c INTRODUCTON

Consumer Buying Behavior:

All marketing starts with the consumer. So consumer is a very important person to a
marketer. Consumer decides what to purchase, for whom to purchase, why to
purchase, from where to purchase, and how much to purchase. In order to become a
successful marketer, he must know the liking or disliking of the customers. He must also
know the time and the quantity of goods and services, a consumer may purchase, so
that he may store the goods or provide the services according to the likings of the
consumers. Gone are the days when the concept of market was let the buyer¶s beware
or when the market was mainly the seller¶s market. Now the whole concept of
consumer¶s sovereignty prevails. The manufacturers produce and the sellers sell
whatever the consumer likes. In this sense, ³consumer is the supreme in the market´.

As consumers, we play a very vital role in the health of the economy local, national or
international. The decision we make concerning our consumption behavior affect the
demand for the basic raw materials, for the transportation, for the banking, for the
production; they effect the employment of workers and deployment of resources and
success of some industries and failures of others. Thus marketer must understand this.
The consumer behavior suggest how individual, groups and organization select, buy,
use and dispose of goods, services, ideas or experience to satisfy their needs and
wants. It also clues for improving or introducing products or services, setting price,
devising channels etc. Since liberalization 100% FDI is allowed in India. This has
attracted foreign companies to penetrate the Indian market. The marketers always look
for emergent trends that suggest new. As a consumer we are all unique and this
uniqueness is reflected in the consumption pattern and process purchase. The study of
consumer behavior provides us with reasons why consumers differ from one another in
buying using products and services. We receive stimuli from the environment and the
specifics of the marketing strategies of different products and services, and responds to
these stimuli in terms of either buying or not buying product. In between the stage of
receiving the stimuli and responding to it, the consumer goes through the process of
making his decision. CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR Consumer behavior is the study of how
people buy, what they buy, when they buy and why they buy. It is a subcategory of
marketing that blends elements from psychology, sociology, socio psychology,
anthropology and economics. It attempts to understand the buyer decision making
process, both individually and in groups. It studies characteristics of individual
consumers such as demographics, psychographics, and behavioral variables in an
attempt to understand people¶s wants. It also tries to assess influences on the
consumer from groups such as family, friends, reference groups, and society in general.
Consumption is the ³process of production, acquisition, utilization and destruction
of goods, services, experiences or places
´Why should we care?
In Short run - To understand the behaviours and attitudes of the consumers when
choosing a product or a Brand
In long run - To detect trends, develop new products and find the language adapted to
the target
Understanding Consumer Demand Structure
Youth of India
Á Multi tier/ Multi pronged strategy catering to different sections of the society
Á Indian not wannabe western- Best of the east and west
ÁIndians are poor not backward
YOUTH CONSUMER:
1. The Creamy Layer.
2. The Consuming Class.
3. µStretch-a-bit Consumers.
Women of Consumer India
The woman consumer Conservative working women
The home entrepreneur
The changing housewife
Forces of change
-Education
-Outdoor Work
-Role Models
-Television
Rural Consumer India

Potential Market
Changing structure of rural economy
Per capita income
Demand
Value Orientation Based Consumer Market Structure
Rich Consumer Class ± ³Anywhere in the world consumers who just happen to be
inIndia.
Consuming class ± Oriented towards value for money. Not the market for
premiumproducts but for high end popular products.
Climbers ± ³Cash constrained benefit maximizes³
Aspirants ± New entrants into the consumption arena
The PAISA pack of Tea, Detergents and Shampoo sachet aimed at this segment.
Destitute ± Hand to mouth category
Demographics, Psychographic & Social Determinants of Consumption
SEC A1- Tip of India iceberg
SEC A, B- Prospering & Spending India
SEC C+R1- Middle India SEC D+E1+R2- Mass Market
SEC E2+R3- Poor but Consuming India
The Self Employed as a distinct consumer class
Psychographic division
Ethnicity Reading and Predicting Change
In Consumer India, a large mass of people moving with a small accelerationµ
Mixed verdicts and µContinuity with change cause much frustration & they are the
hallmark of everything Indian
Blurring boundaries between India & Bharat
Analogy trap
DNA of Indian society
Strategies for Indian Market
Multi tier/ Multi pronged strategy catering to different sections of the society
Indian not wannabe western
Best of the east and west
Indians are poor not backward
Bottom of the pyramid ± Individually poor collectively rich.
Discounts / offers ± Go for one get three.
Understanding Demographics ±
1) Youth ± 60% of India s teens stay in rural area.
2) Women ± Only 23 % house wives in urban areas have jobs outside their homes

