Consumer behaviour

Question 1

What does the model of consumer behaviour look like?

Answer 1

1) Marketing and other stimuli - Marketing mix
PESTEL
2) Buyers black box -
Buyers characteristics
Buyers decision process
3) Buyer responses -
buying attitudes and preferences
Purchase behaviour
product choice, brand choice, dealer choice, purchase timing, purchase amount
- Brand and company relationship behaviour

Question 2

What are the jobs of the following: Initiator, influencer, decider, buyer, user

Answer 2

Initiator - Begins the process
Influencer - Persuades others
Decider - Makes the ultimate decision 
Buyer - Conducts the transaction
User - Consumes the product

Question 3

What is considered in the consumer buying decision making process?

Answer 3

Individual influences - personal
Group influences - Culture, Social
Marketing mix
Situational influences

Question 4

What are the 5 stages of the decision making process?

Answer 4

1) Need recognition / problem awareness
2) Information search
3) Evaluation of alternatives
4) Purchase
5) Post-purchase evaluation of decision

Question 5

Explain Stage 1 - recognition / problem awareness

Answer 5

• Functional and emotional needs, working out exactly what customer needs to be satisfied with and how
• Triggered by internal or external stimuli
• not all needs are acted upon due to need inhibitors, eg too many products/offerings for the consumer to understand
• marketing managers need to be aware of needs, need inhibitors, need stimulation

Question 6

Explain Stage 2 - information search

Answer 6

• identification of alternative ways of problem solution
• use of internal and external search sources, eg search engines and human beings
• main objective to build up the awareness/choice set
• past experiences may assist in finding out what can solve the problem
• Also beginning risk management here, eg cost benefit analysis

Question 7

Explain Stage 3 - Evaluation of alternatives

Answer 7

• consumer uses information to evaluate alternative brands in choice
• evaluation criteria can include Technical, economic, social, personal
• consumers effectively begin to seek out the best deal, can base on price, quality or other factors
• Rule of thumb - based on practise rather than theory

Question 8

Explain Stage 4 - Purchase/Selection stage

Answer 8

• consumer actually buys product

- may be influenced by attitude of others following or unexpected situational factors

Question 9

Explain Stage 5 - Post - purchase evaluation of the decision

Answer 9

• Affects likely hood of repeat purchase and loyal customers greatly
• Cognitive dissonance = buyer discomfort either from price, difficult decision, anxiety about the product
• advertisements can act as a positive reinforcement - after sales service

Question 10

What is meant by the adoption process?

Answer 10

The mental process an individual goes through from first learning about an innovation to final regular use

Question 11

what are the five stages of the adoption process?

Answer 11

Awareness- if you’re not aware of the product, you’re not going to buy the product
interest - Wont buy it unless you know about it, information search
Evaluation/Trial,
Adoption - consumer finally decides to adopt the product

Question 12

Name and explain the four types of buying behaviour

Answer 12

Complex - occurs when consumer are highy involved in the purchasing process and know the significant differences between brands. EG when consume is purchasing an expensive, infrequently bought product
Variety seeking - Occurs when consumer has low involvement but can see noteworthy differences between brands. Often observed that they switch brands often
Dissonance reducing - consumer is highly involved but sees very little difference within the brands, can be expensive products but the buyer can still choose fairly quickly between the brands as they dont see much difference
Habitual - little involvement in the purchase and little difference between brands. simply go to the store and reach for the preferred brand, showing a habitual pattern.

Question 13

What are the 4 factors that affect consumer behaviour?

Answer 13

Culture, social, personal and psychological

Question 14

Explain how culture factors affect consumer behaviour

Answer 14

There is learned values, perceptions and behaviours that may not agree with certain ideas, shared meanings and rituals and traditions among members of a society
subculture: group of people within a culture with shared value system based on common life experiences including nationalities and geographical regions, religions.
social class; divides up individuals based on occupation, income, education and wealth.

Question 15

Explain how social factors affect consumer behaviour

Answer 15

groups and social networks - membership groups, reference groups and aspirational groups
family - composition, roles, spending power

Question 16

What is a reference group

Answer 16

reference group - A reference group is a collection of people that we use as a standard of comparison for ourselves regardless of whether we are part of that group. We rely on reference groups to understand social norms, which then shape our values, ideas, behavior, and appearance. This means that we also use them to evaluate the relative worth, desirability, or appropriateness of these things.

Expressing reference group norms and behavior through consumption is one of the most easily visible examples of this phenomenon. In choosing what clothing to buy and wear, for example, we typically refer to those around us, like friends or peer groups, colleagues, or to stylistic reference groups, like preppy, hipster, or ratchet, among others. We gauge what is normal and expected by paying attention to our reference group, and then we reproduce those norms in our own consumer choices and appearance.

Question 17

Explain how personal factors can affect consumer behaviour

Answer 17

Age - demand for different products changes
Lifestyle/ psychographics - interests and activities
Occupation - affects purchasing power
personality and self control

Question 18

Explain how Psychological factors affect consumer behaviour

Answer 18

Perception is the process by which we select, interpret and organise information from an outside world. three things that lead to our perception:
Selective attention: screen out what we want and don’t want to see
selective distortion: adapt information we are given/here
selective retention: only remembering the things that we want to.
By learning we can change /adapt our behaviour

Question 19

Definition of belief and attitude

Answer 19

Belief:
A descriptive thought a person holds.
Attitude: Lasting evaluations of a person, object or issue. A settled way of thinking about something
marketers must decide which attitude component will drive consumer preferences ( Affective - feeling/emotion, cognitive - knowing/belief, Conative - intention/doing)

Question 20

Describe Maslow’s Hierachy of needs and related products

Answer 20

higher level needs
self actualisation - eg hobbies, education, travel - self fufilment
ego needs - car, furniture - status
belongingness - clothing, products, clubs - acceptance by others
safety - insurance, alarms systems, retirement - security and shelter
Physiological - water, sleep, food
Lowe level needs