Introduction To Consumer Behaviour What Is Consumer Behaviour? - The study of the processes involved when individuals or groups select, purchase, use, or dispose of products, services, ideas, or experiences to satisfy needs, wants and desires o Identifying opportunities o Defining markets o Segmentation o Building relationships o Produce o Place o Price o Promotion Demographics: gender, income, occupation Segmenting Consumers: Psychographics - Much more difficult to measure than demographics - Personality - Lifestyles Patterns of living as expressed by AIO dimensions - Cultures, subcultures, ethnic identity, organized religion - Roles - Values - Attitudes - Intentions - Cognitions, perceptions - Emotions - Abilities, intelligence
Transcript
Introduction To Consumer Behaviour What Is Consumer Behaviour?
- The study of the processes involved when individuals or groups select, purchase, use, or dispose of products, services, ideas, or experiences to satisfy needs, wants and desires
o Identifying opportunities o Defining markets o Segmentation o Building relationships o Produce o Place o Price o Promotion
Demographics: gender, income, occupation Psychographics: lifestyle and personality Consumers’ Impact On Marketing
- Consumption communities via the internet allow idea sharing and recommendations for consumption - Various subcultures share certain values - Brands have defined images that resonate with consumers and result in brand loyalty - Various groups influence consumer choices by individuals and organizational buyers
Consumer Behaviour Is A “Process”
Consumer’s Perspective Marketer’s Perspective
Pre purchase Issues
How does a consumer decide that he/she needs a product? What are the best sources of
information to learn more about alternative choices?
How are consumer attitudes toward products formed and/or changed? What
cues do consumers use to infer which products are superior to others?
Purchase Issues Is acquiring a product a stressful or pleasant
experience? What does the purchase say about the consumer?
How do situational factors, such as time pressure or store displays, affect the
consumer’s purchase decision?
Post purchase Issues
Does the product provide pleasure or perform its intended function? How is the product eventually disposed of, and what are the environmental consequences of this act?
What determines whether a consumer will be satisfied with a product and
whether he/she will buy it again? Does this person tell others about his/her
experiences with the product and influence their purchase decisions?
Impact Of Marketing Strategy
- Knowledge and data about customers: o Help to define the market o Identify threats/opportunities in relation to a brand
Segmenting Consumers: Demographics
- Observable (countable) population characteristics Segmenting Consumers: Psychographics
- Much more difficult to measure than demographics - Personality - Lifestyles Patterns of living as expressed by AIO dimensions - Cultures, subcultures, ethnic identity, organized religion - Roles - Values - Attitudes - Intentions - Cognitions, perceptions - Emotions - Abilities, intelligence
Role Theory - People play different roles and their consumption behaviours may differ, depending on the particular role they are
playing The Meaning Of Consumption
- People often buy products not for what they do, but for what they mean o Brands
Convey image/personality Define our place in modern society Help us to form bonds with others who share similar preferences
- Strong brand relationships evolve over time and resemble deep relationships Marketing And Reality
- Difficult to separate popular culture and marketing efforts - Television programmes, ads, and brands are all part of individual lifestyles
- Prescribed code of ethics guidelines: o Disclosure of substantial risks with a product o Identifying added features that will increase the cost o Avoiding false or misleading advertising o Avoiding selling or fundraising under the guise of market research
The Cognitive Consumer: Perception, Learning And Memory Sensations
- Colors, sounds, odors, tastes, etc. o Marketers contribute greatly to commotion o Advertisements, packaging, radio/TV commercials, billboards, internet ads/banners, produce placement
- We pay attention to some stimuli, tune out others o What we do pay attention to, we interpret from our unique experiences, biases, and desires
- Sensation o Immediate response of our sensory receptors … eyes, ears, nose, mouth, fingers … o Basic stimuli … light, colour, sound, odour, and texture
Sensations And Perceptions
- Perception o Process by which sensations are selected, organized, interpreted
Adding meaning to raw sensations Sensory Systems
- Unique sensory quality of product o Differentiation from competition
- Hedonic consumption o Demand for derived pleasure over and above functionality of the product
Vision
- Vision Advertising, store design, packaging - Colour
o Cognitions (associations) o Provokes emotion (affect) o Reactions to color: biological & cultural
Size - We tend to eat more when food container is larger, our plate still contains food, we see assortment of foods - We focus on height rather than width when pouring liquid into a glass
Smell And Hearing
- Odours =mood and memory (limbic system) o Scented marketing
Cadillac’s “Nuance” scent = expensive upholstery Most recognized smells: J&J Baby Powder, chocolate and coconut Reactions to odors depend on cultural background Fragrances
- Many aspects of sound affect people’s feelings and behaviours o Phonemes of brand = unique product meanings o “I” brands are “lighter” than “a” brands o Effect of Muzak o Culture/language & sounds
Pronunciation Mistranslations: “Bite the wax tadpole” (Coke) or “Eat your fingers off” (KFC)
Touch And Taste
- Haptic (touching) senses affect product experience and judgment o Kansei engineering – Design with feelings in mind o Fabric textures and surfaces with products and packaging
- Taste & Experience o Developing new concoctions for consumer palates o Culture & learning from exposure helps share desirable tastes (i.e. Thai Food)
Exposure
- A stimulus comes within range of someone’s sensory receptors o We can concentrate, ignore, or completely miss stimuli
- Sensory Thresholds o Psychophysics – study of how the physical world makes it to our brain… o Absolute threshold – minimum detected
Dog whistle – we can’t hear it Billboard with too much print – we choose to ignore it Any add with too much verbage on it – ignore Copy we find offensive when we decode it
o Differential threshold JND = “just noticeable difference” Weber’s law differences are relative
Reductions are not readily discernible to the public – or are they? Product improvements are perceived by the public – when?
Many studies have shown that our sensory detection abilities decline as we grow older o Subliminal perception
It is believed that many ads are designed to be perceived unconsciously (below threshold of recognition)
- Does subliminal advertising work? Ethics? o James Vicary’s infamous experiments (claimed) at a New Jersey Drive-In movie (1957)
Attention
- The extent to which processing activity is devoted to a particular stimulus o Sensory overload
3500 ad info pieces per day Multitasking Marketers need to break through the clutter
- Perceptual selectivity o Consumers attend to only a small portion of the stimuli to which they are exposed to
“The Way The Brain Buys” Activity
- Emerging marketing research on buyer behaviour: o Time needed to “gear-up” for shopping (decompression zone), Bargain bins hint at deals o Walmart greeters? Fresh fruit/veggies at entrance? Everyday items (bread, milk) at back of store; popular
items in middle of aisles
- Tracking customer traffic/flow with cellphone signals - Smell and behaviour
o E.g. Fresh baked bread, free samples o Affects subconscious o People buy more when hungry o Fresh laundry smell in laundry-item aisles o Suntan lotion and coconut: reminds people of past holidays
- “Emotion is rational” for decision-making - MRI to study brain activities of consumers
o Part of brain associated with pleasure “lights up” Slogans, brand-names, positioning, etc.
- Prime selling shelf: eye-level o For kids products? Lower down! o Cheaper alternatives placed above/below prime areas o Slotting fees, end-caps
- Side of aisle: o Most consumers right-handed, eyes tend to drift rightwards
- Video-mining technology: o Image-recognition software to identify moods/attention of consumers (from security camera footage)
- Customer conversion rates (ratio of visits/sales) o 20% department stores, 80% supermarkets o Fitting rooms: increase “commitment” Increase sales
- RFID: the future of retailing research o Ethics, privacy concerns o Ability to scan peoples’ purchases…from outside their homes!
