Consumer Markets and Buyer Behavior

Consumer Markets
and
Buyer Behavior
Learning Objectives
• Objective 1: Define the consumer market and

construct a simple model of consumer buyer behavior.
• Objective 2: Describe the four major factors that
influence consumer buyer behavior.
• Objective 3: List and define the major types of buying
decision behavior.
• Objective 4: Describe the stages in the buyer decision
making process.
Consumer Markets and Buyer Behavior
Consumer buyer behavior is the buying behavior of final

consumers—individuals and households that buy goods and
services for personal consumption.
Consumer markets are made up of all the individuals and

households that buy or acquire goods and services for
personal consumption.
Model of Consumer Behavior
Figure: The Model of Buyer Behavior

Characteristics Affecting Consumer Behavior
Factors Influencing Consumer Behavior

Cultural Factors
• Culture is the most basic cause of a person’s wants and
behavior. And human behavior is largely learned.
• Culture is the set of basic values, perceptions, wants, and

behaviors learned by a member of society from family and
other important institutions.
Cultural Factors
Subcultures are
groups of people
within a culture
with shared value
systems based on
common life Targeting Hispanic Americans: Burger King
sponsors an annual family-oriented
FÚTBOL KINGDOM national soccer tour in eight
experiences and major Hispanic markets in USA
situations.
P&G introduced its Cover Girl
Queen Latifah line is specially
formulated ”to celebrate the
beauty of women of color.”
5-12
Cultural Factors
Social classes are society’s relatively permanent and ordered
divisions whose members share similar values, interests, and
behaviors.
• Measured as a combination of occupation, income,
education, wealth, and other variables
• Major social classes:
✓Upper Class
✓Middle Class
✓Working Class
✓Lower Class
Social Factors
Groups and Social Networks
Membership Aspirational Reference

Groups Groups Groups
Opinion leader
• Groups with • Groups an • Groups that A person within a reference
direct individual form a group who, because of special
influence wishes to comparison skills, knowledge, personality, or
and to which belong to or reference other characteristics, exerts social
a person in forming influence on others.
belongs attitudes or
behavior
Social Factors
Groups and Social Networks
• Online social networks

• Buzz marketing
• Social media sites
• Virtual worlds
• Word of mouth
• Opinion leaders
Changing Media Environment
Social Factors
• Family is the most important consumer-buying organization in society.

• Husband’s family background influences financial, assets & other durable BB
• Husband’s family background influences grocery, home appliances etc. BB
• Roles & Status: A person belongs to many groups—family, clubs,

organizations, online communities. The person’s position in each
group can be defined in terms of both role and status.
Personal Factors
• Age and life-cycle stage

• Occupation affects the goods and services bought by consumers.
• Economic situations including income, spending, savings & interest
rate.
• Lifestyle is a person’s pattern of living as expressed in his or her
psychographics.
• Personality refers to the unique psychological characteristics that
distinguish a person or group.
Lifestyle based marketing
Personality based marketing

Psychological Factors
Motivation
Perception
Learning
Beliefs and attitudes

A motive (or drive) is a need that is sufficiently pressing to direct the

person to seek satisfaction of the need.
Motivation research refers to qualitative research designed to probe

consumers’ hidden, subconscious motivations.
Figure 5.4 - Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Perception is the process by which people select,

organize, and interpret information to form a
meaningful picture of the world.
Perceptual Processes
Selective Selective Selective

attention distortion retention
Selective attention is the tendency for people to screen out
most of the information to which they are exposed.
Selective distortion is the tendency for people to interpret

information in a way that will support what they already
believe.
Selective retention is the tendency to remember good points

made about a brand they favor and forget good points about
competing brands.
• Learning is the change in an individual’s behavior
arising from experience and occurs through the
interplay of:
Drives Stimuli Cues Responses
Reinforcement
A belief is a descriptive thought that a person has about
something based on:
• knowledge
• opinion
• faith
An attitude describes a person’s relatively consistent

evaluations, feelings, and tendencies toward an
object or idea.
Types of Buying Decision Behavior
FIGURE: Types of Buying Behavior

