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CONSUMER FACILITATION
NOTES
, Study Theme 1: Introduction to Consumer Behaviour
Consumer Behaviour
Consumer Behaviour: The study of the processes involved when individuals or groups select, purchase,
use, or dispose of products, services, ideas, or experiences to satisfy needs and desires. It focuses on how
individual consumers and families or households make decisions to spend their available resources (time,
money, effort) on consumption-related items. This includes what, why, when, where and how often they buy,
how often they use items, how they evaluate them after purchase and how they dispose of them.
Types of Consumer Behaviour
Personal Consumer Organisational Consumer
Products bought for final consumption by ultimate Products, equipment and services bought to run profit and
consumers not-for-profit businesses, agencies and institutions
Marketing Concept: Determines the needs and wants of target markets and deliver the desired products or
services better than the competition. The marketing concept continues to thrive as a highly useful guideline
and philosophy for managing a business because it has effectively served to remind businesses to keep the
consumers’ needs in mind when contemplating new products and services, crafting marketing
communications, or addressing any other strategic issues.
Societal Marketing Concept: A proposed modification to the marketing concept. At its core, this concept
suggests that consumers may on occasion respond to their immediate needs or wants, while overlooking what
is in their own long-term best interest, the best interest of their family and community, the best interest of their
country or region, or even the best interest of the planet. In such contexts, when we think of societal marketing
we are thinking of the role of enlightened marketers; marketers who take it upon themselves to remind
consumers what is in their long-term best interest and, at the same time, set out what their own company is
doing to be a good corporate citizen. For instance, a business that is committed to developing products that
are not injurious to consumers and not harmful to the environment is more likely to attract consumers who
share those values and concerns.
Product focus of which was gearing up manufacturing skills in order to expand production to make more
Orientation products. Neither the consumer nor the manufacturer placed any particular emphasis on product
variation, but were satisfied to be able to produce larger quantities of the product. (1850’s-1920’s)
Sales focus of this business orientation was to sell more of what the manufacturing department was able
Orientation to produce. Thus, this second orientation followed quite naturally from the expanded capacity that
was created during the production era.
(1930’s-1950’s)
Marketing to respond to consumers’ growing interest in products and services that were unique and would
Orientation better satisfy their individual or specific needs and preferences, companies started to gradually shift
, away from a sales orientation and to embrace a marketing orientation. It was time for businesses to
focus more of their attention on consumers and their preferences; that is, to put the consumer first in
their business thinking and planning.
(1950’s)
Different Models of Consumer Decision Making
▪ Influencing Factors
- Marketing factors
- Socio cultural factors
- Individual factors
▪ Transformation of the inputs into decisions
▪ Dis/satisfaction
The Process of Consumer Decision-Making (MODEL)
Input Stage ▪ Influences the customer’s recognition of a product need. EXTERNAL INFLUENCES
▪ Consists of the company’s marketing efforts and the external Firms Marketing Efforts
sociological influences on the consumer. ▪ Product
▪ Promotion
▪ Inputs likely to affect what, how and when consumers
▪ Price
purchase: ▪ Channels of distribution
▪ Cumulative impact of a company’s marketing efforts.
Sociocultural Environment
▪ Influence from family and peers. ▪ Family
▪ Informal sources
▪ Society’s existing code of behaviour.
▪ Other non-commercial sources
▪ Subculture & culture
Process Stage ▪ Focuses on how consumers make decisions. CONSUMER DECISION MAKING
▪ Psychological factors affect how external inputs influence ▪ Need recognition
▪ Prepurchase search
consumer’s recognition of a need, search for information,
▪ Evaluation of alternatives
and evaluation of alternatives.
Psychological Field
1. Motivation
2. Perception
3. Learning
4. Personality
5. Attitudes
Experience
Output Stage Consists of two closely related post-decision activities: POSTDECISION BEHAVIOUR
▪ Purchase behaviour: trial, repeat purchase or adoption. Purchase
▪ Post-purchase evaluation: evaluating the adequacy of 1. Trial
2. Repeat purchase
the product or service in relation to the identified original
needs or wants. Post purchase evaluation
, 1. Need Recognition: Usually occurs when consumer has a “problem”. Need recognition styles
▪ Actual state
▪ Desired state
2. Prepurchase Search: Begins with internal search and then moves to external search. The impact of
the Internet. The search may be personal or impersonal. It will involve personal information & non
personal information.
3. Issues in Alternative Evaluation:
▪ Evoked set --------------------------------------------------------------->
▪ Criteria used for evaluating brands
▪ Consumer decision rules and their application
▪ Decisions by functionally illiterate population
▪ Going online for decision-making assistance
▪ Lifestyles as a consumer decision strategy
▪ Incomplete information
▪ Series of decisions
▪ Decision rules and marketing strategy
THE OVERALL MODEL OF CONSMER BEHAVIOUR
Disciplines in Consumer Behaviour
Consumer behaviour is interdisciplinary.