The Learning Process
- Learning: Relatively permanent change in behaviour caused by experience o Direct, vicariously, incidental o Learning is an ongoing process
Revised, updated, feedback Modified behaviour Several theories advanced to explain learning process
Behavioural theories vs. Cognitive theories - Products as reminders of life experiences
o Product + Memory = Brand equity/loyalty Behavioural Learning Theories
- Assume learning takes place as the result of responses to external events o “Black box” perspective (our minds repository) o Observable behaviour (what goes in to our minds)
- Classical conditioning o Stimulus that elicits a response paired with another stimulus that initially does not elicit response on its own
Over time: Conditioned stimulus = response - Brand names as conditioned stimuli
o Music, humour, imagery: Can affect conditioning o Unconditioned: Focus on visual/olfactory cues that induce hunger, thirst, or sexual arousal o Pair these cues with conditioned stimuli (brand names)
Customers may learn to feel hungry, thirsty, aroused when exposed to brand names/cues - Stimulus generalization (cross over affect)
o Applications of stimulus generalization Family branding Product line extensions Licensing Look-alike packaging
- Instrumental (aka, operant) conditioning:
o Individual learns to perform behaviours leading to positive outcomes, and/or avoids those yielding negative outcomes
o Behaviour may be learned over time (i.e. shaping) o Instrumental learning: the response is performed because it is instrumental to gaining a reward or avoiding a
punishment - Instrumental (Operant) Learning: Cause & Effect
o Positive reinforcement, i.e. rewards o Negative reinforcement, i.e. fear, discontentment o Punishment, i.e. you encounter ridicule or loss o Extinction, i.e. obsolescence of reward
Classical Conditioning (Stimulus) and Instrumental (Reward) Conditioning
- A package of Marlboro cigarettes is presented on a billboard, with a scenic picture of the Grand Canyon forming the
backdrop Classic - Drivers on the 401 are exposed to large billboards detailing the consequences (fines, demerits, and/or vehicle seizure)
of exceeding the speed limit at various rates Instrumental - During thanksgiving weekend, a speed trap on the 401 near Brockville nets hundreds of speeders and $1000’s in fines
Instrumental - Coca-Cola pairs a positive phrase (“Have a Coke and a Smile”) and a photo with its brand name in order to have
consumers develop an association between coke and fun Classic - Every fall, McDonald’s runs the “McDonald’s Monopoly” sales promotion technique Instrumental - An antidrug advertisement shows a close-up of a woman’s face, as she is putting the barrel of a revolver to one nostril,
with the caption (in large lettering): “COCAINE” Instrumental - McDonald’s famously used the Big Mac Jingle (“two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce,…”) to promote its flagship
product Classic - Patrons in a Starbucks store are given free samples of their signature breakfast sandwiches as they wait in line to make
their orders Classic Cognitive Learning Theory
- Cognitive Learning Theory: o Stresses importance of internal mental processes o People = problem solvers to manage our environment
- Observational Learning o We watch others and note reinforcements they receive for behaviours
Vicarious learning – see others, duplicate or avoid Socially desirable models/celebrities who use or do not use their products
- Applications of Cognitive Learning Principles o Perfume ad where woman receives positive reinforcement for using the product o Celebrity image depends on their social “attractiveness”
Physical appearance Expertise Similarity to the influencer (model or example)
o Components of observational learning Attention The consumer focuses on a model’s behaviour Retention The consumer retains this behaviour in memory Production Processes The consumer has the ability to perform the behaviour Motivation A situation arises wherein the behaviour is useful to the consumer Observational Learning The consumer acquires and performs the behaviour demonstrated earlier
by a model Role Of Memory In Learning
- Memory: acquiring information and storing it over time so that it will be available when needed - The Memory Process:
o External inputs o Encoding Information is placed in memory o Storage Information is retained in memory o Retrieval Information store in memory is found as needed
- Encoding: the way we encode information can help us retain it later o Sensory meaning (impact on any of our senses = short term) o Semantic meaning (words or symbols) o Personal relevance
Episodic/flashbulb memories
The Cognitive Consumer: Memory, Motivation and Values Motivation And Values
- Why do consumers do what they do? o The forces that drive us to buy/use products
- Motivation: the process that leads us to behave the way we do o Need creates tension o Tension creates drive to reduce/eliminate need o Desired end state = consumer’s goal o Products/services provide desired end state and reduce tension
Motivational Strength
- Need: discrepancy between present state and ideal state o Discrepancy creates tension o Drive: the larger the discrepancy, the more urgency felt
- Motivational strength: degree of willingness to expend energy to reach a goal o Biological vs. learned needs o Drive theory
Homeostasis (balance) Distance between present state and goal (GAP)
o Expectancy theory “my favorite brand of choice WILL satisfy”
Motivational Direction
- Most goals can be reached by a number of routes o Marketers Social “Good”: offer products/services that best offer a chance to attain goal
- Difference between needs and wants? o Physical vs. mental (cognitive) state
- Types of needs: o Biogenic (physical requirements) o Psychogenic (emotional drive i.e. cultural) o Utillitarian (functional) o Hedonic (pleasurable)
E.g. Deodorant and mouthwash o Positive and negative motives often conflict with one another o Each type creates a state of tension
- Approach-Approach o Two desirable alternatives o Cognitive dissonance
- Approach-Avoidance o Positive and negative aspects of desired product o Guilt of desire occurs
- Avoidance-Avoidance o Facing a choice with two undesirable alternatives
Classifying Needs
Consumer involvement
- Involvement: perceived relevance of an object based on one’s needs, values, and interests o The motivation to process information
Levels Of Involvement
- Inertia: consumption at the low end of involvement o We make decisions out of habit (lack of motivation)
- Flow state: true involvement with a product o Playfulness o Being in control o Concentration/focused attention o Mental enjoyment of activity for its own sake o Distorted sense of time o Match between challenge at hand and one’s skills
- Cult products: command fierce consumer loyalty, devotion, and worship Types Of Involvement (3 broad levels)
1. Product involvement o Consumer’s level of interest in a product o Many sales promotions attempt to increase product involvement o Customization enhances product involvement
2. Purchase situation involvement o Differences that may occur when buying the same object for different contexts
Social risk as consideration Gift-purchasing
3. Message-response involvement o Consumer’s interest in processing marketing communications
Decide to pay attention, read, listen, observe, etc. o TV: low involvement medium o Print: high involvement o Marketers experiment with novel ways to increase consumers’ involvement
o i.e. Smartphone in a magazine
Dimensions Of Involvement - Involvement profile components
o Personal interest in product category o Risk importance o Probability of bad purchase o Pleasure value of product category o Potential to enhance our idea of “self”
- Involvement profile components as basis for market segmentation o Target high involvement: emphasis on product (info: features/benefits) o Target low involvement: price, promotion, place
Values
- Value: a belie that some condition is preferable to its opposite o E.g. no guns are less dangerous than having guns; looking younger is preferable to looking older, for
republicans, NO is better than to agree with Obama@ o Opinions vary for sure o Beliefs guide our choices which guide our behaviour
- We seek others that share our values/beliefs o Thus, we tend to seek out (selective attention) to information that supports our beliefs
The Cognitive Consumer: The Self, Personality, & Lifestyle
Perspectives On The Self
- We have multiple selves, each one situation-dependent and contingent on a number of factors - Relationships play a large part in forming our sense of self - Relationships with other people, with ourselves, with our socio-cultural environment, with physical space, and with our
own possessions all help to define us - Self-Concept: The beliefs a person holds about his/her own attributes, and how he/she evaluates these qualities. Our
self-concept is built around a very complex structure of attributes including contentment, positivity, intensity, stability over time, and accuracy
- Self-Esteem: The positivity of a person’s self-concept. It is shaped by their relationship to others, through social comparison, and the comparison between their actual and ideal selves
Actual Self vs. Ideal Self
- The “Ideal Self” is very often shaped by an individual’s socio-cultural environment - Marketing will often position products or services as ways to extend the self, reflect the self, or bridge the gap between
the Actual and Ideal self - Infomercials for workout equipment, ads for gyms, and Weight Watchers commercials do this is a very obvious way,
often with the message that their product or service won’t simply make you thinner or in better shape, but that it will help you to be the person you really want to be
Consumption & Self-Concept
- “You are what you consume” - Our social identity is linked to our consumption patters. The products and brands we are loyal to are tied to our self-
concept - Identity Marketing: Consumption of products/services contributes to definition of self - Self-Image Congruence Models suggest we choose products that reflect some aspect of our actual or ideal selves
o These products can become a part of our extended self, an external extension of our self Sex/Gender Roles & Self-Concept
- Sex/Gender Roles play a major role in an individual’s self-definition - Masculinity and femininity are socially constructed and culturally contingent. These gender roles change over time and
from place to place. Moreover, marketing has a role in evolving or reinforcing gender expectations - No matter what, marketers must content with gender roles because there are gendered differences in consumer
behaviour o For example, research has found that male consumers tend to value agentic goals (confidence) while female
consumers value communal goals (harmony) - Marketers will often sex-type products, giving them masculine or feminine traits to help them appeal more to male or
female consumers - Traditional male roles Breadwinner, rebel, man-of-action hero - Traditional female roles Homemaker, nurturer/healer, compassionate
Body Images - Body Cathexis: A consumer’s subjective evaluation of his/her physical self. This can impact greatly an individual’s
sense of self-worth. Individuals can attach great importance to ideals off beauty and will go to great lengths to attain them
- But ideals of beauty are socio-culturally created and as such, will change over time and from place to place. We attach value to certain physical traits or attributes for a number of reasons
Personalities & Lifestyles
- Personality: A person’s unique psychological makeup and how it consistently influences the way a person responds to his/her environment
- Personality has proven to be difficult to apply in a marketing context, in part because people’s personalities are often situational-specific rather than stable
Brand Personality
- Marketers can use psychology to help build well-define/strong personalities around brands. A brand personality is a set of traits people attribute to a product line as if it were a person
- Brand Personality o Sincerity Down-to-earth, honest, wholesome, cheerful o Excitement Daring, spirited, imaginative, up-to-date o Competence Reliable, intelligent, successful o Sophistication Upper class, charming o Ruggedness Outdoorsy, tough
- Out feelings toward a brand’s personality are an important part of brand equity - Brand Equity: The extent to which consumers hold strong, favourable, and unique associations with a brand and the
extent to which they will seek out a branded product over a non-branded/generic one Lifestyles: Who We Are, What We Do
- Lifestyle refers to the patterns of consumption reflecting a person’s choices of how one spends time and money. A person’s self-concept, ethnicity, social class can all be used as the raw ingredients to build a unique lifestyle
- Marketplace decisions are driven by emotions, subconscious whims, and fears and often have little to do with the product itself
- So how do we market things? o “Figure out the personality of a product, and you will understand how to market it”
- Every object has a special meaning – one that often relates to sex, insecurity, or a desire for prestige Psychographics
- Demographics tells us the “who”, “what”, “when”, and “where” of consumer behaviour…but it does not tell us “why” consumers behave as they do
- Psychographics, developed in the 1960s and 1970s, uses psychological, sociological, and anthropological factors to: o Determine market segments o Determine their reasons for choosing products o Fine-tune offerings to meet needs of different segments
- Understanding not just WHO buys but WHY they buy helps to craft more effective marketing and shape a more appealing brand personality
Psychographics & AIO’s (Attitudes, Interests and Opinions)
- Psychographic research approach that attempts to group consumers according to a combination of 3 variables: o How they spend their time? o What they find interesting and important? o How they view themselves and the world around them?
