Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Consumer Buying Behavior refers to the buying behavior of the ultimate consumer.
A firm needs to analyze buying behavior for:
Buyers reactions to a firms marketing strategy has a great impact on the firms
success.
The marketing concept stresses that a firm should create a Marketing Mix
(MM) that satisfies (gives utility to) customers, therefore need to analyze the
what, where, when and how consumers buy.
Personal risk
Social risk
Economic risk
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The purchase of the same product does not always elicit the same Buying Behavior.
Product can shift from one category to the next.
For example:
Going out for dinner for one person may be extensive decision making (for someone
that does not go out often at all), but limited decision making for someone else. The
reason for the dinner, whether it is an anniversary celebration, or a meal with a
couple of friends will also determine the extent of the decision making.
involved. The aim is to give the marketing manager a better understanding of the
buying process. Here is an example of a well known theoretical model, the HowardSheth model of consumer behaviour.
Physiological
Safety
Esteem
Self Actualization
Nutrament Debunked...
Nutrament, a product marketed by Bristol-Myers Squibb originally was targeted at
consumers that needed to receive additional energy from their drinks after exercise
etc., a fitness drink. It was therefore targeted at consumers whose needs were for
either love and Belonging or esteem. The product was not selling well, and was
almost terminated. Upon extensive research it was determined that the product did
sell well in inner-city convenience stores. It was determined that the consumers for
the product were actually drug addicts who couldn't not digest a regular meal. They
would purchase Nutrament as a substitute for a meal. Their motivation to purchase
was completely different to the motivation that B-MS had originally thought. These
consumers were at the Physiological level of the hierarchy. BM-S therefore had to
redesign its MM to better meet the needs of this target market.
Motives often operate at a subconscious level therefore are difficult to measure.
current
received
information,
facts and perceive that the advertisement was for the competitor. A current
example...MCI and AT&T...do you ever get confused?
Selective Retention-Remember inputs that support beliefs, forgets those that
don't.
Average supermarket shopper is exposed to 17,000 products in a shopping
visit lasting 30 minutes-60% of purchases are unplanned. Exposed to 1,500
advertisement per day. Can't be expected to be aware of all these inputs, and
certainly will not retain many.
Interpreting information is based on what is already familiar, on knowledge
that is stored in the memory.
Attitudes-Knowledge and positive and negative feelings about an object or activitymaybe tangible or intangible, living or non- living.....Drive perceptions
Individual learns attitudes through experience and interaction with other
people.
Consumer attitudes toward a firm and its products greatly influence the
success or failure of the firm's marketing strategy.
Personality-All the internal traits and behaviors that make a person unique, uniqueness
arrives from a person's heredity and personal experience. Examples include:
o
Workaholism
Self confidence
Compulsiveness
Friendliness
Adaptability
Introversion
Ambitiousness
Extroversion
Dogmatism
Aggressiveness
Authoritarianism
Competitiveness.
Traits effect the way people behave. Marketers try to match the store image to
the perceived image of their customers.
There is a weak association between personality and Buying Behavior, this
may be due to unreliable measures. Nike ads. Consumers buy products that
are consistent with their self concept.
Social Factors
Consumer wants, learning, motives etc. are influenced by opinion leaders, person's
family, reference groups, social class and culture.
Opinion leaders-Marketers try to attract opinion leaders...they actually use (pay) spokespeople
to market their products. Michael Jordon (Nike, McDonalds, Gatorade etc.)
Roles and Family Influences-Role...things you should do based on the expectations of you from your
position within a group. People have many roles. Husband, father,
employer/ee. Individuals role are continuing to change therefore marketers
must continue to update information.
Family is the most basic group a person belongs to. Marketers must
understand:
o
family roles and preferences are the model for children's future family
(can reject/alter/etc)
family acts an interpreter of social and cultural values for the individual.
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The Family life cycle: families go through stages, each stage creates different
consumer demands:
empty nest I, older married couples with no children living with them,
head in labor force
empty nest II, older married couples, no children living at home, head
retired
Reference Groups-Individual identifies with the group to the extent that he takes on many of the
values, attitudes or behaviors of the group members.
Families, friends, sororities, civic and professional organizations.
Any group that has a positive or negative influence on a persons attitude and
behavior.
