CBMR

Unit-1
Q.2 Differentiate between pre and post purchase behaviour.
Ans- Pre-Purchase Behavior
When a consumer realizes the needs, he goes for an information search. He does the same, so that he can
make the right decision. He gathers the information about the following

Product Brands

Products Variations

Product Quality

Product Alternatives.

The consumer can gather information about a product depending on his age, gender, education and
products price, risk and acceptance.
Types of Search Activities
The information search activity can be classified into various types such as the following
Specific
Specific kind of activities are directly related to the problem. These kinds of requirements need
immediate assistance.
Ongoing
Consumers go on with their research for a particular period of time if they decide or if they want to buy a
particular product. Ongoing activities basically show the work in progress.
Incidental
Now, anything that we observe incidentally or just accidentally or naturally comes under incidental
research. Such information can be observed in our daily routine lives.
Following are the information sources available
The information sources are of two types which are listed under

Internal Sources Internal sources includes the consumer himself. Here he himself recalls the
information that is stored in his memory and uses his experiences.

External Sources External sources of information include all sorts of interpersonal

communication with the external environment such as friends, family, marketing people, through
advertisements, etc.

Post-Purchase Behavior

All the activities and experiences that follow purchase are included in the post purchase behavior.
Usually, after making a purchase, consumers experience post-purchase dissonance. They sometimes
regret their decisions made. It mainly occurs due to a large number of alternatives available, good
performance of alternatives or attractiveness of alternatives, etc.
The marketers sometimes need to assure the consumer that the choice made by them is the right one. The
seller can mention or even highlight the important features or attributes and benefits of the product to
address and solve their concerns if any.
A high level of post-purchase dissonance is negatively related to the level of satisfaction which the
consumer draws out of product usage. To reduce post-purchase dissonance, consumers may sometimes
even return or exchange the product
Q.1 What are the various factors that influence Consumer decision making process?
Ans- Consumer Decision Making Process - Factors influencing a purchase

Cultural factors: Are there any cultural factors that affect consumer buying decisions for your
product/service? The underlying elements of every culture are the values, language, myths, customs,
rituals, and laws that shape the behavior of the cultures, as well as the artifacts, or products, of that
behavior as they are transmitted from one generation to the next. Culture is pervasive, encompassing all
the things consumers do without conscious choice. It is functional, giving order to society. It is learned
from parents, teachers, and peers. It is dynamic, adapting to changing needs.
Social Factors: social factors that affect consumer buying decisions Social factors include family,
reference groups, opinion leaders, social class, life cycle, culture, and subculture. Consumers may use
products or brands to identify with or become a member of a reference group. Opinion leaders are
members of reference groups who influence others purchase decisions. Family members also influence
purchase decisions; children tend to shop in patterns like their parents. Marketers often define their target
markets in terms of consumers life cycle stage, social class, culture, and subculture; consumers with
similar
characteristics
generally
have
similar
consumption
patterns.
Individual Factors: Identify and understand the individual factors that affect consumer buying decisions
Personal or individual factors include gender, age, family life cycle stage, personality, self-concept, and
lifestyles.
Psychological Factors: Identify and understand the psychological factors that affect consumer buying
decisions An individuals buying decisions are further influenced by the following psychological factors:
perceptions, motivation, learning, and beliefs and attitudes. These factors are what consumers use to
interact with their world.
Que-Explain the key determinants of buyers behaviour in respect of any example at your choice.
Ans- The determinants of consumer behaviour can be grouped into three major captions namely,
economic, psychological and sociological. An attempt is made to elucidate these with least complications.
I. Economic Determinants:
Economic scientists were the first among social scientists to study consumers and their behaviour and
provided the details about the solutions to the consumer and consumption problems.

