ANALYZING

CONSUMER
MARKETS AND
BUYER
BEHAVIOUR
● The aim of marketing is to meet and satisfy target
customers' needs and wants. The field of consumer
behavior studies how individuals, groups, and
organizations select, buy, use, and dispose of goods,
services, ideas, or experiences to satisfy their needs and
desires Understanding consumer behavior and "knowing
customers are never simple. Customers may state their
needs and wants but act otherwise. They may not be in
touch with their deeper motivations. They may respond
to influences that change their mind at the last minute.
Nevertheless, marketers must study their target
customers, perceptions, preferences, and shopping and
buying behavior.
SEGA
Sega of America, the scrappy little company that overtook
Nintendo in the US. video game market, spends a
tremendous amount of time trying to understand the
needs and wants of its major market: teens. Says Sega's
senior vice president of marketing. "Kids No. 1 desire is to
be up on new stuff all the time and know things that their
parents don't know." The company has gathered this
information by conducting focus groups two or three times
a week, and researchers at Sega's ad agency find out how
kids bay by hanging around some 150 kids bedrooms and
shopping with them in malls.
● They've discovered that the typical teen is surprisingly
price-conscious and shops for video games with the same
attentiveness that an adult shops for a new car. Teens
read consumer guidebooks, talk to friends, and even rent
games before buying. Above all, they want every thing to
be fast. And Sega complies by introducing new video
games at a relentless pace (about 65 new games a year),
and wooing kids with hip and frenetic TV ads that clock
in at 15 seconds. Studying consumers, as Sega does,
provides clues for developing new products, product
features, prices, channels, messages, and other
marketing-mix elements. This chapter explores
consumers' buying dynamics, the next chapter explores
the buying dynamics of business buyers.
A MODEL OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

● At one time, marketers could understand

consumers through the daily experience of selling
to them. But the growth of companies and
markets has removed many marketing managers
from direct contact with customers.
Increasingly, managers have had to rely on the 7 O's
framework for consumer research to answer the
following key questions about any market:

Who constitutes the market? (Occupants)

What does the market buy? (Objects )
Why does the market buy? (Objectives )
Who participates in the buying? (Organizations)
How does the market buy? (Operations)
When does the market buy? (Occasions)
Where does the market buy? (Outlets)
MAJOR FACTORS INFLUENCING BUYING BEHAVIOR (Figure 6-2)
Figure 6-2 summarizes the factors influencing a
consumer's buying behavior. We will illustrate these
influences for a hypothetical consumer named Linda
Brown, who is 35, married, and a regional sales manager
in a leading chemical company. She travels a lot and
wants to acquire a laptop computer. She faces a great
number of brand choices: IBM, Apple, Dell, Compaq, and
so on. Her choice will be influenced by many cultural,
social, personal, and psychological factors.
Cultural Factors
● Cultural factors exert the broadest and
deepest influence on consumer behavior.
The roles played by the buyer's culture,
subculture, and social class are
particularly important.
CULTURE
● Culture is the most fundamental determinant of a
person's wants and behavior. The growing child
acquires a set of values, perceptions, preferences, and
behaviors through his or her family and other key
institutions. A child growing up in the United States is
exposed to the following values: achievement and
success, activity, efficiency and practicality, progress,
material comfort, individualism, freedom, external
comfort, humanitarianism and youthfulness.
For example, Linda Brown's interest in
computers reflects her upbringing in a
technological society. Linda knows what
computers are and she knows that the
society values computer expertise. In
another culture, say a remote tribe in central
Africa, a computer would mean nothing. It
would simply be a curious piece of hardware,
and there would be no buyers.
 SUBCULTURE
● As we saw in the previous chapter, each
culture consists of smaller subcultures that
provide more specific identification and
socialization for its members. Subcultures
include nationalities, religions, racial groups,
and geo graphical regions. Many subcultures
make up important market segments, and
marketers often design products and
marketing programs tailored to their needs.
For Example, Linda Brown's buying behavior will
be influenced by her subculture identifications.
They will influence her food preferences, clothing
choices, recreation, and career aspirations. She
may come from a subculture that places a high
value on being an “educated person”, and this
helps explain her interest in computers.
SOCIAL CLASS
● Virtually all human societies exhibit social
stratification. Stratification sometimes takes the
form of a caste system where the members of
different castes are reared for certain roles and
cannot change their caste membership. More
frequently, stratification takes the form of social
classes.
● SOCIAL CLASSES are relatively homogeneous and
enduring divisions in a society, which are
hierarchically ordered and whose members share
similar values, interests, and behavior.
● Social classes do not reflect income alone but also other
indicators such as occupation, and area of residence.
Social classes differ in their dress, speech patterns,
recreational preferences, and many other
characteristics.
● Social classes have several characteristics. First,
persons within each social class tend to behave more
alike than persons from two different social classes.
Second, persons are perceived as occupying inferior or
superior positions according to their social class. Third,
a person's social class is indicated by a cluster of
variables -for example, occupation, income, wealth,
education, and value orientation on rather than by any
single variable. Fourth, individuals can move from one
social class to another-up or down-during their lifetime.
● Social classes show distinct product and brand
preferences in many areas, including clothing, home
furnishings, leisure activities, and automobiles. Some
marketers focus their efforts on one social class. Thus
the Four Seasons restaurant in upper Manhattan focuses
on upper-class customers, while Joe's Diner in lower
Manhattan focuses on lower-class customers. The social
classes differ in their media preferences, with upper-
class consumers preferring magazines and books and
lower-class consumers preferring television. Even within
a media category such as TV, upper-class consumers
prefer news and drama, and lower-class consumers
prefer soap operas and quiz shows. There are also
language differences among the social classes. The
advertiser has to compose copy and dialogue that ring
Social Factors
● In addition to cultural factors, a
consumer's behavior is influenced by such
social factors as reference groups, family,
and roles and statuses.
REFERENCE GROUPS
● Many groups influence a person's behavior
● A person's REFERENCE GROUPS consist of
all the groups that have a direct (face-to-
face) or indirect influence on the person's
attitudes or behavior. Groups having a
direct influence on a person are called
MEMBERSHIP GROUPS.
● Some membership groups are primary groups, such as
family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers, with whom the
person interacts fairly continuously and informally.
People also belong to secondary groups such as religious,
professional, and trade union groups, which send to be
more formal and require less continuous interaction.
