Consumer Behaviour Answers

Can instrumental conditioning also be applied in this racketing situation ? How ? According to classical conditioning theorists, learning depends not only on repetition, but also on the ability of individuals to generalize. Stimulus generalization explains why imitative "me too" products succeed in the marketplace: consumers confuse them with the original product they have seen advertised. In extending its product line, the marketer adds related products to an already established brand, knowing that the new product is more likely to be adopted when it is associated with a known and trusted brand name.

Conversely, it is much more difficult to develop a totally ewe brand. What might be the reward from using the new product (I. E. , instrumental conditioning)? Because Gillette has a good reputation in skin care, the new shaving line can build on this reputation and add skin care value to the male segment. Like classical conditioning, instrumental conditioning requires a link between a stimulus and a response. In instrumental conditioning, however, the stimulus that results in the most satisfactory response is the one that is learned.

Instrumental learning theorists believe that learning occurs through a trial-and-error process, with habits armed as a result of rewards received for certain responses or behaviors. Although classical conditioning is useful in explaining how consumers learn very simple kinds of behaviors, instrumental conditioning is more helpful in explaining complex, goal- directed activities. Therefore, for Gillette to use instrumental conditioning, they must provide consumers the opportunity to try the product and then like what they try. 3.

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You have been asked to advise a mess wear apparel manufacturer, to help them suitably segment their market and identify the most appropriate target segment. The many manufactures both formal and casual wear, and has a stylish, market range. You want or to apply the AVAILS typology to help them identify the target segments. Explain how would you utilities this approach and which segments would be the most appropriate for this manufacturer ? Consumer Behavior Answers By additionally gamma Market segmentation is the process of dividing consumers into different categories based on distinguishing characteristics.

The impetus behind market segmentation is that it helps retailers identify customers who are most likely to buy their products. Small clothing retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers primarily focus on demographics, personalities and needs when segmenting their markets. This allows them to better reach non-buying consumers and customers through advertising and other marketing efforts. These companies can also further differentiate their clothing products from key competitors. There are several types of key market segments used in retail clothing markets.

Gender-Related Segments Small clothing retailers make frequent use of gender segments. For example, small, independent department stores may sell clothing lines for both men and women. These clothing lines may include casual and business attire for both genders. The clothing items the department store features is usually contingent upon the season. Men's shorts, for example, would primarily be sold in the spring and summer. A small clothing store may also specialize in a specific gender, selling men's suits or ladies' lingerie.

Age-Related Segments Age is another distinguishing factor or demographic that helps clothing retailers determine their buying audiences. Many clothing manufacturers target teenage girls with their trendy new fashion lines, including Jeans, blouses and other apparel. They often promote these clothing lines in late July and August, before the school year commences. The entire children's sector represents another viable buying group in apparel sales, according to Marketplace. Com. Children's clothing retailers may also sell related items that appeal to children and their parents.

Infants and toddlers represent additional age-related segments. Some small manufacturers and wholesalers may exclusively focus on the infant and toddler markets, as this segment is significant enough in size. Geographic Segments Savvy marketers and retailers know that customer clothing preferences vary in efferent regions or geographical areas. One determining factor is weather. People living in warmer climates wear shorts and swimwear for longer periods, for example. Contrarily, the market for coats and Jackets is greater in colder parts of the country.

Clothing trends may also vary by geographic region. For example, retailers or manufacturers of the most extreme high fashion apparel may only sell their clothing in exclusive markets like New York City and Los Angels. Behavior-Related Segments Consumers' choices in products, including apparel, may also be behavior-related, according to Entomb. Mom, an online business reference site. For example, customers may purchase a small manufacturer's clothing line for prestige. They may also shop at certain clothing stores for better quality, service or other factors that are immensely important to them.

