BRANDING- AND ITS IMPACT ON CONSUMERS PURCHASE DECISIONS

CONTENTS
Chapter No. Ch.# 1.0 Ch.# 2.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Ch.# 3.0 Subject Critical Review of Literature. Research Methodology Primary Objective(s). Hypothesis Research Design Sample Design.. Scope of the Study. Limitations. Introduction.. Ch.# 5.0 Ch.# 6.0 Ch.# 7.0 Ch.# 8.0 Branding Factors Affecting Brand value Brand Extension & Brand Stretching What is Consumer Buying Behavior Why Consumer Buy Stimuli Response Model Factors Influencing Consumer Buying Decision Perspective Of Corporate Brand Strategy Page No.

Findings & Analysis. Recommendations Bibliography. Annexure..

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Questionaire

LITERATURE REVIEW
In building brand preferences, Alreck and Settle (1999) proposed six strategies: 1) Need association- the product/brand linked to need through repeated messages. 2) Mood associations- brands should be associated with good feelings through slogans,songs. 3) Subconscious motivation-use of symbol to excite consumers subconscious motives. 4) Behaviour modification-consumers are conditioned to buy the brand by controlling cues and rewards. 5) Cognitif processing-penetrating perceptual and cognitive barriers to create favourable attitudes towards the brand/product. 6) Model emulation- portraying idealized lifestyles for consumers to imitate. However, this study focused only on the symbolic or tangible elements in influencing brand preference & affect of branding on the consumer buying behavior. It did not discuss tangible aspects (i.e product characteristics) of influencing brand preference. Advertisement can change consumers perception of a product in terms of attributes content and proportion and also influence consumers taste for attributes ( Gwin & Gwin, 2003). Attributes are the characteristic or features that an object may or may not have and includes both intrinsic and extrinsic (Mowen & Minor, 1998) .Benefits is the positive outcomes that come from the attributes. People seek products that have attributes that will solve their problems and fulfills their needs (Mowen & Minor, 1998). Understanding why a consumer choose a product based upon its attributes helps marketers to understand why some consumers have preferences for certain brands (Gwin & Gwin, 2003). In the study by Gwin and Gwin (2003), the Lancaster model of consumer demand (1966, 1979), also referred to as the product attributes model, was used to evaluate brand positioning. This model assumes that consumer choice is based on the characteristics (or attributes) of a brand. Each product is a bundle of attributes and that choice is based on maximizing utility/satisfaction from the attributes subject to budget constraints. However there were two limitations of the model: (1) the model is static and deterministic and (2) the model does not explain how the preferences for attributes were formed. This article also did not mention if experience with the product played a part in influencing attributes preferences. Both tangible and intangible attributes of a product are equally important in choosing a product or brand (Myers, 2003). There is no evidence that certain attributes are more related to customer loyalty than others (Romariuk & Sharp, 2003). It was, found though, that the more attributes (non-negative) associated with a brand, the more loyal the customer (Romariuk & Sharp,2003).Romariuk and Sharp (2003) suggested that marketers should focus more on how many attributes the brand should be associated with and not what attributes. However, this study did not specify what sort of attributes marketers should associate the brand with; i.e. whether they should be relevant or irrelevant attributes, tangible or intangible etc. This is because it is important that consumer accurately lean about product attribute performances since it would influence their interpretations of product performance by causing memory encode and retrieval bias. Unfounded product attribute relationship beliefs can mislead them
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into expecting something that is not there. (Mason & Bequette, 1998). Hence if products fall short of customer expectataions,then dissatisfaction would result. Nevertheless, it was found that through irrelevant, some attributes may still be important in influencing consumer choice. Persistent preferences for product attribute occurs when there is low ambiguity in the initial potential choice for salient attributes coupled with experience, although those attributes maybe irrelevant (i.e. an attributes usually not associated with favourable brand outcomes (Muthukrishnan & Kardes, 2001). Consequently, Mason and Bequette (1998) also said that perceptions on product performance based on salient attributes are more important in influencing the consumer purchase behaviour than actual product attribute performances. Similarly, Myers (2003) concluded that brand equity may be more influenced by attribute knowledge more than consumer preference. For low-involvement products, consumers have more objective view of the nature of the attrinutes (eg. food, cosmetics) because they are constantly being advertised and promoted. Similarly Rioo, Vasquez and Iglesias (2001) sugggeated that consumer evaluation of a product can be broken down into evaluation related to product (tangible or physical attributes) and brand name (intangible attributes, or images added to the product due to its brand names). In his study on the relationship between human values and consumer purchases, Allen (2001) found there was a significant association between human values (eg. hedonistic, achievement, self-direction, conformity, security etc.), product preference and tangible attribute importance with how consumers perceive the product (i.e tangible attributes) and how they evaluate the product (i.e symbolic meaning, tangible/intangible attribute importance). Human values influence the importance of the products tangible attribute importance that are already important to consumers. However perception of product performance on the salient attributes are more important than actual performance (Mason & Bequette, 1998).Mowen and Minor (1998) suggested that marketing managers should know the attributes that consumers expect in a product and how positively or negatively they rate these attributes to help develop and promote a successful product. Retailers need to be knowledgeable of the product attributes perceived as the most important by each individual consumer group in order to build and maintain market share (Warrington & Shim, 2000). It is the consumer who determines which attributes matter to them. Different consumer groups place different importance on different attributes (Warrington & Shim,2000).It was found that consumers categoriez as LP/SB (low product involvement/strong brand commitment) placed greater importance on product attributes and product orientataions than LP/WB (weak brand commitment) consumers, which placed the most importance on price. Markerters should consider using advertisement, which may play a role in making attributee important to consumers that might not have been considered before (Gwin & Gwin, 2003),Romariuk & Sharp (2003) suggested two objectives of short-term and long-term brand building. In the short term, managers need to identify a specific attributes to be communicated to the market, based on which message gave the best execution. The key aim is to develop likeable advertisement.In the long-run, managers need to build up a bank of consumer perception about the brand to make it the one most often thought of and make it difficult for competitors to have access to the minds of consumers (Romariuk & Sharp, 2003). The brand name of the product itself is an important attribute. Brands have both
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functional (product-related) and symbolic dimensions (del Rio,Vasquez & Iglesiaz, 2001), On the product related benefit side, consumer evaluate product performance based on its capabilities, usage effectiveness, value for money and reliability. The purchase and consumption of products is increasing regarded by consumers as an indirect way of communication to improve their self image and deliver certain impressions to other people in their environment (del Rio,Vasquez & Iglesiaz, 2001), Therefore the brand name benefits perceived by consumers is highly interrelated to the product-based benefits. Big brand means a better image and a better product (del Rio,Vasquez & Iglesiaz, 2001). However , as mention earlier, Mason and Bequette (1998) suggested that perceived product performance is more important than actual attribute performance. Similarly Myers (2003) concluded that brand equity might be influenced by attribute knowledge more than consumer preference. This may be due to consumer biasness and prejudice, Consumers product evaluations are influenced by memory. The biasness can be reduced by having current information, experience and knowledge (Mason and Bequette ,1998). Therefore, its not surprising that brands that consumers believe offer superior value are most preferred brands chosen often (Myers, 2003). Brands with higher equity resulted in greater preferences and high market shares. Price is another form of attribute used by consumers to evaluate a product. Price can sometimes be an indicator of quality; with a higher price indicating higher quality (Mowen & Minor, 1998; Siu & Wong, 2002). Consumers perceive that a higher price can be attributed to the higher cost of quality control (Siu & Wong, 2002). Some consumers are highly price sensitive (elastic demand),whereby a high prices may shift consumers to competitive brands (Mowen & Minor, 1998). Therefore price can have a positive or negative influence on customers. The study helps in knowing the various aspects of the branding which use to be employed by the organizations in regards to the fitting the products in the market & in the perceptual space of the targeted customers. The basic purpose of all these activities is to have the ever lasting impact on the customer so that at the time of buying the product it can influence his buying decision making. There use to be various other factors which affect or influence the buying decision making of the consumers but branding as an factor is not been analysed so we have to find out do customer purchase decision making use to affected by it or not. This study also going to analyse about various factors affecting the consumer buying behavior & the marketing implications of the factors.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
AIM OF THE DESSERTATION:- To understand the different concept of brand & branding & to analyse how the branding of soft drinks affect the consumer buying decision.. OBJECTIVES: To understand the different concept of brand & branding & to analyze how the branding affect the consumer buying decision. To find out what are the various factors taken in to consideration by the prospective customer in regards to his preference in selection of a product as per the various factors which use to affect his buying decision. To determine the reasons for consuming soft drinks To establish the changes in the relationship between branding and consumers purchasing decision when other factors like price are introduced.

RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS
Hypothesis testing 1
Null Hypothesis H (0): Branding use to affect the consumer buying behavior. Alternate Hypothesis: H (1): Branding of the product does not affect the consumer buying behavior

Hypothesis testing 2
Null Hypothesis H (0): Branding create the ever lasting impression on the consumer perceptual space. Alternate Hypothesis: H (1): Branding does not create the ever lasting impression on the consumer perceptual space.

Hypothesis testing 2
Null Hypothesis H (0): Branding & consumer Buying behavior are positively correlated Alternate Hypothesis:s H (1): Branding & consumer Buying behavior are not positively correlated.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:Research Design : Descriptive Research Design DURATION OF STUDY: 100 days SAMPLE SIZE : 200 SAMPLING TECHNIQUE: Convenience sampling technique DATA COLLECTION : Primary Data : questionnaire Secondary Data : The relevant data will be collected from various sources like Journals, internet and research articles DATA ANALYSIS PROCEDURE: Through SPSS (Statistical Programming for Social Science) using pie chart & bar graph. SCALING TECHNIQUES :Scaling describes the procedures of assigning numbers to various degrees of opinion, attitude and other concepts. All the four types of scales Nominal, Ordinal, Interval and Ratio have been used in this research, each of which processes different characteristics i.e. description, order, distance and origin. In rank order scale, a number of ranking questions have been included in the questionnaire, as these are a form of opinion questions. Respondents were asked to rank the services facilitated to them. This type of scaling helps in reading the mind of the respondent i.e. how he discriminates among the stimulus objects.

BRANDING
What is a BRAND:Brands are a means of differentiating a companys products and services from those of its competitors. There is plenty of evidence to prove that customers will pay a substantial price premium for a good brand and remain loyal to that brand. It is important, therefore, to understand what brands are and why they are important. Macdonald sums this up nicely in the following quote emphasising the importance of brands: it is not factories that make profits, but relationships with customers, and it is company and brand names which secure those relationships Businesses that invest in and sustain leading brands prosper whereas those that fail are left to fight for the lower profits available in commodity markets. One definition of a brand is as follows: A name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of these, that is intended to identify the goods and services of one business or group of businesses and to differentiate them from those of competitors. Interbrand - a leading branding consultancy - define a brand in this way: A mixture of tangible and intangible attributes symbolised in a trademark, which, if properly managed, creates influence and generates value.

Important terms relating to Brand:Brand equity Brand equity refers to the value of a brand. Brand equity is based on the extent to which the brand has high brand loyalty, name awareness, perceived quality and strong product associations. Brand equity also includes other intangible assets such as patents, trademarks and channel relationships.
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Brand image Brand image refers to the set of beliefs that customers hold about a particular brand. These are important to develop well since a negative brand image can be very difficult to shake off. Brand extension Brand extension refers to the use of a successful brand name to launch a new or modified product in a new market. Virgin is perhaps the best example of how brand extension can be applied into quite diverse and distinct markets. Brands and products Brands are rarely developed in isolation. They normally fall within a business product line or product group. A product line is a group of brands that are closely related in terms of their functions and the benefits they provide. A good example would be the range of desktop and laptop computers manufactured by Dell. A product mix relates to the total set of brands marketed by a business. A product mix could, therefore, contain several or many product lines. The width of the product mix can be measured by the number of product lines that a business offers. For a good example, visit the web site of Hewlett-Packard (HP). HP has a broad product mix that covers many segments of the personal and business computing market. How many separate product lines can you spot from their web site? Managing brands is a key part of the product strategy of any business, particularly those operating in highly competitive consumer markets.

