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Chapter 1:
BUYING, HAVING, and BEING
CHAPTER OBJECTIVES
When students finish this chapter, they should understand why:
1. Consumer behavior is a process.
2. Marketers need to understand the wants and needs of different consumer segments.
3. Our choices as consumers relate in a powerful way to the rest of our lives.
4. Our motivations to consume are complex and varied.
5. Technology and culture create a new “always on” consumer.
6. Many different types of specialists study consumer behavior.
7. There are differing perspectives regarding how and what we should understand
about consumer behavior.
CHAPTER SUMMARY
After reading this chapter, students should understand why:
Consumer behavior is a process.
Consumer behavior 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.
Marketers have to understand the wants and needs of different consumer segments.
Market segmentation is an important aspect of consumer behavior. Consumers can be
segmented according to many dimensions, including product usage, demographics (the
objective aspects of a population, such as age and sex), and psychographics (psychological and
lifestyle characteristics). Emerging developments, such as the new emphasis on relationship
marketing and the practice of database marketing, mean that marketers are much more attuned
to the wants and needs of different consumer groups. This is especially important as people are
empowered to construct their own consumer space—accessing product information where and
when they want it and initiating contact with companies on the Internet instead of passively
receiving marketing communications.
Our choices as consumers relate in powerful ways to the rest of our lives.
Marketing activities exert an enormous impact on individuals. Consumer behavior is relevant
to our understanding of both public policy issues (e.g., ethical marketing practices) and the
dynamics of popular culture.
Our motivation to consume are complex and varied.
Marketers try to satisfy consumer needs but the reasons people purchase any product can vary
widely.
Technology and culture creates a new “always on” consumer.
Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Inc.
1-1
The Web is transforming the way consumers interact with companies and with each other.
Online commerce allows us to locate obscure products from around the world, and
consumption communities provide forums for people to share opinions and product
recommendations.
Potential problems accompany these benefits, including the loss of privacy and the
deterioration of traditional social interactions as people log more time online.
Many different types of specialists study consumer behavior.
The field of consumer behavior is interdisciplinary; it is composed of researchers from many
different fields who share an interest in how people interact with the marketplace. These
disciplines can be categorized by the degree to which their focus is micro (the individual
consumer) or macro (the consumer as a member of groups or of the larger society).
There are differing perspectives regarding how and what we should understand about
consumer behavior.
There are many perspectives on consumer behavior, but we can roughly divide research
orientations into two approaches: The positivist perspective emphasizes the objectivity of
science and the consumer as a rational decision maker. The interpretivist perspective, in
contrast, stresses the subjective meaning of the consumer’s individual experience and the idea
that any behavior is subject to multiple interpretations rather than to one single explanation.
CHAPTER OUTLINE
I. Consumer Behavior: People in the Marketplace
A. The average consumer can be classified and characterized based on demographics
(e.g. age, gender, income, occupation) and psychographics (lifestyle and
personality). The average consumer’s purchase decisions are heavily influenced by
the opinions and behaviors of their family, peers, and acquaintances.
B. Community heavily influences us.
1. The growth of the Web has created thousands of online consumption communities
where members share opinions and product recommendations.
2. As members of a large society, U.S. consumers share certain cultural
values or strongly held beliefs about the way the world should be
structured.
3. Subcultures, or smaller groups within the culture, also share values (e.g.
Hispanics, teens, Midwesterners).
4. The use of market segmentation strategies may be used to target a brand to
only specific groups of consumers rather than to everybody.
C. Brands often have clearly defined images or “personalities” created by product
advertising, packaging, branding, and other marketing strategies that focus on
positioning a product in a certain way.
D. When a product succeeds in satisfying a consumer’s specific needs or desires it may
be rewarded with many years of brand loyalty, a bond between product and consumer
that is difficult for competitors to break.
II. What Is Consumer Behavior?
Consumer behavior 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 behavior is a process.
1. Most marketers recognize that consumer behavior is an ongoing process, not
merely what happens at the moment a consumer hands over money or a credit
card and in turn receives some good or service (buyer behavior).
2. The exchange—a transaction where two or more organizations or people give
and receive something of value—is an integral part of marketing. However, the
expanded view of consumer behavior emphasizes the entire consumption
process. This view includes issues that influence the consumer before, during,
and after a purchase.
B. Consumer behavior involves many different actors.
1. A consumer is a person who identifies a need or desire, makes a purchase, and
then disposes of the product during the three stages in the consumption process.
2. The purchaser and user of a product might not be the same person. A separate
person might be an influencer. This person provides recommendations for or
against certain products without actually buying or using them.
3. Consumers may be organizations or groups (in which one person may make
the decision for the group or a large group of people may make purchase
decisions).
