Chapter 1

An Introduction to
Consumer Behavior


Remember Me?
I'm the fellow who goes into a restaurant, sits down and patiently
waits while the waiter do everything but take my order. I'm the
fellow who goes into a department store and stands quietly while
the sales clerks finish their little chitchat. I'm the man who drives
into a gas station and waits patiently while the attendant finishes
having his tobacco.

"Yes, you might say, I'm a good guy. But do you know who else I
am? I am the fellow who never comes back, and it amuses me to
see you spending crores of rupees every year to get me back into
your store, when I was there in the first place, and all you had to
do to keep me was to give me a little service; show me a little
courtesy."

Source: From a Better Business Bureau bulletin submitted by An
Arkansas Reader to Dear Abby
Defining Consumer Behavior
Consumer Behavior is the Process
Involved When Individuals or Groups
Select, Use, or Dispose of Products,
Services, Ideas or Experiences
(Exchange) to Satisfy Needs and
Desires.
During periods when consumers are not shopping much
(e.g., bad economy), store managers often play slow music
within stores

During busy periods (e.g., holiday season), fast music is
played

Why?
In the US, the Marlboro cowboy is usually
shown alone

In Japan, the Marlboro cowboy is usually
shown as part of a group

Why?
Culture has an influence on consumer
behavior

US culture = importance of individual; not true
in Asia

Japanese consumers think a single cowboy
looks lonely and poor
Just an ordinary worker on a farm

Issues During Stages in the
Consumption Process
Consumers Impact on Marketing
Strategy
The Process of Marketing Segmentation:
Identifies Groups of Consumers Who
are Similar to One Another in One or
More Ways, and
Devises Marketing Strategies that
Appeal to One or More of These
Groups.
Understanding consumer behavior is good
business.
Firms exist to satisfy consumers
needs, so
Firms must understand consumers
needs to satisfy them.
Segmenting Consumers by
Demographic Dimensions
Demographics are Statistics That Measure Observable
Aspects of a Population Such As:
Age
Family Structure
Gender
Race and
Ethnicity
Geography
Social Class
and Income
Consumers Impact On Marketing
Strategy: Building Bonds With Consumers

Relationship Marketing occurs when a
company makes an effort to interact
with customers on a regular basis, and
gives them reasons to maintain a bond
with the company over time.

Database Marketing involves tracking
consumers buying habits very closely,
and crafting products and messages
tailored precisely to peoples wants and
needs based on this information.
Marketings Impact on Consumers:
The Meaning of Consumption
Self-Concept Attachment
Helps to Establish the Users Identity
Nostalgic Attachment
Serves as a Link With a Past Self
Interdependence
Part of the Users Daily Routine
Love
Elicits Bonds of Warmth, Passion, or Other
Strong Emotion
Types of Relationships a Person May Have With a
Product:
Marketings Impact on Consumers:
Consumption Typology

There Are 4 Distinct Types of Consumption Activities:
Consuming as Experience
Consuming as Integration
Consuming as Classification
Consuming as Play



An Emotional or Aesthetic
Reaction to Consumption Objects

Express Aspects of Self or
Society

Communicate Their Association
With Objects, Both to Self/ Others

Participate in a Mutual Experience
and Merge Self With Group

The Dark Side of Consumer
Behavior
Compulsive Consumption

>Behavior is Not Done by Choice
>Gratification is Short-Lived
>Strong Feelings of Regret or
Guilt Afterwards


Illegal Activities

> Consumer Theft (Shrinkage)
>Anti-consumption
Culture Jamming
Cultural Resistance
Consumed Consumers

> People Who Are Exploited for
Commercial Gain in the
Marketplace.
Addictive Consumption

> Gambling

Two Perspective on Consumer
Research
Positivist
Approach
Objective
Prediction
Independent
Real Cause
Separation
Interpretivist
Approach
Socially
Constructed
Understanding
Contextual
Simultaneous
Shaping
Interaction