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FACTORS AFFECTING THE BRAND VALUE

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Professor David Jobber identifies seven main factors in building successful brands, as illustrate in the diagram below:

Quality Quality is a vital ingredient of a good brand. Remember the core benefits the things consumers expect. These must be delivered well, consistently. The branded washing machine that leaks, or the training shoe that often falls apart when wet will never develop brand equity. Research confirms that, statistically, higher quality brands achieve a higher market share and higher profitability that their inferior competitors. Positioning Positioning is about the position a brand occupies in a market in the minds of consumers. Strong brands have a clear, often unique position in the target market. Positioning can be achieved through several means, including brand name, image, service standards, product guarantees, packaging and the way in which it is delivered. In fact, successful positioning usually requires a combination of these things. Repositioning Repositioning occurs when a brand tries to change its market position to reflect a change in consumers tastes. This is often required when a brand has become tired, perhaps because its original market has matured or has gone into decline. The repositioning of the Lucozade brand from a sweet drink for children to a leading sports drink is one example. Another would be the changing styles of entertainers with above-average longevity such as Kylie Minogue and Cliff Richard. Communications
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Communications also play a key role in building a successful brand. We suggested that brand positioning is essentially about customer perceptions with the objective to build a clearly defined position in the minds of the target audience. All elements of the promotional mix need to be used to develop and sustain customer perceptions. Initially, the challenge is to build awareness, then to develop the brand personality and reinforce the perception. First-mover advantage Business strategists often talk about first-mover advantage. In terms of brand development, by first-mover they mean that it is possible for the first successful brand in a market to create a clear positioning in the minds of target customers before the competition enters the market. There is plenty of evidence to support this. Think of some leading consumer product brands like Gillette, Coca Cola and Sellotape that, in many ways, defined the markets they operate in and continue to lead. However, being first into a market does not necessarily guarantee long-term success. Competitors drawn to the high growth and profit potential demonstrated by the market-mover will enter the market and copy the best elements of the leaders brand (a good example is the way that Body Shop developed the ethical personal care market but were soon facing stiff competition from the major high street cosmetics retailers. Long-term perspective This leads onto another important factor in brand-building: the need to invest in the brand over the long-term. Building customer awareness, communicating the brands message and creating customer loyalty takes time. This means that management must invest in a brand, perhaps at the expense of short-term profitability. Internal marketing Finally, management should ensure that the brand is marketed internally as well as externally. By this we mean that the whole business should understand the brand values and positioning. This is particularly important in service businesses where a critical part of the brand value is the type and quality of service that a customer receives. Think of the brands that you value in the restaurant, hotel and retail sectors. It is likely that your favourite brands invest heavily in staff training so that the face-to-face contact that you have with the brand helps secure your loyalty.

BRAND EXTENSION AND BRAND STRETCHING

Marketers have long recognised that strong brand names that deliver higher sales and profits (i.e. those that have brand equity) have the potential to work their magic on other products. The two options for doing this are usually called brand extension and brand stretching.
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Brand extension Brand extension refers to the use of a successful brand name to launch a new or modified product in a same broad market. A successful brand helps a company enter new product categories more easily. For example, Fairy (owned by Unilever) was extended from a washing up liquid brand to become a washing powder brand too. The Lucozade brand has undergone a very successful brand extension from childrens health drink to an energy drink and sports drink. Brand stretching Brand stretching refers to the use of an established brand name for products in unrelated markets. For example the move by Yamaha (originally a Japanese manufacturer of motorbikes) into branded hi-fi equipment, pianos and sports equipment. When done successfully, brand extension can have several advantages: Distributors may perceive there is less risk with a new product if it carries a familiar brand name. If a new food product carries the Heinz brand, it is likely that customers will buy it Customers will associate the quality of the established brand name with the new product. They will be more likely to trust the new product. The new product will attract quicker customer awareness and willingness to trial or sample the product Promotional launch costs (particularly advertising) are likely to be substantially lower.

BRAND POSITIONING
Brand positioning As we have argued in our other revision notes on branding, it is the added value or augmented elements that determine a brands positioning in the market place.
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Positioning can be defined as follows: Positioning is how a product appears in relation to other products in the market Brands can be positioned against competing brands on a perceptual map. A perceptual map defines the market in terms of the way buyers perceive key characteristics of competing products. The basic perceptual map that buyers use maps products in terms of their price and quality, as illustrated below:

Types of brand There are two main types of brand manufacturer brands and own-label brands. Manufacturer brands Manufacturer brands are created by producers and bear their chosen brand name. The producer is responsible for marketing the brand. The brand is owned by the producer. By building their brand names, manufacturers can gain widespread distribution (for example by retailers who want to sell the brand) and build customer loyalty (think about the manufacturer brands that you feel loyal to).

Own label brands Own-label brands are created and owned by businesses that operate in the distribution channel often referred to as distributors. Often these distributors are retailers, but not exclusively. Sometimes the retailers entire product range will be own-label. However, more often, the distributor will mix own-label and

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manufacturers brands. The major supermarkets (e.g. Tesco, Asda, Sainsburys) are excellent examples of this. Own-label branding if well carried out can often offer the consumer excellent value for money and provide the distributor with additional bargaining power when it comes to negotiating prices and terms with manufacturer brands. Why should businesses try to build their brands? There are many advantages to businesses that build successful brands. These include: Higher prices Higher profit margins Better distribution Customer loyalty Businesses that operate successful brands are also much more likely to enjoy higher profits. A brand is created by augmenting a core product with distinctive values that distinguish it from the competition. This is the process of creating brand value. All products have a series of core benefits benefits that are delivered to all consumers. For example: Watches tell the time CD-players play CDs Toothpaste helps prevent tooth decay Garages dispense petrol. Consumers are rarely prepared to pay a premium for products or services that simply deliver core benefits they are the expected elements of that justify a core price. Successful brands are those that deliver added value in addition to the core benefits. These added values enable the brand to differentiate itself from the competition. When done well, the customer recognises the added value in an augmented product and chooses that brand in preference. For example, a consumer may be looking for reassurance or a guarantee of quality in a situation where he or she is unsure about what to buy. A brand like Mercedes, Sony or Microsoft can offer this reassurance or guarantee. Alternatively, the consumer may be looking for the brand to add meaning to his or her life in terms of lifestyle or personal image. Brands such as Nike, Porsche or Timberland do this. A brand can usefully be represented in the classic fried-egg format shown below, where the brand is shown to have core features that are surrounded (or augmented) by less tangible features.

