CHAPTER 03

CONSUMER
BEHAVIOUR

© 2021 McGraw-Hill Education Limited Prepared by: Maria Vincenten, Red River College
Learning Objectives
1. Describe the stages in the consumer purchase
decision process
2. Distinguish among three variations of the
consumer purchase decision process: routine,
limited, and extended problem-solving
3. Describe how situational influences affect the
consumer purchase decision process

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Learning Objectives (continued)
4. Explain how psychological influences affect
consumer behaviour, particularly consumer
purchase decision processes
5. Identify major socio-cultural influences on
consumer behaviour and their effects on
purchase decisions
6. Discuss the importance of culture and
subculture in determining consumer
behaviour
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Difficult Decisions for the
Next Generation

• “Consumers make
purchases to
either derive pleasure
or avoid pain.”
• “Marketers need to
understand all the
decisions consumers
need to make and help
them make them.”
o Dustin Wright, Senior Director,
Marketing Communications,
Arbor Memorial
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Consumer Purchase
Decision Process
•A consumer’s involvement in the purchase
decision process varies based on the
complexity of the decision
– Market segmentation relies on this insight

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Consumer Purchase
Decision Process (continued)

• When a person
realizes that the
difference between
Problem
recognition: what he or she has
Perceiving a and what he or she
need would like to have is
big enough to actually
do something about it
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Consumer Purchase
Decision Process (continued)

• Clarifies the problem

for the consumer
Information – Internal Search – scan
search: their memory for
Seeking knowledge of or
value previous experiences
– External Search – if
lack experiences
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Consumer Purchase
Decision Process (continued)
• External Search may include:
– Personal Sources – people you trust
– Public Sources – product rating
organizations
– Marketer-Dominated Sources –
promotional sources

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Consumer Purchase
Decision Process (continued)

• Showrooming –
using mobile
devices in-store to
check online
competitive
product reviews
and prices

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Consumer Purchase
Decision Process (continued)

• The information search

can suggest evaluative
criteria for the purchase
Evaluation
– Objective
of • Features, attributes
alternatives: – Subjective
Assessing Value
• Status, feelings
• Results in an evoked set

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Consumer Purchase
Decision Process (continued)

• Having examined the

alternatives in the
evoked set three
Purchase
choices remain:
decision:
Buying 1) What brand
value 2) Who to buy from
3) When to buy

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Consumer Purchase
Decision Process (continued)

• Satisfied buyers tell

three people
Post-purchase • Dissatisfied buyers
behavior: complain to nine people
Value in • Mobile technology
consumption expedites the
or use
communication
• Cognitive dissonance
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Involvement and
Problem-Solving Variations
• Involvement - personal, social, and
economic significance of a purchase to the
consumer
• High level of involvement:
– Expensive
– Reflects on one’s social image
– Bought infrequently

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Involvement and
Problem-Solving Variations (continued)

Figure 3–2: Comparison of problem-solving variations

Extended
Characteristics of Routine Problem- Limited Problem- Problem-Solving
Purchase Solving (low Solving (medium (high
Decision Process involvement) involvement) involvement)
Number of brands One Several Many
examined
Number of sellers Few Several Many
considered
Number of product One Moderate Many
attributes evaluated
Number of eternal None Few Many
information sources
Time spent searching Minimal Little Considerable

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Consumer Purchase
Decision Process Influencers

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Situational Influences on
Consumer Decisions
• Situational influences that have an impact
on the purchase decision process:
– Purchase task
– Social surroundings
– Physical surroundings
– Temporal effects
– Antecedent states

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Psychological Influences on
Consumer Behaviour
• Understanding psychological concepts are
useful for interpreting buying processes
and directing marketing efforts:
– Motivation and Personality
– Perception
– Learning
– Values, Beliefs, and Attitudes
– Lifestyle

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Motivation and Personality

• Motivation -
energizing force
that stimulates
behaviour to satisfy
a need

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 Motivation and Personality (continued)
• Personality - person’s character trails that
influence behavioural responses
• Self-concept
– Actual – how people actually see themselves
– Ideal – how people would like to see themselves

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 Perception
• Perception – the process by which an individual
selects, organizes, and interprets information to
create a meaningful picture of the world
• Selective Perception – filters information so
that only some of it is understood or
remembered or even available
– Selective Exposure
– Selective Comprehension
– Selective Retention

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 Perception (continued)
• Perceived Risk – represents the anxieties felt
because the consumer cannot anticipate the
outcomes of a purchase but believes that there
may be negative consequences
• Dealing with perceived risk:
– Obtaining seals of approval
– Securing endorsements from influential people
– Providing free trials of the product
– Providing illustrations
– Providing warranties and guarantees
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Learning
• Learning – behaviours that result from
repeated experience and reasoning
– continual process
• Types:
– Behavioural
– Cognitive
– Brand Loyalty

