Lektion 3: Understanding Customer Behaviour

This is the dominant, traditional view. It sees consumption as a largely rational, linear process.

• The consumer recognizes a need, seeks information, weighs alternatives, and selects the best utility

• Key assumption: The consumer is a logical problem solver.

An alternative view. It sees consumption as sociocultural and experiental.

• It focuses on the meaning of consumption (e.g., buying a brand to fit into a subculture or define identity)

• Key assumption: Consumption is often irrational, emotional, and driven by social context.

1. Need recognition

   • Functional: Ran out of milk

   • Emotional: Desire for status

2. Information Search

   • Internal Search: Checking memory

   • External Search: Asking friends, checking reviews

3. Evaluation of Alternatives

   • Awareness Set: All brands the consumer knows

   • Evoked Set: The short-list of brands seriously considered

   • Extended problem solving vs. Habitual problem solving

4. Purchase

5. Post-Purchase evaluation

   • Cognitive Dissonance (Increases with cost of product)

1. Technical: Performance, reliability, durability

2. Economic: Price, valure for money, running costs

3. Social: Status, belonging, fashion (e.g., wearing Nike to fit in with peers)

4. Personal: Self-image, risk reduction, morals

The group of people involved in the buying decision in an organization.

1. Initiator

2. Influencer

3. Decider

4. Buyer

5. User

6. Gatekeeper (B2B specific)

The person who begins the process of considering a purchase.

A child asking for a toy.

The person who attempts to persuade others in the group concerning the outcome of the decision.

A child telling their parents which cereal tastes the best.

The individual with the power and/or financial authority to make the ultimate choice.

The parent who decides "Yes, we can afford this c

The person who conducts the actual transaction.

The person standing at the checkout counter or entering the credit card info.

The actual consumer or user of the product.

The baby wearing the nappies (even though the parents bought them).

A member of a DMU who controls the flow of information to other members.

A secretary or personal assistant.

The array of brands or products that a consumer is aware of and which may provide a solution to their problem.

When buying a phone, you know Apple, Samsung, and Google exist (before narrowing it down to your shortlist).

The shortlist of brands/products a consumer seriously considers before making a final choice.

The 3 universities you applied to.

A purchase decision process involving high involvement, high risk, and significant information search.

Buying a house.

A purchase decision process involving low involvement and little conscious effort.

Buying your usual brand of toothpaste.

Post-purchase anxiety or tension caused by uncertainty about whether the right decision was made.

"Buyer's remorse" after buying an expensive phone.

The process by which consumers screen out most stimuli and focus only on what is meaningful to them.

Not noticing diaper ads until you have a baby.

The tendency for consumers to twist or interpret information in a way that fits their existing beliefs and attitudes.

A loyal Apple fan dismissing a negative review of the new iPhone as "biased."

The tendency for consumers to remember only the information that supports their existing beliefs and attitudes while forgetting the rest.

Remembering the good features of a car you like, but forgetting the high fuel consumption mentioned in the review.

Learning by associating a stimulus with a particular response.

Pavlov's dog; pairing a brand with a happy song.

Learning based on the consequences of behavior (reward or punishment).

Loyalty points, free samples.

A theory arranging needs from basic (physiological) to complex (self-actualization).

Food (Bottom) -> Status (Middle) -> Self-fulfillment (Top).

A group of people that influences an individual's attitude or behavior.

Family, friends, or a celebrity fan club.