Culture is the fundamental determinant of

a person’s wants and behavior. The growing

child acquires the set of values,
perceptions, preferences, and behaviors
through his or her family or other key
institutions.

1
Each culture consists of smaller sub
cultures. Sub cultures include
nationalities, religions, racial groups,
and geographic regions.

2
 Model of Buyer Behavior

Marketing Buyer’s Buyer’s decision

Other Stimuli
Stimuli Characteristics process
Buyer’s Decision

Problem Recognition
Product Cultural Information search Product choice
Economic Brand choice
Price Social Evaluation of
Technological Dealer choice
Place Personal alternatives
Political Purchase timing
Promotion Psychological Purchase decision
Cultural Purchase amount
Post purchase
behavior

3
Virtually all human societies exhibit social
stratification. Stratification sometimes takes
the form of caste system where the members
of different castes are reared for certain roles
and cannot change their caste membership.
More frequently, it takes the form of social
class.

4
Social classes reflect not only income, but
other indicators such as occupation, education
and area of residence.

Social classes differ in dress, speech patterns,

recreational preferences and many other
characteristics.

5
Consumer’s behavior is influenced by social
factors as reference groups, family, social
roles and status.

6
REFERENCE GROUPS:
A person’s reference groups consist of all
the groups that have a direct ( face to face)
or indirect influence on the person’s
attitudes and behavior.
Groups having a direct influence on a
person are called membership groups.
Some membership groups are primary
groups, such as family, friends, neighbors,
and co-workers, with whom the person
interacts fairly continuously and informally.
7
People also belong to secondary groups,
such as religious, professional, and trade
union groups, which tend to be more
formal and require less continuous
interaction.
Aspirational groups are those a person
hopes to join; dissociative groups are
those whose values or behavior an
individual rejects.

8
Manufacturers of products and brands
where group influence is strong must
determine how to reach and influence
opinion leaders in these reference groups.
An opinion leader is the person in
informal, product-related communications
who offers advice or information about a
specific product

9
or product category, such as which of
several brands is best or how a particular
product may be used.

FAMILY: The family is the most important

consumer-buying organization in society.
We can distinguish between two families in
the buyer’ life.

10
The family of orientation consists of
parents and siblings.
From parents a person acquires an
orientation toward religion, politics, and
economics and a sense of personal
ambition, self-worth, and love.
A more direct influence on everyday
behavior is the family of procreation -
namely, one’s spouse and children.

11
ROLES & STATUSES: The person’s
position in each group can be defined in
terms of role and status. A role consists of
the activities a person is expected to
perform.

Each role carries a status.

e.g: A Supreme Court judge has more status

than a sales manager, and a sales manager
has more status than an office clerk.
12
Personal factors:
AGE AND STAGE IN THE LIFE
CYCLE:
People buy different goods and services
over a life time.

They eat baby food in the early years, most

foods in the growing and mature years and
special diets in the later years.

Taste in clothes, furniture, and recreation is

also age related.
13
OCCUPATION AND ECONOMIC
CIRCUMSTANCES:

Occupation also influences consumption

patterns. A blue-collar worker will buy
clothes, work shoes, and lunch-boxes.
A company president will buy expensive
suits, air travel, and country club
membership.
Marketers try to identify the occupational
groups that have above-average interest in
their products and services.
14
Computer software companies, design
different products for brand managers,
engineers, lawyers, and physicians.

Product choice is greatly affected by

economic circumstances: spendable income
(level, stability, and time pattern), savings
and assets ( including the percentage that is
liquid, debts, borrowing power, and
attitudes toward spending and saving.

15
LIFE STYLE:
A lifestyle is a person’s pattern of living in
the world as expressed in activities,
interests, and opinions.
Lifestyle portrays the “whole person”
interacting with his or her environment.

Marketers search for relationships between

their products and lifestyle groups.
e.g: a computer manufacturer might find
that the most computer buyers are
achievement-oriented. 16
Psychographics is the science of using
psychology and demographics ( where you
live) to better understand consumers.