***** Use Figure 1.1 Here; Use Consumer Behavior Challenge #14 Here *****
***** Use Consumer Behavior Challenge #13 Here *****
III. Consumers’ Impact on Marketing Strategy
A. Understanding consumer behavior is good business.
1. Marketers can only satisfy consumer needs to the extent that they
understand the people or organizations that will use the products and
services they sell.
2. Consumer response is the ultimate test of whether a marketing strategy will
succeed.
3. Data about consumers help organizations define the market, identify threats to
and opportunities for a brand, and help ensure a product continues to appeal to
its core market.
B. Consumers Are Different! How We Divide Them Up
1. Society is evolving from a mass culture to a diverse one, which makes it more
important to identify diverse market segments and to develop specialized
messages and products for those groups.
a. Just think about how many shades of lipstick or neck tie patterns
compete for attention. This change makes it more important than
ever to identify these distinct markets.
2. The process of market segmentation identifies groups of consumers who are
similar to one another in one or more ways and then devises strategies that appeal
to one or more groups. There are many ways to segment a market.
a. Companies can define market segments by identifying their most loyal,
core customers or heavy users. Marketers use the 80/20 rule as a rule
of thumb, where 20% of users account for 80% of sales.
b. Demographics are statistics that measure observable aspects of a
population, such as birth rate, age distribution, and income.
3. Important demographic dimensions include:
a. Age
b. Gender
c. Family structure
d. Social class and income
e. Race and ethnicity
4. Geography and Lifestyles (a psychographic variable) are other important
bases for segmenting consumers.
Discussion Opportunity—Have students describe themselves demographically. Ask: Does this
have any bearing on your purchase patterns? How could a marketer find out about you in a
demographic sense? Describe one purchase occasion where a demographic dimension had
an impact on your purchase decision.
C. Relationship and Database Marketing
1. Relationship marketing occurs when a company makes an effort to interact
with customers on a regular basis, giving customers reasons to maintain a
bond with the company over time.
Discussion Opportunity—Provide the class with an example of relationship marketing. Ask:
What types of organizations can make best use of relationship marketing? Have students
offer additional examples of relationship marketing.
2. Database marketing involves tracking consumers’ buying habits very closely
and creating products and messages tailored precisely to people’s wants and
needs based on this information.
IV. Marketing’s Impact on Consumers
A. Popular Culture
1. Popular culture consists of the music, movies, sports, books, celebrities, and
other forms of entertainment consumed by the mass market; it is both a product
of and an inspiration for marketers.
2. Product icons (e.g. Pillsbury Doughboy, Jolly Green Giant) often become
central figures in popular culture.
B. What Does It Mean to Consume?
1. A fundamental premise of consumer behavior is that people often buy products
not for what they do, but for what they mean.
2. People, in general, will choose the brand that has an image (or even a
personality) that is consistent with his or her underlying needs.
3. Role theory takes the view that much of consumer behavior resembles actions
in a play. Consumers have roles and they may alter their consumption
decisions depending upon the role being played at the ti
4. People may have various relationships with a product:
a. Self-concept attachment—the product helps to establish the user’s identity.
b. Nostalgic attachment—the product serves as a link with a past self.
c. Interdependence—the product is a part of the user’s daily routine.
d. Love—the product elicits emotional bonds of warmth, passion, or other
strong emotion.
C. What Do We Need – Really?
1. A want is a specific manifestation of a need that personal and cultural
factors determine.
2. A utilitarian need emphasizes objective, tangible attributes of products.
Hedonic needs are subjective and experiential.
Discussion Opportunity—Ask: How can database marketing help an organization improve
its relationship marketing? What databases are you in? How did you get there?
Discussion Opportunity—Give some examples of products that might be consumed strictly for
image. Have students offer examples of products that they purchase for this reason. Ask: How
does the image of the product enhance your sense of self when you use or consume the product?
Discussion Opportunity—Ask students to give an illustration of a product that they have a
strong attachment for and explain the relationship. How did this relationship develop?
***** Use Consumer Behavior Challenge #21 Here *****
3. A productivity orientation refers to a continual striving to use time constructively.
D. How We Classify Consumer Needs
1. Henry Murray developed a set of 20 psychogenic needs that result in
specific behaviors.
2. Some important needs for understanding consumer behavior are listed below:
a. Need for affiliation
b. Need for power
c. Need for uniqueness
3. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs implies that the order of development of needs is
fixed. Figure 1.2 presents this model. The needs include physiological, safety,
social, esteem, and self-actualization.
E. The Global “Always On” Consumer
1. A global consumer culture is one where people around the world are united by
their common devotion to brand name consumer goods, movie stars, and musical
celebrities.
2. When companies expand overseas, it increases the pressure to understand
how customers in other countries are the same or different from those in
one’s own country.
F. The Digital Native: Living a Social [Media] Life
1. The digital revolution is one of the most significant influences on consumer
behavior.
2. Electronic marketing has increased convenience by breaking down barriers of
time and location.