- Marketers often focus on a products heaviest users. According to the 80/20 rule, roughly 80% of the volume of sales is produced by only 20% of the consumer base
Psychographics & VALS
- The most widely used segmentation system is VALS: Values And Lifestyles - VALS divides people into 8 grounds based on demographic factors, psychological characteristics, and resources
(income, education, energy levels, eagerness to buy, etc.) Psychographics: Forms/Uses
- Different forms of psychographic analysis: o Lifestyle profile (users vs. non-users) o Product-specific profile (users grouped by product dimensions)
o Personality traits as descriptors (i.e. aggressive vs. passive) o General lifestyle segmentation (general preferences grouping i.e., movie goers) o Product-specific segmentation (segmenting further between users based on specific drivers i.e. Form over
function vs. function over form) Lifestyle Trends
- While lifestyles are rooted in socio-economic and demographic factors they are nevertheless always evolving - Predicting new lifestyle trends is a challenge. But all the tools available to help us understand why people buy what
they buy can help the smart marketer make more informed predictions
Attitudes & Behaviours: Changing Attitudes Changing Attitudes Through Communication
- Consumers are not simply passive receivers of information. Consumers are active, goal-oriented, and draw on mass media to satisfy needs. And consciously or not, they process the messages directed at them
- For marketing communications to be effective they must appeal, convince, and persuade. And when communications are effective they can change our attitudes, beliefs, and ultimately, actions
What Influences People to Change Their Minds?
- Authority – The power of expertise? - Consensus – The power of agreement or concord? - Consistency – The power of comfort, stability, or normalcy? - Liking – The power of pleasure and enjoyment? - Reciprocity – The power of mutual gain or benefit? - Scarcity – The power of rarity to convey value? - Each of these psychological principles has persuasive power
The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) of Persuasion
- The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) is based on the assumption that once a consumer receives a message they will begin to process it…But variations in a consumer’s level of involvement result in the activation of very different cognitive processes when a message is received
- Highly involved customers will be more analytical and persuaded by strong message arguments. They are looking for the “steak”
- Low involvement customers will be persuaded by other cues such as ____. They are looking for the “sizzle” - The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM)
- In the central route to processing, the consumer will determine if the message is relevant. The person will actively think about the arguments presented and generate either positive (cognitive responses) or negative (counterarguments) responses. This route usually involves the traditional hierarchy of effects
- In the peripheral route to persuasion, the consumer is not motivated to think about the argument and use other cues in deciding on the suitability of the message
“Can’t beat the real thing”: Hype vs. Buzz
- The key to persuasive communication is authenticity or, at least, the appearance of authenticity. People want to be sold to, but they might not want to feel as if they are being sold to. Inauthentic marketing communications can damage credibility and stymie persuasive power
- Often, the more involved a company appears to be in promoting its products, the less credible it becomes. This phenomenon is known as the Corporate Paradox. It is the difference between “Hype” and “Buzz”
- Hype – Inauthentic message generated by corporate propaganda - Buzz – Authentic message generated by customers
Making the Consumer a Partner
- Can making the consumer a partner in marketing increase persuasive power? If so, how do we do it? - New methods of communication give consumers many more choices and greater control over when, how and what
messages they will process. It also gives companies and consumers a greater degree of interaction, and with interaction comes what?
- Types of feedback: o Traditional First-order response: Direct marketing: transaction and sales date o Second-order response: Non-transaction, customer feedback
- M-Commerce (transact from the hand), blogging, Twitter, podcasts…All are ways that marketers can draw consumers into their messages and make them partners by giving them not only another source for communication but a platform for advocacy
- Another strategy is to get the consumer to not only pay attention to your marketing message, but to seek it out - The Power of Story: Draws viewer into the action and creates emotional response. By creating an engaging narrative,
marketers can not only convey brand attributes and build a brand image and brand associations but also create a marketing message that consumers will actively seek out. Moreover, marketers can erase the separation between content and advertisements and embed marketing messages within stories through product placement or even going so far as building content around the brand (Bond, Transformers movies, etc.)
Decision Making: Individuals & Situations
The Consumer as Problem Solver
- The consumer purchase represents a response to a problem - Once the consumer recognizes there is a problem, they work through a series of steps in order to make a purchase
decision that will solve this problem. This process can seem automatic, it can seem intensive, and can vary from individual to individual
- It is also complicated by the sheer number of choices available to the consumer
How Do We Make the Decision to Buy?
Consumer Decision-Making Stages
- Rational perspective: The purchase decision is largely rational, following from one step to the next, as the consumer recognizes a problem, weighs possible solutions, and ultimately make a reasoned decision (logical and factual)
o But how does this account for: Purchase momentum? Constructive processing? (effort)
- Behavioural influence perspective: Assumes that strong environmental forces will propel consumers to make purchases without them first developing strong feelings or beliefs about the product
- Experiential perspective: The purchase decision is motivated by the need for certain experiences: fun, adventure, fantasy, feeling, taste, etc. (holistic and emotionally driven)
Rational Thinking Increases
Stage 1: Problem Recognition - Occurs when a consumer recognizes a difference between their current/actual state and their perceived ideal state
o Opportunity Recognition (WANT) – When one’s ideal state moves upward and away from their actual state. (i.e. new products, new income, change in mindset)
o Need Recognition (NEED-NEW IDEAL) – When one’s actual state moves downward and away from their ideal state
Stage 2: Information Search
- We need information to solve problems and will survey our environment for the appropriate data necessary to make decisions. Consumers search for information in two ways:
o Internal Search (what do we know already?) – Involves scanning our own experiences to assemble information about various possible solutions (power of frequency)
o External Search – Involves gathering information from ads, retailers, catalogs, friends, family, people-watching, Consumer Reports, Internet, etc. to evaluate various possible solutions
- Pre-Purchase Search (rational process) – Activated by problem recognition and usually specific - Ongoing Search – Occurs regularly and continually and even without the recognition of a problem. Can often be
unconscious or casual. Open to information Do Consumers Always Search Rationally? NO!
- Some consumers will avoid an external search altogether, especially in the face of time constraints or other situational limitations
- Others will find value in “Brand Switching” or variety-seeking, and search out new experiences and over value, familiarity, or consistency
- Men and women will search differently. So will consumers from different economic or educational backgrounds. They will use different tools in different ways and in search of different things
- Ultimately search activity will be greater when: o Purchase is important o Relevant information is easily available o The consumer is young, highly educated, more affluent, and female o When the product of service is tied closely to self-image or social status o Consumer’s level of expertise o High risk, real or perceived, involved in the purchase decision
- Novices: top-down processing (“Big picture”)(Aethetics important) - Moderate knowledge: tend to evaluate along attributes (most cognitive effort)
- Experts: know what is relevant/irrelevant, process alternatives by brand
Stage 3: Evaluation of Alternatives
- Having too many choices is often a bigger problem than not having enough choices. It is possible to have too much of a good thing
- The job of marketers is to get their product or service in your evoked set! Now enters the power of the branding process!
- Identifying alternatives and evaluating several competing brands is a form of extended problem solving - Many consumer decisions are habitual and involve little to no consideration of brand alternatives - However, even when we are faced with a choice we rarely will seriously consider every brand we know about. In fact,
we often will include only a surprisingly small number of alternatives in our evoked or consideration set. This is the matrix of products or services that a consumer is favourably familiar with and will give serious consideration to when making a purchase decision
- Once we assemble and evaluate relevant options from a category, we must choose among them. This choice can be very simple or very complex depending on:
o Prior experience with (similar) product o Present information at time of purchase o Beliefs and brands (from advertising)
- Mental Shortcuts: Can lead to bad decisions due to flawed assumptions. E.g. higher price means higher quality, buying same brand your mother bought
- Product Signals: Observable product attributes that can communicate underlying qualities. E.g. Clean & shiny car = a car in good mechanical condition
- Covariation: Percieved correlations among events. E.g. Product quality & country of origin or “The Japanese make the best electronics”
- Market Beliefs: Consumer assumptions about companies, products, & stores that become shortcuts for decisions (Future Shop ahs Geek Squad so they know their products!)
- Brand Loyalty: Often begins with satisfaction but can become a decision-making shortcut over time, especially when tied to self-image or social status
Evaluative Criteria – A Must
- Evaluative criteria: general dimensions (features or attributes) used to judge merits of competing options (i.e. performance or even status enhancing)
- Determinant attributes: Actual features we use to differentiate among our choices o Attributes/features important to the individual o Marketers educate consumers about (or even invent) determinant attributes
Pepsi’s freshness date stamps on cans - Communications should convey:
o Significant differences across the brands for each of the most important dimensions of comparison o It should direct the consumer towards the most appropriate attribute of comparison (i.e. we outperform X with
Y) o Be consistent with how the decision has been made in the past for ease of mental processing…difficult if
repositioning is attempted (speaks to level of learning required by the customer) The Next Stages: Buying and Consuming
- Consumer choices are affected by many factors, personal & otherwise…and the sale doesn’t end at the time of purchase!
Individual Decision Making Consumers as Problem Solvers
- Consumer purchase = response to problem o We are interested in a purchase, and go though a series of steps in order to accomplish it o Can seem automatic or very complicated o Complicated by so much consumer choice
- Decision-making process
Perspectives on Decision-Making - Rational perspective-consumers:
o Integrate as much information as possible with what they already know about a product o Weigh pluses and minuses of each alternative o Arrive at a satisfactory decision
- Other models of decision-making: o Purchase momentum: Occurs when consumers buy beyond needs o Behavioural influence perspective: Consumers buy based on environmental cues, such as a sale o Experiential perspective: Consumers buy based on totality of product’s appeal
Continuum of Buying Decision Behaviour
Types of Consumer Decision-Making
- Extended problem solving: o Initiated by a motive that is central to self-concept o Consumer feels that eventual decision carries a fair degree of risk
- Limited problem solving: o Buyers not as motivated to search for information or to evaluate rigorously o Buyers use simple decision rules to choose
- Habitual decision making: o Choices made with little to no conscious effort
Extended Problem Solving
- Initiated by self-concept motive - Eventual purchase decision is perceived as a risk - Consumer collects extensive information
o Internal and external search - Careful evaluation of brand attributes (one at a time)
Limited Problem Solving
- Straightforward choices - Simple decision rules to choose among alternatives
o Cognitive shortcuts Habitual Decision Making
- Automaticity: Choices made with little/no conscious effort o Efficient decisions: minimal time/energy
- Challenge for marketers o Consumers must be convinced to “unfreeze” their former habit and replace it with new one
Problem Recognition
- Occurs when consumer sees difference between current state and ideal state o Need recognition: Actual state moves downward o Opportunity recognition: Ideal state moves upward
- Marketers can create:
o Primary demand: Encourage consumers to use product category o Secondary demand: Persuade consumers to use specific brand
Problem Recognition: Shifts in Actual or Ideal States
Information Search
- Information search: Process by which consumer surveys the environment for appropriate data to make reasonable decision
Internal versus External Search
- Internal search o Scanning memory to assemble product alternative information
- External search o Obtaining information from ads, retailers, catalogs, friends, family, people-watching, Consumer Reports, etc.
