Consumer Markets and

Buyer Behavior
Discussion Question

• What have you recently purchased

1. Amazing experience
2. Bad experience
• Write down all the reasons you purchased these
particular items?
Consumer Markets and Buyer Behavior
Consumer buyer behavior is the buying
behavior of final consumers—
individuals and households that buy
goods and services for personal
consumption.

Consumer markets are made up of all

the individuals and households that
buy or acquire goods and services for
personal consumption.
Consumer Behavior
Foxall (1990) identified five different approaches to research
• Psychodynamic – determined by biological needs

• Economic Man – be rational and is striving to maximize utility

• Behaviorist – behavior can be learned

• Humanistic – study of self or whole person

• Cognitive – thinking leads towards the way people feel and act
Model of Consumer Behavior

Figure 5.1 The Model of Buyer Behavior

Characteristics Affecting Consumer
Behavior

Factors Influencing Consumer Behavior

Characteristics Affecting Consumer
Behavior
Culture is the set of basic values,
perceptions, wants, and behaviors
learned by a member of society from
family and other important
institutions.

Cultural shifts: health and fitness

sustainability
Characteristics Affecting Consumer
Behavior
Subcultures are groups of people
within a culture with shared value
systems based on common life
experiences and situations.

Subcultures include nationalities,

religions, racial groups, and geographic
regions.
Characteristics Affecting Consumer
Behavior
Social classes are society’s relatively permanent
and ordered divisions whose members share
similar values, interests, and behaviors.

• Measured as a combination of occupation,

income, education, wealth, and other variables

• Distinct product and brand preferences:

clothing, home furnishings, travel and leisure
activity, financial services, and automobiles
Characteristics Affecting Consumer
Behavior
Social Factors: Groups and Social Networks

“Reference Group is a group that serves as a reference point for an

individual in the formation of his/her beliefs, attitudes and behavior.”
Characteristics Affecting Consumer
Behavior
Social Factors: Groups and Social Networks
Membership Aspirational
Reference Groups
Groups Groups
• Groups with • Groups an • Groups that
direct influence individual form a
and to which a wishes to belong comparison or
person belongs to reference in
forming
attitudes or
behavior
Characteristics Affecting Consumer
Behavior
Social Factors: Groups and Social Networks

• Online social networks

• Buzz marketing
• Social media sites
• Virtual worlds
• Word of mouth
• Opinion leaders
Characteristics Affecting Consumer
Behavior
Social Factors: Groups and Social Networks

• Family is the most important consumer-buying organization in society.

• Role and status can be defined by a person’s position in a group.

Characteristics Affecting Consumer
Behavior Personal factors
• Age and life-cycle stage
Characteristics Affecting Consumer
Behavior Personal factors

Occupation affects the goods and services bought by consumers.

Economic situations include trends in:

Personal Interest
Spending Savings
income rates
Characteristics Affecting Consumer
Behavior Personal factors

Lifestyle is a person’s pattern of living as expressed in his or her

psychographics.
Characteristics Affecting Consumer
Behavior Personal factors

Personality refers to the unique psychological characteristics that

distinguish a person or group.
Characteristics Affecting Consumer
Behavior Personal factors

Sincerity Excitement Competence

Sophistication Ruggedness

Brand Personality Traits

Characteristics Affecting Consumer
Behavior Personal factors
1. Sincerity (down-to-earth, honest, wholesome, and cheerful)

2. Excitement (daring, spirited, imaginative, and up-to-date)

3. Competence (reliable, intelligent, and successful)

4. Sophistication (upper class and charming)

5. Ruggedness (outdoorsy and tough)

Characteristics Affecting Consumer
Behavior
Psychological factors

Motivation

Perception

Learning

Beliefs and attitudes

Characteristics Affecting Consumer
Behavior
Psychological factors

A motive (or drive) is a need that is sufficiently pressing to direct the

person to seek satisfaction of the need.
Characteristics Affecting Consumer
Behavior Psychological factors

5-25
Characteristics Affecting Consumer
Behavior Psychological factors

Perception is the process by which people select, organize, and

interpret information to form a meaningful picture of the world.

Perceptual Processes

Selective Selective Selective

attention distortion retention
Characteristics Affecting Consumer
Behavior Psychological factors
Selective attention is the tendency for people to screen out most of the
information to which they are exposed.

