Consumer behavior is the study of how individuals make decisions to spend their available resources (time, money, effort) on consumption-related items. It includes the acquisition, consumption, and disposal of goods, services, and ideas by individuals or groups to satisfy their needs and wants. Understanding consumer behavior helps marketers develop effective marketing strategies to attract and retain customers by addressing their needs and influencing their decisions. Studying consumer behavior from various contributing disciplines like psychology, sociology, anthropology, and economics provides a well-rounded perspective on consumer thought processes and decision making.

1. CONSUMER BEHAVIOR & CARE
An Introduction
Week 1
CB & C 1

2. Consumer Behavior
Consumer Behavior is the study of
individuals, groups, or organizations
and the processes they use to select,
secure, use, and dispose of products,
services, experiences, or ideas to
satisfy needs and the impacts that
these processes have on the consumer
and society.
CB & C 2

3. • Is the subject of human behavior that is concerned
with the decisions and acts of individuals in
purchasing and using products.
• It describes how consumers make purchase decisions
and how they use and dispose of goods and services,
and also analyzes the factors that influence purchase
decisions.
• Involves individuals or groups acquiring, using and
disposing of products, services, ideas, or experiences
• Includes search for information and actual purchase
• Includes an understanding of consumer thoughts,
feelings, and actions
CB & C 3

4. Acquisition Consumption Disposal
– Receiving – Collecting -Giving
– Nurturing - Throwing
– Finding
away
– Inheriting – Cleaning
-Recycling
– Producing – Preparing -Depleting
– Purchasing – Displaying
– Storing
– Wearing
– Sharing
CB & C 4

5. CONTRIBUTING DISCIPLINES TO
Anthropology
CB
• The study of people within and across cultures
• Emphasis on cross-cultural differences
• Questioning of assumptions within own culture
Sociology
• Cultural and interpersonal influences on consumption
e.g.,
– Diffusion of innovation
– Popular culture

6. Psychology
• Study of human thinking and behavior
• Some issues
– Personality
– Personal development
– Cognition (thinking), perception
– Attention and its limitations
– “Learning”—e.g., acquired tastes
CB & C 6

7. Economics
• Basic economic issues
– Supply and demand
– Rational decision making
– Perfect information
• Emphasis on predicting behavior
• Complications in real life
• Behavioral economics—e.g., “mental accounting”
History & Geography
• Origins of behavior, perspectives, and traditions
• Impact of geography on individuals
– Isolation
– Language development
– Climate
• Geographic determinism CB & C 7

8. Applications of Consumer
Behavior
• Marketing Strategy
• Regulatory (Public) Policy
• Social Marketing
• Personal Consumer Skills
CB & C 8

9. Types of Consumers
• Individuals/ Groups
• Organisations (Industrial consumers)
CB & C 9

10. Buying Roles
Consumer Purchases Industrial Purchases
• Initiator • Initiator
• Influencer • Influencer
• Decider • Decider
• Buyer • Buyer
• User • User
• Gatekeeper

11. Consumer buying roles
Initiator
- Family member who initiates thinking about
buying products (gatekeeper)
- Family member who initiates information
gathering
Influencer
- Family member whose opinion is sought about
purchases
- Provides information about brands and evaluative
criteria
CB & C 11

12. Decider
- Family member who has financial authority and/or
power to purchase the product
Buyer
- Family member who acts as the purchasing agent
- Performs the logistics (going to the store, writing
the check, etc.) of the purchase
User
-Family member who actually uses or consumes the
product
CB & C 12

13. Organisational buying roles
• Initiator; people who identify the need for a
product or service
• Influencer; people with expertise who may help
determine specifications
• Decider; people with the authority to select or
approve a supplier
• Buyer; buys it (processes the paperwork)
• User; actually uses it
• Gatekeeper; influences the flow of information
about the decision CB & C 13

14. Needs and Wants
Needs

Unsatisfactory conditions of the consumer
that lead him or her to actions that will make
the conditions better
Wants

Desires to obtain more satisfaction than is
absolutely necessary to improve
unsatisfactory conditions

15. Determination of Needs
Needs are determined by the following ;
1.Individual person
2.Environment
CB & C 15

16. The Individual
3 Physical characteristics of the individual person
Genetics; Heredity and chemical/biological characteristics
of organisms
 Habits and needs vary with gene types
Biogenics; Biological characteristics that people possess at
birth (gender, race, age, etc.)
For example, older people have different needs
Psychogenics; Individual states and traits induced by a
person’s brain functioning
Moods, emotions, perceptions, experiences

17. Environment
3 Physical characteristics of the environment
Climate; Conditions that affect consumers’ need for
food, clothing, shelter
Temperature, altitude, rainfall etc.
Topography; Physical condition of the location on
earth, spatial profile, and presence of bodies of water
People in the mountains may need warm jackets,
people near water may need boats
Ecology; concerned with environmental influences of
humans

Quality of air, food chain, etc.

18. Types of needs
Physiological; The fundamentals of survival,
including hunger, thirst, and other bodily
needs.
Safety; Concern over physical survival and
safety.
Affiliation and Belongingness; A need to be
accepted by others, to be an important
person to them.
Achievement; A basic desire for success in
meeting personal goals
CB & C 18

19. Power; A desire to gain control over one’s destiny
as well as that of others
Self-expression; The need to develop freedom in
self-expression and to be perceived by others as
significant
Cognition; The desire to self-actualize through
knowing, constructing a value system
Variety Seeking; Maintenance of a preferred level
of physiological arousal and stimulation
Attribution; Estimation or attribution of the
causality of events and actions
CB & C 19

20. Determination of Wants
Wants are determined based on the following ;
1.Personal context
2.Environment al context
CB & C 20

21. Personal context
Personal worth

Financial resources available to consumers
Income assets, inheritance, borrowing power, etc.
Social class classifications (capitalist, middle class, working
poor, etc.)
Institutional relationships
Groups and organizations to which a person belongs
Institutional context includes workplace, religious and
educational institutions, family and friends, and peer groups
Cultural surroundings
Culture’s influence on consumers
Some cultures value age, some value youth, some value
possessions, some value the inner self, etc.

