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Management Notes Consumer Behaviour Notes

Consumer Behaviour Introduction Notes

Updated Consumer Behaviour Introduction Notes

Consumer Behaviour Notes

Consumer Behaviour

Approximately 88 pages

Extensive notes on all aspects of Consumer Behaviour covered in this module.

Also includes a helpful glossary as well as fully documented theories of Consumer Behaviour.

I received a 1st in this module based on these notes....

The following is a more accessible plain text extract of the PDF sample above, taken from our Consumer Behaviour Notes. Due to the challenges of extracting text from PDFs, it will have odd formatting:

An Introduction To Consumer Behaviour

Consumer Behaviour; People in the Marketplace

  • For some purposes marketers may find it useful to categorise individuals in terms of age, gender, income or occupation. These are some examples of descriptive characteristics of a population, o demographics. In other cases marketers would rather know something about individuals interests or the way they spend their leisure time. This sort of information comes under the category psychographics which refers to aspects of a person’s lifestyle and personality. Knowledge of consumer characteristics plays an extremely important role in many marketing applications such as defining the market for a product or deciding on the appropriate techniques to employ when targeting a certain group of consumers.

  • A lot of product information, as well as recommendations to avoid or use particular brands are picked up in conversations rather than by way of television commercials, magazines or advertising messages. There is also pressure among group members to buy things that will meet with group approval and often a price to pay in the form of group rejection or embarrassment when one foes not conform to others conceptions of what is good or bad, in or out.

  • As a member of a large society, people share certain cultural values or strongly held beliefs about the way the world should be structured. Other values are shared by subcultures or smaller groups within the culture such as ethnic group, teens or people from certain parts of the country.

  • The use of market segmentation strategies means targeting a brand only to specific groups of consumers rather than to everybody – even if that means that other consumers will not be interested or may choose to avoid the brand,

  • Brands often have clearly defined images or personalities created by product advertising, packaging, branding and other marketing strategies that focus on positioning a product a certain way or by certain groups of consumers adopting the product. One’s leisure activities in a particular are very much lifestyle statements, it says a lot about what a person is interested in as well as something about the type of person they would like to be. People often choose a product offering, a service or a place, or subscribe to a particular idea because they like the it’s image or because they feel its personality somehow corresponds to their own. Mo0reover a consumer may believe that by buying and using the product, its desirable qualities will somehow magically rub off.

  • When a product succeeds in satisfying a consumers specific needs or desires it may be rewarded with many years of brand or store loyalty, a bond between product or outlet and consumer may be very difficult for competitors to break. Often a change in one’s life situation or self-concept is required to weaken this bond and thus create opportunities for competitors.

  • Consumer’s evaluations are affected by their appearance, taste, texture or small. We may be influenced by the shape and colour of a package as well as by more subtle factors such as the symbolism used in a brand name, in an advertisement or even in the choice of a cover model for a magazine. These judgements are affected by, and often reflect, how a society feels that people should define themselves at that point in time. Many product meanings are hidden below the surface of the packaging, the design and advertising.

  • A products image is often influenced by its country of origin which helps to determine its brand personality. In addition our opinions and desires are increasingly shaped by input from around the world thanks to advancements in communications and transportation systems. In today’s global culture, consumers often prize products and services that transport them to different locations and allow them to experience the diversity of other cultures.

  • The field of consumer behaviour covers a lot of ground; it is the study of the processes involved when individuals or groups select, purchase, use or dispose of products, services, ideas or experiences to satisfy needs or desires.

  • Needs and desires to be satisfied range from hunger and thirst to love, status and even spiritual fulfilment.

  • There is a growing awareness of the increased importance of consumption in our daily lives, in our organisation of daily activities, in our identity formation, in politics and economic development and in the flows of global culture where consumer culture seems to spread.

  • This spread of consumer culture via marketing is not always well received by social critics and consumers. Indeed consumption can be seen as playing an important role in our social, psychological, economic, political and cultural lives that toady has become the vanguard of history.

Consumers Are Actors on the Marketplace Stage

  • The perspective of role theory takes the view that much of consumer behaviour resembles actions in play where each consumer has lines, props and costumes that are necessary to a good performance.

  • Since people at out many different roles, they may modify their consumption decisions according to the particular play they are in at the time. The criteria that the use to evaluate products and services in one of their roles may be quite different from those used in another role.

  • We are all involved in a communication system through our consumption activities, whereby we communicate our roles and statuses. We are also sometimes searching to construct our identity, our real selves through various consumption activities. Or the main purpose of our consumption may be an exploration of a few of the many possibilities the market has to offer us maybe in search of a real kick of pleasure.

  • On the more serious side we may feel victimise by fraudulent or harmful offerings and we may decide to take action against such risks from the marketplace by becoming active in consumer movements. Or we may react against the authority of the producers by co-opting their products and turning them...

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