Stages of the Consumer Buying Process:

Six Stages to the Consumer Buying Decision Process (For complex decisions). Actual
purchasing is only one stage of the process. Not all decision processes lead to a
purchase. All consumer decisions do not always include all 6 stages, determined by the
degree of complexity...discussed next.
The 6 stages are:
Problem Recognition: The buying process starts with need or problemrecognition²the
buyer recognizes a problem or need. The buyer senses a difference between his or her
Actual state and some desired state. The need can be triggered by internal stimuli when
one of the person's normal needs²hunger, thirst, sex²rises to a level high enough to
become a drive. A need can also be triggered by external stimuli.

Hunger--Food. Hunger stimulates your need to eat. Can be stimulated by the marketer
through product information--did not know you were deficient? I.E., see a commercial
for a new pair of shoes, stimulates your recognition that you need a new pair of shoes

At this stage, the marketer should research consumers to find out what kinds of needs
or problems arise, what brought them about, and how they led the consumer to this
particular product.

2. Information search
² an aroused consumer may or may not search for more information. If the consumer's
drive is strong and a satisfying product is near at hand, the consumer is likely to buy it
then. If not, the consumer may store the need in memory or undertake an information
search related to the need. At one level, the consumer may simply enter heightened
attention.
The consumer can obtain information from any of several sources. These include
personal sources (family, friends, neighbors, acquaintances),
Commercial sources (advertising, salespeople, dealers, packaging, displays, Web
sites),Public sources (mass media, consumer-rating organizations), and experiential
sources
(Handling, examining, uses the product). The relative influence of these information
sources varies with the product and the buyer. Generally, the consumer receives the
most information about a product from commercial sources²those controlled by the
marketer. The most effective sources, however, tend to be personal. Commercial
sources normally inform the buyer, but personal sources legitimize or evaluate
products for the buyer.
People often ask others²friends, relatives, acquaintances,
professionals²forrecommendations concerning a product or service. Thus, companies
have a strong interest in building such
word-of-mouth sources.
These sources have two chief advantages. First, they are convincing: Word of mouth is
the only promotion method that is of consumers, by consumers, and for consumers.

Having loyal, satisfied customers that brag about doing business with you is the dream
of every business owner. Not only are satisfied customers repeating buyers, but they
are also walking, talking billboards for your business. Second, the costs are low.
Keeping in touch withsatisfied customers and turning them into word-of-mouth
advocates costs thebusiness relatively little.

A successful information search leaves a buyer with possible alternatives, the evoked
set. Hungry, want to go out and eat, evoked set is
Chinese food
Indian food
Burger king

3
.
Evaluation of Alternatives
--need to establish criteria for evaluation, features the buyer wants or does not want.
Rank/weight alternatives or resume search. May decide that you want to eat something
spicy, Indian gets highest rank etc. If not satisfied with your choices then return to the
search phase. Can you think of another restaurant? Look in the yellow pages etc.
Information from different sources may be treated differently. Marketers try to influence
by "framing" alternatives.
4
.

Purchase decision
²In the evaluation stage, the consumer ranks brands and forms purchase intentions.
Generally, the consumer's purchase decision will be to buy the most preferred brand,
but two factors can come between the purchase intention and the purchase decision.
The first factor is the attitudes of others.The second factor are unexpected situational
factors.
The consumer may form a purchase intention based on factors such as expected
income, expected price, and expected product benefits. However, unexpected events
may change the purchase intention.

