Download Consumer buying behavior

Chapter 5
Consumer Buying Behavior
Objectives
• Understand consumers’ level of involvement
with product & describe consumer problemsolving processes
• Recognize stages of consumer buying
decision process
• Explore situational influences of consumer
buying process
• Understand psychological influences of
consumer buying process
• Examine social influences of consumer
buying process
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Types Of Markets
Marekt: a group of individuals and/or organizations that
have needs for products in a product class and have
the ability, willingness, and authority to purchase.
•
Consumer
Markets:
Purchasers
and
household members who intend to consume or
benefit from the purchased products and do
not buy products to make products.
•
Business Markets: markets in which buyers
buy products for business purposes
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Buying Behavior
A firm’s ability to develop and sustain satisfying
customer relationships requires an understanding of:
Buying Behavior: is the decision processes and
acts of people involved in buying and using products.
Consumer Buying Behavior: refers to the
decision processes and purchasing activities of
people who purchase products for personal or
household use and not for business purposes.
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Problem Solving Process
•
In order to acquire and maintain products that
satisfy their current and future needs,
customers engage in problem solving.
• There are different types of problem solving
process depending on:
1) Nature of product involved.
2) The amount of effort, both mental and physical,
that buyers expend in solving problems.
3) The customer’s level of involvement.
problem solving process on page 123. Figure 5.1
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Level Of Involvement
Is an individual’s intensity of interest in a
product and the importance of the product
for that person. It can be classified as:
–
–
–
–
Low
High
Enduring
Situational
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Levels Of Involvement
a) High-involvement: products tend to be those that are visible
to others (e.g., clothing, furniture, or automobiles) and
expensive, as well as issues of high importance, such as
health care.
b) Low-involvement: products tend to be less expensive and
have less associated social risk, such as many grocery items.
c) Enduring involvement: is a person’s ongoing and long term
interest in a product or product category. (Ex. Interest in
technology. Most of them have enduring involvement with only
a few items or activities.)
d) Situational involvement: is a person’s temporary and
dynamic interest in a product, which usually results from a
particular set of circumstances (i.e. the need to buy a new car,
after being involved in an accident, … etc).
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Level of involvement (Cont’d)
• Consumer involvement may be attached
to product categories (Such as sports),
loyalty to a specific brand, interest in a
specific advertisement, or to a certain
decisions and behaviors (Ex. A love of
shopping.
• A consumer may find a particular
advertisement entertaining, yet have little
involvement with the brand advertised
because of loyalty to another brand.
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Level Of Involvement and type of
Problem Solving
Level of Involvement, as well as other
factors, affects a person’s selection of
one of three types of consumer problem
solving:
1. Routinized response behavior
2. Limited problem solving
3. Extended problem solving.
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1. Routinized Response Behavior
- Is the consumer problem-solving process
used when buying frequently purchased,
low-cost items needing very little searchand-decision effort. A consumer may prefer
a particular brand but it is familiar with
several brands in the product class and
views more than one as acceptable.
- Low involvement products are bought
through this kind of process.
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2. Limited Problem Solving
Is the consumer problem-solving process
employed when buying occasionally or
when the consumer needs to obtain
information about an unfamiliar brand in a
familiar product category. Needs a
moderate amount of time for information
gathering and deliberation.
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3. Extended Problem Solving
The most complex type and it is a consumer
problem-solving process employed when
purchasing
unfamiliar,
expensive,
or
infrequently bought products. (Ex. Car,
home, or college education). Related to high
involvement products that need much time
seeking information and deciding on the
purchase, as well as using many criteria to
evaluate alternative brands or choices.
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Consumer Problem Solving
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Consumer problem solving
• It is unnecessary to solve the problem of a
particular product every time with the
same type of process:
- Customer who engaged in extended problem
solving the first time to buy a certain product,
finds that limited problem solving is appropriate
when buys it again
- If a routinely purchased, formerly satisfying
brand no longer satisfies us, we may use limited
or extended problem solving to switch to a new
brand
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Impulse Buying
Buying a product does not always involve
some type of problem solving. It can be
unplanned (on impulse).