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WHAT IS CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR?

INTRODUCTION:Possibly the most challenging concept in marketing deals with understanding why buyers do what they do (or dont do). But such knowledge is critical for marketers since having a strong understanding of buyer behavior will help shed light on what is important to the customer and

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also suggest the important influences on customer decision-making. Using this information, marketers can create marketing programs that they believe will be of interest to customers. factors affecting how customers make decisions are extremely complex. Buyer behavior is deeply rooted in psychology with dashes of sociology thrown in just to make things more interesting. Since every person in the world is different, it is impossible to have simple rules that explain how buying decisions are made. But those who have spent many years analyzing customer activity have presented us with useful guidelines in how someone decides whether or not to make a purchase. Definition of Buying Behavior: Buying Behavior is the decision processes and acts of people involved in buying and using products. Need to understand:

why consumers make the purchases that they make? what factors influence consumer purchases? the changing factors in our society.

Consumer Buying Behavior refers to the buying behavior of the ultimate consumer. A firm needs to analyze buying behavior for:

Buyers reactions to a firms marketing strategy has a great impact on the firms success. The marketing concept stresses that a firm should create a Marketing Mix (MM) that satisfies (gives utility to) customers, therefore need to analyze the what, where, when and how consumers buy. Marketers can better predict how consumers will respond to marketing strategies.

An important part of the marketing process is to understand why a customer or buyer makes a purchase. Without such an understanding, businesses find it hard to respond to the customers needs and wants. Marketing theory traditionally splits analysis of buyer or customer behaviour into two broad groups for analysis Consumer Buyers and Industrial Buyers Consumer buyers are those who purchase items for their personal consumption Industrial buyers are those who purchase items on behalf of their business or organisation Businesses now spend considerable sums trying to learn about what makes customers tick. The questions they try to understand are: Who buys? How do they buy? When do they buy? Where do they buy? Why do they buy?
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For a marketing manager, the challenge is to understand how customers might respond to the different elements of the marketing mix that are presented to them. If management can understand these customer responses better than the competition, then it is a potentially significant source of competitive advantage.

Types of Consumer Purchase Decisions

Consumers are faced with purchase decisions nearly every day. But not all decisions are treated the same. Some decisions are more complex than others and thus require more effort by the consumer. Other decisions are fairly routine and require little effort. In general, consumers face four types of purchase decisions:

Minor New Purchase these purchases represent something new to a consumer but in the customers mind is not a very important purchase in terms of need, money or other reason (e.g., status within a group). Minor Re-Purchase these are the most routine of all purchases and often the consumer returns to purchase the same product without giving much thought to other product options (i.e., consumer is brand loyalty). Major New Purchase these purchases are the most difficult of all purchases because the product being purchased is important to the consumer but the consumer has little or no previous experience making these decisions. The consumers lack of confidence in making this type of decision often (but not always) requires the consumer to engage in an extensive decision-making process.. Major Re-Purchase - these purchase decisions are also important to the consumer but the consumer feels confident in making these decisions since they have previous experience purchasing the product.

For marketers it is important to understand how consumers treat the purchase decisions they face. If a company is targeting customers who feel a purchase decision is difficult (i.e., Major New Purchase), their marketing strategy may vary greatly from a company targeting customers who view the purchase decision as routine. In fact, the same company may face both situations at the same time; for some the product is new, while other customers see the purchase as routine. The implication of buying behavior for marketers is that different buying situations require different marketing efforts.

WHY CONSUMERS BUY

Customers make purchases in order to satisfy needs. Some of these needs are basic and must be filled by everyone on the planet (e.g., food, shelter) while others are not required for basic survival and vary depending on the person. It probably makes more sense to classify needs that are not a necessity as wants or desires. In fact, in many countries where the standard of living is very high, a large portion of the populations income is spent on wants and desires rather than on basic needs. In this when we mention the consumer we are referring to the actual buyer, the person spending the money. But is should also be pointed out that the one who does the buying is not
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necessarily the user of what is bought and that others may be involved in the buying decision in addition to the actual buyer. While the purchasing process in the consumer market is not as complex as the business market, having multiple people involved in a purchase decision is not unusual. For example, in planning for a family vacation the mother may make the hotel reservations but others in the family may have input on the hotel choice. Similarly, a father may purchase snacks at the grocery store but his young child may be the one who selected it from the store shelf. So understanding consumer purchase behavior involves not only understanding how decisions are made but also understanding the dynamics that influence purchases.

Stages of the Consumer Buying Process

Whether a consumer will actually carryout each step depends on the type of purchase decision that is faced. For instance, for minor re-purchases the consumer may be quite loyal to the same brand, thus the decision is a routine one (i.e., buy the same product) and little effort is involved in making a purchase decision. In cases of routine, brand loyal purchases consumers may skip several steps in the purchasing process since they know exactly what they want allowing the consumer to move quickly through the steps. But for more complex decisions, such as Major New Purchases, the purchasing process can extend for days, weeks, months or longer. So in presenting these steps marketers should realize that, depending on the circumstances surrounding the purchase, the importance of each step may vary. 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:

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1. Need/Want/Desire is Recognized

In the first step the consumer has determined that for some reason he/she is not satisfied (i.e., consumers perceived actual condition) and wants to improve his/her situation (i.e., consumers perceived desired condition). For instance, internal triggers, such as hunger or thirst, may tell the consumer that food or drink is needed. External factors can also trigger consumers needs. Marketers are particularly good at this through advertising, in-store displays and even the intentional use of scent (e.g., perfume counters). At this stage the decision-making process may stall if the consumer is not motivated to continue (see Motivation above). However, if the consumer does have the internal drive to satisfy the need they will continue to the next step.
2. Search for Information

