CHAPTER – 1

INTRODUCTION AND RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOUR

1.1 INTRODUCTION:

This chapter introduces the subject of the study which is the social media on consumer
buying behavior and also outlines the motivation of the study including aims and objective of
the research. This is also followed by definition of research problems and limitation of the
research.

Social media have provided new opportunities to consumers to engage in social interaction
on the internet. Consumers use social media, such as online communities, to generate content
and to network with other users. The study of social media can also identify the advantages to
be gained by business. A multi-disciplinary model, building on the technology acceptance
model and relevant literature on trust and social media, has been devised. The model has been
validated by demonstrating the role of social media in the development of e-commerce into
social commerce. The data emerging from a survey show how social media facilitate the
social interaction of consumers, leading to increased trust and intention to buy. The results
also show that trust has a significant direct effect on intention to buy. The perceived
usefulness (PU) of a site is also identified as a contributory factor. At the end of the paper, the
author discusses the results, along with implications, limitations and recommended future
research directions.

Social Media is playing significant roles in different aspects of our lives. What is interesting
in SM is that it supports users in several sectors such as; business, marketing, advertising and
education. From business perspective, businesses and buyers can interact
directly by SM with each other, and thereby find whatever products and services are looking.

This research is focusing on the purchasing perspective of consumers who use different
Social Media sites to buy their preferred products. The study aims to examine why consumers
purchase using Social Media, to understand which type of consumers use SM and are
influenced the most, to know which products most suitable for SM and to understand the
most suitable SM for specific products and particular consumers. This paper will present

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several important sections starting with a collection of literature and related researches,
identifying the methodology, findings, analyzing and discussion, and finally a limitations,
future expectations and conclusion about the impact of SM on consumer buying behavior
supported with theoretical and practical contributions.

1.1.2 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY:

The advancement in the internet in recent years has increased the options available to
businesses today, the social media platforms being a good example. It is no secret that the
general availability of the internet has given individuals the opportunity to use online
platforms as mediums of communication, from email to twitter and Facebook, which has led
to business interactions without the need for physical meetings. Furthermore, as part of the
growth the internet experienced, the social media platform has become a major
communication channel. The online world has become a new vehicle for social
communication that has connected people to different online communities. The social media
community has grown to more than 12.5% of the entire world population. This has presented
another communication channel for various businesses and brands today.

The term social media can be defined as a range of tools and services that facilitate direct
user interaction online. Social media are web based services which are otherwise called
"social networking Sites". Social media refers to a network of connections and
communications among various gatherings or people. “Stelzner” defined social media as a
platform that was centered on the concept of a read and write web, where the audience and
users are past the passive viewing of web content and move on to actually contributing to the
content. In simple terms, social media covers anything that makes use of the Internet to
enable conversations and most often take the form of social networking sites, blogs, and
Wikis. Furthermore, “Chaffey” defined a social network site as an online service that permits
users to create and modify a profile, either public or semi-private, accumulate a list of
connections, as well as view the list of their connections and others utilizing the services.
Social Media (SM) refer to network of relationships and interactions among different users
(groups or individuals). Social media platforms include popular networking sites like the
Facebook and Twitter as well as bookmaking sites like Reddit. Online communities and
social networking sites are an effective web technology for social interactions and sharing
information. Social Media such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter enable users to maintain
great connections among themselves as well with others by achieving more than one task and

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facilitating the way of communicating and sharing different information (comments,
thoughts, videos and images).

One of the important contributions of social media is in the way it has changed the method of
communication between consumers and marketers. Informational society has always had a
significant influence on consumer buying decision and product evaluation. However, with the
advent of social media, a new channel to acquire product information has been provided
which allows peer communication. Today‟s consumers have access to many different sources
of information and experiences, which have been facilitated by other customers‟ information
and recommendations. This is an important point as customer involvement through social
media is a key factor in marketing.

Furthermore, Social networking sites have taken center-stage in the development of e-

commerce in the current environment where consumers make social connections and
participate in cyberspace. Similarly, social media offers different values to firms, such as
enhanced brand popularity, facilitating word-of-mouth communication, increasing sales,
sharing information in a business context and generating social support for consumers. In
addition, the networking of individuals through social media provides shared values, leading
to a positive impact on trust. Today, with the expansion of social media and social
networking sites (SNSs), a study of consumer behavior on these platforms is a research
agenda because social media is likely to develop marketing strategies in firms that will affect
the customers‟ intention to buy their products and services. Therefore, this research will aim
to examine how social media marketing strategies will affect consumer buying behavior.

During 2008 US Presidential elections, President Obama used social media effectively during
campaigns and later became a brand name online. The study is therefore designed to explore
the impact of the social media on branding as marketing activity and also determine whether
the traditional advertising media such as radio and print have died and are no longer effective
as a result of the social media.

1.2. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

1.2.1 THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF RESEARCH:

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 1. To obtain an insight into the impact of social media on consumer behavior.

2. To identify individual, groups, and cultural influences on consumer choices.

3. To study the development of trust into consumers by social media.

4. To study the relationship between personal characteristics of social media users and
impact of social on their purchase decision.

5. To study the changing scenario of social media and rise in number of bloggers.

6. To find out post purchase behavior of social media user.

7. To assess the impact of social media on purchase decision of Indian consumers.

8. To develop research skills by collecting and analyzing qualitative data pertaining to

consumer behavior.

9. To understand the strategic roles of segmentation and customer satisfaction.

1.2.2 RESEARCH PROBLEM:

From the above outlined objective the study research problem can be conceived as Can
social networks be used by companies to create brand awareness and what are the challenges
facing companies that still use the traditional advertising channels only? Social networks
refer to the connection, relationship and interactions that happen within the social media
platforms. On a marketing perspective, these are interactions between the marketers and those
interacting within the constructs. To study the above research question, it is therefore broken
down into the following research problem area:

1. The role of social media and its impacts on branding.

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2. The challenges facing companies using social media today and how they can be managed
or minimized.

3. Outline the traditional advertising channels for branding and determine whether they are
still relevant today in the era of social media.

4. Determine whether social media networks are the best tools for creating brand awareness.

1.2.3 STUDY LIMITATIONS:

The major limitation of this research is related to sample size. The case company is a micro
entity business, meaning it has less than 10 employees in total. Therefore the findings cannot
be generalized to include all the companies that use social media, therefore these findings in
the study are only related to the case company because different companies use different
social networks like LinkedIn, Youtube, etc; and also some might have social media strategy
with different objectives. However the findings might fit a micro entity business like the one
used for the case.

Social media marketing is no longer a new aspect, and yet it is still considerably a developing
and evolving topic in the field. With a quick literature scan on the related topic, indeed there
are vast amount of journals and articles, but with few scientific/academic research and
classical literatures about social media marketing associating with changes of consumer
behavior. Thus, this would be another limitation of the research that the discussion on the
topic is rather in a general manner.

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1.2.4. SCOPE OF THE STUDY:

With regard to the objectives, conducting the research from the perspective of consumers
would be a considerably suitable approach. The researcher realizes that there are many
available reports and studies which rather aims to help business to gain a better
understanding in social media marketing but not to help consumers to identify reasons
that social media has changed their decision making process. Since the purpose of
marketing is, in sum, about consumer, therefore, by having the starting point from the
perception of consumer, and by collecting data from consumer‟s point of view, fresh
insights cab be gathered. The research also aim to serve as an indicator to potential
readers (companies) of how they can tab into the decision making process via social
media sites. The researcher focuses on the behavior of end consumers (individual) and
particularly within the retailing industry, for instance clothing, food and beverage,
consumer electronics, and so on.

2.2.5 USES AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY:

There are various ways to make use social networking sites to attract consumers by the
marketers. In modern times social media is like a one kind of tool which is not only
helping marketers but also consumers too. Now a days it is a very powerful tool to
maintain relations with customers but also with society too. Social networking sites are
helping to businessman to sell the goods as well as share thoughts and interact with each
other too.

One of the important use or significance of social media marketing is giving advantage to
consumers to select and order the goods from variety of goods available online. It is a one
kind of communication between marketer and consumers. These websites are helping to
consumers to buy the product, share thoughts and many more. In traditional method of
marketing consumers are don‟t have that much space to select the product but in social
media consumers have variety of options to select that. With the help of social media
marketing the consumer can update his knowledge by visiting various social media
networking sites.

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Social networking sites are going most popularity nowadays among many consumers. We
know that what is today become outdated tomorrow, so it is impotent for companies to bring
the social media many closer to thing about like and dislike of consumers. It is to be noted
that social networking sites are creating an extra adding platform for themselves and for
consumers too. There are various research did in the light of this area that people might be
enjoying social media to stay in touch with their friends, make various and different types of
plans, make new friends also with the use of new technology and increasing the growth of
digital media, many advertisement companies are getting information of many social
networking site. It can be seen that nowadays before purchasing any goods and product by
consumers must get the information through collecting information from those friends who
are either using social websites or through internet.

2.2.6 RESEARCH DESIGN:

Again, the aim of the survey is to find out how, why, where social media has influenced
individuals in the process of decision making, as well as, hopefully, to identify new insights
that companies may take advantage of. The survey was carried out in the form of
questionnaire.

Since there was only one chance to collect the data, the researcher had to identify precisely of
what data is needed, and to design the questionnaire in order to meet the research objectives.
The questions for the questionnaire were designed and built closely upon the theoretical
framework decision making process, information processing theory, and social media
marketing, which has discussed thoroughly in previous chapters of the research. In order to
ensure respondent decodes the questions in the way the researcher intended, the clarity of the
questionnaire structure was a dominant factor.

Since the researcher had to keep an appropriate length of the questionnaire. Thus, not every
theory discussed previously could all be included in the questionnaire. The logical order of
the questions was structured mainly based on the steps carried out during the decision making
process, problem recognition, search of information, evaluation of alternatives, final decision,
and post purchase behavior. Components of information processing theory were integrated in
the questions as well.

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As stated in the begining of the research, the researcher tries to examine the relationship
between social media and consumer behavior from a consumer perspective. Therefore, they
are many questions subjected to individual‟s beliefs and attitudes, which are expressed in the
form of scale questions. Considering the matter of subjectivity, the use of close questions was
critical in order to allow statistical conclusions to be made in a relatively objective manner.
Likewise, a few open-ended questions allow individuals to develop own responses, and may
reveal attitudes or facts.

The questionnaire was sent out via school e-mail to all international business program
students and teachers in TUAS, as well as all personal contacts of the researcher who are
currently living in Finland, which yields the sample size to be individuals. Participation was
voluntary and the questions were designed in English.

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 CHAPTER – 2:

LITERATURE REVIEW:

The purpose of this chapter is to critically review literature related to the theoretical concept
of the topic of social media, traditional marketing channels, online marketing channels, and
brand awareness. The literature review is to develop a theoretical framework for the study.
The main papers for the study are the work of Palmer and Lewis (2009) titled an experiential,
social network-based approach to direct marketing paper titled Two Faces of Social Media:
Brand Communication and Brand Research.

2.1 SOCIAL MEDIA:

Social media has gained a lot of popularity over the past few years and as a result of this
popularity, other traditional Media have experienced decline in both business and popularity.
The main stream media channels have faced many challenges in recent times that have led to
closure with TV facing down turn in their profits levels. Palmer and Lewis are correlating the
performance of these traditional channels to the rise of social media in marketing and brand
management. As a result of completion and tough economic environment, companies have
tightened their budgets especially advertising budgets which have shifted to online channels.

In the last couple of years, different kind of social media networking services have emerged
and currently there are innumerable social media channels that connect people to each other.
The most popular social network sites that are widely used are: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube,
and LinkedIn. In fact, Facebook, twitter and YouTube are the most common channels
companies use in their online marketing for creating brand awareness or just engaging with
the customers. Though LinkedIn is also widely used by companies, it mainly targets to
establish relationship on a professional perspective and slowly becoming B2B channel
compared to other three networking sites mentioned above. However for the purpose of this
study, only five most popular social networking services are reviewed.

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  Types of Social Media:

In the discussion regarding different categories of social media, five distinct types of
social media outlets are focused on –

1) Social networking sites, 2) Social news, 3) Media sharing, 4) Blogs, and 5) Micro-
blogging. Each of these social media platforms has provided unique features and
experiences to individuals and entities, for instance marketers and consumers, in the
social media sphere.

