Consumer Behaviour

Eighth Canadian Edition

Chapter 10
Buying and Disposing

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Chapter Objectives (1 of 2)
When you finish reading this chapter, you will understand
why:
10.1 Many contextual factors at the time of purchase
dramatically influence the consumer’s decision-making
process, such as elements of the physical and social
environment.
10.2 Various antecedent states influence buying decisions.
10.3 E-commerce has changed consumer behaviour.
10.4 In retail settings, there are entertainment aspects of the
store environment that affect consumers.

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Chapter Objectives (2 of 2)
10.5 Consumers who shop in-store can make unplanned or
impulse purchases.
10.6 Marketers need to be concerned about a consumer’s
satisfaction with a product after he or she buys it, as
well as before the purchase takes place.
10.7 Disposing of products when consumers no longer need
or want them is a major concern both to marketers and
to public policy makers.

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Issues Related to Purchase and
Postpurchase Activities
• A consumer’s choices are affected by many personal
factors…and the sale doesn’t end at the time of purchase

FIGURE 10–1 Issues Related to Purchase and Post-purchase Activities

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Situational Effects on Consumer Behaviour
Consumption situation
Defined by contextual factors over and above characteristics
of the person and the product
We tailor our purchases to specific occasions
– The way we feel at a particular time affects what we buy or
do
– Situational self-image (“Who am I right now?”)
 Identifying usage situations

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Physical and Social Surroundings
• Affect a consumer’s motives for product usage and product
evaluation
– Décor, odors, temperature
– Co-consumers as product attributes
 Large numbers of people = arousal
 Interpretation of arousal: density vs. crowding
 Type of consumer patrons matters
 consumer contamination

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Temporal Factors (Economic Time)
Economic time
• Time style: Consumers try to maximize satisfaction by
dividing time among tasks
• Time poverty
– One-third of Canadians feel rushed
– Marketing high tech innovations allow us to save time
– Polychronic
activity/multitasking

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Temporal Factors (Psychological Time) (1 of 4)
Psychological time: Consumers’ perception of time
– Flow time
– Occasion time
– Deadline time
– Leisure time
– Time to kill

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Temporal Factors (Psychological Time) (2 of 4)
In Korea, one solution to
increasing time poverty is to
display a virtual grocery store
in the subway, where
consumers can shop on their
commute home.

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Temporal Factors (Psychological Time) (3 of 4)
Four dimensions of time:
– social dimension
– temporal orientation dimension
– planning orientation dimension
– polychronic orientation dimension

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Temporal Factors (Psychological Time) (4 of 4)
• Five metaphors that they say capture the participants’
perspectives on time:
• Time is a pressure
cooker
• Time is a map

This infographic highlights the many ways in

which consumers spend their time.

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Queuing Theory (1 of 2)
• Queuing theory: mathematical study of waiting lines
– Waiting for product = good quality
– Too much waiting = negative feelings
– Marketers use “tricks” to minimize psychological waiting
time

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Queuing Theory (2 of 2)

One interesting finding with regard to queuing theory is that consumers are happier with the
experience of standing in line when there are more people in the line behind them.

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Antecedent States: If it feels good…
Antecedent states: Mood/physiological condition influences
what we buy and how we evaluate product
• Pleasure and arousal
• Mood congruency
– Mood biases judgments of products/services
– Moods are affected by store design, music, TV programs

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Dimensions of Emotional States

FIGURE 10–2 Dimensions of Emotional States

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Shopping: Job or Adventure?
• Social motives for shopping are important
– Shopping for utilitarian or hedonic reasons
– Women “shop to love,” while men “shop to win”
• The reasons we shop are more complex than may appear
on the surface!
– Think about it: Do you shop differently with a “date” than
when you shop with a group of friends?

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Reasons for Shopping
Reasons for shopping:
• Vary by product category, store type, and culture
• Hedonic reasons include:
– Social experiences
– Sharing of common interests
– Interpersonal attraction
– Instant status
– The thrill of the hunt
– Group pressure

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Shopping Orientation
Several shopping types:
– Economic consumer
– Personalized consumer
– Ethical consumer
– Apathetic consumer
– Recreational shopper
 Think about it: What kind of shopper are you?

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E-commerce: Clicks vs. Bricks
• E-commerce reaches customers around the world, but
competition increases exponentially
• Benefits: Good customer service, technology value allows
for short runs of products, other services
– “See it On” virtual service
– pretailing
• Limitations: Security/identity theft concerns, actual
shopping experience, large delivery/return shipping
charges

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Social Shopping (1 of 2)
• Defined as an emerging form of e-commerce that allows
an online shopper to simulate the experience of shopping
with others in a bricks-and-mortar store
– social shopping mechanisms now being introduced at a
rapid rate

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Social Shopping (2 of 2)
While Amazon might have begun with
books, its e-commerce platform has
expanded to include electronics,
apparel, food, and jewellery to name
just a few categories. It has also moved
into bricks via its acquisition of Whole
Foods Market, and video streaming
and production. Estimated monthly
traffic is 141 million visits at
amazon.ca.47

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Retailing as Theatre
• Competition for customers is becoming intense as
nonstore alternatives multiply
• Malls gain loyalty by appealing to social motives “more
than a store”
• Retail techniques:
– Landscape themes
– Marketscape themes
– Cyberspace themes

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Store Image
Store image: personality of the store
• Location + merchandise suitability +
knowledge/congeniality of sales staff
• Some factors in overall evaluation of a store:
– Interior design
– Types of patrons
– Return policies
– Credit availability

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Atmospherics (1 of 2)
• Conscious designing of space and dimensions to evoke
certain effects in buyers
Store atmospherics can be more than
lighting. Canada Goose’s store in
Montreal comes with its own walk-in
freezer. Not for food mind you, but for
customers to try out their coats in
below freezing temperatures before
purchase.

