8/6/2019 CB-week2

1/35

Models of Consumer Behaviour

Week 2

Consumer Behaviourand Food Marketing

8/6/2019 CB-week2

2/35

Models of Consumer Behaviour Types of consumption

Purchase paradigms Modelling food consumption behaviour

Human responses in a commercial world

(East, chapter 1)

8/6/2019 CB-week2

3/35

What determines food choice? Prices + Income + Preferences

There are three types of influences onpreference and choices for food:

Characteristics of the product

Characteristics of the individual

Characteristics of the environment

8/6/2019 CB-week2

4/35

Types of consumption Important purchases (relevance)

Repetitive consumption (frequency)

Involuntary consumption (freedom)

Group consumption (susceptibility to social

influence)

8/6/2019 CB-week2

5/35

Important purchases Product purchased for the first time

Infrequently purchased products

Time and effort to choose

Little experience

High involvement

Going to a new restaurantChoosing the menu for an important dinner

8/6/2019 CB-week2

6/35

8/6/2019 CB-week2

7/35

Involuntary consumption Unavoidable consumption

Petrol for the car

Telephone Repair of roads (social form, public goods)

Choice between brands?

Tap water

8/6/2019 CB-week2

8/35

Group consumption Purchase based on some group influence

process

Family expenditures

Company purchases

Mineral water

8/6/2019 CB-week2

9/35

Purchase paradigms, theories and

models

Paradigm (perspective, framework)

Theory MODEL

8/6/2019 CB-week2

10/35

Why do we need Consumer Behaviour

theories, paradigms and models? To support marketing practices as:

Use of pricing incentives

Impact on sales

Reaction after the end of price cuts

Understanding reasons behind consumer behaviour

Advertising

Impact on sales (or loyalty or brand recognition)

Duration of effects Underlying mechanisms

Brand extension

Impact on the new product

Impact on the old product

Why?

8/6/2019 CB-week2

11/35

Example: price cuts During promotion: sales (quantity) up by

50%

After promotion: sales at same level as

before

Why?

% of new purchasers

Perception low prices as low quality

8/6/2019 CB-week2

12/35

Purchase paradigms Are not mutually exclusive

Subjective preferences

Appropriateness for particular conditions

8/6/2019 CB-week2

13/35

Purchase paradigms1. Cognitive paradigm (US)

Purchase as the outcome of problem-solving

2. Reinforcement paradigm (UK) Purchase as learned behaviour

3. Habit paradigm Pre-established pattern of behaviour

8/6/2019 CB-week2

14/35

The Cognitive paradigm

Decision-making as an explanation for

consumer behaviour

The cognitive consumer is credited with the

capacity to receive and handle considerable

quantities of information, to engage actively in the

comparative evaluation of alternative products andbrands, and to select rationally among them

[Foxall]

8/6/2019 CB-week2

15/35

Cognitive paradigm Does it work?

Typical purchase (especially for food)

Few alternatives

Little external search

Few evaluative criteria

Engel, Blackwell and Miniard (1995)

8/6/2019 CB-week2

16/35

Extended Problem Solving

New and important purchasesProblem/need recognition

Search for information

Evaluation of alternatives

Purchase

Consumption

Post-consumption evaluation

8/6/2019 CB-week2

17/35

Limited problem solving Even in new purchase there are no time,

resource and motivation to the search

Search for information and evaluation of

alternatives are limited

8/6/2019 CB-week2

18/35

Habitual decision-making Loyalty to the brand

Inertia

The need is satisfied, but there is no special

interest in the product

Food products

Satisficing behaviour

Accept the first solution that is good enough to satisfy your

need, even if a better solution may be missed

8/6/2019 CB-week2

19/35

Satisficing behaviour (Simon,

1957; Klein, 1989)

Need recognition

Evaluation of single Option

Purchase?

YES

END

NO

8/6/2019 CB-week2

20/35

8/6/2019 CB-week2

21/35

The Reinforcement paradigm

(Learning Theory) Reinforcer: an experience which raises the

frequency of responses associated with it

Punisher: an experience which reduces the

frequency of such response

[Skinner, 1938; 1953]

8/6/2019 CB-week2

22/35

The learned behaviour theory Past behaviour teaches us, and after learning

we can modify later behaviour

Satisfaction/unsatisfaction with a product

It is a valid theory both under the reinforcement

and habit paradigm

8/6/2019 CB-week2

23/35

Some types of learning

Classic conditioning (Pavlovs dog)

Watson and Rayner Little Albert (1920): rats,iron bars and the generalising effect

Learning is generalised

Brand extension: use of an existing brand for a newproduct

Use of stimuli: packaging, brand names, colours,smells, music, context of purchase/consumption

Reinforcement learning Trial and error learning

Shaping (behaviour changed by reinforcing theperformances that show change in a desired direction)

8/6/2019 CB-week2

24/35

Classical conditioning Signs and colour coding (e.g. mailbox)

8/6/2019 CB-week2

25/35

The satiation effect Heavily used reinforcements lose power

(satiation effect)

Wearout in advertisement

Desensitisation: stimulus satiation

8/6/2019 CB-week2

26/35

Stimuli and reinforcement

learning Continuous and Intermittent learning

Continuous is quicker

Intermittent has a larger final effect

Extinction period after the end of reinforcement

is longer for intermittent learning

Example of reinforcers: Kinder eggsurprise, air miles, Tesco clubcard point,

cashback

8/6/2019 CB-week2

27/35

Punishment and reinforcement

learning Food poisoning consequences

One failure is enough

Undiscovered later improvements of the

product

Effect is long-lasting

8/6/2019 CB-week2

28/35

Reinforcement and marketing

strategy Control stimuli to direct behaviour

Reinforcers

Pleasure

Information

Degree of opennes (range of activities

available to the consumer)

Environment affects behaviour

8/6/2019 CB-week2

29/35

The Habit paradigm While the cognitive and reinforcement paradigms

are based on dynamics and change, the habit one

is related to aggregate stable markets, wherebehaviour is seen as relatively unchanging.

The habit paradigm excludes problem-solving or

planning

Judgment comes afterpurchase and habits may be

broken

8/6/2019 CB-week2

30/35

The involvement factor Involvement

Importance of purchase

Risks involved

Potential costs

Irreversibility of the decision

Type of cognitive process that is generated

Example: beef consumption after the BSE crisis

8/6/2019 CB-week2

31/35

Frustration factor Frustration as blocked motivation

No options are available

Minor frustrations in using products may

lead to change products

New products should be designed to avoid

frustration

8/6/2019 CB-week2

32/35

Managerial control and the

purchase paradigms Cognitive paradigm

Provide information and persuasion

Suitable for one-off decisions

Reinforcement paradigm

Change the environment and stimuli

Habit paradigm Packaging

Advertising

8/6/2019 CB-week2

33/35

Problem/need recognition In general, individuals recognise they have

a need for something when there is a

discrepancy between theiractual state andideal state.

8/6/2019 CB-week2

34/35

Need recognition and marketing

strategy Advertising

In-store promotion

Visibility

8/6/2019 CB-week2

35/35

Need recognition