Storytelling
Sentence Completion
Thematic Apperception Test
Picture Drawing
Photo Sorts
Other Personality Factors

Optimum stimulation level (OSL)

• Sensation seeking, Novelty seeking
• Need for Cognition
• Visualizers v s . Verbalizers
er us

• Materialism
• Compulsions and Fixations
• Ethnocentrism