Impulse Buying: is an unplanned buying
behavior resulting from a powerful urge to buy
something immediately (i.e. urgent buying,
“Plaster” “paste wounds”)
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Consumer Buying Decision Process
A five-stage purchase decision process that
includes problem recognition, information
search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase,
and Postpurchase evaluation.
But some points must be mentioned:
–
The actual act of purchase is only one stage that comes later in
the process
– Not all decision processes, once initiated, lead to an ultimate
purchase (the individual may terminate the process at any stage).
– Not all consumer buying decisions include all five stages.
People engaged in extended problem solving usually go through all
stages, other types may omit some stages.
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Consumer Buying Decision
Process/Possible Influences on the Process
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1. Problem Recognition
Is the difference between desired state and
actual condition (Becoming aware of a need for
a particular product).
Note: Marketers may use sales personnel, advertising, and
packaging to trigger recognition of needs or problems.
Recognition speed can also be slow or fast, because
sometimes a person has a problem or need but is unaware of
it.
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2. Information Search
•
After the consumer becomes aware of the
problem or need, he or she searches for
information about products that will help
resolve the problem or satisfy the need.
(The gathered information’s impact depends on how
customer interprets it).
• There are types of information search:
 Internal Search
 External Search
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Types Of Information Search
• Internal Search: An information search in
which buyers search their memories for
information about their products that might
solve their problem
• External Search: An information search in
which buyers seek information from
sources other than memory (friends, relatives,
public sources, marketing sources [such as advertising,
package labeling, in-store displays)
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External Search
• The internet almost is the most preferred information
source especially for prices.
• Personal contacts, “friends, relatives, and associate” are
influential sources of information because of past
experience or trial and the trust and respect of that
contact.
• Consumers frequently view information from public
sources as highly credible because of its highly factual
and unbiased nature.
• Repetition is a technique well known to advertisers,
increases consumers’ learning of information.
• Information can be presented verbally, numerically, or
visually.
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3. Evaluation Of Alternatives
•
•
A successful information search yields a consideration
(evoked) set of products or a group of brands that the
buyer views as possible alternatives.
In this stage, the consumer establishes a set of
evaluative criteria against which to compare the
characteristics of the products in the evoked set.
•
The consumer rates and eventually ranks the brands in the
consideration set by using the criteria and their relative
importance.
• Marketers can influence consumers’ evaluation by Framing
the alternatives—that is, by the manner in which they describe
the alternatives and their attributes.
Framing probably influences the decision processes of
inexperienced buyers more those of experienced ones.
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4. Purchase
• The consumer selects the product or brand to be
purchased. Selection is based on the outcome of
evaluation stage and other dimensions:
• Product availability, seller choice, and terms of
sale, price, delivery, warranties, maintenance
agreements, installation, and credit agreement
may influence the final product selection.
• At this stage, the actual purchase is made
(unless the process has been terminated earlier)
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5. Post-purchase Evaluation
• At this stage, the buyer begins to evaluate the product after the
purchase, based on many of the criteria used in the evaluation of
alternatives stage. The outcome of this stage is either satisfaction or
dissatisfaction, which influences whether the consumer complains,
communicates with other possible buyers, and repurchase the brand or
product.
• If the buyer is not happy with the product, a Cognitive dissonance is
experienced.
• Cognitive dissonance is a buyer’s doubts shortly after a purchase
about whether it was the right decision.
• It is most likely to arise when a person has recently bought an
expensive, high involvement product that lacks some of the desirable
features of competing brands. A buyer experiencing cognitive
dissonance may attempt to return the product or seek positive
information about it to justify choosing it.
• Marketers sometimes attempt to reduce cognitive dissonance by having
salespeople telephone recent purchasers to make sure they are
satisfied with their new purchase.
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Influences on the
Buying Decision Process
• There are three main types of influences
that affect the Buying Decision Process:
 Situational influences
 Psychological influences
 Social influences
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Situational Influences
Situational influences: are factors resulting
from circumstances, time, and location that
affect the consumer buying decision process.
