MRKT 3315 Consumer Behavior Ch.9

Silent Generation

Consumers born between 1928 and 1945; Were greatly impacted by the Great Depression and World War II; Known for civic duty, conformity, and responsibility; Tend to be frugal and follow utilitarian motivations with their purchases

Generation Z

Consumers born between 1995 and 2010; They are the first truly "global" generation

Rational Perspective:

Consumers carefully arrive at decisions and are rational about these decisions.

Habitual (or "routine") Decision Making -

Consumers generally do not seek information at all when a problem is recognized.

Orientation

Consumers have a natural tendency towards one shopping orientation when they enter a store. Gift shopping can dramatically shift a shopper's orientation and change the shopping experience altogether.

Time pressure affects consumers in several ways:

Consumers process less information when time is scarce. Consumers are more likely to rely on simple choice heuristics - habit or easy availability. Consumers may only rely on price and quality instead of other attributes.

Decision-Making Approaches

Consumers reach decisions in a number of different ways. Usually, as involvement and risk increase, consumers are motivated to move more carefully through the decision-making process.

Limited Decision Making -

Consumers search very little for information and often reach decisions based on prior beliefs about products and their attributes.

Security and Fearfulness

Consumers today live with the ever-present reminders of vandalism, crime, and even terrorism. Shopping malls, markets, airports, and other places where large numbers of consumers gather are consistently mentioned as potential terrorist targets providing another reason for consumers to feel less secure.

Fearfulness can affect consumers in multiple ways:

Consumers who go shopping in a fearful mood will not go about their shopping in the same manner; Fearful consumers will tend to buy less and enjoy the experience less; Consumer may cope with the fear of shopping by utilizing non-store outlets, such as the Internet, as a seemingly safer means of doing business; Retailers can enhance the shopping experience for consumers by making them feel safe.

Examples of how color affects consumers:

Consumers who perceive a product in a predominantly blue background tend to think the product is of higher quality, and they are willing to pay more for that product.

Attitude Toward Shopping -

Consumers who value shopping and who possess positive attitudes toward shopping generally spend more time searching for product information.

Buying power -

Found in the form of cash on hand, credit card spending limits, or money available by draft or debit card. Thus, consumer buying power may determine where people shop.

Culture performs the following functions to shape the value of consumer activities:

Giving meaning to objects: Consider the degree to which culture defines the meaning of furniture, religious objects, and everyday items—food and drink. Giving meaning to activities: Consider the role of events that are as simple as recreational activities and even personal hygiene. Facilitating communication: The shared meaning of things facilitates communication. When strangers meet, culture indicates whether a handshake, hug, or kiss is most appropriate.

Time Availability -

Having more time to spend on a search usually results in increased search activity.

BRIC Markets

It is often said that these four nations have economies that are rapidly growing; The large middle classes in these nations benefit from corporate capital investments and have become the attractive markets for goods and services.

The Internet improves consumer search activities in several ways:

It lowers the costs associated with search and makes the process more productive., It makes the search process itself enjoyable., It allows consumers to control the information flow more efficiently.

Gender Segment

Marketing communication is often directed either toward a male or a female market segment. Due largely to the different purchasing pattern between genders; Marketers can sometimes reach out to the opposite sex in contrast to their role expectations. They keep in mind that information processing is different between men and women.

the decision-making process generally includes the following five activities:

Need recognition, Search for information, Evaluation of alternatives, Choice, Post-choice evaluation; Consumers do not always move through the process in the order above nor do they always complete the process.

Symbols

Objects and activities take on different symbolic or semiotic meaning from culture to culture. The symbolic meaning of objects also affects gift- giving from culture to culture.

Not every act of shopping has to end in a purchase.

Often enough, a shopper finds that the product they are looking for is out of stock and they wait for another time to purchase it. Online retailers have appeared as a competition for the physical stores, making them no longer a necessity to shopping. Shopping is not necessarily about making choices. Sometimes you might buy something inessential or unnecessary because the desired product evokes pleasant memories.

Hispanic Culture -

Over 15 percent of all Americans

Personal Factors -

Search tends to increase as a consumer's level of education and income increases.

Agreement

Similar to other nonverbal elements, indication of agreement depends on the culture.

Situational Influencers -

Situational factors also influence the amount of search that takes place. Perceived urgency, financial pressure, and mood can impact search behavior.

Situational memory:

Situational memory characterizes unplanned acts because something in the store triggers the need for the item, such as a pack of gum.

Unplanned consumer acts, such as shopping, are characterized by the following factors:

Situational memory, Utilitarian orientation, Spontaneity

Spontaneity:

Spontaneity means "without consideration."

