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Chapter 3
Consumer Behavior
Key Terms
Culture, Subcultures, Social Class, Reference Groups and
Families, Product, Price, Promotion, and Place Influences,
Situational Influences, Product Knowledge, Product Involvement,
Extensive, Limited, and Routine Decision Making, Need
Recognition, Internal, Group, Marketing, Public, and Experiential
Sources, Perception of Risk, Cognitive Dissonance,
Disconfirmation Paradigm
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Understanding Consumer
Behavior
 An understanding of consumers, their needs and
purchasing behaviors shapes successful marketing
 No single theory of consumer behavior can totally
explain why consumers’ behave the way they do
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An Overview of the Buying
Process
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Social Influences on
Consumer Decision Making
 In terms of consumer behavior, culture, social
class, and reference groups can have both direct
and indirect effects on the buying process
 Direct effect – Refers to direct communication
between the individual and other members of
society
 Indirect influence – Refers to influence of society
on an individual’s basic values and attitudes
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Social Influences on
Consumer Decision Making
A Summary of American Cultural Values
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Understanding Cultural Impact On
Consumer Behavior
 Culture – One of the most basic influences on an
individual’s needs
 Cultural values are transmitted through three basic
organizations
 Family
 Religious organizations
 Educational institutions
 Marketing managers should
 Adapt the marketing mix to cultural values
 Constantly monitor value changes and differences in
both domestic and global markets
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Understanding Cultural Impact On
Consumer Behavior
 Subcultures – Exist when people have more
frequent interactions than with the population at
large and thus tend to think and act alike in some
respects
 Age groups are increasingly becoming important
 Teen market
 Baby boomers
 Mature market
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Social Classes
 Upper Americans
 14 percent of the population
 High income – Seek high quality, high prestige brands
 Middle class
 34 percent of the population
 Concerned with following media recommendations and
what peers say is popular
 Increased incomes have generated interest in
“worthwhile experiences”
 Emulates upper Americans
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Social Classes
 Working Classes
 38 percent of the population
 “Family folk” – depend heavily on relatives for financial
and emotional support
 Pursue ease of labor and leisure
 Lower Americans
 16 percent of the population
 Very diversified, from frugality to instant gratification
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Reference Groups and Families
 Primary reference groups – Include family and close
friends
 Secondary reference groups – Include fraternal and
professional organizations
 Family constitutes an important reference group – The
household rather than individual is the relevant unit
 Family life cycle – Useful way of classifying and
segmenting individuals and families
 Combines trends in earning power with demands placed
on income
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Marketing Influences
 Product influences – As a key task, marketers
differentiate their products from their competitors and
create perception of a worthwhile product purchase
 Price Influence – Today’s value-conscious consumers
may buy products more on the basis of price than other
attributes
 Promotion Influence – Marketing communications plays
a critical role in informing consumers about products
and services
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Marketing Influences
 Place influences
 Convenience increases probability of consumers finding
and buying certain products
 Products sold in exclusive outlets increase brand equity
 Nonstore methods create perceptions of innovativeness,
exclusiveness, and/or tailored to specific markets
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Situational Influences
 Physical features – Most readily apparent features of a
situation
 Social features – Provide additional depth to a
description of a situation
 Time – A dimension of situations that may be specified
in units
 Task features – Include intent or requirement to select,
shop for, or obtain information about a purchase
 Current conditions – Are momentary moods or
conditions rather than chronic individual traits
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Psychological Influences
 Product knowledge – Refers to the amount of
information a consumer has stored in his or her
memory about a product
 Group, marketing, and situational influences determine
level of product knowledge
 Product involvement – A consumer’s perception of the
importance or personal relevance of an item
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Consumer Decision Making
The Consumer Decision-Making Process
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Consumer Decision Making
 Extensive decision making – Requires high degrees
of time and effort as the purchase is complex, high
priced or has high importance to the consumer
 Limited decision making – Moderate time and effort,
but may involve some time and effort to search for
and compare alternatives
 Routine decision making – Most common type, and
the way people purchase most packaged goods
 Products are simple, inexpensive and familiar
 Consumers may develop favorite brands
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Need Recognition
 Activation and recognition of needs and wants can be
through internal or external stimuli
 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
 Physiological needs – Primary needs of the human body
 Safety needs – Protection from physical harm, ill health,
economic disaster and avoidance of the unexpected
 Belongingness – Related to social and gregarious
nature of humans and need for companionship
 Esteem needs – Consists of need for both self-esteem
and actual esteem from others
 Self-actualization needs – Desire to become everything
one is capable of becoming
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Alternative Search: Consumer
Data Sources
 Internal sources – Experience with, and stored
information about products
 Group sources – Communication from other people
 Marketing sources – Advertising, salespeople, dealers,
packaging and displays
 Public sources – Publicity from article, independent
ratings
 Experiential sources – Handling, examining and
perhaps trying the actual product
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Alternative Search: Information
Processing
 Exact nature individuals processing information is not
fully understood
 In general, it is viewed as a four-step process
 Exposed to information
 Becomes attentive to the information
 Understands the information
 Retains the information
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Factors Affecting Information
Search by Customers
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Alternative Evaluation
 Consumer has information about a number of brands in a
product class
 Some brands in a product class perceived as viable
alternatives for satisfying a recognized need
 Each of these brands has a set of attributes
 A set of these attributes is relevant to the consumer, and
consumer perceives differences in attributes in different
product brands
 Consumer will like best the brand perceived as offering
greatest number of desired attributes in desired amounts
and desired order
 Consumer will intend to purchase the brand liked best
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Purchase Decision
 Traditional risk theorists believe that consumers tend
to make risk-minimizing decisions based on their
perception of risk associated with a particular
purchase
 Perceived risk may be functional or psychological
 Consumers generally try to reduce their risk by
 Reducing negative consequences
 Reducing perceived uncertainty
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Postpurchase Evaluation
 Cognitive dissonance – Inconsistency or disharmony
with cognitions, or attitudes and beliefs after decision
 Anxiety will be greater when
 Decision is important psychologically, financially, or both
 Number of foregone alternatives appear plentiful
 Forgone alternatives have many favorable features
 Disconfirmation paradigm – Satisfaction with products
and brands as a result of
 Prepurchase product expectations
 Difference between these expectations and postpurchase
perception of product performance
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Ethical Conduct toward Customers
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