22. Environmental context
Economy
Economic development and business cycles in a nation’s
economy

Economic level of a nation, inflation, unemployment rate,
income growth, etc.
Technology
Man-made inventions and devices used to sustain, facilitate or
enhance human life and activities

Energy, telecommunications, education, etc.
Public policy
Governmental laws and regulations that control human
behavior

Business practices like product safety, pricing, etc. are

23. Why Study Consumer Behavior?
1. To stay in business by attracting and
retaining customers
2. To benefit from understanding consumer
problems
3. To establish competitive advantage

24. The Dark Side of Consumer
Behavior
Compulsive Consumption
Addictive Consumption
>Behavior is Not Done by Choice
>Gratification is Short-Lived > Gambling
>Strong Feelings of Regret or Guilt
Afterwards
Illegal Activities Consumed Consumers
> Consumer Theft (Shrinkage) > People Who Are Exploited for
>Anti-consumption Commercial Gain in the
– Culture Jamming Marketplace.
– Cultural Resistance

25. CB & MARKETING STRATEGY
CB & C 25

26. Marketing strategy
• A set of stimuli placed in consumers’
environments designed to influence
their affect, cognition, and behavior.
• Marketing strategies should be
designed not only to influence
consumers but also to be influenced by
them.
CB & C 26

27. Consumers’ Impact on Marketing
Strategy
• Understanding consumer behavior is good
business.
– Firms exist to satisfy consumers’ needs, so
– Firms must understand consumers needs to satisfy
them.
• The process of marketing segmentation:
– Identifies groups of consumers who are similar to one
another in one or more ways, and
– Devises marketing strategies that appeal to one or
more of these groups.

28. Market Segmentation Bases
• Demographic
• Geographic
• Geo-Demographic
• Benefit
• Usage
• Lifestyle

29. Advantages Market Segmentation
1. Specific definition of the market
2. Satisfaction of consumer needs
3. Meeting changing market demands
4. Assessment of competitive strengths and
weaknesses
5. Efficient allocation of marketing resources
6. Precise setting of marketing objectives

30. Applications of Benefit Segmentation
• Positioning
• Repositioning
• Competitive positioning
• New market opportunities/niches
• Positioning of multiple brands

31. Usage Segmentation
• Rate of Usage
• Brand Loyalty
• Usage Situation

32. Lifestyle Segmentation
Psychographics
• Activities
• Interests
• Opinions
• Demographics
• Values & Lifestyles (VALS I and II)
– Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

33. CB & MARKETING
MANAGEMENT PHILOSOPHIES
CB & C 33

34. Philosophies/ Concepts
1. Production Concept
2. Product Concept
3. Selling Concept
4. Marketing Concept
5. Societal Marketing Concept
– Green Marketing
– Cause-Related Marketing
– De-Marketing

35. Production Concept
• Focuses on production
• Assumes that consumers are interested primarily in
availability of the product at low prices
View of consumers:
– They will buy as long as the product is available
and affordable.
Focus on production justified:
– Demand higher than supply
– Non-competitive product cost
– Intensive distribution
– Market expansion

36. Product Concept
• Focuses on the product
• Assumes that consumers will buy the product that offers them the
highest quality, the best performance and most features.
View of consumers
– We have to have the best quality and the most features and
they will buy.
Justification
- Quality improvement
- Addition features
However;
• Consumers might not care about quality
• Consumers might not be willing to pay for the best quality
• Consumers might not be able to discern quality difference
• Consumers might prefer simplicity

37. Selling Concept
• Focuses on selling
• Assumes that consumers are unlikely to buy a product
unless they are aggressively persuaded to do so.
View of consumers
– We have to sell to them or else they won’t buy.
Focus on selling justified
– Introductory stages of product life cycle
– Unsought goods
However;
- Lack of concern for customer needs and satisfaction

38. Marketing Concept
• Focuses on marketing
– Creating mutually rewarding exchange relationships
– Consumer needs and wants have priority
• Assumes that to be successful, a company must
determine the needs and wants of specific target markets
and deliver the desired satisfactions better than
competition.
View of consumers
– They will buy if you fulfill their needs better than the
competition.
Justification
- Profits through customer satisfaction.

39. Societal Marketing Concept
• Same as Marketing Concept plus an added
concern for the well-being of society
- Green marketing
- Cause marketing

40. PURCHASE DECISION MODEL
CB & C 40

41. Purchase decision model
• Refer to word doc.
CB & C 41

42. As consumers use a product or service, particularly
during trial purchase they evaluate its
performance in relation to their own
expectations.
There are 3 possible outcomes where;
1. Actual performance matches expectations
leading to a NEUTRAL feeling
2. Performance of the product exceeds
expectations causing what is known as positive
confirmation of expectations i.e. SATISFACTION
3. Performance is below expectations causing a
negative confirmation of expectations leading to
DISSATISFACTION. CB & C 42

43. SATISFACTION
A state of satisfaction will lead to;
 Brand loyalty
 Profitability of the company
 Increased sales for the marketer
 Increased customers- word of mouth
 Repeat purchases
CB & C 43

44. DISSATISFACTION
A state of dissatisfaction will lead to;
 Brand switch
 Loss of sales for the marketer
 Loss of customers
 Customer complaints
CB & C 44

45. Consumer Research
CB & C 45

46. • Self study
CB & C 46