● People are significantly influenced by their reference
groups in at least three ways. Reference groups expose
an individual to new behaviors and lifestyles. They also
influence the person's attitudes and self-concept. And
they create pressures for conformity that may affect the
person's actual product and brand choices
● People are also influenced by groups in which they are not
members. Groups to which a person would like to belong
are called aspirational groups. For example, a teen-ager
may hope one day to play basketball for the Chicago Bulls.
A dissociative group is one whose values or behavior an
individual rejects. The same teen-ager may want to avoid
any relationship with the Hare Krishna group.
● Marketers try to identify their target customers' reference
groups. However, the level of reference-group influence
varies among products and brands. Reference groups
appear to strongly influence both product and brand
choice only in the case of automobiles and color
televisions, mainly brand choice in such items as furniture
and clothing, and mainly product choice in such items as
beer and cigarettes.
Manufacturers of products and brands where group influence is
strong must determine how to reach and influence the opinion
leaders in these reference groups. An option leader is the person
in informal product-related communications who offers advice or
information about a specific product or product cate gory, such
as which of several brands is best or how a particular product
may be used Opinion leaders are found in all strata of society,
and a person can be an opinion leader in certain product areas
and an opinion follower in other areas. Marketers try to reach
opinion leaders by identifying demographic and psycho graphic
characteristics associated with opinion leadership, identifying
the media read by opinion leaders, and directing messages at
the opinion leaders. This is exactly what San Francisco-based
The Gap Inc. is trying to do since it has begun to lose its edge
with opinion leaders in its most important market: shoppers
 THE GAP
● In 1992, about 90% of teens said Gap clothes were "cool,"
in Leo Burnett Co.'s annual “What's hot among kids”
survey. That number fell to 83% the next summer and
plummeted to 63% in two 1995 polls. In fact, Gap attire and
advertising have become the butt of jokes and the target
of resentment by teens and Generation Xers “Their clothes
promote a straight, white, lame lifestyle, which is just how
THEY want us to be,” writes Hugh Galagher in a satire in
Los Angeles's Grand Royal magazine. While the company is
hardly in trouble, Gap is trying to get a more interesting
and targeted assortment of merchandise in appealing
colors, and the monitors of "cool" at corporate
headquarters are busily working up campaigns directed at
● Group influence is strong for products that are
visible to others whom the buyer respects. Linda
Brown's interest in a laptop computer and her
attitudes to ward various brands will be strongly
influenced by some of her membership groups.
Her co-workers' attitudes and brand choices will
influence her. The more cohesive the group, the
more effective the group's communication
process, and the higher the person esteems the
group, the more the group will shape the person's
product and brand choices.
FAMILY
● The family is the most important consumer-
buying organization in society, and it has been
researched extensively. Family members
constitute the most influential primary
reference group. We can distinguish between
two families in the buyer's life. The family of
orientation consists of one's parents and
siblings. From parents a person acquires an
orientation toward religion, politics, and
economics and a sense of personal ambition,
● Even if the buyer no longer interacts very
much with his or her parents, the parents'
influence on the buyer's behavior can be
significant. In countries where parents live
with their grown children, their influence can
be substantial. A more direct influence on
everyday boying behavior is one's family of
procreation-namely, one's spouse and children.
Marketers are interested in the roles and relative influence
of the husband, wife, and children in the purchase of a large
variety of products and services. These roles vary widely in
different countries and social classes. In the United States,
husband-wife involvement has traditionally varied widely by
product cate gory. The wife has traditionally acted as the
family's main purchasing agent, especially for food,
sundries, and staple-clothing items. In the case of expensive
products and services, husbands and wives have engaged in
more joint decision making. Marketers need to determine
which member normally has the greater influence in
choosing various products. Often it is a matter of who has
more power or expertise.
Here are the traditional product
patterns:

● Husband dominant: Life insurance,

automobiles, television
● Wife dominant: Washing machines,
carpeting, furniture, kitchenware
● Equal: Vacation, housing, outside
entertainment
These patterns are gradually changing, however, due to the rise
in employment of women, especially in nontraditional jobs. Shifts
in social values regarding the di vision of domestic labor have
also weakened such standard conceptions as “women buy all the
household goods.” Recent research has shown that while
traditional buying patterns still hold, baby boomer husband and
wives are more willing to shop jointly for products traditionally
thought to be under the separate control of one spouse or the
other. Hence, convenience-goods marketers are making a mistake
if they think of women as the main or only purchasers of their
products. Similarly, marketers of products traditionally
purchased by men may need to start thinking of women as
possible purchasers. This is already happening in the hard- ware
business.
BUILDERS SQUARE
In 1993 hardware outlets in the United States saw sales
rise 9.8% to $104.4 billion, According to the National
Retail Hardware Association/ Home Center Institute,
women account for 49.6% of all hardware-store
purchases. The rise in women's tool ownership is due to
more divorced women being forced to handle minor
home emergencies, and more married and single
women buying less-expensive homes that need repairs.
One retailer that spotted the trend early and has
capitalized on it is Builders Square. In 1991 the San
Antonio-based company turned what had been an
intimidating warehouse into a user-friendly retail outlet.
The new Builders Square Il outlets feature
decorator design centers toward the front of the
store. To draw more women into the more appealing
stores, Builders Square began running ads
targeting women in Home, House Beautiful,
Woman's Day, and Better Homes and Gardens.
Builders Square now even offers bridal registries.
Says a marketing director at Builders Square, "It's
more meaningful to them to have a great patio set
or gas grill than to have fine china.”
Another shift in buying patterns is the
increasing amount of influence wielded by
children and teens. Children aged 4 to12
years old spent $11.2 billion on their wants
and needs in 1993, and influenced additional
purchases totaling $154.4 billion. Spending
is also growing faster among children than
in other demographic groups at close to 20%
a year.
In the case of Linda Brown's purchase of a
laptop computer, her husband and children
may play influencer roles. Her husband may
have initiated the suggestion, and he may
offer advice on the brand and features. His
influence will depend on the strength of his
opinion and how much Linda values his
opinion. Her children mas hope that Linda will
purchase software programs that can help
them with their homework or play games.
ROLES AND STATUSES
A person participates in many groups throughout
life-family, clubs, organizations. The person's
position in each group can be defined in terms of
role and status. A role consists of the activities
that a person expected to perform. With her
parents, Linda Brown plays the role of daughter, in
her family, she plays wife and mother, in her
company, she plays sales manager. Each of Linda's
roles will influence some of her buying behavior.
