MBA404

Consumer Behavior and Marketing Psychology

Individual Report

By

Student Name
Executive Summary
In the present world, many businesses are focusing on customers to enhance their business sales.
It is important to concentrate on consumer behavior and their feelings and attitude towards the
marketing programs conducted by a business. The present report focused on the analysis of
consumer behavior towards the Pantene Shampoo created by P and G Company. It covered
various sections including the product overview and its market performance, critical assessment
of the communication marketing mix, communication mix alignment with findings, and strategic
recommendations to strengthen the alignment. The introduction section focused on
communicating the performance of Pantene shampoo in the market by showing real-time data.
The critical assessment section focused on assessing various aspects of customers including
perception, motivation, attitude, culture, lifestyle and family influences, social class, individual
and group differences, personal purchasing decision-making processes, and consumer learning
processes. The communication mix alignment with findings is clearly described by performing
the critical assessment. The strategic recommendations section provided suggestions to
strengthen the alignment including the collection of data regarding consumer behavior, removing
the problems presented with Pantene Shampoo, and recognizing the significance of customer
psychology. These are good for P and G to reach more target customers understanding consumer
behavior.
Table of Contents
Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................1

1. Introduction..............................................................................................................................2

2. Critical Assessment of the Company’s Integrated Communication Mix.................................2

a. Attitude of Customers...........................................................................................................2

b. Influence of Family and Lifestyle.........................................................................................2

c. Individual and Group Differences........................................................................................3

d. Social Class...........................................................................................................................3

e. Culture..................................................................................................................................3

f. Consumer Learning Process.................................................................................................3

g. Personal Buying and Decision-making Process...................................................................3

3. Communication Mix Alignment with Findings........................................................................3

4. Strategic Recommendations to Address Misalignment of Company with Findings................4

5. Conclusion................................................................................................................................5

References........................................................................................................................................6

Appendix..........................................................................................................................................7
 1. Introduction
Overview of Product and Its Market Performance: Pantene is the product created by Procter
and Gamble related to haircare. The product line is first created in the year 1945 in London.
Pantene shampoo is the product selected to avoid the problems associated with air and ensure
protection for it[ CITATION PGP20 \l 1033 ]. It is used as a pro-vitamin system to the
facilitation of classic care to hair by avoiding damage to hair. It helps the users in avoiding
excessive hair fall, remove increasing dirt and pollutants, remove the excess of oil in the hair,
hair to appear shiny and silky, and provide plenty of protein to the hair. Pantene shampoo is high
performing in the market and providing several benefits to customers including silky hairs,
stronger hair, less hair-fall, and reduced dirt and oil. The problems are also developed for this
brand with increased competition from several other brands. The stock keeping unit reduced to
almost 1/3rd of the product Pantene. The product brand value from the year 2016 to the 2019 year
is shown in the Appendix[ CITATION Sta20 \l 1033 ]. It is observed that the value is increased
from $4.8 million to $5.1 million even though fierce competition existed in the market. The P
and G Company still trying to innovate the shampoo with the latest features and benefits.

Structure and Purpose of Report: The main purpose of this report is to analyze the marketing
issues related to consumer behavior in the use of the Pantene Shampoo in terms of various
aspects including perception, motivation, attitude, culture, lifestyle and family influences, social
class, individual and group differences, personal purchasing decision-making processes, and
consumer learning processes by analyzing the performance of the product. The structure of the
report includes key topics market performance of product, critical assessment of the
communication mix, and assessing communication mix alignment with key findings, and
strategic recommendations to strengthen the alignment.

2. Critical Assessment of the Company’s Integrated Communication Mix

Assessing the integrated communication mix developed by the company helps in analyzing how
well it is focusing on consumer behavior[ CITATION Jan10 \l 1033 ].

a. Attitude of Customers
Attitude is the viewpoints of the customers towards the Pantene Shampoo advertisement and
marketing programs. It is an important aspect considered by marketers that affects the learning,
selection process, and decision making to purchase shampoo. From the survey findings, it is
understood that the customers have a positive opinion and belief in purchasing and using the
Pantene shampoo. The attitude of the customers can be easily changed by developing a suitable
marketing campaign by the company. It helps in converting the disliking nature of a customer
towards the product.

b. Influence of Family and Lifestyle

The purchasing behavior of a customer mainly depends on the personal lifestyle and family
background of the users. When a person wants to purchase shampoo, he considers their needs
and requirements and tries to purchase shampoo which fits the needs of all family members.
From the findings, it is identified that awareness of family and friends influences[ CITATION
Bri13 \l 1033 ]. But, in the case of Pantene shampoo, they aware of it recently. They do not have
any kind of experience with the product. Hence, it negatively affects the decision-making by the
customers due to a lack of information availability.