Small clothing marketers and retailers may also appeal to the behavior-related segment with holiday-related products. For example, clothing retailers may sell the popular colors of red and green during the holiday season. Lifestyle Segmentation Lifestyle represents another market segment in which small clothing retailers and manufacturers base their product selections. For example, clothing manufacturers that produce clothing for hunters or military personnel sell camouflage and military tissues, respectively, to meet their clients' little needs.

Opinions may also play a role in what consumers purchase in this particular segment. For example, a coat manufacturer may need to produce faux fur coats instead of fur ones for those who are more sensitive to animal welfare. 4. Discuss the components of an attitude. Taking the example of a consumer enable purchase decision, explain what functions do attitudes play in consumer decision making. Answer Components of attitudes. . Cognitive - our thoughts, beliefs, and ideas about something. When a human being is the object of an attitude, the cognitive component is frequently a stereotype, e. G. Welfare recipients are lazy" b. Affective - feelings or emotions that something evokes. E. G. Fear, sympathy, hate. May dislike welfare recipients. C. Conceive, or behavioral - tendency or disposition to act in certain ways toward something. Might want to keep welfare recipients out of our neighborhood. Emphasis is on the tendency to act, not the actual acting; what we intend and what we do may be quite different. In this information processing model, the consumer buying process begins when the buyer recognizes a problem or need. For example, Doug may realize that his best suit doesn't look contemporary any more.

Or, Kathleen may recognize that her personal computer is not performing as well as she thought it should. These are the kinds of problem that we as consumers encounter all the time. When we found out a difference between the actual state and a desired state, a problem is recognized. When we find a problem, we usually try to solve the problem. We, in other words, recognize the need to solve the problem. But how? When a consumer discovers a problem, he/she is likely to search for more information. Kathleen may simply pay more attention to product information of a personal computer.

She becomes more attentive to computer ads, computers purchased by her friends, and peer conversations about computers. Or, she may more actively seek information by visiting stores, talking to friends, or reading computer magazines, among others. Through gathering information, the consumer learns more about some brands that compete in the market and their features and characteristics. Theoretically, there is total set of brands available to Kathleen, but she will become aware of only a subset of the brands (awareness set) in the market.

Some of these brands may satisfy her initial buying criteria, such as price and processing speed (consideration set). As Kathleen proceeds to more information search, only a few will remain as strong candidates (choice set). 5. How as a marketer of home appliances, would you use the knowledge of post purchase evaluation by consumer, to ensure that your consumers do not experience any dissonance ? Describe the response strategies you will follow Answer Customer satisfaction reflects the expectations and experiences that the customer has with a product or service.

Expectations reflect both past and current product evaluation and use experiences. Think about any major purchases you've made recently. Did you research your purchase? Did you collect information from advertising, salesperson, friends, associates, or even test the product? This intimation intenseness our expectations and gives us the ability to evaluate quail value, and the ability of the product or service to meet our needs. Customers hold both explicit and implicit performance expectations for attributes, features, and infinite of products and services.

The nature of these expectations will dictate the form and even the wording of customer satisfaction survey questions. Let me repeat this: the nature of these expectations will dictate the form and even the wording of your satisfaction questions. Understanding the following 7 customer expectations is critical before you set out to measure customer satisfaction. 1. Explicit Expectations Explicit expectations are mental targets for product performance, such as well- identified performance standards.

For example, if expectations for a color printer ere for 17 pages per minute and high quality color printing, but the product actually delivered 3 pages per minute and good quality color printing, then the cognitive evaluation comparing product performance and expectations would be 17 PIMP - 3 PIMP + High - Good, with each item weighted by the associated importance. 2. Implicit Expectations Implicit expectations reflect established norms of performance. Implicit expectations are established by business in general, other companies, industries, and even cultures.