Each role carries a status. A Supreme Court
justice has more status than a sales
manager, and a sales manager has more
status than an office clerk. People choose
products that communicate their role and
status in society. Thus company presidents
often dive Mercedes, wear expensive suits,
and drink Chivas Regal Scotch. Marketers
are aware of the status symbol potential of
products and brands
Personal Factors
A buyer's decisions are also influenced by
personal characteristics. These include the
buyer's age and stage in the life cycle,
occupation, economic circumstances,
lifestyle, and personality and self-concept
AGE AND STAGE IN THE LIFE CYCLE
People buy different goods and services over
their lifetime. They eat baby food in the early
years, most foods in the growing and mature
years, and special diets in the later years.
People's taste in clothes, furniture, and
recreation is also age related
Consumption is also shaped by the family
life cycle. Nine stages of the family life cycle
are listed in Table 6-2 on the next page,
along with the financial situation and typical
product interests of each group. Marketers
often choose life-cycle groups as their target
market. But it should be added that target
households are not always family based.
Marketers are also targeting single
households, gay households, and cohabitor
households.
OCCUPATION
A person's occupation also influences his or her
consumption pattern. A blue-collar worker will buy
work clothes, work shoes, and lunch boxes. A company
president will buy expensive suits, air travel, country
club membership, and a large sailboat. Marketers try
to identify the occupational groups that have above-
average interest in their products and services. A
company can even specialize its products for certain
occupational groups. Thus computer software
companies will design different computer software for
brand managers, engineers, lawyers, and physicians.
ECONOMIC CIRCUMSTANCES
Product choice is greatly affected by one's
economic circumstances. People's economic
circumstances consist of their spendable
income (its level, stability, and time pattern),
savings and assets (including the percentage
that is liquid), debts, borrowing power, and
attitude toward spending versus saving. Linda
Brown can consider buying a laptop computer if
she has enough spendable income, savings, or
borrowing power and prefers spending to
LIFESTYLE
● People coming from the same subculture,
social class, and occupation may lead quite
different lifestyles.
● A person's LIFESTYLE is the person's pattern
of living in the world as expressed in the
person's activities, interests, and opinions.
Lifestyle portrays the "whole person"
interacting with his or her environment.
Linda Brown, for example, can choose to
live a "belonging" lifestyle by wearing
conservative clothes, spending a lot of
time with her family, and helping her
church. Or she can choose an "achiever"
lifestyle by working long hours on major
projects and playing hard at travel and
sports.
Marketers search for relationships
between their products and lifestyle
groups. For example, a computer
manufactures might find that most
computer buyers are achievement-
oriented. The marketer may then aim
the brand more clearly at the achiever
lifestyle. Ad copywriters can then
employ words and symbols that appeal
to achievers
Two frameworks that have been used to develop lifestyle
classification are de scribed in the Marketing Insight
titled “How Lifestyles Are Identified.” But lifestyle
segmentation schemes are by no means universal
McCann-Erickson London, for example, identified the
following British lifestyles: Avant-Gardians (interested in
change), Pontificators (traditionalists, very British),
Chameleons (follow the crowd), and Sleepwalkers
(contented underachievers). In 1992 the advertising
agency D'Arcy, Masius, Benton & Bowles published The
Russian Consumer. A Nine Perspective and a Marketing
Approach, which revealed five categories of Russian
consumers “Kuptsi” (merchants), “Cossacks,”
“Students,” “Business Executives,” and “Russian Souls”.
For example, Cossacks are
characterized as ambitious,
independent, and status seeking, while
Russian Souls are passive, fearful of
choices, and hopeful While Cossacks
would drive a BMW, smoke Dunhill
cigarettes, and drink Remy Martin
liquor, Russian Souls would drive a
Lada, smoke Marlboros, and drink
Smirnoff vodka.
PERSONALITY AND SELF-CONCEPT
● Each person has a distinct personality
influences his or her buying behavior.
● By PERSONALITY, we mean a person's
distinguishing psychological
characteristics that lead to relatively
consistent and enduring responses to
his or her environment.
Personality is usually described in terms of such
traits as self-confidence, dominance, autonomy,
deference, sociability, defensiveness, and
adaptability. Personality can be a useful variable
in analyzing consumer behavior, provided that
personality types can be classified accurately and
that strong correlations exist between certain
personality types and product or brand choices.
For example, a computer company might discover
that many prospects have high self-confidence,
dominance, and autonomy. This suggests
designing computer advertisements to appeal to
Related to personality is a person's self-
concept (or self-image). Linda Brown may
see herself as highly accomplished and
deserving the best, in which case she will
favor a computer that projects the same
qualities. If the IBM laptop computer is
promoted and priced for those who want the
best, then its brand image will match her
self-image. Marketers try to develop brand
images that match the target market's self-
image.
It is possible that Linda's actual self-
concept (how she views herself) differs
from her ideal self-concept (how she
would like to view herself) and from
her others-self-concept (how she
thinks others see her). Which self will
she try to satisfy in choosing a
computer? Because it is difficult to
answer this question, self- concept
theory has had a mixed record of
success in predicting consumer
Psychological Factors
A person's buying choices are
influenced by four major psychological
factors: motivation, perception,
learning, and beliefs and attitudes.
MOTIVATION
A person has many needs at any given time. Some needs
are biogenic, they arise from physiological states of
tension such as hunger, thirst, discomfort. Other needs
are psychogenic, they arise from psychological states of
tension such as the need for recognition, esteem, or
belonging Most psychogenic needs are not intense
enough to motivate the person to act on them
immediately. A need becomes a motive when it is aroused
to a sufficient level of intensity. A motive is a need that is
sufficiently pressing to drive the person to act. Satisfying
the need reduces the felt tension.
Psychologists have developed theories
of human motivation. Three of the best
known the theories of Sigmund Freud,
Abraham Maslow, and Frederick
Herzberg, carry quite different
implications for consumer analysis and
marketing strategy.
Freud's Theory of Motivation
Freud assumed that the real psychological
forces shaping people's behavior are largely
unconscious. Thus a person cannot fully
understand his or her own motivations. If
Linda Brown wants to purchase a laptop
computer, she may describe her motive as
wanting to work more efficiently when
traveling. At a deeper level, she may be
purchasing a computer to impress others. At
a still deeper level, she may be buying the
computer because it helps her feel smart
When Linda examines specific brands, she
will react not only to their stated capabilities
but also to other, less conscious cues. Each
computer's shape, size weight, material,
color, and brand name can all trigger certain
associations and emotions. Thus computer
designers should be aware of the impact of
visual, auditory, and tactile elements in
triggering consumer emotions that could
stimulate or inhibit purchase.