5. Purchase--May differ from decision, time lapse between 4 & product availability
6. Post-Purchase Evaluation--outcome: The marketer's job does not end when the
product is bought. After purchasing the product, the consumer will be satisfied or
dissatisfied and will engage in post purchase behavior of interest to the marketer. What
determines whether the buyer is satisfied or dissatisfied with a purchase? The answer
lies in the relationship between the consumer's expectations and the product's
perceived performance.
If the product falls short of expectations, the consumer is disappointed; if it meets
expectations, the consumer is satisfied; if it exceeds expectations, the consumer is
delighted. The larger the gap between expectations and performance, greater than the
consumer's dissatisfaction. This suggests that sellers should make product claims that
faithfully represent the product's performance so that buyers are satisfied. Some sellers
might even understate performance levels to boost consumer satisfaction with the
product. Almost all major purchases result in cognitive dissonance, or discomfort
caused by post purchase conflict. After the purchase, consumers are satisfied with the
benefits of the chosen brand and are glad to avoid the drawbacks of the brands not
bought. However, every purchase involves compromise. Consumers feel uneasy about
acquiring the drawbacks of the chosen brand and about losing the benefits of thebrands
not purchased. Thus, consumers feel at least some post purchase dissonance for every
purchase. Why is it so important to satisfy the customer? Such satisfaction is important
because a company's sales come from two basic groups²
new customers and retained customers.
It usually costs more to attract new customers than to retain current ones, and the best
way to retain current customers is to keep them satisfied. Customer satisfaction is a key
to making lasting connections with consumers²tokeeping and growing consumers and
reaping their customer lifetime value. Satisfied customers buy a product again, talk
favorably to others about the product, pay less attention to competing brands and
advertising, and buy other products from the company. Many marketers go beyond
merely meeting the expectations of customers²they aim to delight the customer. A
delighted customer is even more likely to purchase again and to talk favorably about
the product and company. A dissatisfied consumer responds differently. Whereas, on
average, a satisfied customer tells 3 people about a good product experience, a
dissatisfied customer gripes to 11 people. In fact, one study showed that 13 percent of
the people who had a problem with an organization complained about the company to
more than 20people. Clearly, bad word of mouth travels farther and faster than good
word of mouth and can quickly damage consumer attitudes about a company and its
products. Therefore, a company would be wise to measure customer satisfaction
regularly. It cannot simply rely on dissatisfied customers to volunteer their complaints
when they are dissatisfied. Some 96 percent of unhappy customers never tell the
company about their problem. Companies should set up systems that encourage
customers to complain. In this way, the company can learn how well it is doing and how
it can improve

Types of Consumer Buying Behavior

Types of consumer buying behavior are determined by: Level of Involvement in
purchase decision. Importance and intensity of interest in a product in a particular
situation. Buyer¶s level of involvement determines why he/she is motivated to seek
information about a certain products and brands but virtually ignores others. High
involvement purchases--Honda Motorbike, high priced goods, products visible to others,
and the higher the risk the higher the involvement. Types of risk: Personal risk Social
risk Economic risk The four type of consumer buying behavior are:

Routine Response/Programmed Behavior--Buying low involvement

frequently purchased low cost items; need very little search and decision effort;
purchased almost automatically. Examples include soft drinks, snack foods, milk etc.
Complex Buying Behavior
Consumers undertake complex buying behavior when they are highly involved in a
purchase and perceive significant differences among brands. Consumers may be highly
involved when the product is expensive, risky, purchased infrequently, and highly self-
expressive. Typically, the consumer has much to learn about the product category. For
example, a personal computer buyer may not know what attributes to consider. Many
product features carry no real meaning: a "Pentium Pro chip," "super VGA resolution,"
or "megs of RAM."This buyer will pass through a learning process, first developing
beliefs about the product, then attitudes, and then making a thoughtful purchase choice.
Marketers of high-involvement products must understand the information-gathering and
evaluation behavior of high-involvement consumers. They need to help buyers learn
about product-class attributes and their relative importance, and about what the
company's brand offers on the important attributes. Marketers need to differentiate their
brand's features, perhaps by describing the brand's benefits using print media with long
copy. They must motivate store salespeople and the buyer's acquaintances to influence
the final brand choice.