An implicit reference might include wording such as "Compared with other companies... Or "Compared to the leading brand... " 3. Static Performance Expectations Static performance expectations address how performance and quality are defined for a specific application. Performance measures related to quality of outcome may include the evaluation of accessibility, customization, dependability, timeliness, accuracy, and user friendly interfaces. Static performance expectations are the visible part of the iceberg; they are the performance we see and-?often erroneously -?are assumed to be the only dimensions of performance that exist. . Dynamic Performance Expectations Dynamic performance expectations are about how the product or service is expected to evolve over time. Dynamic expectations may be about the changes in support, product, or service needed to meet future business or use environments. Dynamic performance expectations may help to produce "static" performance expectations as new uses, integrations, or system requirements develop and become more stable. 5. Technological Expectations Technological expectations focus on the evolving state of the product category.

For example, mobile phones are continually evolving, leading to higher expectations of ewe features. Mobile service providers, in an effort to limit a consumer's ability to switch to new technology phones, have marketed rate plans with high cancellation penalties for switching providers, but with liberal upgrade plans for the phones they offer. The availability of low profile phones with email, camera, MPH, blue tooth technology, and increased storage will change technology expectations as well as the static and dynamic performance expectations of the product.

These highly involving products are not Just feature based, but raise expectations that enhance perceptions f status, ego, self-image, and can even evoke emotions of isolation and fear when the product is not available. 6. Interpersonal Expectations Interpersonal expectations reflect the relationship between the customer and the product or service provider. Person to person relationships are increasingly important, especially where products require support for proper use and functioning.

Support expectations include interpersonal sharing of technical knowledge, ability to solve a problem, ability to communicate, reduced time to problem resolution, courtesy, patience, enthusiasm, helpfulness, assurance that they understood my problem and my situation, communication skills, and customer perceptions regarding professionalism of conduct, often including image and appearance. 7. Situational Expectations In building a customer satisfaction survey, it is also helpful to evaluate why pre- purchase expectations or post-purchase satisfaction may or may not be fulfilled or even measurable.

The following conditions may be considered: Expectations may not include unanticipated service attributes that are new to that consumer. Expectations may be based on vague images, thereby creating wide latitude of acceptable performance and expected satisfaction. Product performance expectations and evaluations may be sensory and not cognitive, as in expectations of taste, style or image. Such expectations are not only difficult to evaluate and understand, but may change over time and with consumption.

The product use may attract so little attention as to produce no conscious affect or cognition (evaluation). When measured, this results in meaningless satisfaction or dissatisfaction information. There may have been unanticipated benefits or consequences of purchasing or using the product (such as a uses, usage situations, or features not anticipated with purchase). The original expectations may have been unrealistically high or low. The product purchaser, influencer and user may have each been a different type of individual, each having different expectations. 6. Consumers are always right, but not always" - Agree (or) Disagree, Support your arguments with and examples I am disagree with "Consumers are always right, but not always" why because The phrase "The customer is always right" was originally coined by Harry Gordon Selfridges, the founder of Selfridges department store in London in 1909, and is typically used by businesses to: 1 . Convince customers that they will get good service at this company 2. Convince employees to give customers good service Fortunately more and more businesses are abandoning this maxim - ironically because it leads to bad customer service.

Here are the top five reasons why "The customer is always right" is wrong. 1: It makes employees unhappy Gordon Bethink is a brash Texan (as is Herb Keller, coincidentally) who is best known for turning Continental Airlines around "From Worst to First," a story told in his book of the same title from 1998. He wanted to make sure that both customers and employees liked the way Continental treated them, so he made it very clear that the maxim "the customer is always right" didn't hold sway at Continental. In conflicts between employees and unruly customers he would consistently side with his people.

Here's how he puts it: When we run into customers that we can't reel back in, our loyalty is with our employees. They have to put up with this stuff every day. Just because you buy a ticket does not give you the right to abuse our employees We run more than 3 million people through our books every Mont n. One or two tot those people are going to be unreasonable, demanding Jerks. When it's a choice between supporting your employees, who work with you every day and make your product what it is, or some irate Jerk who demands a free ticket to Paris because you ran out of peanuts, whose side are you going to be on?