Motivation researchers collect "in-depth
interviews with a few dozen consumers to
uncover deeper motives triggered by a
product. They use various "projective
techniques to throw the ego off guard-
techniques such as word association,
sentence completion, picture interpretation,
and role playing. Their research has produced
interesting and occasionally bizarre
hypotheses: Consumers resist prunes because
prunes are wrinkled looking and remind
people of old age, men smoke cigars as an
adult version of thumb sucking, and women
More recent practicing motivational
researchers hold that each product is
capable of arousing a unique set of motives
in consumers. For example, whisky can draw
someone who seeks social relaxation, or
status, or fun. Therefore it is not surprising
that different whisky brands have
specialized in one of these three different
appeals. Jan Callebaut calls this approach
“motivational positioning.”
Maslow's Theory of Motivation
Abraham Maslow sought to explain why people
are driven by particular needs at particular
times. Why does one person spend considerable
time and energy on personal safety and another
on pursuing the high opinion of others?
Maslow's answer is that human needs are
arranged in a hierarchy, from the most pressing
to the least pressing. In their order of
importance, they are physiological needs, safety
needs, social needs, esteem needs, and self-
actualization needs (Figure 6-3).
MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS (FIGURE 6-3)
People will try to satisfy their most
important needs first. When a person
succeeds in satisfying an important need,
that need will cease being a current
motivator, and the person will try to satisfy
the next-most- important need. For example,
a starving man (need 1) will not take an
interest in the latest happenings in the art
world (need 5), nor in how he is viewed by
others (need 3 or 4), nor even in whether he
is breathing clean air (need 2). But when he
has enough food and water, the next-most-
important need will become salient.
Maslow's theory helps marketers understand
how various products fit into the plans,
goals, and lives of potential consumers.
What light does Maslow's theory shed on
Linda Brown's interest in buying a
computer? We can guess that Linda has
satisfied her physiological, safety, and social
needs. Her computer interest might come
from a strong need for more esteem from
others or from a higher need for self-
actualization.
Herzberg's Theory of Motivation
Frederick Herzberg developed a two-factor theory of
motivation that distinguishes dissatisfiers (factors that
cause dissatisfaction) and satisfiers (factor that cause
satisfaction). The absence of dissatisfiers is not
enough; rather, satisfiers must be actively present to
motivate a purchase. For example, an Apple computer
that does not come with a warranty would be a
dissatisfier. Yet the presence of a product warranty
would not act as a satisfier or motivator of Linda's
purchase, since it is not a source of intrinsic
satisfaction with the Apple computer. The Apple
computer's ease of use would be a satisfier and
enhance Linda's enjoyment of the computer.
Herzberg's theory of motivation has two
implications. First, sellers should do their
best to avoid dissatisfiers (for example, a
poor training manual or a poor service
policy). While these things will not sell the
computer, they might easily unsell the
computer. Second, the manufacturer should
identify the major satisfiers or motivators of
purchase in the market and then supply
them. These satisfiers will make the major
difference as to which computer brand the
customer buys.
PERCEPTION
● A motivated person is ready to act. How
the motivated person actually acts is
influenced by his or her perception of the
situation.
● PERCEPTION is the process by which an
individual selects, organizes, and
interprets information inputs to create a
meaningful picture of the world.
● Perception depends not only on the
physical stimuli but also on the stimuli's
relation to the surrounding field and on
conditions within the individual.
● The key word in the definition of
perception is "individual." Linda Brown
might perceive a fast-talking computer
salesperson as aggressive and insincere.
Another shopper might perceive the same
salesperson as intelligent and helpful. Why
do people perceive the same situation
differently?
● People can emerge with different
perceptions of the same object because of
three perceptual processes: selective
attention, selective distortion, and
selective retention. As a result, people
may not necessarily see or hear the
message that marketers want to send.
Marketers must therefore be careful to
take these perceptual processes into
account in designing their marketing
campaigns.
Selective Attention
● People are exposed to a tremendous
amount of daily stimuli. For example, the
average person may be exposed to over
1,500 ads a day. Because a person cannot
possibly attend to all of these stimuli,
most stimuli will be screened out a process
called selective attention.
The real challenge is to explain which stimuli
people will notice. Here are some findings:
● People are more likely to notice stimuli that
relate to a current need. Linda Brown will notice
computer ads because she is motivated to buy
one; she will probably not notice stereo-
equipment ads when a computer tops her needs
list.
● People are more likely to notice stimuli that
they anticipate. Linda Brown is more likely to
notice computers than radios in a computer
store because she did not expect the store to
● People are more likely to notice
stimuli whose deviations are large in
relation to the normal size of the
stimuli. Linda Brown is more likely to
notice an ad offering $100 off the list
price of an Apple computer than one
offering $5 off the list price.
Selective attention means that
marketers have to work hard to attract
consumers' notice. Their messages will
be lost on most people who are not in
the market for the product. Even
people who are in the market may not
notice a message unless it stands out
from the surrounding sea of stimuli.
Ads that are novel or larger in size, use
bold colors, or provide contrast to their
surroundings are more likely to be
Selective Distortion
Even noted stimuli do not always come across in the
way their creators intended. Selective distortion is
people's tendency to twist information into personal
meanings and interpret information in a way that will
support rather than challenge their preconceptions.
Thus Linda Brown may hear the sales- person mention
good and bad points about an IBM computer. If Linda
has a strong leaning toward IBM, she is likely to
discount the negative statements to justify buying an
IBM. Unfortunately, there is not much that marketers
can do about selective distortion.
Selective Retention
People will forget much that they learn but will tend
to retain information that supports their attitudes
and beliefs. Because of selective retention, Linda is
likely to remember good points mentioned about
the IBM and forget good points mentioned about
competing computers. She remembers IBM's good
points because she "rehearses" them more (that is,
she "talks to herself" more about IBM's good points)
whenever she thinks about choosing a computer.
Selective retention explains why marketers use
drama and repetition in sending messages to their
target market.
LEARNING
● When people act, they learn.
● LEARNING involves changes in an
individual’s behavior arising from
experience. Most human behavior is
learned. Learning theorists believe that
learning is produced through the interplay
of drives, stimuli, cues, responses, and
reinforcement.
● A drive is a strong internal stimulus impelling action.
Presumably Linda Brown has a drive toward self-
actualization. Her drive becomes a motive when it is
directed toward a particular drive-reducing stimulus, in
this case a computer. Linda's response to the idea of
buying a computer is conditioned by the surrounding
cues.