▪ Psychology
▪ Sociology
▪ Social psychology
▪ Anthropology
▪ Economics
CONSUMER FACILITATION
NOTES
, Study Theme 1: Introduction to Consumer Behaviour
Consumer Behaviour
Consumer Behaviour: The study of the processes involved when individuals or groups select, purchase,
use, or dispose of products, services, ideas, or experiences to satisfy needs and desires. It focuses on how
individual consumers and families or households make decisions to spend their available resources (time,
money, effort) on consumption-related items. This includes what, why, when, where and how often they buy,
how often they use items, how they evaluate them after purchase and how they dispose of them.
Types of Consumer Behaviour
Personal Consumer Organisational Consumer
Products bought for final consumption by ultimate Products, equipment and services bought to run profit and
consumers not-for-profit businesses, agencies and institutions
Marketing Concept: Determines the needs and wants of target markets and deliver the desired products or
services better than the competition. The marketing concept continues to thrive as a highly useful guideline
and philosophy for managing a business because it has effectively served to remind businesses to keep the
consumers’ needs in mind when contemplating new products and services, crafting marketing
communications, or addressing any other strategic issues.
Societal Marketing Concept: A proposed modification to the marketing concept. At its core, this concept
suggests that consumers may on occasion respond to their immediate needs or wants, while overlooking what
is in their own long-term best interest, the best interest of their family and community, the best interest of their
country or region, or even the best interest of the planet. In such contexts, when we think of societal marketing
we are thinking of the role of enlightened marketers; marketers who take it upon themselves to remind
consumers what is in their long-term best interest and, at the same time, set out what their own company is
doing to be a good corporate citizen. For instance, a business that is committed to developing products that
are not injurious to consumers and not harmful to the environment is more likely to attract consumers who
share those values and concerns.
Product focus of which was gearing up manufacturing skills in order to expand production to make more
Orientation products. Neither the consumer nor the manufacturer placed any particular emphasis on product
variation, but were satisfied to be able to produce larger quantities of the product. (1850’s-1920’s)
Sales focus of this business orientation was to sell more of what the manufacturing department was able
Orientation to produce. Thus, this second orientation followed quite naturally from the expanded capacity that
was created during the production era.
(1930’s-1950’s)
Marketing to respond to consumers’ growing interest in products and services that were unique and would
Orientation better satisfy their individual or specific needs and preferences, companies started to gradually shift
, away from a sales orientation and to embrace a marketing orientation. It was time for businesses to
focus more of their attention on consumers and their preferences; that is, to put the consumer first in
their business thinking and planning.
(1950’s)
Different Models of Consumer Decision Making
▪ Influencing Factors
- Marketing factors
- Socio cultural factors
- Individual factors
▪ Transformation of the inputs into decisions
▪ Dis/satisfaction
The Process of Consumer Decision-Making (MODEL)
Input Stage ▪ Influences the customer’s recognition of a product need. EXTERNAL INFLUENCES
▪ Consists of the company’s marketing efforts and the external Firms Marketing Efforts
sociological influences on the consumer. ▪ Product
▪ Promotion
▪ Inputs likely to affect what, how and when consumers
▪ Price
purchase: ▪ Channels of distribution
▪ Cumulative impact of a company’s marketing efforts.
Sociocultural Environment
▪ Influence from family and peers. ▪ Family
▪ Informal sources
▪ Society’s existing code of behaviour.
▪ Other non-commercial sources
▪ Subculture & culture
Process Stage ▪ Focuses on how consumers make decisions. CONSUMER DECISION MAKING
▪ Psychological factors affect how external inputs influence ▪ Need recognition
▪ Prepurchase search
consumer’s recognition of a need, search for information,
▪ Evaluation of alternatives
and evaluation of alternatives.
Psychological Field
1. Motivation
2. Perception
3. Learning
4. Personality
5. Attitudes
Experience
Output Stage Consists of two closely related post-decision activities: POSTDECISION BEHAVIOUR
▪ Purchase behaviour: trial, repeat purchase or adoption. Purchase
▪ Post-purchase evaluation: evaluating the adequacy of 1. Trial
2. Repeat purchase
the product or service in relation to the identified original
needs or wants. Post purchase evaluation
, 1. Need Recognition: Usually occurs when consumer has a “problem”. Need recognition styles
▪ Actual state
▪ Desired state
2. Prepurchase Search: Begins with internal search and then moves to external search. The impact of
the Internet. The search may be personal or impersonal. It will involve personal information & non
personal information.
3. Issues in Alternative Evaluation:
▪ Evoked set --------------------------------------------------------------->
▪ Criteria used for evaluating brands
▪ Consumer decision rules and their application
▪ Decisions by functionally illiterate population
▪ Going online for decision-making assistance
▪ Lifestyles as a consumer decision strategy
▪ Incomplete information
▪ Series of decisions
▪ Decision rules and marketing strategy
THE OVERALL MODEL OF CONSMER BEHAVIOUR
Disciplines in Consumer Behaviour
Consumer behaviour is interdisciplinary.
▪ Psychology
▪ Sociology
▪ Social psychology
▪ Anthropology
▪ Economics
