Consumer Behavior

Professor Khaled Habib

Consumer Behavior
Intro
Chapter 1
 Defining
Defining Consumer
Consumer Behavior
Behavior
Definition
Definition
…the
…thestudy
studyof
ofthe
theprocesses
processesinvolved
involvedwhen
whenindividuals
individualsor
orgroups
groups
select,
select,purchase,
purchase,use,
use,orordispose
disposeof
ofproducts,
products,services,
services,ideas
ideasor
or
experiences
experiencestoto satisfy
satisfyneeds
needsand
anddesires.
desires.

Key
Key Concepts
Concepts

Processes
Processes Individuals/Groups
Individuals/Groups

Select,Purchase,
Select,Purchase, Products,
Products, Services,
Services,
Use,
Use, Dispose
Dispose Ideas,
Ideas, Experiences
Experiences
What is Consumer Behavior
• The field of consumer behavior covers
a lot of ground. It is the study of the
processes involved when individuals
or groups select, purchase, use, or
dispose of products, services, ideas, or
experiences to satisfy needs and
desires.
 CONSUMERS ARE ACTORS ON
THE MARKETPLACE STAGE
• Role Theory: much of consumer behavior
resembles actions in a play, each consumer
has lines, props, and costumes that are
necessary to put on a good performance.
Because people act out many different
roles, they sometimes alter their
consumption decisions depending on the
particular “play” they are in at the time. The
criteria they use to evaluate products and
services in one of their roles may be quite
different from those used in another role.
 Market Segmentation
• The process of market segmentation
identifies groups of consumers who
are similar to one another in one or
more ways, and then devises
marketing strategies that appeal to
one or more groups – even at the
expense of excluding other segments
from the firm’s target market.
 Demographics
• Demographics: are statistics that measure observable aspects
of a population:
• AGE
• GENDER
• FAMILY STRUCTURE
• SOCIAL CLASS AND INCOME: people who are approximately
equal in terms of their incomes and social standing in the
community, They work in roughly similar occupations, and
they tend to have similar tastes in music, clothing , art and
so on. They also tend to socialize with one another, and they
share many ideas and values regarding the way one’s life
should be lived.
• RACE AND ETHNICITY
• GEOGRAPHY
 Relationships With A Product
• Self-concept attachment – the product
helps to establish the user’s identity.
• Nostalgia attachment – the product
serves as a link with a past self.
• Interdependence-the product is part of
the consumer’s daily routine
• Love- the product elicits emotional bonds
of warmth, passion, or other strong
emotion.
 Consumption Typology
• Consuming as experience – an emotional or
aesthetic reaction to consumption objects. This
would include reactions such as the pleasure
derived from learning how to mark a scorecard, or
appreciating the athletic ability of a favorite player .
• Consuming as integration –manipulating
consumption objects to express aspects of the self
or society, For example, some , some fans wear
Cubs jerseys to express their solidarity with the
team .Attending ball games in person rather than
watching them on TV allows the fan to more
completely integrate his or her experience with that
of the team.
 Consumption Typology
• Consuming as classification - the activities that consumers
engage in to complicate their association with objects, both to
self and to other .For example , spectators might buy
souvenirs to demonstrate to others that they are die-hard
fans, or the more hard core might throw the opposition
team’s home run ball back onto the field as a gesture of
contempt.
• Consuming as play – consumers use objects to participate in
a mutual experience and merge their identities with that of a
group .for example, happy fans might scream in unison and
engage in an orgy of “ high fives “ when one of their team’s
players hits a home run – this is a different dimension of
shared experience than just watching the game at home by
oneself.
The Meaning of Consumption
Semiotics
One of the fundamental premise of the modern field
of consumer behavior is that people often buy
products not for what they do, but for what they
mean.
• Object: a product that is the focus of the message
{Marlboro cigarettes}
• Sign: a sensory imagery presenting the meaning of
the product {cowboy}
• Interpretant : the meaning derived {rugged,
individualistic American }
Signs Vs Objects: connected to –resemble-
conventionally tied to them
 THE DARK SIDE OF
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
ADDICTIVE CONSUMPTION
• A physiological and/or psychological
dependency on products and services
• Compulsive consumption refers to
repetitive shopping , often excessive,
as an antidote to tension, anxiety,
depression, or boredom.
1- The behavior is not done by choice
2- The gratification derived from the
behavior is short lived
3- The person experiences strong
feelings of regret and guilt afterwards
• CONSUMED CONSUMERS
• People who are used or exploited,
willingly or not, for commercial gain
in the marketplace can be thought
of as consumed consumers )
• Organ, blood , and hair donors .
• Babies for sale.
• White slavery
• ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES .
• 91% of people say they Lie regularly ,
One in three about their weight, one in
four about their income, and 2.1 percent
lie about their age. 9 % even lie bout
their natural hair color.
• 19% say they’ve snuck into a theater to
avoid paying admission
• More than three out of five people say
they’ve taken credit for making
something from scratch when they have
done no such thing.
• CONSUMER THEFT
• Shrinkage is the industry term for
inventory losses from shoplifting and
employee theft.
• A family of four spends about $ 300
extra per year because of marking to
over shrinkage.
• ANTICONSUMPTION
Products and services are deliberately defaced or
mutilated. Anticonsumption can range from
product tampering , by which innocent consumers
are hurt or killed, to graffiti on buildings and
subways , Anticonsumption can also take the form
of political protest, alter or destroy billboards and
other advertisements that promote what they feel
to be unhealthy or unethical acts {culture
jamming} . For example, some members of the
clergy in areas are heavily critical of cigarette and
alcohol advertising in their neighborhoods.
Consumers As Individuals
Perception
Chapter 2
The
The Perceptual
Perceptual Process
Process -- II
II
Exposure
Exposure