The basic economic determinants among others are:

1. Personal income:
Ones income is the reward for ones economic efforts. Income means purchasing power. When we talk of
income in marketing sense, we are more concerned with disposable income and discretionary income.
2. Family income:
Where a consumer is the member of a joint family, the buyer behaviour is influenced by the family
income rather than the individual income. It does not mean that one can ignore the individual income, for
family income is the aggregate of individual income of all the members of the family.
`3. Consumer income expectations:
Many a times, it is the future income expectations of the consumer that influences such consumer
behaviour. It is the optimism or the pessimism about consumer income that determines the level of current
spending.
If there are bleak prospects of future expected income, he spends less now and saves more and vice versa.
It is worth the noting here that the force and vitality of a tendency to spend or save depends on the nature
of consumer needs.
4. Consumer liquid assets:
It is the consumer liquid asset position that influences the consumer behaviour. Liquid assets of
consumers are the assets held in the money or near-money forms of investments. The best examples of
this kind are hard cash, bank balance, bank deposits, shares and bonds and saving certificates.
6. The level of standard of living:
The consumer behaviour has the impact of the established standard of living to which he is accustomed.
Even if consumer income goes down, the consumer spending will not come down proportionately
because, it is very difficult to come down from an established standard of living.
II. Psychological Determinants:
Psychologists have also provided certain clues as to why a consumer behaves this way or that way. The
major psychological determinants internal to the individual are motivation perception learning, attitude
and personality.
1. Motivation:
Motivation is the why of behaviour. It is an intervening variable between stimulus and response and a
governing force of consumer behaviour.
According to him, fulfillment of one will lead to the fulfillment of higher motives. The implications are
that as we move up in the ladder, the input of marketing becomes more and more deep and subtle.
2. Perception:
Marketing management is concerned with the understanding of the process of perception because,
perception leads to thought and thought leads to action. Perception is the process whereby stimuli are
received and interpreted by the individual and translated into a response.
In other words, perception is the process by which the mind receives, organises and interprets physical
stimuli. To perceive is to see, hear, touch, taste, smell and sense internally something or some event or
some relation.

Perception has its own impact on consumer behaviour or consumer decision-making. Let us take
some such cases:
Product and brand perception:
Good many studies have been made of the ways in which the consumers perceive the products and the
brands they choose regularly. It is brand images and the brand differentiation that play vital role in
perception in addition to the physical characteristics of the product. Therefore, it is a must for a marketer
to examine all the factors that impinge on the construction of a brand image to ascertain their effects on
consumer perception of the companys marketing mix.
Price perception:
Price is another element of marketing mix where perception has its implications. Studies have proved
beyond doubt that consumers judge product or service quality by price. Higher the price better the
quality that goes.
This goes on establishing that there is going to the direct or positive relationship between price and
demand where marketer is cared to gain. Another aspect of this price perception is psychological
pricing.The reasoning behind such pricing strategies is that consumers are likely to perceive used in cutprice sales promotions to increase the feeling that a price has been drastically reduced.
III. Sociological Determinants:
In the area of psychological determinants, the consumer behaviour was seen from the stand point view of
an individual. However, the sociologists and social psychologists have attempted to explain the behaviour
of a group of individuals and the way in which it affects and conditions and individuals behaviour in
marketing or purchase decisions.
These groups of individuals as determinants are:
(1) Family
(2) Reference groups
(3) Opinion leaders
(4) Social class and
(5) Caste and culture.
Unit II
Que-Describe the relationship between consumer personality traits and buying pattern.
Ans- Definition: Buying Pattern
Buying pattern refers to the typical way in which consumers buy goods or avail services- encompassing
frequency, quantity, duration, timing etc.
In simple words, buying patterns indicate how consumers purchase goods or services but are highly
susceptible to change. For example, consider Pratik, a fresh college graduate, who has taken up a job at a
multinational and follows the 9-to-9 work schedule. Pratiks typical buying pattern (for biscuits) might
involve going to the kirana store once a week and the supermarket twice a month, for both major and fill-

in trips. Since he lives alone in his apartment, he generally opts for smaller SKUs (Stock Keeping Units)
and more variety. Now consider the launch of an online portal for groceries (e.g. bigbasket) that
encourages buying larger SKUs. Since its much more convenient for Pratik to order biscuits and
groceries online, Pratiks trips to the two stores would come down drastically and buying pattern would
change significantly.

Q.2 Depict through a diagram Maslows hierarchy need theory and establish its relation with
marketing of any product.

