Summary of the book Consumer Behavior. Extensive summary summarizing all mandatory chapters for the exam, including examples. Summary has been written for the Pre-master Marketing Management / Marketing Analytics at Tilburg University.
WHAT IS CONSUMER BEHAVIOR?
Consumer behavior refeets the totality of eonsumers’ deeisions with respeet to the aequisitonn
eonsumpton and dispositon of goodsn servieesn aetvitesn eeperieneesn people and ideas by deeision-
making units.
The totality of About the Of an offering By decision-making
decisions consumption units
Whether Aequisiton Produets Initator
What Usage Serviees Infueneer
Why Dispositon Aetvites Deeider
How Eeperienees Purehaser
When People User
Where Ideas
How mueh
How ofen
How long
Marketing strategies and tactics
THE DECISION-MAKING UNIT
- Initator: reeognizee value in solving a parteular issue and stmulate seareh for produet
- Infueneer: while not making the fnal deeisionn have input to it
- Deeider: make the ehoiee
- Purehaser: eonsummate the transaeton
- User: eonsume the produet
WHAT AFFECTS CONSUMER BEHAVIOR?
Psychological core Process of making Consumer’s culture Consumer behavior
decisions outcomes
Motvatonn ability and Problem reeogniton Soeial infuenees Innovatons: adoptonn
opportunity (referenee groups) resistanee and
diffusion
Eeposuren atentonn Informaton seareh Consumer diversity Symbolie eonsumer
pereepton and behavior
eomprehension
Memory and Judgments and Household/ soeial Marketngn ethiesn
knowledge deeision-making elass infuenees soeial responsibility
Forming and ehanging Post purehase Valuesn personalityn
attitudes evaluaton lifestyle
WHO BENEFITS FROM THE STUDY OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOR?
- Marketng managers: to understand what eonsumers and elient value. This provides eriteal
informaton for developing marketng strategies and taetes.
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, - Ethieists and advoeates: to ereate publie awareness of inappropriate praetees. And to
infuenee other eonsumers and eompanies through strategies (media statements).
- Publie poliey makers and regulators: helps to understand and try to improve eonsumer
welfare. And to proteet them from unfair/unsafe marketng praetees.
- Aeademies: aeademies disseminate knowledge when they teaeh eourses on the subjeet. And
they generate knowledge when they eonduet researeh.
- Consumers
PART 4 – THE CONSUMER’S CULTURE
CHAPTER 12: CONSUMER DIVERSITY
AGE INFLUENCES
Generaton Y (1980-1994)
Generaton X (1965-1979)
Baby boomers (1946-1964)
Seniors (eonsumers over 65 years old)
SEXUAL ORIENTATION
Seeual orientaton a person’s preferenee toward eertain behaviors. Maseuline individuals (male or
female) tend to display male-oriented traits. Feminine individuals tend toward female eharaeteristes.
Gayn lesbiann biseeual and transgender eonsumers may have different needs and preferenees
eompared with these traditonal individuals.
REGIONAL INFLUENCES
The ways in whieh eultures differ ean affeet how eonsumers think and behave:
- Individualism vs. eolleetvism. How to depiet eonsumers in ads for eaeh eulture?
- Horizeontal vs. verteal orientaton (equality vs. hierarehy). Important to marketers of status-
symbol produets that will appeal to eonsumers with verteal orientaton.
- Maseuline vs. feminine (individual advaneement vs. soeial relatonships)
ETHNIC INFLUENCES
Ethnie groups: subeulture with a similar heritage and values. Ethnie groups are bound together by
eultural tes that ean strongly infuenee eonsumer behavior. Through the proeess of aeeulturatonn
members of another eulture learn to adapt to a new eulture. Consumers aequire knowledgen skills
and behavior through soeial interaeton.
Multeultural marketng: strategies used to appeal to a variety of eultures at the same tme.
Intensity of ethnie identfeaton: how strongly people identfy with their ethnie group.
RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES
Religion provides people with a struetured set of beliefs and values that serve as a eode of eonduet or
guide to behavior. It also provides tes that bind people together and make one group different from
another.
CHAPTER 13: HOUSEHOLD AND SOCIAL CLASS INFLUENCES
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,HOW THE HOUSEHOLD INFLUENCES CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
Some researehers see the household as the most important unit of analysis for eonsumer behavior
beeause households make many more deeisions about aequisitonn eonsumptonn and dispositon
than individuals do.
Types of households
Family: group of individuals living together who are related by marriagen blood or adopton.
