Consumer Research
Imagine a situation wherein Surf Excel is
facing tough competition from other
detergent brands and has been experiencing a
decline is sales and market share for the last
one year.
You are hired by Unilever in their market
research team and assigned a task to analyse
consumer behavior. List down the questions
that you would ask your respondents.
The Importance of the Consumer Research Process
Capturing Information
• State of Being
• Verifiable e.g. gender ; Unverifiable e.g. income
• State of Mind e.g. attitude, awareness
• Behaviour
• Marketers must understand customers to design effective marketing
strategies; products; promotional messages
Do respondents always give the right answer?
• “Very little predictive validity” (e.g. Launch of New Coke)
• “Under reporting of information”: e.g. How many brands
considered before purchase?
b) Current approach: ‘Dialectical’
• ‘Dialectical’: dialectics considers all forms of human behavior,
including consumption;
• i) Materialism: - consumer behavior is shaped by the ‘material
environment’ eg. money, possessions etc.
• ii) Change: - consumer behavior is ‘dynamic’ in nature; it is
always in a process of continuous motion, transformation and
change.
• iii) Totality: - consumption behavior is ‘interconnected’ with
other forms of human behavior, like personal self and the
surrounding environment.
• iv) Contradiction: - views changes in consumer behavior as
arising from its internal contradictions, like moods, emotions.
The Consumer Research Process
Some Consumer Insight Research Methods
Motivation research (1950s)—e.g., depth interviews, projective methods,
story-telling (psychoanalytic bases)
Ethnographic Methods
Video graphic Methods
Netnographic Methods
Projective methods
Metaphor Elicitation
Ethnomethodology
Projective techniques
• Projective techniques are unstructured and indirect forms of questioning that
encourage respondents to project their underlying motivations, beliefs,
attitudes, or feelings regarding the issues of concern.
• If Starbucks were a car it would be a _____________________
• Starbucks shoppers are ________________________________
• Compared to CCD, Starbucks is __________________________
• Analogies
• Personification
• Construction Techniques
• Thematic Apperception Tests (TAT): Subjects are presented with a series of
pictures and asked to provide a description of or a story about the pictures.
• A twist on the TAT:
• Ask subjects to draw cartoons and write about the subject of interest
• Example: Roach Killer...
• Story Completion Example: Department Store
Patronage Project
• “A man was shopping for a business suit in his favorite department store. After
spending 45 minutes and trying several suits, he finally picked one he liked. As
he was proceeding to the checkout counter, he was approached by the
salesman, who said, “Sir, at this time we have higher quality suits which are on
sale for the same price. Would you like to see them?”
• “What is the customer’s response? Why?
Qualitative Collection Method-Metaphor Analysis
• Based on belief that metaphors are the most basic
method of thought and communication
• Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique (ZMET)
combines collage research and metaphor analysis to
bring to the surface the mental models and the major
themes or constructs that drive consumer thinking and
behavior.
• In these studies, respondents are asked to find pictures
that describe their thoughts, feelings, and beliefs about
products, companies, and brands. The results are then
combined to see if there are common themes or
constructs that consumers mention in their results.
Ethnographic Methods
Depth Interviews
Observation & Participant Observation
Anthropological Basis
E.g., Shopping with Consumers
E.g., Contents of Handbags—visual elicitation
When Observation studies are useful
What people do, not what they say
• When trying to understand how people actually behave, especially for ingrained
behaviour patterns – Less Bias
• Where introspective, verbal analysis is not possible
• Behaviour of children
• When shopping process is impulsive
• Habitual Usage
Approach for Meaningful Observation Studies
• Plan with a research purpose
• Planning observations systematically
• Recording observations systematically
• Meaningful interpretation
Main Observational Research Methods
• Direct Observation
• Contrived Observation
• Mystery Shopper
• Content Analysis
• Analyzing written material into meaningful units, using
carefully applied rules
• Physical Trace Measures
• “Garbology”
• Ethnographic Research
• Behavior (Emotion) Recording Devices
Qualitative Collection Method-
“Looking-In” and Immersion
• Ethnography: Study of a community
• Netnography: Study of an online community
• Look at information from threads and postings on social media, including blogs
and discussion forums
• Methodology to capture consumers’ experiences, opinions, forecasts, needs,
and interests
Netnography on listerine
• Consumers most like Listerine’s germ-killing action
• The most prevalent complaint from consumers is that Listerine is too harsh
• Listerine has a tremendous number of off-label uses for personal and home
care based on its efficacy
• Key threat-drying out the mouth.
Company discovered a range of business opportunities for Listerine, including
introducing a Soothing Power flavour and a non-alcohol-based formula and
promoting as mosquito repellent
An Ethnographic Example
Neuromarketing- Application
• how consumers respond to Cheetos
Using EEG technology on a group of willing subjects, the firm determined that
consumers respond strongly to the fact that eating Cheetos turns their fingers
orange with residual cheese dust.
Brain scanning technology found that people derived a sort of guilty pleasure from
the sensation of having their fingers coated with orange dust.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/may/25/food-firms-may-
face-litigation-over-neuromarketing-to-hijack-brains
Understanding Consumer Behaviour
Exercise
• Self-notes on the following aspects:
• Consumer Benefits which was sought by Indian consumer
• Consumer Benefits which was delivered by Gillette before the introduction of
Gillette Guard
• Consumer Benefits which was delivered by Gillette after the introduction of
Gillette Guard
Understanding Consumer Behaviour
Exercise
Benefits sought by Indian Consumer Benefits delivered by Consumer Benefits delivered by
Consumer Gillette before introduction of Gillette after introduction of
Gillette Guard Gillette Guard
Sales of Gillette India (in US $ Million)
Sales of Gillette India Ltd.
(In US $ Million)
300
250
239.6
200
205.5
150
176.4
142.1
100 110.3
98.1
50
0
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Source: Corporate presentation by Gillette India Ltd.