Impulsive Shopping:

Spontaneous activities characterized by a weakened regard for consequences and a desire for instant self-fulfillment.

Increasing Life Expectancy and the Aging Consumer

The Baby Boomer population is expected to dramatically affect business practices for many years to come.

The behavior can be broken down as follows to demonstrate the impulsiveness involved:

The act involves willingly differing from previous plans and therefore shows impulsiveness and feelings of liberation from the negative events of the day; The act shows diminished regard for the consequences of missing the business meeting or for any expense sustained; The act fulfills the need to maintain a positive outlook on the self and thus provides hedonic value.

Cycles

The choice of a particular beverage, clothes, or activity is sometimes determined by the time of the day.

Increasing Consumer Affluence

The combination of working couples and lower birth rates has led to greater levels of consumer affluence.

Need Recognition

The decision-making process begins with the recognition of a need.

What Is Culture?

The meaning of any consumption act is related to the environment in which the act occurs. Thus, culture personifies meaning.

Consumers seek all types of information about potential solutions to needs, including:

The number of alternatives available, The price of various alternatives, The relevant attributes that should be considered and their importance, The performance of each alternative on the attributes

The effects of background music include the following:

The speed of background music determines the speed at which consumers shop. Slower music means slower shopping, and faster music means faster shopping; The tempo of music affects the patience of consumers. Faster music makes consumers less patient.

Space varies in importance with different places.

The value that consumers place on space can affect the communication styles.

Relationships

There are different ways how consumers respond to marketers when they attempt to build a personal relationship.

Augmented Reality -

These apps augment reality with computer simulated information.

GPS-based technologies -

They are search technologies that combine elements of GPS capabilities with consumer needs.

Visual Search -

This allows consumers to simply take a photo of an object or scan it into their screen and quickly receive information about it.

Social risk -

This risk is associated with how other consumers will view the purchase.

Financial risk -

This risk is associated with the cost of the product.

Performance risk -

This risk is associated with the likelihood of the product performing as expected.

Physical risk -

This risk is associated with the safety of the product and the likelihood that physical harm will result from its consumption.

Time risk -

This risk is associated with the time spent searching for the product and the time necessary for the product to be serviced or maintained.

Increasing Cultural Diversity

Through immigration and the growth of microcultures, most of the societies are becoming increasingly culturally diverse.

Time is an important factor and is necessary for consumption to occur. Time can affect consumption in any of the following forms:

Time pressure, Time of year, Time of day

QR Codes (quick response codes) -

With this code, consumers can easily gain access to all types of product-related information.

A need is acknowledged when

a consumer perceives a difference between an actual state and a desired state.

Brand inertia:

a consumer simply buys a product repeatedly without any real attachment.

Brand loyalty:

a deeply held commitment to rebuy a product or service regardless of situational influences that could lead to switching behavior.

People who age in the same generation belong to the same cohort—

a group of people who have lived the same major experiences in their life and those experiences end up shaping their core values.

Microculture is defined as

a group of people who share similar values and tastes that are subsumed within a larger culture; Microculture is a smaller group but in no way less significant in exhibiting potential influence on consumer behavior. Micrcultures break down attributes that directly and indirectly affect consumer behavior

Olfactory:

a human's processing of smells. It is believed that when shoppers process ambient citrus odors, it makes them feel more relaxed and receptive to product information.

The analysis of cultural trends is greatly affected by

a multitude of demographics. The U.S. population divided into consumer groups based on several types of microcultures are: regional, sex role, age-based, generation, religious, ethnic, income/social class, and street microcultures.

Impulsivity:

a personality trait that characterizes how sensitive a consumer is to immediate rewards. Example: consumers with attention deficit disorder typically have high degrees of impulsivity, which makes them more prone to impulsive acts.

Price:

a piece of information that signals the amount of potential value contained in a product; Price represents an important type of information that consumers generally seek.

Nonlinear effect:

a plot of an effect that does not make a straight line.

Functional quality:

a store using things such as a wide selection of goods, low prices, guarantees, and knowledgeable employees that can provide a high proportion of utilitarian shopping value.

Generally, men tend to follow cognitive structuring,

a term that refers to the reliance on schema-based heuristics in decision making.

Utilitarian shopping value:

a value that relates to the worth gained because some shopping task is completed successfully.

Dialect:

a varying of common language; Every language is spoken slightly differently from place to place, or with several unique dialects.

Prepurchase search:

activities are focused on locating information that will allow the consumer to reach a decision for a specific problem. This can be exhibited in browsing behavior except that the information gathered can be used in decisions that involve a longer time frame.