Assuming consumers are motivated to satisfy his or her need, they will next undertake a search for information on possible solutions. The sources used to acquire this information may be as simple as remembering information from past experience (i.e., memory) or the consumer may expend considerable effort to locate information from outside sources (e.g., Internet search, talk with others, etc.). How much effort the consumer directs toward searching depends on such factors as: the importance of satisfying the need, familiarity with available solutions, and the amount of time available to search. To appeal to consumers who are at the search stage, marketers should make efforts to ensure consumers can locate information related to their product. For example, for marketers whose customers rely on the Internet for information gathering, attaining high rankings in search engines has become a critical marketing objective. An aroused customer then needs to decide how much information (if any) is required. If the need is strong and there is a product or service that meets the need close to hand, then a purchase decision is likely to be made there and then. If not, then the process of information search begins. A customer can obtain information from several sources: Personal sources: family, friends, neighbours etc Commercial sources: advertising; salespeople; retailers; dealers; packaging; point-of-sale displays Public sources: newspapers, radio, television, consumer organisations; specialist magazines Experiential sources: handling, examining, using the product The usefulness and influence of these sources of information will vary by product and by customer. Research suggests that customers value and respect personal sources more than
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commercial sources (the influence of word of mouth). The challenge for the marketing team is to identify which information sources are most influential in their target markets. In the evaluation stage, the customer must choose between the alternative brands, products and services.
3. Evaluate Options

Consumers search efforts may result in a set of options from which a choice can be made. It should be noted that there may be two levels to this stage. At level one the consumer may create a set of possible solutions to their needs (i.e., product types) while at level two the consumer may be evaluating particular products (i.e., brands) within each solution. For example, a consumer who needs to replace a television has multiple solutions to choose from such as plasma, LCD and CRT televisions. Within each solution type will be multiple brands from which to choose. Marketers need to understand how consumers evaluate product options and why some products are included while others are not. Most importantly, marketers must determine which criteria consumers are using in their selection of possible options and how each criterion is evaluated. Returning to the television example, marketing tactics will be most effective when the marketer can tailor their efforts by knowing what benefits are most important to consumers when selecting options (e.g., picture quality, brand name, screen size, etc.) and then determine the order of importance of each benefit. 4. Purchase decision Choose buying alternative, includes product, package, store, method of purchase etc.
5 .Purchase

In many cases the solution chosen by the consumer is the same as the product whose evaluation is the highest. However, this may change when it is actually time to make the purchase. The intended purchase may be altered at the time of purchase for many reasons such as: the product is out-of-stock, a competitor offers an incentive at the point-of-purchase (e.g., store salesperson mentions a competitors offer), the customer lacks the necessary funds (e.g., credit card not working), or members of the consumers reference group take a negative view of the purchase (e.g., friend is critical of purchase). Marketers whose product is most desirable to the consumer must make sure that the transaction goes smoothly. For example, Internet retailers have worked hard to prevent consumers from abandoning online purchase (i.e., online shopping carts) by streamlining the checkout process. For marketers whose product is not the consumers selected product, last chance marketing efforts may be worth exploring, such as offering incentives to store personnel to talk up their product at the checkout line. May differ from decision, time lapse between 4 & 5, product availability.
6.Post-Purchase Evaluation

Once the consumer has made the purchase they are faced with an evaluation of the decision. If the product performs below the consumers expectation then he/she will re-evaluate satisfaction with the decision, which at its extreme may result in the consumer returning the product while in less extreme situations the consumer will retain the purchased item but may take a negative view of the product. Such evaluations are more likely to occur in cases of expensive or highly important purchases. To help ease the concerns consumers have with their
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purchase evaluation, marketers need to be receptive and even encourage consumer contact. Customer service centers and follow-up market research are useful tools in helping to address purchasers concerns.

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. Buyers 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. Limited Decision Making--buying product occasionally. When you need to obtain information about unfamiliar brand in a familiar product category, perhaps. Requires a moderate amount of time for information gathering. Examples include Clothes--know product class but not the brand. Extensive Decision Making/Complex high involvement, unfamiliar, expensive and/or infrequently bought products. High degree of economic/performance/psychological risk. Examples include cars, homes, computers, education. Spend alot of time seeking information and deciding. Information from the companies MM; friends and relatives, store personnel etc. Go through all six stages of the buying process. Impulse buying, no conscious planning.

The purchase of the same product does not always elicit the same Buying Behavior. Product can shift from one category to the next. For example: Going out for dinner for one person may be extensive decision making (for someone that does not go out often at all), but limited decision making for someone else. The reason for the dinner, whether it is an anniversary celebration, or a meal with a couple of friends will also determine the extent of the decision making.

Why should a marketer need to understand the customer evaluation process?

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The answer lies in the kind of information that the marketing team needs to provide customers in different buying situations. In high-involvement decisions, the marketer needs to provide a good deal of information about the positive consequences of buying. The sales force may need to stress the important attributes of the product, the advantages compared with the competition; and maybe even encourage trial or sampling of the product in the hope of securing the sale.

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STIMULUS-RESPONSE MODEL
A well-developed and tested model of buyer behaviour is known as the stimulus-response model, which is summarised in the diagram below:

In the above model, marketing and other stimuli enter the customers black box and produce certain responses. Marketing management must try to work out what goes on the in the mind of the customer the black box. The Buyers characteristics influence how he or she perceives the stimuli; the decision-making process determines what buying behaviour is undertaken. Characteristics that affect customer behaviour The first stage of understanding buyer behaviour is to focus on the factors that determine he buyer characteristics in the black box. These can be summarised as follows:

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Each of these factors is discussed in more detail in our other revision notes on buyer behaviour.