Dissonance-Reducing Buying Behavior

Dissonance-reducing buying behavior occurs when consumers are highly involved with
an expensive, infrequent, or risky purchase, but see little difference among brands. For
example, consumers buying carpeting may face a high-involvement decision because
carpeting is expensive and self-expressive. Yet buyers may consider most carpet
brands in a given price range to be the same. In this case, because perceived brand
differences are not large, buyers may shop around to learn what is available, but buy
relatively quickly. They may respond primarily to a good price or to purchase
convenience. After the purchase, consumers might experience
post purchase dissonance (after-sale discomfort) when they notice certain
disadvantages of the purchased carpet brand or hear favorable things about brands not
purchased. To counter such dissonance, the marketer's after-sale communications
should provide evidence and support to help consumers feel good about their brand
choices. Habitual Buying Behavior
Habitual buying behavior occurs under conditions of low consumer involvement and
little significant brand difference. For example, take salt. Consumers have little
involvement in this product category²they simply go to the store and reach for a brand. If
they keep reaching for the same brand, it is out of habit rather than strong brand loyalty.
Consumers appear to have low involvement with most low-cost, frequently purchased
products. In such cases, consumer behavior does not pass through the usual belief-
attitude-behavior sequence. Consumers do not search extensively for information about
the brands, evaluate brand characteristics, and make weighty decisions about which
brands to buy. Instead, they passively receive information as they watch television or
read magazines. Ad repetition creates brand familiarity rather than brand conviction.
Consumers do not form strong attitudes toward a brand; they select the brand because
it is familiar. Because they are not highly involved with the product, consumers may not
evaluate the choice even after purchase. Thus, the buying process involves brand
beliefs formed by passive learning, followed by purchase behavior, which may or may
not be followed by evaluation. Because buyers are not highly committed to any brands,
marketers of low-involvement products with few brand differences often use price and
sales promotions to stimulate product trial. In advertising for a low-involvement product,
ad copy should stress only a few key points. Visual symbols and imagery are important
because they can be remembered easily and associated with the brand. Ad campaigns
should include high repetition of short-duration messages. Television is usually more
effective than print media because it is a low-involvement medium suitable for passive
learning. Advertising planning should be based on classical
Dissonance-Reducing Buying Behavior
Dissonance-reducing buying behavior occurs when consumers are highly involved with
an expensive, infrequent, or risky purchase, but see little difference among brands. For
example, consumers buying carpeting may face a high-involvement decision because
carpeting is expensive and self-expressive. Yet buyers may consider most carpet
brands in a given price range to be the same. In this case, because perceived brand
differences are not large, buyers may shop around to learn what is available, but buy
relatively quickly. They may respond primarily to a good price or to purchase
convenience. After the purchase, consumers might experience post purchase
dissonance
(After-sale discomfort) when they notice certain disadvantages of the purchased carpet
brand or hear favorable things about brands not purchased. To counter such
dissonance, the marketer's after-sale communications should provide evidence and
support to help consumers feel good about their brand choices.
Habitual Buying Behavior
Habitual buying behavior occurs under conditions of low consumer involvement and
little significant brand difference. For example, take salt. Consumers have little
involvement in this product category²they simply go to the store and reach for a brand. If
they keep reaching for the same brand, it is out of habit rather than strong brand loyalty.
Consumers appear to have low involvement with most low-cost, frequently purchased
products. In such cases, consumer behavior does not pass through the usual belief-
attitude-behavior sequence. Consumers do not search extensively for information about
the brands, evaluate brand characteristics, and make weighty decisions about which
brands to buy. Instead, they passively receive information as they watch television or
read magazines. Ad repetition creates brand familiarity rather than brand conviction.
Consumers do not form strong attitudes toward a brand; they select the brand because
it is familiar. Because they are not highly involved with the product. Consumers may not
evaluate the choice even after purchase. Thus, the buying process involves brand
beliefs formed by passive learning, followed by purchase behavior, which may or may
not be followed by evaluation. Because buyers are not highly committed to any brands,
marketers of low-involvement products with few brand differences often use price and
sales promotions to stimulate product trial. In advertising for a low-involvement product,
ad copy should stress only a few key points. Visual symbols and imagery are important
because they can be remembered easily and associated with the brand. Ad campaigns
should include high repetition of short-duration messages. Television is usually more
effective than print media because it is a low-involvement medium suitable for passive
learning. Advertising planning should be based on classical conditioning theory, in
which buyers learn to identify a certain product by a symbol repeatedly attached to it.
Marketers can try to convert low-involvement products into higher-involvement ones by
linking them to some involving issue. Procter & Gamble does this when it links Crest
toothpaste to avoiding cavities. Or the product can be linked to some involving personal
situation. Nestlé did this in its series of ads for Taster's Choice coffee, each consisting
of a new soap-opera-like episode featuring the evolving romantic relationship between
two neighbors. At best, these strategies can raise consumer involvement from a low to a
moderate level. However, they are not likely to propel the consumer into highly involved
buying behavior. Variety-Seeking Buying Behavior Consumers undertake variety-
seeking buying behavior in situations characterized by low consumer involvement but
significant perceived brand differences. In such cases, consumers often do a lot of
brand switching. For example, when buying cookies, a consumer may hold some
beliefs, choose a cookie brand without much evaluation, then evaluate that brand during
consumption. But the next time, the consumer might pick another brand out of boredom
or simply to try something different. Brand switching occurs for the sake of variety rather
than because of dissatisfaction. In such product categories, the marketing strategy may
differ for the market leader and minor brands. The market leader will try to encourage
habitual buying behavior by dominating shelf space, keeping shelves fully stocked, and
running frequent reminder advertising. Challenger firms will encourage variety seeking
by offering lower prices, special deals, coupons, free samples, and advertising that
presents reasons for trying something new.
Factors Affecting the Consumer Buying Decision Process A consumer, making a
purchase decision will be affected by the following four factors:

1. Cultural and sub culture Factor

2. Social Factor

3. Personal Factor

4. Psychological

1.Culture and Sub-culture

Culture refers to the set of values, ideas, and attitudes that are accepted by
homogenous group of people and transmitted to the next generation. Culture also
determines what is acceptable with product advertising. Culture determines what people
wear, eat, reside and travel. Cultural values in the US are good health, education,
individualism and freedom. In American culture time scarcity is a growing problem that
is change in meals. Big impact on international marketing. Culture can be divided into
subcultures: Geographic regions Human characteristics such as ethnic background.
West Coast, teenage and Asian American. Culture affects what people buy, how they
buy and when they buy.

2. Social Factors Consumer wants, learning, motives etc. are influenced by opinion
leaders, person's family, reference groups, social class and culture.
Roles and Family Influences-- Role...things you should do based on the expectations
of you from your position within a group. People have many roles. Husband, father,
employer, employee. Individuals role are continuing to change therefore marketers must
continue to update information. Family is the most basic group a person belongs to.
Marketers must understand: that many family decisions are made by the family unit
consumer behavior starts in the family unit family roles and preferences are the model
for children¶s future family (can reject/alter/etc) family buying decisions are a mixture of
family interactions and individual decision making. Family acts an interpreter of social
and cultural values for the individual. The Family life cycle: families go through stages;
each stage creates different consumer demands Family members can strongly
influence buyer behavior. The family is the most important consumer buying
organization in society, and it has been research extensively. Marketers are interested
in the roles and influence of the husband, wife, and children on the purchase of different
products and services. Husband-wife involvement varies widely by product category
and by stage in the buying process. Buying roles change with evolving consumer
lifestyles. In the United States, the wife traditionally has been the main purchasing agent
for the family, especially in the areas of food, household products, and clothing. But with
70 percent of women holding jobs outside the home and the willingness of husbands to
do more of the family's purchasing, all this is changing. For example, women now buy
about45 percent of all cars and men account for about 40 percent of food-shopping
dollars.
Such changes suggest that marketers who've typically sold their products to
only women or only men are now courting the opposite sex. For example, with research
revealing that women now account for nearly half of all hardware store purchases,
home improvement retailers such as Home Depot and Builders Square have turned
what once were intimidating warehouses into female-friendly retail outlets. The
new Builders Square II outlets feature decorator design centers at the front of the store.
To attract more women, Builders Square runs ads targeting women in
Home, House Beautiful, Woman's Day, and
Better Homes and Gardens.
Home Depot even offers bridal registries Children may also have a strong influence on
family buying decisions. Chevrolet recognizes these influences in marketing its Chevy
Venture minivan. For example, it ran ads to woo these "back-seat consumers" in
Sports Illustrated for Kids,
Which attracts mostly 8-to14-year-old boys. "We're kidding ourselves when we think
kids aren't aware of brands," says Venture's brand manager, adding that even she was
surprised at how often parents told her that kids played a tie-breaking role in deciding
which car to buy.
Groups
A person's behavior is influenced by many small groups. Groups that have a direct
influence and to which a person belongs are called
Membership groups. In contrast ,reference groups serve as direct (face-to-face) or
indirect points of comparison or reference in forming a person's attitudes or behavior.
People often are influenced by reference groups to which they do not belong. For
example, an aspiration group is one to which the individual wishes to belong, as when a
teenage basketball player hopes to play someday for the Utah Jazz. Marketers try to
identify the reference groups of their target markets. Reference groups expose a person
to new behaviors and lifestyles, influence the person's attitudes and self-concept, and
create pressures to conform that may affect the person's product and brand choices.
The importance of group influence varies across products and brands. It tends to be
strongest when the product is visible to others whom the buyer respects. Manufacturers
of products and brands subjected to strong group influence must figure out how to reach
opinion leaders²people within a reference group who, because of special skills,
knowledge, personality, or other characteristics, exert influence on others.
Reference Groups--Individual identifies with the group to the extent that he takes on
many of the values, attitudes or behaviors of the group members. Families, friends,
sororities, civic and professional organizations. Any group that has a positive or
negative influence on a person¶s attitude and behavior.

