This chapter discusses consumer buying behavior and marketing. It presents a stimulus-response model of consumer behavior that is influenced by marketing stimuli as well as other external factors. Consumer behavior is also affected by personal characteristics including cultural, social, personal, and psychological factors. The chapter then outlines the consumer decision process of need recognition, information search, alternative evaluation, purchase decision, and post-purchase evaluation. Key concepts in consumer behavior such as motivation, perception, attitudes are also discussed.

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Chapter 4
Consumer Markets and Consumer Buying Chapter 4 Objectives
Behavior
Outline
1. Name the elements of the stimulus-
response model of consumer behavior.
 A model of consumer behavior 2. Outline the major characteristics affecting
 Personal characteristics affecting consumer consumer behavior, and list some of the
behavior specific cultural, social, personal, and
psychological factors that influence
 Consumer involvement in the buying decision
consumers.
 Purchasing decision process 3. Explain the buyer decision process and
discuss need recognition, information
search, evaluation of alternatives, the
purchase decision, and post-purchase
behavior.
Chapter 4
Chapter 4: Key Concepts Consumer Markets and Consumer Buying
Behavior
 Aspirational groups  Learning Model of Consumer Behavior
 Attitudes  Lifestyles  Marketing stimuli (product, price, place,
 Beliefs  Membership groups promotion)
 Brand image  Motives and  Other stimuli (economic, technological,
 Buyer characteristics motivation political, cultural)
 Cognitive dissonance  Opinion leaders  Buyer’s black box (buyer characteristics and
 Consumer buying  Perception buyer decision process)
behavior  Personality  Buyer’s responses (product choice, brand
 Consumer involvement  Psychographics choice, dealer choice, purchase timing,
 Consumer market  Reference groups purchase amount)
 Culture  Role
 Decision processes  Self-concept
 Family life cycle  Social class
Chapter 4 Chapter 4
Consumer Markets and Consumer Buying Consumer Markets and Consumer Buying
Behavior Behavior
Cultural Factors
Personal Factors Affecting Consumer Behavior Culture is the most basic determinant of a
person’s wants and behavior, comprising the
 Cultural basic values, perceptions, wants, and
behaviors that a person learns continuously
 Social
in a society.
 Personal  International cultures: the values, attitudes, and
 Psychological behaviors can vary dramatically by country.
 Social class: relatively permanent and ordered
divisions in a society whose members share similar
values, interests, and behaviors.
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Chapter 4 Chapter 4
Consumer Markets and Consumer Buying Consumer Markets and Consumer Buying
Behavior Behavior
Social Factors Personal Factors
 Groups and reference groups: serve as a point
of reference in forming a person’s attitudes  Age and life-cycle stage
and behaviors.  Occupation
 Family: the most important consumer-buying  Economic situation
organization in American society.
 Lifestyle
 Roles and status: activities that a person is
expected to perform according to the persons  Personality and self-concept
around him or her, and the esteem (status)
given to the roles by society.
Chapter 4 Chapter 4
Consumer Markets and Consumer Buying Consumer Markets and Consumer Buying
Behavior Behavior
Psychological Factors Purchasing Decision Process
 Motivation 1. Need recognition
 Perception 2. Information search
 Learning 3. Evaluation of alternatives
 Beliefs and attitudes 4. Purchase decision
5. Post-purchase behavior
UNDERSTANDING CLIENT BEHAVIOUR FIVE Ws
 Effective information gathering is fundamental to WHO?
selling Who will be staying at the hotel?
How many guest or attendees?
 Familiarity and skill with rates, availability, policies and
What is their nature of their organization or group?
facilities are essential, but no amount of information about WHAT?
the hotel can supplant the need for effective questioning What would they like to do or see?
 It is important to be able to utilize client time in the most What is their budget?
efficient and productive manner WHEN?
When will they arrive?
 Information must be gathered quickly and accurately
How many days will they stay?
and analyzed correctly. When will they depart?
The majority of client needs can be elicited from five basic W WHERE?
questions Where in the hotel would they prefer to stay?
 WHO WHERE Which meeting or banquet rooms will they need?
What activities or tours they might desire?
 WHAT WHY
WHY?
 WHEN Why will the group be staying in the hotel?
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COMPLEX BUYING DECISIONS
LOW INVOLVEMENT BUYING DECISIONS
E.g. selecting a convention site, buying a same day
excursion, a long haul holiday E.g. a traveller in distress is given a hotel to stay close to
Deep level of commitment, detailed search for the airport, a second holiday at a favourite Mediterranean
information and extensive comparison of alternatives
destination
Five stages
 Need arousal-has a need to be fulfilled
arousal-
 Information processing and comprehension Not highly involved in any aspect of the information
 Evaluation-
Evaluation-analysing the options gathering, evaluation or selection process. Information
 Selection
search will be limited
 Outcome: in the hospitality trade, the true measure
of outcome is customer satisfaction The airline paid for the accommodation although the guest
was the end user
Developing repetitive behavior in clients is an important
REPETITIVE /ROUTINE buying decisions
marketing objective that requires a comprehensive effort of
 Many customers adopt a regular pattern of
the entire hotel staff.
behaviuor out of convenience
Two basic processes are required:
 Purchase of a tried and test short break. Previous
 Persuasion of first time triers
satisfactory experience and a good understanding of
the destinations  Consistent quality
 Learn from experiences and form their behavior on Motivation for repetitive behavior is based on cumulative
what they have learnt experience
E.g. a business traveler might regularly patronize 4 or 5 Maintaining customer loyalty requires that guests’ satisfaction
hotel chains depending on availability
outweigh any negative experiences
Travel motivations and buyer behaviour
Effective marketing in competitive conditions is
 UNFORTUNATELY IN A HOTEL STAY ONE impossible without some understanding of buyers’
NEGATIVE EXPERIENCE CAN OVERSHADOW ALL motivations and decision process
OTHER ASPECTS OF THE PROPERTY OR STAFF Understanding the key triggers which lead to the
purchase of a tourism offering (visit/holidays) will be
 UNLESS CAREFUL ATTENTION IS PAID OUT
increasingly recognized as one of the key success
OF EVERY ASPECT OF HOTEL OPERATION,
CONSISTENCY TENDS TO BE DIMINISHED OVER factors by competitive organizations.
