Consumer Behavior - Buying, Having, Being - Essay Example

Introduction Marketing strategies need to be tailored in a way that they appeal to the consumers and influence their purchasing behavior. Certain influencers work more for different product types. Hence Michael and Dann (2007) suggest that the marketing strategies for Sunny Nissan requires an in-depth understanding of the motivating factors and how motivation works to influence the purchase decision. Moreover, Folkes (1988) adds that attitudes of consumers also play a pivotal role in the auto industry in influencing their purchases. Thus for the marketing strategies of Sunny, motivation and attitude have been focused upon. Bargh (2002) explains that motivations are inner forces that cause consumers to take action towards satisfying their needs. When a marketer understands the motivating factors that trigger a consumer to visit a show room or actually recognize a need to buy a car, he can get a competitive edge in the industry. Motivation is an important factor especially for Sunny Nissan as the marketing team of the car should understand the motivational factors that will cause the consumers to pay attention to the brand and actually become motivated enough to purchase the car (Nissan 2009) . However, Michael and Dann (2007) point out that recognizing these motivating factors are essential so that the marketers can use these factors in the advertisements or the sales personnel can use these motivating cues to make the consumer want the brand more and encourage him to buy the car. Folkes (1988) adds that knowing about these motivational factors will give Sunny an edge and the marketing efforts will be productive as they will affect the consumers. For example featuring a family in the advertisement and how a better looking car resolves family commuting issues and gives the owner a social acceptance will make the viewer relate it to his own personal needs and he may actually be motivated enough to go pout and buy the car. Motivation as Bagozzi and Dholakia (1999) describe therefore is an attempt to recognize the consumer behavior at a micro level. It is when the marketer tries to understand the consumer at an individual or personal level which is very difficult to assess and gauge. Maslow’s theory The main motivation theory is based on the need factor. With Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory, the categories of need can be recognized as physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, esteem needs and self actualization needs. As per the theory, Bargh (2002) explains that the need for Sunny will lie under the social need category. This is because, those consumers who have really small or old car may want to replace it with Sunny, however though it’s not a luxury car, and it may give them certain social acceptance of owning a decent car (Nissan 2009). Thus Folkes (1988) explains that in order to satisfy this need of social acceptance they may wish to buy the brand. Factors influencing motivation Other factors that influence the consumers and motivate them are the consumer’s learning and beliefs, attitude and perception. Bagozzi and Dholakia (1999) explain that learning refers to the way in which the prospective customer receives and infers a given stimuli. People gain knowledge from experiences, watching different advertisements, discussing with friends and reading about products and they form their own set of learned experiences which later act as motivating or de-motivating factors. Thus Michael and Dann (2007) explain that when a marketer influences these learning experiences positively then he will be able to make him retain positive points about the product and when the customer actually goes out to buy a car he will prefer Sunny over others as he has a positive image of the product because of his learned experiences that will motivate him to buy it. Beliefs according to Bagozzi and Dholakia (1999) are the thoughts that consumers have about some features of life. Consumers may have thoughts and beliefs about some brands, companies or products etc. for Sunny, for instance, the consumers may have the belief that it is a non luxury car and may trust it to have a good drive feel. The consumer may also have a belief which is negative for instance having a fear that the car is a high maintenance car. Folkes (1988) explains that attitudes are something that is difficult to change and some consumers may have a negative attitude about Asian brands. The marketers may give them special price discounts or the sales personnel may convince these consumers to test drive the car to alleviate the insecurity attached with the Asian brand. Bagozzi and Dholakia (1999) add saying that perceptions may also influence the consumers and may act as a motivator influencing the consumer’s buying behavior. They are formed by all the information the consumer has about the product and what he filters and retrieves. Perception involves a lot of biased opinions and distortion of information and knowledge. Wilson and Gilligan (2003) reveal that this is because consumers tend to make different interpretations of the same stimuli and pick and choose the information thereby ignoring some information and augmenting other factors. This is known as selective perception. Marketers can change a consumer’s perception with the help of technical factors like ‘significant stimuli’. Bargh (2002) points out that this technique can be used to gauge the relationship between the perceived importance of a particular feature of Sunny compared to the actual performance of the feature on the supplier’s part. It can also show Sunny’s competitive position in the market and its perceived importance. Thus Bargh (2002) concludes that the factors that motivate a consumer to buy Sunny are important for the marketing team. Understanding the factors like learning, attitude, his beliefs and perception will help the marketer in understanding what the factors are that motivate him. The marketing strategies used can incorporate these motivating factors that would act as cues to encourage him to buy Sunny. Bagozzi and Dholakia (1999) add that when these are understood, the marketers can manipulate the motivating factors and form a positive image of the product for the consumers and this will encourage him to purchase Sunny as compared to other cars in the market. Attitude Consumer’s attitudes comprise of what the consumer’s beliefs, feelings and intentions are about the brand. In the case of Sunny Nissan the brand image is that the car is non luxury car and that it is not an image builder. Rather the car was bought as a reason to satiate a need and not to enhance the image of the consumer like Mercedes or a BMW. These features of the consumer’s attitudes are interlinked and go hand in hand and they together determine the attitude of the consumer towards a particular product. Attitudes are linked to different experiences that the individual consumer goes through and then he forms his attitude towards the products. Folkes (1988) explains that the general attitude of the consumers toward Nissan Sunny is that of a budget small car and thus even though Nissan tries to upscale itself with superior models as brand extension, the attitudes of the consumers about the brand is difficult to change. Attitudes are based on emotional experiences, action tendencies and