Consumer Behaviour and Analysis - Literature review Example

Buyer Behavior and Analysis Introduction Consumer behavior is the interplay of forces that take place in the consumption process involving the consumer’s experience and his environment. The interaction affects three elements of knowledge, effect and behavior. Consumer behavior affects the pre-purchase activity and the post purchase outcomes. Consumer behavior influences the stages of evaluation, acquiring, using and disposing of goods and services. Consumers can be individuals and families or business, industrial and organizational consumers. Consumer behavior explains the reasons and logic behind purchasing decisions and consumption patterns by explaining the process through which buyers make decisions (Lantos, 2011, P.359). Key elements of consumer behavior The basic principle of consumer behavior is the individual-product-situation relationship. The consumer behavior principle states that the dynamics of the market can only be understood iff the consumer, the product purchased, and the complexity of consumer behavior is appreciated. First, the customer recognizes a need or responds to a marketing stimulus (Lantos, 2011, P.359). Consumers buy the products that they are strongly motivated to buy. Motivation is the imbalance between the consumers current and desired states, the wider the gap the stronger the motivation. Motivation is related to previous experience and level of product involvement. The more complex the decision making process the more diversified the consumer’s desire for information. Therefore, marketing managers are required to analyze the marketing mix more keenly when the consumer is involved, and the complexity of the decision making process is high (Ellwood, 2002). Involvement is the feeling of importance or the personal interest associated with the product at a given situation. Involvement is a state of arousal or interest driven by current external variables and past internal variables. It impacts searching, processing and decision making. It is a reflection of the importance of a specific product to an individual in a given situation. Involvement is a function of the risk that customers associate with the buying of a product, with more risky products getting greater involvement (Hennig-Thurau, 2000, P.176). Functional risks have the most impact on customer behavior; the risk is the possibility that a product does not meet customer expectation. Customers mitigate this risk by gathering information on the product or turning to a known entity that has a good reputation. Economic risk implies that more expensive products require more complicated decision making process. This risk may be attenuated by income level, and this explains why some consumers enlist the services of professionals in decision making. Social risk is the risk associated with the image others have of the customer and is present in cases where the form of consumption is visible or the consumer is sensitive to the environment (Hennig-Thurau, 2000, P.176). The decision making process is largely dependent on the benefits sought. Benefits vary from one customer to the other and are closely linked to the functional risk. The concept of benefits helps marketers understand the process of decision-making used by customers, and they are able to select the elements of their marketing mix (Ellwood, 2002). Experiential marketing Experiential marketing is the process of engaging customers with in-depth experiences of a product or brand. It can be termed as live marketing engagement where there is face to face interaction between the customer and the brand. it seeks to appeal to the emotional senses of the customer and influence their choice decision (Wiedmann, 2013, P.391). In recent years, marketers have shifted their attention to creating memorable or unique customer experiences and emotions to positively impact organizational performance in respect to customer satisfaction, retention and loyalty. Experiential marketing treats consumption like a total experiment by taking cognizance of the rational and emotional aspects of consumption using eclectic methods (Wiedmann, 2013, P.391). Rationale behind experiential marketing The concept of experiential marketing was introduced in 1982 by Holbrook and Hirschman, and this concept has gained currency over the years. Building on this concept, Arnould and Price in River magic asserted that marketers tend to engage customers in memorable, extraordinary experiences. These experiences stimulate and arouse the customer’s physical, mental, emotional, social and spiritual realms in the consumption of the product making the interaction meaningfully real (Harrison, 2005, P.173). Experience in marketing involves interaction with the stimuli, which in this case are products and services. Sociology of consumers considers experience to be the central element of the post modern consumer as he perceives consumption as an act of production of experiences. In addition, experience is to be accompanied by immersion, where the consumer takes pleasure in receiving embodied experiences. Experience is especially important in the sale of services as the good that is sold is an experience rather than a material object (Brownlie, et al, 1999, P.87). In experiential marketing, the consumption experience is not limited to the pre-purchase or post-purchase activity, but includes a series of other activities that influence the customer’s decisions and future actions. Consumption experience is spread over a period of time and can be divided into four major stages. Preconception involves searching, planning and imaging the experience while the repurchase experience is the encounter with the service and the environment. The core consumption experience includes sensation, satiety, irritation and transformation. The remembered consumption experience or nostalgia experience activates past experiences based on accounts of stories or arguments (Ellis and Newton, 2004, P.312). Experiential marketing recognizes the importance of variables such as the role of emotions in consumer behavior, the significance of symbolism in consumption and consumers need for fun and pleasure. In essence, experiential marketing recognizes the hedonistic behavior in most customers and, therefore, shifts focus from the utilitarian to the hedonistic value of shopping. The rational among many marketing researchers is that a good shopping experience is memorable and allows the consumer to exploit all his senses. This type of experience produces emotions and transforms individuals (Solomon, Cornell and Nizan, 2009, P.259). Traditional marketing is founded on the functional aspects of a product, and marketers sell the functional characteristics that make a product superior to others in the market. Experiential marketing views the customer as perceptive of superiority, positive brand image, and most importantly, the product that wakes his feelings and agitates his soul and mind (Ellwood, 2002). Experiential marketing deviates from the path of traditional marketing by adopting a consumer behavior research conceptualization that is relatively close to social sciences and philosophy. Experience is viewed as a subjective episode in the transformation of an individual with emphasis on emotions and senses stimulated during the immersion at the expense of cognitive reactions (Ellwood, 2002). Several researchers have proposed differing