MODULE MKT 1063 MQF 2.0

CONSUMER JUN JUHAIZI JUHARI
BEHAVIOUR Marketing Lecturer
(MKT 1063) KPM Seri Iskandar

FIRST EDITION (MQF 2.0)

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR (MKT 1063)

Contents

CHAPTER 1:...................................................................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION TO CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR.......................................................................................3
CHAPTER 2:.................................................................................................................................................15
CONSUMER DECISION MAKING ...........................................................................................................15
CHAPTER 3:.................................................................................................................................................22
PERSONALITY .............................................................................................................................................22
CHAPTER 4:.................................................................................................................................................28
PERCEPTION ...............................................................................................................................................28
CHAPTER 5:.................................................................................................................................................40
LEARNING...................................................................................................................................................40
CHAPTER 6:.................................................................................................................................................47
MOTIVATION..............................................................................................................................................47
CHAPTER 7:.................................................................................................................................................50
ATTITUDES....................................................................................................................................................50
CHAPTER 8:.................................................................................................................................................55
CULTURAL INFLUENCES ............................................................................................................................55
CHAPTER 9:.................................................................................................................................................67
SOCIAL INFLUENCES ................................................................................................................................67
CHAPTER 10:...............................................................................................................................................77
TECHNOLOGICAL INFLUENCES .............................................................................................................77

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CHAPTER 1:
INTRODUCTION TO CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
1. Define Consumer Behaviour
2. Explain the categories of consumer
3. Discuss how consumer behaviour engaged with the marketing disciplines
4. Explain the consumer research

1.1 Definition of Consumer Behaviour
▪ 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 and desires.
▪ A consumer is a person who identifies a need or desire, makes a purchase, and then
disposes of the product during the three stages of the consumption process. In many
cases, however, different people play a role in this sequence of events.
▪ The purchaser and user of a product might not be the same person, as when a parent
picks out clothes for a teenager (and makes selections that can result in “fashion
suicide” in the view of the teen).
▪ Consumers may take the form of organizations or groups. One or several persons may
select products that many will use, as when a purchasing agent orders a company’s
office supplies.
▪ In other organizational situations, a large group of people may make purchase
decisions: for example, company accountants, designers, engineers, sales personnel,
and others—all of whom will have a say in the various stages of the consumption
process.

1.2 Categories of Consumers

Understanding buyer behaviors plays an important part in marketing. Considerable research
on buyer behavior both at conceptual level and empirical level has been accumulated. There
are two categories of consumers:

1. Industrial (organizational) consumer
2. Individual consumer

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1.3 Engaging Consumer Behaviour with Marketing Discipline
These are different business orientations that were developed as a result of businesses’ attempt
to fulfil consumer needs and wants.

1) Production Concept
2) Product Concept
3) Selling Concept
4) Marketing Concept
5) Societal Marketing Concept
Production Concept
▪ According to production concept, consumers prefer to buy those products that are

widely available and inexpensive.
▪ Executives of production-oriented businesses usually concentrate on achieving high

production efficiency, low cost, and mass distribution for effective results.
▪ Consumers are interested more in product availability and low prices. This type of

business orientation is effective in developing countries.
▪ Example − Local mobile companies in developing countries provide cell phones at

much cheaper cost than the branded companies and due to this, people in these
countries prefer to purchase cell phones from them.

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Product Concept
▪ According to product concept of business, consumers favor those products that
provide them better quality, performance and innovative features.
▪ Managers in product-oriented organizations mainly focus on making superior products
and improving them time to time.
▪ In product concept, it is considered that the consumers are aware of the quality of the
products, and they have an ability to evaluate good quality and performance.

Selling Concept
▪ According to the selling concept, consumers, if left on their own, will usually not buy
enough.
▪ An organization must therefore integrate an aggressive selling and promotional effort
to get a competitive edge in the market.
▪ According to this concept, the company constitutes effective selling and promotion
tools in order to encourage more buying.
▪ The purpose of marketing is to sell more things to more people, more regularly, in order
to make more profit.

Marketing Concept
▪ According to the Marketing concept, companies focus on individual customers.
▪ They provide individual offers, services, and establish direct channels of
communication with them.
▪ These companies collect information on each customer's past transactions,
demographics, media and supply preferences.
▪ They believe in profitable growth by capturing a large share of each customer’s
expenditure by building high customer loyalty and customer lifetime value.

Societal Marketing Concept
▪ The Societal Marketing Concept states that corporates should offer products and
services which satisfy the needs of their consumers, company requirements and
maintains the well-being of the society at large.
▪ This concept stresses that the marketing strategy should deliver value to consumers in
a way that enhances both the consumer’s and society’s well-being.
▪ Results of this concept will meet the present needs of customers and corporates while
also maintaining or improving the ability of future generations to meet their needs.

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▪ The world we live in today is facing many challenges like global warming, ozone
depletion, and land desertification. Therefore, businesses should also take societal and
environmental responsibility, while satisfying customers’ needs.

▪ This concept stresses that the corporates should not ignore society’s long-term welfare
so as to achieve its strategic goals.

▪ An organization should have moral and environmentally friendly policies and should
ensure that proper regulations and codes are implemented.

[https://www.tutorialspoint.com/consumer_behavior/]

1.4 Consumer Research
▪ Consumer research is the process and tools used to study consumer behavior.
▪ Consumer research is the aspect of market research that focuses on identifying the

motivation, preferences, and purchase behavior of (potential) consumers.
▪ Companies rely on consumer research to analyze and better understand consumer

psychology so as to improve their products or services, making them more customer-
oriented, and ultimately increasing customer satisfaction and the number of sales.
▪ Having a deep understanding of consumer decision-making and purchase behavior
allows brands to build products that will find their market fit more easily, put the optimal
price tag onto them, and establish the right distribution and promotion channels.

1.4.1 Consumer Research Methods
▪ There are two main approaches of research that can be used to marketing :

1) primary research method
2) secondary research method

PRIMARY RESEARCH
▪ It is research that you design and conduct yourself.
▪ For example, you may need to find out whether consumers would prefer that your soft

drinks be sweater or tarter.
▪ Data collected for its own purpose is called primary data. When marketers gather data

using surveys, focus groups, experiments, and the like to support their own marketing
decisions, they are collecting primary data.

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1. Survey
▪ One of the most familiar research tools is the survey, a method of collecting
information from a sample of consumers, usually by asking questions, to draw
quantitative conclusions about a target population.
▪ Some questions may be open-ended, with the consumer filling in the blanks; other
questions may ask consumers to use a rating scale or check marks.
▪ Surveys can be conducted in person, through the mail, over the phone, or by using
the Web.
▪ Although companies often use specialized surveys to better understand a specific
customer segment, some organizations carry out broad-based surveys that are
made available to marketers.
▪ The U.S. Bureau of the Census is a widely used source of demographic information.
▪ Its Census of Population and Housing, conducted every 10 years, asks U.S.
consumers a series of questions regarding their age, marital status, gender,
household size, education, and home ownership. This database, available online
(www.census.gov), helps marketers learn about population shifts and other
demographic trends that might affect their offerings or their industry.

2. Focus Group
▪ A focus group brings together small groups of consumers to discuss an issue or an
offering.
▪ Led by a trained moderator, participants express their opinions about a given
product or topic, which can be particularly useful in identifying and testing new
product ideas.
▪ Focus groups provide qualitative insights into consumer attitudes as opposed to
the quantitative (numerical) data resulting from surveys.

3. Interviews

▪ Like focus groups, interviews involve direct contact with consumers.
▪ Interviews are often more appropriate that focus groups when the topic is sensitive,

embarrassing, confidential, or emotionally charged.
▪ They provide more in-depth data than surveys when the researcher wants to “pick

consumers’brains.”
▪ In some interviews, researchers ask customers about the process they use to make

a purchase decision. One research company assigns professional interviewers to tape-
record consumers’ thoughts while they shop for groceries.

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▪ This research helps marketers understand how factors in the shopping environment
affect purchasing. Interviews can also uncover broader attitudes that affect behavior
across product categories.