Deliberate versus “Accidental” Search
- Directed learning: Existing product knowledge obtained from previous information search or experience of alternatives - Incidental learning: Mere exposure over time to conditioned stimuli and observations of others
Online Search
- Many of us shop without leaving home via Yahoo, Google and other internet sites - “New info shopper”: individuals who automatically go to the internet first - In a recent survey 90% said they have most confidence on what they learn online
Prepurchase versus Ongoing Search
Prepurchase Search Ongoing Search
Determinants Involvement with purchase Involvement with product
Motives Making better purchase decisions Building a bank of information for future use
- New cell phones with “Apps” make it easier to shop online anywhere Do Consumers Always Search Rationally?
- Some consumers avoid external search, especially with minimal time to do so and with durable goods (e.g., autos) - Symbolic items require more external search - Brand switching: Select familiar brands when decision situation is ambiguous - Variety seeking: Desire to choose new alternatives over familiar ones
Biases in the Decision-Making Process
- Mental accounting: Framing a problem in terms of gains/losses influences our decisions - Sunk-cost fallacy: Reluctant to waste something we have paid for - Prospect theory: Risk differs when consumer faces options involving gains versus those involving losses
How Much Search Occurs?
- Search activity is greater when… o Purchase is important o There is a need to learn more about purchase o Relevant info is easily obtained/utilized o One is younger, is better-educated, and enjoys shopping/fact-finding o One is female (compared to male) o One places greater value on own style/image
Consumer’s Prior Expertise
- Moderately knowledgeable consumers tend to search more than product experts and novices - Experts: Selective search - Novices: Others’ opinions, “nonfunctional” attributes, and “top down” processing
Perceived Risk
- Perceived risk: Belief that product has negative consequences o Expensive, complex, hard-to-understand products o Product choice is visible to others (risk of embarrassment for wrong choice)
- Risks can be objective (physical danger) and subjective (social embarrassment) Five Types of Perceived Risk
Identifying Alternatives - Extended problem solving = evaluation of several brands
o Occurs when choice conflicts arouse negative emotions (involving difficult trade-offs) - Habitual decision = consider few/no brand alternatives - Evoked set versus consideration set
o We usually don’t seriously consider every brand we talk about o In fact, we often include only a surprisingly small number of alternatives in our evoked set
- Marketers must focus on getting their brands in consumers’ evoked set o We often do not give rejected brands a second chance
Product Categorization
- We evaluate products in terms of what we already know about a (similar) product - Evoked-set products usually share similar features
o When faced with a new product, we refer to existing product category knowledge to form new knowledge - Marketers want to ensure that their product are correctly grouped in knowledge structures
Strategic Implications of Product Categorization
- Product positioning o Convincing consumers that product should be considered within a given category
- Identifying competitors o Products/services different on the surface can actually compete on super-ordinate level for consumer dollars
Selecting Among Alternatives
- Exemplar products o Brands strongly associated with a category “call the shots” by defining evaluative criteria o But “moderately unusual” products stimulate more information processing and positive evaluations
- Locating products o Products that do not fit clearly into categories confuse consumers (e.g., frozen dog food)
Product Choice
- Selecting among alternatives o Once we assemble and evaluate relevant options from a category, we must choose among them
- Decision rules for product choice can be very simple or very complicated o Prior experience with (similar) product o Present information at time of purchase o Beliefs about brands (from advertising)
Evaluative Criteria
- Evaluative criteria: dimensions used to judge merits of competing options - Determinant attributes: features we use to differentiate among our choices
o Criteria on which products differ carry more weight o Marketers educate consumers about (or even invent) determinant attributes
Pepsi’s freshness date stamps on cans Neuromarketing
- Neuromarketing: uses functional magnetic resonance imaging, a brain-scanning device that tracks blood flow as we perform mental tasks
- Marketers measure consumers’ reactions to movie trailers, choices about automobiles, the appeal of a pretty face, and loyalty to specific brands
Heuristics: Mental Shortcuts
- Heuristics: Mental rules-of-thumb that lead to a speedy decision o Examples: Higher price = higher quality, buying the same brand your mother bought
- Can lead to bad decisions due to flawed assumptions (especially with unusually named brands) Relying on a Product Signal
- Product signal: Observable product attributes that communicate underlying qualities o Clean and shiny car = good mechanical condition
- Covariation: Perceived associations among events o Product type/quality and country of origin o Consumers are poor estimators of covariation (self-fulfilling prophecy: we see what we are looking for)
Marketing Beliefs - Consumer assumptions about companies, products, and stores that become shortcuts for decisions - Price-quality relationship: We tend to get what we pay for - Other common marketing beliefs
o All brands are basically the same o Larger stores offer better prices than smaller stores o items tied to “giveaways” are not a good value
Country-of-Origin as a Heuristic
- We rate our own country’s products more favorably than do people who live elsewhere - Industrialized countries make better products than developing countries - Attachment to own versus other cultures
o Nationalists o Internationalists o Disengaged
Country of Origin
- We strongly associate certain items with specific countries (stereotyping) - Country-of-origin effects stimulate consumer interest in the product - Expertise with product minimizes country-of-origin effects - Ethnocentrism (“buy Canadian”)
o ‘The Rant’ – Molson Canadian o Olympic Games clothing worn across the country
Choosing Familiar Brand Names: Loyalty or Habit?
- Zipf’s Law: Our tendency to prefer a number one brand to the competition o Brands that dominate the market are sometimes 50% more profitable than their nearest competitors
- Consumer inertia: Tendency to buy a brand out of habit merely because it requires less effort - Brand loyalty
Inertia: Fickle Consumer
- Many buy the same brand every time o We buy out of habit because it requires less effort o Little/no underlying commitment o Brand switching frequently occurs (cheaper price, original brand out-of-stock, point-of-purchase displays)
Brand Loyalty
- Repeat purchase behaviour reflecting a conscious decision to continue buying the same brand o Repeat purchase + positive attitude toward brand o Emotional attachment and commitment
- We are often less picky about where we buy our favorite brands Decision Rules
- Noncompensatory: Shortcuts via basic standards o Lexicographic rule o Elimination-by-aspects rule o Conjunctive rule
- Compensatory: o Simiple additive rule o Weighted additive rule
Buying and Disposing Issues Related to Purchase and Postpurchase Activities
- A consumer’s choices are affected by many personal factors…and the sale doesn’t end at the time of purchase
Situational Effects on Consumer Behaviour
- Consumption situation o Situational effects can be behavioural or perceptual o We tailor our purchases to specific occasions o The way we feel at a particular time affects what we buy or do o Day Reconstruction Method o Situational self-image (“Who am I right now?”)
Physical and Social Surroundings
- Affect a consumer’s motives for product usage and product evaluation o Décor, odors, temperature o Co-consumers as product attribute
Large numbers of people = arousal Interpretation of arousal: density vs. crowding Type of consumer patrons
Temporal Factors
- Economic time o Time style: Consumers try to maximize satisfaction by dividing time among tasks o Time poverty
One-third of Canadians feel rushed Marketing innovations allow us to save time Polychronic activity/multitasking
- Psychological time: Consumers’ perception of time o Fluidity of time (subjective experience) o Time categories relevant to marketers
Good times for ads: occasion/leisure times and time to kill Bad times for ads: flow and deadline times
o Time perspective metaphors Time is a pressure cooker Time is a map Time is a mirror Time is a river Time is a feast
Queuing Theory
- Queuing theory: mathematical study of waiting lines o Waiting for product = good quality o Too much waiting = negative feelings o Marketers use “tricks” to minimize psychological waiting time
Antecedent States: If it feels good…
- Antecedent states: Mood/psychological condition influences what we buy and how we evaluate product - Pleasure and arousal - Mood = combination of pleasure and arousal
o Happiness = high in pleasantness and moderate in arousal o Mood biases judgments of products/services
o Moods are affected by store design, music, TV programs Dimensions of Emotional States
Shopping: Job or Adventure?
- Social motives for shopping are important o Shopping for utilitarian or hedonic reasons o Women “shop to love,” while men “shop to win”
- The reasons we shop are more complex than may appear on the surface Reasons for Shopping
- Reasons for shopping: o Vary by product category, store type, and culture
- Hedonic reasons include: o Social experiences o Sharing of common interests o Interpersonal attraction o Instant status o The thrill of the hunt
- E-commerce reaches customers around the world, but competition increases exponentially - Benefits: Good customer service, technology value - Limitations: Security/identity theft, actual shopping experience, large delivery/return shipping charges
Pros and Cons of E-Commerce Benefits of E-commerce Limitations of E-commerce Shop 24 hours Lack of security Less traveling Fraud Instant information Can’t touch items More choices Exact colours may not reproduce online More products available to less-developed countries Expensive to order then return More price information Potential breakdown of human relationships Lower prices Virtual auctions
Fast delivery Electronic communities Retailing as Theatre
- Competition for customers is becoming intense as nonstore alternatives multiply - Malls gain loyalty by appealing to social motives - Retail techniques:
o Lanscape themes o Marketscape themes o Cyberspace themes o Mindscape themes o Pop-up stores o Minipreneurs
Store Image
- Store image: personality of the store - Location + merchandise suitability + knowledge/congeniality of sales staff - Some factors in overall evaluation of a store:
o Interior design o Types of patrons o Return policies o Credit availability
Atmospherics
- Conscious designing of space and dimensions to evoke certain effects in buyers o Colours/lighting, scenes, and sounds/music affect time spent in store as well as spending levels o Activity stores
Build-A-Bear Workshop chain Club Libby Lu
In-Store Decision-Making
- Spontaneous shopping consists of: o Unplanned buying: Reminded to buy something o Impulse buying: Sudden, irresistible urge to buy
- Point-of-purchase (POP) stimuli: Product display or demonstration that draws attention o Music store CD sampler, Elizabeth Arden computer and video makeover system
- Salesperson create exchange process o Commercial friendships
Spontaneous Shopping
- Unplanned buying vs. impulse buying o Wider aisle displays with high profit margins encourage browsing o Portable shopper in grocery stores
- Planners vs. partial planners vs. impulse purchasers Point of Purchase Stimuli
- POP: Can be an elaborate product display or demonstration, a coupon-dispensing machine, or even someone giving out free samples
o Pepsi changes pop can design constantly o Coors Light sport labels that turn blue when the beer is chilled o Unilever sells Axe shower gel in bottles shaped like joysticks
The Sales Person
- Exchange theory: Every interaction involves an exchange of value o Expertise, likeability (similarity, appearance), commercial friendship
- Dyadic relationship between buyer/seller o Identity negotiation o Salespersons’ styles differ
Has IT Destroyed Customer Service?