You can't treat your employees like serfs. You have to value them ... If they think that you won't support them when a customer is out of line, even the smallest problem can cause resentment. So Bethink trusts his people over unreasonable customers. What I like about this attitude is that it balances employees and customers, where the "always right" maxim squarely favors the customer - which is not a good idea, because, as Bethink says, it causes resentment among employees. Of course there are plenty of examples of bad employees giving lousy customer service.

But trying to solve this by declaring the customer "always right" is counter-productive. 2: It gives abrasive customers an unfair advantage Using the slogan "The customer is always right" abusive customers can demand Just about anything - they're right by definition, aren't they? This makes the employees' job that much harder, when trying to rein them in. Also, it means that abusive people get better treatment and conditions than nice people. That always seemed wrong to me, and it makes much more sense to be nice to the nice customers to keep them coming back. : Some customers are bad for business Most businesses think that "the more customers the better". But some customers are quite simply bad for business. Danish IT service provider Servicewomen proudly tell this story: One of our service technicians arrived at a customer's site for a maintenance task, and to his great shock was treated very rudely by the customer. When he'd finished the task and returned to the office, he told management about his experience. They promptly cancelled the customer's contract.

Just like Keller dismissed the irate lady who kept complaining (but somehow also kept flying on Southwest), Servicewomen fired a bad customer. Note that it was not even a matter of a financial calculation - not a question of whether either company would make or lose money on that customer in the long run. It was a simple matter of respect and dignity and of treating their employees right. 4: It results in worse customer service Rosenthal International, a corporate travel agency, took it even further. CEO Hal Rosenthal wrote an excellent book about their approach called Put The Customer

Second - Put your people first and watched kick butt. Rosenthal argues that when you put the employees first, they put the customers first. Put employees first, and they will be happy at work. Employees who are happy at work give better customer service because: They care more about other people, including customers They have more energy They are happy, meaning they are more fun to talk to and interact with They are more motivated On the other hand, when the company and management consistently side with customers instead of with employees, it sends a clear message that: Employees are not valued

That treating employees fairly is not important That employees have no right to respect from customers That employees nave to put up Witt everything trot customers When this attitude prevails, employees stop caring about service. At that point, real good service is almost impossible - the best customers can hope for is fake good service. You know the kind I mean: courteous on the surface only. 5: Some customers are Just plain wrong Herb Keller agrees, as this passage From Nuts! The excellent book about Southwest Airlines shows: Herb Keller makes it clear that his employees come first -? even if it means dismissing customers.

But aren't customers always right? "No, they are not," Keller snaps. "And I think that's one of the biggest betrayals of employees a boss can possibly commit. The customer is sometimes wrong. We don't carry those sorts of customers. We write to them and say, 'Fly somebody else. Don't abuse our people. " If you still think that the customer is always right, read this story from Butane's book "From Worst to First": A Continental flight attendant once was offended by a passenger's child wearing a hat with Nazi and ASK emblems on it.

It was pretty offensive stuff, so the attendant went to the kid's father and asked him to UT away the hat. "No," the guy said. "My kid can wear what he wants, and I don't care who likes it. " The flight attendant went into the cockpit and got the first officer, who explained to the passenger the FAA regulation that makes it a crime to interfere with the duties of a crew member. The hat was causing other passengers and the crew discomfort, and that interfered with the flight attendant's duties.

The guy better put away the hat. He did, but he didn't like it. He wrote many nasty letters. We made every effort to explain our policy and the federal air regulations, but he wasn't hearing it. He even showed up in our executive suite to discuss the matter with me. I let him sit out there. I didn't want to see him and I didn't want to listen to him. He bought a ticket on our airplane, and that means we'll take him where he wants to go. But if he's going to be rude and offensive, he's welcome to fly another airline.

