Author: Neftaly Malatjie

  • 10066 LG Learning

    Learning refers to changes in an individual’s thought processes and behaviors caused by information and experience.

    1. The learning process is strongly influenced by the consequences of an individual’s behavior; behaviors with satisfying results tend to be repeated.
    2. Inexperienced buyers may use different, more simplistic, types of information than experienced shoppers familiar with the product and purchase situation.
    3. Marketers help customers learn about their products by helping them gain experience with them, perhaps through free samples, in-store demonstrations, and test drives.
    4. Consumers learn about products indirectly through information from salespeople, friends, relatives, and advertisements.
  • 10066 LG Motives

    .     A motive is an internal energizing force which directs a person’s behavior toward satisfying needs or achieving goals.

    1. a)     A buyer’s actions are affected by a set of motives, some stronger than others.
    2. b)     Motives affect the direction and intensity of behavior.
    3. Psychologist Abraham Maslow conceived a theory of motivation; Maslow’s hierarchy of needs organizes human needs into five levels. Humans try to satisfy these needs starting with the most basic. Once needs at one level are met, humans move on to fulfilling needs at the next level:
    4. a)     At the most basic level are “physiological needs,” requirements for survival such as food, water, sex, clothing, and shelter.
    5. b)     At the next level are “safety needs,” which include security and freedom from physical and emotional pain and suffering.
    6. c)     Next are “social needs,” the human requirements for love and affection and a sense of belonging.
    7. d)     At the level of “esteem needs,” people require respect and recognition from others as well as self-esteem, a sense of one’s own worth.
    8. e)     At the top of the hierarchy are “self-actualization needs,” which refer to people’s need to grow and develop and to become all they are capable of becoming.

    (1)   Most people do not reach the final levels of the hierarchy.

    1. Patronage motives are motives such as price, service or friendly salespeople, which influence where a person purchases products on a regular basis.
  • 10066 LG Perception

    .     Perception is the process of selecting, organizing, and interpreting information inputs to produce meaning.

    1. a)     Information inputsare sensations received through sight, taste, hearing, smell, and touch.
    2. b)     Perception is highly complex, leading markets to increasingly take a multi-sensory approach.
    3. Perception is a three-step process.
    4. a)     Although we receive numerous pieces of information at once, only a few reach our awareness.

    (1)    Only a few pieces of information reach our awareness through a process called selective exposure, in which an individual selects which inputs will reach awareness. A person’s current set of needs affects selective exposure, with preference given to one’s strongest needs.

    (2)    The selective nature of perception may result in two other phenomena: selective distortion and selective retention.

    (3)    Selective distortion is changing or twisting currently received information; it occurs when a person receives information inconsistent with personal feelings or beliefs.

    (4)    In selective retention, a person remembers information inputs that support personal feelings and beliefs and forgets inputs that do not.

    1. b)     Perceptual organization is the second step in the perception process. Information inputs that reach awareness must be organized by the brain in such a way as to produce meaning. An individual mentally organizes and integrate new information with what is already stored in memory.

    (1)   “Closure” is an organizational method in which a persona mentally fills in information gaps to make a pattern or statement.

    1. c)     Interpretation, the third step in the perceptual process, is the assignment of meaning to what has been organized. A person bases interpretation on what he or she expects or what is familiar.
    2. Marketers cannot control buyers’ perceptions, but they try to influence them through information. This approach is problematic.
    3. a)     A consumer’s perceptual process may operate so that a seller’s information never reaches awareness.
    4. b)     A buyer may receive a seller’s information but perceives it differently than intended.
    5. c)     A buyer may perceive information inputs to be inconsistent with prior beliefs and therefore are likely to forget the information quickly (selective retention).
  • 10066 LG Psychological Influences on the Buying Decision Process

    Psychological influences are those which operate in part to determine people’s general behavior and thus influence their behavior as consumers. Psychological factors are internal, but are affected by outside social forces.

  • 10066 LG Situational Influences on the Buying Decision Process

    .     Situational influences are factors that result from circumstances, time, and location that affect the consumer buying decision process.

    1. Can influence a consumer’s actions in any stage of the buying process
    2. Can shorten, lengthen, or terminate the buying process.
    3. Situational factors can be divided into five categories:
    4. Physical surroundings include location, store atmosphere, aromas, sounds, lighting, weather, and other factors in the physical environment in which the decision process occurs.
    5. Social surroundings include characteristics and interactions of others who are present during a purchase decision or who may be present when the product is used or consumed (e.g. friends, relatives or salespeople), as well as conditions during the shopping environment (e.g. an overcrowded store may cause the buyer to terminate the buying decision process).
    6. The time dimension influences the buying decision process in several ways, such as the amount of time required to become knowledgeable about a product, to search for it, and to buy and use it.
    7. a)     Time plays a role as the buyer considers the possible frequency of product use, the length of time required to use the product, and the length of the overall product life.
    8. b)     Other time dimensions influence purchases, including time of day, day of the week or month, seasons, and holidays.
    9. c)     The amount of time pressure a consumer is under affects how much time is devoted to purchase decisions. A customer under severe time constraints is likely either to make a quick purchase decision or to delay a decision.
    10. The reason for the purchase raises the questions of what the product purchase should accomplish and for whom. For example, people who are buying a gift may buy a different product from one they would buy for themselves.
    11. The buyer’s momentary moods or conditions (e.g., fatigue, illness, having cash) may have a bearing on the consumer buying decision process. Any of these moods or conditions can affect a person’s ability and desire to search for information, receive information, or seek and evaluate alternatives. They can also significantly influence a consumer’s post-purchase evaluation.