Chapter 05 – Understanding Consumer Behavior
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* Are as impulsive as their financial circumstances permit.
• Self-expression-motivated groups. Consumers motivated by self-
expression desire social or physical activity, variety, and risk. These
include:
– Experiencers:
* Are young, enthusiastic, and impulsive consumers who become
excited about new possibilities.
– Makers:
* Have fewer resources.
* Express themselves by working—building a house, raising
• High- and low-resource groups. These include:
– Innovators:
* Are successful, sophisticated, take-charge people with high self-
esteem and abundant resources.
– Survivors:
* Have the least resources of any segment.
* Focus on meeting basic needs rather than fulfilling desires.
e. Each of the eight VALS segments exhibits unique media preferences.
• Experiencers and Strivers are the most likely to visit Internet chat rooms.
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f. GeoVALS™ estimates the percentage of each VALS group by zip code.
LEARNING REVIEW
5-4. The problem with the Toro Snow Pup was an example of selective __________.
5-5. What three attitude-change approaches are most common?
5-6. What does lifestyle mean?
III. SOCIOCULTURAL INFLUENCES ON
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR [LO 5-4]
Sociocultural influences evolve from a consumer’s formal and informal relationships
with other people and exert a significant impact on consumer behavior.
A. Personal Influence
A consumer’s purchases are often influenced by the views, opinions, or behaviors of
others.
1. Opinion Leadership.
a. Opinion leaders:
• Are individuals who exert direct or indirect social influence over others.
b. Since about 10 percent of U.S. adults are opinion leaders, identifying,
reaching, and influencing them is a challenge.
c. Some firms use celebrities as spokespersons to represent their products.
d. Others promote their products in media believed to reach opinion leaders.
e. Still others use direct contact to approach opinion leaders and persuade them
to recommend their products.
Chapter 05 – Understanding Consumer Behavior
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2. Word of Mouth.
a. Is people influencing each other during conversations.
b. Is a powerful and authentic information source for consumers because it
involves friends viewed as trustworthy.
c. According to a recent study about consumer conversations about brands:
• 75 percent of all conversations happen face-to-face.
d. 67 percent of U.S. consumer product sales are directly based on word-of-
mouth activity among friends, family, etc.
e. Example: “teaser” advertising campaigns are run in advance of new-product
introductions to stimulate word of mouth.
f. Firms also use advertising slogans, music, and humor to heighten positive
word of mouth.
g. Companies recruit and deploy people to produce buzz—popularity created by
consumer word of mouth.
MARKETING MATTERS
Customer Value: BzzAgent—The Buzz Experience
BzzAgent has a nationwide army of one million people who promote products and
services they deem worth talking about. BzzAgent’s founder David Bolter says, “Our goal is
to capture honest word of mouth and to build a network that turns passionate customers into
brand evangelists.” Agents sign up for a buzz campaign, receive a sample product for the
buzz, and then file online reports describing the nature and effectiveness of the buzz.
[Video 5-2: Dove Video]
h. Overcoming or neutralizing negative word of mouth is difficult and costly.
Marketers have found the following helpful in reversing poor word of mouth:
• Supplying factual information.
i. The Internet, through online forums, blogs, social media, and websites, has
magnified the power of word of mouth.
Chapter 05 – Understanding Consumer Behavior
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j. With respect to their products, services, and brands, companies:
• Use special software to monitor online messages and find out what
B. Reference Group Influence
• Reference groups.
a. Are people to whom an individual looks as a basis for self-appraisal or as a
source of personal standards.
b. Influence the information, attitudes, and aspiration levels that help set a
consumer’s standards for luxury products but not necessities.
c. Exert a strong influence on the brand chosen when its use or consumption is
highly visible to others.
• Three reference groups have marketing implications:
a. An associative group:
• Is one to which a person actually belongs, such as fraternities and
sororities, social clubs, etc.
• Is easily identifiable.
• Can form around a brand. Example: the HOG (Harley Owners Group).