- Many times customer service fails
- Call centres use activated response systems that often do not satisfy the customer - A custom-made guitar was destroyed on an airplane - There was no compensation until the Canadian musician posted a video song on YouTube
Postpurchase Satisfaction
- Postpurchase satisfaction or dissatisfaction (CS/D) is determined by attitude about a product after purchase - Marketers constantly on lookout for sources of consumer dissatisfaction
o Canadian banks proved that better service commanded a larger share of “wallet” than did others Perceptions of Product Quality
- Expectancy disconfirmation mode: consumers form beliefs of product quality based on prior performance - Marketers should manage expectations
o Don’t promise what you can’t deliver o When product fails, marketers must reassure customers with honesty
Managing Quality Expectations
- Marketers: quality = “good” - Expectancy disconfirmation model of product performance
o Expectations determine satisfaction and/or dissatisfaction o Importance of managing expectations
Customer Expectation Zones
Acting on Dissatisfaction
- Three ways consumers can act on dissatisfaction: o Voice response: Appeal to retailer directly o Private response: Express dissatisfaction to friends or boycott store o Third-party response: legal action
The Real Value of Happy Customers
- 78% of customers are willing to pay more for products if they experience great customer service - Good service travels fast via social networking
Total Quality Management
- How people actually interact with their environment in order to identify potential problems - Gemba: One true source of information
o Need to send marketers/designers to the precise place of product consumption Host Foods study in airport cafeterias
Product Disposal
- Strong product attachment = painful disposal process o Possessions = identity anchors
- Ease of product disposal is now a key product attribute to consumers - Disposal options
o Keep old item o Temporarily dispose of it o Permanently dispose of it
Consumer’s Disposal Options
- Reasons for product replacement o Desire for new features o Change in consumer’s environment o Change in consumer’s role/self-image
- Public policy implications of product disposition o Recycling is a priority in many countries o Means-end chain analysis study of lower-order goals linked to abstract terminal values when consumers
recycle o Perceived effort involved in recycling as predictor
Lateral Cycling
- Already purchased products are sold to others or exchanged for still other things o Flea markets, garage sales, classified ads, bartering for services, hand-me-downs, etc.
o Iconic transfer o Transition-place o Ritual cleansing
- Internet has revolutionized lateral cycling - Re-stores across Canada (Habitat for Humanity)
The Social Consumer: Group Influences & Opinions & Family Decision Making
Reference Groups
- Our reference groups are made of any individuals, organizations, or groups that has a significant impacts on our evaluations, aspirations, or behavior
- In the context of consumer behaviour, reference groups exert influence in three fundamental ways: o Informational (credible educated “authority”) o Utilitarian (potential actual consumers) o Value-expressive (what others think – “be like them”)
- Normative influence: Helps to set and enforce fundamental standards of conduct (parents or teachers) - Comparative influence: Impacts decisions about specific brands or activities (social causes, lifestyle choices, etc.)
Types of Reference Groups
- Brand Communities: Consumer groups based on a social relationship built on shared interests and product usages - Consumer Tribes: Consumer groups that share emotions, moral beliefs, lifestyles, and product affiliations (shared
alliance – strong feeling of connection) - Membership vs. Aspirational Reference Groups: This is the difference between who we are and who we would most like
to be o Membership groups tend to focus more on ordinary, relatable individuals (i.e. mentors) whose experiences
provide informational social influence o Aspirational groups concentrate on highly visible, widely admired figures that represent ideals for us to strive
toward - Positive vs. Negative Reference Groups: Reference groups can exert both positive and negative influence pointing
towards example to work towards or behaviours to be avoided. These avoidance groups represent those things we most do not want to be
The Power of Reference Groups
- Reference groups possess tremendous social power. They can change behaviour and alter actions. However, the power of reference groups is contingent, changing from product to product and social group to social group
Conformity
- Most people will tend to follow social expectations regarding how to look/act and will skew their beliefs and actions to better align with societal norms. Cultural pressures, a fear of deviance or different behaviour, our commitment to group membership (“peer pressures”), the power of unanimity or expertise, and even our susceptibility to interpersonal influence all push us to conform
- Social Comparison Theory: The notion that we look to others’ behavior to inform us about reality and reinforce our own self-evaluations. (acceptance)
- Anticonformity: Defiance of the social norm Word-of-Mouth Communication
- In the marketing context, word-of-mouth communication (WoM) is when product information is transmitting from one individual to another. It is suggested that WoM impacts nearly 2/3 of all sales. It is regarded as more trustworthy and authentic, more valuable in the latter stages of the purchase decision process, and more useful when the consumer is unfamiliar with the product or category
- Guerilla ad campaigns and viral marketing strategies are often built on trying to harness the power of WoM communication to persuade and push people to action
- Increased connectivity through the internet, social networking, and virtual communities means that the power of WoM is only growing
- How can the benefits of positive WoM outmatched and undone by the power of negative WoM? o Loss of message control o Inaccuracies o Unfounded facts o Loss of direct company influence
Opinion Leaders
- The power of WoM depends on its source. We won’t ask just anyone for their advice and we don’t treat every opinion as equal. Those individuals or groups whose advice we week out most often and trust the most are known as Opinion Leaders
- Opinion leadership is built upon: o Expertise (competency) o Unbiased knowledge power (legitimacy and authenticity) o Highly interconnected in communities (legitimacy via their social standing) o Referent (achievement) power (i.e. education, social status, beliefs) o Hands-on product experience (surrogates for experience, help reduce “risk” of experience)
Types of Opinion Leadership
1) Generalized Opinion Leader o Uncommon, but offers an input on a wide range of product categories o E.g. Oprah
2) Monomorphic/Polymorphic Opinion Leaders
o Offers advice about a variety of products in one, or across several separate but related and overlapping product categories
3) The Market Maven o Opinion is valued because of their perceived engagement and expertise within the marketplace
4) Surrogate Consumers o These are intermediaries tasked with providing input into purchase decisions. In many ways these are
professional opinion leaders Family Decision Making
- In every living situation, different members may take on different roles and at different times. Often these roles will mimic gender roles and will, of course, continue to be influenced by factors like education, income, and socio-economic standing
- Blue vs. Pink jobs - Women tend to still have most say when making decisions about groceries, toys, clothes, & medicines - Husbands continue to have more say in decisions about investments and tools - Increasingly, decisions about cars, vacations, homes, appliances, furniture, home electronics, interior design, and
phone/internet/cable/satellite services are joint decisions - Higher education tends to push families towards more syncretic (together) decision-making. Lower education tends to
push them towards more automatic decision making (independent/singular) - But ultimately household dynamics plays a big role in determining whether husbands or wives are dominant in the
family unit
Group Influence and Opinion Leadership
Reference Groups - Reference group: Actual or imaginary individual/group conceived of having significant relevance upon an individual’s
evaluations, aspirations, or behaviour - Influences consumers in three ways:
o Informational o Utilitarian o Value-expressive
Reference Group Influences
- Reference group influences stronger for purchases that are: o Luxuries rather than necessities
o Socially conspicuous/visible to others
Types of Reference Groups
- Normative influence o Helps to set and enforce fundamental standards of conduct
- Comparative influence o Decisions about specific brands or activities are affected
- Any external influence that provides social clues o Cultural figure o Parents o A large, formal organization
Tend to be more product- or activity-specific: comparative influence o Small and informal groups
Exert a more powerful influence on individual consumers A part of our day-to-day lives: normative influence
Formal vs. Informal Reference Groups
- Reference group can be large and formal with a standard, recognized structure Or
- The reference group can be small and informal, just a group of friends However
- As a rule, small informal groups can exert powerful influence on individual consumers Brand Communities and Tribes
- A group of consumers who share a set of social relationships based upon usage or interest in a product - Brandfests enhance brand loyalty - Consumer tribe share emotions, moral beliefs, styles of life, and affiliated product
o Tribal marketing: linking a product to the needs of a group as a whole Membership versus Aspirational Groups
- People the consumer actually knows vs. people the consumer doesn’t know but admires o Aspirational strategies concentrate on highly visible, widely admired figures (athletes or performers) o Membership strategies focus on “ordinary” people whose consumption provides informational social influence
Propinquity, mere exposure, and group cohesiveness Positive versus Negative Reference Groups
- Reference groups may exert either a positive or negative influence on consumption behaviours - Avoidance groups: motivation to distance oneself from other people/groups - Marketers show ads with undesirable people using competitor’s product
Antibrand Communities
- Antibrand communities: Coalesce around a celebrity, store, or brand – but in this case they’re united by their disdain for it
- Social idealists who advocate non-materialistic lifestyles
- Many oppose Walmart, Starbucks, McDonald’s and Hummers When Reference Groups are Important
- Impact of reference groups vary based on whether the product is complex or, a product with little perceived risk (less susceptible)
- Two dimensions of influence: o Purchases to be consumed privately or publicly o Whether a luxury or a necessity
- Reference groups are most robust for purchases: o Luxuries o Socially conspicuous products