3. Experiments
▪ Consumer researchers can conduct experiments to determine whether certain
marketing phenomena affect consumer behavior.
▪ For example, they might design an experiment to learn whether consumers’ attitudes
toward a brand are affected by the brand name as opposed to factors such as
product features, package, color, logo, room temperature, or the consumer’s mood.
▪ With experiments, researchers randomly assign consumers to receive different
“treatments” and then observe the effects of these treatments.
▪ To illustrate, consumers might be assigned to groups that are shown different brand
names.
▪ The researchers collect data about participants’ attitudes toward the name and
compare attitudes across groups.
▪ In a taste-test experiment, they might randomly assign consumers to groups and then
ask each group to taste a different product.

SECONDARY RESEARCH
▪ Secondary research involves using information that others have already put together.
▪ Data collected by an entity for one purpose and subsequently used by another entity for

a different purpose is called secondary data.
▪ For example, after the government collects census data for tax purposes, marketers can

use the results as secondary data to estimate the size of markets in their own industry.

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1.4.2 Types of Consumer Researchers

Many entities use market research to study consumer behavior for different reasons.
Organizations such as consumer goods and services companies, ad agencies, and marketing
research firms conduct research to make decisions about marketing a specific product or
service. Government organizations collect consumer information so as to set laws designed to
protect consumers. Academics conduct research to protect consumers or simply to
understand why and how consumers behave as they do. Consumer researchers are:

1. In-House Marketing Research Departments
2. External Marketing Research Firms
3. Advertising Agencies and Media Planning Firms
4. Syndicated Data Services
5. Retailers
6. Research Foundation and Trade Groups
7. Government
8. Consumer Organizations
9. Academic and Academic Research Centers

In-House Marketing Research Departments
▪ The benefits of conducting “in-house” research (conducted by the company for the
company) are that the information collected can be kept within the company
and that opportunities for information to leak to competitors are minimized.
▪ However, internal departments are sometimes viewed as less objective than outside
research firms since they may have a vested interest in the research results.
▪ For example, employees may be motivated to show that the company is making good
decisions, a situation that may unwittingly bias the nature of their research or the
outcomes they report. Consequently, some companies use outside research
companies to gather their consumer research.

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External Marketing Research Firms
▪ External research firms often help design a specific research project before it begins.
▪ They develop measuring instruments to measure consumer responses, collect data
from consumers, analyze the data, and develop reports for their clients.
▪ Research firms specializing in neuroscience have helped Procter & Gamble, Campbell
Soup, Turner Broadcasting, and others fine-tune their marketing messages and plan
new offerings.
▪ Some marketing research firms are “full service” organizations that perform a variety of
marketing research services; others specialize in a particular type of research.
▪ The GfK Group, for instance, conducts media research, brand awareness research,
and other consumer behavior research.

Advertising Agencies and Media Planning Firms
▪ Full-service advertising agencies and media planning firms conduct research to better
understand what advertising messages and media will appeal to their clients’ target
markets.
▪ For example, the international home-furnishings chain IKEA asked MEC Global and
Ogilvy & Mather to develop a campaign to increase the amount its customers spend
during each transaction.
▪ When agency researchers studied the buying and consumption behavior of 35-year-
old IKEA customers, they found that these shoppers associated the retailer with
accessory merchandise, rather than with major furniture pieces and sets.
▪ The researchers also discovered that IKEA shoppers were looking for creative ideas they
could adapt to personalize their living spaces.
▪ Based on this research, the agencies developed a multimedia campaign showing how
the store offers choices for furnishing entire rooms with personal flair.
▪ The campaign included a brand community where consumers could upload photos
of rooms they furnished and decorated with IKEA products, as inspiration for other
consumers. The result: IKEA’s sales of living room sets rose 9 percent.

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Syndicated Data Services
▪ Syndicated data services are companies that collect and then sell the information they
collect, usually to firms that market products and services to consumers.
▪ For example, the Yankelovich Monitor study collects data on consumer lifestyles and
social trends using 90-minute interviews at the homes of approximately 2,500 adults. Its
annual reports describing current and projected lifestyle trends help advertising
agencies and company marketers develop content for promotional messages,
choose media, identify new product ideas, plan positioning strategy, and make other
marketing decisions.
▪ Nielsen is a syndicated data service that tracks the TV viewing habits of thousands of
participating U.S. households. Using digital set-top equipment, it records which TV
shows each household member is viewing and when. In addition, during “sweeps
weeks,” it asks two million U.S. consumers to keep a diary indicating the shows they
watch. Based on these data, Nielsen assigns a rating that indicates the number and
percentage of all households watching a particular TV program, and a specific
commercial, along with demographic analyses of the audience. This is how advertisers
know how many viewers watch the Super Bowl, for instance.

Retailers
▪ Large retail chains often conduct consumer research.
▪ By using electronic scanners to track sales of a brand or product category, they can
determine which are their best and worst-selling items and see how consumers respond
to coupons, discounts, and other promotions.
▪ Because salespeople often interact directly with customers, retailers sometimes use
research to measure customer satisfaction and determine how they can improve
service quality. Often retailers use research to uncover new needs and understand
brand perceptions. Raymond, a clothing chain based in India, conducted research to
investigate consumers’ preferences and brand attitudes within the United Arab
Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

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Research Foundations and Trade Groups
▪ Many research foundations and trade groups collect consumer research.
▪ A research foundation is a nonprofit organization that sponsors research on topics
relevant to the foundation’s goals. As an example, the nonprofit Advertising
▪ Research Foundation seeks to improve the practice of advertising, marketing, and
media research. It sponsors conferences and webinars, and publishes reports related
to research in these areas. The Marketing Science Institute is another nonprofit
organization that sponsors academic research to uncover information useful to
marketers.
▪ Specialized trade groups may also collect consumer research to better understand the
needs of consumers in their own industries. A trade group is an organization
formed by people who work in the same industry, such as the Recording Industry
Association of America, a group whose members are involved in the music industry
through recording, distribution, or retailing activities.
▪ This organization has sponsored a host of research projects, including studies to
understand how American musical tastes and music consumption patterns have
changed over the years.

Government
▪ Although government agencies do not use research to help market an offering,
businesses frequently use government research for marketing purposes, as when
they examine census data to estimate the size of various demographic markets.
▪ U.S. government studies by agencies such as the Consumer Products Safety
Commission, the Department of Transportation, and the Food and Drug Administration
are specifically designed for consumer protection.
▪ As an example, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) conducts research on potentially
deceptive, misleading, or fraudulent advertising.
▪ Research can also help resolve court cases involving marketing issues such as whether
consumers are confusing a new product’s trademark with an established product’s
trademark, a situation that could hurt the established brand.

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Consumer Organizations
▪ Independent consumer organizations also conduct research, generally for the purpose
of protecting or informing consumers.
▪ Consumers Union is an independent, non-profit testing and information organization
designed to serve consumers.
▪ The organization publishes the well-known Consumer Reports magazine. Many of
▪ the products described in Consumer Reports are tested in Consumers Union’s
independent product-testing lab, and the results are posted on the organization’s
website (www.consumerreports.org).

Academics And Academic Research Centers
▪ Although academic research involving consumers can be used for marketing and may
have implications for public policy, studies often are designed simply to enhance our
general understanding of consumer behavior. Much of the research reported in this
book describes state of- the-art academic studies.
▪ Some academic research centers focus on a specific aspect of consumer behavior.
For example, the Restaurant of the Future, on the campus of Wageningen University in
the Netherlands, is designed to allow researchers to experiment with lighting, plates,
food arrangement, seasonings and ingredients, and other details. The goal is to see
their effects on what and how much students and faculty eat.

1.4.3 Consumer Research Process
The consumer research process can be broken down into the following steps:

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STEP 1 : Develop research objectives
The first step to the consumer research process is to clearly define the research objective, the
purpose of research, why is the research being conducted, to understand what? A clear
statement of purpose can help emphasize the purpose.

STEP 2 : Collect Secondary data
Collect secondary data first, it helps in understanding if research has been conducted earlier
and if there are any pieces of evidence related to the subject matter that can be used by an
organization to make informed decisions regarding consumers.