TIME
WHO buys tourism offerings?
 REGULAR MAINTENANCE, NEW STAFF TO HOW does the buying process work?
RECEIVE THOROUGH ORIENTATION AND WHAT are the main factors affecting choice of an
TRAINING TO MAINTAIN A CONSISTENT LVEL OF offering?
SERVICE WHERE do people buy tourism services?
WHEN do they buy them or when are the critical stages
in the buying process?
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Traveller typologies
TOURISM TYPOLOGIES
Five distinct types of people who experience travel in different ways
regardless of origin or destination
 ALLOCENTRICS
Explorer type of person who seeks underdeveloped and
GALLUP ORGANISATION unspoilt destinations
 Adventurers (44%- 18-34 yrs)
(44%- 18-
Meet new people and experience different cultures  PSYCHOCENTRICS
 Worriers
Afraid to fly, less educated and affluent, travel domestically, female (half over Not at all adventuresome, seeking the familiar rather
the age of 50) than the unusual
 Dreamers (women-50 +)
(women-
Oriented towards relaxation than adventure, modest income/education, rely
 MIDCENTRICS
on maps and guidebooks
Those who lie somewhere in the middle of the
 Economisers
Seek value in travel and do not pay extra for specialist amenities and
spectrum
services/men with average income level and education
 Indulgers
Willing to pay for additional comfort and service when they travel Plog,
Plog, 1974
Equally divided between men and women
IMPACT OF EXTERNAL INFLUENCES
4. Lifestyle
1. Culture
By profiling groups of people by the way they live, it is
Most people seek to satisfy their desires in a way, which
possible to predict their travel motivations and
fits societal norms
purchases
Awareness of cultural shifts
Fulfilled Achievers Strivers
Church, media, language, societal practices and
Experiencers
subcultures
Believers Makers Actualisers Strugglers
2. Age and Gender
5. Life Cycle
Different values and requirements
Travel patterns and destinations vary as people move
their life cycle
3. Social class
Occupation and disposable income increase the
6. Reference groups
propensity to travel
Sharing values and expectations with others in a variety
of social groups
Motivations to travel CONSUMER BUYING PROCESS
 Business/work related motives
 Awareness
e.g. pursuit of private and public sector business, conferences and
meetings
 Search and comprehension
 Physical/physiological motives
Resting/relaxing/generally unwinding from stress of everyday life  Attitude development
 Cultural/psychological /personal education motives  Evaluation of alternatives
Visiting destinations for sake of their cultural and or natural heritage
 Social/interpersonal and ethnic motives  Purchase
Enjoying the company of friends and relatives
 Adoption and post purchase behaviour
 Entertainment/amusement/pleasure/pastime motives
Visiting theme parks, watching sport, undertake leisure shopping
 Religious motives
Participating in pilgrimages
Undertaking retreats for meditation and study
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1. Demographic/economic/social position
ROLE ADOPTION
Act as constraints or limits within which individuals’
1. Initiator: sees the need to satisfy a desire for travel motivations and buying behaviuor take place
2. Psychographic attitudes
2. Influencer: expresses preferences in choice
Dimensions such as confident or diffident, gregarious/loner,
location
assertive/submissive, tense or relaxed and these are used
3. Decider: financial control in product formulation and in promotional messages
3. Attitudes
4. Buyer: visits the travel agent and sorts details
E.g. for some people, cruise ships are an ideal form of
5. User: those who go on holiday
vacation, whereas other prefer fishing and hunting in the
Buyer characteristics and decision process wild
Understanding of attitudes is also an essential aspect of
product positioning
4. Needs, wants, goals
Associate leisure and tourism with the fulfillment of self
development needs
Vacation travel tends to be regarded among those who can
afford it as more of a necessity than a luxury
5. Motivation
The hospitality sector must understand customers’ needs Good marketing aims to achieve subsequent sales
and attitudes and this will enable them to trigger their
decisions by targeting communication on their motivating through harnessing product satisfaction as often as
influences the most powerful means of influencing future
buyer behaviour
6. Purchase choices/decisions/outputs
Action on purchases is linked to the motivational needs
which in turn are linked to the buyers’ characteristics
7. Filters in the buying decision process
Barriers to communication
8. Post purchase feelings
A good experience of an airline with a punctual flight and
friendly service is likely to influence future choices
PROJECT PROJECT
Based on your own experience, describe in detail an Successful hospitality marketing often depends on the ability to
create new customer needs. For example, the largest limited-
limited-
example of each of the following types of buying
service chain, Quality Inns, recently began installing microwave
decisions in hospitality marketing ovens and minibars in all guest rooms and personal computers
and fax machines, telephone and TV speakers in bathrooms in
(a) Complex specially priced rooms.
(b) Low involvement
In the near future, amenities that were considered luxuries
(c) Repetitive may become standard features, fulfilling needs that
previously did not exist.
Discuss the implications of these new challenges for the
hospitality industry.
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