2.2 BRAND AWARENESS AND BUYING INTENSIONS:

The increasing use of social media has led to a major shift in the approach to pursuing
consumer brand awareness and making connections between brand awareness and intention
to buy. A key shift is the fact that brands are no longer simply static descriptors or
associations, but live as a part of a social process. “Brands are now viewed as an ongoing
social process, whereby value is co-created in the interplay and negotiations of various
stakeholders. Brand awareness and brand value, then are linked to social interactions and the
response within social networks in which value becomes an element of exchange as a part of

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social mechanisms. Researchers are increasingly aware of the social nature of brands and the
importance of brand relationships in creating value and supporting consumer decision-
making.

A depth companies recognize that consumers have countless brand opportunities and choices
on a daily basis and social media impacts how they perceive different brands at the moment
that they make buying decisions. Even in the presence of changing social media mechanisms
and the increasing use of technology, consumers still go through a common set of steps in
making decisions that impact purchasing selections. When determining what product to
select, “The consumer first attains awareness and knowledge about a product, subsequently
develops positive or negative feelings towards the product and finally acts by buying and
using or by rejecting and avoiding the product”. Researchers have indicated that this model
moves along a progression of effects that impact how a consumer makes decisions, the
technologies being in the first stage of product recognition. In other words, a consumer
decides in the first few minutes of viewing a product about whether to purchase it or not
based on the initial recognition of the brand. If the consumer does not have a positive
association with the recognizing, it will never move on to the next stage of decision-making.
Because that first center is essential in addressing consumer behaviors, companies must
recognize the value of the use of social mechanisms as a behavior tool in the hierarchy of
consumer behaviors. Impact of social media Early involvement in a consumer‟s decision-
making process can determine whether they continue to the next steps or not. This does not
guarantee that early involvement will translate into purchasing intention but it does show that
early involvement or early social recognition and brand awareness can ensure that the product
remains in the loop of possible purchasing alternatives. As the consumer moves further along
in the process, evaluative structures and decision-making strategies are more individualized
and may take longer to play out. For example, if a consumer is looking at a high-end
automobile, they may immediately rule out seven different brands for brand-specific,
knowledge-based reasons. They may also rule out these brands because of social media
representations of brands, consumer comments on specific brands, and social mechanisms
that shape brand perceptions. Once the consumer moves on to the next stage where brand
perception no longer immediately shapes their response, decisions may be based on another
tier of perceptions that can be influenced by social media, including the consumer‟s needs,
values, and interests, and the values and interests of those in their social collective. Decisions

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are not always as simple as selecting a product or not often consumers find themselves
seeking better ways of evaluating a product and look to social networks for brand or product
clues.

 M. NICK HAJLI (2013):

The study has reviewed the trust factor existing within the consumers for the social
media. It indicates that when the products are reviewed on social media the trust factor
rises within the consumers about the correctness of the review. The study discusses how
the social interaction has a positive impact on the consumers. The author emphasized how
important it is for the e-vendors to communicate with its customers to keep them
informed and to make them satisfied with the services so that the reviews are mostly
positive and do not lowers the business level. It is on the similar lines as previous
research. The study mainly focuses on the important role of consumer interaction with
potential consumers. The author also talks about the perceived usefulness for consumers
by improving the quality of the website.

 ELISABETA IOANAS, IVONA STOICA (2014):

The data was collected from 116 subjects. The first hypothesis was that the majority of
people who buy online fall between 25-29 years of age. The hypothesis was thus verified
by 47% result favoring the number. The people buying goods online were found to be
mostly young and majorly women out of which 97% had an account on the social
networking site and before buying the products they made themselves informed
beforehand about the products from various forums and blogs. According to the author
the reviews and suggestions online are not relevant to the consumers as they read in in a
hurry and do not pay much attention to the social media reviews they are much attracted
by the other information provided by advertisements and promotions as these types of
promotions set the mind of the consumers and the reviews do not matter much. They are
only influenced if they are buying a product which they are not sure about and which
requires a lot of research to be done before buying.

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 GHULAM RASOOL MADNI (2014):

The author through his research certifies that the social media has the main role to play,
when it comes to influencing the consumers to buy the products online. The social media
cannot be the only factor and other factors play equally important roles in influencing the
consumers to make the final purchase. The author states that by continually providing
complete and appropriate information about the product/services company can produce
good relations with the users regularly using social media.

 MUTHIAH, S. AND DR. KANNAN, K.V. (2015):

The authors from their primary research profess that the social media is one major factor
in influencing the consumer behavior but out of various social media networks Facebook
has the most influential power. The respondents were more inclined towards the reviews
provided by the consumers on Facebook than any other site or network. Facebook also
had much trust out of all other social media because it is one largest social media
available in the current time period. The respondents read most of the reviews on
Facebook than any other social media. The time spends by the consumer on social media
is directly proportional to how much the social media affects the behavior of the
consumer to buy the products. The author also states that the influence of social media
will be stronger in future as the social media in its developing stage and any change in
social media will directly influence the buying pattern of the consumers. It is also
observed that people are more likely to be influenced by their friends and family more
than strangers on social media.

 MREDU GOYAL (2016):

The report is based on the selection of restaurants on the basis of reviews on the social
media and the reviews on the e-commerce websites like zomato, food panda, swiggy etc,
In Jaipur region. Though social media was not a big rage in Jaipur a few years back but
now people are looking into the reviews before going to any restaurant to make their
experience worthwhile and not wasting their money and time. The social media
marketing has become very important for the restaurant owners to reach to the masses and

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also attract the consumers towards it. Consumers are becoming digitally active and thus
searching for the best restaurants available near the area they stay. Here comes the role of
social media as the restaurants having the best ratings are preferred against the ones
having a low rating.

 ETHEL LEE (2013):

The study talks about the behavior of a consumer in the digital age. The vast amount of
information available to the consumers on social media has led to increased number of
consumers going online in search of information to be able to make a decision easily. It
has also led the marketers to change their strategy in marketing the products according to
the new mindset. The focus remains in explaining how, why and when are the consumer's
influence by social media. The author makes some important suggestions about how the
marketers should cater to the needs of the changing consumer behavior in the digital
market arena. The study also gives an insight to the marketers about the opportunities
available on social media and how important it is to avail it. The research has made a
significant impact on consumer buying behavior and the changes social media had
brought into the marketing strategies of various brands. The research is primarily based in
Finland and the objective is to find the differences between marketing on social media
and through mass media and to study consumer's susceptibility towards various means of
marketing. The studies reveal that no matter through what means the consumers do take
up research before making any purchase decision. The social media marketing is a
process of communicating with the consumers directly and thus has more influence on the
consumers. The report has explained the influence of social media on each level of a
decision-making process.

2.3 CONSUMER:

Consumers are actors on the market place stage. Consumers in general, can be referred as
individuals who purchase or consume products and services. However, in terms of buyer
and consumer, there is a slight difference. Buyers are the people who are acting either as
ultimate, industrial, or institutional purchasers. The latter one, consumer, refers to
individuals who purchase for merely ultimate use, which is more restrictive in terms of

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meaning that is, the end-users for whom the products or services are ultimately designed
for.

Consumers and prospects are facing significant blocks in their decision process. If not,
each of them should be fully committed, loyal, enthusiastic, repeated consumers.
However, this is not the case. Today the accessibility and transparency of information has
profoundly influenced the decision making process. Therefore, it is important to examine
what are the hurdles and fiction points that hold prospects becoming consumers, or keeps
consumers hesitating from repurchasing.

2.4 POST PURCHASE DECISION:

After the consumption, the consumer then experiences certain levels of satisfaction or
dissatisfaction, and evaluates the wisdom of the choice made in selecting the alternative.
Two potential outcomes are derived from this phase satisfaction or dissonance. When
consumer experiences dissonance towards the purchase, the choice is „devaluated‟ and the
consumer begins the process of searching, obtaining information and evaluating other
options for future buying decision, in which triggers new behavior.

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It is a phase when the consumer decides whether or not to move from merely
implementing the product to a full adaption that is; whether to use the product repeatedly
or repurchase or not. Since consumer always has a choice regarding the products priority,
frequency of usage, and new circumstances of new uses. When individuals are
comfortable in using a specific product regularly, they will recommend it to others from
using the product as well.

2.5 BLOGS:

A blog is an online journal which is as refer to a type of content management system

(CMS), typically maintained by individuals or groups, and featured commentary and
idea‟s for a larger group of audience. Blogs create good hubs for other social media
marketing tools (videos, hyperlinks, pictures, and so on), because they can be integrated
into the platforms and posts. Besides, blog software provides a variety of social features
such as comments, blog rolls, trackbacks, and subscriptions. On the other hand, Weber
(2009) has pointed due to the fact that blogs allow everyone to publish and to join multi-
threaded conversations online, in which some of the bloggers have no editorial restrains
and have access to the entire Web. As a result, their posts can impact personal, products,
or brand reputation harmfully.

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 MICRO-BLOGGING:

Micro-blogging is a real-time information network, which shares similarity to blogging,

yet it limits the size (number of words) of each post and encourages a faster mode of
communication. Micro-blogging allows users to spread their short-texted messages via
instant messages, mobile phones, e-mails, or the Web. For instance, Twitter, launched in
2006, is one of the primal and leading micro-blogs that currently has over 140 million
users as of 2012 and handles over 1.6 billion search queries per day (Twitter 2011).
Obviously, Twitter provides companies with leverage via Internet traffic by creating a
buzz on online communities, as users get the essence and concise information through
short-texted posts. Many companies have been using Twitter to tap into the business
prospects, influencers, and customers by doing so, businesses are able to take advantage
in relationship building, achieving on-line and offline marketing objectives, and brand
building etc. Re-tweet is one of the most powerful mechanisms to marketers, in which
individuals can copy and paste what others have posted onto their Twitter stream.
Consequently, the certain tweet gets to spread virally in a furious speed.

2.6 SOCIAL NEWS AND BOOKMARKING SITES:

Social news sites and social Bookmarking sites, for instance; Reddit, and Scoop. It, are
fairly similar, and are very much in the trend of online community. Social News enables
users not only to be in control of their news streams, but also allows individuals to
“submit and vote on content around the Web” but the core value of the latter one is to
allow users “to collect and interesting links they have discovers and may wish to revisit.”

In other words, individuals get to control and customized their news streams, this special
attribute of social news site facilitates the democracy which creates values to users. These
sites allow individuals to discover websites that a large number of people have already
discovered. Some say social news sites have changed the concept of newspaper nowadays
and are governed by the “wisdom of crowds”. Due to the fact that the contents personal
and targeted news and they empower users by putting the audience in the center via active
discussions and which reacts on how readers interact.

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POPULAR SOCIAL BOOKMARKING WEBSITES:

1. TWITTER:
Let‟s start with the big one and one people might not associate with social bookmarking too
much. Twitter is an excellent tool for this and you can achieve it in a couple of ways. First,
simply posting links, images, and content with your account means you‟ll have technically
bookmarked them. You could then go back through your account to find things again. On top
of that you can also use the „like‟ button for certain tweets. Many people use that too
bookmark interesting things they find and go back to them in the future.

2. STUMBLEUPON:

StumbleUpon is one of the bigger social bookmarking sites. Whenever you bookmark
something you can add extra details to is, such as what type of content it is and its subject. It
comes with a great toolbar to make this process simple. It also allows users to enter their own
interests and be shown relevant content submitted by other people.

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3. DRIBBLE:

Dribble is an excellent and beautiful bookmarking site aimed at designers. Not only is this a
great place for inspiration, it‟s a great place to get traffic to your site if you‟re a designer, or
have a design team. A nice idea for gaining some traction would be to encourage your design
team to get involved. If they have some downtime, see if they‟ll put something unique and
interesting together to go Dribble. It‟s a perfect way to showcase your team.

4. DIGG:

Digg has changed a lot over the years. Previously it was more like Reddit where the front
page was curated through the users of the site. Now this is done by editors, but it retains its
bookmarking function. Digg can be a great place to find new content and organize it through
your profile. Be careful, it can get quite addictive though.

5. REDDIT:

Reddit is the self-styled „front page of the internet‟. Users submit links to stories, images or
videos that they find interesting and other Reddit users can either up-vote or down-vote these
submissions. By up-voting, commenting, or down-voting, you can generate a list of
bookmarked content. It‟s also an excellent way to promote your own content. If you want to
do that, check out our piece on sub-reddit analytics.