STEP 3 : Primary Research
In primary research organizations or businesses collect their own data or employ a third party
to collect data on their behalf. This research makes use of various data collection methods
(qualitative and quantitative) that helps researchers collect data first hand.

STEP 4 : Collect and analyze data
Data is collected and analyzed and inference is drawn to understand consumer behavior and
purchase pattern.

STEP 5 : Prepare report
Finally, a report is prepared for all the findings by analyzing data collected so that organizations
are able to make informed decisions and think of all probabilities related to consumer
behavior. By putting the study into practice, organizations can become customer-centric and
manufacture products or render services that will help them achieve excellent customer
satisfaction.

[https://www.questionpro.com/blog/consumer-research]
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CHAPTER 2:
CONSUMER DECISION MAKING

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

1. Define buying behaviour and consumer buying behaviour
2. Explain the models/views of consumer decision making
3. Explain the levels of consumer decision-making
4. Describe the consumer decision-making process

2.1 Definition of Buying behaviour and Consumer Buying Behaviour

Definition of Buying Behavior:
▪ Buying Behavior is the decision processes and acts of people involved in buying and
using products.
▪ Need to understand:
✓ why consumers make the purchases that they make?
✓ what factors influence consumer purchases?
✓ the changing factors in our society.

Definition of Consumer Buying Behaviour
▪ Consumer buying behaviour is the study of individuals, groups, or organizations and
the processes they use to select, secure, use, and dispose of products, services,
experiences, or ideas to satisfy needs and the impacts that these processes have on
the consumer and society.
▪ Marketing success or failure of a company depends on target consumers’ individual
and group reactions expressed in the form of buying patterns. Since customer is the
reason why any organization exists, it is necessary to understand the customer and
study the pattern of his buying behaviour.
▪ Consumer buying behaviour “refers to the buying behaviour of final consumers, both
individuals and households, who buy goods and services for personal consumption”
(Kumar, 2010, p.218). From marketers’ point of view issues specific aspects of consumer
behaviour that need to be studied include the reasons behind consumers making
purchases, specific factors influencing the patterns of consumer purchases, analysis
of changing factors within the society and others.
▪ According to Blackwell et al (2006) consumer buying behaviour is itself is a complex,

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dynamic issue which cannot be defined easily and commonly. Therefore, the
concept of consumer buying behaviour has been defined in different ways by
different researchers.
▪ The definition formed by Solomon et al (1995) describes consumer buying behaviour
as a process of choosing, purchasing, using and disposing of products or services by
the individuals and groups in order to satisfy their needs and wants. Similar definition
of consumer buying behaviour is offered by Schiffman and Kanuk (2000) in which they
describe it as behaviour that consumers express when they select and purchase the
products or services using their available resources in order to satisfy their needs and
desires.
▪ Consumer buying behaviour is defined by Stallworth (2008) as a set of activities which
involves the purchase and use of goods and services which resulted from the
customers’ emotional and mental needs and behavioural responses. It is further stated
by Gabbot and Hogg (1998) that the process may contain different activities and
stages.

2.2 Models of Consumer Decision Making

There are 4 models or view of consumer decision making:
1. Economic View
2. Passive View
3. Cognitive View
4. Emotional View

1. Economic View or model

• This model assumes that a consumer is rational person, and he/she takes rational
decisions.

• He/she compares various products, evaluates its benefits, and disadvantages, and
then makes a purchase decision on the basis of information collected.

• He/she is aware of all product alternatives and is capable of ranking products in terms
of benefits and disadvantages.

• However, this model is considered unrealistic as people are limited by skills, Habits,
existing values, and perceptions and they are not always rational when making a
purchase decision

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2. Passive View or model

▪ This model assumes that consumers take decisions according to the promotional
efforts of the marketers and respond directly to the sales and advertisement appeals
offered by the marketer.

▪ It is opposite to the economic model, as it assumes people will evaluate a product
depending upon how it is promoted and positioned in the market.

▪ However, this model is also unrealistic as the consumers can collect and evaluating
information about product alternatives and then making a purchase.

3. Cognitive View or model

▪ The cognitive view is the best of the four models of consumer decision making.
▪ This model states that the consumers make decisions on the basis of their own interest

and understanding of the market demand and not according to their rational needs
or promotional efforts of the marketers.
▪ Every marketer must help consumers to develop a short-cut decision rules that shorten
the decision-making process and lead to instance purchases.

4. Emotional View or model

▪ The Emotional model states that all consumers are emotional and act upon their
emotions while making a purchase decision.

▪ Consumers make more impulsive purchases when they relate themselves with a
product or service.

▪ They take less time to think whether the product is necessary for them or not, but
develop negative or positive emotions related with the product.

▪ Hence products that bring negative emotions are avoided and products that bring
positive emotions in a consumer are bought by him.

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2.3 Levels of Consumer Decision Making

▪ Not all consumer decisions receive or require the same amount of effort in the information
search.

▪ Researchers have identified three specific levels of consumer decision making:
1) extensive problem solving,
2) limited problem solving, and
3) routinized response behavior.

Extensive problem solving

▪ When consumers have no established criteria for evaluating a product, or have not
narrowed their choices, then they are in extensive problem solving.

▪ At this level, the consumer needs a great deal of information to establish a set of criteria
on which to judge specific brands and a correspondingly large amount of information
concerning each of the brands to be considered.

Limited problem solving

▪ At this level, consumers have already established the basic criteria for evaluating the
product category but have not established preferred categories.

▪ Their search for additional information is more like “fine-tuning;” they must gather
additional brand information to discriminate among the various brands.

Routine Response

▪ At this level, consumers have some experience with the product category and a well-
established set of criteria with which to evaluate the brands they are considering.

▪ They may search for a small amount of additional information.
▪ Just how extensive a consumer’s problem-solving task is depends on how well established

his or her criteria for selection are, how much information he or she has about each brand
being considered, and how narrow the set of brands is from which the choice will be made.
▪ Routinized response behavior implies little need for additional information.

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2.4 Consumer Decision-Making Process

Consumer decision making process involves the consumers to identify their needs, gather
information, evaluate alternatives and then make their buying decision. The consumer
behavior may be determined by economic and psychological factors and are influenced by
environmental factors like social and cultural values.

The consumer decision making behavior is a complex procedure and involves everything
starting from problem recognition to post-purchase activities. Every consumer has different
needs in their daily lives and these are those needs which make than to make different
decisions.

The process is categorized into 5 different stages which are explained as follows:

Problem and Need Information Search Evaluation of
Recognition Alternatives

Post Purchase Decision Purchase Decision

2.4.1 Problem and need recognition

▪ The first stage of the buyer decision process, in which the consumer recognizes a
problem or need

▪ The need can be triggered by internal stimuli when one of the person’s normal needs
– hunger, thirst, sex- rises to a level high enough to become a drive.

▪ At this stage, the marketer should research consumers to find out what kinds of needs
or problem arise, what brought them about, and how they led the consumer to this
particular product.

▪ Need recognition occurs when a consumer exactly determines their needs.
Consumers may feel like they are missing out something and needs to address this

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issue so as to fill in the gap. When businesses are able to determine when their target
market starts developing these needs or wants, they can avail the ideal opportunity
to advertise their brands.
▪ An example who buys water or cold drink identifies their need as thirst. Here, however,
searching for information and evaluating alternatives is missing. These consumer
decisions making steps are considered to be important when an expensive brand is
under buying consideration such as cars, laptops, mobile phones, etc.

2.4.2 Information Search
▪ The stage of the buyer decision process 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.
▪ The information search stage in the buyer decision process tends to change
continually as consumers require obtaining more and more information about
products which can satisfy their needs. Information can also be obtained through
recommendations from people having previous experiences with products.
▪ At this level, consumers tend to consider risk management and prepare a list of the
features of a particular brand. This is done so because most people do not want to
regret their buying decision.
▪ Information for products and services can be obtained through several sources like:
✓ Commercial sources: advertisements, promotional campaigns, sales people or
packaging of a particular product.
✓ Personal sources: The needs are discussed with family and friends who provided
product recommendations.
✓ Public sources: Radio, newspaper and magazines.
✓ Experiential sources: The own experience of a customer of using a particular
brand.

