The Whole Foods Market - Assignment Example

200201 INTRODUCTION I am the UK brand manager for the Whole Foods Market. To improve the profile of the company marketing, I have felt in recentmonths, that it is necessary to re-profile the marketing work according to the knowledge and insight of the consumer behaviour. We have to take many steps within the organisation to understand the consumer behavioural psychology and the marketing department should gear up according to this in-depth study. Application of consumer behavioural theory to the company and its strategic band management is imperative for furthering the marketing dimension. Consumer behaviour research from the psychological angle is a very recent study. Everybody, in the modern society, is a consumer with professional and personal dimensions. Whatever is the age, profession and region could be, all of us are consumers in one way or other. Even in the remote, unheard of societies, all people remain consumers with diverse interests and gullibility to get influenced in their decisions. Placing the consumers in the market place and psychologically dissecting their behaviour could be a cross-subject study of psychology, marketing and advertisement results. When we take consumers individually, it is necessary to take the perception and the factors influencing it. Learning and the resultant memory that motivates further action with changed or unchanged values that cause involvement and attitudes are very important. It is necessary to remember that this research region is very young, influx and energetic. It also is being 'constantly cross-fertilised' by external perspectives belonging to various disciplines. It is interesting to know the everyday activities of people. In one of the most influential works in the field, Solomon et al have impressively provided a comprehensive and contemporary detail of the currently prevalent consumer behaviour. The arguments are lively and practical while portraying the strategic marketing issues, diverse European values etc. They also provide a peek into the multi-dimensional European lifestyle, buying habits, marketing behaviour, their relationship with the global market and the behavioural fluctuations. They wrote in the preface: "The field of consumer behaviour is, to us, the study of how the world is influenced by the action of marketers. We're fortunate enough to be teachers and researchers whose work allows us to study consumers". This consumer behavioural insight has to be applied to our Whole Foods Market. USUAL BEHAVIOUR OF CONSUMERS The advertisements are so persuasive today that it is impossible not to listen or get influenced. Marketing opportunities, to a large extent are connected with the cultural dimensions that influence the behaviour issues and concepts. This does not mean that cultural compulsions do not change at all. We have seen that even in the rigidly religious countries, where almost everything is a taboo, consumer behaviour changes, but changes with ultimate slowness. Consumers are eager to new experiences, especially in the food region, with the recent food and nutrition knowledge. Solomon et al have drawn a multi-dimensional portrait of European consumers within which they have shown the European modern family structure and how it has influenced the household decision making. They have shown the traditional influence of the culture which still holds its own in addition to the influence and compulsions of income and the social class and how they command the consumer behaviour and individual decisions. Basic model of consumer decision making might follow the traditional path of problem recognition, search for the information, evaluation of alternatives, decision of choice, evaluation after the purchase and all these are adequately influenced or dictated by the values, lifestyle, cultural and cross-cultural differences. Habit forming products, non-habit forming products that are not purchased regularly fall into two different categories and are not influenced by the same decision making process. Then comes the power of advertisement with the reassurances regarding quality, performance, demonstration of performance etc. to be followed by the celebrity endorsement, emotional attachment and financial investment. We have to go for aggressive marketing; but not a loud and off-putting one; but one which appeals to all senses. ATTITUDES Attitudes are very important in the consumer behaviour and it is our work to see up to which point they could be altered Attitudes can change through the interactive communications with the self and the larger world and such communication is provided by the influential advertising and marketing from every angle by the globalised media. Attitudes create preferences and these preferences guide the ultimate buying design of the consumer. "Individuals help guide their destinies by exercising control over future stocks of personal capital that determine future utilities and preferences. Therefore, individuals, in effect, help to choose their own preferences, if 'preferences' are taken to mean not the extended preference function of goods and capital, but the (sub)utility function that depends only on goods, which is the function economists usually consider," Becker (1996, p.5). Whole Food Market has to tap this field by giving organic options to the maximum extent possible. Genuineness, persuasion, nutritional knowledge with the resultant health information, we have to strive hard to change the traditional attitudes and desires. Such desires might be connected with ethnocentrism, self-image, multiple selves, makeup and ingredients of self-image, vanity, extended self etc. But mainly desires are connected with the attitude that could be altered and influenced, because attitudes could be at any stage of their lives. Attitudes could be at the formation stage, life stage, changeable stage, changed stage or vacillating stage. Attitudes could be