c. Individual and Group Differences

The individual differences change consumer behavior towards the Pantene shampoo include
involvement and motivation, personality, values, consumer resources, and knowledge. The group
differences influencing purchasing decisions include changes in the feelings, beliefs, and
behavior. There is a chance for the presence of different reference groups including colleagues
and friends. In nowadays, consumers are not much aware of Pantene Shampoo[ CITATION
Phi19 \l 1033 ]. There will be a huge difference between individual opinions and group opinions
on the shampoo. There are recommendations for products from friends, family members, and
colleagues of the survey participants.

d. Social Class
Social class is an important aspect to the marketers to understand the purchasing behavior of
customers. It determines the level of education and level of income earning by a person. It also
includes factors like wealth and occupation. It is cleared from the survey findings that the people
are not worrying about the cost of the product in purchasing shampoo. The income levels of the
people are good hence they can bear the cost of shampoo. The price is not having any negative
impact on the purchasing decision of the customer since many costly brands are also available in
the market
 e. Culture
Culture is associated with a set of ideas and values following from the ancestors. The group of
individuals is habituated to learn from their parents and grandparents and viewing advertisements
on making decisions related to the use of the shampoo and other alternatives for protecting hair.
In this aspect, gender plays an important role in selecting the right shampoo [ CITATION Har143
\l 1033 ]

f. Consumer Learning Process

Learning is the change that occurred due to gaining experience related to the selection of the
right shampoo that meets the needs of the people. It occurs due to celebrity advertisements on
communication media like TV and social media and learning from the experience of friends and
family members. From the research findings, it identified that many of the people learning about
Pantene shampoo through social media advertisements. It is successful when the past customers
are satisfied with the product

g. Personal Buying and Decision-making Process

The level of involvement of consumers also plays an important role in making decisions related
to purchasing shampoo. It makes based on the brand of product, price factor, and reputation in
the market. Still, many of the people do not know about the product hence they depend on others
to decide whether to purchase or not.

3. Communication Mix Alignment with Findings

It needs to assess the communication mix elements to determine whether it aligns with key
findings of the survey results or not. From the results, it can be confirmed that the consumers are
selecting the product category which is well known to them, and have good benefits in
improving haircare and protection to hair. It is understood that similar brands to Pantene are also
possessed similar characteristics including Head and Shoulder, Garnier, Dove, Tresemme, and
LOreal. These help resolve various issues of hair damage, hair fall, dryness, split ends,
roughness, and make hair stronger and shiny. But, Pantene also tends to deliver more hair
solutions at less price. In purchasing this product, the information from different sources has
been using including internal and external sources. The internal sources include friends and
family recommendations and their knowledge. The external sources include online reviews made
regarding features of shampoo.
From the study, it is revealed that the reputation of a company is important in choosing a
product. As Pantene is developed by P and G, it has a lot of reputation in the market for many
other products. Few participants mentioned that they do not aware of the product called Pantene
before. This is due to the occurrence of the gap between the marketing campaigns and the lack of
effective marketing approaches and the lack of new offers and discounts of the product. The gap
resulting in removing connections with customers and completely forgetting about the
product[ CITATION Tod15 \l 1033 ]. It is not possible to gain a reputation among customers
without effective strategies for marketing. There is another finding of the product that is well
known to the customers a few years back as it is promoted highly by celebrities. From this, it is
conveyed that continuous promotion is required for a product to ensure its awareness in the
market and positively affecting customer behavior. This resulting in changing the customer
attitude and stopping the customer learning process regarding the product.

The communication marketing mix elements are not properly aligning product promotions over
social media. The participants are not much depending on family, friends, and colleagues. Social
media playing an important role in promoting products with customers in the present day. The
number of people using the internet and social media sites is increasing day by day and that
playing a crucial role in changing consumer behavior and attitude. The media effective in
promoting products include offline technologies like Television and coupons[ CITATION
Bah13 \l 1033 ]. The respondents claimed that the Pantene brand to enhance the promotional
levels of the product to gain the highest reachable level in the market. It is required to improve
awareness among the people that belonged to lower social class i.e. poor educational background
and less income earning people. The company P and G have to focus on the cultural differences
of countries to reach more target customers to change their attitude towards the product.

From the survey findings, it is observed that the promotion of the products through
celebrities don’t influence the customer purchasing decision. In this aspect, personal lifestyle and
family lifestyle and group and individual differences playing an important role. The respondents
claimed that the buyers look only for various features including quality, brand value, price, and
multipurpose features presented with the product. But, the study suggests that price is not an
important factor in making their decision. Overall, the study indicated that the company is not
aligning properly with consumer behavior and understanding their psychology in increasing the
sales of products[ CITATION Mih16 \l 1033 ]. It has focused on the elements of the
communication mix to created interest towards Pantene by conveying its benefits to hair
protection.

4. Strategic Recommendations to Address Misalignment of Company with Findings

The strategic recommendations provided to strengthen the alignment of the marketing mix by the
company are provided as described below.

