Analyzing

Consumer
markets &
Buying Behavior
CHAPTER 6
KOTLER

Major Factors
influencing Buying
Behaviour
Cultural Factors
Social Factors
Personal Factors
Psychological Factors

Cultural Factors
Culture : values, perceptions,
preferences and behaviours.
Subculture : nationalities, religions,
racial grps & geographic regions.
Social Class : homogeneous & enduring
divisions, hierarchically ordered, members
share common values. Indicated by
occupation, income, education, etc.

Social Factors
Reference
Groups
Direct

Primary
Family of
Orientatio
n
Family of
Procreatio
n

Indirect

Secondar
y

Aspiratio
nal

Dissociati
ve

The persons position in each group

can be defined in terms of role and
status.
A role consists of the activities that
a person is expected to perform.
Each role carries a status.

Personal Factors
Age
Stage in the life cycle
Occupation
Economic circumstances

Psychological Factors
1. Motivation: A person has many needs at a given
time
Biogenic Needs Arising from psychological states of
tension such as hunger, thirst, discomfort.
Psychogenic needs Arising from psychological states
of tension such as need for recognition, esteem or
belonging.
Motive: A need becomes a motive when it is aroused to a
sufficient level of intensity causing a person to act.

Psychological Factors
Theories related to Motivation:
Freuds Theory:
Psychological forces shaping a persons behaviour are
largely unconscious.
Laddering can be used to trace a persons motivations
from the stated instrumental ones to the more terminal
ones.
This helps the marketer decide at what level the
message/appeal is to be developed.

Psychological Factors
Maslows theory:

Sel
f
Act
ual
iza
tio
n
Ne
Esteem
edNeeds
s
Social Needs

Safety Needs

Physiological Needs

Psychological Factors
Herzbergs Theory: Two-factor theory
Dissatisfiers Factors that cause dissatisfaction.
Satisfiers Factors that cause satisfaction.
The Seller should do his best to avoid dissatisfiers.
The manufacturers should identify the major satisfiers

Psychological Factors
2. Perception: Perception is the process by which an
individual selects organizes and interprets information
inputs to create a meaningful picture of the world.
Selective Attention:
People are more likely to notice stimuli that relate to
current need
People are more likely to notice stimuli that they
anticipate
People are more likely to notice stimuli whose deviations
are large in relation to the normal size of the stimuli

Psychological Factors
Selective Distortion: It is the tendency to twist
information into personal; meanings and interpret
information in a way that will fit a persons
preconceptions. Marketers cannot do much about this.
Selective Retention: People tend to forget much that
they learn but tend to retain information that supports
their attitudes and beliefs.
Subliminal Perception:

Psychological Factors
3. Learning:
Learning involves changes in an individuals behaviour arising from
experience.
Learning is produced through interplay of:
i.

Drives A strong internal stimulus impelling action

ii.

Stimuli

iii. Cues Minor stimuli that determine when, where and how a person
responds
iv. Responses
v.

Reinforcement

.Memory
.Emotions

Psychological Factors
4. Beliefs and Attitudes:
A belief is a descriptive thought that a person holds
about something.
Beliefs may be based on knowledge, opinion or faith.
They may or may not carry emotional charge.
An attitude is a persons enduring favourable or
unfavourable evaluations, emotional feelings, and action
tendencies towards some object or idea

Buying Behaviour
Buying Roles:
Initiator Influencer Decider Buyer User
High
Involvement

Low
Involvement

Significant
differences
between
brands

Complex
buying
behaviour

Variety seeking
buying
behaviour

Few
differences
between
brands

Dissonance
reducing
buying
behaviour

Habitual buying
behaviour

Stages Buying
Decision Process
Introspective Method: they would think how they would
behave
Retrospective Method: Ask people to recall their buying
decision process
Prospective process: Ask prospective customers to think
aloud
Prescriptive process: Ask customers the ideal way to buy
the product

Process of Consumer
Buying Decision
Problem Recognition

Information Search

Evaluation of
Alternatives

Purchase Decision

Postpurchase
Behaviour

Information Search
Heightened attention
Active information search
Sources of information for the customer:
Personal Sources: family, friends
Commercial sources: Ads, sales people
Public sources: Mass media
Experimental sources: Handling, examining

Search Dynamics
Total Set
All the
possible
choices

Awareness Considerati Choice

on Set
Set
Set
The brands Some initial
brands that
that the
meet basic
consumer is requirements
aware of

Strong
Contenders

Decision
????

Evaluation of
Alternatives
Some methods which can help change the consumers
perception of the product
1) Real repositioning: redesign the product
2) Psychological repositioning: Alter the belief of the
brand
3) Competitive repositioning: Alter belief about the
competitors brand

Postpurchase
behaviour
Postpurchase Satisfaction: the customer may either
be satisfied, delighted or dissatisfied after the purchase.
these feelings make a lot of difference to the customers
perception and behaviour towards the company.
Postpurchase actions: the customer may take
different actions depending upon his satisfaction level.
The dissatisfied customer may stop buying ( exit option)
or the customer may be tell his friends not to buy the
product ( voice option)
Postpurchase use and disposal: Marketers need to
monitor what the consumer does with the product after
purchase and how it is disposed off to maintain
environmental friendliness of the product.