introduction to consumer behaviour relations

8/18/2019 Introduction to Consumer Behaviour Relations

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Lecture 7 Consumer behaviour Page 2

7.3 Life as theatre

People create and project images of themselves to other people; these images are calledroles.

The role may change according to the circumstances and environment which the individual is

in. Role playing behaviour is natural, and not consciously carried out. It is true that people

may unconsciously change their accents, movements and statements to fit in with the people

around them. Indeed behavour in groups if acceptable often results in the conferment of

status.

Erving Goffman developed a useful analogy for the role playing behaviour when he

developed his idea, or analogy, of life-as-theatre. This is illustrated by the table below.

Theatrical

terms

Explanation Real-life example

Props Items used to make gestures, or tosupport and emphasis movement,

or to set a scene.

Cigarettes, walking-sticks,

furniture and ornaments.

Costume Items of clothing which serve toestablish a role, or set a scene

Sportswear, business suits,

power dressing

Stage The place where the performanceis held, and where the audience is

assembled.

Offices, living rooms, pubs,

churches.

Backstage The place where the dressingrooms are; where the actors

prepare for their performance, and

where they meet their friends and

intimates.

Where the individual lives or

is relaxed; home; where the

persons friends and intimates

can visit.

Make-up The face the actor puts on toemphasise the characterisation. Cosmetics, perfumes,aftershave, hairdressing.

Script A pre-planned set of statementsintended to communicate the role

to the audience.

Jokes, sayings, conversational

styles, professional jargon.

Business The movements actors make in thecourse of playing the role.

Gestures, body language, facial

expressions used to convey

emotions and ideas.

Applause Feedback from the audience;confirmation that the role

projection has been effective.

Getting your way in business

negotiation, having friends

laugh at your jokes, having a

conversational response from afriend.

However, Goffman goes to great lengths to emphasise that the role-playing is actually part of

thereal everyday lives of real people,not the contrived parts played by actors.

7.4 Personality

Personality is the collection of individual characteristics that make a person unique, and

which control an individual’s responses to and relationship with the external environment. It

is a composite of subordinate processes: e.g. attitude, motivation, perception. It is the whole

of the person and is the system that governs the behaviour rather than the behaviour itself.

Notes are from The Essence of Consumer Behaviour, Blythe J , (1999), Prentice Hall Brian

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The elements that make up the behaviour are calledtraits. Considerable effort has gone into

identifying traits and relating them to consumer buying behaviour. The totality of the traits

(i.e. the personality ) dictates buying behaviour rather than any one trait.

Personality has the following features:

• It isintegrated: that is to say, all the factors making up the personality act on each

other to produce an integrated whole.

• It isself-serving. The characteristics of personality facilitate the attainment of

needs and goals. In other words, the personality exists to meet its own needs.

• Personal characteristics areindividualistic and unique, in degree and intensity as

well as presence. The number of traits is large and the combinations of traits are

huge, thus making each person unique.

• Personality is overt. External behaviour is affected by personality. In other words

by observing a persons behaviour, the personality can be deduced, albeit

indirectly.

•

Personality is consistent. Once a person’s basic personality has been established,it will change only slowly and with some difficulty. Thus we can assume an

individuals personality will remain constant throughout the buying process.

Because people are individuals it is difficult for marketers to take a standardised approach.

For this reason attempts have been made to identify groupings of personality types which can be

approached with a standardised offering.

7.5 Approaches to the study of personality

There are four basic approaches to the study of personality:

1.Pschoanalytic The psychoanalytic approach emphasises psychanalysis. The focus is

individual. This approach is typified by Freudianism.

2.Typology Here individuals are grouped according recognised types.

3.Trait & factor theories. Here the individual traits of the personality are examined as factors

making up the whole.

4.Psychographics The consumers are measured using their behavioural tendencies in order

to infer personality traits.

7.5.1 The psychoanalytic or Freudian approach.

In this approach personality is understood in terms of the id, ego and superego.

Conscious mind- Day to day

operations

Subconscious

mind -Blow consciouslevel - dreams.