● Cues are minor stimuli that determine when, where, and
how the person responds. Her husband's support, seeing a
computer in a friend's home, seeing computer ads and
articles, and hearing about a special sales price are all
cues that can influence Linda's interest in buying a
computer.
● Suppose Linda buys a computer and
chooses an IBM. If her experience is
rewarding, her response to computers will
be positively reinforced. Later on, when
Linda wants to buy a copier, she may
notice several brands, including one by
IBM. Since she knows that IBM makes good
computers, she may assume that IBM also
makes good copiers. In other words, she
generalizes her response to similar stimuli.
● A counter-tendency to generalization is
discrimination. When Linda examines a
copier made by Sharp, she sees that it is
lighter and more compact than IBM's
copier. Discrimination means that Linda
has learned to recognize differences in
sets of similar stimuli and can adjust her
responses accordingly
PERDUE
● Perdue, Holly Farms, and other poultry companies
maintain that their breeding methods,
manufacturing equipment, and overall quality
control processes distinguish their chickens from
the rest. For example, Perdue controls the
breeding operation as the first step toward
producing a quality bird with distinct
characteristics. Its chickens are raised on a
chemical-free and steroid-free diet. Perdue has
also differentiated itself through advertising that
features Frank Perdue and the slogan, "It takes a
tough man to make a tender chicken.”
BELIEFS AND ATTITUDES
● Through doing and learning, people
acquire beliefs and attitudes. These in turn
influence their buying behavior.
● A BELIEF is a descriptive thought that a
person holds about something.
Linda Brown may believe that an IBM
computer has a large memory, stands
up well under rugged usage, and costs
$2,000. These beliefs may be based on
knowedge, opinion, or faith. They may
or may not carry an emotional charge.
For example, Linda Brown's belief that
an IBM laptop computer is heavier than
an Apple might not matter to her
decision.
Of course, manufacturers are very
interested in the beliefs that people
carry in their heads about their
products and services. These beliefs
make up product and brand images,
and people act on their images. If
some beliefs are wrong and inhibit
purchase, the manufacturer will want
to launch a campaign to correct these
beliefs
Particularly important to global marketers is the fact
that buyers often hold distinct beliefs about brands or
products based on their country of origin. Several
country-of-origin studies have found the following:
● The impact of country of origin varies with the type
of product. Consumers would want to know where a
car was made but not where the lubricating oil came
from.
● Certain countries enjoy a reputation for certain
goods: Japan for automobiles and consumer
electronics; the United States for high-tech
innovations, soft drinks, toys, cigarettes, and jeans;
and France for wine, perfume, and luxury goods.
● The more favorable a country's
image, the more prominently the
"Made in...” label should be
displayed in promoting the brand.
● Attitudes toward country of origin
can change over time. Note how
Japan has greatly improved its
quality image in comparison to pre-
World War II days.
A company has several options when its products
are competitively priced but their place of origin
turns off consumers. The company can consider
co-production with a foreign company that has a
better name. Thus South Korea could make a fine
leather jacket that it sends to Italy for finishing.
Or the company can adopt a strategy to achieve
world-class quality in the local industry, as is the
case with Belgian chocolates, Polish ham, and
Colombian coffee. Finally, the company can hire a
well-known celebrity to endorse the product.
Nike has had a great deal of success using
basketball star Michael Jordan to promote its
An ATTITUDE is a person's enduring
favorable or unfavorable evaluations,
emotional feelings, and action
tendencies toward some object or idea.
People have attitudes toward almost
everything: religion, politics, clothes, music,
food, and so on. Attitudes put them into a
frame of mind of liking or disliking an object,
moving toward or away from it. Thus Linda
Brown may hold such attitudes as,
"Computers are an essential tool for
professional workers," "Buy the best," and
"IBM makes the best computers in the
world." The IBM computer is therefore
relevant to Linda because it fits well into her
preexisting attitudes. A computer company
can benefit greatly from researching the
Attitudes lead people to behave in a fairly
consistent way toward similar objects. People
do not have to interpret and react to every
object in a fresh way. Attitudes economize on
energy and thought. For this reason,
attitudes are very difficult to change. A
person's attitudes settle into a consistent
pattern, and to change a single attitude may
require major adjustments in other attitudes.
Thus a company would be well advised
to fit its product into existing attitudes
rather than to try to change people's
attitudes. Of course, there are
exceptions where the great cost of
trying to change attitudes might pay
off. Here are two example of food
organizations that used ad campaigns
to change consumer attitudes, with
handsome results:
CALIFORNIA RAISINS
When California raisin growers found
themselves with a huge surplus, they faced
a major obstacle in consumer attitudes
toward the wrinkled little snack. Research
showed that consumers were aware that
raisins are nutritious, they thought they
were "boring." Enter the California Raisin
Advisory Board and its dancing raisin ads.
The campaign, featuring Claymation raisins
dancing to Marvin Gaye's "Heard It Through
the Grapevine," had emotional appeal and is
THE NATIONAL PORKCOUNCIL
By 1985 pork consumption had dropped to 59
pounds per capita from a high of 68 pounds in
1980. The nation was on an anti-beef and anti-
pork kick, favoring leaner, less cholesterol-laden
poultry. While pork products were actually
improved as a result of new feeding and breeding
methods, the public still considered pork an
unhealthy choice. The National Pork Producers
Council called in ad agency Bozell Inc. to change
the image of pork, and it put some $12 million a
year into a national marketing campaign.
THE BUYING PROCESS
To be successful, marketers have to go
beyond the various influences on
buyers and develop an understanding
of how consumers actually make their
buying decisions. Specifically,
marketers must identify who makes
the buying decision, the types of
buying decisions, and the steps in the
buying process.
Buying Roles
It is easy to identify the buyer for many
products. Men normally choose their shaving
equipment, and women choose their pantyhose.
But even here marketers must be careful in
making their targeting decisions, because
buying roles change. ICI, the giant British
chemical company, discovered to its surprise
that women made 60% of the decisions on the
brand of household paint; ICI therefore decided
to advertise its DeLux brand to women.
We can distinguish five roles people might play
in a buying decision:
● Initiator: A person who first suggests the idea
of buying the product or service .
● Influencer: A person whose view or advice
influences the decision .
● Decider: A person who decides on any
component of a buying decision-whether to
buy, what to buy, how to buy, or where to buy
.
● Buyer: The person who makes the actual
purchase.