 Collection of data regarding consumer behavior: The P and G company has to focus on
the collection of the customer data by using different techniques including surveys, customer
reviews, Q and A sites, Google Analytics, keyword research, blog comments, focus groups,
competitor analysis, social media, Google trends, and Twitter insiders are to know more
about the consumer behavior towards the Pantene Shampoo[ CITATION Kit20 \l 1033 ].
Millions of customers are using these tools to reflect their experiences and opinions
regarding the improvements required for the product. These are also helpful in getting a clear
view of different factors including social factors, psychological factors, and personal factors
affecting the customer purchasing decision and developing suitable strategies to change
mindset and perceptions. These provide sufficient information about the customer interests,
problems, demographics, and reputation of the brand in the market.
 Removing the problems presented with Pantene Shampoo: Several problems are
currently associated with Pantene Shampoo. Those include not a consideration of the hair
color problem, reduced brand loyalty, insufficient integration of Pro-vitamin, not offering
competing features, availability of choices, improvement of access through online media,
engaging with customers while developing the product, and increased sales loss and
decreased revenue. The customer side problems are must be removed by engaging the R and
D department to know their problems and providing good solutions. Establishment of online
communication helps in building brand loyalty with customers, receiving customer
complaints, and facilitation of immediate response to resolve their issues, and developing the
shampoo product with new features. Pantene is failing to understand the moves taken by its
competitors due to a lack of future focus and inabilities in developing innovative products.
 Recognizing the significance of customer psychology: Understanding customer
psychology is very important in running a business successfully. It needs to concentrate on
 five determinants of consumer behavior including social, cultural, personal, economic, and
psychological. Understanding consumer psychology offers a lot of benefits to P and G
Company including distinguishing the consumers, creating relevant marketing campaigns for
different customer segments, enhancing customer service, predicting the market trends,
developing innovative products, gaining competitive advantage in the market, and enhancing
consumer retention. Understanding consumer behavior useful in focusing more on the
marketing activities to continuously align with them without any gap and avoiding customer
shift to competitors. It also helps in fulfilling the customer requirements and needs and
creating awareness on the proper use of products.

5. Conclusion
Consumer behavior and marketing psychology are related to each other in managing a business.
The present report focused on analyzing the problems related to customer behavior management.
It included key topics such as Pantene product and its market performance, evaluating the
communication marketing mix, communication mix alignment with survey findings, and
facilitating strategic recommendations to strengthen alignment. It is identified that the market
performance of Pantene is good in terms of its market value. A critical assessment of the
communication mix is performed in terms of various aspects including perception, motivation,
attitude, culture, lifestyle and family influences, social class, individual and group differences,
personal purchasing decision-making processes, and consumer learning processes towards
purchasing a product. The key findings related to determining the alignment of communication
marketing mix elements with consumer behavior are provided effectively. The strategic
recommendations provided to address the misalignment of the company include the collection of
data regarding consumer behavior, removing the problems presented with Pantene Shampoo, and
recognizing the significance of customer psychology. These must be followed by P and G
Company to ensure success in converting negative opinions of customers to positive opinions.
References
Bakator, M., Ivin, D., Vuković, Đ. & Petrović, N., 2016. Analysis Of Consumer Behavior And
Marketing Strategy Improvement. Montenegro, s.n.

Jansson-Boyd, 2010. Consumer Psychology. New York: McGraw-Hill Education (UK).

Kotler, P. et al., 2019. Marketing Management. 4th ed. UK: Pearson.

Mullen, B. & Johnson, C., 2013. The Psychology of Consumer Behavior. New Jersey:
Psychology Press.

P&G Professional, 2020. Pantene® Shampoo. [Online]

Available at: https://www.pgpro.com/brands/pantene/pantene-shampoo/#:~:text=You%20need
%20cleaning%20that%20helps%20remove%20buildup%20while%20leaving%20hair%20with
%20shine.&text=Use%20as%20the%20first%20step,hair%20shiny%20and%20healthy
%2Dlooking.
[Accessed 09 June 2020].

Pour, B. S., Nazari, K. & Emami, M., 2013. The effect of marketing mix in attracting customers:
Case study of Saderat Bank in Kermanshah Province. African Journal of Business Management,
7(34), pp. 3272-3280.

Smith, K., 2020. How to Understand and Influence Consumer Behavior. [Online]
Available at: https://www.brandwatch.com/blog/how-understand-influence-consumer-behavior/
[Accessed 10 June 2020].

Spotts, H. E., 2014. Revolution in Marketing: Market Driving Changes: Proceedings of the 2006
Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference. USA: Springer.

Statista, 2020. Brand value of Pantene worldwide from 2016 to 2019. [Online]
Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1010952/pantene-brand-value-worldwide/
[Accessed 09 June 2020].

Todorova, G., 2015. Marketing communication mix. Trakai Journal of Sciences, 13(1), pp. 368-
374.
Appendix