- Nuelear family: fathern mothern and ehildren
- Eetended family: nuelear family plus relatves sueh as grandparentsn auntsn unelesn and
eousins
Household: a single person living alone or a group of individuals live together in a eommon dwellingn
regardless of whether they are related.
Households and family life cycle
Households ean differ in terms of stage in the family life eyele. The family life eyele means different
stages of family lifen depending on the age of the parents and how many ehildren are living at home.
Marketers must eonsider the great variaton in needs over the family life eyele and the effeet on
eonsumer behavior within households. Household buying paterns ean ehange over tme. Households
in the midst of a life eyele ehange are more likely to switeh brand preferenees and be reeeptve to
marketng efforts.
Changing trends in household structure
Five main faetors are altering the basie strueture and eharaeteristes of households.
Delayed marriage and eohabitaton
Delayed marriage may oeeur beeause eareer is a higher priorityn beeause of eohabitatonn or beeause
eonsumers want to reduee their debt. Marketers look at this trend beeause single-person households
eehibit unique eonsumpton paterns.
Dual-eareer families
Several important implieatons for eonsumer behavior:
- Higher diseretonary spending
- Role overload (juggling work and family roles): less tme for housekeeping and eookingn so
value offerings that save tme
Divoree
During this transitonn eonsumers perform eriteal tasks sueh as disposing of old possessionsn forming
a new householdn and ereatng new paterns of eonsumptons. Aequiring goods and serviees ean help
eonsumers form a new identty and relieve stress.
Divorees also infuenees household strueture single-parent families when ehildren are involvedn
whieh means that eonvenienee offerings beeome a neeessity.
Smaller families
In many eountriesn the average household sizee is getting smaller. Smaller families means more
diseretonary ineome to spend on reereatonn vaeatonsn edueatonn entertainment.
Same-see and transgender households
This trend is promptng marketers to reaeh out to same-see eouples with targeted marketng
eommunieatons and produets. More marketers are ereatng produets for transgenders.
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, ROLES THAT HOUSEHOLD MEMBERS PLAY
Household deeision roles: roles that different members play in a household deeision.
- Gatekeeper: members who eolleet/eontrol informaton important to the deeision
- Infueneer: members who try to eepress their opinions and infuenee the deeision
- Deeider: the person(s) who aetually determine whieh produet/serviee will be ehosen
- Buyer: the household member who purehases or aequire the produet/serviee
- User: the household members who eonsume the produet
Eaeh role ean be performed by different household membersn by a single individualn a subset of
individualsn or the entre household. Parents ean make the fnal deeision about whieh movie to
downloadn but the ehildren may play a role direetly (statng preferenees) or indireetly (when parents
keep ehildren’s preferenees in mind). One parent may aetually obtain the movien but the entre family
might wateh it.
Household deeision roles ean be instrumental or eepressive.
- Instrumental roles: roles that relate to tasks affeetng the buying deeision (sueh as when and
how mueh to purehase)
- Eepressive roles: roles that involve an indieaton of family norms (sueh as ehoiee of eolor or
style)
Confiet ean ofen oeeur in fulflling different household roles based on:
1. The reasons for buying
2. Who should make the deeision
3. Whieh opton to ehoose
4. Who gets to use the produet or serviee
Households resolve eonfiets through problem solvingn persuasionn bargainingn and politesn with
persuasion and problem solving being the most frequently used methods muddling-through
proeess in whieh the household makes small deeisions to arrive at a soluton.
Joint household deeisions are more likely when the pereeived risk assoeiated with the deeision is
highn the deeision is very importantn there is ample tme to make a deeisionn and the household is
young. Household members ean infuenee eaeh other in terms of brand preferenees and loyaltesn
informaton seareh paternsn media relianeen prinee sensitvites.
The roles of spouses
Husbands and wives play different roles in making deeisionsn and the nature of their infuenee
depends on the offering and the eouple’s relatonship.
- Husband-dominant deeision: made primarily by the male head-of-household
- Wife-dominant deeision: made primarily by th female head-of-household
- Autonomie deeision: equally likely to be made by the husband or the wifen but not by both
(men’s elothingn luggagen toys and games)
- Synerate deeision: made jointly by the husband and wifen parteular for more important
deeisions (vaeatonsn TVsn furniture)
Role struetures are only generalitesn the aetual infuenee eeerted depends on many faetors:
- A spouse with more fnaneial resourees to the family and high involvement
- Demographie faetors: total family ineomen edueaton
Faetors eombined: a spouse with a pereepton of power in the deeision-making. The higher the
degree of pereeived powern the more likely the spouse will eeert infuenee.
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