MKTG 410 - Consumer Behavior Key Terms Ch. 1

Types of relationships a person might have with a product:

*Self-concept attachment—The product helps to establish the user's identity. *Nostalgic attachment—The product serves as a link with a past self. *Interdependence—The product is a part of the user's daily routine. *Love—The product elicits emotional bonds of warmth, passion, or other strong emotion.

80/20 rule

20 percent of users account for 80 percent of sales. This guideline often holds up well, and in some cases even this lopsided split isn't big enough: A study of 54 million shoppers reported that only 2.5 percent of consumers account for 80 percent of sales for the average packaged-goods brand.

Culture of participation

A belief in democracy; the ability to freely interact with other people, companies, and organizations; open access to venues that allow users to share content from simple comments to reviews, ratings, photos, stories, and more; and the power to build on the content of others from your own unique point of view.

Brand loyalty

A bond between product and consumer that is difficult for competitors to break.

Interpretivism (or postmodernism)

A newer paradigm that questions assumptions. Proponents of this perspective argue that our society emphasizes science and technology too much, and they feel that this ordered, rational view of behavior denies or ignores the complex social and cultural world in which we really live.

Consumer

A person who identifies a need or desire, makes a purchase, and then disposes of the product during the three stages of the consumption process. (Pre-purchase, purchase, and post-purchase)

Net neutrality

A principle that ensures that everyone—individual users and behemoth companies—is guaranteed equal access to the "pipes" we rely on to access cyberspace.

Paradigm

A set of beliefs that guide our understanding of the world.

Role theory

A sociological perspective that takes the view that much of consumer behavior resembles actions in a play. We as consumers seek the lines, props, and costumes necessary to put on a good performance. Because people act out many different roles, they sometimes alter their consumption decisions depending on the particular "play" they are in at the time.

Want

A specific manifestation of a need that personal and cultural factors determine.

Exchange

A transaction in which two or more organizations or people give and receive something of value, is an integral part of marketing.

Market segmentation strategies

An organization targets its product, service, or idea only to specific groups of consumers rather than to everybody—even if it means that other consumers who don't belong to this target market aren't attracted to it.

B2C e-commerce

Businesses selling to consumers online

Horizontal revolution

Characterized in part by the prevalence of social media.

C2C e-commerce

Consumer-to-consumer activity through the Internet.

Demographics

Descriptive characteristics of a population. Categorize people in terms of their age, gender, income, or occupation.

User-generated content

Everyday people voice their opinions about products, brands, and companies on blogs, podcasts, and social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, and even film their own commercials that thousands view on sites such as YouTube.

Relationship marketing

Interact with customers on a regular basis and give them solid reasons to maintain a bond with the company over time.

Consumer behavior

It is the study of the processes involved when individuals or groups select, purchase, use, or dispose of products, services, ideas, or experiences to satisfy needs and desires. (In its early stages of development, researchers referred to the field as buyer behavior.)

Brand images

Meanings that have been carefully crafted with the help of legions of rock stars, athletes, slickly produced commercials, and many millions of dollars.

Pastiche

Mixture of images and ideas. This perspective rejects the value we assign to products because they help us to create order; instead, it focuses on regarding consumption as offering a set of diverse experiences.

Heavy users

Most faithful customers

Digital native

Originated in a 2001 article to explain a new type of student who was starting to turn up on campus. These consumers grew up "wired" in a highly networked, always-on world where digital technology had always existed.

Consumer Culture Theory (CCT)

Refers generally to research that regards consumption from a social and cultural point of view rather than more narrowly as an economic exchange. CCT studies embrace a variety of topics that range from how the media shapes our conceptions of our bodies or how underprivileged people cope with poverty to how Harley-Davidson riders participate in an active community of bike lovers.

Need

Something a person must have to live or achieve a goal.

Megacity

The United Nations defines it as a metropolitan area with a total population of more than 10 million people.

Positivism

The basic set of assumptions underlying the dominant paradigm at this point in time (Sometimes called modernism).

Big Data

The collection and analysis of extremely large datasets.

Consumption communities

The growth of the Web has created thousands of online consumption communities, where members share opinions and recommendations about anything from Barbie dolls to baseball fantasy league team lineups to iPhone apps.

Popular culture

The music, movies, sports, books, celebrities, and other forms of entertainment that the mass market produces and consumes—is both a product of and an inspiration for marketers.

Social media

The online means of communication, conveyance, collaboration, and cultivation among interconnected and interdependent networks of people, communities, and organizations enhanced by technological capabilities and mobility.

Web 2.0

The rebirth of the Internet as a social, interactive medium from its original roots as a form of one-way transmission from producers to consumers.

Asynchronous interactions

Those that don't require all participants to respond immediately, like when you text a friend and get an answer the next day

Synchronous interactions

Those that occur in real time, like when you text back-and-forth with a friend

Database marketing

Tracks specific consumers' buying habits closely and crafts products and messages tailored precisely to people's wants and needs based on this information. Ex: Walmart stores massive amounts of information on the 100 million people who visit its stores each week, and the company uses these data to fine-tune its offerings. (Pop-tarts & beer).