Marketing Chapter 1 Difficulty Easy Define Consumer Behavior From Both Perspectives Answer Consumer Behavior Field

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3. Define consumer behavior from both perspectives.

4. List each stage in the consumption process, and briefly describe this process.

5. What is consumption? Provide three examples of something you have “consumed”

recently, and illustrate the concept of consumption with each example.

6. Explain the interrelationships between economics, psychology, marketing, anthropology,

and consumer behavior.

7. What role does competition play in determining the way in which consumers are treated in

the marketplace?

Answer: Competition eventually drives businesses toward a high degree of consumer

orientation because the firm that doesn’t prioritize consumer value and satisfaction above

all other concerns is vulnerable to losing its customers to its competitors. Thus, if the

market is more competitive, there is a greater chance that consumers are treated with

respect and as a valuable resource to the firm. Because firms depend on repeat business

(and recognize its advantages), they are more likely to treat customers better in an effort to

build or maintain a strong relationship.

BUSPROG: Analytic

DISC: Customer

LO: 1-2

Topic: A-head: The Ways in Which Consumers Are Treated

Bloom’s: Comprehension

Difficulty: Moderate

8. Define consumer orientation. How do firms become consumer oriented?

9. *How does a stakeholder orientation compare with a marketing orientation?

10. Think about a consumer on a business trip out of town. What “touchpoints” take place

during a typical day in a hotel for a business traveler?

11. How is niche marketing different from differentiated marketing?

12. List three main reasons why consumer behavior is such an important topic to understand.

13. *How can consumer behavior contribute to public policy?

14. What two basic approaches to studying (i.e., researching) consumer behavior are discussed

in this chapter? How do they differ?

15. When a researcher gathers information from consumers, such as household income and

family size, and uses this information to determine how much families will spend on a

home, what “type” of research is being used here? Explain.

16. What is meant by the phrase “consumer behavior is dynamic”?

17. How is the fact that changes in consumers’ communication media preferences are affecting

consumer behavior and the effective use of consumer behavior in business?

Pinterest, and Periscope for reaching customers and effectively communicating with them.

BUSPROG: Reflective Thinking

DISC: Customer

LO: 1-5

Topic: A-head: Consumer Behavior is Dynamic

Bloom’s: Comprehension

Difficulty: Moderate

Group Activity

1. Use the Internet to write a brief research paper on a current public policy issue in which

consumer behavior plays an important role. Develop an opinion on whether some type of

new regulation or restriction might actually address the issue and create a better societal

outcome. Prepare a brief skit to enact your issue, and summarize the ways in which

knowledge of consumer behavior can contribute to understanding the issue.

Have some fun with this. Relate the consumer behaviors to the amount of competition

involved and the fact that public policy has both advantages and disadvantages for

consumers.

2. Interview at least five consumers from each of the following age groups: 10–15 years old,

20–29 years old, 35–45 years old, and over 55 years old. Ask the consumers what their

preferred method of communicating is with (a) friends, (b) family, and (c) businesses.

Also, ask them what types of products they use to communicate with friends and family.

Do the results suggest that they derive value from all communication technologies to the

same degree, or do they use different technologies to communicate? Do you think the

answers would be the same if you were dealing with consumers from Europe, Mexico, or

Japan? How might firms cope with the dynamics of this situation?

3. As a group, visit a residential construction site and interview someone considering the

purchase of a new home. Prepare a brief report that tries to tell from the qualitative

interview with the consumer what motivations are driven by the desire for a new home. In

particular, try to estimate the types of things a consumer will add to the new home to

transform their “house” into their “home.” Also, try to estimate the number of people (a

chain of people) who benefit economically from the purchase of a new home. Start by

trying to guess how many workers are directly involved in planning, designing, and

constructing the new home. Then, consider how many people in the distribution channel

are touched, such as the workers for suppliers of flooring, lumber, and appliances.

Assignments

1. Ethics is an important aspect of consumer behavior. Later chapters will focus on ethics in

more detail. However, given that consumer behavior is useful from a business, societal,

and personal viewpoint, in which area are ethics and consumer behavior most closely

related? Explain your choice.

2. *Review the following situations, and discuss the relevance of consumer behavior to

explain each scenario:

• A student selling a textbook back to the college bookstore

• A student purchasing a value meal from an on-campus fast-food stand

• A family purchasing a new home

• A corporate CEO taking a prospective customer to lunch

• A consumer injured during a pick-up football match who is given a tetanus shot at a

first aid clinic

• A consumer in a Third World nation who is considering the purchase of a battery-

operated television from a government-owned store

3. Do some research on the Internet on the following multi-national companies:

• Tesco

• Auchan

• Lotte Department Store

• Walmart

• Sephora

• Exxon

Based on the descriptions of these companies found on the Internet, which way of treating

customers has been adopted by each company? Which company would you argue is the

most multi-national?

4. The following is a way to get a little practice as an interpretive researcher. Find two

consumers who are significantly older than you, two consumers who are slightly older than

you, and two consumers who are substantially younger than you and will allow you to

observe them while they browse the Internet. Collect some field notes that describe their

behavior and the discussion that you have with them during the activity. Based on these

interviews, prepare a brief report on the way people from different generations obtain value

from their use of the Internet.

Chapter Video Summary

To view the video case on Travelocity, access the Chapter 1 Media Quiz in CB8 Online

(create a course at login.cengage.com).

Travelocity

Faced with the challenges of plunging sales, Travelocity, the pioneer in Internet travel business,

decided to spruce up its marketing strategies. It introduced the concept of “Travelocity

Guarantees,” which ensured that promises made to customers would be fulfilled at all costs. The

interest of the customer was strategically put before short-term organizational inconveniences.

This, coupled with the Travelocity’s emphasis on relevance marketing and an intelligent

exploitation of the media, revived its sales. Apart from successfully designing user experience

through extensive usability analysis, a big part of Travelocity’s success lies in humanizing the

brand and winning the trust of its customers.

Ask your students

1. What impact did “Travelocity Guarantees” have on the purchasing decisions of

consumers?

2. How did Travelocity seek to improve the traveling experiences of tourists opting for its

services?

3. Why is partnering important for online businesses?

Bloom’s: Application

Difficulty: Moderate

CB Scenario Video

At an auction, goods are offered up for sale and sold to the buyer offering the highest bid. The

auctioneer calls out the item and the latest bid. The bidders must decide whether or not they want

to bid on a particular object. The amount buyers bid for an object depends on how much value

they perceive is associated with the object. Often goods offered up for auction have no intrinsic

worth but may hold special meaning or value for the buyer.

Ask your students

1. What attributes or benefits do you suppose people are looking for when they buy goods at

an auction?

2. If you were a researcher who was seeking to understand the motivations for buying goods

at an auction, which research method would you use, and why?