SUPEREGO:Conscience

ID:Basic drives

EGO


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According to Freud, theid is the underlying drive of the psyche. It is sometimes called the

psychic energy. It is the source of the most basic, elemental, instinctive forces. It largely

operates below the conscious level. Theego is the conscious self. It is the part of the mind

that makes the day-to-day decisions which lead to satisfaction of the id. Thesuperego is an

‘internalised parent’, the conscience that holds us back from selfish gratification of the id’s

needs.

Thus theego is constantly makingcompromises between theid’s demands and the

superego’s restraints.

The Freudian approach led tomotivation research, which tried to explain the underlying

reasons for buying. However this became discredited because its claims were too fantastical.

However a current spin off from this approach is the focus group. In this a group of ten or so

people (called respondents) are interviewed together and asked to discuss their feelings and

motivations collectively. The advantage is that the respondents will stimulate each other and

there is less risk of the interviewer introducing bias.

Another spin off is the notion ofhedonistic consumption. This appeals to the id : it purports to

satisfy animal needs. An example is the Club 18-30 holiday company.7.5.2 Typology.

Followers of Freud had to adapt their thinking and a leader here was Jung. He classified

people into two groups (i)introverts (preoccupied with themselves and the internal world)

and (ii)extroverts (pre-occupied with others and the outside world). This was an early

attempt to classify people into broad types. The process was continued by the mother and

daughter team Kathryn Briggs and Isabel Myers. They developed theMyers-Briggs Type

Indicator with four personality dimensions:

• Extrovert / introvert, Sensing / intuitive, Thinking / feeling, Judging /

perceptive

The combinations of these dimensions creates sixteen different types (2x2x2x2 = 16). Anexample may be used to illustrate this: ‘What is an ESFJ?’ An ESFJ person is warm hearted,

talkative and popular, and likes harmonious relationships. On the other hand an INTJ is likely

to be quiet, intelligent, cerebral and reclusive.

7.5.3 Trait & factor theories.

Personality is composed of traits or ‘atoms’ of personality. Traits tend to endure over time.

Those that do change tend to change slowly. Those that do change with age are anxiety level

(which goes down as the the individual gets older), friendliness (which can go either way)

and eagerness for novelty (which tends to go down). Over 18,000 personality traits have been

identified. However this stidy has lead to few concrete results.

7.5.4 Psychographics.

Psycographics is sometimes known as life style studies, since it is concerned with people’s

values and approaches to life. It attempts to relate quantitatively a consumer’s lifestyle to a

consumer’s purchase behaviour. Thus an ecologist is more likely to buy a bike; a vegan is

unlikely to buy meat.

This approach combines the strengths of motivation research with those of trait and factor

theories.


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In the UK the Taylor Nelson category of seven lifestyle types is given blow:

Lifestyle type Characteristics % ofpopn

Sustenance driven

groups; motivated by

the need for securityBelonger

People who believe in the establishment,

traditional family values and patriotism.

Averse to change. 19

Survivor

People who are fighting a ‘holding action’;

accepts authority, hard working, quiet

traditional. Strong class consciousness16

Aimless

Two main categories: the young unemployed

whose main motivation is short-term ‘kicks’,

and the very old whose motivation is simply

day-to-day existence.

5

Outer-directed group

Conspicuous

consumer

Interested in material possessions, taking cues

from reference groups (friends, family).

Followers of fashion.18

Inner directed

groups; motivated by

self-actualisationSocial resister

Caring group, motivated by ideals of fairness

and a good quality of life at the societal level.

Altruistic, concerned with social issues like

ecology and nuclear disarmament.

11

Experimentalist

s

Materialistic and pro-technology,

individualistic and interested in novelty.14

Self-explorers

Motivated by self-expression and self-

realisation. Tolerant, able to think big and

look for global, holistic solutions.16


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7.6 Concepts of self

Self-concept is the person’s ideas and feelings about him or herself. It has an important role

to play in understanding consumer behaviour, since people buy products which contribute to

the self-concept.

‘Of all the personality concepts which have been applied to

marketing, self-concept has probably provided the most

consistent results and the greatest promise of application

to the needs of business firms’ (Gordon Foxall.)

