CONSUMER
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
BEHAVIOR
culture and consumer behavior
CULTURE
• Examination of the character of the total
society including factors such as
language,knowledge, laws,relgions,food
customs,music, rituals, art, technology,
work patterns, products and other
artifacts that give society its flavor
• “sum total of learned beliefs, values and
customs that serve to direct consumer
behavior of members in a particular
society”
CULTURE
• Beliefs
- Very large number of mental or verbal
statements that reflect our particular
knowledge and assessment of something
• Values differ from beliefs as they are
- Relatively few in number
- Serve as guide for culturally appropriate
behavior
- Enduring and difficult to change
- Not tied to specific objects or situations
- Widely accepted by members of society
CULTURE SATISFIES
NEEDS
• Offers order, direction and guidance in all
phases of human problems
• Providing `tried and true’ methods of
satisfying physiological, personal and social
needs
• Standards and rules
• Culture evolves within a society
CULTURE IS LEARNED
• Lessons learned as we are growing up are taken
into adult life
• Three distinct forms of cultural learning
1. Formal Learning
- adults, older siblings teaching `how to
behave’
1. Informal learning
- Child learns by imitating or modelling
behavior of selected others
1. Technical learning
- Teachers instruct child in educational
environment
CULTURE IS LEARNED
• Product advertisements enhance informal
cultural learning by providing the audience
with model of behavior to imitate
• Repetition of advertising messages creates
and reinforces cultural beliefs and values
(benefits of products) are taken into adult life
• Enculturation and acculturation
• Language and symbols
• Ritual
CULTURE IS SHARED
• Group customs link members of a society
• Passing along basic cultural beliefs,
customs and values
• Consumer socialization of the young
• Educational institutions are to impart
basic learning skills, history, patriotism
etc.
• Mass media
• Advertising
CULTURE IS DYNAMIC
• Culture evolves if its to function in best
interests of a society
• Marketers that monitor cultural changes
often find new opportunities to increase
profitability
• “What’s Hot What’s Not”
THE MEASUREMENT
OF CULTURE
• Content analysis
- determines whether social or cultural
changes have occurred in a specific society
- Explore trends in the style and layout in
various advertising
• Consumer fieldwork
-field observation
-shadow shopping
- in-depth interviews and focus groups
CORE VALUES
• Core values must be understood by
marketers to understand when and with
whom they are relevant
- Value must be pervasive
- Values must be enduring
- Consumer-related
CORE VALUES
• Achievement
• Efficiency & Practicality
• Material comfort
• Individualism
• freedom
• External conformity
• humanitarianism
• youthfulness
• Fitness & health
CORE VALUE FOR
SERVICES
• To understand what consumers are seeking
from services that they use
• Service providers especially recognize core
instrumental values to meet consumer needs
CORE VALUE FOR
SERVICES
• Consistency
- Predictability and reliability
• Timeliness
- Consumers expect service when they need
them
• Effectiveness
-Consumers want the service or product
to do the job
CORE VALUE FOR
SERVICES
• Ease
- Convenience
• Responsiveness
- Consumers want services that respond
to their situation