6. SCOOP-IT:

Scoop-it caters to professionals, business and non-profits, and corporations. The site has well
over 1 million registered users so while not the biggest site on this list, it‟s still got a
substantial audience. Choose from a free or one of the paid plans, depending on how many
topics you want to post about. If you are going to use social bookmarking sites as part of
your marketing strategy, don‟t ignore the „social‟ part. Do be a good online neighbour and
“pin” other users‟ content, RT other users‟ content that is interesting, and participate in
discussions. The more generous you are, the more you will find that other users will return
the favour with your interesting content.

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 CHAPTER – 3:

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR TOWARDS SOCIAL MEDIA:

INTRODUCTION TO CONSUMER’S PSYCHOLOGY:

Consumer psychology refers to the processes used by clients and customers to select,
purchase, use and discard products and services. ... In the business world, consumer
psychology research helps firms improve their products, services and marketing strategies in
order to bolster sales.

The study of consumers helps firms and organizations improve their marketing strategies by
understanding issues such as:

 The psychology of how consumers think, feel, reason, and select between different
alternatives. (e.g., brands, products)
 The psychology of how the consumer is influenced by his or her environment. (e.g.,
culture, family, signs, media)
 The behavior of consumers while shopping or making other marketing decisions.
 Limitations in consumer knowledge or information processing abilities influence
decisions and marketing outcome.
 How consumer motivation and decision strategies differ between products that differ
in their level of importance or interest that they entail for the consumer, and
 How marketers can adapt and improve their marketing campaigns and marketing
strategies to more effectively reach the consumer.

Consumer behavior involves the study of how people either individually or in groups
acquire, use, experience, discard, and make decisions about goods, services, or even
lifestyle practices such as socially responsible and healthy eating. As an evolving
phenomenon, one should not be overly dogmatic about this definition. Numerous
alternatives, each taking a slighly different angle and emphasizing different aspects.
However, the scope presented here suggests that:

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 The behavior occurs either for the individual, or in the context of a group. (e.g.,
friends influence what kinds of clothes a person wears, or family tradition influences
which brand of laundry detergent is bought).
 Consumer behavior involves the use and disposal of products as well as the study of
how they are purchased. Product use is often of great interest to the marketer, because
this may influence how a product is best positioned or how we can encourage
increased consumption. Since many environmental problems result from product
disposal (e.g., motor oil being sent into sewage systems to save the recycling fee, or
garbage piling up at landfills) this is also an area of interest.
 Consumer behavior involves services and ideas as well as tangible products.
 The impact of consumer behavior on society is also of relevance. For example,
aggressive marketing of high fat foods, or aggressive marketing of easy credit, may
have serious repercussions for the national health and economy.

There are four main applications of consumer behavior:

 The most obvious is for marketing strategy i.e., for making better marketing
campaigns. For example, by understanding that consumers are more receptive to food
advertising when they are hungry, we learn to schedule snack advertisements late in
the afternoon. By understanding that new products are usually initially adopted by a
few consumers and only spread later, and then only gradually, to the rest of the
population, we learn that;
(1) Companies that introduce new products must be well financed so that they can
stay afloat until their products become a commercial success, and
(2) It is important to please initial customers, since they will in turn influence many
subsequent customers‟ brand choices.
 A second application is public policy. In the 1980s, Accutane, a near miracle cure for
acne, was introduced. Unfortunately, Accutane resulted in severe birth defects if taken
by pregnant women. Although physicians were instructed to warn their female
patients of this, a number still became pregnant while taking the drug. To get
consumers‟ attention, the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) took the step of
requiring that very graphic pictures of deformed babies be shown on the medicine
containers.

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  Social marketing involves getting ideas across to consumers rather than selling
something. Marty Fish-being, a marketing professor, went on sabbatical to work for
the Centers for Disease Control trying to reduce the incidence of transmission of
diseases through illegal drug use. The best solution, obviously, would be if we could
get illegal drug users to stop. This, however, was deemed to be infeasible. It was also
determined that the practice of sharing needles was too ingrained in the drug culture
to be stopped. As a result, using knowledge of consumer attitudes, Dr. Fish-being
created a campaign that encouraged the cleaning of needles in bleach before sharing
them, a goal that was believed to be more realistic.
 As a final benefit, studying consumer behavior should make us better consumers.
Common sense suggests, for example, that if you buy a 64 liquid ounce bottle of
laundry detergent, you should pay less per ounce than if you bought two 32 ounce
bottles. In practice, however, you often pay a size premium by buying the larger
quantity. In other words, in this case, knowing this fact will sensitize you to the need
to check the unit cost labels to determine if you are really getting a bargain.

There are several units in the market that can be analyzed. Our main thrust in this course
is the consumer. However, we will also need to analyze our own firm‟s strengths and
weaknesses and those of competing firms. Suppose, for example, that we make a product
aimed at older consumers, a growing segment. A competing firm that targets babies, a
shrinking market, is likely to consider repositioning toward our market. To assess a
competing firm‟s potential threat, we need to examine its assets (e.g., technology, patents,
market knowledge, awareness of its brands) against pressures it faces from the market.
Finally, we need to assess conditions (the marketing environment). For example, although
we may have developed a product that offers great appeal for consumers, a recession may
cut demand dramatically.

CONSUMER RESEARCH METHODS:

Market research is often needed to ensure that we produce what customers really want and
not what we think they want.

PRIMARY VS SECONDARY RESEARCH METHODS: There are two main approaches

to marketing. Secondary research involves using information that others have already put
together. For example, if you are thinking about starting a business making clothes for tall

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people, you don‟t need to question people about how tall they are to find out how many tall
people exist that information has already been published by the U.S.
Government. Primary research, in contrast, is research that you design and conduct
yourself. For example, you may need to find out whether consumers would prefer that your
soft drinks be sweater or tarter.

Research will often help us reduce risks associated with a new product, but it cannot take the
risk away entirely. It is also important to ascertain whether the research has been
complete. For example, Coca Cola did a great deal of research prior to releasing the New
Coke, and consumers seemed to prefer the taste. However, consumers were not prepared to
have this drink replace traditional Coke.

Surveys come in several different forms. Mail surveys are relatively inexpensive, but
response rates are typically quite low typically from 5-20%. Phone-surveys get somewhat
higher response rates, but not many questions can be asked because many answer options
have to be repeated and few people are willing to stay on the phone for more than five
minutes. Mall intercepts are a convenient way to reach consumers, but respondents may be
reluctant to discuss anything sensitive face-to-face with an interviewer.

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Surveys, as any kind of research, are vulnerable to bias. The wording of a question can
influence the outcome a great deal. For example, more people answered no to the question
“Should speeches against democracy be allowed?” than answered yes to “Should speeches
against democracy be forbidden?” For face-to-face interviews, interviewer bias is a danger,
too. Interviewer bias occurs when the interviewer influences the way the respondent
answers. For example, unconsciously an interviewer that works for the firm manufacturing
the product in question may smile a little when something good is being said about the
product and frown a little when something negative is being said. The respondent may catch
on and say something more positive than his or her real opinion. Finally, a response bias
may occur if only part of the sample responds to a survey, the respondents‟ answers may not
be representative of the population.

Focus groups are useful when the marketer wants to launch a new product or modify an
existing one. A focus group usually involves having some 8-12 people come together in a
room to discuss their consumption preferences and experiences. The group is usually led by
a moderator, who will start out talking broadly about topics related broadly to the product
without mentioning the product itself. For example, a focus group aimed at sugar-free
cookies might first address consumers‟ snacking preferences, only gradually moving toward
the specific product of sugar-free cookies. By not mentioning the product up front, we avoid
biasing the participants into thinking only in terms of the specific product brought
out. Thus, instead of having consumers think primarily in terms of what might be good or
bad about the product, we can ask them to discuss more broadly the ultimate benefits they
really seek. For example, instead of having consumers merely discuss what they think about
some sugar-free cookies that we are considering releasing to the market, we can have
consumers speak about their motivations for using snacks and what general kinds of benefits
they seek. Such a discussion might reveal a concern about healthfulness and a desire for
wholesome foods. Probing on the meaning of wholesomeness, consumers might indicate a
desire to avoid artificial ingredients. This would be an important concern in the marketing of
sugar-free cookies, but might not have come up if consumers were asked to comment
directly on the product where the use of artificial ingredients is, by virtue of the nature of the
product, necessary.

Focus groups are well suited for some purposes, but poorly suited for others. In general,
focus groups are very good for getting breadth i.e., finding out what kinds of issues are

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important for consumers in a given product category. Here, it is helpful that focus groups
are completely “open-ended:” The consumer mentions his or her preferences and opinions,
and the focus group moderator can ask the consumer to elaborate. In a questionnaire, if one
did not think to ask about something, chances are that few consumers would take the time to
write out an elaborate answer. Focus groups also have some drawbacks, for example:

 What proportion of the population is likely to buy the product.

 What price consumers are willing to pay.
 The groups are inherently social.
 Consumers will often say things that may make them look good. (i.e., they watch
public television rather than soap operas or cook fresh meals for their families daily)
even if that is not true.
 Consumers may be reluctant to speak about embarrassing issues. (e.g., weight control,
birth control).

Personal interviews involve in-depth questioning of an individual about his or her interest
in or experiences with a product. The benefit here is that we can get really into depth
(when the respondent says something interesting, we can ask him or her to elaborate), but
this method of research is costly and can be extremely vulnerable to interviewer bias.

To get a person to elaborate, it may help to try a common tool of psychologists and
psychiatrists simply repeating what the person said. He or she will often become
uncomfortable with the silence that follows and will then tend to elaborate. This
approach has the benefit that it minimizes the interference with the respondent‟s own
ideas and thoughts. He or she is not influenced by a new question but will instead, go
more in depth on what he or she was saying.

Personal interviews are highly susceptible to inadvertent “signaling” to the respondent.

Although an interviewer is looking to get at the truth, he or she may have a significant
interest in a positive consumer response. Unconsciously, then, he or she may
inadvertently smile a little when something positive is said and frown a little when
something negative is said. Consciously, this will often not be noticeable, and the
respondent often will not consciously be aware that he or she is being “reinforced” and
“punished” for saying positive or negative things, but at an unconscious level, the
cumulative effect of several facial expressions are likely to be felt. Although this type of

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conditioning will not get a completely negative respondent to say all positive things, it
may “swing” the balance a bit so that respondents are more likely to say positive thoughts
and withhold, or limit the duration of, negative thoughts.

Projective techniques are used when a consumer may feel embarrassed to admit to certain
opinions, feelings, or preferences. For example, many older executives may not be
comfortable admitting to being intimidated by computers. It has been found that in such
cases, people will tend to respond more openly about “someone else.” Thus, we may ask
them to explain reasons why a friend has not yet bought a computer, or to tell a story
about a person in a picture who is or is not using a product. The main problem with this
method is that it is difficult to analyze responses.

Projective techniques are inherently inefficient to use. The elaborate context that has to be
put into place takes time and energy away from the main question. There may also be real
differences between the respondent and the third party. Saying or thinking about
something that “hits too close to home” may also influence the respondent, who may or
may not be able to see through the ruse.

Observation of consumers is often a powerful tool. Looking at how consumers select

products may yield insights into how they make decisions and what they look for. For
example, some American manufacturers were concerned about low sales of their products
in Japan. Observing Japanese consumers, it was found that many of these Japanese
consumers scrutinized packages looking for a name of a major manufacturer; the product
specific-brands that are common in the U.S. (e.g., Tide) were not impressive to the
Japanese, who wanted a name of a major firm like Mitsubishi or Proctor &
Gamble. Observation may help us determine how much time consumers spend
comparing prices, or whether nutritional labels are being consulted.

A question arises as to whether this type of “spying” inappropriately invades the privacy
of consumers. Although there may be cause for some concern in that the particular
individuals have not consented to be part of this research, it should be noted that there is
no particular interest in what the individual customer being watched does. The question
is what consumers; either as an entire group or as segments; do. Consumers benefit, for
example, from stores that are designed effectively to promote efficient shopping. If it is
found that women are more uncomfortable than men about others standing too close, the

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areas of the store heavily trafficked by women can be designed accordingly. What is
being reported here, then, are averages and tendencies in response. The intent is not to
find “juicy” observations specific to one customer.

