WEEK 1 - Consumer Behavior
Chapter 1: Consumer behavior and consumer society-book
The field of consumer behavior is the study of the processes involved when individuals or groups select,
purchase, use or dispose of products, services, ideas or experiences to satisfy needs and desires.
1.1 Consumer behavior: people in the marketplace (we use products to help us define our identities in
different settings)
→ Knowledge of consumer characteristics --» ex.: psychographics, which is an individual's lifestyle and
personality, meaning fashion, sports, fitness, music or the way someone spends their down time
→ Consumption communities --» a group of people, who share their opinion about certain products
which could later influence a buyers perspective
→ Market segmentation strategies --» to target a certain group in the society rather than everybody
(which is mainly based on age)
→ Brands often have clearly defined imgaes or ’personalities’ crated by poduct advertising, packaging,
branding and other marketing strategies that focus on positioning a product a certain way or by
certain groups of consumers adopting the product.
→ When a consumer buys a product which statisfies their needs --» result --» a bond between the
product and the buyer
→ Consumers’ evaluations of priducts are affected by their appearance, taste, texture or smell --» we
also may be influenced by the shape and color of a package, as well as by more subtle factors sucha s
the symbolism used in a brand name, in an advertisement or the choice of a cover model for a
magazine --» many products meanings are hidden below the surface of the packaging, the design and
advertising
→ Many times a product's image is influenced by its origin
→ Consumers are actors on the marketplace stage --» consumers can be choosers (can choose between
different alternatives and explore various criteria for making this choice), communicators (we are
involved in a communication system through our consumption activities), identity-seekers (we are
searching to cinstruct our identity through various consumption activities), pleasure-seekers, victims,
rebels and activits (might decide to take action or react against the authority of producers, maybe
because of our ethical and enviromental standards)
SUMMARY: Consumption, private or collective, is part and parcel of most of the actovotoes we engage in
on a daily basis. If it is shallow to say that we are what we have, we might like ’we are what we do’ better.
But in a market and consumer culture such as ours, most activities are related to some form of consumption.
, 1.2 Consumer behaviour is a process (consumer behaviour is a process involving many actors)
→ Pre-purchase issues --» Purchase issues --» Post-purchase issues
→ Who can a consumer be?
o Generally, a person who has a need or desire, makes a purchase and then disposes of the product
during three stages of the consumption process
o Or different people could be involved during this process (ex.: parent-child clothes shopping)
o Finally, oranizations or groups (ex.: ordering the company's office supplies or family)
→ Understanding consumer behaviour is good business --» data about consumers help organisations to
define the market and identify threats to and opportunities for brands
→ Variables for market segmentation:
Category Variables
Demographics Age, gender, social class, occupation, income, ethnic group,
(statistics that measure observable aspects of a religion, stage in life, purchaser vs. user
population)
Geographic Region, country differences
Psychographic Self-concept, personality, lifestyle
Behavioural Brand loyalty, extent of usage, usage situation, benefits desired
SUMMARY: Consumer behaviour is the study of the processes involved when individuals or groups select,
purchase, use or dispose of products, services, idea sor experiences to satisfy needs and desires. A consumer
may purchase, use and dispose of a product, but different people may perform these functions. In addition,
we can think of consumer sas role players who need different products to help them play their various parts.
,1.3 Consumer behaviour is a field of study (many different types of specialists study consumer behaviour)
→ Some of the disciplines in the field and the leve lat which each discipline approaches research issues
--» the fields closer to the top concentrate on the individual consumer, while those towards the
bottom are more interested in the aggregate activities that occur among larger groups of people, such
as consumption patterns shared by members of culture or subculture
Micro-consumer behaviour (individual focus)
Experimental psychology --» product role in perception, learning and memory processes
Clinical psychology --» product role in psychological adjusment
Developmental psychology
Human ecology and Microeconomics --» poduct role in allocation of individual or family resources
Social psychology --»product role in the behaviours of individuals as members of social groups
Sociology --» product role in social institutions and groups through a social group relationship
Macroeconomics --» product role in consumers' relation with the marketplace
Semiotics/literary criticism --» product role in the verbal and visual communication of meaning
Demography --» product role in the measurable characteristics of a population
History --» product role in societal changes over time
Cultural anthropology --» product role in a society's beliefs and practices
Macro-consumer behaviour (social focus)
EXAMPLE: magazine
- Experimental psychology --» how specific aspects of magazines, such as their design or layout are
recognised and interpreted, which parts of the magazine are most likely to be read
- Clinical psychology --» how magazines affect readers’ body images (ex.: do thin models make the
average woman feel overweight?)
- Microeconomics/ human ecology --» factors influencing the amount of money spent on magazines in
a household
- Social psychology --» ways that ads in magazines affect readers’ attitudes towards the products
depicted
- Sociology --» pattern by which magazine preference spread and role of magazines in the shaping of
social behaviour and social roles
- Macroeconomics --» effects of price of fashion magazines and expenses of items advertised during
periods of high unemployement
, - Semiotics/literary criticism --» ways in which underlying messages communicated by models and
ads in a magazine are interpreted
- Demography --» effects of age, income and marital status of a magazine’s reader
- History --» ways in which our culture’s depictions of ’femininity’ in magazines have changes over
time
- Cultural anthropology --» ways in which fashions and models in a magazine affect readers’
definitions of masculine vs feminine behaviour (ex.: role of working women)
SUMMARY: The field of consumer behaviour is interdisciplinary, it is composed of researchers from many
different fields who share an interest in how people interact with the marketplace. We can categorize these
disciplines by the degree to which their focus is micro or macro.
1.4 The issue of two perspectives on consumer research (there are basically two differing perspectives
regarding how and what we should understand about consumer behaviour)
→ Paradigm: [In general a paradigm is a standard, perspective, or set of ideas. A paradigm is a way of
looking at something. When you change paradigms, you're changing how you think about
something.]
o Positivism: This is what the current paradigm is called. It emphasizes that human reason is
supreme and there is a single (objective) truth that can be discovered by science [this way of
thinking influenced the Western art and science since the 16th century)
o Interpretivism: This is the newer paradigm. This perspective believes that the society places
too much emphasis on science and technology and believes that there are no single right or
wrong references.
Assumptions Positivist approach Interpretivist approach
Nature of reality Objective, tangible, single Socially constructed, multiple
Goal Prediction Undestanding
Knowledge generated Time-free, context- independent, Time- bound, context-dependent
View of casuality Existence of real causes Multiple, simultaneous shaping events
Research relationship Seperation between researcher and Interactive, co-operative with researcher
subject being part of phenomenon under study
