Nicosia Model

Nicosia Model
 By Fransisco.M. Nicosia

 Nicosia model is a structural model of the purchase decision-

making process by an individual consumer or a whole family.

 Talks about the relationship between a firm and its potential

consumers.

 They arise between them for mutual communication -company

communicates with consumers through promotional activities, while
consumers by making purchases.
Assumptions:

 There is no prior history between the consumer and the firm.

 There will be no positive and negative predispositions in the

consumer’s minds.
 This model prompts the consumer to search for the product or
evaluate product features and attributes. It categorizes these
activities into four basic fields-

 Area 1 has two sub fields- firm attributes and consumer’s attributes
 Firms produces some type of communications( ads, products etc).•
 Attribute’ s of the message and the consumer’s exposure to it
determines its influence on him.
 The consumer then becomes motivated and tries to gain
information and a search activity is likely to occur.
 Area 2 propels the consumer to search.

 Internal Memory and external search may also occur. This leads to
an evaluation

 If the customer processes relevant information and begins to favor

firms brand, he will be motivated towards it.
 Area 3 consists of physical act of purchase

 Area 4 consists of use of purchased items.

 This will lead to feed back regarding the firm’s product because of
the tendency of the product to be stored and used.

 This model has been instrumental in bringing into light the role
played by the marketing firm.
Limitations
 All internal factors are not taken into consideration.

 The assumption the consumer will have no predispositions towards

the firms might be wrong.

 The firms attributes and the consumers attributes can overlap.

Howard Sheth Model
 John Howard and Jagadish Sheth put forward the Howard Sheth
model of consumer behavior in 1969.

 This model tries to represent the rational brand choice behavior by

buyers when faced with situations involving incomplete information
and limited ability.
 The model refers to three levels of decision making:

 Extensive problem solving-At this level the consumer does not

have any basic information or knowledge about the brand and he
does not have any preferences for any product.
 Limited problem solving.-This situation exists for consumers who
have little knowledge about the market, or partial knowledge about
what they want to purchase.
 Routinised response behavior.-In this level the consumer knows
very well about the different brands and he can differentiate
between the different characteristics of each product, and he
already decides to purchase a particular product.
This model explains brand choice behavior when learning takes place
while a consumer moves from extensive Problem solving to
routinised problem solving behavior.

The model involves 4 components:

 Input Variables
 Output Variables
 Hypothetical constructs
 Exogenous variables
 Input Variables: Shown on left side of the model as stimuli in the
environment.
 Divided into-

 Significative Stimuli- Actual elements of a brand that a buyer

confronts.

 Symbolic Stimuli- Elements used by marketers to represent their

product in symbolic form(say through advertisements).

 Social Stimuli- Generated by social environment like family, friends.

 Output Variables:
The outputs are the results of the perceptual and learning variables
and how the consumers will response to these variables .

Attention: Based on the importance of a buyer’s information intake

Comprehension: Store of information the buyer has about the brand
Attitude: Buyer’s evaluation of the particular brand’s potential to
satisfy his or her motives.
Intention: the brand that the buyer intends to buy.
Purchase behavior: the act of actually purchasing . It reflects the
buyer’s predisposition to buy.
 Hypothetical Construct deals with the psychological variables
involved when the consumer is contemplating a decision. These
variables are categorized into two major groups:

a. Perceptual construct that deals with information processing

• Concerned with how the consumer receives and understands the
information
• Stimulus ambiguity happened when the consumer does not
understand the message from the environment.
• Perceptual bias occurs if the consumer distorts the information
received so that it fits his or her established needs or experience.
 Learning constructs which are related to buyer’s formation of
concepts.

 They include-
 Consumer’s motives
 Consumer’s goals,
 information about brands,
 criteria for evaluation of alternatives, preferences and buying
intentions etc.
 Exogeneous Variables

Exogenous variables are not directly part of the decision-making

process.
They include external variables like social class, importance of
purchase, consumer personality traits, religion, and time pressure.
Limitations
 The model is quite multifacetd and hence difficult to comprehend.

 The variables mentioned have not been clearly defined.

Engel-Kollat-Blackwell Model
The Engel Kollat Blackwell Model of Consumer Behavior emphasizes
on the conscious decision making process adopted by consumer.

The Engel Kollat Blackwell Model of Consumer Behavior or consists of

four distinct stages-
 Information Input Stage
 Information Processing Stage
 Decision Process Stage
 External Factors
 Information Input Stage: At this stage the consumer gets
information from marketing and non-marketing sources, which also
influence the problem recognition stage of the decision-making
process.

 Information Processing Stage: This stage consists of the consumer’s

exposure, attention, perception, acceptance, and retention of
incoming information.
 Decision Process Stage: The central focus of the model is on five
basic decision-process stages:
 Problem recognition,
 search for alternatives,
 alternate evaluation
 purchase, and
 outcomes
 External Factors: This stage consists of individual and environmental
influences that affect all five stages of the decision process.

 Individual characteristics- motives, values, lifestyle, and personality.

 Social influences- culture, reference groups, and family.
 Situational influences- consumer’s financial condition.