CHAPTER 4

Consumer Markets and Buyer Behaviour

Principles and Practice Learning Objectives

of Marketing
5.1 Define the consumer market and model of consumer
buyer behaviour.
Chapter 5 5.2 The four major characteristics affecting consumer
Consumer Markets and 5.3 Major types of buying decision behaviour
Buyer Behaviour 5.4 The stages in the buyer decision process.
5.5 The buyer process for new products

1 2

Consumer Markets and Buyer Behaviour

▪ Consumer buyer behaviour is the buying behavior of final consumers—

Learning individuals and households that buy goods and services for personal
consumption.
Objective 1 ▪ Consumer markets are made up of all the individuals and households that
buy or acquire goods and services for personal consumption.
Define the consumer market
and model of consumer buyer
behavior.

3 4

Prepared by Nani Ilyana Shafie 1

 CHAPTER 4
Consumer Markets and Buyer Behaviour

Learning
Objective 2
The four major characteristics
Model of Consumer Behavior affecting consumer

Figure 5.1 The Model of Buyer Behavior

5 6

Characteristics Affecting Consumer Behaviour

1. Cultural Factors

▪ Culture is the set of basic values, perceptions,

wants, and behaviours learned by a member of
society from family and other important
institutions.
▪ Marketers need to understand the role played
by the buyer’s culture, subculture, and social
class.
▪ Subcultures are groups of people within a
Characteristics Affecting Consumer Behaviour culture with shared value systems based on
common life experiences and situations.
Figure 5.2 Factors Influencing Consumer Behaviour Targeting Hispanic consumers: Nestle’s DiGiorno
brand worked with Twitter’s U.S. Hispanics team
and the NFL to create a football campaign with
Spanish tweets.

7 8

Prepared by Nani Ilyana Shafie 2

 CHAPTER 4
Consumer Markets and Buyer Behaviour

Characteristics Affecting Consumer Behaviour Characteristics Affecting Consumer Behaviour

1. Cultural Factors 2. Social Factors
▪ Social classes are society’s relatively permanent Groups and Social Networks
and ordered divisions whose members share ▪ Reference groups
similar values, interests, and behaviors.
▪ Opinion leaders
▪ Measured as a combination of occupation, ▪ Word-of-mouth influence
income, education, wealth, and other variables
▪ Influencer marketing
▪ Online social networks

Influencer marketing: CoverGirl’s “I Am

What I Make Up” campaign uses a diverse
team of influential brand ambassadors
who explain authentically in their own
words what the slogan means to them.

9 10

Characteristics Affecting Consumer Behaviour

2. Social Factors

▪ Family is the most important consumer buying
organization in society. Marketers are interested in the
roles and influence of the husband, wife, and children
on the purchase of different products and services.
▪ Role and status can be defined by a person’s position
in a group. For example; consider the various roles a
working mother plays. In her company, she may play
the role of a brand manager; in her family, she plays
the role of wife and mother; at her favorite sporting
events, she plays the role of avid fan.
year, Disney invites 175 to 200 moms and their families to
Characteristics ▪ Occupation affects the goods and services bought by
consumers.
Affecting
Consumer ▪ Age and Life Stage affect tastes in food, clothes,
furniture, ad recreation.
Behaviour
▪ Economic situations include trends in spending,
3. Personal
personal income, savings, and interest rates. A person’s
Factors economic situation will affect store and product choice.
Harnessing the power of mom-to-mom influence: Each
its Disney Social Media Moms Celebration in Florida, an
affair that’s a mix of public relations event, educational
conference, and family vacation with plenty of Disney
magic for these important mom influencers.