An example: a woman thinks she is a femme fatal - as a consequence she chooseschic clothes to

enhance her image. Another example: a student thinks he is a looser - as a consequence he or

she rarely washes his tea shirts, wears old scruffy jeans and rarely buys anti-perspirants.

Thus in projecting an image a person can become a super-work of art exploiting all five senses: sight

(by dressing well), hearing (by using voice well), smell (by wearing scent), touch (by looking after the

skin, by wearing clothes that feel good - cashmere?) and even taste (flavoured lipsticks, mouth

washes).The extent to which people will want to make a good impression depends on the following

factors:

• the degree of importance attached to impressing the other person

• the degree to which the individual anticipates that the target audience can be

impressed

• the cost in time and money in creating the desired image.

Self-concept is a learned construct. Children tend to look for role models to imitate. Children can be

crushed by a denial of the role being projected: if people laugh while you are experimenting with the

‘cool dude’ role your favourite uncle adopts it is difficult to recover and try that role again.

The self-concept has four attributes:

1. it is learned, not innate.

2. It is stable and consistent. Self-perception may change, self-concept does not. This accounts for

brand loyalty, since self-concept involves a view of which products ‘fit the image’.3. It is purposeful. There is a reason and a purpose behind it. It is there to enhance a paerson’s ego.

It is therefore advisable to not attack a person’s beliefs directly. People get angry or at least

defensive when this happens.

4. The self concept is unique to the individual, and promotes individualism.

7.7 Attitudes

Attitude can be defined as ‘a learned tendency to respond to an object in a consistently

favourable or unfavourable way’. Whwether a product will be bought or not depends to a

large extent on a on the consumer’s attitude towards it. Marketing effort may have to go into

breaking down customers attitudes to product offerings. An example: an anti-racist policy is

introduced in a country yet there is an attitude against it. The attitude must be changed,slowly and carefully, until people wonder what the problem was.

An attitude is

• learned, not instinctive

• not behaviour; rather it is a predisposition towards a particuler behaviour

• implies a relationship between a person and an object

• fairly stable

• either positive or negative - you are either for something (direction) with a certain

amount of feeling (intensity).


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• Attitudes are not observable - they are predispositions. They are formed through the

result of ecxperience. For example: I have an attitude problem about the refectory at

Uxbridge. I find it too loud and moronic. The music is a pain. However, I make myself go

there to get a drink or a sandwich. I compare it unfavourably to the relative peace of the

refectory at Osterley. But I realise some students must think it is marvellous.

7.8 Culture

Culture is a set of beliefs and values that are shared by most people within a group. The

groupings are usually relatively large. Culture is passed from one group member to another

group member, and is usually passed down from one generation to another. Culture is

learned,subjective andarbitrary. Culture can be understood by looking at food and language.

For example in France cheese is regarded as a delicacy whereas in Japan it is regarded as

rotted milk. Also the French regard snails as a delicacy whereas in Britain it would be

regarded as an offensive meal to offer a guest.

Even when languages are shared there will be differences across a culture. Thus when an

American, speaking in English, talks about wearing pants he is actually taking about trousers.

This creates huge problems for an Englishman shopping for pants in New York.

Most cultures areethnocentric. They believe their culture is the best culture.

Hofstede [Culture’s consequences: International differences in Work-Related Values (sage, 1984)]

carried out a a transnational survey in 66 countries with over 6,000 respondents. He found

there were four dimensions to the national characteristics.

1. Individualism versus collectivism. In the USA there is strong individualism. The frontier

mentality has taken a hold. Freedom of speech for the individual is enshrined in the first

ammendment. In Holland there are strong individualistic tendencies - it is a land that

tolerates a wide range of sexual orientations. It is on the increase in the UK particularly

with the Generation X (born between mid 1960s to early 1980s). In Japan and Taiwan

there is a strong collectivist culture in which service is appreciated..

2. Uncertainty avoidance. This is the extent to which a culture will keep rigidly to the rules

and customs in order to reduce uncertainty. A high level of uncertainty avoidance is a

culture where tradition prevails and new ideas are not welcome.

3. Power distance. This refers to the extent to which the culture favours the centralisation of

power.