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FACTORS INFLUENCING CONSUMER BUYING PROCESS

As we know that the decision-making process for consumers is anything but straight forward. There are many factors that can affect this process as a person works through the purchase decision. The number of potential influences on consumer behavior is limitless. However, marketers are well served to understand the KEY influences. By doing so they may be in a position to tailor their marketing efforts to take advantage of these influences in a way that will satisfy the consumer and the marketer (remember this is a key part of the definition of marketing).

INTERNAL INFLUENCES
We start our examination of the influences on consumer purchase decisions by first looking inside ourselves to see which are the most important internal factors that affect how we make choices.
Perceptual Filter

Perception is how we see ourselves and the world we live in. However, what ends up being stored inside us doesnt always get there in a direct manner. Often our mental makeup results from information that has been consciously or subconsciously filtered as we experience it, a process we refer to as a perceptual filter. To us this is our reality, though it does not mean it is an accurate reflection on what is real. Thus, perception is the way we filter stimuli (e.g., someone talking to us, reading a newspaper story) and then make sense out of it. Perception has several steps.

Exposure sensing a stimuli (e.g. seeing an ad) Attention an effort to recognize the nature of a stimuli (e.g. recognizing it is an ad) Awareness assigning meaning to a stimuli (e.g., humorous ad for particular product) Retention adding the meaning to ones internal makeup (i.e., product has fun ads)

How these steps are eventually carried out depends on a persons approach to learning. By learning we mean how someone changes what they know, which in turn may affect how they
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act. There are many theories of learning, a discussion of which is beyond the scope of this tutorial, however, suffice to say that people are likely to learn in different ways. For instance, one person may be able to focus very strongly on a certain advertisement and be able to retain the information after being exposed only one time while another person may need to be exposed to the same advertisement many times before he/she even recognizes what it is. Consumers are also more likely to retain information if a person has a strong interest in the stimuli. If a person is in need of new car they are more likely to pay attention to a new advertisement for a car while someone who does not need a car may need to see the advertisement many times before they recognize the brand of automobile. Marketing Implications: Marketers spend large sums of money in an attempt to get customers to have a positive impression of their products. But clearly the existence of a perceptual filter suggests that getting to this stage is not easy. Exposing consumers to a product can be very challenging considering the amount of competing product messages (ads) that are also trying to accomplish the same objective (i.e., advertising clutter). So marketers must be creative and use various means to deliver their message. Once the message reaches consumer it must be interesting enough to capture their attention (e.g., talk about the products benefits). But attending to the message is not enough. For marketers the most critical step is the one that occurs with awareness. Here marketers must continually monitor and respond if their message becomes distorted in ways that will negatively shape its meaning. This can often happen due in part to competitive activity (e.g., comparison advertisements). Finally, getting the consumer to give positive meaning to the message they have retained requires the marketer make sure that consumers accurately interpret the facts about the product.
Knowledge

Knowledge is the sum of all information known by a person. It is the facts of the world as he/she knows it and the depth of knowledge is a function of the breadth of worldly experiences and the strength of an individuals long-term memory. Obviously what exists as knowledge to an individual depends on how an individuals perceptual filter makes sense of the information it is exposed to. Marketing Implications: Marketers may conduct research that will gauge consumers level of knowledge regarding their product. As we will see below, it is likely that other factors influencing consumer behavior are in large part shaped by what is known about a product. Thus, developing methods (e.g., incentives) to encourage consumers to accept more information (or correct information) may affect other influencing factors.
Attitude

In simple terms attitude refers to what a person feels or believes about something. Additionally, attitude may be reflected in how an individual acts based on his or her beliefs. Once formed, attitudes can be very difficult to change. Thus, if a consumer has a negative attitude toward a particular issue it will take considerable effort to change what they believe to be true. Marketing Implications: Marketers facing consumers who have a negative attitude toward their product must work to
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identify the key issues shaping a consumers attitude then adjust marketing decisions (e.g., advertising) in an effort to change the attitude. For companies competing against strong rivals to whom loyal consumers exhibit a positive attitude, an important strategy is to work to see why consumers feel positive toward the competitor and then try to meet or beat the competitor on these issues. Alternatively, a company can try to locate customers who feel negatively toward the competitor and then increase awareness among this group.
Personality

An individuals personality relates to perceived personal characteristics that are consistently exhibited, especially when one acts in the presence of others. In most, but not all, cases the behaviors one projects in a situation is similar to the behaviors a person exhibits in another situation. In this way personality is the sum of sensory experiences others get from experiencing a person (i.e., how one talks, reacts). While ones personality is often interpreted by those we interact with, the person has their own vision of their personality, called Self Concept, which may or may not be the same has how others view us. Marketing Implications: For marketers it is important to know that consumers make purchase decisions to support their self concept. Using research techniques to identify how customers view themselves may give marketers insight into products and promotion options that are not readily apparent. For example, when examining consumers a marketer may initially build marketing strategy around more obvious clues to consumption behavior, such as consumers demographic indicators (e.g., age, occupation, income). However, in-depth research may yield information that shows consumers are purchasing products to fulfill self-concept objectives that have little to do with the demographic category they fall into (e.g., senior citizen may be making purchases that make them feel younger). Appealing to the consumers self concept needs could expand the market to which the product is targeted.
Lifestyle

This influencing factor relates to the way we live through the activities we engage in and interests we express. In simple terms it is what we value out of life. Lifestyle is often determined by how we spend our time and money. Marketing Implications: Products and services are purchased to support consumers lifestyles. Marketers have worked hard researching how consumers in their target markets live their lives since this information is key to developing products, suggesting promotional strategies and even determining how best to distribute products. The fact that lifestyle is so directly tied to marketing activity will be further examined as we discuss developing target market strategies
Roles

Roles represent the position we feel we hold or others feel we should hold when dealing in a group environment. These positions carry certain responsibilities yet it is important to understand that some of these responsibilities may, in fact, be perceived and not spelled out or even accepted by others. In support of their roles, consumers will make product choices that may vary depending on which role they are assuming. As illustration, a person who is

