September 17, 2020 Adarsh Gahlaut, Asst. Prof.

, SIMT Kashipur
  Attention:
 Human beings are constantly bombarded with stimuli during every minute
of the day. According to the principles of sensation, intensive stimulation
“bounces off” most individuals, who sub consciously block a heavy
bombardment of stimuli. One type of input is physical stimuli from the
outside environment; the other type of input is provided by individuals
themselves in the form of certain predispositions based on previous
experience. The combination of these two inputs produces for each of us a
very private, personal picture of the world.
 e.g. if you would require Laptop in your expected range from the market
where Tablet or Mobile phones also expose with same features, should serve
to confuse us totally but it does not.

 Perceptual Selection:
 An individual may look at some things, ignore others, and turn away from
still others. It depends on two major factors in addition to the nature of the
stimulus itself (1) Consumers Previous experience and (2) their motive at a
time.
September 17, 2020 Adarsh Gahlaut, Asst. Prof., SIMT Kashipur
  Stimulus Factors: consumer’s perception is effected by numerous
marketing-related stimuli such as product, physical characteristics,
packaging, colour, brand name, advertisement, size of ad, position of ad
or time of commercial.
 Expectations: expectation is based on familiarity and previous
experience. Consumers often perceive products and product attributes
according to their expectations.
 In a marketing context, people tend to perceive products and product
attributes according to their own expectations.
 Motives: people tend to perceive the things they need or want;
“stronger the felt need, the greater is the tendency to notice motive-
related things and ignore unrelated stimuli in the environment”. We
perceive only small fraction of stimuli to which we are exposed.
 e.g. Computers: person is more likely to notice ads of computers and
ignore other ads

September 17, 2020 Adarsh Gahlaut, Asst. Prof., SIMT Kashipur

  Selective Exposure: exposure occurs when consumers’ senses are activated
by stimulus. Consumers are attentive to stimuli that are relevant, pleasant, or
towards which they may be sympathetic and ignore unpleasant and painful
stimulus.

 Selective Attention: attention is the momentary focusing of a consumer’s

cognitive capacity where consumers have increased awareness of stimuli that
are relevant to their felt needs or interest and decreased awareness of
irrelevant stimuli.

 Adaptation: it refers to gradual adjustment to stimuli to which consumers are

exposed for prolonged periods. Because of adaptation, consumers do not
notice the stimuli to which they have become adjusted.

 e.g. Air-conditioned Film Theatres feels quite cools in the beginning but a
short time later we adapt to temperature and become less aware of it. Even,
they reduce their attention level to frequently repeated advertisements.

September 17, 2020 Adarsh Gahlaut, Asst. Prof., SIMT Kashipur

  Perceptual Blocking: consumers are exposed to innumerable stimuli in a
typical day. They protect themselves from being overwhelmed and
overburdened by blocking such numerous stimuli from their conscious
awareness.
 Consumers protect themselves from being bombarded with stimuli by
simply “tuning out” TV advertising.

 Perceptual Organisation: individuals tend to organise these sensations into

a coherent pattern and perceive them. It is depended upon ‘Gestalt’
psychology which means “pattern’or “configuration”.
 It is focused on three principles:
 Figure and Ground
 Grouping
 Closure

September 17, 2020 Adarsh Gahlaut, Asst. Prof., SIMT Kashipur

  Figure and Ground: we generally notice black against white and do not
notice white in white. Advertisers are using white background to show the
products to be notice, or else they can blur the figure and ground so that
consumers search for the advertised product.
 Grouping: individuals tend to group stimuli so that they form a unified
picture or impression. The perception of stimuli as groups or chunks of
information. Consumers relate their all stimuli to one factor.
 e.g. Soft Drinks are usually shown being enjoyed in active and fun-loving
settings, while ad of Tea or Coffee may show a young woman and man
sipping the beverage in a beautifully furnished and decorated living room.
 Closure: people remember incomplete tasks better than completed tasks
because a person who begins a task develops the need to complete it.
 Consumers express this need by organising their perceptions so that they
form a complete picture.
 e.g. TV commercial of Nirma or Lifebuoy: leave its background music
incomplete or mute, familiar listeners complete it in their memory.

September 17, 2020 Adarsh Gahlaut, Asst. Prof., SIMT Kashipur

Interpretation of Stimuli
 Perceptual interpretation refers to assigning of meaning to sensations.
Interpretation of stimuli by individuals is based on their earlier experiences.
Stimuli can often be weak or strong and may prove to be quite ambiguous to
individuals.

 “A person sees what he/she expects to see”.

 A number of factors influence individuals that may distort their perceptions:

 Physical Appearance: people may or may not consciously recognise that

they tend to attribute the qualities.

 For example, attractive looking men are perceived as more successful in

business than average looking men, or attractive models in ads and commercial
prove more persuasive and have a more positive impact on consumer attitudes
and behaviour.

September 17, 2020 Adarsh Gahlaut, Asst. Prof., SIMT Kashipur

  Irrelevant Stimuli: in certain situations, consumers are faced with difficult
perceptual judgements and they often respond to somewhat irrelevant
stimuli. e.g. Colour of Washing Machine: in making the final purchase,
 Expensive Cars: consumers often give importance to the shape of
headlamps, design rather than technical features.
 First Impression: “first impression are often lasting even”
 e.g. Imported items (shoes, clothes, wristwatches etc.)
 Jumping to Conclusions: some people seem to have a strong tendency to
draw conclusions based on insufficient information and it cause impatience
about examining all the relevant evidence, which may be necessary to draw
a balanced conclusion.
 Stereotyping Stimuli: people tend to form “pictures” in their minds of the
meanings of different types of stimuli and it helps them develop
expectations about how specific events, people, or situations will turn out to
be. e.g. Politicians or Police Behaviour ‘pictures’

September 17, 2020 Adarsh Gahlaut, Asst. Prof., SIMT Kashipur

  Halo Effect (indication of light surrounded to its origin): it refers to
evaluate one attribute or aspect of stimulus to distort reactions to its other
attributes or properties. It depends on brand reputation in the market.
 e.g. Dettol Soap, Ayurvedic Medicines.