11 12

Prepared by Nani Ilyana Shafie 3

 CHAPTER 4
Consumer Markets and Buyer Behaviour

▪ Lifestyle is a person’s pattern of living as expressed in

his or her psychographics.
▪ This involves measuring major AIO dimensions
Characteristics such as activities (work, hobbies, shopping, sports, Characteristics
Affecting social events), interests (food, fashion, family, Affecting  Motivation
recreation), and opinions (about themselves, social  Perception
Consumer issues, business, products).
Consumer
Behaviour Behaviour  Learning
▪ Personality refers to the unique psychological
3. Personal characteristics that distinguish a person or group. The 3. Psychological  Beliefs and attitudes
Factors idea is that brands also have personalities, and Factors This classic ad from the American
consumers are likely to choose brands with Association of Advertising Agencies
pokes fun at subliminal advertising.
personalities that match their own. “So-called ‘subliminal advertising’
simply doesn’t exist,” says the ad.
“Overactive imaginations, however,
most certainly do.”

13 14

Characteristics
❑ A motive (or drive) is a need that is sufficiently pressing
Affecting to direct the person to seek satisfaction with the need.
Consumer ❑ Psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud suggested that a person’s
Behaviour buying decisions are affected by subconscious motives
3. Psychological that even the buyer may not fully understand.
Factors ❑ Motivation research refers to qualitative research
designed to probe consumers’ hidden, subconscious
motivations.
Characteristics Affecting Consumer Behavior
Figure 5.3 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

15 16

Prepared by Nani Ilyana Shafie 4

 CHAPTER 4
Consumer Markets and Buyer Behaviour

Selective attention is the tendency for people to

screen out most of the information to which they
Perception is the process by which people select, organize, are exposed.
Characteristics and interpret information to form a meaningful picture of
the world. Characteristics
Affecting Affecting Selective distortion is the tendency for people to
Consumer Consumer interpret information in a way that will support
Behaviour Perceptual Processes Behaviour what they already believe.

3. Psychological 3. Psychological
Factors • Selective attention
Factors Selective retention is the tendency to remember
• Selective distortion good points made about a brand they favor and
• Selective retention forget good points made about competing brands.

17 18

Learning is the change in an ▪ A belief is a descriptive thought

that a person has about something
Characteristics individual’s behavior arising from Characteristics based on:
Affecting experience and occurs through the Affecting ▪ knowledge
Consumer interplay of: Consumer ▪ opinion
Behaviour Behaviour ▪ Faith
• Drives
3. Psychological 3. Psychological ▪ An attitude describes a person’s
• Stimuli
Factors Factors relatively consistent evaluations,
• Cues feelings, and tendencies toward an
• Responses object or idea.
• Reinforcement

19 20

Prepared by Nani Ilyana Shafie 5

 CHAPTER 4
Consumer Markets and Buyer Behaviour

Dissonance-
Complex buying Habitual buying Variety-seeking
reducing buying
behavior behavior buying behavior
behavior

Learning
Objective 3
Major types of buying
decision behaviour
Major Types of Buying Decision Behaviour

21 22

Consumers undertake complex buying behavior when they

are highly involved in a purchase and perceive significant
differences among brands.

Consumers may be highly involved when the product is

expensive, risky, purchased infrequently, and highly self- Complex
expressive.
Buying
Source: Adapted from Henry Assael, Consumer Behavior and Marketing Action (Boston: Behavior
Kent Publishing Company, 1987), p. 87. Used with permission of the author. Typically, the consumer has much to learn about the
product category.

Types of Buying Decision Behaviour Marketers of high-involvement products must understand

the information-gathering and evaluation behavior of
high-involvement consumers.
Figure 5.4 Four Types of Buying Behavior

23 24

Prepared by Nani Ilyana Shafie 6

 CHAPTER 4
Consumer Markets and Buyer Behaviour

Habitual buying behavior occurs under conditions of

Dissonance-reducing buying behavior occurs when low consumer involvement and little significant brand
consumers are highly involved with an expensive, difference.
infrequent, or risky purchase, but see little difference among
brands.
Dissonance- Consumer behavior does not pass through the usual
After the purchase, consumers might experience post- belief-attitude-behavior sequence. Habitual
purchase dissonance (after-sale discomfort) when they Reducing
Buying
notice certain disadvantages of the purchased brand or hear Buying
favorable things about brands not purchased. Consumers do not search extensively for information Behavior
Behavior about the brands, evaluate brand characteristics, and
make weighty decisions about which brands to buy.
To counter such dissonance, the marketer’s after-sale
communications should provide evidence and support to
help consumers feel good about their brand choices. They passively receive information as they watch
television or read magazines

