Consumer Behaviour

Text: Consumer Behaviour, Hoyer and McInnis, Houghton-Mifflin Instructor: S.Victor Anandkumar School of Management Pondicherry University

Consumer Behaviour for Marketing Decisions

Some definitions for consumer behaviour
Consumer Behaviour is the decision process and physical activity
individuals engage in when evaluating, acquiring, using or disposing of goods and services (Loudon and Della Bitta)
Consumer Behaviour reflects the totality of consumers decisions with

respect to the acquisition, usage and disposition of goods, services, time and ideas by (human) decision making units (over time) (Jacob Jacoby)

A blow up of the definition

Consumer Behaviour reflects:
the totality of decision
Whether What

about the consumption

of an offering
Products

by decision making units

Information gatherer Influencer Decider Purchaser

over time
Hours Days Weeks Months Years

Why How When Where How much/ How often/ How long

Acquisition Services Usage Time

Disposition
Ideas

User

Marketing strategies and Tactics

Interdisciplinary Influences
Individual Focus

Experimental Psychology Clinical Psychology

Human Ecology
Microeconomics Social Psychology Sociology Macroeconomics Semiotics/Literary Criticism Demography History Cultural Anthropology

Social Focus

Interdisciplinary Research issues

Starting with Micro Consumer Behaviour (Individual focus)

Experimental Psychology: Product role in perception, learning and memory process Clinical Psychology: Product role in psychological adjustment Microeconomics/Human ecology: Product role in allocation of individual or family resources Social Psychology: Product role in the behaviour of individuals as members of social groups Sociology: Product role in social institutions and group relationships
contd./-

Interdisciplinary Research issues

Contd./-

Macroeconomics: Product role in consumers relations with the marketplace Semiotics/Literary Criticism: Product role in the verbal and visual communication of meaning Demography: Product role in the measurable characteristics of a population History: Product role in societal changes over time Cultural anthropology: Product role in societys beliefs and practices
ending with Macro Consumer Behaviour (Social focus)

How is Consumer Behaviour studied?

Positivist Vs. Interpretivist approaches
Differences Purpose Methodology Assumptions
Nature of reality Knowledge generated View of causality
Objective Tangible, Single Time free Context independent Existence of identifiable, real causes Separation between researcher and subject Yes Socially constructed Multiple Time bound Context dependent Multiple, simultneous shaping events; Cause and effect cannot be isolated Interactive, cooperative with researcher being part of phenomenon under study Often not

Positivism
Prediction of consumer actions Quantitative

Interpretivism
Understanding consumption practices Qualitative

Research relationship
Generalizability

Three research perspectives on Consumer Behaviour

The Decision Making perspective

Views the consumer as a rational, decision maker moving through a series of steps when making a purchase Views the consumer as someone who buys on impulses also and hence not always a rational, decision maker
Views the consumer as propelled by circumstances created by strong environmental forces to make a purchase without necessarily developing strong feelings for the product

The Experiential perspective

The Behavioural Influence perspective

Why study Consumer Behaviour?

(Micro) Marketing Implications

Marketing Concept/Consumer Primacy Market Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning (S-T-P) Influencing Product/Service Choices Understanding Popular Culture--e.g., Jackie Chan, Nike Understanding Consumer Culture around the World--e.g., Christmas as a Global Holiday How does Marketing Affect Consumers?--e.g., Happiness, Envy, Materialism

(Macro) Societal Implications

Why Else?

An Increasingly Significant Part of Human Behaviour Understanding Our Own Consumption

What are we going to do?

CB and Solving Managerial Problems a 3-step process
1.

2.

3.

Gather information and identify the problem/opportunity Identify the relevant consumer behavior concepts and how they apply to the problem Develop a managerial strategy by identifying the managerial implications of each consumer concept.