• A brand community:
• A consumer who is a member of a brand community thinks about:
– Brand names (e.g., Harley-Davidson).
b. An aspiration group:
• Is one that a person wishes to be a member of or identified with, such as a
professional society.
• Firms frequently rely on spokespeople or settings associated with their
target market’s aspiration group in their advertising.
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c. A dissociative group:
C. Family Influence
Family influences on consumer behavior result from three sources:
1. Consumer Socialization.
a. Is the process by which people acquire the skills, knowledge, and attitudes
necessary to function as consumers.
b. Children learn how to purchase by:
• Interacting with adults in purchase situations.
• Engaging in their own purchasing and product usage experiences.
c. Research shows that children evidence brand preferences at age two, and these
preferences often last a lifetime.
d. This knowledge has caused many companies to market to children.
2. Family Life Cycle.
a. [Figure 5-8] Describes the distinct phases that a family progresses through
from formation to retirement…
b. Each phase bringing with it identifiable purchasing behaviors.
c. Consists of the following progression and contemporary variations:
• The traditional family.
– Consists of married couples with children under 18 years.
– Comprises only 21 percent of all U.S. households.
• Young singles.
• Young married couples without children.
– Are typically more affluent than young singles because usually both
spouses are employed.
– Buy furniture, housewares, and gift items for each other.
Chapter 05 – Understanding Consumer Behavior
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• Young marrieds with children.
– Are driven by the needs of their children.
– Represent a sizable market for life insurance, various children’s
products, and home furnishings.
• Single parents with children.
– Are the least financially secure.
– Have buying preferences that tend toward convenience foods,
childcare services, and personal care items.
• Middle-aged married couples with children.
– Are typically better off financially than their younger counterparts.
• Middle-aged couples without children.
– Have a large amount of discretionary income.
• Older married and older unmarried. Represent a sizable market for
prescription drugs, medical services, vacation trips, and gifts for younger
relatives
3. Family Decision Making.
a. Two decision-making styles exist that occur within a family:
• Spouse-dominant decisions. Are those for which either:
– The husband (home and car maintenance purchases) or…
– The wife (groceries, toys, clothing, etc.) is mostly responsible.
• Joint decision-making style.
b. Five roles of individual family members exist in the purchase process:
• Information gatherer. • Purchaser.
• Influencer. • User.
• Decision maker.
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c. Family members assume different roles for different products and services.
• 89 percent of wives either influence or make purchases of men’s clothing.
• 31 percent of men are the primary grocery shopper in their household.
d. Preteens and teenagers:
• Are the information gatherers, influencers, decision makers, and
purchasers of products and services for the family…
D. Social Class Influence
• Social class is the relatively permanent, homogeneous divisions in a society into
which people sharing similar values, interests, and behavior can be grouped.
• A person’s occupation, source of income (not level of income), and education
determine his or her social class.
• Three major social class categories exist—upper, middle, and lower—with
subcategories within each.
• Persons within social classes exhibit common values, attitudes, beliefs, lifestyles,
and buying behaviors.
• Persons in the lower classes have a short-term orientation, think in concrete, not
abstract terms, and see fewer personal opportunities.
• Members of the upper classes focus on achievements and the future and think in
abstract or symbolic terms.
• Firms use social class to:
[Video 5-3: Nissan Ad]
E. Culture and Subculture Influences
• Culture refers to the set of values, ideas, and attitudes that are learned and shared
among the members of a group.
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• Subcultures are subgroups within the larger, or national, culture with unique
values, ideas, and attitudes.
• Collectively, Hispanics, African Americans, and Asian Americans are projected
to spend about $4 trillion for goods and services in 2020.
1. Hispanic Buying Patterns.
a. Hispanics represent the largest racial/ethnic subculture in the U.S. in terms of
population and buying power.
b. About 35% are immigrants.
c. The majority is under the age of 29.
d. One-third are younger than 18.
e. According to research, in terms of their buying practices, Hispanics:
• Are quality and brand conscious.
• Prefer buying American-made products that cater to their needs.