Attention
Attention

Interpretation
Interpretation

Retention
Retention
 External Stimuli
Hedonic {Pleasure-based} Consumption: the
multistory, fantasy, and emotional aspects
of consumers interactions with products.
• E.g. hearing a song on the radio generates
internal sensory experiences, triggers
memory of a first date and brings to mind
the smell of a lover’s perfume, a feel of a
hand on a .. hand
Sensory
Sensory Systems
Systems
Sensory
Sensory Inputs
Inputs

Historic
Historic Imagery
Imagery Fantasy
FantasyImagery
Imagery

Sensory
Sensory Systems
Systems
Vision
Vision Sound
Sound

Smell
Smell Touch
Touch
Taste
Taste
 Sensory Systems
• VISION
• Store design , packaging features
• Colors : red creates feelings of arousal
and stimulates appetite, blue more
relaxing .
• Products presented against a
backdrop blue in advertisements are
better liked than when a red
background is used.
• SMELL
• Odors can stir emotions or create a calming feeling. They can
invoke memories or relieve stress.
• Connections between smell, memory, and mood.
• Fragrance is processed by the limbic system , the most
primitive part of the brain and the place where immediate
emotions are experienced. Link between response to
fragrance and cultural background
• Smell is a direct link to feeling of happiness, hunger, and
memories of happy times . “ Plain “ vanilla has of late become
so widely used in scented products , from perfumes and
colognes to cake frosting, coffees, and ice creams (e.g, Coty
sold $ 25 million worth of its Vanilla Fields cologne spray in
a four-month period). Vanilla evokes memories of home,
warmth and cuddling”
 SOUND
• Effect of BACKGROUND TUNES; THE SOUND OF MUZAK
• This so-called “ functional music “ is played in stores, shopping
malls, and offices to either relax or stimulate consumers, Research
shows that workers tend to slow down during midmorning and mid-
afternoon , so Muzak used a system it calls “ stimulus progression”
in which the tempo increases during those slack times.
• Effect of Speaking Rate : TIME COMPRESSION
• Time compression is a technique used by broadcasters to
manipulate perceptions of sound. It is a way to pack more
information into a limited time by speeding up an announcers voice
in commercial .
• Some tests indicate that consumers prefer a rate of
transmission that is slightly faster than the normal speaking rate.
• It has been shown to increase persuasion in some situations
and to reduce it in others.
 TOUCH
• Moods are stimulated or relaxed on the
basis of sensations of the skin. Touch has
even been shown to be a factor in sales
interactions. In one study , for example,
diners who were touched by wait people
gave bigger tips. And food demonstrators in
a supermarket who lightly touched
customers had better luck in getting
shoppers to try a new snack product.
• People associate the textures of fabrics
and other surfaces with product qualities.
 TASTE
• The Tasters Association: Taste and
Die
 Exposure
• Exposure is the degree to which
people notice a stimulus that is within
range of their sensory receptors.
Consumers concentrate on some
stimuli, are unaware of others and
might go out of their way to ignore
some messages.
 SENSORY THRESHOLDS
• The science that focuses on how the physical
environment is integrated into our personal ,
subjective world is know as psychophysics.
• THE ABSOLUTE THRESHOLD
the minimum amount of stimulation that can be
detected on a given sensory channel.
• The absolute threshold is an important
consideration in designing marketing stimuli. A
billboard might have the most entertaining copy
ever written, but this genius is wasted if the print
is too small for motorists to see it from the
highway.
• THE DIFFERENTIAL THRESHOLD
the ability of a sensory system to detect changes or
differences between two stimuli. The minimum
difference that can be detected between two stimuli
is known as the j.n.d. (just noticeable difference0
• The issue of when and if a difference between two
stimuli will be noticed by consumers is relevant to
many marketing situations. Sometimes a marketer
may want to ensure that a change is observed , as
when merchandise is offered at a discount. In
other situations, the fact that a change has been
made may be downplayed as in the case of price
increases or when a product is downsized.
SUBLIMINAL PERCEPTION
• Another word for threshold is
limen, and stimuli that fall below the
limen are termed subliminal .
• Subliminal perception occurs when
the stimulus is below the level of the
consumer’s awareness.
 SUBLIMINAL TEHCHNIQUES
• Embeds are tiny figures that are inserted into
magazine advertising by using high speed
photography or airbrushing.
• Many consumers also are fascinated by the
possible effects of messages hidden on sound
recordings).
• These tapes, which typically feature the sound of
waves crashing or some other natural sound,
supposedly contain subliminal messages to help
the listener stop smoking lose weight , gain
confidence , and so on.
• The Satanic songs style
 Attention
Attention
Attention
AttentionIs
IsThe
TheDegree
DegreeTo
ToWhich
Which
Consumers
ConsumersFocus
FocusOn
OnStimuli
Stimuli
Within
WithinTheir
TheirRange
RangeofofExposure.
Exposure.

