INSTRUCTOR MANUAL
Instructor’s Manual for Principles of Marketing
01/12/23 1
, Instructor’s Manual for Principles of Marketing
Chapter 3
Consumer Markets and
Purchasing Behavior
Chapter Outline
3.1 Understanding Consumer Markets and Buying Behavior
Learning Outcomes
Define consumer buying behavior.
Explain the nature of the buyer’s black box.
Describe how consumer behavior is characterized into types.
Section Outline
Consumer Markets and Consumer Buying Behavior Defined
The Buyer’s Black Box
Types of Consumer Buying Behavior
Link to Learning: The 4Ps and Consumer Behavior
Learning Tidbit:
Marketers know it’s difficult to understand how consumers approach the purchasing process.
Even major retailers like Walmart can’t understand how billions of consumers make buying
decisions, no matter how hard they try. Walmart’s approach to building hyperstores like those
in the United States just doesn’t work for Chinese customers looking for household staples.
Walmart’s corporate culture has faced challenges in adjusting to China’s regulatory system, and
the company has also faced strong local competitors like China-based Alibaba.
Source: “Walmart Struggles to Solve Consumer Needs in China,” Fox Business, June 11, 2022,
https://www.foxbusiness.com/retail/walmart-consumer-china.
Section 3.1 Summary
Marketers seek to understand what products consumers buy, why, where, when, and how
often. Final consumers, who purchase items for their own use, make up the consumer market.
Each person exhibits distinctive buying behavior that is influenced by many factors. One model
of buyer behavior is called the stimulus-response model, otherwise known as the buyer’s black
box because marketers can’t easily discover what goes on inside. Stimuli can come from a
variety of sources, including marketers in the form of the 4Ps (product, price, place, and
promotion). Other environmental stimuli include economic factors, legal/political factors, and
technological and cultural factors. Inside the black box is the intersection of the buyer’s beliefs,
attitudes, motives, and values that leads to buyers’ responses. Depending upon the buyer’s
01/12/23 2
Instructor’s Manual for Principles of Marketing
01/12/23 1
, Instructor’s Manual for Principles of Marketing
Chapter 3
Consumer Markets and
Purchasing Behavior
Chapter Outline
3.1 Understanding Consumer Markets and Buying Behavior
Learning Outcomes
Define consumer buying behavior.
Explain the nature of the buyer’s black box.
Describe how consumer behavior is characterized into types.
Section Outline
Consumer Markets and Consumer Buying Behavior Defined
The Buyer’s Black Box
Types of Consumer Buying Behavior
Link to Learning: The 4Ps and Consumer Behavior
Learning Tidbit:
Marketers know it’s difficult to understand how consumers approach the purchasing process.
Even major retailers like Walmart can’t understand how billions of consumers make buying
decisions, no matter how hard they try. Walmart’s approach to building hyperstores like those
in the United States just doesn’t work for Chinese customers looking for household staples.
Walmart’s corporate culture has faced challenges in adjusting to China’s regulatory system, and
the company has also faced strong local competitors like China-based Alibaba.
Source: “Walmart Struggles to Solve Consumer Needs in China,” Fox Business, June 11, 2022,
https://www.foxbusiness.com/retail/walmart-consumer-china.
Section 3.1 Summary
Marketers seek to understand what products consumers buy, why, where, when, and how
often. Final consumers, who purchase items for their own use, make up the consumer market.
Each person exhibits distinctive buying behavior that is influenced by many factors. One model
of buyer behavior is called the stimulus-response model, otherwise known as the buyer’s black
box because marketers can’t easily discover what goes on inside. Stimuli can come from a
variety of sources, including marketers in the form of the 4Ps (product, price, place, and
promotion). Other environmental stimuli include economic factors, legal/political factors, and
technological and cultural factors. Inside the black box is the intersection of the buyer’s beliefs,
attitudes, motives, and values that leads to buyers’ responses. Depending upon the buyer’s
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