• Are influenced by family and peers.
• Consider advertising a credible information source about products. As a
result, U.S. firms spend over $6 billion annually on Hispanic advertising.
• Do not consider convenience an important product attribute as it relates to
food preparation or consumption.
f. Marketing to Hispanics is difficult because:
• Its subculture is diverse, composed of Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans,
and others of Central and South American ancestry.
g. Marketers who are sensitive to the needs of Hispanics can significantly
expand their firm’s market share.
2. African American Buying Patterns.
a. African Americans have the second-largest spending power of the three
racial/ethnic subcultures in the U.S.
b. When socioeconomic status is ignored, African Americans and Caucasians
have more similarities than differences in terms of their buying patterns.
Chapter 05 – Understanding Consumer Behavior
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c. Differences in buying patterns:
• Are greater within the African American subculture than…
• Between African Americans and Caucasians of similar status due to…
• Levels of socioeconomic status.
d. There are some consumption patterns that do differ between African
Americans and Caucasians:
• African Americans spend far more than Caucasians on boys clothing,
rental goods, and audio equipment.
• African American women spend three times more on health and beauty
products than Caucasian women.
• The typical African American family:
• Historically, African Americans:
e. African Americans are motivated by product quality, price, and choice.
f. African Americans respond to products and advertising that appeal to their
pride, heritage, ethnic features, and needs.
3. Asian American Buying Patterns.
a. Asian Americans are the fastest-growing racial/ethnic subculture in the United
States.
b. About 66 percent of Asians are immigrants, with most under the age of 30.
c. The Asian subculture:
• Is very diverse.
• Includes Chinese, Japanese, Filipinos, Koreans, etc.
• Making generalizations about its buying patterns is difficult.
Chapter 05 – Understanding Consumer Behavior
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d. Two groups of Asian Americans have been identified:
• Assimilated Asian Americans are:
– Conversant in English.
– Highly educated.
e. Exceeding those of any other ethnic group, this subculture is characterized by:
• Hard work. • Appreciation for education.
• Strong family ties. • Median family incomes.
f. This subculture is the most entrepreneurial in the U.S., as evidenced by the
number of Asian-owned businesses.
LEARNING REVIEW
5-7. What are the two primary forms of personal influence?
5-8. Marketers are concerned with which types of reference groups?
5-9. What two challenges must marketers overcome when marketing to Hispanic
consumers?
Chapter 05 – Understanding Consumer Behavior
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APPLYING MARKETING KNOWLEDGE
1. Review Figure 5-2, which shows the smartphone attributes identified by Consumer
Reports. Which attributes are important to you? What other attributes might you
consider? Which brand would you prefer?
Answers: Smartphone attributes that are considered important include:
2. Suppose research at Panasonic reveals that prospective buyers are anxious about
buying high-definition television sets. What strategies might you recommend to the
company to reduce consumer anxiety?
Answers:
Strategies Panasonic might adopt in order to reduce uncertainty perceptions by prospective
buyers include:
3. Assign one or more levels of the Maslow hierarchy of needs and the motives described
in Figure 5-6 to the following products: (a) life insurance, (b) cosmetics, (c) The Wall
Street Journal, and (d) hamburgers.
Answers:
4. With which stage in the family life cycle would the purchase of the following products
and services be most closely identified: (a) bedroom furniture, (b) life insurance,
(c) a Caribbean cruise, (d) a house mortgage, and (e) children’s toys?
Chapter 05 – Understanding Consumer Behavior
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Answers:
Product or Service Stage in the Family Life Cycle
Chapter 05 – Understanding Consumer Behavior
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BUILDING YOUR MARKETING PLAN
To conduct a consumer analysis for the product—the good, service, or idea—in your
marketing plan:
1. Identify the consumers who are most likely to buy your product—the primary
target market—in terms of (a) their demographic characteristics and (b) any other
kind of characteristics you believe are important.
2. Describe (a) the main points of difference of your product for this group and
(b) what problem they help solve for the consumer in terms of the first stage of the
consumer purchase decision process in Figure 5-1.