learnt, influenced, formed, could undergo strategic changes, and could be terminated. It should be the goal of our marketing to try and bend the attitudes our way. LEARNING AND MEMORY The main economics of the world still relies on the demands of food, shelter, clothing and some kind of recreation and the rest could either follow or not follow depending upon the circumstances and here, we cannot deny the crave for food, and to the right one. Even though humans are creatures of habits, the self-gratifying habit amongst humans can lead to reach for a higher plane of satisfaction. This connects to the well-known Edgeworth's model based on the egoistic behaviour, qualifying the self-seeking individuals. He said it was necessary for the individuals' general happiness to pursue it through adequate determination. "It appeared that in Edgeworth's model, based on egoistic behaviour there was a remarkable correspondence between exchange equilibria in competitive markets and what in modern economic terms is called 'the core' of the economy," Sen (1977, p.319). Looked from this standpoint, consumer behaviour could be considered as satisfying one's own desires, or that of his group and our responsibility becomes easier here, because it is limited to creating answers for such desires. But the major factors of communication and persuasion play a great deal of determined role in this self-gratification and self-indulgence. These factors could influence through the message initiator, communication process, capacity of reaching the target audience, and getting feedback for making the process more effective. It has to be diverse nature with multi-facetted powers of persuasion, fear appeal, humorous, sexual, fascinating, or appealing to emotions like a cry of help, SOS for children, environment, habitat destruction, culling or ruthless killing of animals or birds, so that it could evoke some side of human sentiment and emotion. We should remember that food connects to body, soul and more prominently, to the almighty health. PERCEPTION Sigmund Freud is never far away from the consumer behaviour's psychological aspect. The personality's three interacting forces of id, ego and superego interact intensely to produce behaviour, consumer behaviour included. "The tools of the ego are defences, such as rationalization, projection, identification and repression; its goals are integrated action Although today the critics of psychoanalytic applications to consumer behaviour far outweigh the adherents, Freud and his critics have contributed much to advances in marketing theory," Kassargian (1971, p.410). Perner argued that consumer decision making is an attempt to solve certain consumer problem, which could be referred as a 'discrepancy between a desired state and an ideal state which is sufficient to activate a decision process,' and hence, he argues that creating a problem in the mind of the customer would increase the sales. "Creating problems for consumer is a way is to increase sales, albeit a questionable ethical one. One way to create new problems and resultant needs, is to create a new ideal state," http://www.consumerpsychologist.com/#Decision It should not be difficult for us to argue authentically that certain ailments could be controlled by organic food or the purest kind. Perception might include different stages of sensation (absolute, terminal, subliminal etc.), which will lead to ultimate selection, depending on the consumer imagery of price, quality, perceived risk, brand image, retail store image and the risk factor and we should be prepared to make a difference in each of above spaces by providing the most ethical and healthy answers. It is important to know how much of individual decision making is influenced by group decision making power. Shopping, deciding, buying, evaluating, using the purchase to the fullest possible potential or disposing it off are part of the consumer behaviour. Opinion leadership could be very significant in this process, while the entire process of self and its force come under behavioural theories. "Behavioural theory construes self as a bundle of conditioned responses. Other views such as organismic theory, treat the self in functional and developmental terms; phenomenology treats the self in a holistic form, and cognitive theory represents the self as a conceptual system processing information about the self," Sirgy (1982, p. 287). But all do not agree with this hypothesis. Some critics are of the opinion that income and the future gains are the main aspects of consumption and choice. "The behavioural life-cycle hypothesis also predicts the use of mental accounts to restrict the allocation of certain types of income to certain types of consumption. For example, capital gains on housing or retirement accounts may be allocated only to future and not to current consumption," Graham and Isaac, http://www.american.edu/cas/econ/faculty/isaac/wp/jebo2986.graham_isaac.pdf. But this statement cannot be universally applied to all kinds of consumer decision making. There are social factors where the decision could be made by other control groups and not by self. These are the brainwashing kind, strong enough to influence individual decisions, through continuous advertising, strong visibility and famous branding. We should be subtle CULTURE Culture has a very strong presence in the decision making process and it is impossible to negate its power. For example, European consumers are undoubtedly a diverse lot with their own values, consumption habits and decision making traits. "Localisation makes it increasingly important for marketing and advertising people to understand the influence of culture," de Mooij (2004, p.18). Consumers are rooted to their cultural and social settings. Classified groups, relevant factors, group influence, appeals from the group and benefit of the group are the involved influential aspects in every culture and we should create a unique space for