The cost of doing business with emerging economies has

advanced because of the improvement in emerging economies; This leads companies to search for other cheaper places for making business and thus, new emerging economies will develop.

Advertiming:

advertising schedule that primarily runs an advertisement at times when customers will be most accessible to the message; It can also be based on seasonal patterns or changes in the weather.

Color

affects both quality and price perceptions.

Music

affects consumer shopping experiences. For example, consumers who dislike rap or country music will likely have a difficult time shopping in a place playing loud rap or country music.

Income and social class

are closely related but distinct.

Situational influences

are factors that cause the value that a consumer obtains from a purchase.

Marketing efforts

are mostly directed to consumers from developed countries; Less-developed nations may represent emerging economies and can offer attractive markets; Sociopolitical changes contribute to these emerging markets; The marketers can reach the market segments of developing nations by knowing and understanding the cultural nuances.

Odors

are noticeable environmental elements that affect both a consumer's cognitive processing and affective reaction.

Status symbols

are products or objects used to signal one's place in society.

Motivations

are the inner reasons behind human actions. Decision making and motivation are linked concepts.

Some virtual retail sites have introduced

avatars or images of real people playing the role of a salesclerk. Virtual salespersons have a positive effect on shoppers.

Thus, brands that position themselves as high quality might

benefit from situations in which consumers are characterized by time pressure, even if the price is high.

Two topics of importance regarding habitual decision making are

brand loyalty and brand inertia.

Consumers go through decision processes,

but these decision processes do not guarantee maximum value from a consumption experience. Many purchases are made with very little prepurchase effort. As a consequence, consumers often make mistakes or buy products that they are unsure about.

Situational influences

can also affect the type of shopping value, Time pressure or mood swings can affect consumption.

Reward cards

can be a successful method of rewarding loyalty if consumers value both the product and the incentives offered.

Social stratification

can be defined as the division of society into classes that have unequal access to scarce and valuable resources.

A CSV scoreboard

can be put together using historical CSV dimension scores found in many resources including the Hofstede website and these scores provide information for marketers to appeal to consumers in other countries.

Decision-making processes

can lead to consumer choices.

Popular culture

captures cultural trends and plays a role in shaping norms and authorization within society.

Quartet of Institutions:

communicating the CSVs through both formal and informal processes from one generation to another.

There are three categories of alternatives in an awareness set:

consideration, inept, inert set

Culture directly and indirectly affects

consumer behavior.

It is important to identify the emerging cultural, microcultural, and demographic trends that influence

consumer behavior.

Shaping:

consumer behaviors slowly adapt to a culture through a series of rewards and sanctions. The effectiveness of cultural shaping can be influenced by the CSV profile of a culture.

Both utilitarian value and hedonic value are associated with

consumer decision making. A car-buying experience, for example, involves both value types.

Opportunity recognition:

consumer's actual state doesn't change, but his desired state changes in a significant way. Marketers focus on this.

Experiential decision-making perspective:

consumers make purchases and reach decisions based on the affect, or feeling, attached to the product or behavior under consideration. For example, a consumer may decide to spend time at a day spa as the result of an experiential decision-making process.

Extended Decision Making -

consumers search thoroughly for information that will help them reach a satisfactory decision.

Consumer self-regulation:

consumers to stop outside influences from interfering with shopping intentions. A key personality trait that affects a consumer's tendency to do things that are unplanned or impulsive is self-regulatory capacity.

Metric equivalence:

consumers use numbers to represent quantities in the same way across cultures.

Outshopping:

consumers who are shopping in a city or town that they must travel to rather than in their own hometown. Outshopping is often motivated simply by the desire for the experience.

Action-oriented consumers:

consumers with a high capacity to self-regulate their behavior.

State-oriented consumers:

consumers with a low capacity to self-regulate their behavior; This type of consumer is more apt to buy a product in an upbeat electronics store.

These nine regions discussion within the text do not neatly fit with

conventional regional distinctions.

Culture is hierarchical—

every consumer belongs to one overall culture and to many smaller cultural groups called microcultures; Members of a microculture would need to fulfill certain role expectations.

Social class

exists throughout the world. Middle class people comprise the significant consumer population at China, Japan, and India.

Translation Equivalence

exists when two phrases share the same meaning in two different cultures.; Expressing the meaning of something from one language to another often results in interpretation errors and blunders; One bilingual speaker takes the original phrase and translates it from the original language into the new language; A second, independent, bilingual speaker translates the phrase from the new language back into the original language; With the assumption that the retranslated phrase matches the first, transitional equivalence exists.

The following four institutions comprise the quartet:

family, school, church, and media.