experience typologies, but the most prominent is the concept of total immersion or plunge which is most popular with consumer behaviorists. Researchers Arnould and Price illustrated that sporting activities set in a natural background induced feelings of absorption and integration, personal control, joy and spontaneity and a newness of perception in the consumers mind. These themes are values that post modern consumers value and cherish as they crystallize self hood, provide life meaning and perspective while at the same time conferring awareness of one’s own mortality and reducing anxiety (Samli, 1996, P.271). Researchers have tried to differentiate between simple pleasures of an ordinary experience from the enjoyment of an extraordinary or flow experience, which is the target for marketers. In this respect, enjoyment is the optimal experience while mere pleasure is a reflex response inherent to human beings and is meant for the survival of species. Pleasurable experiences can only become enjoyment if they involve intensity of attention, sense of achievement and psychological growth (Ellwood, 2002). Schmitt in his study of experiential marketing observed that most brands and marketing campaigns do not provide the exhilarating experiences described above. He claims that humans are not designed to undergo intense, personality shaking experiences all the time. The rituals that induce such experiences such as religion and other existential experiences often result in obsessions and delusion. As such, mundane experiences are, in fact, the preconditions for happiness (Samli, 1996, P.271). Campbell argues that experiential consumption is grounded in romanticism, which is the search for intense pleasure and high arousal in contrast to the mundane experiences of daily life. As such, romanticism has inspired the experiential model of consumption to deviate from pure functionalism in response to needs. This leads to a perception that consumer emotions are superior to his rational thoughts. Other researchers taking an anthropological view of experiential consumerism assert that modern consumers have embraced the romantic values of change and diversity by associating experience with constant development. This obsession with novelty and the fear of boredom has compelled consumers to seek experiences (Samli, 1996, P.271). Recommendations for effective experiential marketing strategies In essence, marketers seek to create a total experience and unique value system for customers, which necessitate the need to understand the life of the customer from the perspective of their shopping experience. Experience is inherent in the mind of customers and results in physical, emotional and cognitive activities which invariably generate strong feelings towards a product. In tandem with marketing theory, marketers can create different types of experiences for customers. These experiences include sensory experience, affective experience, creative and cognitive experience, physical experience, behavior and lifestyle experience, and social identity experience. All the experiences relate to a reference group, segment or culture with the objective of creating a holistic experience that integrates different types of experiences into total customer experience (Smilansky, 2009, P.213). The goal of experiential marketing is to enhance a customer’s emotional connections to the brand by providing a point of differentiation through the creation of memorable retail experiences. These experiences appeal to customers at both physical and psychological levels. The emergence of hypermarkets, shopping malls and supermarkets heightened the competition for customers disposable and discretionary incomes. Consequently, customers have more products to choose from and this situation requires marketers to invent strategies that focus on creating and sustaining a customer base by offering a differentiated shopping experience (Smilansky, 2009, P.213). Experiential marketing has been associated with increased sales, brand image and awareness, making it a powerful technique for winning brand loyalty. This is achieved by connecting customers with the authentic nature of the brand through participation in relevant, credible and memorable encounters. Shoppers would like to make the right decisions and derive emotional satisfaction from the experience. It is, therefore, important for marketers to make the interaction customers have with the brand satisfactory so as to provide a compelling reason for repeat patronage (Smilansky, 2009, P.213). Customer satisfaction is a key outcome of experiential marketing and indicates customer’s belief in the probability or possibility of a service leading to a positive feeling. Unlike traditional marketing, which focuses on customer satisfaction, experiential marketing creates emotional attachment. The emotional element of a total experience has a greater impact of shaping consumer preferences than product or service attributes. The strategies employed allow customers to be4 immersed within the holistic experience design, which creates a flow of experiences (Patrick, Adeosun and Ganiyu, 2012, P.24). Several firms have adopted experiential marketing to achieve sustainable competitive advantage by staging experiences, which include personal relevance, novelty, surprise, learning and engagement. Online shopping poses numerous challenges to retailers and has changed the shopping ecosystem. It has opened numerous opportunities in terms of what customers buy and how they buy it. In this context, marketers should design a website that is appealing, creates positive effects in users, and increases favorable consumer responses. The dynamic elements should enable customers exploring the shopping environment to receive an exciting, entertaining and playful experience that is likely to increase loyalty (Patrick, Adeosun and Ganiyu, 2012, P.24). Examples of experiential marketing Proctor and gamble has introduced the feel concept with an outdoor experience feature in marketing its Tide brand where customers experience the fresh scent of the great outdoors featuring crisp mountain air, spring water, fresh wild flowers and clean mountain snow. They even went further and incorporated a scratch and sniff feature in their print advertising (Smilansky, 2009, P.213). Other marketers have utilized the think concept where customers are encouraged to think creatively about the companys products or brands. For instance, the Discovery Channel displays a model of a Tyrannosaurus Rex and an emerald beetle among its numerous interactive educational displays. At Tourneau in New York, customers learn about the history of watches (Smilansky, 2009, P.213). Conclusion Experiential marketing is founded on the perception that consumers seek satisfaction beyond product characteristics when shopping. In this respect, a marketing strategy that appeals to the customer’s emotions through experience is likely to induce loyalty. Most researchers endorse immersion as the most effective method of providing consumers with memorable flow experiences. Bibliography: Patrick, L., Adeosun, K. and Ganiyu, R. (2012). Experiential Marketing: An Insight into the Mind of the Consumer. Asian Journal of Business and Management Sciences. 2 (7): 21- 26. Wiedmann, K., et al (2013). Luxury marketing: a challenge for theory and practice. Wiesbaden: Gabler. Smilansky, S. (2009). 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