2.4.3 Evaluations of Alternatives
▪ The stage of the buyer decision process in which the consumer uses information to
evaluate alternative brands in the choice set.
▪ Marketers should study buyers to find out how they actually evaluate brand
alternatives. If they know what evaluative processes go on, marketers can take steps
to influence the buyer’s decision.
▪ This step involves evaluating different alternatives that are available in the market
along with the product lifecycle. Once it has been determined by the customer what
can satisfy their need, they will start seeking out the best option available. This
evaluation can be based upon different factors like quality, price or any other factor

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which are important for customers. They may compare prices or read reviews and
then select a product which satisfies their parameters the most.

2.4.4 Purchase Decisions
▪ The buyer’s decision about which brand to purchase.
▪ Generally, the consumer’s purchase decision will be to buy the most preferred brands,
but two factors can come between the purchase intention and the purchase
decision.
▪ When all the above stages have been passed, the customer has now finally decided
to make a purchasing decision.
▪ At this stage, the consumer has evaluated all facts and has arrived at a logical
conclusion which is either based upon the influence from marketing campaigns or
upon emotional connections or personal experiences or a combination of both.

2.4.5 Post-Purchase Decision
▪ The stage of the buyer decision process in which consumers take further action after

purchase, based on their satisfaction or dissatisfaction.
▪ If the product falls short of expectation, the consumer is disappointed; if it meets

expectations, the consumer is satisfied; if it exceeds expectation, the consumer is
delighted.
▪ The purchase of the product is followed by post-purchase evaluation which refers to
analyzing as to whether the product was useful for the consumer or not.
▪ If the product has matched the expectations of the customer, they will serve as a brand
ambassador who can influence other potential consumers which will increase the
customer base of that particular brand.
▪ The same is true for negative experiences; however, it can halt the journey of potential
customers towards the product.

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CHAPTER 3:
PERSONALITY

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
1. Define personality
2. Describe the characteristics of personality
3. Discuss the influences of personality on consumer behaviour

3.1 Definition of Personality
• Personality, which refers to a person’s unique psychological makeup and how it
consistently influences the way a person responds to his or her environment.
• It can be defined as those inner psychological characteristics that both determine and
reflect how a person responds to his or her environment.
• Personality reflects inner characteristics that are being displayed by an individual.
• Inner characteristics is refer to those specific qualities, attributes, traits, factors and
mannerism that distinguish one individual from other individuals.
• Example : playful, happy, extrovert/introvert, shrewdness, tenacity, short-
temperedness, outspoken and being patriotic.

3.2 Characteristics of Personality
In the study of personality, three distinct properties are of central importance:
a) Personality reflects individual differences.
b) Personality is consistent and enduring.
c) Personality can change.

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Personality Reflects Individual Differences
▪ An individual’s personality is a unique combination of factors; no two individuals are
exactly alike.
▪ Personality is a useful concept because it enables us to categorize consumers into
different groups on the basis of a single trait or a few traits.

Personality is Consistent and Enduring
▪ Marketers learn which personality characteristics influence specific consumer
responses and attempt to appeal to relevant traits inherent in their target group of
consumers.
▪ Even though an individual’s personality may be consistent, consumption behavior
often varies considerably because of psychological, sociocultural, and environmental
factors that affect behavior

Personality can Change
▪ An individual’s personality may be altered by major life events, such as the birth of a
child,
▪ the death of a loved one, a divorce, or a major career change.
▪ An individual’s personality also changes as part of a gradual maturing process.
a) Personality stereotypes may also change over time.
b) There is a prediction, for example, that a personality convergence is occurring
between men and women.

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3.3 The Influence of Personality on Consumer Behaviour

▪ Marketers are interested in understanding how personality influences consumption
behavior because such knowledge enables them to better understand consumers and to
segment and target those consumers who are likely to respond positively to their product
or service communications.

▪ Personality traits to be discussed include:
1) Consumer innovativeness
2) Dogmatism in consumers
3) Consumer’s social character
4) Visualizers versus verbalizers
5) Consumers’ Greed
6) Compulsive consumption

3.3.1 Consumer Innovativeness
▪ Consumer innovators refers to those who are receptive towards new ideas and
marketers attempt to learn everything about this group.
▪ They are risk taker, having an inquisitive mind and financial capability as well as being
outward in regards to the product and services that they are interested in.
▪ Three levels of innovativeness when it comes to examining high technology products:
1) Global innovativeness
2) Domain specific innovativeness
3) Innovative behaviour

3.3.2 Dogmatism in Consumers
▪ It refers to a personality trait that measures the degree of rigidity that individuals display
towards unfamiliarity and also towards any form of information that is against their own
set of belief
▪ Example: A highly dogmatic Malaysian consumer would only prefer to buy local brands
of cars manufactured in Malaysia based on his belief that patriotism plays a significant
part in any consumption of automobiles.

3.3.3 Consumers’ Social Character
▪ Social character is a personality trait that ranges on a continuum from inner-directed
to other directed.
▪ Inner-directed consumers tend to rely on their own “inner” values or standards in
evaluating new products and are innovators. They also prefer ads stressing product
features and personal benefits.

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▪ Other-directed consumers tend to look to others for direction and are not innovators.
▪ They prefer ads that feature social environment and social acceptance.
▪ The social characters can be described as the following characteristics:

✓ Be unique
1. We all know people who seek to be unique.
2. These people avoid conformity.

✓ Acquire need for optimum simulation (NOS)
▪ Some people prefer a simple, uncluttered, and calm existence, although
others seem to prefer an environment crammed with novel, complex, and
unusual experiences.
▪ Persons with optimum stimulation levels (OSLs) are willing to take risks, to try
new products, to be innovative, to seek purchase-related information, and
to accept new retail facilities.
▪ The correspondence between an individual’s OSL and their actual
circumstances has a direct relationship to the amount of stimulation
individual’s desire.
a) If the two are equivalent, they tend to be satisfied.
b) If bored, they are understimulated, and vice versa.

✓ Seek variety and distinctiveness
▪ This is similar to OSL. Primary types are variety or novelty seeking.
▪ There appear to be many different types of variety seeking: exploratory
purchase behavior (e.g., switching brands to experience new and possibly
better alternatives), vicarious exploration (e.g., where the consumer secures
information about a new or different alternative and then contemplates or
even daydreams about the option), and use innovativeness (e.g.,where the
consumer uses an already adopted product in a new or novel way). The
third form of variety or novelty seeking—use innovativeness—is particularly
relevant to technological.
▪ Consumers with high variety seeking scores might also be attracted to
brands that claim to have novel or multiple uses or applications.
▪ Marketers, up to a point, benefit from thinking in terms of offering additional
options to consumers seeking more product variety. Ultimately, marketers
must walk the fine line between offering consumers too little and too much
choice.
▪ The stream of research examined here indicates that the consumer

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innovator differs from the non-innovator in terms of personality orientation.

✓ Acquire need for cognition (NFC)
▪ This is the measurement of a person’s craving for or enjoyment of thinking.
▪ Consumers who are high in NC (need for cognition) are more likely to be
responsive to the part of an advertisement that is rich in product-related
information of description.
▪ They are also more responsive to cool colors.
▪ Consumers who are relatively low in NFC are more likely to be attracted
to the background or peripheral aspects of an ad.
▪ They spend more time on print content and have much stronger brand
recall.
▪ Need for cognition seems to play a role in an individual’s use of the
Internet.

3.3.4 Visualizers Versus Verbalizers
▪ Visualizers : Refer to those who have a preference for visual information and products
▪ Verbalizers : Prefer to search for detailed information regarding the products that
he/she intends to purchase.
▪ EXAMPLE: Person who intends to purchase high end computer would prefer to have
more information on related advertisements compared to those who intend to
purchase holiday destination deals

3.3.5 Consumers’ Greed
▪ Refers to individuals who fulfilled their needs via the accumulation of wealth acquired
over the years of consumption
▪ These generally materialistic consumers who value the need to show off materials and
lifestyles that reflect the amount of physical possession acquired.
▪ They are continuously searching for greater personal satisfaction through the
accumulation of such possessions.