Consumers face several types of risk, including:

financial, social, performance, physical, time risk

The two factors that help merchandisers and retail designers create this atmosphere are the following:

fit, congruity

Seasonality:

frequently occurring conditions that vary with the time of year; A hot drink is worth more to a consumer in winter than in summer.

Purchasing power parity (PPP):

gives an idea of the total size of the consumer market in each country in terms of total buying power.

Cultural barriers

go beyond dealing with consumers and are also deep within the sociopolitical environment.

Smartphone applications

have made it easier for consumers to search and retrieve information.

The differing CSVs

have varied implications for consumer-brand or consumer-service provider relationships; Marketing appeals aimed at building personal relationships should stress particularly to different groups and individuals.

Cultural distance (CD):

how unequal one nation is from another in terms of their CSVs. This approach enables to compare consumers by using scores available in a CSV scoreboard. International expansion decisions should consider CD as well as geography.

Women tend to process information

in a piecemeal fashion.

Shoppers who go shopping in a bad mood are particularly

inclined to to buy less and experience lower consumer satisfaction than consumers who are in good moods.

The progress of free market economies has led to

increased standards of living across the globe.

Nonverbal communication:

information passed through a nonverbal act or some form of communication that does not involve the literal spoken or written word; Nonverbal communications might be intentional, unintentional or automatic; While high-context cultures emphasize communication through nonverbal elements, low-context cultures emphasize on spoken words.

Impulsive consumption:

involves consumption acts that are characterized by the following three components: They are spontaneous and involve at least short-term feelings of liberation; They are associated with a diminished regard for any costs or consequences; They are motivated by a need for immediate self-fulfillment and are thus usually highly involving emotionally and associated with hedonic shopping value.

Socialization:

involves learning through the observation and active processing of information about lived, everyday experience.

Social class

is a culturally-defined group to which a consumer belongs based on resources like prestige, income, occupation, and education.

Actual state:

is a customer's perceived current state.

Desired state:

is a perceived state for which a consumer strives. A desired state can be affected by many factors including reference group information, consumer novelty seeking, and cognitive thought processes.

Divergence

is a phenomenon that occurs when consumers choose membership in microcultures in an effort to stand out or define themselves from the crowd.

A demographic analysis

is a profile of a consumer group based on their demographics.

Bicultural

is a term used to describe immigrants as they face decisions and form preferences based on their old or new cultures.

Social class

is an important societal and cultural issue observed in everyday life.

Compulsive consumer behavior:

is harmful; seems to be uncontrollable; is driven by chronic depression; Places Have Atmospheres

Consumer discovery

is how consumers are constantly discovering new information about products, services, experiences, and locations.

The line between impulse and unplanned

is not always clear. Some unplanned acts are impulsive, and many impulsive acts are unplanned.

Shopping

is not only an activity but an important element of a nation's economy. Many activities in the CVF and consumer behavior theory in general take place in the shopping process.

Merchandising's point

is to provide the customer with the best opportunity to purchase something. This is done by the placement of goods and store fixtures along with the use of signage.

Window shopping

is used by consumers to find information to see if an upcoming shopping trip will be successful or not; Window shopping can provide utilitarian and/or hedonistic shopping value as the case may be.

The term culture

is used for ethnic groups because of the strong ties that consumers feel toward their ethnic backgrounds.

While many factors influence the amount of search that takes place, consumers tend to search surprisingly

little for most products. This is especially true for both high- and low- involvement products.

The decision-

making processes does not always involve a touchable product.

Behavioral influence decision-making perspective:

many decisions are actually learned responses to environmental influences. From this perspective, behavior is influenced by environmental forces rather than by cognitive decision making. For example, soft music and dim lighting can have a strong influence on consumer behavior in a restaurant.

Culture and ________ Are Inseparable

meaning

Stigmatization

means that the consumer is marked in some way that indicates their place in society.

Mental Budgeting:

memory accounting for recent spending.

Incongruent

music lowers consumers' quality perceptions.

Background music:

music played below the audible brink that would make it the center of attention; Typically, service providers use this type of music for a retail setting.

Foreground music:

music that becomes the focal point of attention; Foreground music can have strong effects on a consumer's willingness to approach or avoid an environment.

Social comparison:

naturally occurring mental personal comparison of the self with a target individual. An upward comparison means the target is better and a downward comparison means the target is lesser.

The Borderland region,

not covered in the original Nine Nation approach, is receiving marketers' and researchers' attention.

Homogamy

or assortative mating refers to the finding that most marriages are comprised of people from similar classes.

Core societal values (CSV):

or cultural values, a commonly agreed consensus about the most preferable ways of living within a society.

