The following things have been covered in lecture 3 from chapter 5:
Model of consumer behavior
It is very difficult to learn about the ‘whys’ in consumer’s buying
behavior and it is like a black box. Marketers try to understand how
stimuli are changed in responses. The model of consumer behavior
shows that marketing and other stimuli enter the customer’s ‘black
box’ and produce certain responses. The more the marketers can
analyze and predict the black box, the better they can satisfy them
with the right kind of product and services.
Consumer buyer behavior refers to the buying behavior of final
consumers—individuals and households who buy goods and services
for personal consumption
Consumer market refers to all of the personal consumption of final
consumers
Characteristics affecting consumer behavior
Cultural, social, personal and psychological characteristics affect
consumer behavior. These characteristics cannot be controlled.
Marketers need to study the roles played by these characteristics.
1)Cultural Factors:
Cultural Factors have strong influence on consumer buyer
behavior. Cultural Factors include the basic values, needs,
wants, preferences, perceptions, and behaviors that are
observed and learned by a consumer from their near family
members and other important people around them. For
example- Bangladeshi women may prefer wearing Jamdani sari
in special occasion but the same attire will not be suitable for
the Chinese people. For them kimono would be preferred. A
marketer must understand these cultural difference.
There are subculture within a culture and subculture is a group
of people with shared value systems based on common life
experiences and situations. Subculture include nationalities,
religions, racial group, and geographic region. For example, in
Bangladesh there are Sylheti, Chittagonian, Dhakhaiya people
who belong to different subculture and marketers can target
any such group and satisfy some specific need of them. For
example- Beef with Satkora or Satkora Gosth is very much liked
by the sylheti but the Dhakaiya people may not like the taste of
such food item.
Social classes are society’s relatively permanent and ordered
divisions whose members share similar values, interests, and
behaviors. It is measured by a combination of occupation,
income, education, wealth, and other variables. Social class can
have distinct product and brand preferences .For example- the
upper class tend to be the primary buyers of fine jewelry and
often shop at exclusive retailers.
2)Social Factors:
Social factors also impact the buying behavior of consumers. The
important social factors are: groups and social networks, family,
roles and status.
A) Groups and social networks:
Many small groups influence a person’s behavior.
Membership group, aspirational group and reference groups
have significant potential in forming a person attitude
or behavior.
• Membership groups are groups with direct influence and to
which a person belongs. For example- if you follow Liverpool
football club of England then you would prefer wearing red
which represents the color of their jersey and represents you as
a fan of that club.
• Aspirational groups are the group where an individual wishes to
belong. Like you love some musical group and you follow them.
• A Reference group refers to a group of people you refer to, while
making buying decisions. It is a group that serves as
a reference point for an individual for his/her beliefs, attitude
and behavior. Family members, Relative, Friends, Colleagues
and other close acquaintance are usually termed as Reference
Group.
The impact of each of these groups varies across products and
brands.
Marketers need to study each of such groups, identify the
importance of word-of mouth, opinion leaders and online social
networks that come from various groups.
B) Family is the most important consumer buyer organization in
society.
Five roles people might play in a buying decision:
● Initiator: A person who first suggests the idea of buying the
particular product or service
● Influencer: A person whose view or advice influences the
decision
● Decider: a person who decides on any component of a buying
decision, whether to buy, what to buy, how to buy, or where to
buy
● Buyer: The person who makes the actual purchase
● User: A person who consumes or uses the product or service
C) Social roles and status:
These are the groups, family, clubs, and organizations that a
person belongs to that can define role and social status.
People usually choose products according to their role and
status. For example- the type of clothes a person would wear
when he goes to office as a banker, will be different from the
type of clothes he would wear in field as a sports person.