Consider Linda Brown's interest in buying a
laptop computer. Her interest might have
been initially stimulated by a co-worker
(initiator). In searching for a brand, she may
have consulted with the head of her
company's data processing department, who
made some suggestions (influencer). Linda
made the final decision (decider). Her
husband said that he would purchase it for
her as a birthday gift (buyer). Linda will be
the computer's primary user (user).
Buying Behavior
Consumer decision making varies with the
type of buying decision. The decisions to buy
toothpaste, a tennis racket, a personal
computer, and a new car are all very
different. Complex and expensive purchases
are likely to involve more buyer deliberation
and more participants. Assael distinguished
four types of consumer buying behavior
based on the degree of buyer involvement
and the degree of differences among brands.
COMPLEX BUYING BEHAVIOR
Consumers engage in complex buying behavior when
they are highly involved in a purchase and aware of
significant differences among brands. This is usually
the case when the product is expensive, bought
infrequently, risky, and highly self-expressive.
Typically the consumer does not know much about the
product category and has much to learn. For example,
a person buying a personal computer may not know
what attributes to look for. Many of the product
features carry no meaning unless the buyer has done
some research: "16K memory," "disk storage," "screen
resolution," and so on.
● Complex buying behavior involves a three-
step process. First, the buyer develops
beliefs about the product. Second, he or
she develops attitudes about the product.
Third, he or she makes a thoughtful
purchase choice. The marketer of a high-
involvement product must understand
high-involvement consumers' information-
gathering and evaluation behavior.
DISSONANCE-REDUCING BUYER BEHAVIOR

Sometimes the consumer is highly involved in a

purchase but sees little difference in the brands. The
high involvement is based on the fact that the purchase
is expensive, infrequent, and risky. In this case, the
buyer will shop around to learn what is available but will
buy fairly quickly, perhaps responding primarily to a
good price or to purchase convenience. For example,
carpet buying is a high-involvement decision because
carpeting is expensive and self-expressive, yet the
buyer may consider most carpet brands in a given price
range to be the same.
After the purchase, the consumer might
experience dissonance that stems from
noticing certain disquieting features of the
carpet or hearing favorable things about
other carpets. The consumer will be alert to
information that justifies his or her decision.
In this example, the consumer first acted,
then acquired new beliefs, then ended up
with a set of attitudes. Thus marketing
communications should aim at supplying
beliefs and evaluations that help the
consumer feel good about his or her brand
HABITUAL BUYING BEHAVIOR
Many products are bought under conditions of
low consumer involvement and the absence of
significant brand differences. Consider salt.
Consumers have little involvement in this
product category. They go to the store and
reach for the brand. If they keep reaching for
the same brand, it is out of habit, not strong
brand loyalty. There is good evidence that
consumers have low involvement with most
low-cost, frequently purchased products.
● With low-involvement products, consumer
behavior does not pass through the normal
belief/attitude/behavior sequence.
Consumers do not search extensively for
information about the brands, evaluate
their characteristics, and make a weighty
decision on which brand to buy. Instead,
they are passive recipients of information
as they watch television or see print ads.
● Ad repetition creates brand familiarity
rather than brand conviction. Consumers
do not form a strong attitude toward a
brand; rather, they select it because it is
familiar. After purchase, they may not even
evaluate the choice because they are not
highly involved with the product. Thus for
low-involvement products the buying
process begins with brand beliefs formed
by passive learning and is followed by
purchase behavior, which may be followed
by evaluation.
● Marketers of low-involvement products
with few brand differences find it effective
to use price and sales promotions to
stimulate product trial, since buyers are
not highly committed to any brand. The ad
copy should stress only a few key points
and use visual symbols and imagery that
can be easily remembered and associated
with the brand. The ad campaigns should
aim for high repetition with short-duration
messages. Television is more effective than
print media because it is a low-
involvement medium that is suitable for
● Marketers use four techniques to try
to convert low-involvement product
into one of higher involvement. First,
they can link the product to some
involving issue, as when Crest
toothpaste is linked to avoiding
cavities. Second, they can link the
product to some involving personal
situation for instance, by advertising
a coffee brand early in the morning
when the consumer wants to shake
● Third, they might design their
advertising to trigger strong
emotions related to personal values
or ego defense. Fourth, they might
add an important product feature to
a low-involvement product (for
example, fortifying a plain drink with
vitamins). These strategies at best
raise consumer involvement from a
low to a moderate level; they do not
propel the consumer into highly
 VARIETY-SEEKING BUYING BEHAVIOR
● Some buying situations are characterized by low
consumer involvement but significant brand
differences. Here consumers often do a lot of
brand switching. Think about cookies. The
consumer has some beliefs about cookies,
chooses a brand of cookies without much
evaluation, and evaluates the product during
consumption. But next time, the consumer may
reach for another brand out of boredom or a wish
for a different taste. Brand switching occurs for
the sake of variety rather than dissatisfaction.
The market leader and the minor brands in
this product category have different
marketing strategies. The market leader will
try to encourage habitual buying behavior by
dominating the shelf space, avoiding out-of-
stock conditions, and sponsoring frequent
reminder advertising. Challenger firms will
encourage variety seeking by offering lower
prices, deals, coupons, free samples, and
advertising that presents reasons for trying
something new.
The Stages of the Buying Decision Process

● Smart companies research the buying

decision process involved in their product
category. They ask consumers when they
first became acquainted with the product
category and brands, what their brand
beliefs are, how involved they are with the
product, how they make their brand
choices, and how satisfied they are after
purchase.
How can marketers learn about the stages in the buying
process for their product? They can think about how
they themselves would act (introspective method). They
can interview a small number of recent purchasers,
asking them to recall the events leading to their
purchase (retrospective method). They can locate
consumers who plan to buy the product and ask them to
think out loud about going through the buying process
(prospective method). Or they can ask consumers to
describe the ideal way to buy the product (prescriptive
method). Each method yields a picture of the steps in
the consumer buying process.
Five-Stage Model of the Consumer
Buying Process (FIGURE 6-5)
● Figure 6-5 shows a "stage model" of
the typical buying process. The
consumer passes through five stages:
problem recognition, information
search, evaluation of alternatives,
purchase decision, and postpurchase
behavior. Clearly the buying process
starts long before the actual
purchase and has consequences long
after-ward.