The video clip with Paco Underhill that we saw in class demonstrated the application of
observation research to the retail setting. By understanding the phenomena such as the
tendency toward a right turn, the location of merchandise can be observed. It is also
possible to identify problem areas where customers may be overly vulnerable to the “but
brush,” or overly close encounter with others. This method can be used to identify
problems that the customer experiences, such as difficulty finding a product, a mirror, a
changing room, or a store employee for help.

ONLINE RESEARCH METHODS: The Internet now reaches the great majority of
households in the U.S., and thus, online research provides new opportunity and has
increased in use.

One potential benefit of online surveys is the use of “conditional branching.” In

conventional paper and pencil surveys, one question might ask if the respondent has
shopped for a new car during the last eight months. If the respondent answers “no,” he or
she will be asked to skip ahead several questions. If the respondent answered “yes,” he or
she would be instructed to go to the next question which, along with the next several
ones, would address issues related to this shopping experience. Conditional branching
allows the computer to skip directly to the appropriate question. If a respondent is asked
which brands he or she considered, it is also possible to customize brand comparison
questions to those listed. Suppose, for example, that the respondent considered Ford,
Toyota, and Hyundai, it would be possible to ask the subject questions about his or her
view of the relative quality of each respective pair in this case, Ford vs. Toyota, Ford vs.
Hyundai, and Toyota vs. Hyundai.

There are certain drawbacks to online surveys. Some consumers may be more
comfortable with online activities than others and not all households will have
access. Today, however, this type of response bias is probably not significantly greater
than that associated with other types of research methods. A more serious problem is that
it has consistently been found in online research that it is very difficult if not impossible
to get respondents to carefully read instructions and other information online; there is a

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tendency to move quickly. This makes it difficult to perform research that depends on the
respondent‟s reading of a situation or product description.

Online search data and page visit logs provides valuable ground for analysis. It is possible
to see how frequently various terms are used by those who use a firm‟s web site search
feature or to see the route taken by most consumers to get to the page with the
information they ultimately want. If consumers use a certain term frequently that is not
used by the firm in its product descriptions, the need to include this term in online content
can be seen in search logs. If consumers take a long, “torturous” route to information
frequently accessed, it may be appropriate to redesign the menu structure and/or insert
hyperlinks in “intermediate” pages that are found in many users‟ routes.

SCANNER DATA: Many consumers are members of supermarket “clubs.” In return for
signing for a card and presenting this when making purchases, consumers are often
eligible for considerable discounts on selected products.

Researchers use a more elaborate version of this type of program in some

communities. Here, a number of consumers receive small payments and/or other
incentives to sign up to be part of a research panel. They then receive a card that they are
asked to present any time they go shopping. Nearly all retailers in the area usually
cooperate. It is now possible to track what the consumer bought in all stores and to have a
historical record.

The consumer‟s shopping record is usually combined with demographic information.

(e.g., income, educational level of adults in the household, occupations of adults, ages of
children, and whether the family owns and rents) and the family‟s television watching
habits. (Electronic equipment run by firms such as A. C. Nielsen will actually recognize
the face of each family member when he or she sits down to watch).

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It is now possible to assess the relative impact of a number of factors on the consumer‟s
choice.

 What brand in a given product category was bought during the last, or a series of past,
purchase occasions.
 Whether, and if so, how many times a consumer has seen an ad for the brand in
question or a competing one.
 Whether the target brand (and/or a competing one) is on sale during the store visit.
 Whether any brand had preferential display space.
 The impact of income and/or family size on purchase patterns. and
 Whether a coupon was used for the purchase and, if so, its value.

A “split cable” technology allows the researchers to randomly select half the panel
members in a given community to receive one advertising treatment and the other half
another. The selection is truly random since each household, as opposed to neighborhood,
is selected to get one treatment or the other. Thus, observed differences should, allowing
for sampling error, To be result of advertising exposure since there are no other
systematic differences between groups.

Interestingly, it has been found that consumers tend to be more influenced by

commercials that they “zap” through while channel surfing even if they only see part of

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the commercial. This most likely results from the reality that one must pay greater
attention while channel surfing than when watching a commercial in order to determine
which program is worth watching.

Scanner data is, at the present time, only available for certain grocery item product
categories; e.g., food items, beverages, cleaning items, laundry detergent, paper towels,
and toilet paper. It is not available for most non-grocery product items. Scanner data
analysis is most useful for frequently purchased items (e.g., drinks, food items, snacks,
and toilet paper) since a series of purchases in the same product category yield more
information with greater precision than would a record of one purchase at one point in
time. Even if scanner data were available for electronic products such as printers,
computers, and MP3 players, for example, these products would be purchased quite
infrequently. A single purchase, then, would not be as effective in effectively
distinguishing the effects of different factors e.g., advertising, shelf space, pricing of the
product and competitors, and availability of a coupon since we have at most one purchase
instance during a long period of time during which several of these factors would apply at
the same time. In the case of items that are purchased frequently, the consumer has the
opportunity to buy a product, buy a competing product, or buy nothing at all depending
on the status of the brand of interest and competing brands. In the case of the purchase of
an MP3 player, in contrast, there may be promotions associated with several brands going
on at the same time, and each may advertise. It may also be that the purchase was
motivated by the breakdown of an existing product or dissatisfaction or a desire to add
more capabilities.

Physiological measures are occasionally used to examine consumer response. For

example, advertisers may want to measure a consumer‟s level of arousal during various
parts of an advertisement. This can be used to assess possible discomfort on the negative
side and level of attention on the positive side.

By attaching a tiny camera to plain eye glasses worn by the subject while watching an
advertisement, it is possible to determine where on screen or other ad display the subject
focuses at any one time. If the focus remains fixed throughout an ad sequence where the
interesting and active part area changes, we can track whether the respondent is following
the sequence intended. If he or she is not, he or she is likely either not to be paying as

30
much attention as desired or to be confused by an overly complex sequence. In situations
where the subject‟s eyes do move, we can assess whether this movement is going in the
intended direction.

Mind-reading would clearly not be ethical and is, at the present time, not possible in any
event. However, it is possible to measure brain waves by attaching electrodes. These
readings will not reveal what the subject actually thinks, but it is possible to distinguish
between beta waves indicating active thought and analysis and alpha waves, indicating
lower levels of attention.

An important feature of physiological measures is that we can often track performance

over time. A subject may, for example, be demonstrating good characteristics such as
appropriate level of arousal and eye movement during some of the ad sequence and not
during other parts. This, then, gives some guidance as to which parts of the ad are
effective and which ones need to be reworked.

In a variation of direct physiological measures, a subject may be asked, at various points

during an advertisement, to indicate his or her level of interest, liking, comfort, and
approval by moving a lever or some instrument (much like one would adjust the volume
on a radio or MP3 player). Republican strategist used this technique during the
impeachment and trial of Bill Clinton in the late 1990s. By watching approval during
various phases of a speech by the former President, it was found that viewers tended to
respond negatively when he referred to “speaking truthfully” but favorably when the
President referred to the issues in controversy as part of his “private life.” The Republican
researchers were able to separate average results from Democrats, Independents, and
Republicans, effectively looking at different segments to make sure that differences
between each did not cancel out effects of the different segments. (For example, if at one
point Democrats reacted positively and Republicans responded negatively with the same
intensity, the average result of apparent indifference would have been very misleading).

RESEARCH SEQUENCE: In general, if more than one type of research is to be used,

the more flexible and less precise method such as focus groups and/or individual
interviews should generally be used before the less flexible but more precise methods
(e.g., surveys and scanner data) are used. Focus groups and interviews are flexible and
allow the researcher to follow up on interesting issues raised by participants who can be

31
 probed. However, because the sample sizes are small and because participants in a focus
group are influenced by each other, few data points are collected. If we run five focus
groups with eight people each, for example, we would have a total of forty responses.
Even if we assume that these are independent, a sample size of forty would give very
imprecise results. We might conclude, for example, that somewhere between 5% and
40% of the target market would be interested in the product we have to offer. This is
usually no more precise than what we already reasonably new. Questionnaires, in
contrast, are highly inflexible. It is not possible to ask follow-up questions. Therefore, we
can use our insights from focus groups and interviews to develop questionnaires that
contain specific questions that can be asked to a larger number of people. There will still
be some sampling error, but with a sample size of 1,000+ responses, we may be able to
narrow the 95% confidence interval for the percentage of the target market that is
seriously interested in our product to, say, 17-21%, a range that is much more meaningful.

INFORMATION SEARCH AND DECISION MAKING:

PROBLEM RECOGINITION: One model of consumer decision making involves several

steps. The first one is problem recognition you realize that something is not as it should
be. Perhaps, for example, your car is getting more difficult to start and is not accelerating
well. The second step is information search what are some alternative ways of solving the
problem? You might buy a new car, buy a used car, take your car in for repair, ride the bus,
ride a taxi, or ride a skateboard to work. The third step involves evaluation of alternative. A
skateboard is inexpensive, but may be ill-suited for long distances and for rainy days. Finally,
we have the purchase stage, and sometimes a post-purchase stage (e.g., you return a product
to the store because you did not find it satisfactory). In reality, people may go back and forth
between the stages. For example, a person may resume alternative identification during while
evaluating already known alternatives.

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Consumer involvement the amount of effort a consumer puts into searching depends on a
number of factors such as the market (how many competitors are there, and how great are
differences between brands expected to be?), product characteristics (how important is this
product? How complex is the product? How obvious are indications of quality?), consumer
characteristics (how interested is a consumer, generally, in analyzing product characteristics
and making the best possible deal?), and situational characteristics (as previously discussed).

Involvement can be either temporary or permanent (enduring). In the case of temporary

involvement, the consumer may not be particularly interested in the product category, but
may become involved long enough to be able to make an informed decision in an important
product category:

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In the case of enduring involvement, the consumer remains interested in the category usually
because of an inherent interest even if he or she does not anticipate making a purchase
immediately. For example, many "geeky" individuals spend a great deal of time reading
computer magazines when new issues come out.

When the purchase has been made, the consumer may stop giving much attention to that
product category.

It is important to consider the consumer‟s motivation for buying products. To achieve this
goal, we can use the Means-End chain, wherein we consider a logical progression of
consequences of product use that eventually lead to desired end benefit. Thus, for example, a
consumer may see that a car has a large engine, leading to fast acceleration, leading to a
feeling of performance, leading to a feeling of power, which ultimately improves the
consumer‟s self-esteem. A handgun may aim bullets with precision, which enables the user to
kill an intruder, which means that the intruder will not be able to harm the consumer‟s family,
which achieves the desired end-state of security. In advertising, it is important to portray the
desired end-states. Focusing on the large motor will do less good than portraying a successful
person driving the car.

INFORMATION SEARCH AND DECISION MAKING: Consumers engage in

both internal and external information search.

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Internal search involves the consumer identifying alternatives from his or her memory. For
certain low involvement products, it is very important that marketing programs achieve “top
of mind” awareness. For example, few people will search the Yellow Pages for fast food
restaurants; thus, the consumer must be able to retrieve one‟s restaurant from memory before
it will be considered. For high involvement products, consumers are more likely to use
an external search. Before buying a car, for example, the consumer may ask friends‟
opinions, read reviews in Consumer Reports, consult several web sites, and visit several
dealerships. Thus, firms that make products that are selected predominantly through external
search must invest in having information available to the consumer in need; e.g., through
brochures, web sites, or news coverage.

A compensatory decision involves the consumer “trading off” good and bad attributes of a
product. For example, a car may have a low price and good gas mileage but slow
acceleration. If the price is sufficiently inexpensive and gas efficient, the consumer may then
select it over a car with better acceleration that costs more and uses more gas. Occasionally, a
decision will involve a non-compensatory strategy. For example, a parent may reject all soft
drinks that contain artificial sweeteners. Here other good features such as taste and low
calories cannot overcome this one “non-negotiable” attribute.

The amount of effort a consumer puts into searching depends on a number of factors such as
the market (how many competitors are there, and how great are differences between brands
expected to be?), product characteristics (how important is this product? How complex is

35
the product? How obvious are indications of quality?), consumer characteristics (how
interested is a consumer, generally, in analyzing product characteristics and making the best
possible deal?), and situational characteristics (as previously discussed).

