Buyer behaviour part 1

Question 1

What is consumer behaviour?

Answer 1

• It’s the study of the processes involved when individuals or groups select, purchase, use or dispose of products, services, ideas or experiences to satisfy their needs and desires.
• Consumers take many forms and items we consume include anything from a can of coke to a massage, democracy, philosophy of life.
• Marketers can satisfy needs only to the extent that they understand the people or organisations that will use the products and services they sell/offer.
• Marketers have to understand the wants and needs of different consumer segments.

Question 2

What are the stages in consumers perspective in the consumption process?

Answer 2

• Pre purchase issues: How does the consumer know they need a product?
• Purchase issues: Is acquiring a product a stressful or pleasant experience?
• Post purchase issues: Does the product provide pleasure or performs its functions?

Question 3

What are the stages in marketers perspective in the consumption process?

Answer 3

• Pre purchase issues: How are customers attitudes formed or changed?
• Purchase issues: How do situational factor, such as time or pressure or store display affect customers decision to purchase?
• Post purchase issues: What determines whether a consumer will be satisfied with a product?

Question 4

What is the model of buyer behaviour made up of?

Answer 4

• The environment: PESTLE & 4Ps
• Buyers black box: Buyers characteristics and buyers decision process.
• Buyers response: Buying attitudes and preferences and purchase behaviour.

Question 5

What are the characteristics that affect consumer behaviour?

Answer 5

• Cultural: Culture, subculture, social class.
• Social: Groups and social networks, family, roles and status, peer pressure.
• Personal: Age life-cycle stage, occupation, economic situation, lifestyle, personality.
• Situational: Factors in consumers environment (e.g., context, settings).
• Psychological: Motivation, perception, learning, beliefs and attitudes.

Question 6

What does culture need to think about?

Answer 6

Cultural shifts such as global warming.

Some brands target specific subcultures e.g Hispanic American.

Question 7

What does social need to think about?

Answer 7

Membership groups: Groups with direct influence to which a person belongs to.

Reference groups: Groups an individual wishes to belong to.

Aspirational groups: Groups that form a comparison or reference in forming attitudes or behaviour.

Question 8

What are the components of the purchasing decision?

Answer 8

• Purchaser
• User
• Initiator
• Influencer
• Decider

Question 9

What is self concept?

Answer 9

The self concept is the individual’s belief about himself or herself, including the person’s attributes and who and what the self is.

Question 10

Explain how psychological factors influence buyer behaviour.

Answer 10

We get a drive to act and create a motive. Motivation is the process that causes people to behave the way they do. Belief is a descriptive thought a person holds about something whereas an attitude is a favourable or unfavourable evaluation or feeling. Attitudes are difficult to change and affect the brands we choose over our lifetime and why we make decisions the way we do.

Question 11

What is Maslows hierarchy of needs?

Answer 11

• Self actualisation
• Esteen
• Belongingness and love
• Safety
• Physiological

Question 12

What is the self determination theory?

Answer 12

• Autonomy
• Competence
• Relatedness

Question 13

What is the autonomy component?

What is the competence component?

What is the relatedness component?

Answer 13

• Refers to the sense of being the casual origin of ones behaviour. It’s self determined.
• The ability and willingness to learn and grow from experience.
• Close, mutually caring and supportive relationships.

Question 14

What are the 4 types of decision making?

Answer 14

• Complex buying behaviours
• Dissonance reducing buying behaviour
• Habitual buying behaviour
• Variety seeking buying behaviour

Question 15

What is complex buying behaviour?

Answer 15

• Highly involved in a purchase, maybe when it is expensive, risky, not purchased often.
• Consumer needs to learn about the product category, think about if you were purchasing a house for example.
• Buyer will learn as they go, develop beliefs and attitudes about the product to make an informed and thoughtful choice.
• Marketers need to understand what the consumer goes through on this journey and be there at the different stages to give them the level of detail they need.

Question 16

What is dissonance reducing buyer behaviour?

Answer 16

• Characterised by high involvement BUT consumers see less difference among the brands (e.g., have hard time pinpointing the difference between brands);
• Think of a carpet – high involvement as can be expensive and express your personality but you may consider most carpets in a certain price range as being similar so may still shop around but buy quicker compared to the house that you are putting it in!
• Afterwards consumers may feel post purchase dissonance – where they see other options, or people say something about what they have purchase.
• This is where often people return things.

Question 17

What is habitual buying behaviour?

Answer 17

• Characterised by low involvement AND little difference in
  brands.
• Salt, pepper, eggs…all relatively cheap you purchase them and go for same one time after time.
• Tend to have low involvement with most low – cost.
  frequently purchased products
• We do not search for information about the brand, compare.
  brands, and weigh up our decisions
• And as we are not highly involved we generally don’t regret our decision.
• So instead of looking at the features and benefits of the products marketers need to emphasis the price, sales promotions perhaps to promote their brand over another.

Question 18

What is variety seeking buying behaviour?

Answer 18

• Low customer involvement BUT significant perceived brand differences;
• Consumers do a lot of brand switching.
• E.g., Krispy Kreme doughnuts v Greggs doughnuts.
• Market leaders will try and encourage habitual buyer behaviour to limit this variety seeking behaviour.
• Challenger firms will try and encourage variety seeking behaviour to try and win some of these customers.

Question 19

What are the 5 stages to the decision making process?

Answer 19

• Need recognition
• Information search
• Evaluation alternative
• Purchase decision
• Post purchase behaviour