Consumer buying behavior

1. 9

Part Four
Target Markets and
Customer Behavior
9
Consumer Buying Behavior

2. Objectives

1. To understand consumers’ level of involvement
with a product and the types of consumer
problem-solving processes
2. To recognize the stages of the consumer
buying decision process
3. To explore how situational influences may affect
the consumer buying decision process
4. To understand the psychological influences that
may affect the consumer buying decision
process
5. To examine the social influences that affect the
consumer buying decision process
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3. Chapter Outline

• Level of Involvement and Consumer
Problem-Solving Processes
• Consumer Buying Decision Process
• Situational Influences on the Buying
Decision Process
• Psychological Influences on the Buying
Decision Process
• Social Influences on the Buying
Decision Process
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4. Introduction: Key Terms

• Buying Behavior
– The decision processes and acts of people
involved in buying and using products
• Consumer Buying Behavior
– Buying behavior of people
who purchase products for
personal use and not for
business purposes
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5. Level of Involvement and Consumer Problem-Solving Processes

• Level of Involvement
– An individual’s intensity of interest in a
product and the importance of the product
for that person
• Enduring involvement
• Situational involvement
• Routinized Response Behavior
– The process used when buying frequently
purchased, low-cost items that require little
search-and-decision effort
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6. Level of Involvement and Consumer Problem-Solving Processes (cont’d)

• Limited Problem Solving
– The process that buyers use when purchasing
products occasionally or when they need
information about an unfamiliar brand in a familiar
product category
• Extended Problem Solving
– The process employed when purchasing
unfamiliar, expensive, or infrequently bought
products
• Impulse Buying
– An unplanned buying behavior resulting from a
powerful urge to buy something immediately
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7. Consumer Buying Decision Process and Possible Influences on the Process

FIGURE 9.1
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8. Consumer Buying Decision Process

• Problem Recognition
– Occurs when a buyer becomes aware of a
difference between a desired state and an actual
condition
– May occur rapidly or slowly
• Information Search
– Internal search
• Buyers search their memories for information about
products that might solve their problem
– External search
• Buyers seek information from outside sources
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9. This Visine Advertisement Is Focused On Problem Recognition

Courtesy of Pfizer, Inc.
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10. Consumer Buying Decision Process (cont’d)

• Evaluation of Alternatives
– Consideration set
• A group of brands that the buyer views as
alternatives for possible purchase
– Evaluative criteria
• Objective and subjective characteristics that
are important to a buyer
– Framing the alternatives
• Describing the alternatives and their attributes
in a certain manner to make a particular
characteristic appear more important
especially to the inexperienced buyer
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11. Consumer Buying Decision Process (cont’d)

• Purchase
– Choosing the product or brand to be
bought based on the outcome of the
evaluation stage
– The choice of seller may affect the final
product selection.
– Factors such as terms
of sale, price, delivery,
and warranties may
affect the sale.
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12. Consumer Buying Decision Process (cont’d)

• Postpurchase Evaluation
– Cognitive dissonance
• A buyer’s doubts shortly after a purchase
about whether the decision was the right one
– Buyers are most
likely to seek
reassurance after
the purchase of an
expensive, highinvolvement product
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13. What Part of the Consumer Buying Decision Process Does This Olay Ad Focus On?

© The Procter & Gamble Company. Used by permission.
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14. On Which Stage(s) of the Consumer Buying Decision Does This NAPA Ad Focus?

Courtesy of NAPA Online.
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15. Class Exercise

In which stage of the consumer buying decision
process are each of the following people?
1. A recent college graduate reads Consumer
Reports to compare automobile ratings.
2. On the first day of class, a student finds out that a
programmable calculator is needed for the
course, but she doesn’t own one.
3. After purchasing an evening gown, a woman
decides that it is not quite appropriate for her
special occasion.
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16. Class Exercise

4. A car buyer gets a loan to purchase a new car.
5. A teenager compares numerous compact disc
players and narrows the choice down to two
players.
6. While on the way to work, a person’s automobile
stalls and will not start again.
7. At an open-house party, a guest realizes that the
host already owns the gift he plans to give.
8. A person receives a sample package of laundry
detergent in the mail and uses it to wash a load of
clothes.
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17. Situational Influences on the Buying Decision Process

