1. Marketing 334 Consumer Behavior
Chapter 13
Situational Influences
From: Consumer Behavior, 10th ed. By Hawkins, Mothersbaugh and Best

2. The Nature of Situational Influence
Situational influence includes all those factors particular to a time and place that do not follow from a knowledge of the stable attributes of the consumer and the stimulus and that have an effect on current behavior.

3. The Nature of Situational Influence

4. The Nature of Situational Influence
Four types of situations:
The Communications Situation
The Purchase Situation
The Usage Situation, and
The Disposition Situation
13-4

5. Situational Characteristics and Consumption Behavior
The five key dimensions or characteristics are
Physical surroundings
Social surroundings
Temporal perspectives
Task definition
Antecedent states
13-5

6. Situational Characteristics and Consumption Behavior
Physical Surroundings
Atmospherics is the sum of all the physical features of a retail environment.
Atmospherics influences consumer judgments of the quality of the store and the store’s image.
Atmosphere is referred to as servicescape when describing a service business such as a hospital, bank or restaurant.

7. Comparison of Hotel Lobbies (Figure 10.1)
The servicescape is part of the value proposition!
Orbit Hotel and Hostel, Los Angeles
Four Seasons Hotel, New York

8. Distinctive Servicescapes Create Customer Expectations

9. Distinctive Servicescapes Create Customer Expectations

10. Situational Characteristics and Consumption Behavior
Physical Surroundings
Typology of Service Environments
13-10

11. Situational Characteristics and Consumption Behavior
Components of physical surroundings:
Colors
Aromas
Music
Crowding
13-11

12. Common Association and Human Responses to Color
Common Associations and Human Responses to Colors (Table 10-3)
Color
Degree of Warmth
Nature Symbol
Common Association and Human Responses to Color
Red
Warm
Earth
High energy and passion; can excite and stimulate
Orange
Warmest
Sunset
Emotions, expressions, warmth
Yellow
Sun
Optimism, clarity, intellect, mood-enhancing
Green
Cool
Growth, grass, and trees
Nurturing, healing, unconditional love
Blue
Coolest
Sky and ocean
Relaxation, serenity, loyalty
Indigo
Mediation and spirituality
Violet
Violet flower
Spirituality, reduces stress, can create an inner feeling of calm

13. Situational Characteristics and Consumption Behavior
Physical Surroundings
The Impact of Background Music on Restaurant Patrons

14. Situational Characteristics and Consumption Behavior
Temporal Perspectives
Temporal perspectives deal with the effect of time on consumer behavior.
Limited purchase time often limits search
Internet shopping is growing rapidly as a result of the time pressures felt by consumers.

15. Situational Characteristics and Consumption Behavior
Task Definition
Task definition is the reason the consumption activity is occurring.
Consumers give gifts for many reasons:
social expectations
ritualized situations
to elicit return favors

16. Situational Characteristics and Consumption Behavior
Types of antecedent states:
Moods
Transient feeling states that are generally not tied to a specific event of object.
Momentary Conditions
Temporary states of being (tired, ill, having extra money, being broke, etc.)
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17. Ritual Situations
A ritual situation is a socially defined occasion that triggers a set of interrelated behaviors that occur in a structured format and that have symbolic meaning.

18. Situational Influences and Marketing Strategy
Identify the different situations that might involve the consumption of a product
Determine which products or brands are most likely to be purchased or consumed across those situations.
One method of dealing with this question is to jointly scale situations and products.

19. Situational Influences and Marketing Strategy

20. Situational Influences and Marketing Strategy
Five Steps for Developing Situation-Based Marketing Strategies
Use observational studies, focus group discussions, depth interviews, and secondary data to discover the various usage situations that influence the consumption of the product.
Survey a larger sample of consumers to better understand and quantify how the product is used and the benefits sought in the usage situation by the market segment.
Construct a person-situation segmentation matrix.
Evaluate each cell in terms of potential.
Develop and implement a marketing strategy for those cells that offer sufficient profit potential given your capabilities.

21. Situational Influences and Marketing Strategy