Culture Sanction:

penalties associated with performing a non-gratifying or culturally inconsistent behavior. It is relatively harmless. There are cases where a consumer being contradictory with norms of a society being shunned or banished from a group.

Perceived risk:

perception of the negative consequences that will likely result from an action and the uncertainty of which action is best to take.

Ecological factors:

physical characteristics that describe the physical environment and habitat of a particular place. Examples: differences in consumer habits, such as hygiene, among people living near a desert and freshwater lakes.

Two evaluative criteria are used across almost all consumer decisions:

price and quality.

Family, school, and church are the ______ for acculturation and enculturation.

primary agents

Modeling:

process of imitating another person's behavior; It is a significant way that influences the acculturation or enculturation of consumers; The noun "model" captures the essence of this concept. In the context of fashion, designers hope that consumers will model their fashion models for selecting the clothes.

Some of the factors that influence the amount of search performed by a consumer are:

product experience, involvement, perceived risk, value of search effort, time availability, attitude towards shopping, personal factors, situational influencers

Differences in CSVs may have

public policy implications.

Consumers also commonly search for information about a product's

quality and nearly always consider quality as an important evaluative criterion.

Demographics

refer to observable, statistical aspects of populations such as age, gender, or income. These variables are closely related to microculture and help to describe microcultures.

Sex roles

refer to the societal expectations for men and women among members of a cultural group.

Habitus

refers to mental and cognitive structures through which individuals perceive the world based largely on their standing in a social class.

CANZUS:

refers to the close similarity in values between Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States.

World teen culture

refers to the speculation that teenagers around the world are more similar to each other than to people from other generations; Teenagers may find similar values only in certain things like music and clothing; Their cultural values will be distinct and relevant to their home nation, particularly for choosing personal products.

Geodemographics

refers to the study of people based on the fact that people with similar demographics tend to live close to one another.

Religion

represents one of the key institutions that shape consumer culture; Affiliation with a religion provides a basis for microcultures within national or regional cultures; Budget allocations and consumers' food and clothing are influenced by religion.

The affective quality

represents the emotional meaning of an environment; This results from the sum effect of all ambient attributes that affect the way a consumer feels in that place; It appears that female shoppers are more demanding and react more negatively when this element is missing.

Glocalization:

represents the idea that a marketing strategy may be global, but the achievement of that strategy at the marketing level should be local; By employing glocalization local consumers can comprehend the global theme and share the same meaning for the brand.

Affective quality:

retails placing that emphasized a unique environment, an impressive décor, friendly employees, and pleasant emotions that can provide relatively high hedonic shopping value.

Cultural norms:

rules that identify the appropriate behavior in certain situations within a specific culture. Most of them are unwritten and simply understood by members of a cultural group.

Media ________ offers a channel through which consumers learn.

secondary agent; Consumers, particularly young, who spend a lot of time interacting with media ranging from radio to Facebook observe behaviors, receive information, exchange ideas, likes, and thoughts.

The presence of background music enhances

service quality perceptions relative to an environment with no background music.

Unplanned shopping:

shopping activities that sdare some, but not all, of the characteristics of impulsive consumer behavior.

Information overload:

situation in which consumers are presented with so much information they cannot take it all in.

Temporal factor:

situational characteristics related to time; therefore, each of the time forms listed above represents a different temporal factor.

Antecedent conditions:

situational characteristics that a consumer brings to a information-processing.

Microcultures that grow around any minor phenomenon such as sports or music can be labeled as

street microcultures; Microcultures can grow out of gaming experiences, virtual communities, and almost any other consumer activity that brings consumers together with something in common.

Shopping activities

take place over time in specific places under specific conditions or contexts.

Warm colors like red and orange

tend to promote expectations of poor quality and low price.

Guanxi: (pronounced gawn-zeye)

the Chinese term for a way of doing business in which parties must first invest time and resources in getting to know one another and becoming comfortable with one another before carry out any important deal. It is a common mode of operation among cultures with high long-term orientation.

Inert set:

the alternatives in which consumers are indifferent or hold no strong feelings.

Consideration set: (or "evoked set")

the alternatives that are considered acceptable.

Inept set:

the alternatives that are considered to be unacceptable for further consideration.

Time -

the amount of time available influences the ability of a consumer to obtain and process information.

Consumer search behavior:

the behaviors that consumers take on as they look for information that can be used to satisfy needs.

consideration set:

the brands, or alternatives, that are considered acceptable for further consideration in decision making.

BRIC:

the collective economies of Brazil, Russia, India, and China. These represent the widely accepted emerging economies.

Las Vegas tourism has used a tagline that states:

"What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas." The tagline highlights the impulsive nature of consumer behavior in Las Vegas. Certainly, the campaign highlights the heightened hedonic value that can be obtained and encourages consumers not to worry about the consequences.

Chindia:

the combined market of China and India; Today's consumer demographics of India compare favorably to those of the United States in 1970; The market potential for India and China is clear with the fact that population measured in billions rather than millions; A company can obtain a lot of revenue by providing inexpensive, functional products to the large Chindian population.

Generations provide a good basis for marketing segments because

the consumer's age identifies their generation. Most people within a generation are similar to some extent.

Etiquette:

the customary mannerisms that consumers use in common social situations; It varies considerably from one culture to another; Service providers must be sensitive to these differences; When consumers are unaware or lack concern for the proper etiquette in a given situation, it results in an awkward and diminished value of experience.

When consumers perceive a difference between an actual state (an empty gas tank) and a desired state (a full tank),

the decision-making process is triggered.

Source attractiveness:

the degree to which a source's physical appearance matches a consumer's example for beauty and provokes a favorable or desired response.

Crowding:

the density of people and objects within a given space. Crowding actually exerts a nonlinear effect on consumers; Crowding affects utilitarian shopping value less strongly than hedonic shopping value because of the negative affect caused by crowding; An empty store might signal poor quality merchandise.

Atmospherics:

the emotional nature of an environment or feelings created by the total aura of physical attributes that comprise the physical environment. Atmospherics can be affected by both the functional and affective qualities.

Place -

the environment, both geographical location and interior structure, frames the way products are perceived.

External search:

the gathering of information from sources external to the consumer, like: friends, family, salespeople, advertising, or the Internet.

circadian cycle:

the level of energy within our bodies that varies with the time of day; The circadian cycle is responsible for productivity in many activities; A host of products exist to try to aid consumers through the low-energy periods of the day.

The concept of information search has changed dramatically in recent years due to

the mass adoption of the Internet as well as the proliferation of mobile information technologies, such as cell phones and personal data assistants. The problem is that there is simply too much information out there.

The more any activity contains relatively high amounts of these characteristics,

the more likely that act is impulsive.

Search regret:

the negative emotions that come from failed search processes.

Body language:

the nonverbal communication cues signaled by somatic (uncontrollable biological) responses; These cues can be more telling than the words that are spoken; Body language can affect the value of an interaction;The mannerisms that reveal meaning include the following characteristics: Facial expressions, Posture, Arm/leg position, Skin conditions, Voice

The amount of search that a consumer performs relating to decision making can be measured in a number of ways including

the number of stores visited, number of Internet sites visited, number of personal sources used (e.g., friends, family, salespeople), number of alternatives considered, and number of advertisements acknowledged.

Personal shopping value (PSV):

the overall worth of a shopping activity when considering all related costs and benefits.

Quality:

the perceived overall goodness or badness of a product.

Servicescape:

the physical environment where consumer services are performed. Each servicescape has its own unique environment.

Evaluative criteria:

the product attributes that consumers consider when reviewing possible solutions to a problem.

Promotional conversion rates:

the rate at which a promotion is transitioned into a sale — are greatly improved because of QR codes.

Internal search:

the retrieval of knowledge about products, services, and experiences that is stored in memory.

Awareness set:

the set of brands or alternatives to which a consumer is aware.

Shopping:

the set of potentially value-producing consumer activities that directly increase the probability that something will be purchased. Shopping activity ranges from surfing the Internet for a song to download or visiting the mall for a new item. Shopping is perceived as the opposite of marketing.

Consumer culture:

the societal beliefs that define what is socially gratifying within a specific society. Culture shapes the values of most of the products. Culture also helps determines what consumption behaviors are acceptable. The appropriateness of any activity would vary from culture to culture.

Role expectations:

the specific expectations that are associated with each type of person within a culture or society. It is based on one's sex, occupation, social class, and age. It becomes a primary basis for cultural norms and sanctions. The consumption activities associated with the roles vary from culture to culture.

Universal set:

the total collection of all possible solutions to a recognized need (e.g., the total number of brands of deodorant available on the market).

Verbal communication:

the transfer of information through the literal spoken or written word; The problems faced by marketers are to translate advertisements, research instruments, product labels, and promotional materials into foreign languages to compete for foreign markets.

Microculture membership changes

the value of things and the value sought by consumers.

Hedonic shopping value:

the value that relates to the worth of an activity because the time spent doing the activity itself is personally gratifying.

Retail personality:

the way a retail store is seen in the mind of a shopper based on the combination of functional and affective qualities. The two retail personality dimensions are extremely useful when viewed as a perceptual map. Affective quality, Functional quality

Acculturation:

the way consumers come to learn a culture other than their natural, native culture. It is the culture to which one may adopt when exposed to a new set of CSVs. Not all consumers introduced to a new culture acculturate.

Enculturation:

the waya person learns the native culture or the way in which a consumer learns and develops shared understandings of things with his or her family.

Situational influences can be classified into three categories:

time, place, conditions

Culture is a

universal phenomenon that explains the habits and idiosyncrasies of all groups of consumers. The analysis of culture assist with the predictions of future purchasing patterns in addition to consumer behavior.

Time pressure:

urgency to act based on some real or self-imposed deadline.

Pop music

used in the background contributes to discount store perceptions.

Time pressure can switch a consumer's orientation from hedonic to

utilitarian.

All shopping activities are aimed at one key result:

value.

Long-Term Orientation:

values consistent with Confucian philosophy and a prioritization of future rewards over short-term benefits.

The extent to which a contract is seen as binding

varies from place to place.

Many effects that are evident in in-store environments are also evident in the

virtual shopping world. For example, the effects of color and sound work in much the same way. A website with a blue background can enhance quality perceptions just as easily as the background in a physical store.

Conditions -

weather and social situations can influence a person's choice of a product.

Cultural beliefs define:

what religion is acceptable. what type of art and recreation are preferred. what manners are considered polite. the roles for different types of individuals, including expectations for men and women in society.

Ongoing search:

when a consumer seeks information simply because he is interested in a particular topic, such as a product or organization. Consumers who perform ongoing searches are usually highly involved with the product category and seek information simply for enjoyment.

§ Renquing:

when someone does a good deed for you, you are expected to return that good deed.

The option of applying the choice comes

when you reach your decision of making or not making a purchase.

The Internet facilitates communication among consumers around the world, thereby contributing to universally similar

world teen culture. Teen culture is a universal phenomenon.

Acquisitional Shopping:

Activities focused on a specific purchase.

Epistemic Shopping:

Activities focused on gaining knowledge about products.

Reversal theory:

environmental elements can lead to near 180 degree changes in shopping orientation.

Generational Culture

Age-based groups can be distinguished from generational groups because consumers grow out of age groups.

Utilitarian orientation:

A utilitarian orientation fulfills the need to restock the supply of a product.

Atmosphere Elements

A consumer's perception of all the elements in an environment working together helps determine how the consumer actually feels about that atmosphere.

Greatest Generation

American consumers born before 1928; Were influenced by World War II and their post-war experiences; Tend to be thrifty and price conscious

Generation X

American consumers born between 1965 and 1980; Spent a great deal of time alone due to having both parents at work; Focus strongly on family and traditional values they were deprived of; Many of them are successful business people and community leaders

Ethnic Microculture

American people are very culturally diverse; Their consumption is affected by heritage.

Baby Boomers

Americans born between 1946 and 1964; Largest population surge in American history; The nation was marked by optimism and relatively economic security during their birth; Represent a major force in the consumer culture and in the economy; Have significant sums of money and plans to enjoy their older years; Receive significant marketing attention

Millennials

Americans born between 1981 and 1995; Was originally referred to as Generation Y; Their sheer size and difference from other cohorts attract research attention; Referred to as the first "always connected" generation

CSV Leaders

Among all nations with CSV scores, Austria has the lowest power distance scores, and Malaysia has the highest. The United States has relatively low power distance with only 15 nations reporting lower scores.

Perceived Risk -

As perceived risk increases, search effort increases.

Consumer ethnocentrism:

Belief among consumers that their ethnic group and the products coming from their native land are superior to other ethnic groups and products.

Experiential Perspective:

Decision-making is influenced by the feelings associated with the purchase.

Following trends deserves careful attention of market researchers and managers:

Declining Birth Rates, Increasing Consumer Affluence, Increasing Life Expectancy and the Aging Consumer, Increasing Cultural Diversity

Congruity:

Defines how consistent the elements of an environment are with one another.

Fit:

Defines the appropriateness of the elements in a given environment.

Ethnic identification:

Degree to which a consumer feels a sense of belonging to the culture of their ethnic origins. It makes consumers to feel close-minded about adopting products from a different culture.

The following questions can help put shopping in perspective.

Do consumers have to buy to shop? Is a store necessary for shopping? What motivates consumer shopping?

Globish

Due to English grammar being rather complicated, a new form of English with simpler rules, known as Globish, is developing; the English vocabulary is reduced to 1500 words, and complications like contractions and silent letters are eliminated; Globish slogans and advertising, that are grammatically incorrect but easily recognized, are spreading through the developing countries.

Mood

Each consumer brings their current mood to the particular consumption situation; Consumers in particularly bad moods may be prone to binge consumption; Mood can also affect shopping. The mood that consumers bring to the shopping environment can exaggerate the actual experience.

When selecting the best information sources, consumers consider the following factors:

Ease of obtaining information from the source, Objectivity of the source, Trustworthiness of the source, Speed with which the information can be obtained

Behavioral Influence Perspective:

Environmental influences persuade decisions.

Product Experience -

Evidence shows that moderately experienced consumers search for purchase-related information more than either experienced or inexperienced consumer.

Decision-making approaches can be classified into three categories:

Extended Decision Making, Limited Decision Making, Habitual (or "routine") Decision Making

Declining Birth Rates

If this trend continues, countries with declining birth rates will experience a decline in overall population; It also contributes to the imbalance in the number of men and women in a country.

Cultural values can be categorized using the following dimensions:

Individualism: the extent to which people are expected to take care of themselves and their immediate family; Nations with low individualism are often high in collectivism; Collectivism: an individual's life intertwined with a large cohesive group; Masculinity: the differences existing in societies based on mannerisms typically associated with male traits. Examples: valuing assertiveness and control over traditional feminine traits like caring, conciliation, and community; Femininity is the opposite of masculinity; Power Distance: the extent to which authority and privilege are divided among different groups within society.

Uncertainty Avoidance:

People who are uncomfortable with things that are unknown, and like to play it safe. It defines most of the purchase behaviors of consumers. Superstitions and myths also contribute to the cultures high in uncertainty avoidance.

Involvement -

Purchase involvement is positively associated with search activities, especially for ongoing searches.

Experiential Shopping:

Recreational-oriented activities intended to provide interest, excitement, relaxation, fun, or some other desired feeling.

African-American Culture -

Represents about 13 percent of the U.S. population.

Asian Culture -

Represents four to five percent of the U.S. population

Societal Role

Responsibilities can vary among culture for tasks such as child care and household cleaning; Diagnosing and identifying the change in roles is important; Marketers should be aware of these relative sex roles within societies as the purchasing responsibilities shared will differ from culture to culture.

Six major classes identified in the United States are

Upper Class, Lower Upper Class, Upper Middle Class, Lower Middle Class, Upper Lower Class, and Lower Lower Class.

PSV can be divided into two types:

Utilitarian shopping value, Hedonic shopping value

Role conflict:

When a consumer faces a situation involving conflicting expectations based on cultural expectations, he or she experiences role conflict.

Value of Search Effort -

When the benefits received from searching exceed the associated costs, consumers derive value.

Consumer Budgeting -

While the majority of consumers do not perform a formal budgeting process, consumers who do budget end up with different spending habits than those who do not. Even consumers who do not prepare a formal budget do perform mental budgeting.

Tradition:

customs and accepted ways of different society. This includes things like family structure and political structure.

Consumer researchers view the _____ from three perspectives; Rational Perspective, Experiential Perspective, and Behavioral Influence Perspective.

decision-making process

Sacrificing:

decision-making shortcuts to arrive at satisfactory, rather than optimal decisions.

The U.S. Census Bureau's website is an important source for performing

demographic analyses. The data is easy to access and exist within a real time environment.

The age-based microculture

describes that the people of the same age end up sharing most of the same values and develop similar consumer preferences. Since nearly 21,000,000 Americans are between the age of 15 and 19, teens preferably receive more attention than other age groups.

The functional quality of an environment

describes the meaning created by the total result of the attributes that enable the function and make it perform efficiently. In a shopping environment, this includes convenience in all of its forms: price levels, number and helpfulness of employees, breadth and depth of merchandise, and other characteristics that facilitate the shopping task.

Geert Hofstede

developed a theory to describe differences in cultural values. This theory is based on five key dimensions, with each dimension representing a core societal value.

shopping activities can be

divided into four different types and any shopping experience is characterized by at least one of these types. They are: Acquisitional Shopping, Epistemic Shopping, Experiential Shopping, Outshopping, mpulsive Shopping

Choice

does not necessarily mean classifying what brand of product to buy.

Changes in government institutions would be required for

doing business around the world.

Consumers tend to seek out information about these concepts

early in the search process; They play important roles in an external search.

Antecedent conditions include:

economic resource, mood, other emotional perceptions, such as fear, They can shape the value in a situation by framing the events that take place.

Consumer decision making is also closely related to

emotion, as the decision-making process can be very emotional depending on the type of product being considered. An example would be the difficult task of deciding which job offer to take when you graduate. Will the job offer be many miles away or closer to your family? Decisions like these can be quite emotional.