AnsMaslow (1943) stated that people are motivated to achieve certain needs. When one need is fulfilled a
person seeks to fulfill the next one, and so on.
The earliest and most widespread version of Maslow's (1943, 1954) hierarchy of needsincludes five
motivational needs, often depicted as hierarchical levels within a pyramid.
The original hierarchy of needs five-stage model includes:
1. Biological and Physiological needs - air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep.
2. Safety needs - protection from elements, security, order, law, stability, freedom from fear.
3. Love and belongingness needs - friendship, intimacy, affection and love, - from work group, family,
friends, romantic relationships.
4. Esteem needs - achievement, mastery, independence, status, dominance, prestige, self-respect, respect
from others.
5. Self-Actualization needs - realizing personal potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth and
peak experiences.

Unit III
Write short note:
a. Joint Family System- What is a Joint Family? A joint family is a large undivided family where more
than one generation live together at a common house. It is a form of family where the grand-parents,

father, mother, and children live unitedly at one home. They share common rights in the household
property and their daily-expenses are met from the common fund.
The joint family is gradually becoming a passing phenomenon. It, however, still survives in some rare
instances, but even there the forces of decay are creeping in.
Advantages of Joint Family

It is the best pattern of living that is most conducive to the growth.

The joint mess, naturally, runs on an understanding of mutual adjustment. Naturally those who
are benefitted by the generosity of others remain obliged and grateful.

In marriages also the grooms for marriageable girls become a concern for all the elders in the
family. Even if a daughter of a junior brother is selected by someone because of her beauty or
brilliance, he would not agree to her marriage until her senior cousin sister is married.

The basic necessities of all the family members are taken care of. Each member is guaranteed the
minimum subsistence for living.

It supports all the members of the family. Old and elderly people are respected. Proper care is
taken for old, widowed, physically weak and disabled family members.

Finally, the spirit of oneness prevails in a Joint family system.

Disadvantages of Joint Family

It often creates parasites who love to feed on others income. They exploit the goodness and
principled behaviour of its partners.

Sometimes some crooked member of the family plot to torture and exploit another innocent
member of the family.

High earning members often insults the low earning members.

b. Stimulus Discrimination- Stimulus Discrimination is when we learn to respond only to the original
stimulus, and not to other similar stimuli. The concept of Stimulus Discrimination follows from the idea
of Stimulus Generalization, which is when we respond not only to the original stimulus, but also to other
similar
stimuli.
For example, whenever you come home from work, the first thing you do is feed your dog. As a result,
your dog gets excited as soon as he hears your car pulling up at the driveway, barking and running to the
door. Eventually, he begins to get excited as soon as any family member arrives in their car, thinking that
he will get fed as well. Everytime he hears any car pull up at the driveway, he starts barking and running
to the door. That is Stimulus Generalization. But if none of the other family members ever feed the dog as
soon as they arrive home, your dog eventually learns that it is only the sound of your car pulling up at the
driveway that's worth getting excited about. That is Stimulus Discrimination, because he learns to
distinguish only the specific sound that means food is coming, and learns to ignore all other car sounds as

not

relevant

to

his

getting

fed.

Q.3 Explain the framework of Social Stratification.

Ans- Meanings:

Social stratification is a particular form of social inequality. All societies arrange their members in terms
of superiority, inferiority and equality. Stratification is a process of interaction or differentiation whereby
some people come to rank higher than others.
In one word, when individuals and groups are ranked, according to some commonly accepted basis of
valuation in a hierarchy of status levels based upon the inequality of social positions, social stratification
occurs. Social stratification means division of society into different strata or layers. It involves a hierarchy
of social groups. Members of a particular layer have a common identity. They have a similar life style.

Origin of Stratification:
i) According to Davis, social stratification has come into being due to the functional necessity of the
social system.
(ii) Professor Sorokin attributed social stratification mainly to inherited difference in environmental
conditions.
(iii) According to Karl Marx, social factors are responsible for the emergence of different social strata, i.e.
social stratification.
(iv) Gumplowioz and other contended that the origin of social stratification is to be found in the conquest
of one group by another.
Types of Social Stratification:
The major types of stratification are
(i) Caste