Power of Reference Groups
- Social power: capacity to alter the actions of others - Types of social power:
o Referent power o Information power o Legitimate power o Expert power o Reward power o Coercive power
Conformity
- Conformity refers to a change in beliefs or actions as a reaction to real or imagined group pressure - Factors influencing conformity:
o Cultural pressures o Fear of deviance o Commitment to group o Group unanimity, size, expertise o Susceptibility to interpersonal influence
Social Comparison
- Social Comparison Theory o We look to others’ behaviour to inform us about reality o Occurs as way to increase stability of one’s self-evaluation (sans physical evidence)
Tastes in music and art o We tend to choose co-oriented peer when performing social comparison
Tactical Requests
- People want others to conform - Foot in the door technique: Ask for a small request then hit them up for something bigger - Low-ball technique: Asked for small favour that becomes costly - Door in the face technique: First ask to do something extreme, and when they refuse the person will then ask for a
smaller request Group Effects on Individual Behaviour
- Home shopping parties o Tupperware and Botox parties o Informational and normative social influence o De-individuation o Risky shift
Consumers Do It in Groups
- Deindividuation: individual identities become submerged within a group o Example: binge drinking at college parties
- Social loafing: People don’t devote as much to a task when their contribution is part of a larger group o Example: we tend to tip less when eating in groups
- Risky shift: Group members show a greater willingness to consider riskier alternatives following group discussion than if members decide alone
Resisting Conformity
- Anti-conformity: Defiance of the group is the actual object of behaviour
- Don’t want to do what is in style - Reactance: Threats of censoring books, television or rock music that people find objectionable actually results in an
increase desire for these items Word-of-Mouth Communication
- WOM: product information transmitted by individuals to individuals - More reliable form of marketing-buzz marketing - Social pressure to conform - Influences two-thirds of all sales - We rely upon WOM in later stages of product adoption - Powerful when we are unaware of product category - Mountain Dew’s young U.S. consumers happily discovered the high caffeine content of the drink
Negative WOM and Power of Rumors
- We weigh negative WOM more heavily than we do positive comments o Negative WOM is easy to spread, especially online o Determined detractors o Information/rumor distortion
Social Networking
- Web sites allow members to post information about themselves and make contact with similar others o Share interests, opinions, business contacts o Twitter, Facebook, Myspace
Guerrilla Marketing
- Guerrilla marketing: Promotional strategies that use unconventional locations and intensive WOM to push products - Recruits legions of real consumers for street theatre
o Hip-hop “mix tapes”/street teams o Brand ambassadors
Virtual Communities
- A collection of people who share their love of a product in online interactions o Multi-user dungeons (MUD) o Rooms (IRC), rings, and lists o Boards o Blogs/blogosphere
- Great potential for abuse via untrustworthy members o Dove.msn.com members can watch original programming and get skin care information on the site
Viral Marketing
- Viral Marketing: Getting visitors to a web site to forward information on the site to their friends - Creating online content that is entertaining or weird - Which type of web surfer are you?
Virtual Worlds: The Next Digital Frontier - Virtual World: 3D sophisticated worlds - They walk, fly, teleport - Virtual Goods: A new market for these virtual goods are at least a $1.5 billion market
Opinion Leadership
- Opinion leaders: Influence others’ attitudes and behaviours - They are:
o Technically competent o Knowledge power o Socially active, highly interconnected o Are similar to consumer o Are among the first to buy o Hands-on experience
Reasons to Seek Advice from Opinion Leaders
- Generalize opinion leader versus monomorphic/polymorphic experts - Although opinion leaders exist for multiple prodct categories, expertise tends to overlap across similar categories
o It is rare to find a generalized opinion leader - Innovative communicators - Opinion seekers
o More likely to talk about products with others and solicit others’ opinions o Casual interaction prompted by situation
Types of Opinion Leaders
- Opinion leaders absorb information from mass media and transmits data for opinion receivers - May or may not purchase the products they recommend - Innovative communicators - Two-step flow of model of influence: Small group of influencers change opinions or many people
The Market Maven
- Market Maven: Actively involved in transmitting marketplace information of all types - Just into shopping and aware what’s happening in the marketplace - Overall knowledge of how and where to get products - Surrogate consumers: Hired to provide input into purchase decisions
Identifying Opinion Leaders
- Many ads intend to reach influencers rather than average consumer o Local opinion leaders are harder to find o Companies try to identify influencers in order to create WOM “ripple effect” o Exploratory studies identify characteristics of opinion leaders for promotional strategies
The Self Designating Method
- Most commonly used technique to identify opinion leaders… o Simply ask individuals whether they consider themselves to be opinion leaders o Method is easy to apply to large group of potential opinion leaders o View with skepticism…inflation or unawareness of own importance/influence
- Trace communication patterns among group members - Systematic map of group interactions - Most precise method of identifying product-information sources, but is very difficult/expensive to implement - Network analysis
o Referral behaviour/network, tie strength o Bridging function, strength of weak ties
Household Decision Making
Household Decision Making
- More than one person is involved in the purchasing process for products or services that may be used by multiple consumers
Household and Family - Before 1900s: Extended family - 1950s: Nuclear family (mother, father, and children) - Today, many households:
o Married couples less than 50% of households o Majority of adult women live without spouse o Unmarried opposite sex couples o Same-sex couples o Intentional families: celebrate holidays together
Defining the Modern Family
- Extended family and nuclear family - Just what is a household?
o Family household contains at least two people, regardless of their relationship o Divorces and separations are accepted in our culture…marital breakups are ever-present theme in books,
music, and movies o Adult females are staying home with family/children more (especially among best-educated/highest achieving
women) Age of the Family
- Most Canadians under 24 have never been married or living common-law - 35-64 age group greatest number of marriages and common-law relationships (77%) - Trend toward giving non-traditional items as wedding gifts (home electronics, computers)
Family Size
- Depends on educational level, availability of birth control, and religion - Total fertility rate in 2006 was 1.6, which is below the replacement rate of 2.1 to sustain Canadian population - Marketers keep an eye on fertility rate and birth rate - Worldwide, women want smaller families (especially in industrialized countries)
o Divorce is common o Fewer young people to support their elders o Some countries want people to have more children
Who’s Living at Home?
- Sandwich generation: Adults who care for their parents as well as their own children - Boomerang kids: Adult children who return to live with their parents
o Spend less on household items and more on entertainment Nonhuman Family Members
- Pets are treated like family members - Spending has doubled in the last decade - Pet-smart marketing strategies:
o Name-brand pet products o Designer dog water o Lavish kennel clubs, pet accessories
Family Life Cycle
- Factors that determine how couples spend money: o Whether they have children o Whether the woman works
- Family life cycle (FLC) concept combines trends in income and family composition with change in demands placed on income
o As we age, our preferences/needs for products and activities tend to change FLC Models
- Useful models take into account the following variables in describing longitudinal changes in priorities and demand for product categories:
o Age o Marital status o Presence/absence of children in home o Ages of children
- Such factors allow us to identify categories of family-situation types
Lifecycle Effects on Buying - FLC model categories show marked differences in consumption patterns
o Young bachelors and newlyweds: exercise, go to bars/concerts/movies o Early 20s: apparel, electronics, gas o Families with young children: health foods o Single parents/older children: junk foods o Newlyweds: appliances o Mature consumers are having the time of their lives
Household and Family Decision-Making
- Families make two types of decisions: o Consensual purchase decision: Members agree on the desired purchase, differing only in terms of how it will be
achieved o Accommodative purchase decision: Members have different preferences or priorities and cannot agree on a
purchase to satisfy the minimum expectations of all involved - Specific factors that determine how much family decision conflict there will be:
o Interpersonal need o Product involvement and utility o Responsibility o Power o Families construct a family identity
- Who makes key decisions in a family? o Autonomic decision: one family member chooses a product
Wives still make decisions on groceries, toys, clothes, and medicines o Syncratic decision: involve both partners
Used cars, vacations, homes, appliances, furniture, home electronics, interior design, phone service As education increases, so does syncretic decision making Gender convergence: gender neutral
Identifying the Decision Maker
- Family financial officer (FFO) o In traditional families, the man makes the money and the woman spends it o If spouses adhere to modern sex-role norms, participation in family maintenance activities
- Four factors in joint versus sole decision making: o Gender-role stereotypes o Spousal resources o Experience o Socioeconomic status
He-She Decisions
- Half of kitchenware customers are men - 25% men do the grocery shopping - Kin-network system: generally the women organize family rituals, send cards, visit relatives, etc.
Heuristics in Joint Decision Making
- Synoptic ideal: Husband and wife to take a common view and to act as joint decision makers - Heuristics simplify decision making:
o Salient, objective dimensions
o Task specialization o Concessions based on intensity of each spouse’s preferences
Children as Decision Makers
- Consumers-in-Training o Children make up three distinct markets:
Primary market: kids spend their own money Influence market: parents buy what their kids tell them to buy (parent yielding) Future market: kids “grow up” quickly and purchase items that normally adults purchase (e.g.