25 26

Because buyers are not highly committed to any

brands, marketers of low-involvement products
with few brand differences often use price and
sales promotions to stimulate

Variety-
Consumers undertake variety-seeking buying seeking buying
behaviour in situations characterized by low
consumer involvement but significant perceived behavior Learning
brand differences.
Objective 4
The stages in the buyer
decision process.
In such cases, consumers often do a lot of brand
switching.

27 28

Prepared by Nani Ilyana Shafie 7

 CHAPTER 4
Consumer Markets and Buyer Behaviour

The Buyer Decision Process

1. Need recognition

 Need recognition is the first stage of the buyer decision process, in which
the consumer recognizes a problem or need to be triggered by:
 Internal stimuli
Figure 5.5 The Buyer Decision Process  External stimuli

29 30

The Buyer Decision Process The Buyer Decision Process

2. Information Search 3. Evaluation of Alternatives

 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 (family, friends, neighbors, acquaintances)
 Commercial sources (advertising, salespeople, websites, dealers,
packaging, displays)
 Public sources (mass media, consumer rating organizations, internet
searches)
 Experiential sources (handling, examining, using the product)
 Alternative evaluation is the stage of the buyer decision process in which the
consumer uses the information to evaluate alternative brands in the choice
set.
 How consumers go about evaluating purchase alternatives depends on the
individual consumer and the specific buying situation.
 In some cases, consumers use careful calculations and logical thinking.
 At other times, the same consumers do little or no evaluating; instead, they
buy on impulse and rely on intuition.

31 32

Prepared by Nani Ilyana Shafie 8

 CHAPTER 4
Consumer Markets and Buyer Behaviour

The Buyer Decision Process The Buyer Decision Process

4. Purchase Decision 5. Post-purchase Behaviour

 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
 Post purchase behaviour is the stage of the buyer decision process in which consumers
take further action after purchase, based on their satisfaction or dissatisfaction.
 The difference between the consumer’s expectations and the perceived performance of the
item purchased determines the degree of consumer satisfaction.
 If the product falls short of expectations, the consumer is disappointed; if it meets
expectations, the consumer is satisfied; if it exceeds expectations, the consumer is
delighted.
 Cognitive dissonance, or discomfort caused by post-purchase conflict, occurs in most
major purchases.

33 34

The Buyer Decision Process

5. Post-purchase Behaviour

▪ Post purchases cognitive dissonance: Post-purchase customer

satisfaction is a key to building profitable customer
relationships.
Learning
▪ Most marketers go beyond merely meeting the customer
expectations—they aim to delight customers.
Objective 5
The buyer process for new
products

35 36

Prepared by Nani Ilyana Shafie 9

 CHAPTER 4
Consumer Markets and Buyer Behaviour

 A new product is a good, service, or idea that is perceived

by some potential customers as new.
 The adoption process is the mental process an individual
goes through from first learning about an innovation to Individual Differences in Innovativeness
final regular use.
The Buyer The Buyer  Innovators
 Stages in the adoption process include:
Decision  Awareness Decision  Early Adopters
Process for  Interest Process for  Early Mainstream
New Products  Evaluation New Products  Late Mainstream
 Trial
 Adoption  Lagging Adopters

The adoption process: To help get tentative consumers

over the buying decision hump, Beyond Meat invited
consumers to “try some free—zip, zero, zilch” at their
local grocery store.

37 38

 Influence of Product Characteristics on Rate of Adoption

 Relative advantage
 Compatibility

The Buyer Analyzing and  Complexity

 Divisibility
Decision Using  Communicability

Process for Marketing

New Products Information
Figure 5.6 Adopter Categories
Based on Relative Time of
Adoption of Innovations

39 40

Prepared by Nani Ilyana Shafie 10