The actions a person takes in purchasing and using products and services, including the mental and social

processes that precede and follow these actions. The behavioral sciences help answer questions such as : Why people choose one product or brand over another, How they make these choices, and How companies use this knowledge to provide value to consumers

Behind the visible act of making a purchase lies a decision process that must be investigated. The purchase decision process is the stages a buyer passes through in making choices about which products and services to buy. :

Five Stages of Consumer Behavior 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. problem recognition, information search, alternative evaluation, purchase decision, and post-purchase behavior.

Problem Recognition: Perceiving a Need

Perceiving a difference between a person's ideal and actual situations big enough to trigger a decision. Can be as simple as noticing an empty milk carton or it can be activated by marketing efforts.

Information Search: Seeking Value The information search stage clarifies the options open to the consumer and may involve Scanning ones memory to recall previous experiences with products or brands. Internal Often sufficient for frequently purchased products. search

two steps of information search External search

When past experience or knowledge is insufficient The risk of making a wrong purchase decision is high The cost of gathering information is low.

The primary sources of external information are: 1. Personal sources, such as friends and family. 2. Public sources, including various product-rating organizations such as Consumer Reports. 3. Marketer-dominated sources, such as advertising, company websites, and salespeople

Alternative Evaluation: Assessing Value The information search clarifies the problem for the consumer by (1) Suggesting criteria to use for the purchase. (2) Yielding brand names that might meet the criteria. (3) Developing consumer value perception.

A consumer's evaluative criteria represent both o the objective attributes of a brand (such as locate speed on a portable CD player) o the subjective factors (such as prestige). These criteria establish a consumer's evoked set o the group of brands that a consumer would consider acceptable from among all the brands in the product class of which he or she is aware

D. Purchase Decision: Buying Value

From whom to buy

which depends on such considerations o Terms of sale o Past experience buying from the seller o Return policy. which can be influenced by o store atmosphere o time pressure o a sale o pleasantness of the shopping experience.

Three possibilities When to buy

Do not buy
E. Postpurchase Behavior: Value in Consumption or Use

After buying a product, the consumer compares it with expectations and is either satisfied or dissatisfied. Satisfaction or dissatisfaction affects o consumer value perceptions o consumer communications o repeat-purchase behavior. Many firms work to produce positive postpurchase communications among consumers and contribute to relationship building between sellers and buyers. Cognitive Dissonance. The feelings of postpurchase psychological tension or anxiety a consumer often experiences Firms often use ads or follow-up calls from salespeople in this postpurchase stage to try to convince buyers that they made the right decision.

Involvement and Problem-Solving Variations

Consumers may skip or minimize one or more steps in the purchase decision process depending on o the level of involvement o the personal, social, and economic significance of the purchase Three characteristics of high-involvement purchase 1. is expensive, 2. can have serious personal consequences, or 3. could reflect on ones social image.

Three general problem-solving variations exist in the consumer purchase decision process:

Routine Problem Solving

Virtually a habit involves little effort seeking external information and evaluating alternatives. Typically used for low-priced, frequently purchased products. Involves the use of moderate information-seeking efforts. Often used when the buyer has little time or effort to spend. Each stage of the consumer purchase decision process is used Considerable time and effort on o external information search and in identifying o evaluating alternatives. Used in high-involvement purchase situations. Low and high consumer involvement has important implications for marketing strategy, which differs for products that are market leaders from their challengers.

Limited Problem Solving

Extended Problem Solving

Involvement and Marketing Strategy G. Situational Influences The purchase task Social surroundings Five Physical situational surroundings influences Temporal effects Antecedent states

The reason for engaging in the decision. Including others present when a purchase decision is made. Such as decor, music, and crowding in retail stores. Such as time of day or the amount of time available. Which include the consumers mood or amount of cash on hand

II. PSYCHOLOGICAL INFLUENCES ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR Concepts such as motivation and personality; perception; learning; values, beliefs and attitudes; and lifestyle are useful for interpreting buying processes and directing marketing efforts. A. Motivation and Personality 1. Motivation

is the energizing force that causes behavior that satisfies a need. Needs are hierarchical Once basic physiological needs are met, people seek to satisfy learned needs. Physiological needs

basic to survival. self-preservation physical well-being. love

From lowest to highest, the hierarchy is:

Safety needs Social needs

friendship. achievement status prestige self-respect. personal fulfillment.

Self-actualization needs 2. Personality

A person's consistent behavior or responses to recurring situations. Research suggests that key traits affect brand and product-type preferences. Cross-cultural analysis also suggests that residents of different countries have a national character, or a distinct set of personality characteristics common among people of a country or society. Personality characteristics are often revealed in a persons self-concept, which is the way people see themselves and the way they believe others see them.

B. Perception

The process by which an individual uses information to create a meaningful picture of the world by o selecting, o organizing o interpreting Perception is important because people selectively perceive what they want and it affects how people see risks in a purchase.

1. Selective Perception

Selective perception

Filtering o exposure, o comprehension, and o retention in the human brains attempt to organize and interpret information. Consumers can pay attention to messages that are consistent with their own attitudes and beliefs Consumers can ignore messages that are inconsistent. Involves interpreting (distorting?) information so that it is consistent with a person's attitudes and beliefs. Consumers do not remember all the information they see, read, or

Selective exposure

Selective comprehension Selective retention

hear.

