9/24/2011

Chapter 4
Consumer Markets and Consumer Buying
Behavior
Outline
A model of consumer behavior
Personal characteristics affecting consumer
behavior
Consumer involvement in the buying decision
Purchasing decision process

Chapter 4: Key Concepts

Aspirational groups
Attitudes
Beliefs
Brand image
Buyer characteristics
Cognitive dissonance
Consumer buying
behavior
Consumer involvement
Consumer market
Culture
Decision processes
Family life cycle

Learning
Lifestyles
Membership groups
Motives and
motivation
Opinion leaders
Perception
Personality
Psychographics
Reference groups
Role
Self-concept
Social class

Chapter 4
Consumer Markets and Consumer Buying
Behavior
Personal Factors Affecting Consumer Behavior

Cultural
Social
Personal
Psychological

Chapter 4 Objectives
1.
2.

3.

Name the elements of the stimulusresponse model of consumer behavior.

Outline the major characteristics affecting
consumer behavior, and list some of the
specific cultural, social, personal, and
psychological factors that influence
consumers.
Explain the buyer decision process and
discuss need recognition, information
search, evaluation of alternatives, the
purchase decision, and post-purchase
behavior.

Chapter 4
Consumer Markets and Consumer Buying
Behavior
Model of Consumer Behavior
Marketing stimuli (product, price, place,
promotion)
Other stimuli (economic, technological,
political, cultural)
Buyers black box (buyer characteristics and
buyer decision process)
Buyers responses (product choice, brand
choice, dealer choice, purchase timing,
purchase amount)

Chapter 4
Consumer Markets and Consumer Buying
Behavior
Cultural Factors
Culture is the most basic determinant of a
persons wants and behavior, comprising the
basic values, perceptions, wants, and
behaviors that a person learns continuously
in a society.
International cultures: the values, attitudes, and
behaviors can vary dramatically by country.
Social class: relatively permanent and ordered
divisions in a society whose members share similar
values, interests, and behaviors.

9/24/2011

Chapter 4
Consumer Markets and Consumer Buying
Behavior

Chapter 4
Consumer Markets and Consumer Buying
Behavior

Social Factors
Groups and reference groups: serve as a point
of reference in forming a persons attitudes
and behaviors.
Family: the most important consumer-buying
organization in American society.
Roles and status: activities that a person is
expected to perform according to the persons
around him or her, and the esteem (status)
given to the roles by society.

Personal Factors

Age and life-cycle stage

Occupation
Economic situation
Lifestyle
Personality and self-concept

Chapter 4
Consumer Markets and Consumer Buying
Behavior

Chapter 4
Consumer Markets and Consumer Buying
Behavior

Psychological Factors

Purchasing Decision Process

Motivation
Perception
Learning
Beliefs and attitudes

UNDERSTANDING CLIENT BEHAVIOUR

Effective information gathering is fundamental to

selling

Familiarity and skill with rates, availability, policies and

facilities are essential, but no amount of information about
the hotel can supplant the need for effective questioning

It is important to be able to utilize client time in the most

efficient and productive manner

Information must be gathered quickly and accurately

and analyzed correctly.
The majority of client needs can be elicited from five basic W
questions

WHO
WHERE

WHAT
WHY

WHEN

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Need recognition
Information search
Evaluation of alternatives
Purchase decision
Post-purchase behavior

FIVE Ws
WHO?
Who will be staying at the hotel?
How many guest or attendees?
What is their nature of their organization or group?
WHAT?
What would they like to do or see?
What is their budget?
WHEN?
When will they arrive?
How many days will they stay?
When will they depart?
WHERE?
Where in the hotel would they prefer to stay?
Which meeting or banquet rooms will they need?
What activities or tours they might desire?
WHY?
Why will the group be staying in the hotel?

9/24/2011

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 arousalarousal-has a need to be fulfilled

Information processing and comprehension

Not highly involved in any aspect of the information

Evaluation--analysing the options

Evaluation

gathering, evaluation or selection process. Information

Selection

Outcome: in the hospitality trade, the true measure

search will be limited

The airline paid for the accommodation although the guest

of outcome is customer satisfaction

was the end user

Developing repetitive behavior in clients is an important

REPETITIVE /ROUTINE buying decisions

Many customers adopt a regular pattern of

marketing objective that requires a comprehensive effort of

the entire hotel staff.

behaviuor out of convenience

Purchase of a tried and test short break. Previous

satisfactory experience and a good understanding of

the destinations

Learn from experiences and form their behavior on

Two basic processes are required:

Persuasion of first time triers

Consistent quality

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

UNFORTUNATELY IN A HOTEL STAY ONE

NEGATIVE EXPERIENCE CAN OVERSHADOW ALL
OTHER ASPECTS OF THE PROPERTY OR STAFF

UNLESS CAREFUL ATTENTION IS PAID OUT

OF EVERY ASPECT OF HOTEL OPERATION,
CONSISTENCY TENDS TO BE DIMINISHED OVER
TIME

REGULAR MAINTENANCE, NEW STAFF TO

RECEIVE THOROUGH ORIENTATION AND
TRAINING TO MAINTAIN A CONSISTENT LVEL OF
SERVICE

outweigh any negative experiences

Travel motivations and buyer behaviour

Effective marketing in competitive conditions is
impossible without some understanding of buyers
motivations and decision process
Understanding the key triggers which lead to the
purchase of a tourism offering (visit/holidays) will be
increasingly recognized as one of the key success
factors by competitive organizations.
WHO buys tourism offerings?
HOW does the buying process work?
WHAT are the main factors affecting choice of an
offering?
WHERE do people buy tourism services?
WHEN do they buy them or when are the critical stages
in the buying process?

9/24/2011

TOURISM TYPOLOGIES
Five distinct types of people who experience travel in different ways
regardless of origin or destination
GALLUP ORGANISATION

Adventurers (44%(44%- 18
18--34 yrs)
Meet new people and experience different cultures

Worriers
Afraid to fly, less educated and affluent, travel domestically, female (half over
the age of 50)

Dreamers (women(women-50 +)
Oriented towards relaxation than adventure, modest income/education, rely
on maps and guidebooks

Economisers
Seek value in travel and do not pay extra for specialist amenities and
services/men with average income level and education

Indulgers
Willing to pay for additional comfort and service when they travel
Equally divided between men and women

IMPACT OF EXTERNAL INFLUENCES

1. Culture
Most people seek to satisfy their desires in a way, which
fits societal norms
Awareness of cultural shifts
Church, media, language, societal practices and
subcultures
2. Age and Gender
Different values and requirements
3. Social class
Occupation and disposable income increase the
propensity to travel

Motivations to travel

Traveller typologies
ALLOCENTRICS
Explorer type of person who seeks underdeveloped and
unspoilt destinations
PSYCHOCENTRICS
Not at all adventuresome, seeking the familiar rather
than the unusual
MIDCENTRICS
Those who lie somewhere in the middle of the
spectrum

Plog,, 1974
Plog

4. Lifestyle
By profiling groups of people by the way they live, it is
possible to predict their travel motivations and
purchases
Fulfilled
Achievers
Strivers
Experiencers
Believers
Makers
Actualisers Strugglers
5. Life Cycle
Travel patterns and destinations vary as people move
their life cycle
6. Reference groups
Sharing values and expectations with others in a variety
of social groups

CONSUMER BUYING PROCESS

Business/work related motives

e.g. pursuit of private and public sector business, conferences and
meetings

Awareness

Search and comprehension

Physical/physiological motives
Resting/relaxing/generally unwinding from stress of everyday life

Attitude development

Cultural/psychological /personal education motives

Visiting destinations for sake of their cultural and or natural heritage

Evaluation of alternatives

Purchase

Adoption and post purchase behaviour

Social/interpersonal and ethnic motives

Enjoying the company of friends and relatives

Entertainment/amusement/pleasure/pastime motives
Visiting theme parks, watching sport, undertake leisure shopping

Religious motives
Participating in pilgrimages
Undertaking retreats for meditation and study

9/24/2011

1. Demographic/economic/social position
ROLE ADOPTION
1. Initiator: sees the need to satisfy a desire for travel
2. Influencer: expresses preferences in choice

Act as constraints or limits within which individuals

motivations and buying behaviuor take place
2. Psychographic attitudes
Dimensions such as confident or diffident, gregarious/loner,

location
3. Decider: financial control
4. Buyer: visits the travel agent and sorts details

assertive/submissive, tense or relaxed and these are used

in product formulation and in promotional messages
3. Attitudes
E.g. for some people, cruise ships are an ideal form of

5. User: those who go on holiday

Buyer characteristics and decision process

vacation, whereas other prefer fishing and hunting in the

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
and attitudes and this will enable them to trigger their
decisions by targeting communication on their motivating
influences
6. Purchase choices/decisions/outputs
Action on purchases is linked to the motivational needs
which in turn are linked to the buyers characteristics

Good marketing aims to achieve subsequent sales

through harnessing product satisfaction as often as
the most powerful means of influencing future
buyer behaviour

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 limitedlimitedservice chain, Quality Inns, recently began installing microwave
ovens and minibars in all guest rooms and personal computers
and fax machines, telephone and TV speakers in bathrooms in
specially priced rooms.

example of each of the following types of buying

decisions in hospitality marketing
(a) Complex
(b) Low involvement
(c) Repetitive

In the near future, amenities that were considered luxuries

may become standard features, fulfilling needs that
previously did not exist.
Discuss the implications of these new challenges for the
hospitality industry.