Consumers in Situations
Chapter 8
Situations and Values
It focuses on precisely how the value a consumer obtains from a purchase or
consumption act varies based on the context in which the act takes place.
Situational Influences - is the term that captures these contextual effects, meaning
effects independent of enduring consumer, brand, or product characteristics.
We can categorize situational influences into three categories:
Time
Place
Conditions
Time and Consumer Behavior
Time is necessary for consumption to occur.
Temporal factor - refers to situational characteristics related to time.
Time can affect consumption in any of these forms:
Time Pressure
Time of year
Time of day
Time Pressure
Time Pressure - represents an urgency to act based on some real or self-imposed
deadline.
Discretionary (spare) time - represents the days, hours, or minutes that are not
obligated toward some compulsory and time-consuming activity.
Time of Year
Seasonality - refers to regularly occurring conditions that vary with the time of year.
Cycles
Circadian Cycle - rhythm (level of energy) of the human body that varies with the time
of day.
Advertiming - ad buys that include a schedule that runs the advertisement primarily at
times when customers will be most receptive to the messages
WHAT IS SHOPPING?
Set of potentially value
producing consumer activities
that directly increase the
likelihood that something will
be purchased.
VIRTUAL SHOPPING
SITUATIONS
Shopping via the Internet
brings 24/7 access to
shopping environment.
SHOPPING
ACTIVITIES
Take place in specific places,
over time, and under specific
conditions or contexts.
4 DIFFERENT TYPES OF
SHOPPING ACTIVITIES:
1. Acquisitional Shopping–
activities oriented toward
a specific, intended
purchase or purchases.
2. Epistemic shopping–
activities oriented toward
acquiring knowledge about
products.
3. Experiential shopping–
recreational oriented
activities designed to provide
interest, excitement,
relaxation, fun, social
interaction, or some other
desired feeling.
4. Impulsive shopping–
spontaneous activities
characterized by diminished
regard for consequences,
heightened emotional
involvement, and a desire for
immediate self fulfillment.
SHOPPING VALUE
All shopping activities are
aimed at one key result, value.
Personal shopping value
(PSV)is the overall subjective
worth of shopping activity
considering all associated
costs and benefits.
Like value, PSV can be divided
into two types:
[Link] shopping value–worth
obtained because some shoppingtask
or job is completed successfully.
[Link] shopping value–worth of a
shopping activity because the time
spent doing the activity itself is
personally gratifying.
VALUE AND
SHOPPING ACTIVITIES
Window shopping to find info
so that an upcoming shopping
trip might be more successful.
Situational influencing may
affect type of shopping value
desired by consumers. Time
pressure may lead consumers
to be more concerned with
simple product acquisition.
RETAIL
PERSONALITY
Retailers can provide high
proportions of utilitarian
shopping value.
Functional quality–retail positioning that
emphasizes tangible things like a wised
selection of goods, low prices, guarantees,
and knowledgeable employees.
Affective quality–retail positioning that is
a unique environment, exciting décor,
friendly employees, and feelings
experienced in retail place.
Retail Personality–way a retail store is
defined in mind of shopper based on the
combo of functional and affective
qualities.
11-4
IMPULSIVE SHOPPING AND
CONSUMPTION
Impulsive Consumption
is largely characterized by these
components
1. Impulsive acts are usually spontaneous and involve
atleast short-term feelings of liberation.
2. Impulsive acts are usually associated with a
diminished regard for any costs or consequences
(negative aspects) associated with the act.
3. Impulsive acts are usually motivated by a need for
immediate self fulfillment and are thus usually highly
involved emotionally and associated with hedonic
shopping value.
11-4a
IMPULSIVE VERSUS UNPLANNED
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
Unplanned shopping
Characterized by
Situational memory
Utilitarian Orientation
Spontaneity
11-4b
DISTINGUISHING IMPLUSIVE AND
UNPLANNED CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
11-4C
SUSCEPTIBILITY TO SITUATIONAL
11-4D EFFECTS
CONSUMER SELF-REGULATION
Two types of consumer
Action-oriented
State-oriented
11-4E
IMPULSIVE VERSUS
COMPULSIVE BEHAVIOR
Impulsive and compulsive consumer behavior share
many of the same characteristics.
PLACES HAVE ATMOSPHERES
Retail and Service Atmospherics
In consumer behavior, atmospheries refers to the emotional
nature of an environment or, more precisely, to the feelings
created by the total aura of physical attributes that comprise
the physical environment.
The term servicescape refers to the physical environment
ronment in which consumer services are performed
FUNCTIONAL QUALITY
The functional quality of an environment describes the meaning
created by the total result of attributes that facilitate and make
efficient the function performed there.
AFFECTIVE QUALITY
The affective quality represents the emotional meaning of an
environment, which results from the sum effect of all ambient
attributes that affect the way one feels in that place.
Two factors help merchandisers
and retail designers create just
Atmosphere Elements such an atmosphere
The way an atmosphere makes a consumer feel is
really determined by the consumer's perception of all FIT CONGRUITY
the elements in a given environment working
Refers to how refers to how
together. Therefore, naming all the elements that
appropriate the consistent the
eventually affect the retail or service atmosphere is
elements of an elements o an
impossible.
environment for a environment are
given environment. with each other.
ODORS MUSIC
Fast music means fast dancing. Slow music means slow dancing.
Odors are prominent Even though consumer don't always dance through the aisles of
environmental elements stores, this image is fairly accurate in describing the way
that affect both a background music affects consumers. Both fore ground and
background music affect consumers, but they do so in different
consumer's cognitive
ways.
processing and affective
reaction.
Foreground music Background music
is music that becomes the
Olfactory is a term that is music played below the
focal point of attention and audible threshold that would
refers to humans' physical
can have strong effects on a make it the center of
and psychological
consumer's willingness to attention, is perhaps more
processing of smells. approach or avoid an interesting than foreground
environment. music.
COLOR LIGHTING
Color is another
tool that Lighting can have
marketing
dramatic effects on
managers can use
the environment
to alter consumer
reactions by and even reverse
enhancing visual the effect of color.
appeal.
MERCHANDISING SOCIAL SETTINGS
A location, defined in
Merchandising's
terms of both space and
point is to provide time, which provides the
the customer with contexts in which social
interactions can occur.
the best
opportunity to Crowding refers to the
density of people and
purchase objects within a given
something. space.
ANTECEDENT
CONDITIONS
Refers to situational characteristics that a
consumer brings to a particular information
processing, purchase, or consumption
environment.
Buying
Power
The ability of a person, group, or
company to buy things, or the
amount of money they have
available to spend.
THIRD PARTY
PAYMENTS
Are payments made on behalf of others, such
as clients, users, or partners. Whereas first-
party payments are operational or financial
payments, third-party payments are referred
to as product payments.
GIFT (PREPAID)
CARDS
Most consumers prefer the gift
card despite the lower
economic value.
Gift shopping can dramatically shift a shoppers orientation
ORIENTATION and change the shopping experience altogether.
Consumers bring their current moods to the
particular consumption situation.
MOOD
SECURITY
AND
FEARFULNESS
SECURITY FEARFULNESS
Large parking lots attract Fearfulness can affect
criminals who prey on consumers in multiple ways.
seemingly defenseless
consumers.