Consumer Behaviour – Isabelle Szmigin (2018)
,Part 1: Historical and Current Perspectives on Consumption
Consumer Behaviour Chapter 1: For understanding consumption
Central to the marketing concept is the need for organizations to recognize the factors that
shape and influence people's behaviour in different environments. The cultures of those of us
living in affluent (wealthy) societies are influenced by consumption.
Consumption: individuals or groups acquiring, using and disposing of products, services,
ideas or experiences
Early history of consumption
Hundreds of years ago, people had no opportunities to make choices between alternative
products or brands, partly because there was so little to choose from and because few would
be living above subsistence (levensonderhoud) level. If surplus was produced, then it may
have been exchanged for other goods. In many parts of the worlds, subsistence level
consumption still exists.
Medieval times: traditional patterns of exchange through sharing and bartering (ruilhandel),
often within a fixed geographical location such as a village.
Most important aspect of marketing: the relationship between production and consumption
Consumption has been a feature of human society and culture. The growth of trade, and more
latterly globalization, has been a key element in the development of consumption beyond
subsistence. Recent historical accounts have challenged the view that most consumption of
luxury goods was restricted to the elites. New evidence suggests that the consumption of
goods grew rapidly throughout the eighteenth century and was on a scale that suggests
widespread consumption. Not only was consumption extensive, but it also proved a key
,stimulant of the Industrial Revolution, and therefore, the rise of contemporary mass
consumerism as local attempts at producing exotic goods multiplied.
As the rate of consumption increased, so did its critics. An interesting aspect of early
consumption was the development of sumptuary laws, which are laws that attempt to
regulate expenditure, especially with a view to restraining excess in food, dress, equipage, etc.
Throughout history, sumptuary laws have played a role in many countries as a way of
regulating people's expenditure and curbing conspicuous consumption. These laws are a
manifestation of an important theme found in many studies of consumer behaviour that centre
around the idea of the ‘right’ or ‘best’ way to consume. Today, while some people are
accused of excessive, wasteful, or conspicuous consumption, others are concerned about
ethical consumption and the impact that their behaviour has on the environment and on people
living in socio-politically oppressive regimes.. Throughout the history of consumption we see
this juxtaposition (naast elkaar plaatsing) of conspicuous or inappropriate consumption
against more considered or thoughtful way to consume.
Adam Smith (Wealth of Nations) looked for the connections between consumption and
production, writing that 'Consumption is the sole end and purpose of all production; and the
interest of the producer ought to be attended to, only in so far as it may be necessary for
promoting that of the consumer' (Smith, 1776|1981: 660). Smith made it clear that producers
had a responsibility to their consumers. He suggested that consumption be restricted to
promoting economic growth and also believed that luxury consumption could prevent
stagnation.
John Stuart Mill criticized the purchase of luxuries such as gold, lace, pineapples and
champagne as 'unproductive' consumption (Mill, 1848/2004).
19th century: Karl Marx was concerned that people did not recognize the value of the
commodities they consumed (Marx, 1867/2000). He found that commodity was primarily a
product of labour.
Different conceptions of value, because it is a hard idea to pin down:
Traditional concepts:
- Exchange value: in most circumstances the same as the market price. It
represent what the value of a good is to the consumer and therefore what it
could be exchanged for, usually its price.
- Use value: adds a further dimension compared to exchange value. It is the
value of a good to a consumer in terms of usefulness it provides. It means the
satisfaction we get from a good or service, which is usually thought of as being
determined by a set of attributes that define its quality.
Use value is necessary for exchange value, but can be above it of below it for an individual
buyer or seller.
Today concepts:
- Sign or symbolic value: the symbolic meaning consumers attach to goods to
construct and participate in the social world.
- Fetishism of commodities (Marx, 1876/1976): the disguising or masking of
commodities whereby the appearance of goods hides the story of those who
, made them and how they made them. It is once goods have lost the link with
their nature of production and their use value.
Consumption function: it maps the relationship between disposable income and level of
wages. It is a way to increase consumption as means to economic recovery (Keynes).
How consumption became a part of everyday life
Before the Industrial Revolution much production and consumption had been through
cottage industries, small-scale farming, batering, and buying from neighbours, at fairs, and
from hawkers or others who travelled the country selling door to door. Shops were barely
recognizable in the medieval period. They had no glass windows. More recognizable shops
began to appear in the seventeenth century, and spread in the eighteenth century with the
new development of new methods of producing glass. Accompanying these developments
were new approaches to marketing. Advertising began to develop.
The first half of the nineteenth century saw a major economic transformation. The type of
product sold also changed. Industrialization and early global trading provided a hugely
expanded range of goods. Manufacturers and shop owners realized they could persuade
people to buy more than they needed. The increase in range and nature of products was
influenced by industrial innovation in all aspects of human life, such as materials, transport
and household appliances.
While product innovation has meant that consumers have more and better products to choose
from, it has also led to what is often termed planned or built-in obsolescence (ingebouwde
veroudering), where a product has a limited lifespan and is regularly replaced with new
versions. This practise is now common in consumer behaviour; we regularly update our
wardrobes, mobile phones, computers, and furnishings long before they no longer work or are
worn out. This means we buy more types of goods and we buy the same item many more
times than previous generations.
Conspicuous consumption: where goods represented a way to compete and gain social
recognition (Veblem, 1899/2007).
Key trends in the development of shops and shopping – motivational research
To satisfy people's desires for more and different goods, a greater variety of shopping sites
began to appear in the nineteenth century. An important feature of department stores was that
the customer became anonymous. Alongside with the development of department stores other
new ways of shopping were introduced. With a large rural population unable to get to
department stores, catalogue shopping became particularly popular in the USA at the end of
the nineteenth century. Today, what has changed is the variety of opportunities to shop, the
variety of items available through such different channels, and that every part of the day is
now available for shopping. While department stores increased the personal distance between
the customer and the retailer, this found its most extreme form with the introduction of self-
service. There is a difference between 'doing' and 'going' shopping. Doing shopping involves
definite articles, a necessary task. Going shopping is out of the way, open-ended, a diversion