3. For each of the four outside boxes in Figure 5-4 (marketing mix, psychological,
sociocultural, and situational influences), identify the one or two key influences with
respect to your product.
This consumer analysis will provide the foundation for the marketing mix actions
you develop later in your plan.
For existing businesses, a look at company records or scrutiny of customers visiting the
shop may provide specifics on the characteristics of the primary target market customers. This
may also suggest key new segments to try to reach. For new businesses, students may refer to
Chapter 9 to discover alternative ways to segment potential customers.
What makes our product or service more desirable to potential customers than offerings
of competitors? These are the key “points of difference” that are the foundation for possible
Helping with Common Student Problems
Student marketing plans often lack clear definitions of (a) the primary target market
segments of customers and (b) points of difference. Without these, the marketing plan quickly
loses focus.
Chapter 05 – Understanding Consumer Behavior
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TEACHING NOTE FOR VIDEO CASE VC-5
Coppertone: Creating the Leading Sun Care Brand by Understanding Consumers
This case describes how Coppertone marketing executives have created the leading sun
care brand in the United States. Much of Coppertone’s popularity and success can be attributed
to the company’s understanding of consumer behavior.
Synopsis
Coppertone was developed by pharmacist Benjamin Green when he observed service men
and women in the Air Force using petroleum gel to protect their skin. He added cocoa butter and
coconut oil to create Coppertone Suntan Cream. Taglines such as “Tan, Don’t Burn” and
advertising featuring the “Coppertone Girl” were used to promote the product as a tanning brand.
Over time, however, consumer interests shifted from tanning to protection so Coppertone
developed sunscreen products, water-resistant lotions, and continuous sprays. In addition,
Coppertone conducted research that helped the FDA create the SPF ratings for the entire
industry. Today Coppertone is the market leader with an 18 percent share of an industry that has
grown to $9 billion in global sales.
Much of Coppertone’s success can be attributed to how attentive Coppertone managers are
to the path that consumers follow as they make a sun care product purchase. Generally,
Coppertone consumers follow the same purchase decision process common to many consumer
purchases—problem recognition, information search, alternative evaluation, purchase decision,
and postpurchase behavior. Psychological, sociocultural, and situational factors also influence
Coppertone users’ purchase behavior.
Coppertone faces several opportunities and challenges in the future. The first challenge is
the seasonal demand for Coppertone products. Currently the majority of Coppertone sales occur
in just 100 days! Another challenge is that consumers have traditionally thought about
Coppertone products in the context of specific events such as a visit to the beach or a vacation.
As consumer interests shift again from sun protection to skin care Coppertone will need to help
consumers think about their products as part of their everyday routine. Finally, Coppertone has
opportunities to expand into new product categories such as sunglasses and contact lenses.
Teaching Suggestions
A useful way to introduce the video is to ask how many students are familiar with and
have used Coppertone products. Products such as Coppertone Sport, ClearlySheer Aftersun, and
ClearlySheer Faces are popular so many of your students should be familiar with the company.
Use that discussion to:
1. Ask the students who have used a Coppertone product to describe their purchase decision
process, possibly using the steps described in Figure 5-1 (problem recognition,
information search, alternative evaluation, purchase decision, and post-purchase
behavior).
5-35
2. Follow-up by asking students to give their impressions of the sun care product category.
For example, do they perceive differences between sun tanning, sun protection, and skin
care products?
3. Finally, ask them if they use or consider any of Coppertone’s competitors (e.g. Banana
Boat, Neutrogena, and Hawaiian Tropic, etc.).
Answers to Questions
1. How has an understanding of consumer behavior helped Coppertone grow in the
United States and around the globe?
Answer:
2. Describe the five-stage purchase decision process for a Coppertone customer.
Answer:
The five-stage purchase process consists of problem recognition, information search,
alternative evaluation, purchase decision, and post-purchase behavior. The purchase
decision process applies to a Coppertone customer as follows: