Chapter 1 Consumer Behavior

4 different groups that use consumer research

marketing managers, ethicists and advocates, public policy makers and regulators, and consumers.

Focus group

A form of interview involving 8 to 12 people; a moderator leads the group and asks participants to discuss a product, concept, or other marketing stimulus. two types:computer based (anonymous), and customer advisory boards (customers meet and discuss with researchers)

reference groups

A group of people we compare ourselves with for information regarding behavior, attitudes, or values.

Offering

A product, service, activity, or idea offered by a marketing organization to consumers.

Storytelling

A research method by which consumers are asked to tell stories about product acquisition, usage, or disposition experiences. These stories help marketers gain insights into consumer needs and identify the product attributes that meet these needs. Sometimes consumers are asked to write stories about hypothetical situations that the marketer has depicted in the picture or scenario.

conjoint analysis

A research technique to determine the relative importance and appeal of different levels of an offering's attributes.

Marketing

A social and managerial process through which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want by creating and exchanging products and values with others.

diversity influences

social class and household influences; values, personality, and lifestyles; and reference groups and other social influences

diaries

Ask consumers to keep diaries. Offers insights into their product purchasing, media usage, how family and friend's affect buying decisions, etc.

interviews

More appropriate than focus groups when topic is sensitive. Provide more in-depth data. Ask customers about the process they use to make purchasing decisions. Done by a trained interviewer who can note nonverbal behaviors.

8 ways consumers can acquire an offering

Buying, Trading, Renting or leasing, Bartering, Gifting, Finding, Stealing, and Sharing.

experiments

Can conduct experiments to determine whether certain marketing phenomena affect consumer behavior. Researchers will randomly assign consumers to receive different treatments and then observe the effects of these treatments. The groups are designed to be identical in all respects except the treatment, called the independent variable.

field experiment

Conducting experiments in the real world. Market test: A study in which the effectiveness of one or more elements of the marketing mix is examined by evaluating sales of the product in an actual market ex) specific city.

Ways of disposing an offering

Find a new use for it, Get rid of it temporarily, or Get Rid of it Permanently.

The psychological core

Internal Consumer Process: Knowledge or information upon which consumers base their decisions. Covers motivation, ability, and opportunity; exposure, attention, and perception; categorization and comprehension of information; and attitudes about an offering.

The process of making decisions

Involves 4 stages- Problem recognition, (realize we have an unfulfilled need), information search, decision making (highvs low effort decisions), and post-purchase evaluation,

Consumers make choices among ______ , such as buying food versus downloading new music, or _____, such as whether to buy an iphone or a samsung phone.

Service categories, brands

photography and pictures

Some researchers use a technique in which they show pictures of experiences that consumers have had in order to help consumers remember and report experiences more completely. May also ask consumers to draw or collect pictures that represent their thoughts and feelings about the topic at hand. Could also ask for them to assemble a collage of pictures that reflects their lifestyle and then ask the meaning behind the pictures.

Consumer behavior outcomes

Symbols: External signs that we use to express our identity. Consumers diffuse information that can have both a negative and positive effects for marketers. Certain consumer behaviors and certain marketing practices may be problematic to the consumer and or society.

independent variabl

The "treatment" or the entity that researchers vary in a research project.

Acquisition

The process by which a consumer comes to own an offering. Includes other ways of obtaining goods such as leasing, trading, and sharing. Involves decisions about time as well as money.

Disposition

The process by which a consumer discards an offering. One customer's disposition behavior can be linked with another acquisition behavior. ex) Buying a used car, ebay, goodwill, etc.

Consumer Behavior

The totality of consumers' decisions with respect to the acquisition, consumption, and disposition of goods, services, time, and ideas by human decision-making units (over time).

purchase panels

Tracking what consumers buy on different purchase occasions.

How does consumer research help marketers?

helps marketers to develop product-specific plans as well as broader strategies for market segmentation, targeting, and positioning, and to make decisions about the components of the marketing mix

consumers culture

includes culture, diversity influences and reference groups

Usage

process by which a consumer uses an offering

sales can be increased when

the consumer: Uses large amounts of the product, uses the product more frequently, or uses it for longer periods of time.

factors that affect acquisition, usage, and disposition can be categorized into 4 domains

the psychological core, the process of making decisions, the consumer's culture, and consumer behavior outcomes. Each domain is related to all the others.

culture

the typical or expected behaviors, norms, and ideas that characterize a group of people.