The fact is that some customers are Just plain wrong, that businesses are better of without them, and that managers siding with unreasonable customers over employees is a very bad idea, that results in worse customer service. So put your people first. And watch them put the customers first Case Study : (20 Marks) Attracting the Youth segment. Campbell soup Company introduced its line of Chunky soups in Asia in late ass's. The product was geared to young people who were found to avoid the standard clear soup lines and were looking for something that tasted more like a meal.

This heartier version of the soup containing more vegetables or meat in a heavier broth had done very well over the years with teens, particularly the young males in the U. S market, where it was the leading ready to serve food in super market. However, youth in Asia has been found to Tums very often from soups to other foods for lunch and snacks, cause of a high degree of prevalence of street food both traditional and contemporary. Cultural variable like food preferences and taste are also creating barriers for the product.

In addition, with the faster penetration of microwave ovens and the pizzas and popcorn cooked in them by the college going youth as alternative snacks, Chunky faces increasing challenges' from alternatives. In addition competitive ready-deserve soups both from international and local providers are gaining prominence, either on the plank tot being an internationally known name or supplying local flavors to suit the Asian palate. Campbell has resolved to reach the youth and college market. It conducted specialized research on the college market, resulting in several interesting findings.

First, only about 1/3 students use college food facilities lunch and only about one in four eats there for dinner. With 70% of students having access to a heater or oven, the potential exists for heating up soup. Limitation, this group likes soup and therefore is willing to consume chicken noodle soup or a variant of the com soup rather than having a heavy, full plate lunch. The trends of consumption are also changing. Six out of 10 college students in the metropolitan cities are more involved in buying prepared food than in the past.

The students are usually short of time, especially during semesters. Thus, these patterns would indicate that heating . Up soup for a snack or a quick meal could be perceived as being fast and easy and would be an attractive food choice for these students. College youth are an attractive market segment for several reasons. First, they are a sizeable population in a lot of the Asian countries, especially the South Asian countries. Second, compared to the others in their age group students typically have larger discretionary income.

Third, because this is the time that many individuals are for the first time trying independent living and making consumption decisions by themselves, attracting them to Campbell brand could help develop a lifetime of brand loyalty. Moreover, as university students, these consumers should become the leaders and innovators of tomorrow, enhancing the brandishing in the future. Campbell executives are also aware, however, that College students can be very difficult to reach and can be noticeable fickle in their brand choice behavior.

Question a) What in your view are the consumer behavior variables that the company should study before rolling out its detailed marketing effort ? (b)Do you agree with the company's identification of the college going students as the most attractive segment? If the reference was specifically to the Indian market, which other segment would you suggest as being attractive for the company. (c)Advise the company about appropriate . Promotional appeals to use for the product for the target segment of college student. Case Study :Answers study before rolling out its detailed marketing effort ?

In the highly specialized study of "BUSINESS MANAGEMENT", "BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION" or just "MANAGEMENT" today, "MARKETING MANAGEMENT" function plays a very critical role. This is because this functional area of management (1) "EARNS" the revenue, & (2) "WORKS" in the close proximity with the public or persons outside the organization. Controlling these two attributes to have the desired benefits are the most difficult part tot the management, because none tot these two are within the direct control of the marketers.

This doesn't mean that the other functional areas are not useful, but they are not "DIRECTLY" involved in the activities mentioned above. Similarly, within the study of Marketing Management, the "Consumers" or the "Customers" play a very critical role as these are the people who finally BUY the goods & services of the organization, and the firm is always on the move to make them buy so as to earn revenue. It's crucial from both the points of view as given below : 1. From the customers' point of view : Customers today are in a tough spot.

Today, in the highly developed & technologically advanced society, the customers have a great deal of choices & options (and often very close & competing) o decide on. 2. 1 . They have the products of an extreme range of attributes (the 1st P - Product), 2. They have a wide range of cost and payment choices (the 2nd P - Price), 3. They can order them to be supplied to their door step or anywhere else (the 3rd P - Place), 4. And finally they are bombarded with more communications from more channels than ever before (the 4th P - Promotion).