Countering
Countering Advertising
Advertising Clutter
Clutter

Large
LargeBlock
Block Bookend
Bookend Unconventional
Unconventional
Advertising
Advertising Ads
Ads Locations
Locations

Creating
Creating Contrast
Contrast

Unpredictable
Unpredictable Size
Size Color
Color
Patterns
Patterns
 PERCEPTUAL SELECTION
• SELECTION FACTORS
• Experience :the result of acquiring and processing
stimulation over time.
• Perceptual vigilance {Alertness} : Consumers are
more likely to be aware of stimuli that relate to
their current needs .A consumer who rarely notices
car ads will become very much aware of them when
s/he is in the market for a new car.
• Perceptual defense: people see what they want to
see – and don’t see what they don’t want to see. If a
stimulus is threatening to us in some way. we may
not process it – or we distort its meaning so that
it’s more acceptable .
 Adaptation
• Adaptation: the degree to which consumers continue to notice a
stimulus over time. The process of adaptation , occurs when
consumers no longer pay attention to a stimulus because it is
so familiar, consumer becomes habituated
• Several factors can lead to a adaptation:
• Intensity : less – intense stimuli (e.g. soft sounds or dim colors)
habituate because they have less sensory impact.
• Duration : Stimuli that require relatively lengthy exposure in
order to be processed tend to be habituated because they
require a long attention span.
• Discrimination: Simple stimuli tend to habituate because they
do not require attention to detail
• Exposure : Frequently encountered stimuli tend to habituate as
the rate of exposure increases.
• Relevance : stimuli that are irrelevant or unimportant will
habituate because they fail to attract attention.
 STIMULUS SELECTION
FACTORS
• Size : The size of the stimulus itself in contrast to
the competition helps to determine if it will
command attention.
• Color :color is a powerful way to draw attention to
a product or to give it a distinct identity.
• Position: stimuli that are in places we’re more
likely to stand a better chance of being noticed.
• Novelty : stimuli that appear in unexpected ways or
places tend to grab our attention. another solution
has been to put ads in unconventional places,
where there will be less competition for attention.
The Swedish Example
 INTERPRETATION

• Interpretation refers to the meaning that we assign

to sensory stimuli.
• Consumers assign meaning to stimuli based on the
schema or set of beliefs, to which the stimulus is
assigned in a process known as priming, certain
properties of a stimulus typically will evoke a
schema, which leads us to evaluate the stimulus in
terms of other stimuli we have encountered that
are believed to be similar. Identifying and evoking
the correct schema is crucial as this determines
which criteria will be used to evaluate the product,
package or message.
• Fairuz?
 Interpretation
Interpretation
The
The Process
Process of
of Interpretation
Interpretation

Ambiguity
Ambiguity Schema
Schema

Multiple
Multiple Meanings
Meanings Biases
Biases

Stimulus
Stimulus Organization
Organization

Figure-
Figure-
Closure
Closure Similarity
Similarity Ground
Ground
STIMULUS ORGANIZATION

Our brains tend to relate incoming sensations to others

already in memory based on some fundamental
organizational principles these principles are based on
gestalt psychology, a school of thought that maintains that
people derive meaning from the totality of a set of stimuli,
rather than from any individual stimulus the German word
gestalt roughly means whole, pattern, or configuration.
• The closure principle : people tend to perceive an
incomplete picture as complete, we tend to fill in the blanks
based on our prior experience.
• The principle of similarity : consumers tend to group
together objects that share similar physical characteristics.
• The figure – ground principle: one part of a stimulus will
dominate (the figure ) while other parts recede into the
background (the ground)
 PERCEPTUAL POSITIONING
• a product stimulus often is interpreted in light
of what we already know about a product category
and the characteristics of existing brands.
• Perception of a brand comprises both its
functional attributes {features-price}, and symbolic
attributes { image; what it says about us when we
use it} .
• Our evaluation of a product typically is the
result of what it means rather than what it does.
This meaning as perceived by consumers
constitutes the product’s market position.
POSITIONING DIMENSIONS

• lifestyle
• Price leadership
• Attributes
• Product class
• Competitors
• Occasions
• Users
• Quality
 REPOSITIONING
Repositioning occurs when:
• The brand’s original market position is
modified,
• The brand is competing too closely with
another of its products, so sales are being
cannibalized .
• Too many competitors are stressing the
same attribute.
• The original market evaporates or is
unreceptive to the offering.