3.3.6 Compulsive Consumption
▪ Compulsive consumption is in the realm of abnormal behavior.
▪ Consumers who are compulsive have an addiction; in some respects, they are out of
control, and their actions may have damaging consequences to them and those
around them.
▪ Consumer behavior which is inappropriate, typically excessive, and clearly disruptive
to the lives of individuals who appear impulsively driven to consume.

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▪ Refers to those consumers who tend to purchase products that may suit their unfulfilled

needs of social recognition, hence an undying thirst for established luxury brands such
as COACH .
▪ It might be out of control and their actions can lead to potential addiction and
uncontrollable financial expenditure
3.3.7 Consumer Ethnocentrism: Responses to Foreign-Made Products
▪ To identify consumer segments receptive to foreign-made products, researchers have
developed and tested the consumer ethnocentrism scale—CETSCALE.
▪ CETSCALE results identify consumers with a predisposition to reject or accept foreign
made products.
▪ Consumers who are highly ethnocentric feel that it is wrong to purchase foreign-made
products because it would hurt the domestic economy.
▪ Non-ethnocentric consumers tend to evaluate foreign-made products more
objectively.
▪ Marketers can appeal to ethnocentric consumers by stressing nationalistic themes in
their promotional efforts

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CHAPTER 4:
PERCEPTION

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
1. Define perception
2. Explain perception as three-stage process
3. Discuss the influences of perception on consumer behaviour

4.1 Definition of Perception
▪ Perception is defined as the process by which an individual selects, organizes and
interprets stimuli into a meaningful and coherent picture of the world.
▪ It can be explained as three-stage process which is used to give meaning to the stimuli
received through the five senses
▪ This three-stage process happens in the mind:
o Exposure
o Attention
o Interpretation
▪ People are unaware that this process is taking place.
▪ The complete diagram of perception is shown as below:

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▪ Our sensory systems are follows:

How stimuli are received through each one of the senses?
Sight (Eyes

▪ Human mind naturally likes or dislikes some colors but these likes or dislikes can be
influenced by other factors (culture and belief)

Sound (Ears)
▪ Marketers often use pleasant sounds to do something called audio watermarking – the
technique of creating catchy tunes so that people want to hum, sing or whistle their
product jingles.

Smell (Nose)
▪ Durian is considered “King of Fruits” in Malaysia but not in the USA

Taste (Mouth)
▪ The taste of Coca Cola has not been changed since it was launched in 1886.

Touch (Skin)
▪ Microsoft has created a keyboard with tactile feedback for its hybrid surface
computers. Touchscreen also had been created for smartphone.

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4.2 The Stages of Perception

▪ Each individual interprets the meaning of a stimulus in a manner consistent with his or
her own unique biases, needs and experiences.

▪ A consumer will move through various stages in terms of developing their
understanding of the differing brands and offers in the market.

▪ The process of perception are as follows :
1. Exposure
2. Attention
3. Interpretation

4.2.1 Exposure
▪ Exposure occurs when a stimulus comes within the range of someone’s sensory
receptors.
▪ Consumers concentrate on some stimuli, are unaware of others, and even go out of
their way to ignore some messages.
▪ We notice stimuli that come within range for even a short time—if we so choose.
However, getting a message noticed in such a short time (or even in a longer one) is
no mean feat.
▪ Exposure happens when a stimulus can be felt by any one of the five senses.
▪ For example: A consumer might hear the voice of Siti Nurhaliza singing a song, see a
giant poster of Zul Arifin drinking a Nescafe and smell the aroma of Burger King
hamburgers
▪ The consumer has already been exposed to the singing, the poster and hamburgers.

Sensory Thresholds
▪ Stimuli may be above or below a person’s sensory threshold which is the point at which

it is strong enough to make a conscious impact in his or her awareness.
▪ Refers to a level (a critical point) beyond which a change will occur. It refers to stimulus

that is so strong that it attracts the attention of a consumer.
▪ Marketers need to know this so that they can calculate how much of stimulus they

should apply to the consumer before the consumer decides to buy or pay attention to
their product
▪ Sensory threshold can be divided into two forms:
i) absolute threshold
ii) differential threshold

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▪ Absolute threshold is the minimum level of a stimulus that is needed for a consumer to

perceive it.
▪ The sound a dog whistle emits is at too high a frequency for human ears to pick up, so

this stimulus is beyond our auditory absolute threshold.
▪ The absolute threshold is an important consideration when we design marketing stimuli.

A highway billboard might have the most entertaining copy ever written, but this genius
is wasted if the print is too small for passing motorists to see it.
▪ Differential threshold is a relative concept that refers to the difference in intensity
between two stimuli before a consumer can perceive that these two stimuli are
different.
▪ The differential threshold refers to the ability of a sensory system to detect changes in
or differences between two stimuli.
▪ The minimum difference we can detect between two stimuli is the just noticeable
difference (j.n.d.).
▪ Sometimes a marketer may want to ensure that consumers notice a change, such as
when a retailer offers merchandise at a discount. In other situations, the marketer may
want to downplay the fact that it has made a change, such as when a store raises a
price or a manufacturer reduces the size of a package. When a brand tries to
modernize its logo, it has to walk a fine line because consumers tend to get tired of old-
fashioned designs but they still want to be able to identify the familiar product. Figure
3.2 shows the evolution of the Pepsi label over time.

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Subliminal Perception
▪ It is quite the opposite of sensory threshold. It refers to stimulus that is so low in strength that

it escapes the attention of the consumer.
▪ Subliminal perception refers to a stimulus below the level of the consumer’s awareness.
▪ It is believed that this “weak” stimulus can still influence the mind of the consumer because

it still enters his mind even though he is not aware of it.
▪ Two basic types of subliminal messages can be sent to the unconscious- auditory & visual.

It occurs even when the stimulus is very weak but still can influence people.
▪ Example: the mixing of a recorded voice with a popular song. The listener may not be

aware of the recorded voice it is very low in volume.
▪ For Example: This logo features a smiley face that connects A to Z, as to suggest that

amazon can find anything starting with A to Z and customers will always be happy doing
business with Amazon.

▪ The most classic examples of subliminal advertising and messaging include:
✓ Embedding a message in a song, either in the higher or lower frequencies or by
singing something backwards
✓ Words and images briefly flashing in between frames of film, usually at one tenth
of a second
✓ Drawings or photos that contain hidden or subtle images, such as words spelled
out in clouds in the background

4.2.2 Attention

▪ Refers to the act of directing the brain to process a particular stimulus.
▪ A consumer is paying attention when she is focused on a particular stimulus.
▪ Attention refers to the extent to which processing activity is devoted to a particular

stimulus. As you know from sitting through both interesting and “less interesting”
lectures, this allocation can vary depending on both the characteristics of the stimulus
(i.e., the lecture itself) and the recipient (i.e., your mental state at the time).
▪ Although we live in an “information society,” we can have too much of a good thing.

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▪ Consumers often live in a state of sensory overload; we are exposed to far more
informationnthan we can process. In our society, much of this bombardment comes
from commercial sources, and the competition for our attention steadily increases.

Multitasking
▪ A large proportion of teens report that they engage in multitasking, where they
process information from more than one medium at a time as they alternate among
their cell phones, TVs, and laptops.
▪ Researchers find that heavy multitaskers have more trouble focusing, and they
experience more stress. One study found that people who are interrupted by email
report significantly more stress than those who were allowed to focus on a task.
▪ Marketers constantly search for ways to break through the clutter and grab people’s
attention.
▪ Some tactics are straightforward, such as when manufacturers try to get their brands
shelved at eye level in a store and toward the center of a display because they
know that is where shoppers are most likely to look.
▪ In the online world, advertisers keep innovating to get visitors to watch their
messages. One of the most popular today is rich media; the use of animated.gif files
or video clips to grab viewers’ attention.

Factors that get attention
These factors can help create attention:
1) Intensity of Stimuli.

• All things equal, a consumer is more likely to pay attention to stronger stimuli than to
weaker stimuli.