Membership groups (Belong to) Affinity marketing is focused on the desires of

consumers that belong to reference groups. Marketers get the groups to approve the
product and communicate that approval to its members. Credit Cards etc.!!
Aspiration groups(Want to belong to) Disassociate groups(do not want to belong to)

Honda tries to disassociate from the "biker" group. The degree to which a reference
group will affect a purchase decision depends on an individual¶s susceptibility to
reference group influence and the strength of his/her involvement with the group.
Social Class
An open group of individuals who have similar social rank. US is not a classless
society. US criteria; occupation, education, income, wealth, race, ethnic groups and
possessions. Social class influences many aspects of our lives. i.e.; upper middle class
Americans prefer luxury cars Mercedes.
Upper-upper class
, .3%, inherited wealth, aristocratic names .Upper uppers are the social elite who live on
inherited wealth and have well-known family backgrounds. They give large sums to
charity, run debutante balls, own more than one home, and send their children to the
finest schools. They are a market for jewelry, antiques, homes, and vacations. They
often buy and dress conservatively rather than showing off their wealth. Although small
in number, upper uppers serve as a reference group for others.
Lower-upper class
, 1.2%, newer social elite, from current professionals and corporate elite. Lower uppers
have earned high income or wealth through exceptional ability in the professions or
business. They usually begin in the middle class. They tend to be active in social and
civic affairs and buy for themselves and their children the symbols of status, such as
expensive homes, schools, swimming pools, and automobiles. They include the new
rich who consume conspicuously to impress those below them. They want to be
accepted in the upper-upper stratum, a status more likely to be achieved by their
children than by themselves.
Upper-middle class
, 12.5%, college graduates, managers and professionals Upper middles possess neither
family status nor unusual wealth. They are primarily concerned with "career," They have
attained positions as professionals, independent business persons, and corporate
managers. They believe in education and want their children to develop professional or
administrative skills. They are joiners and highly civic-minded. They are the quality
market for good homes, clothes, furniture, and appliances.
Middle class
, 32%, average pay white collar workers and blue collar friends. The middle class is
made up of average-pay white- and blue-collar workers who live on "the better side of
town" and try to "do the proper things." To keep up with the trends, they often buy
products that are popular. Most are concerned with fashion, seeking the better brand
names. Better living means owning a nice home in a nice neighborhood with good
schools. They believe in spending more money on worthwhile experiences for their
children and aiming them toward a college education.
Working class
, 38%, average pay blue collar workers. The working class consists of those who lead a
"working-class lifestyle," what ever their income, school background, or job. They
depend heavily on relatives for economic and emotional support, for advice on
purchases, and for assistance in times of trouble. The working class maintains sharper
sex role division and stereo typing. Lower class, 9%, working, not on welfare Upper
lowers are working (are not on welfare), although their living standard is just above
poverty. They perform unskilled work for very poor pay although they strive toward a
higher class. Often, upper lowers lack education. Although they fall near the poverty line
financially, they manage to "present a picture of self-discipline" and"maintain some
effort at cleanliness."Lower-lower class, 7%, on welfare Lower lowers are on welfare,
visibly poverty stricken, and usually out of work or have ³the dirtiest jobs." Often they are
not interested in finding a job and are permanently dependent on public aid or charity for
income. Their homes, clothes, and possessions are "dirty," "raggedy," and "broken-
down."(Sources: See Richard P. Coleman, "The Continuing Significance of Social Class
to Marketing, ³Journal of Consumer Research, December 1983, pp. 265-80, © Journal
of Consumer Research, Inc., 1983; and Leon G. Shiffman and Leslie Lazar Kanuk,
Consumer Behavior, 6th ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1997),
p. 388.) Social class determines to some extent, the types, quality, and quantity of
products that a person buys or uses. Lower class people tend to stay close to home
when shopping; do not engage in much pre-purchase information gathering. Stores
project definite class images. Family, reference groups and social classes are all social
influences on consumer behavior. All operate within a larger culture.