(ii) Class
(iii) Estate
(iv) Slavery
Q.2 How does opinion leaders influence consumers choice of any product?
Ans- Product- Dove soap
Dove is Unilever's biggest personal care brand, and certainly one of the group's most high profile brands
in recent years as the result of a clever marketing campaign that has consistently generated headlines and
accolades since 2004. Originally positioned in the 1990s as a rival to P&G's Olay, Dove has since moved
into less directly competitive markets such as deodorant and haircare, and has established a unique niche
as arguably the beauty industry's most down-to-earth, or "real" masterbrand. In 2014, Kantar's Brandz
ranking placed Dove as the world's 8th most valuable personal care brand, with an estimated value of
$4.8bn, below Nivea and Clinique but above Olay.
The Dove brand now serves as an umbrella for products in four main groups - bar & bodywash,
deodorants, skincare lotions and haircare - and more than 100 different lines including facial wipes,
firming lotions, shampoos, body washes, anti-ageing cleansers, skin nourishing treatments, underarm
deodorant, and several varieties of bar soap.
Management & Marketers
Dove's long-serving VP-global brand development Fernando Machado stepped down in 2014 to join
Burger King. Laurent Boury is now global brand VP for Dove, based in New York. Brent Shakeshaft is
VP, global marketing, Dove cleansing.
Background
The formula for Dove was originally developed during World War II. It was actually designed for the US
Army, which required a detergent for soldiers that would lather with sea-water. After the war, scientists at
Lever Brothers continued to experiment with the formulation in a bid to reduce the scum produced by
ordinary detergents. However the original product was found to have an unfortunate irritant effect on
skin.
Que- Theories of learnings
Consumer learning can be defined as a process through which they acquire information and experience
about a consumption, which they apply to future buying behavior. It is also explained as a change in a
content of long term memory and behavior.
Behavioral Approach

Behavioral learning theories arent much of process oriented but rather it focuses on the inputs and
outputs i.e. stimuli that one has been exposed to and the resultant behavior.
There are two main theories under the umbrella of behavioral approach to discuss the learning; Classical
and Instrumental. Classical theory suggest that when two stimuli are closely linked together that produce
a specific learned result, then even in the absence of one of the stimuli the remaining one produces the
same resultant behavior.
Cognitive Approach
Cognitive learning theory on the other hand discusses that learning takes place as a result of consumer
thinking. It emphasizes the role of mental process rather than the repetition and association of rewards
with the stimuli. It elaborates the phenomena of information processing and how the consumer store,
retain and retrieve that information. One of the theories under this approach is hemispheral lateralization
theory. This theory splits the brain into right and left brain, the former one stores the nonverbal and
pictorial information.

Theories of MotivationAt a simple level, it seems obvious that people do things, such as go to work, in order to get stuff they
want and to avoid stuff they don't want.
Overall, the basic perspective on motivation looks something like this:

In other words, you have certain needs or wants (these terms will be used interchangeably), and this
causes you to do certain things (behavior), which satisfy those needs (satisfaction), and this can then
change which needs/wants are primary (either intensifying certain ones, or allowing you to move on to
other ones).
Classifying Needs
People seem to have different wants. This is fortunate, because in markets this creates the very desirable
situation where, because you value stuff that I have but you don't, and I value stuff that you have that I
don't, we can trade in such a way that we are both happier as a result.
But it also means we need to try to get a handle on the whole variety of needs and who has them in order
to begin to understand how to design organizations that maximize productivity.

Part of what a theory of motivation tries to do is explain and predict who has which wants. This turns out
to be exceedingly difficult.
Many theories posit a hierarchy of needs, in which the needs at the bottom are the most urgent and need
to be satisfied before attention can be paid to the others.
Maslow
Maslow's hierarchy of need categories is the most famous example:
self-actualization
esteem
belongingness
safety
physiological
Specific examples of these types are given below, in both the work and home context. (Some of the
instances, like "education" are actually satisfiers of the need.)
Need

Home

Job

selfactualization

education, religion,
personal growth

esteem

approval of
community

belongingness

family, friends, clubs

safety

freedom
violence

physiological

food water sex

from

family,

war,

hobbies, training, advancement, growth,

creativity
friends, recognition,
high
responsibilities

status,

teams, depts, coworkers, clients,

supervisors, subordinates
poison, work safety, job security, health
insurance
Heat, air, base salary

According to Maslow, lower needs take priority. They must be fulfilled before the others are activated.
There is some basic common sense here -- it's pointless to worry about whether a given color looks good
on you when you are dying of starvation, or being threatened with your life. There are some basic things
that take precedence over all else.