• For example, vivid colours can be used to capture a consumer’s attention. Loud
sounds capture more attention than quieter sounds.

• A television commercial with a louder volume than the rest of the programming tends
to get consumers’ attention.

2) Contrast.
• Contrasting stimuli are extremely effective in getting attention. Contrast occurs in
several ways. In days past, a colour photo in a newspaper was extremely effective in
getting attention.
• However, today’s newspapers are often filled with colour, so a colour advertisement is
less prominent. A black-and-white image in a magazine filled with colour, however,
can stand out. A period of silence in an otherwise noisy environment can attract
attention.
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• Like loud television commercials, silent commercials also usually work in gaining
consumer attention. Nonconformity can also create attention because of the contrast
with social norms.

• Marketers often show consumers who “stand out from the crowd” as a means of
capturing attention for an ad.

3) Movement.
• With electronic billboards or electronic retail shelf tags, marketers attempt to capture
consumer attention by the principle of movement. Items in movement simply gain
attention.
• Flashing lights and “pointing” signage are particularly effective tools for gaining
consumer attention.

4) Surprising Stimuli.
• Unexpected stimuli gain consumers’ attention. Infomercials often contain surprising
scenes.
• Recent infomercials showed a car running over a man’s hand and the strength of
Mighty Putty pulling a “fully loaded 18-wheeler.”

5) Size of Stimuli.
• All else equal, larger items garner more attention than smaller ones.
• Marketers therefore often attempt to have brands appear large in advertisements.
• This is a reason advertising copy usually features large headlines.

6) Involvement.
• Refers to the personal relevance a consumer feels toward a particular product.
• In general, the more personally relevant (and thus more involving) an object, the
greater the chance that the object will be attended to.

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4.4.3 Interpretation
▪ Interpretation is the meanings that the consumer assigns to stimuli.
▪ For example : two people see an old man with tattered clothes cross a road. First, might
be a beggar and second, an old poor man.

Stimulus Organization
▪ One factor that determines how we will interpret a stimulus is the relationship we
assume it has with other events, sensations or images in memory.
▪ There are many ways of priming, that is, activating the schema.
▪ One such way is to use Gestalt psychology which says that people respond to a total
set of stimuli rather than to individual stimulus.
▪ There are three basic principles that marketers often borrow from Gestalt psychology:
1) Closure Principle
▪ People tend to “see” a complete picture even when the picture is incomplete.
▪ They tend to “fill in the blanks” using their past experience.
▪ The principle of closure is also work when we hear only part of a jingle or theme.

2) Similarity Principle
▪ People tend to group together objects that exhibit similar physical characteristics.
▪ Marketers often use this approach in their package design to give their products

a “family look”, thereby making it easier for consumers to identify those products
and to relate them back to the marketer.
▪ For example: Green Giant relied on this principle when the company redesigned
the packaging for its line of frozen vegetables. It created a “sea of green” look to
unify all of its different offerings.

3) Figure-ground Principle
▪ A part of a stimulus will dominate (figure) and be the main focus, whilst the other
will remain in the background (ground)
▪ This concept is easy to understand if one thinks literally of a photograph with a
clear and sharply focused object (the figure) in the center.

Semiotics : The Meaning of Meaning
▪ This is the art and science of attaching meanings to symbols such as signs, logos, words
and any graphical representation.
▪ It can be understood in : the objects, the signs and interpretant.
▪ Semiotics is a key link to consumer behaviour because consumers use products to
express their social identities.
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▪ Products carry learned meanings, and we rely on marketers to help us figure out what

those meanings are.
▪ From a semiotic perspective, every marketing message has three basic components:

an object, a sign (or symbol), and an interpretant.
▪ The object is the product that is the focus of the message (e.g., Marlboro cigarettes).
▪ The sign is the sensory image that represents the intended meanings of the object

(e.g., the Marlboro cowboy).
▪ The interpretant is the meaning we derive from the sign (e.g., rugged, individualistic,

American).

Hyperreality
▪ Refers to the practice of making real what is initially a simulation (artificial).
▪ One of the hallmarks of modern advertising is that it creates a condition of
hyperreality.
▪ This refers to the process of making real what is initially simulation or “hype.”
▪ Advertisers create new relationships between objects and interpretants when they
invent connections between products and benefits, such as when an ad equates
Marlboro cigarettes with the American frontier spirit.
▪ In a hyperreal environment, over time it’s no longer possible to discern the true
relationship between the symbol and reality.
▪ The “artificial” associations between product symbols and the real world take on lives
of their own.
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▪ Example :the Bubba Gaump chai of restaurant which draws its identity from the movie
of the same brand name

Perceptual Positioning
▪ A product is bought not just for its physical attributes (features,etc) but more so for its
meaning and what it says about the consumer to other people.
▪ The marketers often try to influence consumers’ perceptions of their products by
managing what the product means to the consumers.
▪ Each product should occupy a positioning that stands out from those of its competitors.
▪ When a marketer understands how consumers think about a set of competing
brands, it can use these insights to develop a positioning strategy, which is a
fundamental component of a company’s marketing efforts as it uses elements of the
marketing mix (i.e., product design, price, distribution, and marketing communications)
to influence the consumer’s interpretation of its meaning in the marketplace relative
to its competitors.
▪ Marketers can use many dimensions to carve out a brand’s position in the
marketplace. These include:
✓ Lifestyle. Grey Poupon mustard is a “higher-class” condiment.
✓ Price leadership. L’Oréal sells its Noisôme brand face cream in upscale beauty
shops, whereas its Plenitude brand is available for one-sixth the price in discount
stores—even though both are based on the same chemical formula.
✓ Attributes. Bounty paper towels are “the quicker picker-upper.”
✓ Product class. The Spyder Eclipse is a sporty convertible.
✓ Competitors. Northwestern Insurance is “the quiet company.”
✓ Occasions. Wrigley’s gum is an alternative at times when smoking is not permitted.
✓ Users. Levi’s Dockers target men in their 20s to 40s.
✓ Quality. At Ford, “Quality is job 1.”
▪ For example : the positioning of Mercedes Benz in Malaysia might be “reliable and
durable”.

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4.2 The Influence of Perception on Consumer Behaviour

▪ Perception is the process through which an individual selects, organizes and interprets
the information he receives in order to do something that makes sense.

▪ The perception of a situation at a given time may decide if and how the person will
act.

▪ Selecting, organizing and interpreting information in a way to produce a meaningful
experience of the world is called perception.

▪ There are three different perceptual processes which can influence consumer
behaviour:
i. selective attention
ii. selective distortion
iii. selective retention.

Selective Attention
▪ The individual focuses only on a few details or stimulus to which he is subjected.
▪ The type of information or stimuli to which an individual is more sensitive depends on
the person.
▪ For brands and advertisers successfully capture and retain the attention of consumers
is increasingly difficult.
▪ For example, many users no longer pay any attention, unconsciously, to banner ads on
the Internet.
▪ This kind of process is called Banner Blindness. The attention level also varies depending
on the activity of the individual and the number of other stimuli in the environment.
▪ For example, an individual who is bored during a subway trip will be much more
attentive to a new ad displayed in the tube. It is a new stimuli that breaks the trip routine
for him. Consumers will also be much more attentive to stimuli related to a need.
▪ For example, a consumer who wishes to buy a new car will pay more attention to car
manufacturers ads. While neglecting those for computers. Lastly, people are more likely
to be attentive to stimuli that are new or out of the ordinary.
▪ For example, an innovative advertising or a marketing message widely different from
its competitors is more likely to be remembered by consumers.

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Selective Distortion
▪ In many situations, two people are not going to interpret an information or a stimulus in
the same way.
▪ Everyone will have a different perception based on his experience, state of mind,
beliefs and attitudes.
▪ Selective distortion leads people to interpret situations to make them consistent with
their beliefs and values.
▪ For brands, it means that the message they communicate will never be perceived
exactly in the same way by consumers. And that everyone may have a different
perception of it. That s why it’s important to regularly ask consumers in order to know
their actual brand perception.
▪ Selective distortion often benefits to strong and popular brands.
▪ Studies have shown that the perception and brand image play a key role in the way
consumers perceived and judged the product.
▪ Several experiments have shown that even if we give them the same product,
consumers find that the product is or tastes better when they have been told that it s
from a brand they like than when they have been told it’s a generic brand.