One of the most popular commercially

available classification systems based on
psychographic measurements is SRI
Consulting Business Intelligence’s (SRIC-
BI) VALS™ framework.
VALS classifies all U.S. adults into eight
primary groups based on psychological
attribute and key demographics.
17
The major tendencies of the four groups
with high resources are:

1. Actualizers: Successful, sophisticated,

active, “take-charge” people. Purchases
often reflect cultivated tastes for relatively
upscale, niche-oriented products.

2. Fulfi!ers: Mature, satisfied,

comfortable,reflective. favor durability,
functionality, and value in products.
18
3. Achievers: Successful, career- and work
oriented. Favor established, prestige
product that demonstrate success to their
peers.

4. Experiencers: Young, vital, enthusiastic,

impulsive, and rebellious. Spend a
comparatively high proportion of income
on clothing, fast food, music, movies and
video.
19
The VALS Segmentation System : An 8-Part Typology
VALS™ Network
Actualizers
High Resources
High Innovation

PRINCIPLE STATUS ACTION

ORIENTED ORIENTED ORIENTED

Fulfillers Achievers Experiencers

Believers Strivers Makers

Low Resources
Low Innovation
Strugglers

20
The major tendencies of the four groups
with lower resources are:

1. Believers: Conservative, conventional, and

traditional. Favor familiar products and
established brands.

2. Strivers: Uncertain, insecure, approval-

seeking, resource restrained. Favor stylish
products that emulate the purchases of
those with greater material wealth. (youth)
21
3. Makers: Practical, self-sufficient,
traditional, family-oriented. Favor only
products with a practical or functional
purpose such as tools, utility vehicles,
fishing equipment etc.

4. Stru"lers: elderly, resigned, passive,

concerned, resource constrained. Cautious
consumers who are loyal to favorite brands.
(old & retired)
22
PERSONALITY AND SELF-CONCEPT
Each person has personality characteristics
that influence his or her buying behavior.
By personality, we mean a set of
distinguishing human psychological traits
that lead to relatively consistent and
enduring responses to environmental
stimuli.
Personality is often described in terms of
such traits as self confidence, dominance,
autonomy, deference, sociability,
defensiveness, and adaptability. 23
We define brand personality as the
specific mix of human traits that may be
attributed to a particular brand.
Marketers attempt to develop brand
personalities that will attract consumers
with the same self-concept, but self-
concept is somewhat slippery.
A person’s actual self concept( how she views
herself) may differ from her ideal self-concept
(How she would like to view herself) and
from her others-self-concept( how she thinks
others see her. 24
psychological factors
MOTIVATION: A person has many needs
at any given time.
Some needs are biogenic; they arise from
psychological states of tension such as
hunger, thirst or discomfort.
Other needs are psychogenic; they arise from
psychological states of tension such as the
need for recognition, esteem, or belonging.
A need becomes a motive when it is
aroused to a sufficient level of intensity. A
motive is a need that is sufficiently
25
pressing to drive the person to act.
Psychologists have developed theories of
human motivation, and three of the best
known-those of Sigmund Freud, Abraham
Maslow, and Frederick Herzberg- carry
quite different implications for consumer
analysis and marketing strategy.

Freud’s Theory: He assumed that the

psychological forces shaping people’s
behavior are largely unconscious, and that a
person cannot fully understand his or her
own motivations.
26
A technique called laddering can be used to
trace a person’s motivations from the stated
instrumental ones to the more terminal
ones. Then the marketer can decide at what
level to develop the message and appeal.

When a person examines specific brands,

he or she will react only to their stated
capabilities, but also to other, less conscious
cues. Shapes, size, weight, material, color,
and brand name can trigger certain
associations and emotions.
27
MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS THEORY

Self -
Actualization
needs
(self-development
and realization)

❹
Esteem needs
(self-esteem, recognition, status)

Social Needs
❸ (sense of belonging, love)

❷ Safety needs
(security,protection)

❶ Physiological Needs
(food, water,shelter)
28
HERZBER’S THEORY

Frederick Herzberg developed a two-factor

theory that distinguishes dissatisfiers
( factors that cause dissatisfaction) and
satisfiers (factors that cause satisfaction).

