Week 1

INTRODUCTION TO
CONSUMER BEHAVI
OR

DR. FELIX TANG

1
HOW DO YOU THINK ABOUT THI
S WEIBO?

2
 WHAT IS CONSUMER BEHAVIOR?
Consumer behavior reflects:
The totality About the An offering Decision Over time
of decision consumption making unit

Information
Whether Hours
gatherer
What Products
Why Acquisition Days
Influencer
How Services
When Usage Weeks
Decider
Where Activities
How much Disposition Months
Purchaser
How often Ideas
How long Years
User

Marketing strategies & tactics

3
WHAT IS CONSUMER BEHAVIOR?

Consumer behavior: the study of the processes involved when indivi

duals or groups select, purchase, use, or dispose of products, s
ervices, ideas, or experiences to satisfy needs and desires.

1-4
FOR REFLECTION
Do your consumption choices differ dependin
g upon the role you are playing at the time?
Give examples from your own life.
How do your choices as a consumer differ de
pending upon whether you are in the role of
student, child, employee, and so on?

1-5
FORCES BEHIND HUMAN ACTIONS
THE FORCES BEHIND OUR ACTIONS:
THE WHEEL OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

7
WHAT IS CONSUMER BEHAVIOR?
Consumer behavior is NOT ONLY about what
and why we buy; it also focuses on how
marketers influence consumers and how
consumers use the products and services that
marketers sell
In other words, CB also discuss how
marketers can apply their understanding in
the consumer and the processes to better
satisfy consumers needs

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CONSUMER IDENTITY AS AN AID
TO MARKETERS
Consumers segmented by demographics and
psychographics
Consumers understood in part based on their
consumption communities and reference gro
ups
Brands target consumers using market segme
ntation strategies
Consumers may choose brands that match wi
th their own identities

1-9
FIGURE 1.1
STAGES IN THE CONSUMPTION PROCESS

1-10
FOR REFLECTION
Thinking about the three stages in the consu
mption process, what issues do you consider i
n each stage when you are making important
decisions?

Copyright 2013 Pearson Education

1-11
Consumers Impact on Marketing
Understanding consumer behavior is good busi
ness
Understanding people/organizations to satisf
y consumers needs
Knowledge and data about customers:
Help to define the market
Identify threats/opportunities to a brand
This is what you know (I assume)
 Demographics:
Age
Gender
Family structure
Social class/income
Race/ethnicity
Geography

Copyright 2013 Pearson Education

1-13
Marketings Impact on
Consumers
e.g., popular culture
Music
Movies
Sports
Books Marketers influence prefe
Celebrities rences for movie and mus
Entertainment ic heroes, fashions, food,
and decorating choices.
15
Marketings Impact on
Consumers
e.g., meaning of consumption
People often buy products not for what they do, but
for what they mean
Consumers can develop relationships with brands:
Self-concept attachment
Nostalgic attachment
Interdependence
Love
https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4M-gac_C8Ro

17
Marketings Impact on
Consumers
e.g., the global consumer
sophisticated marketing strategies indirectly foster t
he global consumer culture

Common devotion to brand-name consumer goods, m

ovie stars, celebrities, and leisure activities.
Technology links companies with consumer, regardles
s of location
Marketings Impact on
Consumers
e.g., blurred boundaries
It's increasingly difficult for consumers to discern the
boundary between the fabricated world and reality
MARKETING ETHICS AND PUBLIC
POLICY
Business ethics are rules of conduct that guide
actions in the marketplace
There are cultural differences in what is consid
ered ethical.
Laws=rules for conduct that may be used to pu
nish violators
Does unethical mean illegal?

1-20
REFLECTION
What examples of ethical business practices
can you identify?

Can consumers be unethical? What examples

of unethical consumer behavior can you iden
tify?

21
DO MARKETERS CREATE ARTIFICI
AL NEEDS?
Objective of marketing: create awareness that
needs exist, not to create needs

Need: a basic biologic versus

al motive

Want: one way that soci

ety has taught us that th
e need can be satisfied
ARE ADVERTISING & MARKETING
NECESSARY?
Does advertising foster materialism?
Products are designed to meet existing needs;
Advertising only helps to communicate their availab
ility
DO MARKETERS PROMISE MIRAC
LES?
Advertisers simply do
not know enough abou
t people to manipulate
them
 CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
AS A FIELD OF STUDY
Micro consumer An
interdis
cipl
behavior field of inary
(individual focus) study
Experimental Psychology
Clinical Psychology
Developmental
Psychology
Human Ecology
Microeconomics
Social Psychology
Sociology
Macroeconomics
Semiotics/Literary Macro consumer
Criticism behavior
Demography (social focus)
History
Cultural Anthropology
25
 Interdisciplinary Research Issues i
n Consumer Behavior
Disciplinary Focus Product Role
Experimental Perception, learning, and memory processes
Psychology
Clinical Psychology Psychological adjustment
Microeconomics/Hum Allocation of individual or family resources
an Ecology
Social Psychology Behavior of individuals as members of social
groups
Sociology Social institutions and group relationships
Macroeconomics Consumers relations with the marketplace
Semiotics/Literary Verbal and visual communication of meaning
Criticism
Demography Measurable characteristics of a population
History Societal changes over time
Cultural Anthropology Societys beliefs and practices
MAJOR PERSPECTIVES ON CONS
UMER BEHAVIOR
There are two major perspectives on consum
er behavior:
Positivistapproach
Interpretivist approach
 Positivist versus Interpretivist App
roaches to study CB
Assumptions Positivist Approach Interpretivist Approach

Nature of Objective, tangible Socially constructed

reality Single Multiple
Goal Prediction Understanding
Knowledge Time free Time-bound
generated Context-independent Contest dependent
View of Existence of real Multiple, simultaneous
causality causes shaping events
Research Separation between Interactive, cooperative
relationship researcher and subject with researcher being
part of phenomenon
under study
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVezxdLBcm4
1-29
SHORT EXERCISE:
Two Questions:
1. Think of a personal experience that FREE gimmic
ks worked on you!

2. Reflect on that experience, tell me WHY you or o

thers got tricked into this gimmick!

1-30
CHAPTER SUMMARY
Consumer behavior is a process.
Consumer use products and brands to define
their identity to others.
Consumers from different segments have diff
erent needs and wants.
Consumer behavior benefits from several fiel
ds.
There are two major perspectives guiding our
study of consumer behavior.