Selective Retention
▪ People do not retain all the information and stimuli they have been exposed to.
▪ Selective retention means what the individual will store and retain from a given situation
or a particular stimulus.
▪ As for selective distortion, individuals tend to memorize information that will fit with their
existing beliefs and perceptions.
▪ For example, consumers will remember especially the benefits of a brand or product
they like and will forget the drawbacks or competing products advantages.

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CHAPTER 5:
LEARNING

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
1. Define Consumer Learning
2. Describe the basic elements of consumer learning
3. Discuss how learning can influence consumer behaviour

5.1 Definition of Learning

▪ Learning is defined as a relatively permanent change in the behavior that
occurs as a result of experience of self or others.

▪ There occurs an enhancement of knowledge, skills and expertise which are
relatively permanent.

▪ Consumer learning is defined as a process by which people gather and
interpret information about products and services and use this
information/knowledge in buying patterns and consumption behavior.

▪ As Schiffman has put it “consumer learning can be thought of as the process
by which individuals acquire the purchase and consumption knowledge and
experience that they apply to future related behavior”.

▪ Consumer learning may be intentional, where learning is an outcome of a
careful search for information; learning can also be incidental, where learning
occurs as a matter of chance, by accident or without much effort.

▪ Learning is through action. When we act, we learn. It implies a change in the
behavior
resulting from the experience. The learning changes the behavior of an
individual as he acquires information and experience.

▪ For example, if you are sick after drinking milk, you had a negative experience,
you associate the milk with this state of discomfort and you learn that you should
not drink milk.

▪ Therefore, you don t buy milk anymore. Rather, if you had a good experience
with the product, you would have much more desire to buy it again next time.
The learning theories can be used in marketing by brands.

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5.2 Elements of learning

The learning process comprises certain elements: motivation, cues, response and
reinforcement.

5.2.1 Motives

▪ Consumer motives lie at the very heart of consumer behavior.
▪ When a consumer is faced with a need/want situation, there occurs an urge

within him to act towards fulfillment of the need/want through the problem
solving/decision making process.
▪ So he is motivated to search for information, either internally from his memory or
externally through commercial, non commercial and public sources or through
experience of self and others.
▪ This desire to search for knowledge and information about the product/service
gets intensified with the degree of relevance or involvement.
▪ The marketer can play an important role by:
i. identifying or helping the consumer identify the sub-conscious and hidden

motives
ii. triggering off motives and desires
▪ In both these ways, the consumer would be motivated to search for
information, in so far as that product/service would help satisfy the need/want.

5.2.2 Cues

▪ A cue may be defined as a weak stimulus that gives strength and direction to
the motives

▪ All the 4Ps could act as cues and give direction to motives
▪ For example: the packaging of the product (colorful design; easy to carry;

reusable containers), price (discounts, sales), place (store display, store layout,
window dressing) and promotion (advertisement).

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5.2.3 Responses

▪ The behavior of a person constitutes the response; i.e. how a person reacts to a
drive or a stimulus, reflects a response.

▪ This response could take various forms:
- It may be overt and lead to an action; the consumer may decide to
purchase the product/brand. Or,
- The response may just be learning for the future, i.e. the purchase is
postponed for future; he decides to buy at a later date. Or,
- A favorable image about the product and the brand may get created; the
consumer develops an intention to buy; as and when the consumer
decides to make the purchase, he would consider that brand.

5.2.4 Reinforcement

▪ An action always has a reaction; based on the reaction, the behavior gets
reinforced. In other words, if the action (behavior) is followed by a reaction that
is positive or pleasant or rewarding, the action (behavior) gets positively
reinforced; the likelihood of repetition of that action (behavior) increases.

▪ The same holds true vice versa. If the action (behavior) is followed by a reaction
that is negative or unpleasant or unrewarding, the action (behavior) gets
negatively reinforced; and the likelihood of repetition of that action (behavior)
decreases.

▪ In terms of consumer learning, if a person buys a particular product/brand, and
the purchase leads to satisfaction and delight, and lives up to expectations, the
consumer would feel that he has got value for money.

▪ Through a positive reinforcement, learning would take place, and the
consumer would prefer to buy the same product/brand in future.

▪ On the other hand, if he feels dissatisfied, again learning would take place and
he would learn not to buy the same product/brand in future.

▪ In fact, positive reinforcement could develop brand loyalty.

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Motivation Example 1 Example 2
- Relevance of need and goal An MBA student A man is shopping in
- A need that motivates action requires a business a mall and feels
suit for his interview hungry
Requirement of a business suit Hunger need triggered off.
for interview.

Cues Discounts/Sales; Or, Smell of cakes and pastries;
- A stimulus or symbol to drive action Good deals; Or, Or,
- It directs a drive when they are Good designs. Good, well-lit confectionary
store with good display of
match consumer expectations The student sees a discount in goodies to eat; Or,
a store and goes and buys Billboards and banners
Response from the shop; Or, publicizing brand etc.
- Action to satisfy need. He is unable to find a color of The man goes and buys the
- The reaction or behaviour relative his choice but he likes the pastry.
brand/dealer and so decides
to a drive or a cue to come back after a week He likes the pastry and asks for
when the fresh stock arrives
Reinforcement and he can get the color of his more.
- The feedback a consumer receives. choice.
- The reward or action. If he buys the suit and finds it He does not find it good and
comfortable and long lasting,
he would buy the same brand eats something else
or buy from the same shop
again. somewhere.
In case he doesn’t he would
change his brand.

5.3 The Influence of Learning on Consumer Behaviour

Consumer learning can be better explained by understanding the nature and characteristics
of learning:

a) Learning involves a change in behavior
▪ In terms of consumer learning, it implies that a consumer who is exposed to the
marketing stimuli, may react to it through its purchase and consumption; if his
experience is satisfying, he would repeat the purchase behavior in favor of the brand.
In case he is not satisfied, he would switch over to another brand. Thus leaning involves
a change in behavior.
▪ Further this change in behavior is relatively permanent.
▪ Learning also leads to development of attitudes. Until and unless an attempt is made
to change this behavior, it continues.
▪ For example, a person learns that Pepsodent toothpaste fights tooth decay 24 hours,
and is better than Colgate. Now because of this learning, he develops a predisposition

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that Pepsodent is better than Colgate. He would continue to purchase brand,
Pepsodent.

b) The change in behavior occurs because of experience
▪ This experience could be direct (self-experience) or indirect (experiences of others,
and word of mouth).
▪ A consumer learns about a product/service category and the varying brands either on
his own or from others.
▪ His pleasant experiences with the product/service category, leads to a positive opinion
about the brand, and would eventually develop into brand loyalty.
▪ On the contrary, his unpleasant experience, leads to a negative word of mouth and
switchover to other brands.
▪ This leads us to another characteristic of the learning process that has been explained
above as an element of learning.
▪ Learning must be reinforced to have an impact; if learning as a process is not
reinforced, the behavior would disappear.
▪ This reinforcement could be positive or negative.
▪ Through a positive reinforcement {where a purchase (action) is followed by a
satisfaction (reaction)}, learning would take place, and the consumer would prefer to
buy the same product/brand in future.
▪ In case of a negative reinforcement {where an purchase (action) is followed by a
dissatisfaction (reaction)}, learning would take place, and the consumer would learn
not to buy the same product/brand in future. Learning also leads to development of
attitudes.

c) Apart from experiences, consumer learning also reflects the impact of (i) marketing
(commercial) and non-marketing communication (interpersonal/non-commercial), as well as
(ii) background characteristics.

▪ Marketing communication (advertisements, publicity, personal selling, sales force etc.)
as well as interpersonal communication have a big role to play in consumer learning.

▪ The marketer educates the consumer about the product/service category, attributes,
benefits, features, price etc.

▪ The consumer also learns about the brand from the dealer or even from the
packaging/labeling. Interpersonal communication with family, friends, peers (word-of-
mouth), opinion leaders etc. also impacts consumer learning.