 There are some following perceptions which may be perceived by

consumers on their buying process:

 Price Perceptions:
 A consumer is price sensitive who perceives the price of a product or
service as high, low, or fair has significant influence on buying intentions and
post-purchase satisfaction.
 Consumers have certain expectations of what the price is should be a
product or service.
 Their expectations may or may not reflect the actual price of the product or
service.
 Consumers often associate the price of a product or service with quality.

September 17, 2020 Adarsh Gahlaut, Asst. Prof., SIMT Kashipur

  According to Marielza Martins and Kent B. Monroe have reported that
price unfairness affects consumer perceptions of product value and
purchase intentions and reducing perceptions of price unfairness
increases product’s perceived value.

 ‘Acceptable Price Range’ where consumers are willing to accept a

range of prices for a product or service.

 e.g. if a music system might be from Rs. 12,000 on lower end to Rs.
22,000 on higher end, then higher end price is called “reservation
price”. If price of music system would go before lower level, then
consumer might be suspicious about product quality and above the
higher level the product would be considered expensive

September 17, 2020 Adarsh Gahlaut, Asst. Prof., SIMT Kashipur

  According to “acquisition-transaction utility theory”, there are two types
of utility associated with consumer purchases. One is “acquisition utility’
which relates to the perceived economic gain or loss associated with a
purchase and depends on utility and its purchase price. The second is
“transaction utility” which involves the perceived pleasure or displeasure
associated with the monetary aspect of the purchase.

 Marketers use the following price stimulus:

 Tensile Price Claims: communicate a range of price savings such as ‘save

up to 50%”, “save 20% to 40%”, save 30% or more”

 Objective Price Claims: offer a single discount level such as “save 20%”.

Above both produce a more powerful impact on consumer purchases.

September 17, 2020 Adarsh Gahlaut, Asst. Prof., SIMT Kashipur

  Perceived Product & Service Quality :

 Consumers often tend to assess the quality of a product or service on the

basis of different types of information they relate with the product or
service. Intrinsic cues (stimuli) relate to the physical attributes of the
product such as the size, colour, or smell etc. which are sometimes used to
judge the quality of a product.
 Consumers lacking actual experience with the product tend to judge the
quality on the basis of extrinsic cues.
 e.g. Colgate toothpaste, Deodorant & Perfumes: marketers advertise several
sub-items of them to attend the consumers’ buying behaviour, and
consumers perceive as per advertisement without knowing actual
experience with product.
 Services are generally first sold and then produced and consumed
simultaneously. Product defects are likely to be detected during quality
control in the factory before it reaches the customer.
 e.g. a defective haircut.
September 17, 2020 Adarsh Gahlaut, Asst. Prof., SIMT Kashipur
  Some researchers believe that there are five dimensions of service quality:

 The appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel and

communication materials.

 Ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately.

 Willingness to help customers and provide prompt service.

 Knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to convey trust and
confidence.

 Caring, individualised attention that the firm provides to the customers.

September 17, 2020 Adarsh Gahlaut, Asst. Prof., SIMT Kashipur

  Brand Image:
 It is the set of human characteristics linked to the brand that consumers hold
in memory. Consumer loyalty is associated with positive brand image and
they are willing to search for their preferred brand.
 Brand image is really the sum total of impressions created by the brand in
the consumer’s mind. This includes consumer’s impressions about the
brand’s physical characteristics, its performance, the functional benefits, the
kind of people who use the brand, the emotions and associations it develops
and the imagery or the symbolic meanings it generate.

 Consumers’Risk Perception:
 Risk Perception can be defined as “the consumers” perceptions of
uncertainty that they face when they are unable to foresee various
consequences of their purchase decisions.
 Consumers may face several different types of risks in making purchase
decisions, they are:

September 17, 2020 Adarsh Gahlaut, Asst. Prof., SIMT Kashipur

  Financial or monetary risk is the risk that the product will not be worth its
cost. Expensive product and service are most subject to this risk.

 Performance Risk, which is associated with the possibility that the product
will not perform as anticipated or may even fail. The risk is greatest when
the product is technically complex.
 e.g. an Expensive Computer

 Physical Risk refers to bodily harm to self and others sure to product usage.
 e.g. LPG gas, excess use of allopathic medicines.

 Social Risk, which means that a poor product purchase may not meet the
standards of an important reference group and may result in social
embarrassment.
 e.g. Rolex watches, car, branded clothes.

 Psychological Risk relates to loss of self-esteem or self-image as a result of

poor choice and making her/him feel stupid.

September 17, 2020 Adarsh Gahlaut, Asst. Prof., SIMT Kashipur

  Dealing with Risk:
Consumers use various strategies to deal with perceived risk. Some of the
strategies that consumers adopt to deal with risk are:

 They acquire additional information which helps them to better assess the
risk.
 They remain brand loyal.
 They buy the most popular brand because they usually believe that well-
known and popular brands can be trusted.
 They buy most expensive model or brand as they often associate price with
quality.
 They rely on store image.
 They seek money-back guarantee, warranties and pre-purchase trial.
 Buy the smallest pack size, or lowest-priced item.
 Reduce level of expectations to reduce psychological consequences before
making the purchase.
September 17, 2020 Adarsh Gahlaut, Asst. Prof., SIMT Kashipur