3. There is now B2C e-commerce (businesses selling to consumers) and
C2C e- commerce (consumers selling to consumers).
4. Virtual brand communities are often brought together by their interests,
which expand consumption communities beyond those available in local
communities.
5. Digital natives are consumers who grew up “wired” in a highly networked,
always- on world where digital technology always existed.
6. Consumers are part of a horizontal revolution, where each consumer can
communicate with huge numbers of people by a click on a keypad so
information flows across people instead of just coming from big companies
and governments.
7. Social media are the online means of communication, conveyance, collaboration
and cultivation among interconnected and interdependent networks of people,
communities and organizations enhanced by technological capabilities and
mobility.
Discussion Opportunity—Ask students to give some examples of social media platforms they
use. Have students offer examples of brands they interact with via social media. Ask: How do
these interactions relate to your relationship with the brand?
Discussion Opportunity—Have students describe the characteristics of their virtual
communities. Ask: How do these interactions shape your consumption behaviors?
8. User-generated content, where everyday people film commercials, voice
their opinions about products, brands and companies on blogs, podcasts and
social networking sites, is part of the Web 2.0 era, which shifted the Internet
from a one- way transmission medium to a social, interactive medium.
9. Social media is characterized by synchronous (real-time) and asynchronous
interactions across social media platforms that enable a culture of participation.
V. Consumer Behavior as a Field of Study
A. Where Do We Find Consumer Researchers? Just about anywhere, we find consumers.
B. Interdisciplinary Influences on the Study of Consumer Behavior – Many fields
shape the field of consumer behavior. Table 1.1 provides an example of
interdisciplinary research issues about magazine usage. Figure 1.3 lists the
disciplines in consumer research.
C. Should Consumer Research Have an Academic or an Applied Focus?
It is still a debate. Some argue in favor of an applied focus that improves the
effectiveness of marketing practice. Others argue for a focus on understanding
consumption for its own sake.
D. Two Perspectives on Consumer Research
1. One general way to classify consumer research is in terms of the fundamental
assumptions the researchers make about what they are studying and how to study
it. This set of beliefs is known as a paradigm. A paradigm shift may now be
underway.
2. The dominant paradigm currently is called positivism (or sometimes called
modernism). It emphasizes that human reason is supreme, and that there is a
single, objective truth that can be discovered by science. Positivism encourages
us to stress the function of objects, to celebrate technology, and to regard the
world as a rational, ordered place with a clearly defined past, present, and future.
3. The emerging paradigm of interpretivism (or postmodernism) questions the
previous assumptions. Proponents argue that there is too much emphasis on
science and technology in our society, and that this ordered, rational view of
consumers denies the complex social and cultural world in which we live.
Others say positivism puts too much emphasis on material well-being, and that
this logical outlook is dominated by an ideology that stresses the homogeneous
views of a culture dominated by white males.
4. Interpretivists instead stress the importance of symbolic, subjective experience
and the idea that meaning is in the mind of the person because we live a world
composed of a pastiche, or mixture of images.
***** Use Consumer Behavior Challenge #18 Here *****
Discussion Opportunity—Ask students to consider whether they are more of a “positivist” or an
“interpretist.” Do not allow them to take the easy way out by saying “both.” All are to some
extent.
II. Taking It from Here: The Plan of the Book
The plan is simple—it goes from micro to macro. Each chapter provides a
“snapshot” of consumers, but the lens used to take each picture gets successively
wider.
End-of-Chapter Support Material
SUMMARY OF SPECIAL FEATURE BOXES
1. Marketing Opportunity
BMW’s engineers and designers know they have to understand how drivers’ needs will
change in the future. It developed electric car models and a car-sharing service.
2. Marketing Pitfall
When disaster strikes, it can be an opportunity or a pitfall for marketers. American Apparel
offended shoppers with its tweet about shopping during Hurricane Sandy but Duracell offered
free batteries and won loyalty.
3. Marketing Opportunity
Real life can create marketing opportunity as in the growth of spring break travel to Florida
after the release of the book, Where the Boys Are.
4. CB Ast I See It: Stefano Putoni-Erasmus, University of Rotterdam
Globalization is influencing consumer behavior by impacting diversity. There are two opposing
trends in how globalization influences diversity. Globalization can lead to diversity within a
country; however, it also leads to a decrease in diversity between countries. Globalization both
increases and decreases diversity.
5. Net Profit
User-generated content like the Mentos and Diet Coke videos is an important aspect of the Web
2.1 era.
6. CB As I See It: Craig Thompson, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Consumers make choices on a daily basis, based on the evaluation of the respective attributes
offered by each alternative. These choices help to present a desired self-image to others around
them. Political consumerism is the theory that individuals attempt to change the social conditions
that constrain everyday actions. Political consumerism is where consumers seek to consciously
resist structural constraints through alternative consumption practices.
