Marketing Chapter 4: Consumer Behaviour

The consumer Decision Process:

 Need Recognition:
o The beginning of consumer decision process
o When their desires are brought up to a conscious awareness
o Functional needs: pertain to the performance of a product or service
o Psychological needs: Personal gratification consumers associate with a product or
service
 Information search
o 2 main key types
 Internal
 When the buyer examines his or her own memory and knowledge of
the product or service gathered through past experience
 Ex: going to a restaurant you have gone before because you know its
good
 External
 When the buyer seeks info outside their personal knowledge base to
help make the buying decision
 Ex: media, buying jeans because a celebrity models that brand
o Factors which affect consumers search processes
 Perceived benefits vs cost of search
 Is it worth the time to search for a product or service?
 The locus of control
 Internal locus of control: Consumers believe that they have a control
over the outcomes if they research a product
 External locus of control: when customers believe fate or other external
factor control all outcomes
 Actual or perceived risk
 Performance risk: danger of a poorly performance product
 Financial risk: risk of money spent; initial cost as well as cost of using the
item
 Social risk: fears that consumers suffer when they worry that others
might not regard their purchases positively
 Physiological risk: the fear of actual harm if the product doesn’t work
properly
 Psychological risk: the way people feel if the product doesn’t work
properly
 Alternative Evaluation;
 Evaluative Criteria: consistent set of important attributes about a
particular product that are used to compare alternative products
 Determinant attributes: product or service features that are important
to the buyer and on which competing brands or stores are perceived to
differ
  Consumer decision rules: The set of criteria consumers use consciously
or subconsciously to quickly and efficiently select from amoung several
alternatives
 Compensatory decision rule: when a consumer is evaluating alternatives
and trades off one characteristic against another, such that good
characteristic compensates for bad ones
 Non-compensatory decision rule: is at work when consumers choose a
product or service on the basis of a subset of its characteristics
 Decision heuristics: mental shortcuts that help consumers narrow down
choices; examples include price, brand and product presentation
o Price
o Brand
o Product presentation
o Product presentation
 Purchase decision:
 Ritual consumption: Refers to a pattern of behaviour tied to life events
that affect what and how people consume
 Post purchase
 Customer satisfaction
 Post purchase outcome:
o Customer satisfaction (+)
o Purchase Dissonance (-)
o Customer loyalty (+)
 Post purchase dissonance: An internal conflict that arises from an
inconsistency between two beliefs or between beliefs and behaviour,
buyer’s remorse

Factors Influencing consumers buying decisions:

 Psychological factors
o Motive: a need or want that is strong enough to cause the person to seek satisfaction
 Physiological needs: relate to the basic biological necessities of life: food, drink, rest and shelter
 Safety needs: pertain to protection and physical well-being
 Love needs: relate to our interactions with others
 Esteem needs: allow people to satisfy their inner desires
 Self-actualization: occurs when you feel completely satisfied with your life and how you live

Cognitive component: A component of attitude that reflects what a person believes to be true

Affective component: A component of attitude that reflects what a person feels about the issue at hand
– his or her like or dislike of something

Behavioural component: A component of attribute that comprises the actions a person takes with
regard to the issue at hand.
Social Factors:

 Family
 Reference groups: one or more persons an individual use as a basis for comparison regarding
beliefs feeling and behaviours
 1) offering information
 2) providing rewards for specific purchasing behaviour
 3) enhancing a consumer’s self-image

Situational Factors: factors affecting the consumer decision process; those that are specific to the
purchase and shopping situation and temporal state that may, override or at least influence
psychological and social issues

 Purchase situation
 Shopping situation
o Store atmosphere
o Sales person
o Crowding
o Instore demonstrations
o Promotions
o Packaging
 Temporal state

Extended problem solving: consumer spends lots of time to analyze alternatives

Limited problem solving: consumer spends less time to analyze alternatives

Impulse buying: if you can’t define this your stupid