Note: These factors can influence a consumer’s
actions at any stage of the buying process (i.e.
shorten, lengthen, or even terminate the buying
process)
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Situational Factors:
they can be divided into five categories
1.
Physical Surroundings: factors in the physical environment
in which the decision process occurs (i.e. location, store
atmosphere, aromas, sounds, lighting, weather).
2.
Social Surroundings: social characteristics and interactions
of others who are present during a purchase decision, or when
the product is used or consumed, as well as social conditions in
the shopping environment.
3.
Time Perspective: The time dimension influences the buying
decision process in several ways.
For example, time available to become knowledgeable about a
product, to search for it, and to buy/use it, time of purchase, time
available to make the decision [i.e. a consumer may make a
quick buying decision or delay the decision under time pressure].
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Situational Factors:
five categories (continued)
4.
Reason for purchase: The reason for purchase raises the
questions of what exactly the product purchase should
accomplish and for whom (for example, people who are
buying a gift may buy a different product from one they
would buy for themselves.
5.
Buyer’s mood/ condition: The buyer’s momentary mood or
momentary conditions (e.g., fatigue, illness, happy,
being overexcited, short of cash) may have a bearing on
the consumer buying decision process.
Note: Any of these moods or conditions can affect a person’s ability
and desire to search for information, receive information,
evaluate alternatives, and can significantly influence a
consumer’s postpurchase evaluation.
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Psychological Influences
Psychological factors that, in part, determine
people’s general behavior, thus influencing their
behavior as consumers.
They can be classified into six factors:
1.Perception
2.Motives
3.Learning
4.Attitudes
5.Personality and Self-Concept
6.Lifestyle
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1. Perception
Different people perceive the same thing at the
same time in different ways.
Perception is the process of 1) selecting, 2)
organizing, and 3) interpreting information
inputs to produce meaning (It is three steps)
• Information inputs are sensations received
through our sense organs, including sight,
taste, hearing, smell, and touch. (for example:
when we hear an advertisement, see a friend, smell or touch
a product, we receive information inputs).
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1. Perception: 1) selecting
Selectivity: although we receive numerous pieces of
information at once, only a few reach our
awareness.
Characteristics of selectivity:
(1) Selective exposure, an individual selects which inputs
will reach awareness.
(2) Selective distortion is changing or twisting currently
received information; it occurs when a person receives
information inconsistent with personal feelings or beliefs.
(3) Selective retention, a person remembers information
inputs that support his/her feelings and beliefs and
forgets inputs that do not.
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1. Perception: 2) organizing
Organizing is mentally organizing and
integrating new information with what is
already stored in memory in order to
produce meaning.
People use several methods to organize.
One method, called closure, occurs when
a person mentally fills in missing elements
in a pattern or statement
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1. Perception: 3) interpreting
Interpretation is the assignment of meaning
to what has been organized. A person
bases interpretation on what he or she
expects or what is familiar.
A manufacturer who changes a product or
its package faces a major problem.
• In general, although marketers cannot control
buyers’ perceptions, they often try to influence
them through information.
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1. Perception
•
Many problems may arise from marketers’
attempts to influence customer’s perceptions:
1) A consumer’s perceptual process may operate
such that a seller’s information never reaches
that person.
2) A buyer may receive a seller’s information but
perceive it differently than was intended.
3) A buyer who perceive information inputs to be
inconsistent with prior beliefs is likely to forget
the information quickly.
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2. Motives
Motive is an internal energizing force that
directs a person’s behavior toward
satisfying needs or achieving goals.
• A buyer’s actions at any time are affected not by just
one motive but by a set of motives, with varying
degrees of strengths.
• Motives affect the direction and intensity of behavior.
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2. Motives (continued)
• One of the important theories to explain
motivation is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. (by
Psychologist Abraham Maslow)
• The theory classifies human needs into five
levels, from the most to the least important
needs.
• Once needs at one level are met, humans try to
fulfill needs at the next level.
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Maslow’s Hierarchy Of Needs
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Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
1. physiological needs: the most basic level, which
represents requirements for survival such as food, water,
sex, clothing, and shelter, which people try to satisfy first.