PROBLEM RECOGNITION
The buying process starts when the buyer
recognizes a problem or need. The buyer senses
a difference between his or her actual state and
a desired state. The need can be triggered by
internal or external stimuli. In the former case,
one of the person's normal needs-hunger, thirst,
sex-rises to a threshold level and becomes a
drive. In the latter case, a need is aroused by an
external stimulus. A person passes a bakery and
sees freshly baked bread that stimulates her
hunger; she admires a neighbor's new car; or
she watches a television commercial advertising
INFORMATION SEARCH
An aroused consumer will be inclined to
search for more information. We can
distinguish between two levels of arousal.
The milder search state is called heightened
attention. At this level Linda Brown simply
becomes more receptive to information
about computers. She pays attention to
computer ads, computers purchased by
friends, and conversation about computers.
● At the next level, Linda may enter active
information search. She actually looks for
reading material, phones friends, and engages
in other activities to learn about computers.
How much search she undertakes depends on
the strength of her drive, the amount of
information she initially has, the ease of
obtaining additional information, the value she
places on additional information, and the
satisfaction she gets from search.
● Of key interest to the marketer are the major
information sources to which the consumer will
turn and the relative influence each will have
Consumer information sources fall into
four groups:
● Personal sources: Family, friends, neighbors,
acquaintances
● Commercial sources: Advertising,
salespersons, dealers, packaging, displays
● Public sources: Mass media, consumer-rating
organizations
● Experiential sources: Handling, examining,
using the product
● The relative amount and influence of these
information sources vary with the product
category and the buyer's characteristics.
Generally speaking, the consumer receives the
most information about a product from
commercial sources that is, marketer-dominated
sources. But the most effective information comes
from personal sources. Each information source
performs a different function in influencing the
buying decision. Commercial information normally
performs an informing function, and personal
sources perform a legitimizing and/or evaluation
function. For example, physicians often learn of
new drugs from commercial sources but turn to
other doctors for evaluation information.
EVALUATION OF ALTERNATIVES
How does the consumer process competitive
brand information and make a final
judgment of value? There is no simple and
single evaluation process used by all
consumers or by one consumer in all buying
situations. There are several decision
evaluation processes, the most current
models of which see the consumer
evaluation process as cognitively oriented.
That is, they see the consumer as forming
product judgments largely on a conscious
● Some basic concepts will help us
understand consumer evaluation
processes: First, the consumer is
trying to satisfy a need. Second, the
consumer is looking for certain
benefits from the product solution.
Third, the consumer sees each
product as a bundle of attributes
with varying abilities of delivering
the benefits sought to satisfy this
need.
The attributes of interest to
buyers vary by product:
● Cameras: Picture sharpness, camera
speeds, camera size, price
● Hotels: Location, cleanliness,
atmosphere, price
● Mouthwash: Color, effectiveness, germ-
killing capacity, price, taste/flavor
● Tires: Safety, tread life, ride quality, price
The consumer arrives at attitudes
(judgments, preferences) toward the
various brands through an attribute
evaluation procedure. 30 Suppose that
Linda Brown has narrowed her choice
set to four computers (A, B, C, D).
Assume that she is interested in four
attributes: memory capacity, graphics
capability, size and weight, and price.
Table 6-4 shows her beliefs about how each
brand rates on the four attributes. Linda rates
brand A as follows: memory capacity, 10 on a
10-point scale; graphics capability, 8; size and
weight, 6; and price, 4 (somewhat expensive).
She also has beliefs about how the other three
computers rate on these attributes. Clearly, if
one computer dominated the others on all the
criteria, we could predict that Linda would
choose it. But her choice set consists of brands
that vary in their appeal. If Linda wants the
best memory capacity, she should buy A; if she
wants the best graphics capability, she should
However, most buyers consider several
attributes in their purchase decision. If we
knew the weight that Linda Brown attaches
to each of the four attributes, we could more
reliably predict her computer choice.
Suppose Linda assigned 40% of the
importance to the computer's memory
capacity, 30% to its graphics capability, 20%
to its size and weight, and 10% to its price.
To find Linda's perceived value for each
computer, we multiply her weights by her
beliefs about each computer's attributes.
This computation leads to the
following perceived values:
Computer A = 0.4(10) +0.3(8) +0.2(6) +0.1(4) =
8.0
Computer B = 0.4(8) + 0.3(9) + 0.2(8) + 0.1(3) =
7.8
Computer C = 0.4(6) + 0.3(8) + 0.2(10) + 0.1(5) =
7.3
Computer D = 0.4(4) + 0.3(3) +0.2(7) +0.1(8) =
4.7
Suppose most computer buyers form
their preferences the same way Linda
does. Knowing this, a computer
manufacturer can do a number of things
to influence buyer decisions. The
marketer of computer C, for example,
could apply the following strategies to
stimulate greater interest in brand C:
● Modify the computer: The marketer could
redesign brand C so that it offers more memory
or other characteristics that the buyer desires.
This technique is called real repositioning.
● Alter beliefs about the brand: The marketer
could try to alter buyers' beliefs about where
the brand stands on key attributes. This tactic
is especially useful if buyers underestimate
brand C's qualities. It is not recommended if
buyers are accurately evaluating brand C;
exaggerated claims would lead to buyer
dissatisfaction and bad word-of-mouth.
Attempting to alter beliefs about the brand is
● Alter beliefs about the competitors' brands: The
marketer could try to change buyers’ beliefs about
where competitive brands stand on different attributes.
This strategy, called competitive depositioning, makes
sense when buyers mistakenly believe a competitor's
brand has more quality than it actually has. It is often
accomplished by running a comparison ad.
● Alter the importance weights: The marketer could try
to persuade buyers to attach more importance to the
attributes in which the brand excels. The marketer of
brand C can tout the benefits of choosing a laptop
computer with an ideal size and weight, since C is
superior in this attribute.
● Call attention to neglected attributes: The
marketer could draw the buyer's attention to
neglected attributes. If brand C is a more
ruggedly made computer, the market might
tout the benefits of ruggedness.
● Shift the buyer's ideals: The marketer could try
to persuade buyers to change their ideal levels
for one or more attributes. The marketer of
brand C might try to convince buyers that
computers with a large memory are more likely
to jam and that a moderate-size memory is
more desirable.
In using these strategies, marketers
are trying to influence the consumer's
buying decision. But many consumers
today are very knowledgeable about
attempts by advertisers and
salespeople to influence their behavior.
Hence, marketers may want to take
into account how consumers' own
knowledge of persuasion techniques
may guide their weighing of certain
aspects of an advertising campaign or
PURCHASE DECISION
In the evaluation stage, the consumer forms
preferences among the brands in the choice
set. The consumer may also form an
intention to buy the most preferred brand.