Two interesting issues in decisions are:

 Variety seeking: where consumers seek to try new brands not because these brands
are expected to be “better” in any way, but rather because the consumer wants a
“change of pace,” and
 “Impulse” purchases unplanned buys. This represents a somewhat “fuzzy”
group. For example, a shopper may plan to buy vegetables but only decide in the store
to actually buy broccoli and corn. Alternatively, a person may buy an item which is
currently on sale, or one that he or she remembers that is needed only once inside the
store.

A number of factors involve consumer choices. In some cases, consumers will be

more motivated. For example, one may be more careful choosing a gift for an in-law than
when buying the same thing for one self. Some consumers are also more motivated
to comparison shop for the best prices, while others are more
convenience oriented. Personality impacts decisions. Some like variety more than others,
and some are more receptive to stimulation and excitement in trying new
stores. Perception influences decisions. Some people, for example, can taste the
difference between generic and name brand foods while many
cannot. Selective perception occurs when a person is paying attention only to information
of interest. For example, when looking for a new car, the consumer may pay more
attention to car ads than when this is not in the horizon. Some consumers are put off by
perceived risk. Thus, many marketers offer a money back guarantee. Consumers will tend
to change their behavior through learning; e.g., they will avoid restaurants they have
found to be crowded and will settle on brands that best meet their tastes. Consumers differ
in the values they hold (e.g., some people are more committed to recycling than others
who will not want to go through the hassle). We will consider the issue of lifestyle under
segmentation.

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PERCEPTION:

BACKGROUND: Our perception is an approximation of reality. Our brain attempts to make

sense out of the stimuli to which we are exposed. This works well, for example, when we
“see” a friend three hundred feet away at his or her correct height; however, our perception is
sometimes “off”. For example, certain shapes of ice cream containers look like they contain
more than rectangular ones with the same volume.

FACTORS IN PERCEPTION: Several sequential factors influence our

perception. Exposure involves the extent to which we encounter a stimulus. For example, we
are exposed to numerous commercial messages while driving on the freeway: bill boards,
radio advertisements, bumper-stickers on cars, and signs and banners placed at shopping
malls that we pass. Most of this exposure is random we don‟t plan to seek it out. However, if
we are shopping for a car, we may deliberately seek out advertisements and “tune in” when
dealer advertisements come on the radio.

Exposure is not enough to significantly impact the individual at least not based on a single
trial (certain advertisements, or commercial exposures such as the “Swoosh” logo, are based
on extensive repetition rather than much conscious attention). In order for stimuli to be
consciously processed, attention is needed. Attention is actually a matter of degree our
attention may be quite high when we read directions for getting an income tax refund, but
low when commercials come on during a television program. Note, however, that even when
attention is low, it may be instantly escalated; for example, if an advertisement for a product
in which we are interested comes on.

Interpretation involves making sense out of the stimulus. For example, when we see a red
can, we may categorize it as a Coke.

Several factors influence the extent to which stimuli will be noticed. One obvious issue
is relevance. Consumers, when they have a choice, are also more likely to attend
to pleasant stimuli (but when the consumer can‟t escape, very unpleasant stimuli are also
likely to get attention thus, many very irritating advertisements are remarkably
effective). One of the most important factors, however, is repetition. Consumers often do not
give much attention to a stimuli; particularly a low priority one such as an advertisement at
any one time, but if it is seen over and over again, the cumulative impact will be greater.

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ATTITUDES:

INTRODUCTION: Consumer attitudes are a composite of a consumer‟s. (1) Beliefs about,

(2) Feelings about, and (3) Behavioral intentions toward some object within the context of
marketing, usually a brand or retail store. These components are viewed together since they
are highly interdependent and together represent forces that influence how the consumer will
react to the object.

BELIEFS: The first component is beliefs. A consumer may hold both positive beliefs toward
an object (e.g., coffee tastes good) as well as negative beliefs (e.g., coffee is easily spilled and
stains papers). In addition, some beliefs may be neutral (coffee is black), and some may be
differ in valance depending on the person or the situation (e.g., coffee is hot and stimulates
good on a cold morning, but not good on a hot summer evening when one wants to sleep).
Note also that the beliefs that consumers hold need not be accurate (e.g., that pork contains
little fat), and some beliefs may, upon closer examination, be contradictory (e.g., that a
historical figure was a good person but also owned slaves).

Since a consumer holds many beliefs, it may often be difficult to get down to a “bottom line”
overall belief about whether an object such as McDonald‟s is overall good or bad.

AFFECT: Consumers also hold certain feelings toward brands or other objects. Sometimes
these feelings are based on the beliefs (e.g., a person feels nauseated when thinking about a
hamburger because of the tremendous amount of fat it contains), but there may also be
feelings which are relatively independent of beliefs. For example, an extreme

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environmentalist may believe that cutting down trees is morally wrong, but may have positive
affect toward Christmas trees because he or she unconsciously associates these trees with the
experience that he or she had at Christmas as a child.

BEHAVIORAL INTENSION: The behavioral intention is what the consumer plans to do

with respect to the object (e.g., buy or not buy the brand). As with affect, this is sometimes a
logical consequence of beliefs (or affect), but may sometimes reflect other circumstances;
e.g., although a consumer does not really like a restaurant, he or she will go there because it is
a hangout for his or her friends.

ATTITUDE – BEHAVIOR CONSISTENCY: Consumers often do not behave consistently

with their attitudes for several reasons:

 Ability: He or she may be unable to do so. Although junior high school student likes
pick-up trucks and would like to buy one, she may lack a driver‟s license.
 Competing demands for resources: Although the above student would like to buy a
pickup truck on her sixteenth birthday, she would rather have a computer, and has
money for only one of the two.
 Social influence: A student thinks that smoking is really cool, but since his friends
think it‟s disgusting, he does not smoke.
 Measurement problems: Measuring attitudes is difficult. In many situations,
consumers do not consciously set out to enumerate how positively or negatively they
feel about mopeds, and when a market researcher asks them about their beliefs about
mopeds, how important these beliefs are, and their evaluation of the performance of
mopeds with respect to these beliefs, consumers often do not give very reliable
answers. Thus, the consumers may act consistently with their true attitudes, which
were never uncovered because an erroneous measurement was made.

ATTITUDE CHANGE STRATEGIES: Changing attitudes is generally very difficult,

particularly when consumers suspect that the marketer has a self-serving agenda in
bringing about this change (e.g., to get the consumer to buy more or to switch brands).

CHANGING AFFECT: One approach is to try to change affect, which may or may not
involve getting consumers to change their beliefs. One strategy uses the approach
of classical conditioning try to “pair” the product with a liked stimulus. For example, we

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“pair” a car with a beautiful woman. Alternatively, we can try to get people to like the
advertisement and hope that this liking will “spill over” into the purchase of a product.
For example, the Pillsbury Doughboy does not really emphasize the conveyance of much
information to the consumer; instead, it attempts to create a warm, fuzzy image. Although
Energizer Bunny ads try to get people to believe that their batteries last longer, the main
emphasis is on the likeable bunny. Finally, products which are better known, through
the mere exposure effect, tend to be better liked that is, the more a product is advertised
and seen in stores, the more it will generally be liked, even if consumers to do not
develop any specific beliefs about the product.

CHANGING BEHAVIOR: People like to believe that their behavior is rational; thus,
once they use our products, chances are that they will continue unless someone is able to
get them to switch. One way to get people to switch to our brand is to use temporary price
discounts and coupons; however, when consumers buy a product on deal, they may
justify the purchase based on that deal (i.e., the low price) and may then switch to other
brands on deal later. A better way to get people to switch to our brand is to at least
temporarily obtain better shelf space so that the product is more convenient. Consumers
are less likely to use this availability as a rationale for their purchase and may continue to
buy the product even when the product is less conveniently located. (Notice, by the way,
that this represents a case of shaping).

CHANGING BELIEFS: Although attempting to change beliefs is the obvious way to

attempt attitude change, particularly when consumers hold unfavorable or inaccurate
ones, this is often difficult to achieve because consumers tend to resist. Several
approaches to belief change exist:

1. Change currently held beliefs: It is generally very difficult to attempt to change

beliefs that people hold, particularly those that are strongly held, even if they are
inaccurate. For example, the petroleum industry advertised for a long time that its
profits were lower than were commonly believed, and provided extensive factual
evidence in its advertising to support this reality. Consumers were suspicious and
rejected this information, however.
2. Change the importance of beliefs: Although the sugar manufacturers would
undoubtedly like to decrease the importance of healthy teeth, it is usually not feasible

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 to make beliefs less important consumers are likely to reason, why, then, would you
bother bringing them up in the first place? However, it may be possible to strengthen
beliefs that favor us e.g., a vitamin supplement manufacturer may advertise that it is
extremely important for women to replace iron lost through menstruation. Most
consumers already agree with this, but the belief can be made stronger.
3. Add beliefs: Consumers are less likely to resist the addition of beliefs so long as they
do not conflict with existing beliefs. Thus, the beef industry has added beliefs that
beef (1) is convenient and (2) can be used to make a number of creative
dishes. Vitamin manufacturers attempt to add the belief that stress causes vitamin
depletion, which sounds quite plausible to most people.
4. Change ideal: It usually difficult, and very risky, to attempt to change ideals, and
only few firms succeed. For example, Hard Candy may have attempted to change the
ideal away from traditional beauty toward more unique self- expression.

ONE – SIDED VS TWO – SIDED APPEALS: Attitude research has shown that consumers
often tend to react more favorably to advertisements which either (1) admit something
negative about the sponsoring brand. (e.g., the Volvo is a clumsy car, but very safe) or (2)
admits something positive about a competing brand (e.g., a competing supermarket has
slightly lower prices, but offers less service and selection). Two-sided appeals must, contain
overriding arguments why the sponsoring brand is ultimately superior--that is, in the above
examples, the “but” part must be emphasized.

THE ELABORATION LIKELIHOOD MODEL (ELM) AND CELEBRITY

ENDORSEMENT: The ELM suggests that consumers will scrutinize claims more in
important situations than in unimportant ones. For example, we found that in the study of
people trying to get ahead of others in a line to use photo copiers, the compliance rate was
about fifty percent when people just asked to get ahead. However, when the justification
“because I have to make copies” was added, compliance increased to 80%. Since the reason
offered really did not add substantive information, we conclude that it was not extensively
analyzed--in the jargon of the theory, “elaboration” was low.

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The ELM suggests that for “unimportant” products, elaboration will be low, and thus Bill
Cosby is able to endorse Coke and Jell-O without having any special credentials to do
so. However, for products which are either expensive or important for some other reason
(e.g., a pain reliever given to a child that could be harmed by using dangerous substances),
elaboration is likely to be more extensive, and the endorser is expected to be “congruent,” or
compatible, with the product. For example, a basketball player is likely to be effective in
endorsing athletic shoes, but not in endorsing automobiles. On the other hand, a nationally
syndicated auto columnist would be successful in endorsing cars, but not athletic shoes. All
of them, however, could endorse fast food restaurants effectively.

APPEAL APPROACHES: Several approaches to appeal may be used. The use of affect to
induce empathy with advertising characters may increase attraction to a product, but may
backfire if consumers believe that people‟s feelings are being exploited. Fear appeals appear
to work only if (1) An optimal level of fear is evoked not so much that people tune it out, but
enough to scare people into action and (2) A way to avoid the feared stimulus is explicitly
indicated; e.g., gingivitis and tooth loss can be avoided by using this mouth
wash. Humor appears to be effective in gaining attention, but does not appear to increase
persuasion in practice. In addition, a more favorable attitude toward the advertisement may
be created by humorous advertising, which may in turn result in increased sales. Comparative
advertising, which is illegal in many countries, often increases sales for the sponsoring brand,
but may backfire in certain cultures.

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CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE:
Customers who are in a bad mood are more difficult to please. They are slower to process
information and consequently take longer to make decisions. They tend to be more
argumentative and are more likely to complain.

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION:
The relationship between affect and customer satisfaction is an area that has received
considerable academic attention, especially in the services marketing literature. The
proposition that there is a positive relationship between affect and satisfaction is well
supported in the literature. In a meta-analysis of the empirical evidence, carried out in 2001,
Szymanski, suggest that affect may be both an antecedent to and an outcome of satisfaction.
Emotions elicited during consumption are proposed to leave affective traces in memory,
traces that are available for consumers to access and integrate into their satisfaction
assessments.