2. safety needs, the next level up, which includes security
and freedom from physical and emotional pain and
suffering. (Ex. Life insurance, automobile air bags, etc..)
3. social needs, the third level, which includes the human
requirements for love and affection and a sense of
belonging. (Cosmetics, beauty, jewelry to bring love)
4. esteem needs, the fourth level, in which people require
respect and recognition from others as well as self-esteem,
a sense of one’s own worth. (Flying first class, Lexus)
5. self-actualization, the highest level of needs, which refers
to people’s need to grow and develop and to become all
they are capable of becoming.
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Patronage Motives
• Motives that influence where a person
purchases product on a regular basis.
• Under patronage motives, a buyer may
shop at specific store because of price,
service, location, product variety, or
friendliness of salespeople.
• Marketers try to determine why regular
customers patronize a particular store and
to emphasize these characteristics in the
store’s marketing mix.
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3. Learning
Learning refers to changes in an individual’s thought
processes and behavior caused by information and
experience.
• The learning process is strongly influenced by the consequences
of an individual’s behavior. For example, behaviors with satisfying
results tend to be repeated, and vice versa.
• Marketers help customers learn about their products (for example,
by helping them gain experience with them, perhaps through free
samples, in-store demonstrations, … etc.)
• Consumers learn about products indirectly through information
from salespeople, friends, relatives, website, and advertisements.
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4. Attitude
Attitude is an individual’s enduring evaluation of feelings about
and behavioral tendencies toward an object or idea.
The following points are important:
 Attitudes are learned through experience and interaction with others
 Attitudes remain generally stable, but they can be changed over a
long time.
 Attitudes consist of three major components:
1. cognitive (knowledge and information about an object or idea)
2. affective (feelings and emotions toward an object or idea), and
3. behavioral (actions regarding an object or idea).
Changes in one of these components may or may not alter others.
 Consumers’ attitudes toward a firm and its products strongly
influence it success or failure
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4. Attitude (continued)
• Marketers use several approaches to measure
consumer attitudes:
a) Direct questioning of consumers
b) Projective techniques
c) Attitude scales, which are means of measuring consumers’ attitudes
by gauging the intensity of individuals’ reactions to adjectives,
phrases, or sentences about an object.
• Marketers may try to change negative attitudes
toward an aspect of a marketing mix to make them
more favorable. But this is generally a long,
expensive, and difficult task and may require
promotional efforts.
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5. Personality and Self-Concept
Personality is a set of internal traits and distinct
behavioral tendencies that result in consistent
patterns of behavior in certain situation.
– The uniqueness of one’s personality arises from both
hereditary background and personal experiences.
– When advertisements focus on certain types of
personalities,
the
advertiser
uses
personality
characteristics that are valued positively. (Page 133)
Self-concept (or self-image), is a perception or
view of oneself.
– Buyers buy products that reflect or enhance their selfconcept.
– A person’s self-concept may influence brand selection
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6. Lifestyle
Lifestyle is an individual’s pattern of living
expressed through activities, interests, and
opinions (i.e. the way people spend time, interact with
others, and their general outlook on life and living). People
partially determine their own lifestyle, but the pattern is also
affected by demographic factors such as age, education,
income and social class.
- Lifestyles have a strong impact on many aspects of the
consumer buying decision process, from problem recognition
to post-purchase evaluation.
• A consumer’s lifestyle influences product needs, brand preferences, type
of media used, and how and where they shop.
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Social Influences
Social influences are the forces that
other people exert on one’s buying
behavior. They include the followings:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Roles
Family
Reference groups
Opinion leaders
Social classes
Cultures and Subcultures
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1. Role
Role
is actions and activities that an individual in a particular
position is supposed to perform based on his /her
expectations as well as those of others.
• Because people occupy numerous positions, they have
many roles. A man may perform the roles of son, husband,
father, employee or employer, and student.
• Each individual has many roles and each role
affects both general behavior and buying behavior
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2. Family
An individual’s roles, within the family, to some
extent, influence that person’s behavior as a
buyer.
Buying decision made by a family are a
combination of group and individuals decision
making.
