Download Why People Buy: Consumer Behavior

Why People Buy:
Consumer Behavior
Consumer Behavior
• The process individuals and groups go
through to select, purchase, or use goods,
services, ideas, or experiences
The Consumer Decision Process
Problem Recognition
Information Search
Alternative Evaluation
Product Choice
Post purchase Evaluation
Problem Recognition
• Occurs whenever a consumer recognizes a
difference between the current state and the
ideal or desired state
• Internal cues - consumers recognize state of
discomfort
• External cues - marketers may stimulate
consumers to recognize problem
Information Search
• Consumer checks memory and surveys
environment to identify what options are
available
• Sources might include personal experience
and knowledge, friends, advertising, web
sites, and magazines.
Evaluation of Alternatives
• Identify consideration set
• Narrow list and compare pros and cons
• Use evaluative criteria to decide among
remaining choices
Product Choice
• People may ultimately make the choice
based on heuristics
• Heuristics represent rules of thumb
– brand loyalty
– country of origin
– liking
Post purchase Evaluation
• How good a choice was it?
• Customer satisfaction/dissatisfaction –
“buyer’s remorse”
• Ultimately affects future decisions and word
of mouth communication
Consumer Decision Making Influences
Internal Influences:
Perception
Motivation
Learning
Attitudes
Personality
Age groups
Lifestyle
Social Influences:
Culture, Social class
Group memberships
Situational Influences:
Physical Environment
Time
Decision
Process
PURCHASE
Internal Influences
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Perception
Motivation
Learning
Attitudes
Personality
Age
Lifestyle
Perception
• Process by which people select, organize,
and interpret information
– Exposure: stimulus must be within sensory
receptors to be noticed
– Perceptual Selection: consumers will pay
attention to some stimuli and not to others
– Interpretation: consumers assign meaning to
stimuli
Motivation
• An internal state that drives us to satisfy
needs
• Once we activate a need, a state of tension
exists that drives the consumer to some goal
that will reduce this tension and eliminate
the need
• Consequently, only unmet needs motivate
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
SelfActualization
Ego Needs
Belongingness
Safety
Physiological
Learning
• A change in behavior caused by information
or experience
• Behavior learning theories assume learning
takes place as the result of connections
formed between events
• Cognitive learning occurs when consumers
make a connection between ideas or by
observing things in their environment
Attitudes
• A lasting evaluation of a person, object, or
issue
• 3 components of attitudes
– affect
– cognition
– behavior
Personality
• The set of unique psychological
characteristics that consistently influences
the way a person responds to situations in
the environment
– Innovativeness
– Self-confidence
– Sociability
Family Life Cycle
• Related to age groups, our purchases also
depend on our current position in the family
life cycle
– stages through which family members pass as
they grow older
Lifestyles
• Pattern of living that determines how people
choose to spend their time, money, energy and
reflects their values, tastes, and preferences
• Expressed through preferences for sports
activities, music interests, and political opinions
• Psychographics is the segmentation tool used to
group consumers according to AIOs
SRI’s VALS Descriptions
Situational Influences
• Physical Environment
– arousal
– pleasure
• Time
– time poverty
Social Influences
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Culture and Subcultures
Social Class
Group Behavior and Reference Groups
Opinion Leaders
Cultures and Subcultures
• Culture is the values, beliefs, customs, and
tastes produced and valued by a group of
people
• A subculture is a group coexisting with
other groups in a larger culture whose
members share a distinctive set of beliefs or
characteristics
Social Class
• Social class is the overall rank of people in
a society
• People in the same class tend to have
similar occupations, similar income levels,
share common tastes in clothes, decorating
styles, and leisure activities. They may
share political and religious beliefs.
Reference Groups
• A reference group is a set of people a
consumer wants to please or imitate
• The “group” can be composed of one
person, a few people, or many people. They
may be people you know or don’t know
– Conformity is at work when people change as a
reaction to real or imagined group pressure
– Sex roles are society’s expectations regarding
appropriate attitudes, behaviors, and appearances for
men and women
Opinion Leaders
• A person who influences others’ attitudes or
behaviors because they are perceived as
possessing expertise about the product