A third meta-analysis, from 2013 elaborates on the concept of brand personality „First, the
key drivers of BP are communication with hedonic benefit claims, branding activities, a
brand‟s country-of-origin, and consumer personalities. Second, the study finds that the effects
of BP are stronger for mature brands than for brands in the early life cycle stages. Third,
sincerity and competence have the strongest influence on brand success variables (e.g., brand
attitude, image, commitment, purchase intention), while excitement and ruggedness have the
weakest influence on brand attitude and brand commitment.

ADVERTISEMENT:
Emotion can play an important role in advertising. In advertising, it is common to identify
advertising with two different approaches to persuasion: (a) Thinking ads- those that require
cognitive processing (also known as the central route to persuasion) and, (b) Feeling ads -
those that are processed at an emotional level (also known as the peripheral
route). Advertisers can bypass cognitive, rational processing which can lead to counter-
arguing by simply appealing to the emotions. Neuro-imaging studies suggest that when
evaluating brands, consumers primarily use emotions (personal feelings and experiences)
rather than information (brand attributes, features, and facts).

It is relatively widely accepted that emotional responses require fewer processing resources
(i.e. are easier) and also result in more enduring associations with the brand being

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advertised. Feelings elicited by the advertising message can shape attitudes towards the brand
and to the advertisement.

CUSTOMER LOYALTY:

“The relationship between an individual's relative attitude and repeat patronage" (Dick and
Basu, 1994). Thus, by definition, loyalty has both an attitudinal component and a behavioral
component. Dick and Basu proposed four types of loyalty based on relative attitude and
patronage behavior:

LOYALTY: Characterized by favorable attitude and favorable patronage behavior. For

marketers, true loyalty is the ideal situation.

Loyalty marketing programs are built on the insight that it costs 5-20 times more to acquire a
new customer than to retain an existing customer Marketers use a variety of loyalty programs
to strengthen customer attitudes towards the brand (or service provider/ retailer) in order to
retain customers, minimise customer defections and strengthen loyalty bonds with existing
customers. Broadly there are two types of program: reward and recognition programs. In
a Reward Program, the customer accumulates points for each purchase, and the points can
subsequently be exchanged for goods or services. Recognition Programs operate on a quasi-
membership basis where the consumer is issued with a card that upon presentation leads to

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various entitlements such as free upgrades, special privileges or access to products/services
that are not normally available to non- members, and that acknowledge the loyal customer's
"VIP" status. For example, a hotel might recognize loyal patrons by providing a
complimentary fruit bowl and bottle of champagne in the room on arrival. Whereas reward
programs are motivated by the consumer's desire for material possessions, recognition
programs are motivated by the consumer's need for esteem, recognition and status. Many
commercial loyalty programs are hybrid schemes, combining elements of both reward and
recognition. In addition, not all reward programs are designed to encourage loyalty. Certain
reward programs are designed to encourage other types of positive customer behavior such as
the provision of referrals or providing positive word-of-mouth (WOM) recommendations.

Loyalty marketing can involve the use of databases and sophisticated software to analyze and
profile customer loyalty segments with a view to identifying the most desirable segments,
setting goals for each segment and ultimately attempting to increase the size of the loyal
customer base.

INTERNET CONSUMER BEHAVIOR:

Traditional models of consumer behaviour were developed by scholars such as Fish-being

and Ajzen and Howard and Sheth in the 1960s and 70s. More recently, Shun and Yunjie
have argued that online consumer behavior is different to offline behavior and as a
consequence requires new theories or models.

Research has identified two types of consumer value in purchasing, namely product value and
shopping value. Product value is likely to be similar for both online and offline shoppers.
However, the shopping experience will be substantially different for online shoppers. In an
offline shopping environment, consumers derive satisfaction from being within the physical
store environment or retail landscape (hedonic motivations). In the case of online purchasing,
shoppers derive satisfaction from their ability to navigate a website and the convenience of
online searching which allows them to compare prices and 'shop around' with minimal time
commitment. Thus the online consumer is motivated by more utilitarian factors.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF ONLINE BEHAVIOR:

Consumers may use online platforms for various stages of the purchase decision. Some
consumers use online sources simply to acquire information about planned purchases. Others
use online platforms for making the actual purchase. In other situations, consumers may also

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use online platforms to engage in post-purchase behaviors, such as staying connected with a
brand by joining a brand community. Or they may become a brand advocate by posting a
product review online, or providing brand referrals via social media. Some e-commerce
providers have encountered a challenge in courting consumers who seek information online,
but still prefer to turn to bricks and mortar retailers for their purchase. To understand the
needs and habits of these and other kinds of online shoppers, online marketers have
segmented consumer markets into different kinds of online behavior in accordance with their
online behavioral characteristics. Lewis and Lewis (1997) identified five market segments
based on the way that consumers use the Internet in the purchase decision process:

1. "Directed Information-seekers" are users that primarily look for information about a
product or service online, but there is no guarantee that they may be converted into
online buyers.
2. "Undirected Information-seekers" are newcomers to a product or service. They are
more likely to interact with online prompts, and click through to web pages linked in
advertising.
3. "Directed Buyers" have a predetermined mindset and wish to purchase a specific
product or service online.
4. "Bargain Hunters" are price-sensitive users that like to discover products during sales
promotions. For these users, discounts are a major attraction to online sales
conversion.
5. "Entertainment Seekers" are online consumers that are attracted to marketing
delivered as a fun activity. Interactive online games could be useful in attracting this
kind of customer.

BRAND SWITCHING:

Brand switching occurs when a consumer chooses to purchase a brand that is different to the
regular or customary brand purchased. Consumers switch brands for a variety of reasons
including that the store did not have the regular brand or the consumer's desire for variety or
novelty in brand choice. In the fast moving consumer goods market (FMCG), the incidence
of switching is relatively high. A great deal of marketing activity is targeted at brand-
switchers. Rossiter and Bellman have proposed a classification of consumers based on brand-
loyalty/ switching behavior.

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Brand Loyal:
Purchase preferred brand on almost every purchase occasion.

Favorable Brand Switchers:

Exhibit moderate preference for the brand or brands that they buy and can be readily enticed
to purchase competing brands.

Other Brand Switchers:

Normally purchase a competing brand, possibly because they are unaware of our brand or
due to a negative experience with our brand.

NEW CATEGORY USERS:

Those who are unaware of a category but have potential to become new users.

Marketers are particularly interested in understanding the factors that lead to brand-switching.
A global, large sample survey carried out by Nielsen shows that four in 10 shoppers (41%)
said that getting a better price would encourage them to switch brands (or service
provider/retailer); 26% said quality was an incentive to switch; 15% looked for a better
service agreement and 8% said that improved features are a switching incentive. However,
cross-cultural differences were observed among respondents. Price was the major switch
incentive for more than half of North Americans (61%) and Europeans (54%) but price and
quality held equal sway in Asia-Pacific and Middle East/Africa, with roughly one-third of
respondents each in both regions reporting that both price and quality were the major
incentives to switching.

The concept of switching costs (also known as switching barriers) is pertinent to the
understanding of brand switching. Switching costs refer to the costs incurred by a consumer
when he or she switches from one supplier to another (or from one brand to another).
Although switching costs are often monetary, the concept can also refer to psychological
costs such as time, effort and inconvenience incurred as a result of switching. When
switching costs are relatively low, as in the case of many fast moving consumer goods
(FMCG), the incidence of brand switching tends to be higher. An example of switching that
includes both monetary and psychological costs is when Android or Apple users wish to
switch to a different platform, they would need to sacrifice their data, including purchased

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music tracks, apps or media and may also need to learn new routines to become an efficient
user.

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR AS A DYNAMIC PROCESS:

Consumer behavior involves the understanding that acquisition, use and disposition can
occur over time in a dynamic sequence. In other words the study of consumer behavior is the
study of how individuals make decisions to spend their available resources (money, time,
efforts) on consumption-related items. The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines
consumer behavior as “The dynamic interaction of cognition, behavior and environmental
events by which human beings conduct the exchange aspect of their lives. Consumer
behavior is “The study of individuals, groups, or organizations and the processes they use to
select, secure, use and dispose of products, services, experiences, or ideas to satisfy needs and
the impacts that these processes have on the consumer and society.” Behavior occurs either
for the individual, or in the context of a group (e.g., friend‟s influence what kinds of clothes a
person wears) or an organization (people on the job make decisions as to which services the
firm should use). Product use is often of great interest to the marketer, because this may
influence how a product is best positioned or how we can encourage the consumption of a
product in market. Consumer behavior involves services and ideas as well as tangible
products. The impact of consumer behavior on society is also relevant. For example,
aggressive marketing of high fat foods, or aggressive marketing of easy credit, may have
serious repercussions for the national health and economy. Services are also marketed in
much the manner as goods and commodities. Still there are wide difference between goods
and services based on their characteristics and attributes.

DIFFERENT VIEWS ON CUSTOMER:

Marketing scientists had noted that consumer does not always act or react as suggested by
economic theory. Therefore customer is further analyzed from different angle. Sometime
consumers buy because of emotions involved in a purchase decision or several other reasons.

(1) Economic and Passive Customer: Economic view explains the consumer as an
economic man who buys rationally to maximize the utility (benefits) derived from a product
or service. The passive view explains the consumer basically submissive to the self-serving
interest and promotional efforts of marketers.

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(2) Cognitive Versus Emotional Customer: According to cognitive view consumer is
defined as a thinker and problem solver. Emotional man is a reality of each of us because of
deeply rooted feeling and emotions.
(3) Potential and Realized Customer: There are three possibilities to identify the state of
consumer; (1) non consumers (2) potential consumers and (3) realized consumers. A non-
consumer is an individual who has no need for a given product/service and is not likely to
have need in the foreseeable future. An individual not currently purchasing may influenced to
buy at some future point of time is referred to as a potential consumer. Realized consumers
generally conform to our earlier definition of purchaser or shopper, since they are engaged in
buying.
(4) Personal Consumer Versus Organizational Consumer: The term consumer is often
used to describe two different kinds of consuming entities; the personal consumer and the
organizational consumer. The personal consumer buys goods and services for his own, for the
use of the household, for just one member or as a gift for a friend. In these context the goods
are bought or finally use by individuals who are referred to as “end users” or “ultimate
consumers.” Whereas organizational consumers buy for altering, modifying or reselling the
products/services.
(5) Final Consumer: Any person engaged in the consumption process is a consumer but
these buyers can be identified by the type of market to which they belong. Two major types
of market to which they belong are final consumer and industrial buyer. The final consumer
market consists of individuals who buy for personal consumption or to meet the collective
needs of family or household unit.
(6) Rural Consumer: The rural market is one such segment that caught the fancy of certain
Indian marketers in a big war. Marketer considers catering to the rural market as an
opportunity, an antidote to the slow growth they faced in urban India. Rural consumers as a
segment have several distinctive characteristics and the values aspirations and needs of this
vast heterogeneous culture of rural consumers are quite different from the urban consumers.
(7) Women as a Consumer and Decision Maker: Gender is considered as an important
characteristic for consumer behavior studies by marketers from past several years. They treat
women as an exception rather than as normal average is a retrograde gap. Large number of
experts felt that it is a fact of life that women consumer exhibit special traits and behavior.

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CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR -AN EMERGING FIELD OF STUDY:
In the highly specialized study of “business management”, “Business administration” or just
“management” today, “marketing management” function plays a very critical role in business
activities. This is because this functional area of management (1) “Earns” the revenue and (2)
“Works” in the close proximity with the public or persons outside the organization.
Controlling these two attributes to have the desired benefits are the most difficult part of the
management, because none of these two are within the direct control of the marketers. This
does not mean that the other functional areas are not useful, but they are not “directly”
involved in the activities mentioned above.

Marketing consists of an interaction between buyer and seller for the purpose of exchanging
something valuable to the mutual benefit of both the parties to the transaction. One cannot
appreciate this marketing process by observing only the seller, knowledge about consumer is
a sound basis for marketing strategies and decisions. Markets are selected on the basis of
consumer wants, location, characteristics and expenditure patterns. To ignore the customer
can lead to disaster in a modern economy.

Consumer behaviour has become an integral part of strategic market planning. It is also the
basis of the approach to the concept of “Holistic Marketing”. The belief that ethics and
corporate social responsibility should also be integral components of every marketing
decision is embodied in a revised marketing concept “The societal marketing concept” which
calls on marketers to fulfill the needs of their target markets in ways that improve society as a
whole.

