A challenge faced by all marketers is how to influence the purchase behavior of consumers in favor of the product or service they offer.
Consumer Behavior can be defined as the process and activities people engage in when searching for, selecting, purchasing, using, evaluating , and disposing of products and services so as to satisfy their needs and desires.
Marketer’s success in influencing purchase behavior depends in large part on how well they understand consumer behavior. Marketer need to know the specific needs customers are attempting to satisfy and how they translate into purchase criteria.
They need to understand how customers gather information regarding various alternatives and use this information to select among competing brands.
They need to understand how customers make purchase decisions. Where do they prefer to buy a product ? How are they influenced by marketing stimuli at the point of purchase ?
Marketers also need to understand how the consumer decision process and reasons for purchase vary among different types of customers. For example, purchase decisions may be influenced by the personality or lifestyle of the consumer .
- Problem Recognition
Problem Recognition, which occurs when the consumer perceives a need and becomes motivated to solve the problem. The problem recognition stage initiates the subsequent decision processes.
Problem recognition is caused by a difference between the costumer’s ideal state and actual state . a discrepancy exists between what the consumer wants the situation to be like and what the situation is really like.
Source of Problem Recognition
The causes of problem recognition may be very simple or very complex and may result from changes in the costumer’s current and/or desired state . These causes may be influenced by both internal and external factors.
1. Out of stock
2. Dissatisfaction
3. New Needs/Wants
4. Related Products/Purchases
5. Marketer-Induced Problem Recognition
6. New Products
Examining Consumer Motivation
The way a costumer perceives a problem and becomes motivated to solve it will influence the remainder of the decision process.
To better understand the reasons underlying consumer purchases, marketers devote considerable attention to examining motives-that is, those factors that compel a consumer to take a particular action.
Hierarchy of Needs
One of the most popular approaches to understanding consumer motivations is based on the classic theory of human motivation popularized many years ago by psychologist Abraham Maslow . His hierarchy of needs theory populates five basic levels of human needs, arranged in a hierarchy based on their importance. The five needs are (1) physiological –the basic level of primary needs for things required to sustain life, such as food, shelter, clothing, and sex; (2) safety-the need for security and safety from physical harm; (3) social/love and belonging-the desire to have satisfying relationships with others and feel a sense of love, affection, belonging, and acceptance; (4) esteem-the need to feel a sense of accomplishment and gain recognition, status, and respect from others; (5) self-actualization-the need for self-fulfillment and a desire to realize one’s own potential.
According to Maslow’s theory, the lower-level physiological and safety needs must be satisfied before he higher-order needs become meaningful.
Information search
Once costumers perceive a problem or need that can be satisfied by the purchase of a product or service, they begin to search for information needed to make a purchase decision. The initial search effort often consists of an attempt to scan information stored in memory to recall past experiences and/or knowledge regarding various purchase alternative. This information retrieval is referred to as internal search.
If the internal search does not yield enough information, the costumer will seek additional information by engaging in external search. External sources of information include - Personal sources, such as friends, relatives, or co-workers.
- Marketer-controlled (commercial) sources, such as information from advertising,
- Salespeople, or point-of-purchase displays and the internet.
- Public sources, including articles in magazines or newspapers and reports on TV.
- Personal experience, such as actually handling , examining, or testing the product.
Perception
Perception is the process by which an individual receives, selects, organizes, and interprets information to create a meaningful picture of the world.
Sensation
Sensation is the immediate, direct response of the senses ( taste, smell, sight, touch, and hearing ) to a stimulus such as an ad, package, brand name, or point-of-purchase display.
Selecting Information
Sensory inputs are important but are only one part of the perceptual process. Other determinants of whether marketing stimuli will be attended to and how they will be interpreted include internal psychological factors such as the costume’s personality, needs, motives, expectations, and experiences. These psychological inputs explain why people focus attention on some things and ignore others.
Interpreting the Information
Once a consumer selects and attends to a stimulus, the perceptual process focuses on organizing, categorizing, and interpreting the incoming information. This stage of the perceptual process is very individualized and is influenced by internal psychological factors. The interpretation and meaning an individual assigns to an incoming stimulus also depend in part on the nature of the stimulus.
Perception may be viewed as a filtering process in which internal and external factors influence what is received and how it is processed and interpreted. The sheer number and complexity of the marketing stimuli a person is exposed to in any given day require that this filtering occur. Selective perception may occur at the exposure, attention, comprehension, or retention stage of perception, as shown in Figure 4-4.
Selective Perception
Selective exposure occurs as consumers choose whether or not to make themselves available to information. For example, a viewer of a television show may change channels or leave the room during commercial breaks .
Selective attention occur when the costumer chooses to focus attention on certain stimuli while excluding others.
Even if the consumer does notice the advertiser’s message, there is no guarantee it will be interpreted in the intended manner. Costumers may engage in selective comprehension, interpreting information on the basis of their own attitudes, beliefs, motives, and experiences. They often interpret information in a manner that supports their own position.
The final screening process shown in Figure 4-4 is selective retention, which means consumers do not remember all the information they see, hear, or read even after attending to and comprehending it. Advertisers attempt to make sure information will be retained in the consumer’s memory so that it will be available when it is time to make a purchase .
