Perception Theory of Consumer Behavior - Coursework Example

CONSUMER BEHAVIOR Instruction: Location: CONSUMER BEHAVIOR Introduction A market is composed of different buyers andseller who display different consumer characteristics. When you take a close look as buyers are making their purchases, there are differences in selecting their item which suggests that there is a force that drive them to make their purchasing choices. We may be having two people who have a similar need but buy two different items though the items satisfy the same need, for example, one buyer may choose to buy coffee while anther choose to buy tea leaves. According to (Cheryl, Ward and Thuhang 2007, p. 7), young people have different buying habit from old one women and men also have different choices of what to buy. This leads to the question of what really determine what a person buys? When and how he disposes the product? The different characteristics by consumer are known as consumer behavior. In simple terms, one can define consumer behavior as the processes involved when a person purchases, use or dispose a product (Michael, Askegaard & Hogg 2006, p. 33) from the definition we can depict that before a consumer make a purchase, use or dispose a product, first there are stages which are involved. Secondly, there are factors that affects their behavior before making a choice on what to purchase when purchasing and those that affect them after purchasing. It is these factors that help the seller or the marketer to win the customer and lure them to buy their product. Hence marketer should have a clear understanding what products and brands means to consumers , it is also important that he or she understand what it takes for the customer to purchase the product and use it. (Paul & Olson 2010, p.7) There are many theories that explain the subject consumer behavior such as economic man theory, psychodynamic theory, behaviorist theory, perception theory among many others. In this paper we will be looking at how the marketers in different companies use the perception theory consumer behavior to persuade customers to make more sales. Perception Theory of Consumer Behavior People are normally drawn by what they see, feel, smell and hear, if they are able to identify themselves with it and they are pleased. Any customer in the market will always buy what please his or her eyes; a supermarket only keep it goods on display and buyer pick them depending on how they are pleased by them. It is from this that the theory of perception was developed. Perception is not a single event but a series of events that a person goes through when selecting, organizing and interpreting stimuli into a meaningful and coherent picture of the environment (Schiffman and Kanuk 2006, p. 4) Every company would want to identify with the customer. This is done, especially during its initial stages of trade first impression is very important. Weber’s law of perception, states that the stronger the initial stimulus, the greater the additional intensity needed for the second stimulus to be perceived as different (Karen Webb 2005, slide 7). This explains why some consumers are loyal to certain company product. This put them company in a position that it have to keep on making sure that their product are appealing to this customer and any negative doing is not easily discernible to them. On the other hand, upcoming companies use this knowledge and make their product more appealing than their competitor to win their new customer. Focus here shall be on how the marketers in different company are able to manipulate their consumer through the channels of sensory input I. Vision What a person see and observe will not be easily forgotten, it is for this reason that marketer most uses visual element especially on advisement and packaging. They pass their message through the use of product size, style, color and other distinctive features compared to their competitors. For example, using a national color in the company’s product means patriotism and many people would love to be identified with them II. Sound Another important channel of sensory input used by market is ears. Almost all advertisements alone are accompanied by appealing sound or music. Secondly, sound is able to overcome barrier that vision may not and attract consumer from far. As the consumer draw close they are able to pass their message about their product. III. Smell, Although smell can be limited to food product and toiletries, it is also used by marketers to win their customers. This is because they understand that the smell can invoke or stir emotion, it also have a calming effect with which consumer would love to be identified with them. IV. Taste Any taste food will always leave asking for more, it is for this reason that food companies will always make sure that their product taste in line consumer’s desire. For example a yogurts company’s produce their product with different taste such as vanilla, strawberries, banana to accommodate all consumers. Advertisement and Perception Theory of Consumer Behavior. One method of product promotion that use perception theory is advertisement. Basing our argument on this, we will explore how new company use advertisement to win new customer and how the existing companies use it to maintain their customers How a new company can win customer a) Countering advertising clutter This is the most important task that new companies have to undertake in order to win new customers. We have seen that customers buy a new product when the new stimulus overcomes the old one (IRMA 2013, p. 1794). This then calls for them to do more than their older competitors are doing, actually many new companies invest in advertisement to counter the sensory overload caused by their competitors so that they can call attention for their product (Paul & Olson 2010, p. 49). This explains the reason why you find a company buying more than two pages in a daily newspaper yet the same product is advertised on famous televisions, on billboards, journals and other promotion method (Panda 2009, p. 557). All that the company is doing is using the perception theory of consumer behavior to win new consumers. b) Creating contrast The level of degree on which advertisement lies count a lot, if it is on the higher the degree the better. In our daily life there are many competing advertisement stimuli, the one that is most outstanding as it tends to command a lot of attention. This contrast is created through outstanding colors, advertisement clichés and also the advertisement twist (Paul & Olson 2010, p. 49).if the new company is able to create a new outstanding stimulus it end up being the winner. How existing companies maintain their customers i. Rebranding Rebranding involve the act of renewing of a product by changing the brand name, package among other product feature. Once the product is rebranded the company is able to once again trigger the consumers mind about its existence of the product. It also washes way the created negative stimuli about the product. Conclusion Consumer behavior is a vast subject that answer consumers consumption question from : how do we know what we want? –to what do we do with something we no longer want?- with other phase of this wide process in between the two question (Priest, Carter and Statt 2013, p. 19). For example a tourist who want to travel have to first have some factor influencing him or her to have the desire to travel after which a process of deciding to travel follow. (Kolb 2006, p. 8) The internal and external factors such as the amount of money also influence his decision. The desires to see beautiful sceneries only count a small percentage. Consumer behavior perception theory only explains just a small portion of this phase; with only concentrating on how consumer uses their sensory channel to decide on what to consume. What the company has to ensure is that consumer is interpreting the message correctly, which is also the worry of the company. Bibliography Bray, J 2008, Consumer Behavior Theory: Approaches And Models. Available from http://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/10107/1/Consumer_Behaviour_Theory_-_Approaches_%26_Models.pdf [7 Dec. 2014] INFORMATION RESOURCES MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION. (2013). Small and medium enterprises concepts, methodologies, tools, and applications. Hershey, PA, Business Science Reference. Kolb, B 2006, Tourism Marketing For Cities And Towns; Using Branding And Event To Attract Tourist, Oxford Butterworth. Michael, S, Gary, B, Askegaard, S &Hogg KM 2006, Consumer Behavior; A European Perspective, Pearson education London. Panda, TK 2008, Marketing management: text and cases : Indian context, New Delhi, Excel Books. Paul PJ, Olson CJ 2010, Consumer Behavior And Marketing Strategy, McGraw-publisher, Irwin. Priest, J, Carter S & Statt D A 2013, Consumer Behavior: People As Consumer. Edinburg Business School, (Hariot-Watt University) Edinburg. Schiffman and Kanuk 2006, Consumer Behavior ;Consumer Perception. Pearson education Canada inc ppt14 Ward , CB and Thuhang,T 2007, Consumer Gifting Behaviors: One for You, One for Me Services, Marketing Quarterly 29, no. 2 1–17 Webb, K 2005, Consumer Behavior: Perception And Information Processing. McGraw-hill publishers Australia ppt14 . Read More