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 Learning (continued)
”Consumers familiar with one product will often transfer
their feelings to others that seem similar—whether the
similarity is in a brand name or in the shape and colour
of the packaging.”
• Behavioural Learning – developing automatic
responses to a type of situation built up
through repeated exposure
– Cue
– Drive
– Response
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 Learning (continued)
• Cognitive Learning – involves making
connections between two or more ideas or
simply observing the outcomes of others’
behaviours and adjusting your own accordingly

• Brand Loyalty – favourable attitude toward and

consistent purchase of a single brand over time

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 Values, Beliefs, and Attitudes
• Attitude – tendency to respond to something in
a consistently favourable or unfavourable way;
leads to behaviour
–Values – socially preferable modes of conduct or
states of existence that tend to persist over time
–Beliefs – consumer’s perception of how a product
or brand performs
• Formation and change are impacted by and
impact marketers

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Lifestyle

• Psychographics –
the analysis of
consumer lifestyles
that offers insight
into behaviours

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Lifestyle (continued)
Figure 3–6: Examples of PRIZM5 cluster categories
Segment Cluster
Code Category Brief Description
UI Urban Elite The most affluent Canadian households belong to Urban Elite, the social group that ranks at the
top of several demographic measures: income, home value, and educational achievement. With
their university degrees and positions as executives and professionals, these middle-aged and
older residents tend to live in fashionable homes in big-city neighbourhoods and close-in suburbs.
SI Suburban The households in Suburban Elite represent the most upscale suburban social group, characterized
Elite by middle-aged and older families living in single-family homes. One socio-economic rung down
from Urban Elite, these Canadians have university and college educations, and hold service-sector
and white-collar jobs.
EI Exurban Exurban Elite consists of the wealthiest households outside the nation’s metropolitan sprawl,
Elite beyond the suburbs but within reasonable commutes to city jobs. The residents in this exurban
group tend to be married, middle-aged and older couples and families who live in comfortable
homes and hold a mix of white-collar, blue-collar, and service-sector jobs. With their large families
of school- and college-aged children, households here have high rates of enjoying team and winter
sports, golfing, boating, community theatre, and all types of exhibitions: craft, cottage, fitness,
gardening, pet, and home.
U2 Urban Generally found in Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal, the Urban Upscale Diverse group consists of
Upscale four mostly middle-income segments with high concentrations of immigrants, especially from Asia,
Diverse Europe, Central America, and the Middle East. Their households are a mix of middle-aged and
older couples and families, with children in their late teens and twenties. Many residents inhabit a
bi-cultural world, with nearly a third speaking a language at home other than English or French.
(continued)

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 Lifestyle (continued)
Figure 3–6: Examples of PRIZM5 cluster categories
Segment Cluster
Code Category Brief Description
S2 Suburban The four Suburban Younger segments contain family-filled households where most maintainers
Younger are under 45 years old. Because the adults in this group have varying educational backgrounds—
from high school to university degrees—and many having only recently entered the labour force,
household income levels range from upscale to lower-middle, earned from a broad mix of jobs.
But most families can afford to own their homes, typically recently built singles, semis, and row
houses.
E2 Exurban The Exurban Middle-Aged group represents the nation’s middle-aged, mostly midscale couples
Middle- and families living in Canada’s growing exurban communities. In these mixed households—the
Aged families feature children of all ages—parents holding college diplomas or less work at a range of
blue-collar, white-collar, and service-sector jobs; their average incomes allow them to own single-
family homes built after 1980. With their neighbourhoods located outside the nation’s big cities,
the cost of living is lower than average, and residents pursue active, outdoorsy lifestyles.

U3 Urban Home to the nation’s youngest residents, Urban Young consists of households with maintainers
Young who are typically under 45 years old. With many just entering the workforce, these university-
educated singles and couples earn a range of incomes—from upper-middle to lower-middle
income—from their white-collar and service-sector jobs. Without the financial obligations of a
family, they’re able to rent decent apartments in older, downtown neighbourhoods and lead a
hip, progressive lifestyle.
Source: © 2017 Environics Analytics; PRIZM is a registered trademark of Claritas, LLC and used with permission.

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Socio-Cultural Influences on
Consumer Behaviour
• Socio-cultural influences, which evolve
from a consumer’s formal and informal
relationships with other people:
– Personal
– Reference Groups
– Family Influence
– Culture
– Subculture

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Personal Influence
• Influenced by the views, opinions, or
behaviours of others

1) Opinion Leaders
2) Word of Mouth
– Buzz marketing
– Product seeding
– Viral marketing

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Reference Groups
• Reference Group – group of people who
influence a person’s attitudes, values, and
behaviours
– Membership group – actually belongs
– Aspiration group – wishes to be a member
– Dissociative group – wishes to maintain a
distance from

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Family Influence

Family influences on
consumer behaviour
result from:
1) Consumer
socialization
2) Family life cycle
3) Family decision-
making
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Culture and Subculture

• Culture – set of
values, ideas, and
attitudes that are
learned and shared
among the members
of a group
– Subcultures

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Global Cultural Diversity
• Canada has become
increasingly multi-ethnic
and multicultural with over
200 cultures
– Cross-cultural analysis –
study of similarities and
differences among
consumers
– Values, customs, cultural
symbols, and language
• Back translation
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