Ability and Knowledge need to understand individual¶s capacity to learn. Learning,

changes in a person's behavior caused by information and experience. Therefore to
change consumers' behavior about your product, need to give them new information re:
product...free sample etc. When making buying decisions, buyers must process
information. Knowledge is the familiarity with the product and expertise.

In experience buyers often use prices as an indicator of quality more than those who
have knowledge of a product. Non-alcoholic Beer example: consumers chose the most
expensive six-pack, because they assume that the greater price indicates greater
quality. Learning is the process through which a relatively permanent change in
behavior results from the consequences of past behavior.

Attitudes-- Knowledge and positive and negative feelings about an object or activity
may be tangible or intangible, living or non living.....Drive perceptions Individual learns
attitudes through experience and interaction with other people. Consumer attitudes
toward a firm and its products greatly influence the success or failure of the firm's
marketing strategy. Honda "You meet the nicest people on a Honda´ dispels the
unsavory image of a motorbike rider, late 1950s. Changing market of the 1990s, baby
boomers aging, Hondas market returning to hard core. To change this they have a new
slogan "Come ride with us". Attitudes and attitude change are influenced by consumer¶s
personality and lifestyle. Consumers screen information that conflicts with their
attitudes. Distort information to make it consistent and selectively retain information that
reinforces our attitudes.IE brand loyalty. There is a difference between attitude and
intention to buy (ability to buy)
Personality -- all the internal traits and behaviors that make a person unique,
uniqueness arrives from a person's heredity and personal experience. Examples
include: Work holism Compulsiveness Self confidence Friendliness
D
aptability AmbitiousnessIntroversionExtroversionAggressivenessCompetitivenessTraits
affect the way people behave. Marketers try to match the store image to the perceived
image of their customers
.
There is a weak association between personality and Buying Behaviour; this may bedue
to unreliable measures. Nike ads. Consumers buy products that are consistentwith their
self concept.
Lifestyles--
People coming from the same subculture, social class, and occupation may have
quitedifferent lifestyles. Lifestyle is a person's pattern of living as expressed in his or
herpsychographics. It involves measuring consumers' major
A
IO dimensions
²
activities
(work, hobbies, shopping, sports, social events),
interests
(food, fashion, family,recreation), and
o
p
inions
(about themselves, social issues, business, products).Lifestyle captures something
more than the person's social class or personality. Itprofiles a person's whole pattern of
acting and interacting in the world.Several research firms have developed lifestyle
classifications. The most widely usedis the SRI Consulting's
Values and Lifestyles
(
V
A
LS)
y typology (see Figure 5.3).VALS classifies people according to how they spend their
time and money. It dividesconsumers into eight groups based on two major dimensions:
self-orientation andresources.
Self-orientation
groups include
p
rinci
p
le-oriented
consumers who buy based on their views of the world;
status-oriented
buyers who base their purchaseson the actions and opinions of others; and
action-oriented
buyers who are driven by their desire for activity, variety, and risk taking. Consumers
within each orientationare further classified into those with
abundant resources
and those with
minimal resources,
depending on whether they have high or low levels of income, education,health, self-
confidence, energy, and other factors. Consumers with either very high orvery low
levels of resources are classified without regard to their self-orientations(actualizers,
strugglers). Actualizers are people with so many resources that they canindulge in any
or all self-orientations. In contrast, strugglers are people with too few resources to be
included in any consumer orientation

Economic Situation
A person's economic situation will affect product choice. Anna Flores can
considerbuying an expensive Nikon if she has enough spendable income, savings,
orborrowing power. Marketers of income-sensitive goods watch trends in
personalincome, savings, and interest rates. If economic indicators point to a
recession,marketers can take steps to redesign, reposition, and reprice their products
closely.4.
Psychological factors
A person's buying choices are further influenced by four major psychological factors:
motivation,
p
erce
p
tion, learning,
and
beliefs
and
attitudes.

