Learning Diary 1

Today is 10th of September, 18, the very first day of University as well as Consumer
Behavior lecture. The instructor discussed about course structure and how we need
to complete it. Overall, the whole experience of my first class outside from my home
country was very good and different from my previous experience. There were
different introductory topics discussed in the class like what we will be able to do
and learn after completing this course. When the course is completed, students
should be able to understand the market insights in terms of consumer behavior.
Also, how the consumer behavior is changing and what are the internal as well as
external factors that make consumers go for a decision to buy a product or service.
We also have to do a small scale research, to evaluate the behavior of a consumer.
Further, the instructor said, learning the behavior of a consumer is very important,
if a company wants to sell its products so it should make the products according to
the needs and wants of consumers. This will give marketeer good business, surge in
revenues. An organization exists because of its consumers, without consumers there
is no business. Marketing is about satisfying the needs of consumers.
An old Roman literature writer Maccius Plautus (254-184 BC) said, “Good
merchandise, even hidden, soon finds buyers.” In this quotation Maccius points a
very important thing that, marketeers should know what exactly a consumer wants,
as our instructor said, marketeers use our learning to make products according to
our needs. I can give one example; many websites gather data about the products
that are viewed by consumers on the websites, so they may know which product
consumers are more interested in, and how they can improve that specific product
according to consumers’ needs. Some websites look for the product that is viewed
by a consumer several times but the consumer has not yet bought, so based on that
evaluation they offer discounts or other promotions to those customers, if they are
really interested in that particular product. One day I was looking for a mobile cover
online and added one in my cart but I didn’t finish my order, on the very second day
I received an email from that website that we are offering you 20% discount on this
product if you finish your order. Now, in this scenario they know which product I
am interested in and they are confirming their sales by offering me a discount.
Trends are changing; consumers are more demanding than they were before. They
like to have several options to choose from. They go to different stores to look for
variety of options and compare products and prices. But between these trends I
have one example of my own in which marketeers don’t give many choices but still
they are in business and are actually successful, I was looking for furniture to give it
to my sister on her wedding and came across a store which has only one piece of
every design they had, and they said what ever design you purchase from us will
never be made again and you will be the only one to have it, so this is an example of
marketeers playing with the psyche of consumers, as Solomon said uniqueness of a
products satisfies the needs of consumer (Solomon 2015, p.43). Super markets like
K-Market should give consumers a specific ID (In form of a card or something like
that) which also does a purpose of discount or loyalty card but it should contain a
customers ID (of course if customers approve), so that they can know which
consumer is buying which product. This way, marketeers will know which product
consumers are choosing when they have different choices available.
We also studied consumer behavior process in our class, which has three phases i.e.
before purchase, during purchase and after purchase, but here I am thinking about
the fourth step, which should be repurchasing. I come from an underdeveloped
country and we don’t usually experience the same good quality as we get at the time
of first purchase. So, my point is that feedback on the second time purchase also is of
great value.
An activity was performed in the class where I told a girl sitting behind me, I don’t
remember her name but she was from Hongkong. I told her about my recent
purchase, which was a mobile phone, step by step going though decision process of
customer, which starts from need recognition and ends at post purchase behavior.
But not everytime a customer should necessarily go through all the steps of decision
making process, specially in routine purchase Kotler, 2010, p.15, as cited in Hussain,
2017)
The most interesting topic that we discussed in the class was the product
involvement. As Michaelidou, Nina & Dibb, and Sally (2008, p.16) said, product
involvement is very important factor in marketing and consumer behavior, which
combines different behaviors and processes. Marketeers tie consumers with their
products or you may say they are more like emotionally attached to the brands. I
myself am so much involved in Apple products more than any thing that I want
every product that Apple has ever made, I also consider this as my weakness
because not a single brand in mobile phones other than Apple satisfy me. Basically,
product involvement is the interest of a person in a brand of product (Solomon
2015, p.63). What is in the mind of a consumer, understanding psychology and
behavior of consumer is crucial when a marketeer has to offer a product, which
fulfills the needs of consumers, and solves a problem. My niece likes Barbie doll so
much, that she has a collection of 57 Barbie dolls and still counting. So, it means that,
product involvement can be experienced at any age. Consumers are highly involved
because they think there may be a risk in trying any other product, its quality may
not be as good as of the one he/she is currently using (Solomon 2015, p.63).
Product involvement is also sometime associated with perceived risk (Michaelidou,
Nina & Dibb, and Sally, 2008, p.03) Ahmed, my friends was using Ariel detergent for
so many years, he went to try a locally manufacture detergent on a recommendation
of some other friend, he got his clothes color faded because of the poor quality of the
detergent. So, sometimes sticking to one product, it can be expensive, saves you a lot
of money that you don’t consider while buy a cheaper product.
When a consumer is passionate about a product, he/she will definitely recommend
the product to his/her family and friends. It does not necessarily mean that a
consumer will be buying a product on regular basis but his positive attitude towards
the product means a lot for the profitability of a company.
Consumer involvement theory is one way to understand the behavior of consumers.
This is an easy and quick way to understand the psyche of consumers, compare to
other consumer researches (Adcracker.com). According to Michaelidou, Nina & Dibb
and Sally (2008, p.02), using the categories to know the intensity of involvement of
consumer to a product can help segment consumer into low to high levels of
involvement. There are many people I know that like the products because of their
excellent services, the quality of services leads to a high involvement in a product.
Cabanero (2006, p.84) said, product involvement of consumers is higher in services
than the involvement in goods. When a consumer has more interaction with the
community who uses the products, the more he/she is committed to the product
itself (Carlson, Suter, & Brown, 2008).
In the Friday’s class we had a discussion on three different newsletter, I actually
read all three newsletters that were given by the instructor. The newsletter I chose
to write summary on was about Google & Burger king ad. Zuzana described the
main theme of this newsletter as a publicity stunt and she said they got success and
attention for a very short time. Whereas, Yuan described it as an innovative idea to
grab one’s attention but the feedback from the audience was not mentioned in the
text. XinYi, another student in my class of consumer behavior explained it as a
disturbing thing for consumers, it may have been successful for a short time but this
not something to go for in the long run.
Moreover, from other two newsletters I found Lemons & breast cancer, which was
quite interesting. Beaumont designed a picture showing one dozen of lemons placed
in an egg carton. Most interesting and innovative thing about this campaign was
about make illiterate people aware about the symptoms of breast cancer. The
biggest achievement of this campaign in my point of view that they were able to run
this campaign in Saudi Arabia, considering the strict rules of this country.
References
Decision innovation. Consumer quotes related to decision making. Retrieved from

https://www.decision-making-solutions.com/consumer_quotes.html

Wikipedia. Plautus. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plautus

Monash university. Citing and referencing: In text citations. Retrieved from

https://guides.lib.monash.edu/citing-referencing/APA-In-text

Michaelidou, Nina & Dibb, and Sally, 2008. Consumer involvement: A new

perspective. Marketing Review, 8(1) pp. 83-99.

Carlson, Suter, & Brown, 2008. Social versus psychological brand community: The

role of psychological sense of brand community. Journal of Business research,

61(4) pp. 284-291.

Hussain, 2017. Study on consumer decision making process in the selection of home

keeping company. Jyvskylän ammattikorkeakoulu.