How can they possibly decide where to spend their time and money, and where they should give their loyalty ? 1 . From the marketers' point of view : "The purpose of marketing is to sell more stuff to more people more often for more money in order to make more profit". This is the basic principle of requirement for the marketers in earlier days where aggressive selling was the aim. Now it can't be achieved by force, aggression or plain alluring. For the customers are today more informed, more knowledgeable, more demanding, more discerning.

And above all there is no dearth of marketers to buy from. The marketers have to earn them or win them over. The global marketplace is a study in diversity, diversity among consumers, producers, marketers, retailers, advertising media, cultures, and customs and of course the individual or psychological behavior. However, despite prevailing diversity, there also are many similarities. The object of the study of consumer behavior is to provide conceptual and technical tools to enable the marketer to apply them to marketing practice, both profit & non-profit.

The study of consumer behavior (CB) is very important to the marketers because it enables them to understand and predict buying behavior of consumers in the marketplace; it is concerned not only with what consumers buy, but also with why they buy it, when and where and how they ay it, and how often they buy it, and also how they consume it & dispose it. Consumer research is the methodology used to study consumer behavior; it takes place at every phase of the consumption process: before the purchase, during the purchase, and after the purchase.

Research shows that two different buyers buying the same product may have done it for different reasons, paid different prices, used in different ways, have different emotional attachments towards the things and so on. Consumer behavior is interdisciplinary; that is, it is based on concepts and theories bout people that have been developed by scientists, philosophers & researchers in such diverse disciplines as psychology, sociology, social psychology, cultural anthropology, and economics.

The main objective of the study of consumer behavior is to provide marketers with the knowledge and skills, that are necessary to carry out detailed consumer analyses which could be used tort understanding markets and developing marketing strategies. Thus, consumer behavior researchers with their skills for the naturalistic settings of the market are trying to make a major nutrition to our understanding of human thinking in general. The study of consumer behavior helps management understand consumers' needs so as to recognize the potential for the trend of development of change in consumer requirements and new technology.

And also to articulate the new thing in terms of the consumers' needs so that it will be accepted in the market well. Consumer behavior has become an integral part of strategic market planning. It is also the basis of the approach to the concept of Holistic Marketing. (See the article on "HOLISTIC MARKETING " written by the author). The belief that ethics and social responsibility should also be integral components of every marketing decision is embodied in a revised marketing concept - the societal marketing concept - which calls on marketers to fulfill the needs of their target markets in ways that improve society as a whole. B)Do you agree with the company's identification of the college going students as the most attractive segment? If the reference was specifically to the Indian market, which other segment would you suggest as being attractive for the company. Yes I agree with the company's identification of the college going students, Segmenting" is a marketing term for dividing up your audience into groups according to particular criteria. The members of each group have at least one important factor in common with the other members of the same group, and that factor sets them apart from all the other groups.

The criteria that you use to determine your groups should have some relationship to how they'll respond to your message. Segmenting will help determine how you deliver your message as well as its content. If we return to the youth violence reduction campaign referred to in the introduction, we can see overall ways the different segments we need to address could be separated. "Youth" might be broken down into gang members and non-gang members, for instance, or into under-16 and 16-and-over.

Your segmenting choices would depend on how different the messages might need to be to reach particular groups. Perhaps a message delivered by a popular hip-hop group would reach most youth in the community, regardless of gang affiliation or age. But it would take a very different message and messenger to reach business people or parents. Segmenting the market can help you make sure that your message is not only getting to everyone ho needs to hear it, but increases the likelihood that they will listen to it.

Market segmenting enhances your ability to figure out the four Up's of marketing: product, price, place, and promotion. The different segments of your target population: need different products (e. G. Need different services, or the same service delivered in different ways, or are interested in different benefits) are willing to pay different kinds of prices in time, money, or effort to make the behavior changes you're aiming for can be reached in different places (through different media outlets, or only

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