Consumer Behavior

Part A

1. Introduction

1.1 Consumers

Consumption is the utilization of utilities in a particular time period. In economics,

consumption is the the way in which the consumers and markets use, destroy and

exchange goods and services.

Another definition of consumption is that it is a process by which goods and

services are delivered to the final end i.e at the consumers’ end. It starts with the

evaluation of available resources, putting those resources in the manufacturing

process, and then at last deliverance and distribution of the goods and services at

consumer’s end (Goodwin, 2018).

1.2 Type of Consumers

Consumers Description

Chooser A consumer is a selector of the product who makes

selection according to his needs and wants.

Communicator A communicator is a person who is skilled in expressing

ideas and conveying information.

Explorer Explorer is basically a discoverer of particular

information or resource.
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Victim Victim is a person who has received some kind of damage

or economic loss.

Identity Seeker They are basically subjectivists and individualists who

want to make their own unique identity to get fame.

Artist An artist is a person who is engaged in demonstrating,

creating and practicing art.

Rebel A rebel is a person who defies to follow the rules and

regulations imposed on him.

Activist A person who campaigns for social change and raises his

voice for the injustice.

citizen A citizen is a resident of a certain city.

1.3 Role of Consumption and Consumer

Consumption

In a society, consumption is the sole purpose of the all production. It is necessary for

the welfare of the producer and acts as a way to promote the producer as well. It is

considered as one of the important factor in the growth and success of an economy.

Consumption of a particular product or service flourishes the enhancement of the

human survival.

Consumer

Consumers play an important role in the society as they make decisions after

reviewing various products and services as which brand to choose and from which
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place to make purchase (Nandan, 2005). Consumers are the driving force of the

economy. They spend to satisfy their needs and wants and in return the company

gains profit.

1.4 Consumption in Multidisciplinary Perspectives

Consumption is one of the important aspects of economy as it determines its success

and growth. Consumption in economics is the utilization of goods and services by the

household. It is also described as the destroyer of the utilities.

In Sociology, consumption is a broader concept which is not confined to the

utilization of resources. In the modern world, we consume to share our time with

others and amuse ourselves. Human beings not only consume material goods but also

consume information, experience and cultural products like arts, music, movies and

TV serials. Consumption in modern age is the central organizing principle of social

life. It shapes the human values and practices(Glanz, 2016).

Consumption in psychological perspective describes the idea why people buy

something. The external stimuli that convince the people to purchase certain items

and prefer certain brand.

Political consumption is the contemplation of ethical and political values that

influence the consumers to make decision about certain product or service.

Consumption in cultural anthropology is the significant social meaning and value an

object carries. It is the cultural sentiments attached to the products or services that

make consumers to avail them.

1.5 VALS Frameworks and its Types

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VALS framework segmented the US adults into eight types depending upon the

psychological traits and demographics that impact the consumer behavior. This

framework present two approaches for understanding consumer i.e. primary

motivation and resources (Naami et al., 2015). The combination of motivation and

resources helps to know how the consumer will express his purchasing desire in the

marketplace.

Following are VALS types:

Innovators: members of this group are self-directed, receptive to new ideas, future

oriented and accept challenges.

Thinkers: members of this group are not influenced by latest trends. They are

financially stable and are deep researchers. They set high benchmarks for social

conduct.

Believers: members of this group are religiously fundamentalist and believe in rights

and duties. They want friendly environment and are fond of novels and TV soaps.

Achievers: they are hardworking, moderate, goal-oriented, peer conscious, status quo

and individuals with professional approach.

Strivers: they are financially unstable, video games lovers, fun loving and imitative

people.

Experiencers: they are sociable, fitness conscious, spontaneous, latest trend followers

and people who go against odd.

Makers: they are people who want to own large property. They believe in sharp

gender roles and are distrustful of government.

Survivors: they are cautious, risk averse, thrifty, brand loyal and old consumers.
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Part B

1. High’ and ‘Low’ Involvement Consumption

The involvement level defines how much consumer is interested in a product and how

much information he needs in making a decision. High involvement products are

those which reflect the consumer’s status like to buy the home theatre while the low

involvement are those which needs daily routine purchasing decision like buying an

ice cream (Radder and Huang, 2008).Consumers don’t involve in the decisions which

require high level of involvement and the complex thoughts. Sometimes it totally

depends upon the consumer about the level of involvement and the decision making

rather than the product.

Low level involvement is for those products which are inexpensive and less risky

at the end of consumer if he buys that product without thinking (Hawkins and Hoch,

2004). High involvement is basically in those products which are expensive like

building a house and these purchasing involves high risk and hence consumer thinks a

lot before purchasing that product.

2. Analysis of ‘High’ Involvement Consumption through Theories

High involvement products are those which reflect the consumer’s status like to buy

the home theatre or any luxurious item which represent the consumer as a rich person

within the community.

My high involvement is to buy an A Class Mercedes Benz “MBUX”. Below

section will describe my high involvement through two theories of high involvement.
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One is consumer decision making process and the other is Inconspicuous

Consumption.

 Consumer Decision Making Processes

The consumer decision making process is used to identify and track the decision

making journey from start to end. It has following five stages (Team, 2016).

1. Problem Recognition

This is the first stage of the process to select the high involvement product. At this

stage I as a consumer think that something is missing and feels like it should be

addressed to get back to the normal condition. As my aim is high involvement product

so I need some lavish thing through which I can make my life status higher in

community. I planned to buy a luxurious car so to get the high status in my

community (Butkevičienė, Stravinskienė and Rūtelionienė, 2008).

2. Information Searching

This stage involves the searching option by which I as a consumer try to find the

solution of the recognized problem. I will use the online search engines like Google to

get the information. The information will be collected from the people around me who

have some previous experiences with the luxurious cars and can recommend me some

ideas related to them. I will take ideas from multiple sources and begin to think about

the risk management. I will make the list of advantages and disadvantages of various

number of cars suggested to me. I will put most of the time to the risk management

process so that I don’t have to regret in the future.

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3. Alternatives Evaluation

In this stage, I will analyze and evaluate each alternative. I will determine which

product can satisfy best my need. Different parameters like price, quality, features and

ease of use are used to evaluate the alternatives (Malhotra, 2007). On the basis of

these parameters I have decided to purchase the MBUX Mercedes Benz.

4. Purchasing

At this stage I will perform the purchasing process. I have decided to purchase the

luxury car from the online order option. At this point, I have collected all the facts and

make a logical conclusion about the decision. This decision is based on the

connections, experiences and the marketing campaigns of the different sellers.

5. Satisfaction or Dissatisfaction after purchasing

This is basically the review stage of the process for both the company and the

customers (Malhotra, 2007).At this stage I will evaluate whether the product meet

their expectations or not. If I like that product then I could become the brand

ambassador of the product by influencing other people to get this luxurious car.

 Veblen’s Inconspicuous Consumption

Conspicuous consumption was introduced by economist and sociologist Thorstein

Veblen. This was introduced in his book titled “The Theory of the Leisure Class”.

This term reflect those consumers who buy the luxurious items just to display the

income and wealth they have rather than to meet their needs (Eckhardt, Belk and

Wilson, 2015). My high involvement product “MBUX Mercedes Benz” reflects this
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theory perfectly. As the wish and need of having the luxurious car is to display my

wealth and status among my social life and not to just meet the need.

It is being argued that sometimes such purchasing have the assurance that consumer

will have the best and luxurious possession. Although less expensive similar cars are

available in the market. Such purchasing aim to reflect that user can afford the

extravagant purchase. It can be said regarding supercars which come with limited

edition. They are designed to appeal the upper class of the society. These expensive,

luxurious cars are not to be run safely and legally on all type of roads. Having the

ownership of these types of cars is an example of conspicuous consumption as the full

capabilities of these cars are not experienced by the owner itself due to environmental

restrictions applied on these cars (Arrow and Dasgupta, 2009).

3. Analysis on Low involvement

Low involvement involves impulsive buying behavior. It is the type of purchasing

behavior in which the consumer doesn’t thinks much before purchasing something.

There is a low risk involved in purchasing that’s why the decision making is faster.

Following are the characteristics of low involvement (Hoonsopon and Puriwat, 2016):

Low Price

In low involvement, the price of the product is mostly low. The consumer does not

thinks twice before buying the product.

Low Risk Factor

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The consumer is not heavily involved in the purchase of the product. As the price is

low there is low risk involved in the purchase of product. The product has simple

return policy

Differentiation

There is low differentiation in low involvement (Parkand Yoon, 2017) for e.g. if

Bisleri is not available the consumer would buy Aquafina.

Impulsive buying is making purchase without thinking much to satisfy a need or

want. The consumer may buy a product daily to satisfy his need for it. For e.g. the

consumer buys Lucozade Energy drink to fulfil his energy needs. The consumer may

have long working hours and in order to keep himself active he needs some energizer.

Lets consider the consumer has the breakthrough impulsive behavior. He might be

confused at first buying the Lucozade Energy drink but after consuming it he felt the

energy build up which he was seeking. He also found it be a palatable drink. After his

first experience the consumer got used to with the product and didn’t think twice

while purchasing it. It is also a low risk cost as the price of Lucozade is similar to the

products in this category and if the consumer had not found it pleasing it would not

have cost him much.

 Belk Extended Self

This theory explains that how a person regards a product or a thing as his

possession. This possession becomes a permanent part of the person’s life and it is
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attached to the sentiments, emotions and needs of a person (Belk, 2018). This theory

justifies the low involvement in a sense that a consumer may become attached to a

particular product for which he has lower risk that product might not work for him in

future (Kunchamboo, Lee and Brace-Gova, 2017). Like discussed above as the

Lucozade energy drink was satisfying the consumer’s need, he became habitual of

consuming it on daily basis and thus it became part of his life and it is difficult for

him to switch on any other product.

 Tri-Component Model

This model explains that a consumer buying behavior is influenced by three

components: knowledge component, feeling component and action component

(Yamagish et al., 2015). This theory justifies the low involvement in a manner like the

consumer might have listened from his peers that Lucozade is the ultimate power

drink that gives instant energy. From this knowledge the consumer made up his mind

about purchasing the drink and noticed that it fulfilled his need. The consumer

became habitual of consuming it daily in order to overcome the lathergicness at

workplace.

4. Chosen Consumption Experience

As the chosen consumption is low involvement, low involvement makes the

purchase of a product quite easy and simple. The consumer doesn’t have to think

much about what to choose. As the price of the product in the low involvement

category is not hefty so there is a minute risk for the loss. An advantage for the low

involvement consumption is the products can be returned or replaced which means if

a consumer doesn’t find it pleasing he can easily return the product without any

additional cost.
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5. Consumption experience in a theoretical manner

Consumption patterns and experiences are highly related to the patterns of

consumer’s real life. Consumer experience is considered as the part of life pattern as

consumption activity. A high involvement product does fit into this pattern and their

meaning is acquired as a result of this fit. It is necessary to get the social meaning of

the high involvement product and once it is acquired, the product become the

representative of specific consumption experience of consumer. The product and

consumption reinforce the consumer pattern. So the historical acquisition meaning by

the high involvement product complete the enhancing and supportive cycle with the

help of social and cultural process (Van Doorn et al., 2010).

Conclusion
Consumption journey of this project assignment tells consumer learning is a process

and through this process, knowledge and experience is acquired by consumers. This

knowledge and experience form the basis of future behavior of consumer regarding

the product purchasing. These two parameters have the greater importance for the

marketers. With the help of these parameters, marketers track the consumers for the

products. Consumers have either high or low involvement for the product. High

involvement products are those which reflect the consumer’s status like to buy the

home theatre while the low involvement are those which needs daily routine

purchasing decision like purchasing a ball, grocery or any daily routine item.

Consumers don’t involve in the decisions which require high level of involvement and

the complex thoughts. It totally depends upon the consumer about the level of

involvement and the decision making rather than the product. Low level involvement

is for those products which are inexpensive and less risky at the end of consumer if he

buys that product without thinking. High involvement is basically in those products
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which are expensive like building a house and these purchasing involves high risk and

hence consumer thinks a lot before purchasing that product. There are couples of

high and low involvement theories. These include consumer decision making

processes, attitude theories, responsible consumption, inconspicuous consumption,

Veblen’s conspicuous consumption and many more. Among these theories two are

applied on high and two are applied on low involvement products. I am a kind of

consumer who prefers low involvement for the products. As I involve in the daily

routine purchasing decisions like buying the grocery for the home or shopping outfits

for the family or for myself. These tasks do not involve the decision processes which

require high level of involvement and complex thoughts. Hence I am in the class of

those consumers who take low involvement in the purchasing products.

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