Marketing Course Code: BBA-201
Chapter 5
Consumer Markets and Consumer Buyer
Behavior
Model of Consumer Behavior
Consumer buyer behavior is the buying behavior of final consumers: individuals and
households that buy goods and services for personal consumption.
All these consumers add up to the consumer market: all the households and individual that buy or
acquire goods and services for personal consumption.
Consumers make buying decisions every day, but it can be difficult to determine why they make
certain decisions. Consumer purchases are influenced by different characteristics.
Characteristics Affecting Consumer Behavior
Cultural factors
Cultural factors have an influence on consumer behavior.
Culture is the set of basic values, perceptions, wants and behaviors learned by a member of society
from family and other important institutions.
A subculture is a group of people with shared value systems based on common life experiences and
situations. They are distinct, but not necessarily mutually exclusive.
Social classes are relatively permanent and ordered divisions in a society whose members share
similar values, interests and behaviors.
Social factors
Another influence is social factors.
Groups are two or more people who interact to accomplish individual or mutual goals.
Many small groups influence a person’s behavior.
Membership groups are groups in which a person belongs, while reference groups serve as direct
points of comparison.
Word-of-mouth influence of friends and other consumers can have a strong influence on buying
behavior.
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By: Muhammad Bilal Ahsan Roll no: 2015
Marketing Course Code: BBA-201
An opinion leader is a person within a reference group who, because of skills, knowledge,
personality or other characteristics, exerts social influence on others.
Marketers try to identify the opinion leader and aim their marketing efforts towards this person.
Buzz marketing involves creating opinion leaders to serve as brand ambassadors.
Online social networks are online communities, such as blogs, social networking sites or even virtual
worlds, where people socialize or exchange information and opinions.
Family can have a strong influence on buying behavior as well. Buying role patterns in families
change with evolving consumer lifestyles. A person belongs to many groups beside the family, also
clubs, organization and online communities. The position of a person in a group is defined in terms
of role and status. A role consists of the expected actions of a person. People usually choose
products appropriate to their role and status.
Personal factors
Personal characteristics also have an influence on consumer buyer behavior. These characteristics
can be the person’s age and life-cycle stage, the person’s occupation and economic situation, but
also lifestyle and personality.
Lifestyle is a person’s pattern of living as expressed in his or her activities, interests and opinions.
Personality is the unique psychological characteristics that distinguish a person or group.
OR
The unique psychological characteristics that lead to relatively consistent and lasting responses to
one’s own environment.
It can be said that brands also have personalities.
A brand personality is the mix of human traits that may be used to describe the brand.
There are five general brand personality traits: sincerity, excitement, competence, sophistication
and ruggedness.
Psychological factors
Buying behavior is influenced by four major psychological factors: motivation, perception, learning
and beliefs and attitudes.
Motive (drive) is a need that is sufficiently pressing to direct the person to seek satisfaction of the
need.
Motivation research refers to qualitative research designed to find consumer’s hidden
motivations. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs categorizes needs into a pyramid, consisting of
psychological needs, safety needs, social needs, esteem needs and self-actualization needs.
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By: Muhammad Bilal Ahsan Roll no: 2015
Marketing Course Code: BBA-201
Perception is the process by which people select, organize and interpret information to form a
meaningful picture of the world.
People from different perceptions of the same stimulus because of three perceptual processes:
selective attention, selective distortion and selective retention.
Learning describes changes in an individual’s behavior arising from experience.
A drive is a strong stimulus that calls for action.
Cues are minor stimuli that determine how a person responds.
A belief is a descriptive thought that a person holds about something.
An attitude is a person’s consistently favorable or unfavorable evaluations, feelings and tendencies
toward an object or idea.
Attitudes can be difficult to change, because they are usually part of bigger pattern.
There are different types of buying decision behavior.
Buying Decision Behavior and the Buyer
Decision Process
Types of Buying Decision Behavior
Complex buying behavior is characterized by high consumer involvement in a purchase and
significant perceived differences among brands.
The buyer will pass through a learning process, developing beliefs and attitudes and then a purchase
choice will follow.
Dissonance-reducing buying behavior is consumer buying behavior characterized by high
involvement, but few perceived differences among brands.
Habitual buying behavior is consumer buying behavior characterized by low consumer involvement
and few significantly perceived differences.
Repetition of advertisements can create brand familiarity (but not conviction), which can lead to
habitual purchases.
Variety-seeking buying behavior is consumer buying behavior characterized by low consumer
involvement, but significant perceived brand differences.
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By: Muhammad Bilal Ahsan Roll no: 2015
Marketing Course Code: BBA-201
The Buyer Decision Process
The buyer decision process has five stages.
1. Need recognition is the first stage, in which the consumer recognizes a problem or need.
2. Information search is the stage in which the consumer is aroused to search for more
information, the consumer may simply have heightened attention or may go into active
information search. Information can be obtained from personal sources, commercial
sources, public sources and experiential sources.
3. Evaluation of alternatives. Alternative evaluation is the process in which the consumer uses
information to evaluate alternative brands in the choice set.
4. Purchase decision is the buyer’s decision about which brand to purchase. Both the attitude
of others and unexpected situational factors can influence the ultimate decision.
5. Post-purchase behavior is the stage of the buyer decision process in which consumers take
further action after purchase based on their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with a purchase.
Cognitive dissonance is buyer discomfort caused by post-purchase conflict.
The Buyer Decision Process for New Products
The buyer decision process can be different for new products
A new product is a good, service or idea that is perceived by some potential customers as new.
The consumer must decide to adopt them or not.
The adoption process is the mental process through which an individual passes from first hearing
about an innovation to final adoption.
Stages in the Adoption Process
There are five stages in the adoption process: awareness, interest, evaluation, trial and adoption.
Awareness: The consumer becomes aware of the new product but lacks information about
it.
Interest: The consumer seeks information about the new product.
Evaluation: The consumer considers whether trying the new product makes sense.
Trial: The consumer tries the new product on a small scale to improve his or her estimate of
its value.
Adoption: The consumer decides to make full and regular use of the new product.
Individual Differences in Innovativeness
Innovators are venturesome—they try new ideas at some risk.
Early adopters are guided by respect—they are opinion leaders in their communities and adopt new
ideas early but carefully.
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By: Muhammad Bilal Ahsan Roll no: 2015
Marketing Course Code: BBA-201
Early mainstream adopters are deliberate—although they rarely are leaders, they adopt new ideas
before the average person.
Late mainstream adopters are skeptical—they adopt an innovation only after a majority of people
have tried it.
Lagging adopters are tradition bound—they are suspicious of changes and adopt the innovation only
when it has become something of a tradition itself.
Influence of Product Characteristics on Rate of Adoption
Relative advantage: The degree to which the innovation appears superior to existing products.
Compatibility: The degree to which the innovation fits the values and experiences of potential
consumers.
Complexity: The degree to which the innovation is difficult to understand or use.
Divisibility: The degree to which the innovation may be tried on a limited basis.
Communicability: The degree to which the results of using the innovation can be observed or
described to others.
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By: Muhammad Bilal Ahsan Roll no: 2015