- Consumer socialization: process by which young people acquire skills, knowledge, and attitudes relevant to their functioning in the marketplace
- Children’s purchasing behaviour is influenced by : o Parents o Television (“electronic babysitter”) o Sex roles
Five Stages of Consumer Development
Influence of Parents
- Direct and indirect parental influences: o Deliberate attempt to instill own consumption values o Determine exposure to informational sources (TV, salespeople, peers) o Cultural expectations regarding involvement of children in purchase decisions
- Grown-ups as models for observational learning o Passing down of brand loyalty
- Parental styles that affect socialization: o “authoritarian,” “neglecting,” and “indulgent”
Television and the Web
- Advertising’s influence begins at early age: o Many marketers start to push their products on kids to encourage them to build a habit young
- Kids are also exposed to idealized images of what it is like to be an adult - In 2006, kids 2 to 11 years old watched more than 14 hours each week
Gender-role Socialization
- Children pick up on gender identity at an early age
o One function of play is to rehearse for adulthood o Toy companies perpetuate gender stereotypes
- Children rehearse adulthood roles via toys as props o Toys “R” Us Girls’ World & Boys’ World o “Male and female play patterns” o Smartees’ line of dolls and Working Woman Barbie
Cognitive Development
- Stage of cognitive development: o Ability to comprehend concepts of increasing complexity o Very young children are thought to be able to learn consumption-related information surprisingly well
- An alternative approach identifies three segments of information-processing capability: o Limited, cued, and strategic o Children do not think in “adult” ways – they cannot be expected to use information the same way o Children do not form the same “adult” conclusions when presented with product information o Multiple-intelligence theory
Marketing Research and Children
- Relatively little real data on childrens’ preferences/influences on spending patterns is available o Kids tend to:
Be undependable reporters of own behaviour Have poor recall Not understand abstract questions
Product Testing
- Product testing: Tell them what they like - Message comprehension
o Children may not understand persuasive intent of ads o FTC action to protect children (1990 Children’s Television Act)
Advertising to Children
- Canadian Advertising Foundation’s Broadcast Code for Advertising to Children - Provides guidelines such as:
o Endorsements by programme characters o Product claims o Sales pressure o Scheduling o Safety o Social values
The Social Consumer: Income & Social Class
Consumer Spending & Economic Behaviour
- How we choose to spend our money is, ultimately, contingent. Yes, general economic conditions will help to determine how we choose to allocate our hard-earned dollars but so too does one’s socioeconomic class
- This is because our purchases have social significant and cultural power. They are status symbols! They allow us to communicate to the rest of society who we are or, at the very least, who we would like to be. But they also reveal where we fit in society and where we aspire to fit in society
- Our social class – who is a “have” and who is a “have not” – is determined in large part by things like family background, education level, and occupation. Income plays a role, but a relatively small one
- Our social class, in turn, helps determine our relative standing in the social hierarchy and, in turn, our access to resources
Social Class and Consumer Behaviour
- Socioeconomic class affects how consumers perceive the products and services available to them - The working class consumer worldview:
o Tend towards sturdy, comfortable, & familiar products o Imeediate needs largely shape buying behaviour o See value in spending that goes towards maintaining home or property but see little value in a high-status
lifestyle - The upper class consumer worldview:
o Tend towards purchases that are tied to appearance or body image o Long term planning with purchases (functional)
- To communicate to different socioeconomic groups, marketers will code their messages with different appeals using concepts/terms that different consumers are most likely to understand and appreciate in different ways. Marketing appeals constructed with class differences in mind will result in quite different messages
Socioeconomic Class Ultimately Affects Our Tastes and Lifestyles
- For marketers trying to understand consumer behaviour then, it is important tot remember that our place in the social order helps to determine not only what we enjoy, but perhaps more importantly, what we aspirate towards and how we decide to spend our money to fulfill those aspirations
Marketing to the Different Socioeconomic Classes
- The working class and poor have the same basic needs as everyone else but not always the same opportunities and certainly not the same worldview
- On average, residents of poor neighborhoods must travel more to have comparable access to consumer products and services and this will affect how they respond to marketing messages
- Many marketers are instead keen to target more affluent consumers and more upscale markets - However, selling to the more affluent is still no easy task. Their interests and spending priorities are still remarkably
diverse, affected by where they got their money, how they got it, and for how long they have had it (i.e. old money vs. new/earned)
Views on Luxury
- Luxury is functional – rational decision making including practical, logical determinates (i.e. long lasting or exceptional performance)
- Luxury as a reward – “I’ve made it!” (Most of us) - Luxury as an indulgence (smallest segment and very impulsive – emotional/vanity)
Status Symbols
- While status symbols will vary from place to place and over time, what remains consistent with this kind of materialism is the motivation to obtain products that will let others know that you have arrived and that you are at least their social peers if you’re not their social betters
- Conspicuous Consumption: This takes the status symbol to the next level, using ostentatious purchases to provide ample visual evidence of their ability to afford luxury goods and, ultimately, of their elevated social status
Problems with Measures of Social Class
- Most measures of social class in the past had trouble accounting for two-income families, young singles living alone, or households headed by women. Family definitions have changed
- Increasingly anonymity of our society and difficulties securing unbiased, comprehensive data - Status crystallization (social class inconsistency
o Impact of inconsistency on the self and social behaviour (cross over affect from low to high creating unbalance i.e. low status group member with high status job)
Income and Social Class
Income Patterns
- Whether a skilled worker or a child of privilege social class has a huge impact on one’s life - Status symbols are valued as markers of social class - Average Canadian income increased from $50,000 in 1970 to $70,400 - This change is the result of increases in educational attainment and the shift in women’s roles in life
Woman’s Work - A larger proportion of people of working age are in the labour force - Mothers with preschool children comprise the fastest growth in the labour market - Women get high-paying jobs such as doctors, architects, etc. - Nearly 30% of wives make more money than their spouses
Yes, It pays to Go to School
- In 2006 about 50% of Canadians have post secondary education - 25% have university training and 16% have a degree - In 2005, graduates earned about $74,600 versus $43,700 for other educational levels
To Spend or Not to Spend
- Discretionary income: o Households spend a much larger share of budget on shelter and transportation, and less on food and apparel o Households are spending more now on entertainment and education
- Attitude toward money: o Money = success/failure, social acceptability, security, love, or freedom
Individual Attitudes Toward Money
- Three distinct groups of consumers: o Brand aspirationals: people with low incomes whoa re obsessed with names like KitchenAid o Price-sensitive affluents: wealthier shoppers who love deals o Value-price shoppers: like low prices and cannot afford more
Consumer Confidence
- Behavioural economics/economic psychology - Consumer confidence: Extent to which people are optimistic or pessimistic about the future health of the economy
o Influences how much discretionary money we will pump into the economy - Overall savings rate is affected by:
o Pessimism/optimism about personal circumstances o World events o Cultural differences in attitudes toward savings
Social Class
- “Haves” vs. “Have-nots” - Social class is determined by income, family background, and occupation - Our place in the social structure determines how much we spend and how we spend it
Picking a Pecking Order
- Dominance-submission hierarchy o Pecking order: relative standing in society o Standing determines access to resources
Education, housing, consumer goods o We try to improve our standing by moving up social order whenever possible o Marketing strategies focus on this desire to move up in standing
Achieved versus Ascribed Status
- Achieved Status: Earned through hard work - Ascribed Status: Born with a silver spoon - Most groups exhibit a structured or status hierarchy
Social Mobility
- Social mobility: passage of individuals from one social class to another o Horizontal mobility (from one occupation to another in same social class) o Downward mobility o Upward mobility
Class Structure in Canada
Class Structure Around the World
- Rise of Chinese middle class o Nike’s new brand presence there
- Japan as a status- and brand-conscious society o Single, working women spending on luxury goods
- Major retailers/brands are coming to Middle-Eastern countries, where Arab women enjoy shopping with their families/friends
- England’s rigid class structure still exists, but the dominance of its aristocracy is fading o Marketers are targeting chavs’ interest in fashion, food, and gadgets
Social Class and Consumer Behaviour
- Income distribution o “Affordable luxuries” within reach of many consumers o Rising incomes + decreasing prices
- Marketers cater to mass class with high-quality products Components of Social Class
- Occupational prestige: o Stable over time and similar across cultures o Single best indicator of social class
- Income: o Wealth is not distributed evenly across classes (top 10% controls 45% of all assets) o Income per se is not often a good indicator of social class; it’s the way money is spent and not how much is
spent o Education: related to both occupation and income
Occupational Prestige
- People judge others in regard to occupation - This is how people evaluate their “worth” - Top ranking: CEO, physician, university professor - Lower ranking: Shoe shiner, ditch digger, garbage collector
Income
- “Money” and “class” not synonymous - Whether social class or income is a better predictor of a consumer’s behaviour depends on the type of product:
o Social class is better predictor of lower to moderately priced symbolic purchases o Income is better predictor of major nonstatus/nonsymbolic expenditures o Need both social class and income to predict expensive, symbolic products
Class Differences in World View
- World of working class is intimate and constricted:
o Immediate needs dictate buying behaviour o Dependence on relatives/local community o More likely to be conservative/family-oriented o Maintaining appearance of home/property o Don’t feel high-status lifestyle is worth effort
Affluenza and pressure to maintain family status Attitudes Toward Luxury
- Luxury is functional: Logical purchases, not impulsive - Luxury is reward: Younger people…I’ve made it - Luxury is indulgence: Lavish and self-indulgent
Taste Cultures, Codes and Cultural Capital
- Taste culture: Differentiates people in terms of their aesthetic and intellectual preferences o Distinguishes consumption choices among social classes o Upper- and upper-middle-class: more likely to visit museums and attend live theatre o Middle-class: more likely to go camping and fishing o Some think concept of taste culture is elitist
- Codes: the way consumers express and interpret meanings - Allow marketers to communicate to markets using concepts and terms consumers are most likely to understand and
appreciate - Restricted codes: focus on the content of objects, not on relationships among objects - Elaborated codes: depend on a more sophisticated worldview
Status Symbols
- Keeping up with the Joneses (in Japan it’s keeping up with the Satos) - What matters is having more wealth/fame than others - Status-seeking: motivation to obtain products that will let others know that you have “made it”
How Do We Measure Social Class?