Selective distortion is the tendency for people to interpret information in a

way that will support what they already believe.

Selective retention is the tendency to remember good points made about a

brand they favor and forget good points about competing brands.
 Characteristics Affecting Consumer
Behavior Psychological factors
Learning is the change in an individual’s behavior arising from
experience and occurs through the interplay of:

Learning Theory Drives Stimuli Cues Responses

Reinforcement
Characteristics Affecting Consumer
Behavior Psychological factors
A belief is a descriptive thought that a person has about something
based on:
• knowledge
• opinion
• faith

An attitude describes a person’s relatively consistent evaluations,

feelings, and tendencies toward an object or idea.
Types of Buying Decision Behavior

Complex buying behavior

Dissonance-reducing buying behavior

Habitual buying behavior

Variety-seeking buying behavior

Types of Buying Decision Behavior

FIGURE | 5.5 Four Types of Buying Behavior

The Buyer Decision Process

FIGURE | 5.6 Buyer Decision Process

The Buyer Decision Process

Need recognition is the first stage of the buyer decision process, in

which the consumer recognizes a problem or need triggered by:
• Internal stimuli
• External stimuli
The Buyer Decision Process
Information search is the stage of the buyer decision process in which
the consumer is motivated to search for more information.

• Sources of information:
• Personal sources
• Commercial sources
• Public sources
• Experiential sources
The Buyer Decision Process

Alternative evaluation is the stage of the buyer decision process in

which the consumer uses information to evaluate alternative brands
in the choice set.
The Buyer Decision Process
Purchase decision is the buyer’s decision about which brand to
purchase.

• The purchase intention may not be the purchase decision due to:
• Attitudes of others
• Unexpected situational factors
The Buyer Decision Process

Post purchase behavior is the stage of the buyer decision process in

which consumers take further action after purchase, based on their
satisfaction or dissatisfaction.
The Buyer Decision Process

Cognitive dissonance is buyer discomfort caused by postpurchase

conflict.
 The Buyer Decision Process for New
Products
The adoption process is the mental process an individual goes through
from first learning about an innovation to final regular use.

• Stages in the adoption process include:

Awareness Interest Evaluation Trial Adoption

The Buyer Decision Process for New
Products

• Awareness: The consumer becomes aware of the new product but lacks
information about it.
• Interest: The consumer seeks information about the new product.
• Evaluation: The consumer considers whether trying the new product
makes sense.
• Trial: The consumer tries the new product on a small scale to improve his
or her estimate of its value.
• Adoption: The consumer decides to make full and regular use of the new
product.
The Buyer Decision Process for New
Products
Individual Differences in Innovativeness

• Innovators
• Early Adopters
• Early Mainstream
• Late Mainstream
• Lagging Adopters
The Buyer Decision Process for New
Products
Individual Differences in Innovativeness
• Innovators are venturesome—they try new ideas at some risk.
• Early adopters are guided by respect—they are opinion leaders in their
communities and adopt new ideas early but carefully.
• The early mainstream is deliberate—although they rarely are leaders, they
adopt new ideas before the average person.
• The late mainstream is skeptical—they adopt an innovation only after a
majority of people have tried it.
• Lagging adopters are tradition bound—they are suspicious of changes and
adopt the innovation only when it has become something of a tradition itself.
The Buyer Decision Process for New
Products
Individual Differences in Innovativeness

FIGURE | 5.7 Adopter Categories Based on Relative Time of Adoption of Innovations

The Buyer Decision Process for New
Products
Influence of Product Characteristics on Rate of Adoption

Relative
Compatibility Complexity Divisibility
advantage

Communicability
The Buyer Decision Process for New
Products
Influence of Product Characteristics on Rate of Adoption
• Relative advantage is the degree to which the innovation appears superior to
existing products.
• Compatibility is the degree to which the innovation fits the values and
experiences of potential consumers.
• Complexity is the degree to which the innovation is difficult to understand or use.
• Divisibility is the degree to which the innovation may be tried on a limited basis.
• Communicability is the degree to which the results of using the innovation can be
observed or described to others.
Assignment
• What culture do you belong to? How does this influence you as a consumer?
• What subculture do you belong to? How does this influence you as a consumer?
• What social class do you belong? How does this influence you as a consumers?