The absence of dissatisfiers is not enough;

satisfiers must be actively present to
motivate a purchase.
e.g: a computer that does not come with a
warranty would be a dissatisfier.
29
Yet the presence of a product warranty
would not act as a satisfier or motivator of a
purchase, because it is not a source of
intrinsic satisfaction with the computer.
Ease of use would be a satisfier.

Two amplifications of this theory:

1. Sellers should do their best to avoid
dissatisfiers ( poor training manual, poor
service policy etc)

30
2. The manufacturer should identify the
major satisfiers or motivators of purchase in
the market and then supply them.

These satisfiers will make the major

difference as to which brand the customer
buys.

31
PERCEPTION
Perception is the process by which an
individual selects, organizes, and interprets
information inputs to create a meaningful
picture of the world.

People emerge with different perceptions

of the same object because of three
perceptual processes:
a. Selective Attention
b. Selective Distortion
c. Selective Retention.
32
Selective Attention: The average person
may be exposed to over 1500 ads a day.
Because a person cannot possibly attend to
all these, most stimuli will be screened out -
a process called Selective attention.

1. People are most likely to notice stimuli that

relate to current need. A person who is
motivated to buy a computer will notice
computer ads; he or she will probably not
notice DVD ads.
33
2. People are more likely to notice stimuli that
they anticipate. You are likely to notice
computer than radios in a computer store
because you do not expect the store to
carry radios.

3.People are more likely to notice stimuli whose

deviations are large in relation to the normal
size of the stimuli. You are more likely to
notice an ad offering $100 off the list price
of a computer than one offering $5 off.
34
Selective Distortion: is the tendency to
twist information into personal meanings
and interpret information in a way that will
fit our perceptions.Unfortunately, thereis
not much marketers can do about selective
distortion.

Selective Retention: Because of selective

retention, we are likely to remember good
points mentioned about competing
products. Selective retention explains why
marketers use drama and repetition in 35
LEARNING: involves changes in
individual’s behavior arising from
experience.
Learning theorists believe that learning is
produced through the interplay of drives,
stimuli, cues, responses, and reinforcement.

A drive is a strong internal stimulus

impelling action.

Cues are minor stimuli that determine

when, where and how a person responds.
36
Suppoe you buy an IBM computer. If your
experience is rewarding, your response to
computers and IBM will be positively
reinforced. Later on, when you want to buy
a printer, you may assume that because
IBM makes good computers, IBM also
makes good printer. You generalize your
response to similar stimuli.

A counter tendency to generalization is

discrimination.
37
Discrimination - means that a person has
learned to recognize differences in sets of
similar stimuli and can adjust responses
accordingly.

A new company can enter the market by

appealing to the same drives that
competitors use and by providing similar
cue configurations, because buyers are
more likely to transfer loyalty to similar
brands ( generalization); or the company
38
Might design its brand to appeal to a
different set of drives and offer strong cue
inducements to switch ( discrimination).

BELIEFS AND ATTITUDES:

Through doing and learning, people acquire
beliefs and attitudes.

A belief is a descriptive thought that a

person holds about something. People’s
beliefs about a product or brand influence
their buying decisions.
39
An attitude is a person’s enduring
favorable or unfavorable evaluations,
emotional feelings, and action tendencies
toward some object or idea.

A person’s attitudes settle into a consistent

pattern.Attitudes economize on energy and
thought, they are difficult to change. To
change a single attitude may require major
adjustments in other attitudes.

40
41
42
THE BUYING DECISION PROCESS:

A. Buying roles:
✓ Initiator : The person who first
suggests the idea of buying the
product or service.
✓ Influencer: The person whose
view or advice influences the
decision.

