Blog

Customer behaviour

Content:

• Internal Determinants
• External Determinants

Production, product and selling orientation/ concepts state that companies 
 “Make what company want/can =>(and then) “Try to make customers to buy”
Marketing Orientation/ Concept states that companies “Know what customers want/ may want => (then) “Make it” => (and then) “Tell customers”. 

Marketing concept – understanding customer needs and wants.

Consumer behaviour is a set of activities from the moment of a need to the moment of the purchase/use/repurchase including the internal and external factors. 


The purpose of customer behaviour analysis:

• Consumption structure to design marketing strategies
• Identifying needs
• Improving communication
• Obtaining trust and loyalty
• Evaluating decisions taken

CUSTOMER BEHAVIOUR: INTERNAL DETERMINANTS

The individual or internal determinant are:

• needs–> 
motivations –> wants/desires,
• perceptions- attitudes – experience,

• personal features (demography, socioeconomic, psychographic).

Needs, Motivations, Wants

Needs

A need is require (something) because it is essential or very important rather than just desirable.
Pyramid of Maslow, also known as Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

!!! However, it is restricted to western culture. Pyramid of Maslow Asian version. 

Motivation

A need, in order to be recognized, requires motivation. Motivation can be:

• Physiological / Psychological (biological needs – like hunger/ emotional – like friendship)
• Primary / Selective (for ex., primary you get hunger, and then you choose what to eat, pizza or salad)
• Rational / Emotional
• Conscious / Unconscious (aware / not aware)
• Positive / Negative (problem removal / benefits)

Wants/ Desires

Wants are the needs with a proper name.

We seldon need what we want. And, we alsways want more, then we need.

Perception – Attitude – Experience

Perception

Perception is a selection, organising and integration information into a significant and coherent image.

Attitudes

Attitudes are favourable or unfavourable responds to the object. They can be:

• Believes (cognitive)

• Value (emotional/affective)
• Tendency to act (behavioural)

Experience

Experience is acquired through learning and leads to knowledge.
Previous experience with the Brand (positive/negative) shapes the attitude when choosing the brands.

Personal Characteristics

• Demographic and socioeconomic – objective variables (ex., marital status, place of residence, occupation, income, education)
• Psychographic – subjective variables (ex. Personality and lifestyle)


Customer behaviour: External determinants

CUSTOMER BEHAVIOUR: EXTERNAL DETERMINANTS

• Macro:
  • PESTEL
• Micro:
  
  • Social class
  • Social group
  • Family
  • Personal influencers
  • Culture

Social Groups

• Social groups have information, comparative and normative influence on customer.

Customer already belongs to:

• Primary- frequent relationships (ex., family, friends)
• Secondary – less frequent (class, sport team)
• Formal (ex.Workmates)
• Informal (ex. Union prof. organization)
• Customer aspires to belong to (es. Subordinated and manager)

Family

• The initiator 
• Receiver
• Influencer – can be grandparents
• Decider – the person(s) who makes a final decision weather to make a purchase or not 
• Buyer – parents
• User – would be more probably children

Family external influence

Personal influencers

• Opinion leaders or experts

• Influencers’ image should match with brand values

 

Culture

• Geography (for ex., cars with airconditioning in hot climate, and with seet heating in cold)
• Religion 
• Subcultures
• Etc.

Demand

Based on the internal and external determinads the demand is forming. Demand is the quantity of a good that consumers are willing and able to purchase at various prices during a given period of time. (Wikipedia)

For example,

My internal determinats: I need to sense a connection, I have an emotional motivation to communicate with my friends, I want a mobile phone. External determindats: my family income is above the average, and, all my friends have iPhone, but my previous experiece with iPhone was not that good. So, I would demand a Samsung.