each of them. The subcultures, their age, and their influence over the dominant culture should not be disregarded either although their influence could be marginal. Then the social aspects crop up to dominate the consumer behaviour. Family decisions are connected to the roles in the family while social class are connected to the divisions, exhibit status, occupational status, education, income, social class that are hierarchical, social class levels, restrictions, upward or downward mobility trends, yardsticks of categorisation, social dynamism, lifestyle profiles, geodemographic clustering, affluence or lack of it form the other cluster. Culture could be characterised in satisfaction level, learning level, shared and dynamic level. Subcultures could be religious, ethnic, which will reflect on dress, eating, entertainment, traditions, taboos, demographic characteristics, youth market, aged consumerism, baby boomer market and gender. Cross cultural consumer behaviour has an international perspective and has to be multinational and possesses an exposed and exploratory profile depending on world band. There can be an element of local versus global and the psycholographic segmentation could be prevalent. Marketing could be a failure if differences are not understood and while creating our own marketing charisma, we should focus on each of these aspects, while also giving keen attention to media habits, frequency, environment, situation, which belongs to the various communication theories. Media could be opinion stimulating, promotional, word of mouth and opinion creating that might result in opinion leadership. Opinion leadership could be self-designated, sociometric, key informant, knowledge and interest based and innovatory depending upon the personality of the leadership. Consumer behaviour could depend on economic view, passive view, cognitive view and emotional view and sometimes, on all of them and we, aspiring to be brand leaders, cannot afford to ignore them. RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION "We assume that the consumption is an activity in which goods, singly or in combination, are inputs, and in which the output is a collection of characteristics," Miller (2001, p.322). In the beginning of the economic interactions, it was as simple as that. But today, with the unbelievable growth of consumerism, especially after the globalisation, media reach, multi-nationals, and the power they exert on human minds and consumer behaviour, it has become a complex, but fascinating world of consumer forces all either working with one another, or working against one another. Today's consumer involvement is connected with the principle elements of learning, cues, responses, reinforcement of those responses that might come under one behavioural theory or other, like cognitive learning theory, involvement theory etc. Characteristics of memory, long and short-term both, brand loyalty, past, present and developing included, and the brand equity that influences perennially have taken over the world consumerism. Consumer behaviour is not under the economic or marketing study any more; instead, it has spread its tentacles to multiple disciplines and remains an area of great and increasing research potential with many disciplined connections. There exists an enormously potential field of research from the psychological point of view, especially from the Freudian theories which could influence the area of marketing, advertising and influencing human behaviour. The market town atmosphere of our major ethical food store can be enhanced with various children fascinations and attractions. This should be combined with facilities like child minding, play house, amusement techniques etc. complete with ethical age-suitable pacifiers like organic chocolate. Attractive Champaign bar with ample space for people to lounge around in the most sophisticated, yet free atmosphere, combined with sushi bars, ethical eating of style and class, taste and sophistication has to be improved. Visual attractions, peaceful and harmonious, mild, yet classy surroundings with wild entertainment totally set apart has to be planned and marketed. Every customer should take home the most organic unforgettable experience that lasts. We should showcase quiet, helpful, well-mannered and trained staff that could enhance the right experience. Kensington store can work as a model to all other such ventures of the Corporation. I hope the current report would be appreciated for a well-rounded future picture of marketing focussed on our ethical and organic statements. I am sure that the marketing that gets unleashed with consumer behaviour as its focal point, will be the most suitable one for our organisation, as it would touch the consumer emotionally, ethically, spiritually and psychologically, by combining the aspects of organism, ecology and health. BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Becker, Gary Stanley (1996), Accounting for Tastes, Harvard University Press. 2. de Mooij, Marieke K. (2004), Consumer behaviour and culture, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks. 3. Kassargian, Harold, 'Personality and Consumer Behaviour, A Review', Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 8, No. 4. (Nov., 1971), pp. 409-418. 4. Miller, Daniel (2001), Consumption, Critical Concepts in the Social Sciences, Routledge, London. 5. Sirgy, M. Joseph, 'Self-concept in consumer behaviour', The Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 9, No. 3. (Dec., 1982), pp. 287-300. 6. Sen, Amartya (1977), 'Rational Fools, A Critique of the Behavioral Foundations of Economic Theory," Philosophy and Public Affairs, Vol. 6, No. 4. (Summer, 1977), pp. 317-344. 7. Solomon, M. et al (), Consumer Behavior, A European Perspective, Prentice Hall, 1. ONLINE SOURCES 1. http://www.consumerpsychologist.com/#Decision 2. http://www.american.edu/cas/econ/faculty/isaac/wp/jebo2986.graham_isaac.pdf 3. Read More