43
✓ Decider: The person whose
decision on any component of a
buying decision : whether to buy ,
what to buy, how to buy, and
where to buy.
✓ Buyer: The person who makes
the actual purchase.
✓ User: The person who consumes
or uses the product or service.

44
B. Buying behavior:
Consumer decision making varies with the
type of buying decision.
The decisions to buy toothpaste, a tennis
racket, a personal computer, and a new car
are all very different.

Complex and expensive purchases are likely

to involve more buyer deliberation and
more participants.

45
 Four Types of Buying Behavior

High Involvement Low Involvement

Significant Differences
Between brands Complex Buying Variety-seeking Buying
behavior behavior

Few Differences Dissonance -reducing Habitual Buying

Between brands Buying behavior behavior

46
A) COMPLEX BUYING BEHAVIOR:
Complex buying behavior involves a three
step process.
First, the buyer develops beliefs about the
product.
Second, he or she develops attitudes about
the product.
Third, he or she makes a thoughtful choice.
Consumers engage in complex
buying behavior when they are highly
involved in a purchase and aware of
significant difference among brands.
47
B) DISSONANCE-REDUCING BUYER
BEHAVIOR

Sometimes the consumer is highly involved

in the purchase but sees little difference in
the brands.
The high involvement is based on the fact
that the purchase is expensive, infrequent,
and risky.
In this case, the buyer will shop around to
learn what is available.
48
If the consumer finds quality differences
in the brands, he or she might go for
higher price. If the consumer finds little
difference, he or she might simply buy on
price or convenience.
After the purchase, the consumer might
experience dissonance that stems from
noticing certain disquieting features or
hearing favorable things about other
brands, and will be alert to information
that supports his or her decision.
49
C) HABITUAL BUYING BEHAVIOR:

Many products are bought under conditions

of low involvement and the absence of
significant brand differences.

Consider salt.

Consumers have little involvement in this

product category.
If they keep reaching for the same brand, it
is out of habit, not strong brand loyalty.
50
 D) VARIETY-SEEKING BUYING
BEHAVIOR.

Some buying situations are characterized by

low involvement but significant brand
differences.

Think about cookies or biscuits.

The consumer may reach for another brand
out of wish for a different taste. Brand
switching occurs for the sake of variety
rather than dissatisfaction.
51
STAGES OF THE BUYING DECISION
PROCESS:

Smart companies will immerse themselves

in trying to understand the customer’s
overall experience in learning about a
product, making a brand choice, using the
product, and even disposing it.

E.g: Honda engineers took videos of

shoppers loading groceries into car trunks
to observe their frustrations and generate
52
Possible design solutions.

Intuit, the maker of Quicken financial

software, watched first-time buyers try to
learn Quicken to sense their problems in
learning how to use the software.

Benson Shapiro and his co-authors urged

companies to “staple yourself to an order”
to appreciate everything that occurs or
might go wrong in the ordering business.
53
How can marketers learn about the stages
in the buying process for their product?

They can think about how they themselves

would act (introspective method) .

They can interview a small number of

recent purchasers, asking them to recall the
events leading to their purchase
(introspective method).

54
They can locate consumers who plan to buy
the product and ask them to think out loud
about going through the buying process
(prospective method).
They can ask the consumers to describe the
ideal way to buy the product (prescriptive
method).

55
 Problem
recognition

Information
search

FIVE-STAGE MODEL
Evaluation
OF THE CONSUMER
of
BUYING PROCESS
alternatives

Purchase
decision

Post
purchase
behavior
56
Problem recognition:

The buying process starts when the buyer

recognizes a problem or need.
The need can be triggered by external or
internal stimuli.
With an internal stimulus, one of the
person’s normal needs- hunger, thirst, sex -
rises to a threshold level and becomes a
drive.
Or a need can be aroused by external
stimulus. A person passes a bakery and sees
57
Freshly baked bread that stimulates hunger.