• Situational Influences
– Factors that can influence a buyer’s purchase
decision and may cause the buyer to shorten,
lengthen, or terminate the process.
• Situational Factors
–
–
–
–
–
Physical surroundings
Social surroundings
Time perspective
Reason for purchase
Buyer’s momentary mood
and condition
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18. Psychological Influences on the Buying Decision Process

• Psychological Influences
– Factors that in part determine people’s
general behavior, thus influencing their
behavior as consumers
• Perception
– The process of selecting,
organizing, and
interpreting information
inputs to produce
meaning
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19. Psychological Influences on the Buying Decision Process (cont’d)

• Selective Exposure
– The process of selecting inputs to be exposed to
our awareness while ignoring others
• Selective Distortion
– An individual’s changing or twisting of information
when it is inconsistent with personal feelings or
beliefs
• Selective Retention
– Remembering information inputs that support
personal feelings and beliefs and forgetting inputs
that do not
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20. Psychological Influences on the Buying Decision Process (cont’d)

• Perceptual Organization
– Organizing and integrating new
information with what is already stored in
memory.
• Closure occurs when
a person mentally fills
in missing elements in
a pattern or statement
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21. Psychological Influences on the Buying Decision Process (cont’d)

• Interpretation
– The assignment of meaning to what has
been organized based on what is expected
or what is familiar
– Attempts by marketers to influence
interpretation can fail because
• consumers block out seller’s information.
• consumers interpret seller’s information
differently than intended.
• consumers discard information that is
inconsistent with prior beliefs.
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22. Psychological Influences on the Buying Decision Process (cont’d)

• Motives
– An internal energizing force that directs a person’s
behavior toward satisfying needs or achieving
goals
• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
– The five levels of needs that humans are
motivated to seek and satisfy, from least to most
important are
Physiological needs—food, water, sex, clothing, shelter
Safety needs—security, freedom
Social needs—love, affection, belonging
Esteem needs—respect, recognition, self-worth
Self-actualization needs—personal growth needs
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23. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow believed that people seek to fulfill five
categories of needs.
FIGURE 9.2
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24. Psychological Influences on the Buying Decision Process (cont’d)

• Learning
– Changes in an individual’s thought processes and
behavior caused by information and experience
– Behaviors that produce satisfying consequences
are likely to be repeated.
• Consumers learn about products by
– experiencing the products personally.
– gaining additional product knowledge from sellerprovided information.
– indirect information from other purchasers/users.
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25. Psychological Influences on the Buying Decision Process (cont’d)

• Attitudes
– An individual’s enduring evaluation of, feelings
about, and behavioral tendencies toward an
object or idea
• Attitudinal Components
– Cognitive
• Knowledge and information about the object or idea
– Affective
• Feelings and emotions toward the object or idea
– Behavioral
• Individual’s action regarding the object or idea
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26. Psychological Influences on the Buying Decision Process (cont’d)

• Attitude Scale
– A means of measuring consumer attitudes
by gauging the intensity of individuals’
reactions to adjectives, phrases, or
sentences about an object
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27. Psychological Influences on the Buying Decision Process (cont’d)

• Personality and Self-Concept
– Personality
• A set of internal traits and distinct behavioral
tendencies that result in consistent patterns of
behavior in certain situations
– Self-concept (self-image)
• Perception or view of oneself
• Lifestyles
– Lifestyle
• An individual’s pattern of living expressed
through activities, interests, and opinions
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28. Social Influences on the Buying Decision Process

• Social Influences
– The forces other people exert on one’s buying
behavior
• Role
– Actions and activities that a person in a particular
position is supposed to perform based on
expectations of the individual and surrounding
persons
– Multiple role-expectation sets affect behavior.
– Roles influence both general and buying
behaviors.
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29. Social Influences on the Buying Decision Process (cont’d)

• Family Influences
– Consumer socialization
• The process through which a
person acquires the knowledge
and skills to function as a
consumer
• Family decision-making processes
–
–
–
–
Autonomic—equally shared decision-making
Husband-dominant—husband makes decisions
Wife-dominant—wife makes decisions
Syncratic—decisions made jointly
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30. Percent Who Decide or Influence Purchase Decisions

Age Group of Decision
Makers or Influencers
Product Category of
Purchase Decision
Ages 8-12
Ages 13-21
Clothing/apparel
93%
89%
Movie/Video/DVD
93%
87%
Video games/systems
87%
78%
Groceries
84%
84%
Sports equipment
71%
65%
Vacation
62%
69%
Software
57%
77%
Vehicles
22%
61%
Source: Harris Interactive YouthPulse, 2003, as reported in American Demographics, December 2003/January 2004, p.16.
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31. Social Influences on the Buying Decision Process (cont’d)

• Reference Groups
– Any group that positively or negatively
affects a person’s values, attitudes, or
behavior
• Membership
• Aspirational
• Disassociative
• Opinion Leader
– A knowledgeable, accessible individual
who provides information about a specific
sphere of interest to followers
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32. How Do Reference Groups Affect Purchase Decisions?