- It is difficult to measure social class complexities - The Index of Status Characteristics and the Index of Social Position indicates:
o Individual characteristics as well as occupation and type of housing represent class standing The Trophy Wife
- Leisure class and “idle rich” - Wives of wealthy husbands as “walking billboards” - Potlatch of Kwakiutl Indians
o Modern-day lavish parties/ weddings - Conspicuous waste
Conspicuous Consumption
- Invidious distinction: We buy things to inspire envy in others through our display of wealth or power - Conspicuous consumption: People’s desires to provide prominent visible evidence of their ability to afford luxury goods
Problems with Measures of Social Class
- Most measures of social class in the past had trouble accounting for two-income families, young singles living alone, or households headed by women
- Increasing anonymity of our society o Reputational method is virtually impossible to implement today (can se demographic data and subjective
impressions) - Status crystallization
o Impact of inconsistency on the self and social behaviour - Overprivileged vs. underprivileged conditions of social class
o Problems associated with lottery winners - Traditional issues of hierogamy
o Women tend to “marry up” more than men o Sexual appeal for economic resources
- Many women now contribute equally to family’s well-being - Potential spouse’s social class as “product attribute”
Problems with Social Class Segmentation - Marketers tend to ignore:
o Status inconsistency o Intergenerational mobility o Subjective social class o Consumers’ aspirations to change class standing o Social status of working wives
How Social Class Affects Purchase Decisions
- Consumers perceive different products/stores as appropriate for certain social classes o Working class: sturdy, comfortable, and familiar products o Affluent people: appearance/body image o Diet food/drinks
The Social Consumer: Identities & Subcultures
Age, Culture, & Consumer Identity
- A consumer’s age shapes to a large extent their sense of identity and lifestyle - Identity and lifestyle are similarly affected by a consumer’s group membership within society-at-large - We are more likely to share values and interests, and sociocultural cues as people who are the same age as us and
people who are members of the same sub-cultures as we are - The smart marketer will be aware of the power of age and culture to segment the marketplace and shape the way
consumers will respond to marketing messages - Furthermore, people will change over time and move from bracket to bracket. Age and consumer identity is an always
moving target The Millenial/Generaton Y/YOU!
- This is the “Youth Market” – represented by teenagers nearing their twenties on the high end and the tweens, children entering their teens, on the low end
- These “Echo Boomers” represent roughly 23% of the Canadian population and possess tremendous buying power. Worldwide, Millenials will spend more than $200 billion this year
- Millenials are only beginning to develop strong brand loyalties and so can still be influenced. They are extremely connected but also very easily distracted and are hard to reach through regular communication channels
- Social acceptance is a strong motivator for Millenials but there is also tension between this need to belong and their desire to forge a unique identity
Generation X
- These are the “Baby Busters” – the children of the Baby Boomers born between 1966 & 1976. Also the “Sandwich Generation,” stuck between their parents the Boomers and their kids in Generation Y
- Many regard Generation X as cynical, individualistic, alienated, and even selfish - However, while they are individual thinkers, they are nevertheless values-oriented and value oriented. They
increasingly value saving and stability - Members of Generation X are keen for product information when making purchasing decisions. They are tech savvy,
but still pay attention to traditional media. They value independence and can be price conscious, but they have built up strong brand loyalties nonetheless
The Baby Boomers
- This is the biggest, richest, most powerful market segment in North American society. They are in their peak earning years and possess tremendous purchasing power
- This is the “Woodstock Generation” that changed politics, social values, style, and consumer attitudes - As Boomers age their priorities are shifting. They are becoming increasingly health conscious and interested in
physical fitness and wellbeing. As Boomers move closer to retirement they are also becoming more interested in “feathering their nests”
- Marketers who fail to track Boomers shifting priorities risk losing access to this lucrative market segment The Mature/Traditional Generation
- Most mature consumers lead more active and multidimensional lives than we assume. They are living longer and healthier than ever before, and often with fewer financial obligations than before
- They value autonomy, connectedness/togetherness, and philanthropy - This generational subculture is incredibly large, but can be segmented along lines of specific age, general health and
wellbeing, marital status, and overall outlook on life
- There is value in adapting products and marketing messages to target this market. The mature market values products that address any physical limitations that come with age. They respond well to marketing messages that are focused, clear, and informative without distracting and unnecessary stimuli
Lets Fill in the Gaps
- Boomerang Generation o Born: mid-1970s to mid 1980s o Middle-class, over-educated generation paralyzed by lack of job prospects and forced (via economics and
inertia) to remain living with their parents, thus voluntarily eschewing the traditional “rebellion” years - Generation Y (part I)
o Born: early 1980s to late 1990s o The first generation to grow up with the Internet, Gen Y-ers are defined by the broad tolerance of alternative
lifestyles and minority cultures, although somewhat paradoxically, they are also more spiritual and religion than their immediate predecessors. They are typically well-informed and socially responsible, but also largely apolitical
- MyPod Geenration o Born: mid- 1980s to late 1990s o Named after an amalgamation of MySpace and iPod, this marks the demographic for whom “virtual”
relationships are as real as physical ones. Social networking is extended to cyberspace. Marked by a paradoxical sense of insularity and the breaking down of traditional conventions of private space (i.e., they play music on their phones at the back of buses)
- Generation Y (part II) o Born: late 1980s to late 1990s o A recent variation on previous post-X theories, this “new, improved” version is just leaving school now and is
inspired by individualism. They are ambitious, selfish, but hardly idealistic: they will go where the money is Ethnic Subcultures & Marketing
- Marketers can not, and should not ignore ethnic diversity - Ethnic subcultures offer challenges and opportunities in culturally heterogeneous societies - Frequently it is subcultural memberships that are shaping people’s needs and wants. (Level/type of media exposure,
food/apparel preferences, political behaviour, leisure activities, etc.) - Moreover, subcultural memberships will shape how we decode and process marketing messages
Cultural Influences on Consumer Behaviour
Understanding Culture
- Culture is the lens through which we understand the world closest to us - It is built from the accumulation of shared meanings, rituals, norms, & traditions - It is built around cultural formulae – recurring and easily recognized patterns/roles/tropes/ideas - Culture is an ongoing ever changing process, changing across time and from place to place - Culture is the single most powerful influence on consumer behaviour
How does Culture Shape Consumer Behaviour?
- Consumption is a thoroughly cultural behaviour - Our culture shapes, to a large extent, our wants and needs (cultural notions of beauty, status symbols, food choices,
etc.) - Moreover, our cultural environment shapes how we receive, decode, and value marketing messages - Culture often shapes the products we buy, altering them to reflect or reference specific cultural moments or trends - Culture shapes the meanings and beliefs, and in turn the emotions, we attach to products
Aspects of Culture
- Culture functions across ecology (habitat), social structure (order), and ideology (beliefs/thinking) - Culture is built around Values: General ideas about what are good and bad outcomes/goals - From values flow Norms: Rules dictating what is right & wrong or acceptable & unacceptable - These norms combine to define culturally appropriate behaviours - These lessons are learned vicariously, from a number of sources, including marketing messages, and are constantly
reinforced
Speaking of Innovation
- Innovation, from a consumer behaviour context, is any product that consumers perceive to be new (of value?). New clothing styles, new manufacturing techniques, new product variations, new ways to deliver services can all represent innovations
- 3 Major Types of Innovations: o Continuous innovation (incremental) – Evolutionary rather than revolutionary o Dynamically continuous innovation (cause behavioural/attitude changes) – pronounced & ongoing changes to
existing product categories o Discontinuous innovation (disruptive) – Creates major changes in the way we live
Diffusion of Innovations
- Individualistic consumers are generally more innovative than collective consumers - Younger consumers tend to be more open to innovation than older consumers - The more open and dynamic a culture, the more likely its members are to embrace product innovations
Myth, Ritual & Marketing
- Myth abounds in popular culture. Very old ideas are constantly repackaged to give them renewed currency - Their broad appeal and symbolic power makes these ideas remarkably persistent & durable - It also makes them potent cultural touchstones. They carry meanings & convey messages in a succinct, almost implicit
way - Marketers often pattern messages along mythic structures to borrow some of that appeal and symbolic power - Mythical archetypes can similarly be used to build meaning around brands - For example, though separated by nearly 3000 years and written for entirely different reasons, the stories of Moses and
Superman draw on the same mythological archetypes. Does tapping into this mythic power help to explain why Superman is such a durable and popular product? Maybe.
- Ritual: A set of multiple, symbolic behaviours that occur in a fixed sequence and that tend to be repeated periodically - Ritual often drives consumption and gives it meaning - Myths and Rituals help to create consumer involvement through connection and common frame of reference - Many businesses are built around providing these ritualistic artifacts. Moreover, they use ritual to help structure
marketing messages and lend products meaning Ritual & Consumption
- Ritualistic consumption doesn’t only happen on special occasions and holidays - We also have common, everyday rituals. We build our own consumption rituals and often we build them just for
ourselves - Ex. Grooming and beauty rituals and the transformation from private to public personas, special meals, or even your
morning coffee Cultural Distortion
- Cultivation hypothesis: the media’s ability to distort consumers’ perceptions of reality - Marketing appropriates pop culture but also shapes it - Marketing messages (imagery, mascots, characters, etc.) permeate culture and clutter consumer’s environment - This has the consequence of distorting our perceptions of reality and offering an exaggerating view of the culture that
surrounds us. Ex. That the average person is wealthier, crime is more common, beauty is more common/effective, and consumption is innocent
Summary
- To sum up… marketing efforts focus on affecting human behaviour - Why? Human Behaviour creates needs that require satisfaction - Whether it is cooking red meat with flame or grabbing a morning coffee – we define our needs by defining what it
means to survive and choosing what we need to survive. Marketers provide a means to an end - At the end of the day – it is all just STUFF, and most of it isn’t as important as we think it is. But life is short, full of
drama and challenge, yet marketing creates opportunity for escape, explore, learn, love and experience a quality of living not even dreamed of by our ancestors…