Subliminal perception

Consumers see or hear messages without being aware of them. This is a hotly debated issue with more popular appeal than scientific support. Research suggests that such messages have limited effects on behavior

2. Perceived Risk

Anxieties felt o Consumes cannot anticipate the outcomes of a purchase o Believe that there may be negative consequences. Marketers try to reduce a consumer's perceived risk and encourage purchases by strategies such as providing o Free trial of a product o Securing endorsements from influential people o Providing warranties and guarantees.

Learning

Those behaviors that result from o Repeated experience o Thinking.

1. Behavioral Learning

The process of developing automatic responses to a situation built up through repeated exposure to it.

Four variables central to how consumers learn from repeated experience are: drive cue response A need that moves an individual to action A stimulus or symbol perceived by consumers The action taken by a consumer to satisfy the drive.

reinforcement The reward. Marketers use two concepts from behavioral learning theory: Occurs when a response elicited by one stimulus (cue) is generalized to another. Stimulus Using the same brand name for different products is an application generalization of this concept Stimulus

Refers to a person's ability to perceive differences in stimuli.

discrimination 2. Cognitive learning

The advertising for Bud Light beer is an example of this concept.

Involves making connections between two or more ideas or simply observing the outcomes of others behaviors and adjusting one's accordingly.

3. Brand loyalty

Is a favorable attitude and consistent purchase of a single brand over time. Brand loyalty differs across countries

D. Values, Beliefs, and Attitudes 1. Attitude Formation A learned predisposition to respond to an object or class of objects in a consistently favorable or unfavorable way. Attitude Shaped by our values and beliefs, which are learned.

Values

personally or socially preferable modes of conduct or states of existence that are enduring. consumer's subjective perception of how well a product or brand performs on different attributes.

Beliefs

2. Attitude Change Changing beliefs about the extent to which a brand has certain Approaches attributes. to try to Changing the perceived importance of attributes. change Adding new attributes to the product. consumer attitudes E. Lifestyle Lifestyle is a mode of living that is identified by activities How a person spends time and resources interests What a person considers important in the environment opinions what a person thinks of self and the world

Psychographics o The analysis of consumer lifestyle o helps to segment and target consumers for new and existing products.

Values and Lifestyles (VALS) Program

Developed by SRI International Identified eight interconnected categories of adult lifestyles based on a persons self-orientation and resources. Resources

Self-orientation

Three patterns of attitudes and activities that help people reinforce their social self-image. The three patterns are oriented toward o principles, o status, o action.

income education self-confidence health eagerness to buy intelligence energy level.

SOCIOCULTURAL INFLUENCES ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

Sociocultural influences evolve from a formal and informal relationships with other people. Influences Include o Personal influence o Reference groups o The family o Social class o Culture o Subculture.

A. Personal Influence

Opinion leaders Aspects of personal influence important to marketing Word of mouth

individuals who exert direct or indirect social influence over others People influencing each other during face-to-face conversations. Power of word of mouth has been magnified by the Internet and e-mail

B. Reference Groups Reference groups are people to whom an individual looks as a basis for self-appraisal or as a source of personal standards. Reference groups have an important influence on the purchase of luxury products but not of necessities. : one to which a person actually belongs Membership group Three groups have clear one with which a person wishes to be marketing implications Aspiration identified. group

Dissociative group C. Family Influence

one from which a person wants to maintain a distance because of differences in values or behaviors

Family influences on consumer behavior result from three sources: o consumer socialization o passage through the family life cycle o decision making within the family. Consumer socialization is the process by which people acquire the skills, knowledge, and attitudes necessary to function as consumers

Consumer Socialization

Family Life Cycle

The distinct phases that a family progresses through from formation to retirement Each phase bringing with it identifiable purchasing behaviors.

young singles Young marrieds without children Young marrieds with children The older married older unmarried

Family Decision Making

Two decision-making styles exist: Five roles of individual o spouse-dominant (either wife or family members in the husband is responsible) purchase process exist o joint decision making (most decisions are made by both husband information gatherer and wife). influencer Increasingly, preteens and teenagers are decision maker assuming these roles for the family, given purchaser the prevalence of working parents and user single-parent households.

D. Social Class

The relatively permanent, homogeneous divisions in a society into which people sharing similar values, interests, and behavior are grouped. Determinants of social class include o occupation, o source of income (not level of income) o education. Social class is a basis for identifying and reaching particularly good prospects for products and services. o Upper classes are targeted by companies for items such as financial investments, expensive cars, and evening wear.

o o

Middle classes represent a target market for home improvement centers and automobile parts stores. Lower classes are targeted for products such as sports and scandal magazines.

E. Culture and Subculture Culture refers to the set of values, ideas and attitudes that are accepted by a homogeneous group of people and transmitted to the next generation.

Subcultures - groups within the larger, or national, culture with unique values, ideas, and attitudes. three largest racial/ethnic subcultures in the U.S o Hispanics, o African-Americans o Asians . Each of these groups exhibits sophisticated social and cultural behaviors that affect their buying patterns.