INFORMATION SEARCH
An aroused consumer will be inclined to
search for more information.
Two levels of arousal:

The milder search state is called heightened

attention. At this level, a person simply
becomes more receptive to information
about a product.
58
At the next level, the person may enter an
active information search: looking for reading
material, phoning friends, and visiting
stores to learn about the product.
Consumer information sources fall into 4
groups:
Personal groups: family, friends, neighbors,
acquaintances.
Commercial Sources: Advertising, sales-
persons, dealers, packaging, displays.
Public sources: Mass media, consumer-rating
organizations.
59
 Experiential sources: Handling, examining, using the
product.

Total set Awareness set Consideration set Choice set Decision Set

IBM IBM
IBM
Apple IBM Apple Apple ?
Dell Apple Dell Dell
Hewlett-Packard Dell Toshiba
Toshiba Hewlett-Packard
Compaq Toshiba
NEC compaq
Tandy
-
-
-

60
EVALUATION OF ALTERNATIVES:

How does the consumer process

competitive brand information and make a
final value judgement?

There is no single process used by all

consumers or by one consumer in all buying
situations.

The consumer forms judgement largely on a

conscious and rational basis.
61
The attributes of interest of buyers vary by
product:
1.Cameras: Picture sharpness, camera speeds,
Camera size, price.
2. Hotels: Location, cleanliness, atmosphere,
Price.
3. Mouthwash: Color, effectiveness, germ-
Killing capacity, price, taste,
Flavor.
4. Tires: Safety, tread life, ride quality, price.

62
PURCHASE DECISION:
Steps between evaluation of Alternatives and a Purchase Decision

Attitudes of
others
Evaluation of Purchase Purchase
alternatives Intention Decision

Unanticipated
situational
factors

63
Two factors can intervene between the
purchase intention and the purchase
decision.

The first factor is the attitude of others .

The second factor is unanticipated situational

factors that may erupt to change the
purchase decision.
64
In executing a purchase intention, the
consumer may make up five purchase sub-
divisions:
A brand decision: (brand A)

Vendor decision: (dealer 2)

Quantity decision: (one computer)

Timing decision: (weekend)

Payment decision: (credit card)

65
POST PURCHASE BEHAVIOR

After purchasing the product, the

consumer will experience some level of
satisfaction or dissatisfaction.

Marketers must monitor post purchase

satisfaction, post purchase actions, and post
purchase product uses.

Post Purchase Satisfaction: The buyer’s

satisfaction is a function of the closeness
66
Between the buyer’s expectations and the
product’s perceived performance.
If the performance falls short of
expectations, the consumer is disappointed;
If it meets the expectations, the customer
is satisfied;
If it exceeds expectations, the customer is
delighted.
These feelings make a difference in whether
the customer buys the product again and
talks favorably or unfavorably about it to
others.
67
Post purchase actions: Satisfaction or
dissatisfaction with the product will
influence a consumer’s subsequent behavior.

If the consumer is satisfied, he or she will

exhibit a higher probability of purchasing
the product again.

Dissatisfied consumers may abandon or

return the product.They may seek
information that confirms its high value.
68
They may take public action by
complaining to the company, going to a
lawyer, or complaining to other groups
( such as business, private, or government
agencies.)
Private actions include making a decision to
stop buying the product ( exit option) or
warning friends (voice option).

In all these cases, the seller has done a poor

job of satisfying the customer.
69
Post purchase use and disposal:
If consumers store the product in a closet,
the product is probably not very satisfying,
and word of mouth will not be strong.
If they sell or trade the product, new-
product sales will be depressed.
Consumers may also find new uses for the
product.
If consumers throw away the product away,
the marketer needs to know how they
dispose of it, especially if it can hurt the
environment (as in the case of beverage
containers& disposable diapers.) 70
 How Consumers Use or Dispose of Products

Get rid of it Rent it To be

Give it away
temporarily (Re)sold

Lend it Trade it To be
used

Get rid of it
Product Sell it Direct to
permanently
consumer
Use it to serve
original Throw it
purpose away Through
middleman
Convert it to
Keep it serve a new
purpose To
intermediary

Store it

71