Consumer or the “Customer” play a very critical role as these are the people who finally buy
the goods and services of the organization and the firm is always on the move to make them
buy so as to earn revenue. It‟s crucial from both the points of view as given below:

From the customer’s point of view: Today, in the highly developed and technologically
advanced society, the customers have a great deal of choices and options (often very close
and competing) to decide on or compare;
(a) They have the products of an extreme range of products attributes. (The 1st P - Product),
(b) They have a wide range of cost and payment choices. (The 2nd P - Price),

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(c) They can order them to be supplied to their door step or anywhere else. (The 3rd P -
Place) and
(d) Finally they are bombarded with more communications from more channels of
information than ever before with the invent of information technology. (The 4th P -
Promotion).

From the marketer’s point of view: “The purpose of marketing is to sell more stuff to more
people more often for more money in order to make more profit”. This is the basic principle
of requirement for the marketers in earlier days where aggressive selling was the primary
aim. It cannot be achieved by force, aggression or plain alluring. Customer today are more
informed, more knowledgeable, more demanding, more discerning and above all there is no
dearth of marketers to buy from. The marketers have to earn them or win them over. The
global marketplace is a study of diversity among consumers, producers, marketers, retailers,
advertising media, cultures, custom and of course the individual or psychological behaviour.
However, despite prevailing diversities, there also are many similarities. Consumer market is
highly sensitive and driven by widely diversified culture in many countries.

The study of consumer behaviour is also very important to the marketers because it enables
them to understand and predict buying behaviour of consumers in the marketplace. It is
concerned not only with what consumers buy, but also with why they buy it, when, where,
how they buy it, how often they buy it and also how they enjoy the services. Consumer
research is the methodology used to study consumer behaviour; it takes place at every phase
of the buying process: before the purchase, during the purchase and after the purchase.
Researches shows that two different buyers buying the same product may have done it for
different reasons, paid different prices, used in different ways, have different emotional
attachments towards the things and so on. The market strategies are reframed to achieve
organizational objectives depending upon knowing, serving and influencing consumers. This
suggests that the knowledge and information about consumers is critical for developing
successful marketing strategies. The relationship between consumers and marketers,
consumer behaviour and marketing strategy is instable to attain organizational objectives.

Consumer behaviour is interdisciplinary approach based on concepts and theories about

people that have been developed by behavioural scientists, philosophers and researchers in

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diverse disciplines such as psychology, sociology, social psychology, cultural anthropology
and economics. The study of consumer behaviour also helps management to understand
consumers‟ needs so as to recognize the potential for the trend of development of change in
consumer requirements and new technology and also to articulate the new thing in terms of
the consumers‟ needs so that it will be universally accepted in the market well. The following
are few examples of the benefits of the study of consumer behaviour derived by the different
categories of people: (a) A marketing manager should know about consumer behaviour as it
will help him to design better marketing plans to get those plans accepted within the
company. (b) In insurance company the marketing department would like to know the
policyholders need and (c) Researchers want to analyse the consumer‟s decision process and
ingredients of customer satisfaction.

CONCEPTS AND DIMENSIONS OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR:

Consumer behaviour is an interdisciplinary science and relatively emerged as a new field of
study in the mid to late 1060s. This new discipline is borrowed heavily from concepts
developed in other scientific disciplines such as applied psychology, social psychology,
cultural anthropology, economics and econometrics. Therefore, it is crucial to discuss various
dimensions of consumer behaviour in the context of Indian consumer.

1. Consumer Needs and Motivation: Consumer needs are the basis of all modern
marketing. The key to a company‟s survival, profitability and growth in a highly
competitive environment is its ability to identify and satisfy unfulfilled consumer
needs Marketers do not create needs though in some instances they may make
consumer more keenly aware of unfelt need. Motivation can be described as the
deriving force within individuals that impels them to action.
The deriving force is produced by a state of tension exists as the result of an unfilled
need. Motivation is a need-induced tension which exerts a “push” on the individual to
engage in behaviour that he expects, will gratify needs and thus reduce tension.
Individuals strive both consciously and subconsciously to reduce this tension through
behaviour that they anticipate will fulfill their needs. Consumer motivation is dynamic
in nature because their wants are frequently changing.

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2. Consumer Psychographics: Marketing practitioner and consumer researchers refer
Psychographics as lifestyle analysis or AIO (activity, interest and opinions) research.
Consumer specific psychographics researches are related to consumer personality,
buying motives, interests, attitudes, beliefs and values. Services specific
psychographics researches are related to product attributes such as consumer
responses about products, brands or a specific consumption situation.
Learning and consumer involvement: Consumer learning is the process of
acquiring the knowledge related to purchase and consumption information.

3. Demographic Factors: Demographics describe a population in terms of its size,

distribution and structure. Demographics influence buying behaviour both directly
and indirectly by affecting other attributes of individuals such as their personal values
and decision styles. There are contradictory conclusions about the effect of age,
income and gender for a particular service. Age, age-groups, education level, income,
occupation etc. serves as various dimensions of demographics. In India additional
factors such as religion, social denominations, caste, age, family background, regional
disparities in states, linguistic difference, regional perception of class factor and the
degree of impact of these factors in affecting the social status, all play crucial role in
determining the social status of an individual.

4. Economic Factors: Wealth, home ownership, number of earning members in a

family, household income, expenditure, Rate of interest, inflation, economic
conditions and investment pattern are some of the economic factors have strong
influence on consumer purchase decision.

5. Communication and Consumer Behaviour: Communication is the transmission of

messages from a sender to a receiver by means of signals of some sort sent through a
channel. There are four basic components of all communications: a source, a
destination, a medium and a message. There are two types of communication to which
a consumer is exposed interpersonal communication and impersonal (or mass)
communication.

6. Socio-cultural Factors Consumer in a group, and consumer reference groups: A

group may be defined as two or more people who interact to accomplish similar goals.

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 Consumer relevant groups are family, friends, formal social groups, shopping groups,
consumer action groups, work groups, references groups etc. Four basic functions
provided by the family are relevant to consumer behaviour these include; economic
well-being, emotional support, suitable family lifestyles and family-member
socialization. Sociologists and researchers have strongly favoured the concept of
Family Life Cycle (FLC) - a way to classify family units into significant groups. FLC
is a strategic tool for marketers to segment families in terms of a series of stages
spanning the life course of a family unit. Traditional family life cycle stages are
bachelorhood, honeymooners, parenthood, post parenthood and dissolution.

Consumer and their social classes: Social class is defined as the division of
members of a society into a hierarchy of distinct status classes so that members of
each class have relatively the same status and members of all other classes have either
more or less status. Social class is measured in terms of social status of its members
and comparison of members of each social class with other social classes. Some of the
variables of the social class are occupation, income, educational level and property
ownership etc.

Culture and consumer behaviour: Culture is a sum total of learned beliefs, values
and customs that serves to direct the consumer behaviour of a particular society.
Subculture can be thought as a distinct cultural group that exists as an identifiable
segment within a larger and more complex society.

7. Consumer and Consumerism: The word consumerism has many expressions

depending on who is using the term government, business, consumer groups,
academicians and researchers. Consumerism is defined as a social movement of
citizens and government to enhance the rights and powers of buyers in relation to
seller.

CONSUMERS CHOICES (OPTIONS/ATTRIBUTES):

Personality strongly impacts decisions of buyer. Consumer‟s choice involves selection of one
service/brand from a set of possibilities and on variety, reception of stimulators and
excitement of trying from new stores. Sometimes choices are based upon judgments like

54
consumer will purchase the services if they have a favorable attitude towards a product
consumer choice involves selecting one service from a set of possibilities.

(1) Consideration Set: Consideration set is the range of services that a consumers can recall
on the basis of past experience before any new purchase.

(2) Price-List Cuing: Consumer‟s consideration sets are likely to vary over the time,
depending on how many and which particular brands happen to be salient, vivid or accessible
from memory at the time the purchase decision is rendered. This dynamic set of consideration
set formation raises some interesting issues for marketing strategy.

(3) The Attraction Effect: Another way to influence consumer‟s consideration sets by adding
a new brand to a service line this is known as attraction effect.

(4) Consumers compare attributes, trade-off across services rather than comparing one
service‟s with another.

BUYER DECISION PROCESS TOWARDS NEW SERVICES:

1. Awareness stage: In this stage an individual comes to know about a new innovation
or new idea or new product/service. He becomes aware of the innovation from any
source of information like friends or neighbors, co-workers, commercial sources etc.
The individual only learns about knowledge, innovations from either of the sources of
information. This means his knowledge about the new innovation is only limited to
extent the information generated by the source of information from where he first
learns about the new innovations.
2. Interest stage: After being aware of innovation in this stage the buyer feel stimulated
and is interested in the innovation to seek more information in terms of its utility
aspects, its performance, durability and so on. The in depth information sought by him
will try to be obtained from all the sources he finds reliable.
3. Evaluation stage: Based on all the information gathered by the individual buyer will
evaluate and make decision whether it is worthwhile or whether it will make sense
and do him good to try out the innovation. In other words from all the collected
information related to innovation buyer will mentally try to evaluate the service

55
 attributes and work out to what extent the new service will be useful and then decide
whether or not to try the new service.
4. Trial stage: After evaluating the worthiness of the new service the buyer may decide
to try out the innovation on a small scales basis initially to make an actual assessment
of the value of the new service. This stage also indicates that now the buyer is
mentally prepared to try out the innovation, through initially on a small scale. The
buyer wants to experiment with the innovation and depending on how comfortable he
feels with to service, he will decide whether to go for large scale use or not. Since the
buyer is not sure about the outcome of the use or consumption of the new service or
innovation, he feels it more logical and practical to go for a trial before extending it to
full fledge use.
5. Adoption stage: After deriving the satisfaction from the purchase of new service on a
trial basis, the buyer decide upon whether to extend full fledge use or not. This is the
last stage in the adoption process. The buyer takes the final decision for the further
use of service. The adoption process model is suggested by Everett M. Rogers
describes five stages of adoption; knowledge (awareness stage), persuasion (forming
attitude), decision, implementation and confirmation.

INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCE IN INNOVATIVENESS:

1. Innovators: After being aware of and seeking more information of new services only
few buyers normally try out the new services. These people are referred to as pioneers
or innovators of the new service. Innovators are venturesome and are easily assessed
to new ideas.
2. Early adopters: The early adopters are the other buyers who adopt the new ideas and
services after innovators. The people do not immediately plunge into buying as soon
as a new service is available in the market. The early adopters also take to purchasing
or trying new service quite early but after carefully verifying and gathering
information about the new idea or new service from authentic sources. Marketers
have identified that the early adopters are usually recognized as opinion leaders in
their social circles or community.
3. Early majority: The early majority are the buyers who adopt new service after some
time and after careful investigation. These people are more deliberate as compared to

56
 the innovators or early adopters. These people are more thoughtful, shrewd and will
not easily get swayed by new services or innovation.
4. Late majority: The other buyers who adopt services a little later are referred as late
majority. These people unlike the earlier mentioned categories of adopters to the
innovation are more conservative in their approach and do not immediately respond in
favour of a change. Their acceptance of the new service will come into effect only
after a public opinion is in favour of the new product or service. The late majority are
people with limited education and have an average social status, drawing limited
salary and consequently having limited purchasing power.
5. Laggards: This is the last category of buyers to adopt a new service, comprising of
rest of the people. As the term “laggards” indicate, these people are who lagging
behind and here in their acceptance of innovations. These people are very
conservative, tradition bound. A lot of deliberation, caution and suspicion exhibited in
their buying decisions for new services. They generally prefer to mingle with people
of similar traditions.

CONSUMER JUDGEMENT:

People are likely to form many different judgments while viewing commercial and
evaluating products and services. A judgment refers to the location of a target object or
issues on a cognitive continuum. Some cognitive continuum are non-evaluative, such as
the concepts “safe,” “gentle,” or “effective.” Non evaluative judgments are referred to as
belief.

Some cognitive continuum are evaluative such as good, bad, favorable or unfavorable.
Like non evaluative dimensions are continuous in nature. This means the consumer have
very unfavorable, unfavorable, somewhat unfavorable, neutral, somewhat favorable,
favorable or very favorable attitude. Attitudes are important because they often exert a
strong influence on purchase decisions. If one have a very positive attitude toward a
particular service, the person is more likely to buy the service.