4. Masculinity-femininity. This is the extent to which the culture exhibits traditional male

characteristics of asseriveness, achievement and wealth acquisition over the traditional

feminine attributes of nurturing, concern for the environmentt and concern for the poor.

By this definition America is an example a ‘masculine’ culture.

7.9 Family life cycle and gender roles

The family is a most powerful influence for decision making and purchasing. Reasons are:

• For children the parental influence is the earliest and so colours their perception of all that

follows. Indeed, the super ego can be thought of as an internalised parent.

• Parents desire to do the best they can for their children influences the decisions they make

about family purchases. Thus the purchase disposable nappies is an example of 'comfort

for the child'.

• Siblings influence each other by the examples they set: the older sibling cares for and

looks after the younger sibling. There are also wider family influences - particularly in

extended families.


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From a marketing viewpoint, the level of demand for many products is dictated more by the

number of households than by the number of families. The relevance of families to marketing

is therefore much more about consumerbehaviour than about consumerdemand levels.

As a reference group the family is charcterised by these functional characteristics:

a) Face to face contact

Family members see each other every day and interact as advisers, information providers and

sometimes deciders. Other reference groups rarely have this level of contact.

b) Shared consumption

Durables such as fridges and furniture are shared, and despite a strong trend away from

eating together, in the case of food there is collective purchasing. Children even participate in

decision making for some major purchase items such as cars and holidays.

c) Subordination of individual needs

Because consumption is shared, some family members will finf the chosen solution does not

fully meet their needs. This effect of dissatisfaction is quite pronounced in families.

d) Purchasing agentBecause of the shared consumption there will be one family member who does most of the

shopping. Traditionally this is the mother, but increasing there has been the energence of

shopping roles. Teenage children will be given the job of buying staple items on a routine

fortnightly basis. Father may deal with Insurance and Mortgage matters. This is because the

traditional mother role is changing so more must be done by the other parties. This has

implications for marketers. The target for certain marketing communications has changed so

the advertising placements must change too.

The family has its own life cycle as shown in the table below:

Stage of life cycle Explanation

Single stage Single people have low earnings, but also have low outgoings so have

a high discretionary income. Tend to be more fashion and recreation

oriented spending money on music, clothes, holidays and eating out.

Newly married

couples

Without children they are often dual-income families and threfore

'well off'.

Full nest 1 When the first child arrives one parent normally stops working, so

income drops dramatically. The baby creates new needs: baby

furnishings, baby food, toys. Savings decline and families are

unhappy with their financial position.

Full nest 2 Theyoungest child is nowover six. Both parents will work outside

the home, perhaps with some career progression. Some recovery in

parental income. Consumption patterns still affected by children:

bikes, piano lessons.

Full nest 3 The youngest child is over eleven. Children have some money e.g.

paper round, work in a shop on Saturday.Family purchase may be a

new car or replacement furniture. Luxury item: childrens private

education.

Empty nest 1 Children have grown up and left home. Couples are at the height of

their careers and earning powers. Low mortgage, luxury holidays.


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Empty nest 2 Main breadwinner has retired so a drop in income. Expenditure more

health oriented. Smaller house and apartment in Spain syndrome.

Chase the sun.

Solitary survivor If still in the workforce widows and widowers enjoy a good income.

May spend more on holidays.

Retired solitary

survivor

Reduced income and consumption. Has special needs for love,

affection and security. May join clubs.

Gender Roles

There are more women in the population due to greater life expectancy and greater child

mortality among boys. Women's roles have changed greatly in the lastthirty years or so.

Women make most purchasing decisions, earn one third of the family income and make most

decisions regarding the home and children. Major decisions are likely to be made jointly,

with men participating in discussions concerning expenditure. Many males now shop for

food. Fifty years ago this would have been a rarity.

The change in in gender roles comes from the following:

• Technology means that most jobs do not require physical strength, so more careers are

open to women.

• Mass contraception has freed women from excessive childbearing.

• A more oredered society has lead to greater physical security; there is less need for the

male defence role.

• More widespread education means that women are not satisfied to stay at home and do

housework.