Motivation
A person has many needs at any given time. Some are
biological,
arising from statesof tension such as hunger, thirst, or discomfort. Others are
p
syc
h
ological,
arisingfrom the need for recognition, esteem, or belonging. Most of these needs will not
bestrong enough to motivate the person to act at a given point in time. A need
becomesa
motive
when it is aroused to a sufficient level of intensity. A motive (or
drive
) is aneed that is sufficiently pressing to direct the person to seek
satisfaction.Psychologists have developed theories of human motivation. Two of
the mostpopular²the theories of Sigmund Freud and Abraham Maslow²have quite
differentmeanings for consumer analysis and marketing.
Perception
A motivated person is ready to act. How the person acts is influenced by his or herown
perception of the situation. All of us learn by the flow of information throughour five
senses: sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste. However, each of us receives,organizes,
and interprets this sensory information in an individual way. Perception isthe process by
which people select, organize, and interpret information to form ameaningful picture of
the world.People can form different perceptions of the same stimulus because of
threeperceptual processes: selective attention, selective distortion, and selective
retention.People are exposed to a great amount of stimuli every day. For example, the
averageperson may be exposed to more than 1,500 ads in a single day. It is impossible
for aperson to pay attention to all these stimuli.
Selective attention
²the tendency forpeople to screen out most of the information to which they are
exposed²means thatmarketers have to work especially hard to attract the consumer's
attention.Even noted stimuli do not always come across in the intended way. Each
person fitsincoming information into an existing mind-set.
Selective distortion
describes thetendency of people to interpret information in a way that will support what
they already believe. Selective distortion means that marketers must try to understand
themind-sets of consumers and how these will affect interpretations of advertising
andsales information.
People also will forget much that they learn. They tend to retain information thatsupports
their attitudes and beliefs. Because of
selective retention,
Anna is likely toremember good points made about the Nikon and to forget good points
made aboutcompeting cameras. Because of selective exposure, distortion, and
retention,marketers have to work hard to get their messages through. This fact explains
why marketers use so much drama and repetition in sending messages to their market
.

Learning
When people act, they learn. Learning describes changes in an individual's
behaviorarising from experience. Learning theorists say that most human behavior is
learned.Learning occurs through the interplay of
drives, stimuli, cues, res
p
onses,
and
reinforcement.
We saw that Anna Flores has a drive for self-actualization. A
drive
is a strong internalstimulus that calls for action. Her drive becomes a motive when it is
directed towarda particular
stimulus object,
in this case a camera. Anna's response to the idea of buying a camera is conditioned by
the surrounding cues.
Cues
are minor stimuli thatdetermine when, where, and how the person responds.
Beliefs and Attitudes
Through doing and learning, people acquire beliefs and attitudes. These, in
turn,influence their buying behavior. A belief is a descriptive thought that a person
hasabout something. Anna Flores may believe that a Nikon camera takes great
pictures,stands up well under hard use, and costs $450. These beliefs may be based on
realknowledge, opinion, or faith, and may or may not carry an emotional charge.
Forexample, Anna Flores's belief that a Nikon camera is heavy may or may not matter
toher decision.Marketers are interested in the beliefs that people formulate about
specific productsand services, because these beliefs make up product and brand
images that affectbuying behavior. If some of the beliefs are wrong and prevent
purchase, the marketerwill want to launch a campaign to correct them.People have
attitudes regarding religion, politics, clothes, music, food, and almosteverything else.
Attitude describes a person's relatively consistent evaluations,feelings, and tendencies
toward an object or idea. Attitudes put people into a frameof mind of liking or disliking
things, of moving toward or away from them. Thus,Anna Flores may hold attitudes such
as "Buy the best," "The Japanese make the bestproducts in the world," and "Creativity
and self-expression are among the mostimportant things in life." If so, the Nikon camera
would fit well into Anna's existingattitudes.Attitudes are difficult to change. A person's
attitudes fit into a pattern, and to changeone attitude may require difficult adjustments in
many others. Thus, a company should usually try to fit its products into existing attitudes
rather than attempt to change attitudess