However, two factors can intervene between
the purchase intention and the purchase
decision.
The first factor is the attitudes of
others. Suppose Linda Brown's close
colleague recommends strongly that
Linda buy the lowest-priced computer
(D). As a result, Linda's purchase
probability will be somewhat reduced
for computer A and somewhat
increased for computer D.
The extent to which another person's
attitude reduces one's preferred
alternative depends on two things: (1) the
intensity of the other person's negative
attitude toward the consumer's preferred
alternative and (2) the consumer's
motivation to comply with the other
person's wishes.
The second factor is unanticipated
situational factors. These may erupt to
change the purchase intention. Linda
Brown might lose her job, some other
purchase might become more urgent,
or a store salesperson may turn her
off. Thus preferences and even
purchase intentions are not completely
reliable predictors of purchase
behavior.
A consumer's decision to modify, postpone, or
avoid a purchase decision is heavily influenced by
perceived risk. The amount of perceived risk
varies with the amount of money at stake, the
amount of attribute uncertainty, and the amount
of consumer self-confidence. Consumers develop
routines for reducing risk, such as decision
avoidance, information gathering from friends,
and preference for national brand names and
warranties. Marketers must understand the
factors that provoke a feeling of risk in
consumers and provide information and support
In executing a purchase intention, the
consumer may make up to five purchase
subdecisions. Thus Linda Brown will make a
brand decision (brand A), vendor decision
(dealer 2), quantity decision (one computer),
timing decision (weekend), and payment-
method decision (credit card). Purchases of
everyday products involve fewer decisions
and less deliberation. For example, in buying
sugar, Linda gives little thought to the
vendor or payment method.
POSTPURCHASE BEHAVIOR
After purchasing the product, the
consumer will experience some level of
satisfaction or dissatisfaction. The
marketer's job does not end when the
product is bought but continues into the
postpurchase period. Marketers must
monitor postpurchase satisfaction,
postpurchase actions, and postpurchase
product use and disposal.
Postpurchase Satisfaction
After purchasing a product, a consumer may detect a
flaw. Some buyers will no longer want the flawed
product, others will be indifferent to the flaw, and
some may even see the flaw as enhancing the
product's value. For instance, an upside-down page in
the first edition of a famous author's book might make
the book become a collectible item worth many times
its original purchase price. Some flaws can be
dangerous to consumers. Companies making
automobiles, toys, and pharmaceuticals must quickly
recall any product that has the slightest chance of
injuring users.
What determines whether the buyer will be
highly satisfied, somewhat satisfied, or
dissatisfied with a purchase? The buyer's
satisfaction is a function of the closeness
between the buyer's product expectations and
the product's perceived performance. If the
product's performance falls short of customer
expectations, the customer is disappointed; if
it meets expectations, the customer is
satisfied; if it exceeds expectations, the
customer is delighted. These feelings make a
difference in whether the customer buys the
product again and talks favorably or
Consumers form their expectations on the
basis of messages received from sellers,
friends, and other information sources. If the
seller exaggerates the benefits, consumers will
experience disconfirmed expectations, which
lead to dissatisfaction. The larger the gap
between expectations and performance, the
greater the consumer's dissatisfaction. Here
the consumer's coping style comes into play.
Some consumers magnify the gap when the
product is not perfect, and they are highly
dissatisfied. Other consumers minimize the
gap and are less dissatisfied.
Postpurchase Actions
The consumer's satisfaction or dissatisfaction
with the product will influence subsequent
behavior. If the consumer is satisfied, he or she
will exhibit a higher probability of purchasing
the product again. For example, data on
automobile brand choice show a high
correlation between being highly satisfied with
the last brand bought and the intention to
rebuy the brand.
One survey showed that 75% of Toyota
buyers were highly satisfied and about 75%
intended to buy a Toyota again; 35% of
Chevrolet buyers were highly satisfied and
about 35% intended to buy a Chevrolet
again. The satisfied customer will also tend
to say good things about the brand to
others. Marketers say: "Our best
advertisement is a satisfied customer."
Dissatisfied consumers respond differently.
They may abandon or return the product.
They may seek information that confirms its
high value. They may take public action such
as by complaining to the company, going to
a lawyer, or complaining to other groups
(such as business, private, or government
agencies). Private actions include making a
decision to stop buying the product (exit
option) or warning friends (voice option). In
all these cases, the seller has done a poor
job of satisfying the customer.
Marketers can and should take steps to minimize the
amount of consumer postpurchase dissatisfaction.
Postpurchase communications to buyers have been
shown to result in fewer product returns and order
cancellations. Computer companies can send a letter to
new computer owners congratulating them on having
selected a fine computer. They can place ads showing
satisfied brand owners. They can solicit customer
suggestions for improvements and list the location of
available services. They can write instruction booklets
that are intelligible. They can send owners a magazine
containing articles describing new computer
applications. In addition, they can provide good
channels for speedy redress of customer grievances.
Postpurchase Use and Disposal
Marketers should also monitor how the
buyers use and dispose of the product. If
consumers store the product in their closet,
the product is probably not very satisfying,
and word-of-mouth will not be strong. If they
sell or trade the product, new-product sales
will be depressed. If consumers find new
uses for the product, marketers should
advertise these uses:
AVON
For years Avon's customers have been spreading
the word that Skin-So- Soft bath oil and
moisturizer is a terrific bug repellent. While some
consumers simply bathed in water scented with
the fragrant oil, others carried it in their
backpacks to mosquito-infested campsites or
kept a bottle on the deck of their beach houses.
Now, after receiving approval by the
Environmental Protection Agency, Avon is touting
Skin-So-Soft Moisturizing Suncare Plus as a
triple-action product, providing insect repellent
If consumers throw the product away, the
marketer needs to know how they dispose of it,
especially if it can hurt the environment (as in
the case with beverage containers and
disposable diapers). Increased public awareness
of recycling and ecological concerns as well as
consumer complaints about having to throw
away beautiful bottles led French perfume
maker Rochas to think about introducing a new
refillable fragrance line.
The company's new fragrance for women, To-
cade, was introduced worldwide in 1994 in
refillable Eau de Toilette sprays in 30, 50,
and 100 milliliter sizes. Another French
perfumer, Parfums Thierry Mugler, launched
Angel in 1992 in a star-shaped bottled
designed with an innovative refill system.
Customers are offered the choice between
refilling the bottle themselves by purchasing
a prepackaged "recharge" or returning to
one of the 800 outlets in France at which a
salesperson refills the bottle
THANK
YOU FOR
LISTENING