Complex Buying Behavior
• Consumers are highly involved in a purchase and perceive significant differences

among brands.
• When the product is expensive, risky, purchased infrequently, and highly self-
expressive.
Marketers of high involvement products must understand the information-

gathering and evaluation behavior of high-involvement consumers.
They need to help buyers learn about product-class attributes and their relative
importance.
They need to differentiate their brand’s features, perhaps by describing the brand’s
benefits using print media with long copy.
Dissonance-reducing buying behavior
It occurs when consumers are highly involved with an expensive, infrequent, or

risky purchase but see little difference among brands.
After the purchase, consumers might experience post-purchase dissonance (after-

sale discomfort)
To counter such dissonance, the marketer’s after-sale communications should

provide evidence and support to help consumers feel good about their brand
choices.
Habitual buying behavior
• Habitual buying behavior occurs under conditions of low-consumer involvement

and little significant brand difference.
• Low-cost, frequently purchased products, for example, take table salt.
• Consumers have little involvement in this product category—they simply go to
the store and reach for a brand.
• Consumers do not form strong attitudes toward a brand; they select the brand
because it is familiar.
• Ad repetition is needed to create brand familiarity
• Acquiring shelf-space to increase visibility
• A little differentiation will give you an extra mileage
Habitual buying behavior
Charmin toilet tissue offers Ultra-strong, Ultra-soft, and Fresh-mate (wet) versions
“soften your bottom line”

Variety-seeking buying behavior
• Situations characterized by low consumer involvement but significant perceived

brand differences.
• Consumers often do a lot of brand switching.
• In most cases, brand switching occurs for the sake of variety rather than because
of dissatisfaction.
• Create switching barriers:
- Contractual agreement
- Credits
- Infrastructural development (building outlets, neon-sign etc.)
- Equipment providing / leasing
The Buyer Decision Process
FIGURE: Buyer Decision Process

Need Recognition
Need recognition is the first stage of the buyer

decision process, in which the consumer
recognizes a problem or need triggered by:
• Internal stimuli
• External stimuli
Information Search
Information search is the stage of the buyer

decision process in which the consumer is
motivated to search for more information.
•Sources of information:
• Personal sources
• Commercial sources
• Public sources
• Experiential sources
Evaluation of Alternatives
Alternative evaluation is the stage of the buyer

decision process in which the consumer uses
information to evaluate alternative brands in the
choice set.
Purchase Decision
Purchase decision is the buyer’s decision about

which brand to purchase.
• The purchase intention may not be the purchase

decision due to:
• Attitudes of others
• Unexpected situational factors
Postpurchase Behavior
Postpurchase behavior is the stage of the buyer

decision process in which consumers take
further action after purchase, based on their
satisfaction or dissatisfaction.
Postpurchase Behavior
Cognitive dissonance is
buyer discomfort caused
by postpurchase conflict.
Class Case:
Why Home Depot Failed In China?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7QxeBwWXvY
Thank You

Consumer Markets and Buyer Behavior

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Consumer Markets and Buyer Behavior

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Consumer Markets

• Objective 1: Define the consumer market and

Consumer buyer behavior is the buying behavior of final

Consumer markets are made up of all the individuals and

Figure: The Model of Buyer Behavior

Factors Influencing Consumer Behavior

• Culture is the set of basic values, perceptions, wants, and

Membership Aspirational Reference

• Online social networks

• Family is the most important consumer-buying organization in society.

• Roles & Status: A person belongs to many groups—family, clubs,

• Age and life-cycle stage

Personality based marketing

Beliefs and attitudes

A motive (or drive) is a need that is sufficiently pressing to direct the

Motivation research refers to qualitative research designed to probe

Perception is the process by which people select,

Selective Selective Selective

Selective distortion is the tendency for people to interpret

Selective retention is the tendency to remember good points

Drives Stimuli Cues Responses

An attitude describes a person’s relatively consistent

FIGURE: Types of Buying Behavior

• Consumers are highly involved in a purchase and perceive significant differences

Marketers of high involvement products must understand the information-

It occurs when consumers are highly involved with an expensive, infrequent, or

After the purchase, consumers might experience post-purchase dissonance (after-

To counter such dissonance, the marketer’s after-sale communications should

• Habitual buying behavior occurs under conditions of low-consumer involvement

“soften your bottom line”

• Situations characterized by low consumer involvement but significant perceived

FIGURE: Buyer Decision Process

Need recognition is the first stage of the buyer

Information search is the stage of the buyer

Alternative evaluation is the stage of the buyer

Purchase decision is the buyer’s decision about

• The purchase intention may not be the purchase

Postpurchase behavior is the stage of the buyer

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