Lecture 5- Consumer Behaviour

Question 1

What is consumer behaviour?

Answer 1

the study of the process involved when individuals or groups select, purchase, use or dispose of products, services, ideas or experiences to satisfy needs and desires

Question 2

Why do marketers want to know consumer behaviour?

Answer 2

marketers need to know consumer behaviour to be able to communicate to specific target groups
- need to know what median is best to communicate with them and the best types of communication

Question 3

What is the consumer decision making process?

Answer 3

1. Problem Recognition (perceiving a need)
2. Information Search (seeking value)
3. Alternative Evaluation (assessing value)
4. Purchase Decision (buying value)
5. Post purchase Behaviour (realizing value)

Question 4

What is the problem recognition stage in the consumer decision making process?

Answer 4

this is the first stage, is when a consumer needs to gain and understand a need, which is triggered by either an internal stimuli (hunger, cold etc) or external stimuli (billboard, advertisement)

Question 5

What is the information stage in the consumer decision making process?

Answer 5

this is the second stage; this is when a consumer is finding the information on what will satisfy their needs
- internal search –> you already know what you want and need from prior experiences
- external search –> you don’t know what will satisfy your cravings, so you do research and ask around for suggestions to try and find solutions in the environment

Question 6

What is the alternative evaluation stage in the consumer decision making process?

Answer 6

this is the 3rd stage; this is when we have found a few possible products that would satisfy the need we have, and assess what product would be the best and give the best value
often go through the evaluation criteria:
- price
- quality
- country of origin
- availability
- service

Question 7

What is the purchase decision stage in the consumer decision making process?

Answer 7

this is the 4th stage; once the consumer has made the decision of what product you want the consumer needs to decide where they want to buy it from (location, previous experience and benefits)

Question 8

What is the purchase decision stage in the consumer decision making process?

Answer 8

This is the 5th and final stage in the consumer decision making process, this occurs after the consumer has purchased the product and they reflect on it and whether it meets expectations

Question 9

What is the role of involvement?

Answer 9

this is how involved a customer is when making a purchase
- the more risk = the higher the involvement

Question 10

What is extended problem solving, and what products is it associated with?

Answer 10

this is high consumer involvement, where lots of risk is involved. often a large amount of research has been conducted, and time spent is large, as price is high. for example, a car

Question 11

What is limited problem solving, and what products is it associated with?

Answer 11

this involves a medium amount of customer involvement, there is often not much risk, and is pricy but not overly expensive, for example a new toaster, or a new top quality dress

Question 12

What is routine problem solving, and what products is it associated with?

Answer 12

there is very little involvement as it a routine, you purchase the same thing each time and do not have to put much thought into it
- milk

Question 13

What are the psychological influences on the consumer decision process?

Answer 13

• needs and motivations (Maslow’s hierarchy of needs)
• personality and identity/self-concept (often when buying products, it is to impact how others perceive us)
• perception (how you interpret the information from the environment)
• learning (how we learn how a product may help us)
• values (things we think are important), beliefs (convictions that we hold), attitudes (combination of our values and beliefs), lifestyle (how an individual lives)

Question 14

What are the sociocultural influences on the consumer decision process?

Answer 14

• personal influences (views, opinions, behaviour of others)
• reference groups (associative groups –> membership group, aspiration groups –> wishes to belong, dissociative groups –> distance from
• social class (occupation, income, education)
• family (consumer socialization, lifecycle, decision making)
• culture and sub-culture (the set of values, ideas, and attitudes that are learned and shared among the members of a group)

Question 15

What are the situational influences on the consumer decision process?

Answer 15

• purchase task (reason for getting the product)
• social surroundings (who are we shopping with)
• physical surroundings
• temporal effects (time of the day, how much time is available)
• antecedent states (mood)

Question 16

What are the marketing mix influences on the consumer decision process?

Answer 16

• product
• price
• promotion
• place