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Chapter 6
Understanding Consumer and Business Markets
I. CHAPTER OVERVIEW
In this chapter, consumer behavior is defined and reasons for purchasing studied. Students learn
about the process of purchase, beginning with prepurchase behavior and ending with
postpurchase behavior. Students will understand how situational factors at the time and place of
purchase can influence consumer behavior. Students begin to think about how consumers’
relationships with other people influence their decision-making process.
p. 152- 1.1 Not All Decisions are the Same Figure 6.1
154 Decision makers actually employ a set of approaches that range The Consumer
from painstaking analysis to pure whim, depending on the Decision-
importance of what they are buying and how much effort they Making Process
choose to put into the decision. Researchers find it convenient to
think in terms of an “effort” continuum that is anchored on one
end by habitual decision making, such as deciding to purchase a
box of cereal, and at the other end by extended problem solving,
such as deciding to purchase a new car.
When perceived risk is low – like when you buy a box of cereal –
we experience a small amount of involvement in the decision-
making process. In low-involvement situations, the consumer’s
decision is often a response to environmental cues, such as when
you decide to try a new type of cereal because the grocery store
prominently displays it at the end of the aisle. Under these
circumstances, managers must concentrate on how a store
displays products at the time of purchase to influence the
decision-maker. For high-involvement purchases, such as when
we buy a house or a car, we are more likely to carefully process
all the available information and to have thought about the
decision well before we buy the item. The consequences of the
purchase are important and risky, especially because a bad
decision may result in significant financial losses, aggravation, or
embarrassment.
Discussion: Explain habitual decision making, limited problem solving, and extended problem
solving. What is the role of perceived risk in the decision process?
Ethics Check
Find out what other students taking this course would do and why
at www.mymktlab.com
ble Decisions in
p. 162 2.3.2 Cognitive Learning: The cognitive learning theory the Real World
views people as problem solvers who do more than passively
react to associations between stimuli. Supporters of this
viewpoint stress the role of creativity and insight during the
learning process. Cognitive learning occurs when consumers
make a connection between ideas or by observing things in their
environment. Observational learning occurs when people watch
the actions of others and note what happens to them as a result.
p. 162 2.4 Attitudes Exhibit 6. 4
An attitude is a lasting evaluation of a person, object, or issue. Marmite
Consumers have attitudes about brands. A person’s attitude has
three components: affect, cognition, and behavior.
Age is important, but actually regardless of how old we are, what Exhibit 6. 6
we buy often depends more on our current position in the family FitoSonno food
life cycle—the stages through which family members pass as supplement
they grow older.
►Marketing Moment In-Class Activity
Using the product categories of dining out and automobiles, identify the types of restaurants and
cars that are likely to be purchased in the various stages of the family life cycle. (i.e., fine dining
and sports cars when dating/McDonald’s and mini-vans with full nest children/nice restaurants
and a Harley when the kids leave for college.) Can you see examples within their own family?
p. 164 2.7 Lifestyle Exhibit 6. 7
A lifestyle is a pattern of living that determines how people Walking shoes
choose to spend their time, money, and energy and that reflects
their values, tastes, and preferences. Consumers often choose
goods, services, and activities that are associated with a certain
lifestyle.
think would be most useful to gain a better understand of each item below. How might you use
each metric you choose to do the following?
Better understand a firm’s existing customers
Identify potential new customers for a firm
Gauge the market potential for a new product
p. 165 3. SITUATIONAL AND SOCIAL INFLUENCES ON
CONSUMERS’ DECISIONS
Situational and social influences--factors external to the
consumer--have a big impact on the choices consumers make and
how they make them.
Activity: What are the core values of your culture? How do these
core values affect your behavior as a consumer? What are the
implications for marketers?
p. 170 One of the biggest marketing buzzwords over the past few years Exhibit 6. 10
is the metrosexual—a straight, urban male who is keenly Bauker
interested in fashion, home design, gourmet cooking, and
personal care.
p. 172- 4.1 Factors That Make a Difference in Business Markets Figure 6.6 Key
173 In theory, the same basic marketing principles hold in both Differences in
consumer and business markets—firms identify customer needs Business versus
and develop a marketing mix to satisfy those needs. However, Consumer
there are differences that make business-to-business marketing Markets
more complex. Some of the differences are described next.
supplies are low, often from the same suppliers. Reordering the
items takes little time.
The more complex and costly the purchase, the more time buyers
spend searching for the best supplier—and the more marketers
must do to win the order. In some cases, a company may even ask
one or more of its current customers to participate in a customer
reference program. In these situations, customers formally share
success stories and actively recommend products to other
potential clients, often as part of an on-line community composed
of people with similar needs.
p. 182 Many companies find that it’s both cost-efficient and productive
to call on outsiders from around the world to solve problems their
own scientists can’t handle—we call this process crowdsourcing
– put simply, a way to harness “crowds” to “source” solutions to
business problems.
p. 182 Reverse marketing occurs when buyers try to find suppliers that
can produce specifically needed products and then attempt to
“sell” the idea to the suppliers. The seller aims to satisfy the
buying firm’s needs.
Among the social media sites, the one that has become most
associated with B2B networking is LinkedIn.
WEB RESOURCES
Pearson MyMarketingLab: www.mymktlab.com
InnoCentive (a network of over 90,000 “solvers” whose member companies like Boeing,
DuPont, Procter & Gamble, and Eli Lilly invite to tackle problems they wrestle with internally):
www.innocentive.com