Membership groups (belong to)
Affinity marketing is focused on the desires of consumers that belong to
reference groups. Marketers get the groups to approve the product and
communicate that approval to its members. Credit Cards etc.!!
Aspiration groups (want to belong to) Disassociate groups (do not want to
belong
to)
Honda, tries to disassociate from the "biker" group.
The degree to which a reference group will affect a purchase decision depends
on an individuals susceptibility to reference group influence and the strength
of his/her involvement with the group.
Social Class--
an open group of individuals who have similar social rank. US is not a classless
society. US criteria; occupation, education, income, wealth, race, ethnic groups
and possessions.
Social class influences many aspects of our lives. IE upper middle class
Americans prefer luxury cars Mercedes.
o
Upper-middle
professionals
class,
12.5%,
college
graduates,
managers
and
Culture and Sub-culture-Culture refers to the set of values, ideas, and attitudes that are accepted by a
homogenous group of people and transmitted to the next generation.
Culture also determines what is acceptable with product advertising. Culture
determines what people wear, eat, reside and travel. Cultural values in the US
are good health, education, individualism and freedom. In american culture
time scarcity is a growing problem. IE change in meals. Big impact on
international marketing.
geographic regions
chinese food
indian food
burger king
Marketing Research
The purpose and approach of marketing research
Marketing decisions are inevitably made under conditions of uncertainty and risk.
The use of marketing research cannot eliminate risk but can reduce it by indicating
the likely outcome of a certain course of action.
Markets are dynamic and competitive; success in business depends on greater
investment and more frequent innovation so as not to lose ground to competitors.
Important decisions have to be taken frequently, and in order to make decisions with
confidence management needs relevant and comprehensive information. It is the
task of marketing research to provide this information.
Marketing information may be needed for: strategic decision-making (such as
product life cycle estimates, information to help with decisions about diversifying or
to segment a market); tactical decisions (such as planning sales territories, setting
short-term marketing cost budgets); or preparing a marketing database (such as for
market share analysis, competitor analysis, substitute product analysis).
The information system for marketing is referred to as marketing research.
Definitions of marketing research
'Market research' and 'marketing research' are often used interchangeably although
it would be more correct to say that market research is just an aspect of marketing
research.
Marketing research is therefore a very broad concept. It embraces not only market
research but also product research, price research, sales promotion research and
distribution research.
The table below shows a number of activities falling into each of these categories of
research. It is not intended to be exhaustive.
Type of research
Examples of activities
Market research
Product research
Price research
market forecasts;
sales forecasts;
research into potential sales;
information on concentration ratios;
market signals.
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Market forecasts
These are forecasts for the market as a whole. It is mainly involved in the
assessment of environmental factors, outside the organisation's control, which will
affect the demand for its products/services. Often it consists of three components.
Sales forecasts
These are estimates of sales of a product in a future period:
at a given price;
using a stated method of sales promotion which will cost a given amount of
money.
Unlike the market forecast, a sales forecast concerns the firm's activity directly. It
takes into account such aspects as sales to certain categories of customer, sales
promotion activities, the extent of competition, product life cycle, performance of
major products.
Sales forecasts are expressed in volume, value and profit, and in the case of national
and international organisations regional forecasts are usual, by product.
Research into potential sales
Sales potential is an estimate of the part of the market which is within the possible
reach of a product. The potential will vary according to the price of the product and
the amount of money spent on sales promotion, and market research should
attempt to Quantify these variations. Sales potential also depends on:
(a) how essential the product is to consumers;
(b)whether it is a durable commodity whose purchase is post ponable;
(c) the overall size of the possible market;
(d)competition.
Whether sales potential is worth exploiting will depend on the cost of sales
promotion and selling which must be incurred to realise the potential. Sales potential
will influence the decisions by a company on how much of each product to make: its
production mix. A company might decide, for example, that maximum profits will be
earned by concentrating all its production and sales promotion efforts on one
segment of a market. Action by competitors might then adversely affect sales and
market research might reveal that another market segment has become relatively
more profitable. The company might therefore decide to divert some production
capacity and sales promotion spending to the new segment in order to revive its
profits.
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Estimates of sales potential are required in deciding whether to invest money in the
development of a new or improved product.