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responsible for selecting snack food for an office party his boss will attend may choose higher quality products than he would choose when selecting snacks for his family. Marketing Implications: Advertisers often show how the benefits of their products aid consumers as they perform certain roles. Typically the underlying message of this promotional approach is to suggest that using the advertisers product will help raise ones status in the eyes of others while using a competitors product may have a negative effect on status.
Motivation

Motivation relates to our desire to achieve a certain outcome. Many internal factors we have already discussed can affect a customers desire to achieve a certain outcome but there are others. For instance, when it comes to making purchase decisions customers motivation could be affected by such issues as financial position (e.g., Can I afford the purchase?), time constraints (e.g., Do I need to make the purchase quickly?), overall value (e.g., Am I getting my moneys worth?), and perceived risk (e.g., What happens if I make a bad decision?). Marketing Implications: Motivation is also closely tied to the concept of Involvement, which relates to how much effort the consumer will exert in making a decision. Highly motivated consumers will want to get mentally and physically involved in the purchase process. Not all products have a high percentage of highly involved customers (e.g., milk) but marketers who market products and services that may lead to high level of consumer involvement should prepare options that will be attractive to this group. For instance, marketers should make it easy for consumers to learn about their product (e.g., information on website, free video preview) and, for some products, allow customers to experience the product (e.g., free trial) before committing to the purchase.

EXTERNAL INFLUENCES
Consumer purchasing decisions are often affected by factors that are outside of their control but have direct or indirect impact on how we live and what we consume.
Culture

Culture represents the behavior, beliefs and, in many cases, the way we act learned by interacting or observing other members of society. In this way much of what we do is shared behavior, passed along from one member of society to another. Yet culture is a broad concept that, while of interest to marketers, is not nearly as important as understanding what occurs within smaller groups or Sub-Cultures to which we may also belong. Sub-cultures also have shared values but this occurs within smaller groups. For instance, sub-cultures exist where groups share similar values in terms of ethnicity, religious beliefs, geographic location, special interests and many others. Marketing Implications: As part of their efforts to convince customers to purchase their products, marketers often use cultural representations, especially in promotional appeals. The objective is to connect to consumers using cultural references that are easily understood and often embraced by the consumer. By doing so the marketer hopes the consumer feels more comfortable with or can relate better to the product since it corresponds with their cultural values. Additionally, smart
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marketers use strong research efforts in an attempt to identify differences in how sub-culture behaves. These efforts help pave the way for spotting trends within a sub-culture, which the marketer can capitalize on through new marketing tactics (e.g., new products, new sales channels, added value, etc.).
Other Group Membership

In addition to cultural influences, consumers belong to many other groups with which they share certain characteristics and which may influence purchase decisions. Often these groups contain Opinion Leaders or others who have major influence on what the customer purchases. Some of the basic groups we may belong to include:

Social Class represents the social standing one has within a society based on such factors as income level, education, occupation Family ones family situation can have a strong effect on how purchase decisions are made Reference groups most consumers simultaneously belong to many other groups with which they associate or, in some cases, feel the need to disassociate

Marketing Implications: Identifying and understanding the groups consumers belong to is a key strategy for marketers. Doing so helps identify target markets, develop new products, and create appealing marketing promotions to which consumers can relate. In particular, marketers seek to locate group leaders and others to whom members of the group look for advice or direction. These opinion leaders, if well respected by the group, can be used to gain insight into group behavior and if these opinion leaders accept promotional opportunities could act as effective spokespeople for the marketers products.
Purchase Situation

A purchase decision can be strongly affected by the situation in which people find themselves. In general, a situation is the circumstances a person faces when making a purchase decision, such as the nature of their physical environment, their emotional state, or time constraints. Not all situations are controllable, in which case a consumer may not follow their normal process for making a purchase decision. For instance, if a person needs a product quickly and a store does not carry the brand they normally purchase, the customer may choose a competitors product. Marketing Implications: Marketers can take advantage of decisions made in uncontrollable situations in at least two ways. First, marketers can use promotional methods to reinforce a specific selection of products when the consumer is confronted with a particular situation. For example, automotive services can be purchased that promise to service vehicles if the user runs into problems anywhere and at anytime. Second, marketers can use marketing methods that attempt to convince consumers that a situation is less likely to occur if the marketers product is used. This can also be seen with auto products, where marketers explain that using their product will prevent unexpected damage to their vehicles.

Perspectives on Corporate Branding Strategy

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10 steps to successful Corporate Branding Corporate branding is a potentially strong tool for re-aligning a corporate strategy and ensures that the corporation - big or small - is leveraging adequately on the un-tapped internal and external resources. VentureRepublic believes - and our experience across clients shows - that a strong CEO and a dedicated management team are always seeking to raise their own bars and be change agents for their corporations backed by a strong corporate branding strategy. A welldrafted and professionally managed corporate branding strategy and implementation plan can be a powerful component of the board room work. VentureRepublic has identified 10 crucial steps on the way to a successful corporate branding strategy, and they can serve as a useful guide for any corporate branding project. 1. The CEO needs to lead the brand strategy work The starting point for corporate branding must be the board room, which is also serving as the most important check-point during the project. The CEO must be personally involved in the brand strategy work, and he/she must be passionate and fully buy into the idea of branding. To ensure success despite the daily and stressful routine with many duties at the same time, the CEO must be backed by a strong brand management team of senior contributors, who can facilitate a continuous development and integration of the new strategy. 2. Build your own model as not every model suits all All companies have their own specific requirements, own sets of business values and a unique way of doing things. Therefore, even the best and most comprehensive branding models have to be tailored to these needs and requirements. Often, only a few but important adjustments are needed to align them with other similar business models and strategies in the company to create a simplified toolbox. Remember that branding is the face of a business strategy so these two areas must go hand in hand. 3. Involve your stakeholders including the customers Who knows more about your company than the customers, the employees and many other stakeholders? This is common sense, but many companies forget these simple and easily accessible sources of valuable information for the branding strategy. A simple rule is to use 5% of the marketing budget on research and at least obtain a fair picture of the current business landscape including the current brand image among stakeholders, brand positioning and also any critical paths ahead. Simply do not forget the valuable voice of your customers in this process.