Marketers must shift their communications to address this changed situation. Thus the Oxo

family advertisement campaign is now no more. A decision was made not to aim at the familymeal table market, since people rarely eat together these days. (Personally, I think this is a

great shame, and is probably due to laziness. A shared mealtime is a great time to talk and

catch up with each other in a family.) Also the power between roles is reflected in the Nissan

series of ads in which a woman punishes a man for borrowing her car: 'Ask before you

borrow it.'

Eventually one might expect gender roles will not be an issue in advertising at all, but since

advertising in part reflects society, this may be some way off. The recent revelations

concerning Sheryl and Paul Gascoigne reveal how far simple gentlemany behaviour has still

to go to reach an acceptable level before the sexes treat each other with mutual respect.

7.10 Newproducts: the diffusion and adoption of innovation.Products are constantly being superseded by newer, more effectiveproducts. For this reason,

firms seek to develop new products. Firms that do not innovate will , eventually, be only

producing products that are obsolescent.

The product life cycle can be explained in terms of consumer behaviour.


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Introduction Growth Maturity Decline Deat

SALES

TIME

In the introduction and growth stages, the more innovative consumers are adopting the

product. In the maturity phase the more cautious are adopting the product, until finally

another product comes along which has more benefits or which does a better job, and the

consumers switch to the new product. The problem for marketers is knowing how long the

maturity phase will last; This makes it difficult to use the product life cycle as a predictor of ofproduct obsolescence It does tell us all products will fade away, and marketers sholud

therefore develop new products to repce the old ones as they fall out of favour with the

customer.

The ideal outcome is for the producer to develop products which areculturally anchored —

that become part of modern life. Recent examples are the microwave, the video recorder and

the personal computer. None of these would have been in the typical house of twenty years

ago. Such breakthroughs are hard to achieve. Understandably firms have shown great

interest in the processes of innovation, diffusion and adoption.

doption

Everett M Rogers postulated that products would be adopted if they possessed most of theattributes in the table below:

Attribute Explanation Examples

Relative

advantage

The product must have

some advantage over the

products already on the

market. It must offer the

consumer a better range of

benefits than the existing

solution.

Before the Sony Walkman was launched,

the only way to to listen to stereo-quality

music was to carry a 'ghetto blaster' on your

shoulder. The Walman replaced this

cumbersome and anti-social device within a

few years.

Compatibility The product must fit inwith the consumers

lifestyle.

At one time the Welsh valleys had thehighest rate of VCR ownership in the world.

This was due to the high unemployment

and lack of entertainment facilities in the

area, making a video recorder a very

convenient way of providing entertainment.

Complexity The product must not be

too complex for the

consumer to understand.

Apple Mac scored a great success with

user-frienly software with amusing and

entertaining add-ons. The company made

seriouss inroads into IBM's market, despite

being a smaller company


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Trialability Products which can be

tried out are more likely to

succeed.

When Daewoo cars were launched in

Britain, several thousand customers wee

invited to test drive the car. Those who

took up the offer were given free videos as

an inducement.

Observability The more observable the

product, the quicker the

diffusion process. If other

potential consumers are

able to see the product in

use, this is bound to raise

interes in it.

Part of the reason for the Walkman's

worldwide success is that it can clearly be

observed in use. Likewise, new fashion

ideas seem to catch on very quickly. This is

due to the high level of observability.

Adoption.

There have been several models of the adoption process. AIDA is the most famous. This is

given with a futher four (longer) models below.

Attention →Interest →Desire →Action

AIDA

Awareness

→

Interest

→Evaluati

on

→

Trial

→

Adoption

Adoption Process

Awareness

→Knowled

ge

→

Liking

→Preferen

ce

→Convictio

n

→

AdoptionHierarchy of effects

Problem

recognition

→Awarenes

s

→Compreh

en-sion

Attitude →Legitmati

on

→

Trial

→

Adoption

→Dissonan

ce

Robertson

Knowledge

→

Persuasion

→

Decision

→

Implement-ation

→

Confirmat-ion

Rogers

7.11 Segmentation

Segmentation is concerned with grouping customers who have similar needs and producing

a product ior service that will meet those needs at a profit. It recognises that no single

product will appeal to all customers, consequently it attempts to identify products that will

suit a single segment.