positive or negative cognitive evaluations towards the product. Thus the attitude that the consumer has towards Sunny will determine his purchasing and what he feels about buying the brand as compared to other brands. Since attitudes are formed because of classical conditioning and cognitive theories, it is difficult to change a given attitude and marketers have to make intelligent efforts like smart advertisements or persuasive personal selling etc to change attitudes. Attitudes are essential to consider for marketing especially for automobiles. This Michael and Dann (2007) explain is because the product is not something that they buy everyday. Thus the attitudes that they have formed over the years matters when they are making a purchase. As attitudes determine behavior, positive behavior will of course be beneficial for the brand. When a consumer has a negative attitude, he may not consider the product; moreover he may be a bad influence on other prospective customers. Attitudes play a crucial part in determining which brand the consumer will purchase because a car is something he will be using for a long time and it will become a part of his living style thus what his attitude is towards the car he will purchase is important and thus to influence the purchase decision marketers need to alter the attitudes of consumers. Changing attitudes Attitudes evolve with time and consumers do change their attitudes with time. Bagozzi and Dholakia (1999) explain that this change may be because of reasons like intelligent marketing strategies where the firms build the image of its products over time with its advertisements and promotions. Thus Nissan has built its image as a non luxury car. Thus physical features like extra room, size, color, automatic and upholstery etc do not matter when the brand requires changing the attitude of consumers towards the brand. What the firm should do is feature prominent people in the advertisements and endorsing the car as a luxury car etc then the attitude might change over time. Natural reasons like the Economic slump has curtailed the sales of luxury cars and people have little money to spend. They thus look for cars that fit into their budget and satisfy their needs. This makes them perceive Sunny with a new perspective and their attitude changes towards the brand as they now consider purchasing it instead of buying a luxury car. However, they still don’t consider Nissan as a luxury car but since the luxury brands have gone out of their reach, they now explore the next best options. Attitudes may differ in different markets for the same product. For example, Sunny is perceived as a non luxury car however, in developing countries like Bangladesh where the purchasing power of consumers is limited Sunny is perceived as a luxury car as consumers there can hardly even afford cars. Belk elaborates saying that attitudes may be formed because of the environment, the upbringing of an individual and the input one gets from their peers etc. at the attitude determines whether the individual will purchase or not, marketers consider it as an important aspect of understanding their market. In the case of Sunny, since the attitude is that of a comfort car, and that is how the firm wants the brand to be, they continue to design cars that revolve around comfort rather than image etc. incorporating comfort related features like a bigger boot etc. Cognitive dissonance Neal and Quester (2007) elaborate saying that the social world influences the attitude and the attitude influences the social world. Thus for example if a friend talked of Nissan Sunny as a car with a good drive, but his friend may have had a perception about the car as being a unfriendly car, such a conflict of opinion or inconsistency in the attitudes may influence both the individuals creating a decreasing cognitive dissonance. Bagozzi and Dholakia (1999) point out that marketers thus have to make sure that the claims made by the brand are true so that there is little difference of opinion. Tri-component model The model includes actions, feeling and beliefs that determine the attitude one has towards a product. thus a consumer’s actions depend upon what he believes and feels about Sunny forming his attitude and that will determine whether he will even show interest in buying the car or not. Thus Belk reasons that marketers should focus on influencing the consumer’s beliefs and feelings to prompt actions. This can be done by advertisements, aggressive and convincing personal selling. Multi-attribute model A consumer may have mixed attitudes towards a product like Sunny has a bad drive but has comfortable seats. Durvasula et al argue that such a mixed opinion influences and confuses the consumer and his decision making. Miller argues that marketers need to understand the degree of such multi attributes that consumers have towards the brand. Blythe (2008) adds that these can be measured using Likert scale however, it is important to understand them as the brand image can be improved when the marketers understand the negative image consumers have and he can then alter promotions and advertisements to give these negative attitudes a positive direction. Marketing the product and convincing consumers will become easy when the negativity is minimized (Kassarjian1971). Thus Michael and Dann (2007) explain that the attitude of the consumer towards Sunny will determine his impression about the product and whether he would consider buying it or not. Moreover Belk adds that his attitude will also determine whether he would recommend anyone else to buy the car or consider someone’s advice to purchase it. The marketers according to Durvasula et al should try to increase their cognitive dissonance so that they have a positive attitude that will influence their purchasing decision and encourage them to buy Sunny. References Michael, S and Dann, S 2007, Consumer behavior: buying, having, being. Pearson Education, Frenchs Forest, N.S.W. Bargh, J 2002, Losing Consciousness: Automatic Influences on Consumer Judgment, Behavior, and Motivation, Journal of Consumer Research, vol.29. Bagozzi, R and Dholakia, U 1999, Goal Setting and Goal Striving in Consumer Behavior, The Journal of Marketing, Vol. 63, pp. 19-32 Folkes, V 1988, Recent Attribution Research in Consumer Behavior: A Review and New Directions, The Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 14, No. 4, pp. 548-565 Belk, R The Sacred and the Profane in Consumer Behavior: Theodicy on the Odyssey, The Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 16. Durvasula, S et al. Assessing the Cross-National Applicability of Consumer Behavior Models: A Model of Attitude Toward Advertising in General, The Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 19, No. 4, pp. 626-636. Kassarjian, H 1971, Personality and Consumer Behavior: A Review, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 8, No. 4 , pp. 409-418 Miller, D, Acknowledging Consumption: A Review of New Studies. London: Routledge.  Neal, C and Quester, P 2007, Consumer behavior: implications for marketing strategy, McGraw-Hill Australia.  Wilson, R and Gilligan, C 2003, Strategic marketing management: planning, implementation and control, Butterworth-Heinemann. Blythe, J 2008, Consumer Behavior, Cengage Learning Nissan 2009, accessed on 23rd August 2009, available at: www.nissanusa.com Read More