Chapter Five Consumer and Business Buyer Behavior

Copyright 2007, Prentice Hall, Inc.5-2 Consumer Buying Behavior  Refers to the buying behavior of people who buy goods and services for personal use.  These people make up the consumer market.  The central question for marketers is: –“How do consumers respond to various marketing efforts the company might use?”

Copyright 2007, Prentice Hall, Inc.5-3 Model of Buying Behavior (Fig 5.1, Page: 129)  Marketing factors and other stimuli are inputs into the “buyer’s black box.”  Here, stimuli are evaluated in light of the buyer decision process and the buyer’s characteristics.  Buyer responses influence choice of the product, brand, vendor, as well as the timing and amount of purchase.

Copyright 2007, Prentice Hall, Inc.5-4 Consumer Buying Behavior (Fig 5.2, page 130)  Factors influencing consumer behavior: –Cultural factors: Culture, subculture, social class –Social factors: Reference groups, family, roles and status –Personal factors: Age/life-cycle, occupation, economic situation, lifestyle, personality and self-concept –Psychological factors: Motivation, perception, learning, beliefs, and attitudes

Copyright 2007, Prentice Hall, Inc.5-5 Culture  Culture is the most basic cause of a person's wants and behavior. –Culture is learned from family, church, school, peers, colleagues. –Culture reflects basic values, perceptions, wants, and behaviors. –Cultural shifts create opportunities for new products or may otherwise influence consumer behavior.

Copyright 2007, Prentice Hall, Inc.5-6 Culture  Subculture –Groups of people with shared value systems based on common life experiences.  Major Groups –Hispanic Consumers –African-American Consumers –Asian-American Consumers –Mature Consumers

Copyright 2007, Prentice Hall, Inc.5-7 Culture: Social Class  Society’s relatively permanent and ordered divisions whose members share similar values, interests, and behaviors.  Measured by a combination of: occupation, income, education, wealth, and other variables.

Copyright 2007, Prentice Hall, Inc.5-8 Social Factors  Groups: –Membership, Reference (Opinion Leaders), Aspirational  Family: –Most important consumer buying organization  Roles and Status: –Role = Expected activities –Status = Esteem given to role by society

Copyright 2007, Prentice Hall, Inc.5-9 Personal Factors  Age and Life-Cycle Stage –People change the goods they buy over their lifetimes.  Occupation –Occupation influences the purchase of clothing and other goods.  Economic Situation –Some goods and services are especially income-sensitive.

Copyright 2007, Prentice Hall, Inc.5-10 Personal Factors  Lifestyle: –Pattern of living as expressed in psychographics Activities Interests Opinions

Copyright 2007, Prentice Hall, Inc.5-11 Personal factors Personality & Self-Concept  Personality refers to the unique psychological characteristics that lead to relatively consistent and lasting responses to one’s own environment.  Generally defined in terms of traits.  Self-concept suggests that people’s possessions contribute to and reflect their identities.

Copyright 2007, Prentice Hall, Inc.5-12 Psychological Factors Motivation  Maslow’s hierarchy of needs implies that lower level needs must be satisfied prior to higher level needs. –Physiological needs –Safety needs –Social needs –Esteem needs –Self-Actualization  A motive (or drive) is a need that is sufficiently pressing to direct the person to seek satisfaction.  Maslow’s hierarchy of needs explains why people are driven by needs at particular times.

Copyright 2007, Prentice Hall, Inc.5-13 Perception  Process by which people select, organize, and interpret information to form a meaningful picture of the world. –Selective attention –Selective distortion –Selective retention

Copyright 2007, Prentice Hall, Inc.5-14 Learning  A relatively permanent change in behavior due to experience.  Interplay of drives, stimuli, cues, responses, and reinforcement.  Strongly influenced by the consequences of an individual’s behavior –Behaviors with satisfying results tend to be repeated. –Behaviors with unsatisfying results tend not to be repeated.

Copyright 2007, Prentice Hall, Inc.5-15 Beliefs & Attitudes  A belief is a descriptive thought that a person holds about something.  An attitude is a person’s consistently favorable or unfavorable evaluations, feelings, and tendencies toward an object or idea.

Copyright 2007, Prentice Hall, Inc.5-16 Buying Decision Process (Fig 5.5, page 143) 1.Need recognition 2.Information search 3.Evaluation of alternatives 4.Purchase decision 5.Postpurchase behavior

Copyright 2007, Prentice Hall, Inc.5-17 Buying Decision Process 1.Need recognition:  Depletion in stock  Change in income  Change in position

Copyright 2007, Prentice Hall, Inc.5-18 Buying Decision Process 2. Information search Sources of Information:  Personal  Commercial  Public  Experiential

Copyright 2007, Prentice Hall, Inc.5-19 Buying Decision Process 3. Evaluation of Alternatives Evoked set

Copyright 2007, Prentice Hall, Inc.5-20 Buying Decision Process 4. Purchase decision  Factors that influence purchase decision: –Attitudes of others –Unexpected situational factors

Copyright 2007, Prentice Hall, Inc.5-21 Buying Decision Process 5. Postpurchase behavior  Consumer satisfaction is a function of consumer expectations and perceived product performance. –Performance < Expectations Disappointment –Performance = Expectations Satisfaction –Performance > Expectations Delight

Copyright 2007, Prentice Hall, Inc.5-22 Buying Decision Process  Cognitive dissonance: a buyer’s doubts shortly after a purchase about whether it was the right decision.

Copyright 2007, Prentice Hall, Inc.5-23 Stages in the Adoption Process 1.Awareness : Consumer becomes aware of the new product, but lacks information about it. 2.Interest : Consumer seeks information about new product. 3.Evaluation : Consumer considers whether trying the new product makes sense. 4.Trial : Consumer tries new product on a small scale to improve his or her estimate of its value. 5.Adoption : Consumer decides to make full and regular use of the new product.

Copyright 2007, Prentice Hall, Inc.5-24 Product Adopter Categories (Fig 5.6, page 147)  Innovators  Early adopters  Early majority  Late majority  Laggards

Copyright 2007, Prentice Hall, Inc.5-25 Product Characteristics That Influence the Rate of Adoption  Relative Advantage: Is the innovation superior to existing products?  Compatibility: Does the innovation fit the values and experience of the target market?  Complexity: Is the innovation difficult to understand or use?  Divisibility: Can the innovation be used on a limited basis?  Communicability: Can results be easily observed or described to others?