4. Advance the corporate vision The corporate branding strategy is an excellent channel for advancing the corporate vision throughout the company. It allows the management to involve, educate and align everyone around the corporate objectives, values and future pathway. It provides a guiding star and leads
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everyone in the same direction. The internal efforts are at least 50% of making a corporate branding strategy successful. 5. Exploit new technology Modern technology should play a part of a successful corporate branding strategy. Technology helps to gain effectiveness and improve the competitive edge of the corporation. A welldesigned and fully updated Intranet is a must in today's working environment which has become increasingly virtual with employees working from home, from other locations and traveling across the globe to name only a few factors. An Extranet can facilitate a much more seem less integration with strategic partners, suppliers and customers, avoid time consuming paper work and manual handling of many issues. A company website is not only a must, but rather a crucial channel for any modern corporation regardless of size. If the corporation is not accessible on the Internet, it does not exist! The more professional the website, the better the perception among the Internet savvy modern customer. Gone are the days where corporations could get along with a business card portrayed on the Internet. 6. Empower people to become brand ambassadors The most important asset in a corporation is its people. They do interact every day with colleagues, customers, suppliers, competitors and industry experts to name a few. But they also interact with an impressive number of people totally disconnected to the corporation in form of family members, friends, former colleagues and many others. Hence they serve as the corporations most important brand ambassadors as the word-of-mouth can be extremely valuable and have great impact on the overall image of the corporate brand image. The most effective way to turn employees into brand ambassadors is to train everyone adequately in the corporate brand strategy (vision, values and personality etc.) and making sure they fully understand - and believe! - what exactly the corporation aims at being in the minds of its customers and stakeholders. Nike is a brand which is known for their efforts into educating and empowering everyone employed by the company to be strong brand ambassadors. 7. Create the right delivery system The corporate brand is the face of the business strategy and basically it promises what all stakeholders should expect from the corporation. Therefore, the delivery of the right products and services with all the implications this entail should be carefully scrutinized and evaluated on performance before any corporation starts a corporate branding project. Think of the cradle to grave concept of a lifelong customer and the value he/she will provide in such a time span. Make sure he/she is handled with outstanding care according to internal specifications and outside expectations. The moment of truth is when the corporate brand promise is delivered well - and it does not hurt if the corporation exceeds the customer expectation. Singapore Airlines runs a very rigid, detailed and in-depth description of any customer touch points with the corporation, and several resources are spend on making sure it actually does happen every time to every customer. All employees regardless of title and rank from Singapore Airlines spend a not insignificant amount of workdays being trained every year. 8. Communicate! Bring the corporate brand to life through a range of well-planned, well-executed marketing activities, and make sure the overall messages are consistent, clear and relevant to the target
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audiences. Make sure the various messages are concise and easy to comprehend. Do not try to communicate every single point from the corporate branding strategy. Instead, a selective approach will make much more impact using the same resources. 9. Measure the brand performance A brand is accountable and so should a corporate brand be. How much value does it provide to the corporation and how instrumental is the brand in securing competitiveness? These are some of the questions which need to be answered and which the CEO will automatically seek as part of his/her commitment to run the strategy successfully. The brand equity consists of various individually tailor-made key performance indicators (including the financial brand value) and needs to be tracked regularly. A brand score card can help facilitating an overview of the brand equity and the progression as the strategy is implemented. 10. Adjust relentlessly and be ready to raise your own bar all the times The business landscape is changing almost every day in every industry. Hence the corporation needs to evaluate and possibly adjust the corporate branding strategy on a regular basis. Obviously, a corporate brand should stay relevant, differentiated and consistent throughout time, so it is a crucial balance. The basic parts of the corporate branding strategy like vision, identity, personality and values are not to be changed often as they are the basic components. The changes are rather small and involve the thousands of daily actions and interpersonal behaviors, which the corporations employ as part of the brand marketing efforts. But make sure complacency does not take root in the organisation and affects the goal setting. The strong brands are the ones which are driven forward by owners whom never get tired of raising their own bars. They become their own change agents - and brand champions for great brands.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. www.udel.edu 2. www.tutur2u.com 3. www.knowthis.com/tuturials 4. http://www.venturerepublic.com/resources/10_steps_to_successful_Corporate_ Branding.asp 5. http://www.venturerepublic.com/resources/Customer-centric_customerdriven_brand_marketing.asp 6. http://www.scribd.com/doc/2021701/LITERATURE-REVIEW-Influence-onConsumer-Buying-behavior-of-Mobile-Phone7. http://referaty-seminarky.sk/consumer-markets-influences-on-consumerbehavior/ 8. http://www.oppapers.com/essays/Consumer-Buyer-Behaviour/126550 9. http://www.intra.som.umass.edu/schewe/som660/ppt/week6.ppt

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10. http://www.termpaperslab.com/term-papers/126550.html 11. www.cme.org.tw/journal/search/JournalFile/v02n02/V02N2-4.pdf 12. www.zyk.szpt.edu.cn/shangwu/admin/eWebEditor/UploadFile/M20070316T10 5152R275311.doc 13. ww.therestaurantschool.com/Instructors/Morrow/documents/06_Marketing.pdf 14. http://www.point-articles.com/articles/3.branding-and-corporateidentity/122.keys-to-branding-your-growing-business.html Keys to Branding Your Growing Business by Jay Lipe,Published on 5/26/06 15. Your Brand Is Your Promise! (What are you promising?) By Phillip Davis President of Tungsten Brilliant Brand Marketing 16. Dig a Deeper Well... How to Tap the Power of Your Brand Image by Phil Davis, President Tungsten Brilliant Brand Marketing 17.http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/westburn/jmm/2007/00000023/F0020005/ art00009 18. http://maxpages.com/confacts(Key Factors Affecting Consumer Decisions By: Miraye Nicolas and Amanda Abboud) 19. https://www.msu.edu/course/fim/220/outline2.pdf 20. http://www.nmmu.ac.za/documents/busman/SU3.pdf 21. Strategic Brand Management by Kevin Lane Keller 22. Marketing Management by Philip Kotler.

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