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Atmospherics (2 of 2)
• Colours/lighting, scents, and sounds/music affect time
spent in store as well as spending habits
– Examples:
 Bright flat lighting = more clothing sales
 Loud fast music = eat more
 Slow melancholic music = drink more

Think about it: What strategies can stores can use to enhance
the emotional/sensory experiences of their customers?

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In-Store Decision-Making Summary
• Spontaneous shopping consists of:
– Unplanned buying: Reminded to buy something
– Impulse buying: Sudden, irresistible urge to buy
– For example:
 Sell sweets at eye level, midway along aisles, where shoppers’
attention lingers longest
 Sprinkle the same product throughout the store, rather than
grouping it in one spot, to boost sales through repetitive
exposure

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Spontaneous Shopping
• Unplanned buying vs. impulse buying
– Wider aisle displays with high profit margins encourage
browsing
– Portable shopper in grocery stores
• Planners vs. partial planners vs. impulse purchasers

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Point of Purchase Stimuli
Point-of-purchase POP
Can be an elaborate product display or demonstration, a
coupon-dispensing machine, or even someone giving out
free samples
– Pepsi changes pop can design
– Coors Light sport labels
– Huggies’s Henry the Hippo hand soap bottles

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The Sales Person
Exchange theory:
Every interaction involves an exchange of value
– Expertise, likeability
– Commercial friendship
– Incidental similarity
• Dyadic relationship between buyer/seller
– Identity negotiation
– Salespersons’ styles differ
– interaction styles

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Postpurchase Satisfaction
Postpurchase satisfaction
or dissatisfaction (CS/D) is determined by attitude about a
product after purchase
• Marketers constantly on lookout for sources of consumer
dissatisfaction
– Canadian banks proved that better service commanded a
larger share of “wallet” than did others

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Perceptions of Product Quality
Expectancy disconfirmation model
Consumers form beliefs of product quality based on prior
performance
• Marketers should manage expectations
– Don’t promise what you can’t deliver
– Expectations determine satisfaction and/or dissatisfaction
– Underpromising strategies often work well
 Think about it: Is the customer always right?

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Managing Quality Expectations

FIGURE 10–3 Managing Quality Expectations

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Acting on Dissatisfaction (1 of 2)
Three ways consumers can act on dissatisfaction:
• Voice response: Appeal to retailer directly
• Private response: Express dissatisfaction to friends or
boycott store
• Third-party response: legal action

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Acting on Dissatisfaction (2 of 2)
Review platforms such as Yelp
and TripAdvisor make it
increasingly easy for
consumers to voice their
Dissatisfaction with a product
or brand to a third party in a
way that also communicates
this information to other
consumers.

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The Real Value of Happy Customers
• A loyal buyer with a low referral rate averaged $49, a buyer
with a high referral rate brought in $670.
• 78% of customers are willing pay more for products if they
experience great customer service
• Good service travels fast via social networking

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Total Quality Management
Total quality management (TQM)
A complex set of management and engineering procedures
aimed at reducing errors and increasing quality
• Going to the Gemba: One true source of information
– Need to send marketers and designers to the
precise place of product consumption
 Host Foods study in airport cafeterias

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The Evolution of Product Ownership (1 of 3)
• Sharing economy or Collaborative consumption
The movement away from the purchase and ownership of
tangible goods toward other models that allow for
temporary ownership,

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The Evolution of Product Ownership (2 of 3)

Zipcar offers consumers the ability to temporarily acquire a vehicle, allowing them to meet
their unique needs in differing situations.

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The Evolution of Product Ownership (3 of 3)
• Provides the benefits of the product when needed, but to
not have to worry about:
– Initial capital cost
– Maintaining and storing the product
– Disposal issues
• Has involved into a new type of consumer
– transumer

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Product Disposal
• Strong product attachment = painful disposal process!
– Possessions = identity anchors
– Disposal rituals
• Ease of product disposal is now a key product attribute to
consumers
• Disposal options
– Keep old item
– Temporarily dispose of it
– Permanently dispose of it

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Consumer’s Disposal Options

FIGURE 10–4 Consumers’ Disposal Options

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Disposal Options

These watches are made from recycled Nespresso coffeemaker cartridges.

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Lateral Cycling
• Already purchased products are sold to others or
exchanged for still other things
– Flea markets, garage sales, classified ads, bartering for
services, hand-me-downs, etc.
• Divestment rituals
– Iconic transfer
– Transition-place
– Ritual cleansing
• Internet has revolutionized lateral cycling
• Re-stores across Canada (Habitat for Humanity)

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