▪ Consumer learning also reflects personal, demographic and psychographic
characteristics.

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▪ Age, education, income, occupation, lifestyle, values, attitudes, personality,
perception, social class, culture and sub-culture, all of these impact the knowledge
base of a person and impact his purchase and consumption patterns.

d) Learning is a cognitive process and can only be inferred through our actions and behavior.
▪ Learning includes exposure to information, its processing and storage; this entire
process cannot be observed directly, and is only reflected in our behavior. In terms of
consumer behavior, we could explain consumer learning by observing the behavior of
consumers in a store.
▪ For example, majority of the people who buy health tonic for their children purchase
the Complan brand.
▪ This would give an input to the dealer that Complan is a popular brand and is favoured
over Boost and Bournvita. Heinz India Pvt. Ltd. would be able to interpret this behavior
on the part of the consumers as customer satisfaction and popularity with its brand
Complan.
▪ On the other hand, GlaxoSmithKline and Cadbury would infer that they need to
improve upon Boost and Bournvita respectively.

e) Learning is a continuous process.
▪ A person is exposed to information/ knowledge and/experiences all the time; he
interprets these, learns from them and stores these in his memory for retrieval. This
addition of knowledge to the memory bank may alter/modify existing information (this
entire bank is called the Associative Network).
▪ The upgraded information provides a basis for future behavior.
▪ Consumer learning as a continual process where knowledge is ever evolving as a result
of :
i. marketing stimuli (watching or reading about newer products/services and
brands, their features, prices etc. and thinking about them); or,
ii. discussion with family, friends, peers, colleagues, blogs and public forums; or,
iii. direct experiences (self) and indirect experiences (Word-of-Mouth). This
knowledge gets integrated into the memory with the other information stored
earlier; infact, this newly acquired information would alter/modify existing
information, and acts as a basis for future purchase.
▪ For example, if Samsung launches a new model of a microwave which is an
improvement over the previous model, the new inputs provided through the
advertisement adds up to the existing information about the Samsung and its
microwave models. When a person wants to buy a microwave, he would also include
this brand and the model in his evoked/consideration set.

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f) Learning may be specific/intentional, ongoing and incidental.
▪ Consumer learning is specific/intentional when it is directed to a specific need and
problem solving; it is deliberate in nature and specific to the situation, where the
person intends making an immediate purchase.
▪ Example: student enters college and needs to buy a laptop so that he can work on
his assignments. So he searches for information, talks to dealers, friends etc. and
obtain knowledge.
▪ Ongoing learning is long drawn; the consumer intends making the purchase
sometime in the future, and is searching for information and adding up to his
associated network.
▪ Example: the same student, has been thinking of purchasing the laptop since the past
five years, and over these past 5-6 years, he has been gathering information specific
to the laptop as a product category and also about the various brands available.
▪ In incidental learning, learning occurs incidentally as a byproduct of something else;
It is not deliberately sought and is totally unintentional; it is acquired by accident or
without much effort.
▪ Example: the student goes to a mall; he has gone there to help his mother buy a
microwave oven; there in the store, he attends a demonstration of a new laptop that
is being launched.

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CHAPTER 6:
MOTIVATION

LEARNING OBJECTIVES :

1. Define motivation
2. Explain the Maslow Hierarchy of Needs
3. Discuss how motivation factors can influence consumer behaviour

6.1 Definition of Motivation

▪ Motivation refers to the processes that lead people to behave as they do.
▪ It occurs when a need is aroused that the consumer wishes to satisfy.
▪ The need creates a state of tension that drives the consumer to attempt to reduce or

eliminate it.
▪ This need may be utilitarian (i.e., a desire to achieve some functional or practical benefit,

as when a person loads up on green vegetables for nutritional reasons) or it may be
hedonic (i.e., an experiential need, involving emotional responses or fantasies as when
a person feels “righteous” by eating kale).
▪ The desired end state is the consumer’s goal. Marketers try to create products and
services to provide the desired benefits and help the consumer to reduce this tension.

6.2 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

▪ The psychologist Abraham Maslow originally developed his influential Hierarchy of Needs
to understand personal growth and how people attain spiritual “peak experiences.”

▪ Marketers later adapted his work to understand consumer motivations.
▪ Maslow’s hierarchical structure implies that the order of development is fixed—that is, we

must attain a certain level before we activate a need for the next, higher one.
▪ Marketers embraced this perspective because it (indirectly) specifies certain types of

product benefits people might look for, depending on their stage of mental or spiritual
development or on their economic situation
▪ Marketers’ applications of this hierarchy have been somewhat simplistic, especially
because the same product or activity can gratify different needs.
▪ Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theory can be divided into 5 stages:
1) Physiological Needs − Food, clothing, air, and shelter are the first level needs. They

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR (MKT 1063)
are known as the basic necessities or primary needs.
2) Safety or Security Needs − Once the first level needs are satisfied, consumers move to
the next level. Physical safety, security, stability and protection are the security needs.
3) Social Needs (belonginess) − After the safety needs are satisfied, consumers expect
friendship, belonging, attachment. They need to maintain themselves in a society and
try to be accepted.
4) Esteem Needs (Ego) − Then comes esteem needs such as self-esteem, status, prestige.
Individuals here in this stage want to rise above the general level as compared to
others to achieve mental satisfaction.
5) Self-Actualization − This is the highest stage of the hierarchy. People here, try to excel
in their field and improve their level of achievement. They are known as self-
actualizers.

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6.3 The Influence of Motivation on Consumer Behaviour

What factors influence consumer motivation?
▪ Three main factors work together to predict consumer behavior:
1. emotions
2. situation
3. personality

Emotions
▪ Humans use feelings as information about objects, tasks, products, and people.
▪ These emotions are flexible and context-specific.
▪ For example, a consumer can feel either relaxed at a spa or excited at a basketball
game.
▪ Both are positive emotions but are very different on an arousal levels.
▪ Relaxation may motivate someone to linger and let their minds wander, while
excitement may motivate them to cheer loudly, buy a beer, or a team jersey.

Situation
▪ Situational cues may make certain ideas more salient or top of mind, causing people
to act in ways they otherwise might not.
▪ The next time you’re in a grocery store, pay attention to how many “free” samples
you eat along your shopping journey.
▪ Research shows that people tend to taste more samples when they see others
sampling them as well.

Personality
▪ People vary in the relative importance they place on different human needs.
▪ For some individuals, the need to belong (i.e., being able to build and maintain
strong connections with family and friends) is of great importance, while others are
driven by their need to explore is a major driving force (i.e., to discover and create
new things).
▪ Differences in the predominance of these needs influence consumers’ reactions to
ads, preferences, and shopping strategies.
▪ For instance, a person who is high in “belonging” is more likely to spend his hard-
earned money on a family trip to Disney over a personal shopping spree.

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CHAPTER 7:
ATTITUDES

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
1. Define attitudes
2. Explain the dynamics of attitudes
3. Discuss the influences of attitude on consumer behaviour

7.1 Definition of Attitudes
▪ An attitude is a learnt predisposition to respond in a consistently positive or negative way to

a given object or event. (Shiffman and Kanuk, 2010)
▪ It is a general evaluation of a product or service formed over time (Solomon, 2008)
▪ Attitude reflects internal feelings that are being expressed positively or negatively.

(happy,sad,angry,ashamed,surprised,sleepy,thoughtful,sared,healthy,sick,hungry,bored)

7.2 Dynamics of Attitude

Below are the dynamics of attitude :
1) Attitude Involves Object
2) Attitude Involves Learning
3) Attitude Involves Consistency
4) Attitude Involves Situational Circumstances

1) Attitude involves object
▪ “Objects” basically refers to any specific consumption or marketing related concepts

such as products, product category, brands, services, product uses, people or
advertisements.

2) Attitudes involves learning
▪ Attitudes are learnt and acquired.
▪ It formed as a result of any direct experience with the product, word of mouth
information gathered from others’ exposure to mass media etc.

3) Attitudes involves consistency
▪ It must be consistent with the behavior that is being reflected.