Market research, to be comprehensive, must show an awareness of the economic,
fiscal, political and social influences which may affect supply and demand for a
product. Changes within this framework should wherever possible be anticipated.
Other aspects of market research include investigation of:
the expansion or decline of demand within a particular market
a)
segment;
the expansion or decline of demand within a particular
geographical area;
c)
the timing of demand -is there a cyclical or seasonal pattern of
demand?
b)
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the Annual Abstract of Statistics and its monthly equivalent the Monthly Digest
of Statistics containing data about manufacturing output, housing, population
etc.
the Digest of UK Energy Statistics
Housing and construction statistics
Financial statistics
Economic trends
Census of population
Census of production
Department of Employment Gazette
British Business
Business Monitors
(e) specialist libraries, such as the City Business Library in London, collect published
information from a wide variety of sources;
(f) trade sources: many industries have an industry body which provides useful
market research data. The Association of British Insurers (ABI) provides market
share data on the life insurance industry; the Society of Motor Manufacturers and
Trades (SMMT) provides detailed data on the registration of new vehicles by
brand on a regular basis. In addition trade press is often a valuable source of
information about competitors.
Primary data
The collection of primary data is sometimes known as field research.
Field research may be carried out in a number of areas, notably customer research,
advertising research, product research, packaging research and distribution
research. There are several techniques involved in the collection and analysis of
primary data and we shall consider in detail:
(a) experimentation;
(b) observation;
(c) sampling;
(d) questionnaires;
Experimentation
In a controlled experiment. a controlled research environment is established and
selected stimuli are then introduced. To the extent that 'outside' factors can be
eliminated from the environment (and therefore depending on the degree to which a
controlled environment is established) the observed effects can be measured and
related to each stimulus. Controlled experiments have been used to find the best
advertising campaign, the best price level, the best incentive machine and the best
sales training method.
Observation
Observation can be used as a means of obtaining sample data where quantitative
data is required
Sampling
A random sample is one selected in such a way that every item in the population
has an equal chance of being included. To obtain a random sample, we need a
sampling frame, which has already been described. A random sample can be
selected from the sampling frame by two main methods:
Resale
PRODUCT Attributes:
High Powered
Roomy
PRODUCTS:
Toyota Avalon
Oldsmobile
Aurora
Mercury Mystique
Dodge Intrepid
Chrysler Concorde
Vision
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Safety Features
undifferentiated
concentrated
multisegmented
luxury
cheap
Sporty
Spacious
1 Pricing strategy
The elements of the marketing mix do not change for different consumers, all
elements are developed for all consumers. Examples include Staple foods-sugar
and salt and farm produce. Henry Ford, Model T, all in black.
Popular when large scale production began. Not so popular now due to
competition, improved marketing research capabilities, and total production and
marketing costs can be reduced by segmentation.
Organization must be able to develop and maintain a single marketing mix.
Major objective is to maximize sales.
Market Segmentation Approach
Individuals with diverse product needs have heterogeneous needs. Market
segmentation is the process of dividing a total market into market groups
consisting of people who have relatively similar product needs, there are clusters
of needs.
The purpose is to design a MM(s) that more precisely matches the needs of
individuals in a selected market segment(s).
A market segment consists of individuals, groups or organizations with one or
more characteristics that cause them to have relatively similar product needs.
There are two Market Segmentation Strategies.
Concentration Strategy.
A single market segment with one MM.
| Market
|A Market Segment
|------------------One MM------------------>A Market Segment
|------------------|A Market Segment
PROS include:
CONS include:
Small shift in the population or consumer tastes can greatly effect the firm.
Consumers in each segment may be willing to pay a premium for the tailormade product.
CONS include:
Costs and resources and increased marketing costs through selling through
different channels and promoting more brands, using different packaging
etc.
Sequence2 $7-$9
Medalist $15-$25
Optima $70
The core product is the same, use different Packaging, Brand Name, Price to
differentiate and create a different marketing mix. What will happen if consumers
find out??
Objective: Sales maximization, but can remain a specialist. Can get firmly
established in one segment, then pursue another.
Stages of the Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning Process
Cartoons on saturday
Nickelodian
Cereal boxes
density,
Will additional variables help improve the firms MM. If not there is little reason to
spend more money to gain information from extra variables.