Chapter 1

Introduction to Consumer
Behavior and Marketing
Strategy

McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Introduction
• The marketing
concept: satisfy
consumer needs and
wants to make a profit
• Understand
customers
• Stay close to
customers(create
database and
relationship
marketing)
• Past problems with
marketing concept
 Introduction cont.
Shift of focus to better serve consumers for three
major reasons:
1. Success of Japanese companies
2. Increase in the quality of consumer and marketing
research
3. Development of the Internet as a marketing tool
 What is Consumer Behavior?
Dynamic interaction of:
• affect and cognition
• behavior
• environment
by which human beings conduct exchanges
What is Consumer Behavior? cont.
Involves:
• thoughts
• feelings
• actions
in consumption
processes
• Includes all things in the
environment that
influence thoughts,
feelings, and actions
What is Consumer Behavior? cont.
• Dynamic
• Involves interactions
• Involves exchanges
 Approaches to Consumer Behavior
Research
Three major approaches:
1. Interpretive
• Theories and methods from cultural
anthropology
• Objective is to understand consumption and its
meanings
• Methods of study
• long interviews
• focus groups
 Approaches to Consumer Behavior
Research cont.
2. Traditional
• Theories and methods from
cognitive, social, and
behavioral psychology, and
sociology
• Objective is to explain
consumer decision making
and behavior
• Methods of study involve
• experiments
• surveys
 Approaches to Consumer Behavior
Research cont.
3. Marketing science
• Theories and methods from economics and
statistics
• Objective is to predict consumer choice and
behavior
• Methods of study involve
• math-modeling
• simulation
 Uses of Consumer Behavior
Research cont.
• Three groups

1 2

3
 Consumer Behavior’s Role in
Marketing Strategy
• Marketing strategy
• Design, implementation, and control of a plan to
influence exchanges to achieve organizational
objectives
• Developing and presenting marketing stimuli at
selected target markets to influence
• What they think Product Place
• How they feel
Target
• What they do Market
• Powerful force Price Promo
 Summary
• Marketing concept and past problems
• Aspects of consumer behavior
• Three major approaches to consumer behavior
research
• The groups that use knowledge about consumer
behavior and research
• Role of consumer behavior in a marketing strategy