Consumer socialization is the process
through which a person acquires the
knowledge and skills to function as a
consumer.
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Family buying-decision roles
Within a household, an individual may perform one
or more buying-decision roles:
1. The gatekeeper is the household member who
collects and controls information—price and quality
comparisons, locations of sellers, and assessment of
which brand best suits the family’s needs.
2. The influencer is a family member who expresses his
or her opinions and tries to influence buying decisions.
3. The decider is a member who makes the buying
choice.
4. The buyer is a member who actually makes the
purchase.
5. The user is any household member who consumes or
uses the product.
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Types Of Family Decision-making
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3. Reference Group
Reference group is any group that positively or
negatively affects a person’s values, attitudes, or
behaviors (i.e. family, friends, colleagues, religious
groups, and sport groups, professional groups).
Another definition:
A group that a person identifies with so strongly that
he or she adopts the values, attitudes, and behavior
of group members.
Such as families, work related groups, civic clubs,
professional organizations, or religious groups.
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Types Of Reference Groups
1. A membership reference group: is one to which
an individual actually belongs; the individual
identifies with group members strongly enough to
take on the values, attitudes, and behaviors of
people in that group.
2. An aspirational reference group: is a group to
which a person aspires to belong; the individual
desires to be like those group members.
3. A disassociative or negative reference group: A
group that a person does not wish to be associated
with; the individual does not want to take on the
values, attitudes, and behavior of group members.
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Remarks on reference groups
 A reference group is an individual’s point of comparison and
a source of information.
 How much a reference group influences a purchasing
decision depends on the individual’s susceptibility to
reference group influence and strength of involvement with
the group.
 Reference group may affect the product decision, the brand
decision, or both.
 A marketer sometimes uses reference group influence in
advertisements to promote the message that people in a
specific group buy the product and are highly satisfied with
it. But success of ads depends on: how effectively the ad communicate
the message, the type of product, and the individual’s susceptibility to
reference group influence.
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4. Opinion Leader
Opinion Leader: A member of an informal
group (reference group member) who
provides information about a specific topic to
other group members.
• An opinion leader is likely to be most influential when:
 consumers have high product involvement with low
product knowledge
 they share the opinion leader’s values and attitudes
 when the product details are numerous or complicated.
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Examples Of
Opinion Leaders And Topics
•
•
•
•
•
Family doctor - medicine
Religious leader - religion
Well-known Computer expert - computer
Well-know athletic person - sports
Popular (Beloved) professor - science
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5. Social Class
Social Class: is an open group of individuals with similar
social rank. A class is referred to as open because people can
move into and out of it.
 The criteria used to group people into classes vary from one society to
another.
 In general, occupation, education, income, wealth, possessions are very
important criteria. (race and ethnic group are considered in the USA).
 people can be divided into three to seven categories (i.e. low, middle, high).
 Individuals within a social class develop common patterns of behavior.
 Because social class influences so many aspects of a person’s life, it also
affects:
– Buying decisions
– Spending, saving, and credit practices
– Type, quality, and quantity of products
– Shopping patterns and stores patronized
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6. Culture
Culture is the accumulation of values, beliefs
knowledge, customs, objects, and concepts of
a society uses to cope with its environment and
passes on to future generations.
•Culture includes:
– Tangible items such as food, clothing, furniture,
buildings, and tools (objects)
– Intangible concepts such as education, welfare, and
laws
– The values and a broad range of behaviors accepted by
a specific society
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6. Culture (continued)
• The concepts, values, and behavior that make up a culture are
learned and passed from one generation to the next.
• Because culture affects the ways people buy and use products, it
influences the development, promotion, distribution, and pricing of
products.
• International marketers must take into account tremendous global
cultural differences.
• People from other cultures have different attitudes, values, and
needs.
• International marketers must adapt to different methods of doing
business and must develop different types of marketing mixes.
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Subcultures
Subculture: is a group of individuals whose
characteristic, values, and behavior patterns
are similar, but different from those in the
surrounding culture.
• Subcultural boundaries are usually based on
geographic designations and demographic
factors.
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