For each of the products below, indicate whether one’s reference group would
influence one’s decision to buy the product in general, the type of product within
the category, and/or the brand decision. Use more than one X when appropriate.
Type of Product
Product
Within the
Brand
Product
Decision
Category
Decision
Soft drink
Bar soap
Telephone
Jeans
Car
Sweatshirt with
college name
DVD player
Bathroom tissue
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33. Debate Issue

• Is it appropriate for marketers to
specifically target children in their
advertisements?
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34. Social Influences on the Buying Decision Process (cont’d)

• Social Class
– An open group of individuals with similar
social rank
– Individuals in the same social class
• develop and assume common behavioral
patterns.
• have similar attitudes, values, language
patterns, and possessions.
– Influences many major life decisions
– Influences shopping patterns and
spending habits
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35.

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36.

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37. Social Influences on the Buying Decision Process (cont’d)

• Culture
– The accumulated values, knowledge, beliefs,
customs, objects, and concepts of a society
• Culture influences buying behavior.
• Cultural changes affect product development,
promotion, distribution, and pricing.
• Subcultures
– Groups of individuals whose characteristic values
and behavior patterns are similar and differ from
those of the surrounding culture
• African American
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• Hispanic
• Asian American
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38. Subcultural Differences in Movie-Going Behavior

In what ways can movie theater marketers use this information?
Source: “Now Playing,” American Demographics, September 2001, p. 14.
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39. Class Exercise

Imagine that you are going out tonight.
Which of the following social influences
will determine what you wear, where you
go, what you do, and what you will buy or
consume?
1.Your role as a student, family member,
employee, church member, or fraternity or
sorority member.
2.Identification with a positive reference
group. Disassociation from a negative
reference group.
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40. Class Exercise (cont’d)

3. Membership within a particular social class.
Aspirations to be in a different social class.
4. Cultural values that accept or reject certain types
of behavior. Gender roles: expectations of how
men and women should act.
5. Membership in a subculture based on geography,
age, or ethnic background.
6. Knowing how these factors affect your
consumption behavior, how can marketers adjust
their marketing mixes to meet your needs?
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41. Net Sights

• Consumerworld.org offers a variety of
free information to those interested in
consumer buying behavior. Articles and
other resources make this an interesting
and helpful site for marketers. Visit
www.consumerworld.org.
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42. After reviewing this chapter you should:

• Understand the level of involvement and
types of consumer problem-solving processes
• Recognize the stages of the consumer buying
decision process
• Know how situational influences may affect
the consumer buying decision process
• Understand the psychological influences that
may affect the consumer buying decision
process
• Be familiar with social influences that affect
the consumer buying decision process
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43. Chapter Quiz

1.Which of the following products would
probably require extended problem
solving before a purchase?
a.Products purchased frequently
b.Products to be purchased in the future
c. Products that are purchased routinely
d.Expensive products
e.Products purchased as a result of social
influences
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44. Chapter Quiz (cont’d)

2.When in their information search,
consumers focus on communication
with friends and relatives, they are
utilizing ____________ sources.
a.internal
b.personal
c. marketer-dominated
d.direct
e.organizational
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45. Chapter Quiz (cont’d)

3. Selective exposure refers to
a. targeting only certain parts of the total market.
b. admitting only certain inputs into consciousness.
c. the circumstances or conditions that exist when a
consumer is making a purchase decision.
d. the process of selecting, organizing, and interpreting
information inputs to produce meaning.
e. remembering inputs that support personal feelings and
beliefs and forgetting those that do not.
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46. Chapter Quiz (cont’d)

4.Which of the following is the fastest
growing, most affluent subculture in the
United States?
a. African Americans
b. Hispanics
c. Asian Americans
d. Native Americans
e. Italian Americans
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