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Before the advent of mass marketing, there was demand for simple basic products. This

meant manufacturers could use long production runs to keep costs down. In these

circumstancesundifferentiated marketing was used. It worked well because a standard product

with little choice is better than no product at all. Mass production has great economies of

scale over hand production. A classic example is is clothing. Prior to the industrial revolution

most cloth was woven at home, made at home and people would have one or two changes ofclothing. Exceptionally a suit might be custom made by a tailor. With the advent of the steam

engine and steam-powered looms clothing could be mass produced, sold relatively cheaply

and provide customers with a relatively greater range of choices of style.

This production orientation success was guaranteed by keeping production costs (and hence

prices) low. This approach works well where there is relatively little competition - such as in

certain third world countries. But since the depression of the 1930s the world has slowly

changed as most countries have industrialised. There is now competition around the world.

The majority of clothes sold in the UK now are actually made abroad where production costs

are lower. Even Marks & Spencer has given up on its 'Buy British' policy.

Once people have their core benefits, the market must be segmented to find out how manypeople have further needs which may be met by new products and services. Consider the

changes in transportation.

Product type Core benefits Other benefits and drawbacks

Horse & carriage Basic transportation

for owner, passengers

and goods

Easy to maintain, but unreliable. Slow, not

suitable for long distance travel. Expensive. Only

the most prosperous people can buy one.

Model T Ford Basic transportation


and goods

Faster, more reliable, expensive. Standard

engine. Standard seating. Standard colour. As a

consequence servicing is cheap.

Modern Ford

vehicle range

Basic transportation


and goods

Reliable, cheap to buy and run, easy to maintain,

fast and suitable for long distance travel.

Available in several different styles, colours and

and engine attributes. Coupled with this is a

wide range of financial services to facilitate

purchase. Optional extras exist e.g. air

conditioning.

Segments are the result of changes in producer/consumer behaviour.Producers have realised they should produce cars as desirable as possible rather than as

cheaply as possible.

In turn, consumers behaviour is changing. Consumers are usually prepared to pay a premium

price for a product that fits their needs more closely.

By tailoring products more nearly to customers needs, manfacturers are able to charge a little

more. In this way they are able to offset thye extra costs of producing non-standardised

products, and increasing profits as well.

Segmentation.


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Segmentation is an essential precursor to most marketing activities. Identifying a target

group and knowing their needs allows us to position the product correctly in the target

group's minds, and to adopt appropriate promotional strategy, by designing ads that appeal to

the particular group.

The aim of segmentation is to form a mental picture of the organisation's ideal customer, and

to plan everything around that customer. An important step here is to assess the size of the

segment so as to form an opinion whether it is worthwhile producing a specialist product for

those people.

Segments vary ibn size according to the folllowing criteria:

Narrowness of definition of need

There may be a a segment who prefer the colour blue, but this can subdivide into light blue,

metallic blue, navy blue, etc. The narrowere the definition the smaller the segment.

Complexity of the product in terms of features available.

The more features a product has, the more segments it will appeal to and threfore the smaller

the individual segments.

Consumer involvement with the product category

If the product category attracts high-involvement consumers, the segments are likely to be

small and loyal.

With the rise of flexible manufacturing systems it is possible to consider a production run of

size one. Cars can be custom made quite cheaply. Computers can be custom made too. Dell

computers lead the way with their online 'order-and-build' systems. This guarantees every

product pleases everybody — a win-win situation. Segmentation increases profitability when

the value to the consumer of the improvements is greater than the cost to the manufacturer of

providing them.

Markets may be segmented in various ways, great skill is required in assessing which method

is most appropriate. The ways are:

demographically - according to income, age, family size, occupation etc.

psychographically according to behaviour patterns, attitudes, expectations

geographically - according to where people live - insurance premiums can reflect the

likelihood of risk in certain areas e.g. a house near the sea might be more

liable to wear and tear and therefore more expensive to insure

behaviourally - according to patterns of behaviour e.g. do the customers have four

holidays a year if so they might be more intereseted in all year travel

insurance; are the customers in a segment all vegans? if so they might like

to have the special vegan catalogue from Harrods.

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introduction to consumer behaviour relations

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