1. Evaluative Judgment: An attitude is evaluative judgment and has two main

components: direction and extremity. An evaluation is always made with respect
to some target object or issue. The object can be general of specific. The object
can also be physical object or an abstract issue.

57
 2. Preference Judgment: Preferences are evaluative judgments concerning two or
more objects. Sometimes attitudes serve as building blocks for preference.
Sometimes preferences are based on comparisons of attributes or features of two
or more services. Preferences formed on the basis of consumer‟s overall attitudes
toward two or more services.
3. Satisfaction Judgment: Satisfaction involves comparing a chosen service with a
rejected service. The chosen service is the service the consumer actually
purchased. The rejected service is a service that was considered for purchase but
was not chosen.
4. Prediction and Intention Judgment: Prediction about future events influences
many other types of judgments including expectations, attributions and intentions.
Good consumer decision making requires accurate probability or likelihood
judgments about a wide variety of attributes such as service performance, accurate
predictions about when a service requires replacement, after sale services and
accurate predictions about one‟s own future behaviour.

INDIVIDUAL DECISION MAKING:

A decision is the selection of an action from two or more alternatives. The buyer
preferences rapidly change and are affected by multiplicity of factors at a given point of
time which are difficult to analyze. Therefore it is necessary to continuously study,
analyze and understand it and monitor this understanding to the marketing management
so that effective decisions can be taken in respect of service‟s price, distribution and
promotion.

A typical buying process consists of five steps namely; problem recognition, information
search, search of best alternative and making choice, final buying and post purchase
behaviour.

58
 CHAPTER – 4:

DATA ANALYSIS, INTERPRETATION AND PESENTATION:

 BACKGROUND:

This following section presents analysis made on the data collected from the questionnaire.
The set of questions based on the theories discussed in preceding chapters were sent to all
possible individuals. Each question and response option associates with components of
theories, and they have been modified in order to allow respondents to understand easily and
to avoid any potential error in misunderstanding.

Since the survey was sent out to approximately 150 individuals, and the number of
participants were 120, therefore the total percentage of responses was 80(%). In total the
questionnaire contains 16 questions. In the upcoming sections, analysis and the findings are
presented; as for conclusions and further suggestions, they are discussed in the next chapter.

Q-1 Age ?

a. 18-25 years

b. 26-30 years

c. 31-40 years

d. Above 40 years

59
OBJECTIVES:

The objective of this questionnaire is to show the use of social media by people of different
age groups.

DATA ANALYSIS:

Out of the total sampled population analysed, 42.5% people belongs to 18-25 years age
group. Hence, social media is more popular amongst youngsters.

Q-2 Gender ?

a. Male

b. Female

60
OBJECTIVES:

The objective of this questionnaire is to show the use of social media by people of different
gender.

DATA ANALYSIS:

Gender plays an important role in influencing the decision as there are various product that
are targeted to specific genders. As per the above diagram both male and female use social
media equally.

Q-3 Educational Level ?

a. School Level

b. 12th

c. Under-Graduation

d. Post-Graduation

e. Others

61
OBJECTIVES:

The objective of this questionnaire is to show the use of social media by people of different
Educational level.

DATA ANALYSIS:

As per the diagram, Educational level plays an important role for the people that uses the
product from social media. As 49.2% of people are post-graduation. Hence, social media is
more popular amongst these people.

Q-4 What is the Occupation ?

a. Business

b. Service

c. Student

d. Others

62
OBJECTIVES:

The objective of this questionnaire is to show the use of social media by people of different
Occupations.

DATA ANALYSIS:

As per the diagram, Occupation plays an important role for the people that uses the product
from social media. As 50% of people are doing service. Hence, social media is more popular
amongst the people going for service.

Q-5 Which social networking sites you prefer the most ?

a. Facebook

b. Instagram

c. Twitter

d. Youtube

63
OBJECTIVES:

The objective of this questionnaire is to show the use of social media by people that uses
different social media site.

DATA ANALYSIS AND DATA INTERPRETATION:

From the above diagram, 37.5% of people use Instagram. 30% of people are using Facebook,
27.5% of people use Youtube and very less people use Twitter. Hence, from this we can
analyse that majority of respondents are using Instagram, and Minimum respondents i.e.
62.5% of people use the other social networking site.

Q-6 How much time do you currently spend on social media networking
sites per day ?

a. 0-1 hours

b. 1-2 hours

c. 2-3 hours

64
d. 3-4 hours

e. More than 4 hours

OBJECTIVES:

The objective of this questionnaire is to show that how many people are spending time on
social media site.

DATA ANALYSIS AND DATA INTERPRETATION:

From the above diagram, 19.2% of people spend 1-2 hours on social media site, 32.5% of
people spend 1-2 hours on social media site. 22.5% of people spend 2-3 hours on social
media site, 8.3% of people spend 3-4 hours on social media site, and 17.5% of people spend
more than 4 hours on social media site. Hence, from this we can analyse that majority of
respondents spend 1-2 hours on social media site.

Q-7 How often do you check your personal social networking site account ?

a. Many times a day

65
b. Once in a day

c. 3-4 times in a week

d. Once in a week

OBJECTIVES:

The objective of this questionnaire reflects that how many people use personal social
networking site account.

DATA ANALYSIS AND DATA INTERPRETATION:

As per the above diagram, 60% of people use their personal social networking site many
times a day, 31.7% of people use their personal social networking site once in a day and very
less people use personal social networking site 3-4 times in a week or once in a week, and
Minimum respondents i.e. 40% of people use their personal social networking site very less.

66
Q-8 Through which electronic device you access social networking site
regularly ?

a. Computer

b. Smart phone

c. Laptop

d. Ipad

OBJECTIVES:

The objective of this questionnaire determine that how many people uses electronic device
regularly.

67
DATA ANALYSIS AND DATA INTERPRETATION:

As per the above diagram, 92.5% of people use smart phone for social networking site
regularly, and very less people use computer, Laptop and Ipad for social networking site
regularly. Among 120 respondents, Most of the people use smart phone for social networking
site regularly. As per the diagram there are (92.5%) maximum respondents that majority of
people use computer for social networking site. Minimum respondents i.e. 5% of people use
other device for social networking site regularly.

Q-9 What are the reasons for following on social media networks ?

a. Exclusive deals or offers

b. I am a current customer

c. Interesting or entertaining contents

d. Other people I know are fans of the brand

e. Services, support or product news

f. Others

68
OBJECTIVES:

The objective of this questionnaire commands that what are the reasons people use social
media networks.

DATA ANALYSIS AND DATA INTERPRETATION:

As per the diagram, 37.5% of people use the social site network because they are interested
on entertainment content, 12.5% of people use social networking site because they are
interested on news such as product, service and support, 3.2% of people use social
networking site because of exclusive deals or offer and minimum people are the current
costumer.

Q-10 Do you prefer to buy products on trail basis through these social
marketing?

a. Yes

b. No

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c. Maybe

OBJECTIVES:

The objective of this questionnaire shows that people prefer to buy products on trail basis
through the social marketing sites.

DATA ANALYSIS AND DATA INTERPRETATION:

As per the above diagram, 30.8% of people use the product on trail basis through the social
marketing sites, 20.8% of people use the product on trail basis through the social marketing
site and 48.3% of people maybe use product on trail basis through the social marketing site.
Hence, very less people use the product on trail basis.

Q-11 What will be your sources of purchasing of branded products ?

a. Online

b. Offline

70
OBJECTIVES:

The objective of this questionnaire shows that people prefer the online or offline branded
products.

DATA ANALYSIS AND DATA INTERPRETATION:

As per the above diagram, 55.8% of people purchase offline branded products and 44.2% of
people purchase online branded product. Hence, As per the diagram, the majority of people
purchase the branded product offline and very less people purchase the branded product
online.

Q-12 How long have you been purchasing products through social
networking site ?

a. Less than 13 months

b. 13-24 months

c. 24-36 months

71
d. More than 36 months

OBJECTIVES:

The objective of this questionnaire shows that how long have been people purchasing product
through social networking sites.

DATA ANALYSIS AND DATA INTERPRETATION:

As per the diagram, 54.2% of people purchase the product through social networking site less
than 13 month, 18.3% of people purchase the product through social networking site 13-24
months, 14.2% of people purchase the product through social networking site 24-36 months
and 13.3% of people purchase the product through social networking site more than 36
months.

Q-13 Which type of payment mode you prefer the most ?

a. Cash on delivery

b. Online payment

72
OBJECTIVES:

The objective of this questionnaire reflects that which type of mode of payment people prefer
the most.

DATA ANALYSIS AND DATA INTERPRETATION:

As per the diagram, 58.3% of people prefer cash on delivery, and 41.7% of people prefer
online payment. Therefore, Among 120 respondents, Most of the people prefer the cash on
delivery. As per the diagram, the majority of people prefer cash on delivery than online
payment.

Q-14 How much do you agree that social media helps in acquiring
information about fashion trends ?

a. Strongly agree

b. Agree

c. Neutral

73
d. Disagree

e. Strongly disagree

OBJECTIVES:

The objective of this questionnaire reflects that how much people agree about the fashion
trend acquiring information on social media site.

DATA ANALYSIS AND DATA INTERPRETATION:

As per the above diagram, 42.5% of people agree about the fashion trend on social media
sites, 29.2% of people are neutral about the fashion trend on social media sites, 25% of
people are strongly agree about the fashion trend on social media sites, and very less of
people are disagree about the fashion trend on social media sites. Among 120 respondents,
Majority of the people are agree about the fashion trend on social networking site.

74
Q-15 How often do you buy products that you see on these sites ?

a. Always

b. Sometimes

OBJECTIVES:

The objective of this questionnaire reflects that how often do people buy the product that they
see on social sites.

DATA ANALYSIS AND DATA INTERPRETATION:

As per the diagram, 89.2% of people buy the product sometimes from social media site and
10.8% of people always buy the product from social media sites. Hence, among 120
respondents, Majority of the people buy the product sometimes from social networking sites
and very less people buy the product always from social networking sites.

75
Q-16 Do you follow Fashion related blogs ?

a. Yes

b. No

c. Sometimes

OBJECTIVES:

The objective of this questionnaire determines that how many people follow fashion related
blogs.

DATA ANALYSIS AND DATA INTERPRETATION:

As per the above diagram, 32.5% of people follow fashion related blogs, 36.7% of people do
not follow fashion related blogs and 30.8% of people may follow or may not follow the
fashion related blogs.

76
 CHAPTER - 5

CONCLUSION AND SUGGETIONS:

5.1 OUTLINE:

The study commenced by giving the background of the study and what motivated the
researcher to conduct the study on the topic of social media. We saw how social media is
slowly becoming an important marketing tool which offers an companies opportunity to
engage with their markets and to learn about customer‟s needs, important segments and
profile unlike main stream media i.e. radio or print channels. However, the implications are
that this is an uncontrolled environment that business do not have control over and therefore
it requires a robust social media strategy that also manages the comments posted by
consumers whether positive or negative.

Even though they are becoming popular and effective marketing tools, Social network sites
can pose a threat as well as an opportunity to companies as they can rapidly spread the views
of dissatisfied customer‟s comments. Social networks and the Web offer small and large
companies new and unique opportunities to engage with their customer and learn about
customer‟s needs in real time like never before. Evidence presented suggests that the peer
group online social network effect can potentially influence purchase decisions because of its
viral nature.

Social media alone cannot be effective without augmenting it with other traditional media
channels like radio, newspaper, or TV even though it is widely reported that the effectiveness
of traditional media and their use is sharply falling. In general it is worth having a social
media strategy in place to manage the enormous challenges that social media brings.

The findings of the empirical framework coincided with the theoretical framework based on
the research problems. The study shows how social media has become an important tool for
marketing and creating brand awareness. In fact it is foreseen that in the near future there will
be a paradigm shift from traditional advertising to social media platforms. The study also
identified some challenges the company has faced using social media, unlike in the study

77
where there have been so many challenges reported. A personal observation made over a
period of about two years now found out that it is the manufacturers or the service companies
that suffer the brunt of the social network defamation of character most. The reason why
Ironic has few challenges with online communities can be attributed to the fact that the case
company is a reseller and hence all the complaints about products would only be made to the
manufacturer and not the reseller. It is agreeable that though social media is effective it
cannot be used on its own without augmenting it with the traditional forms of advertising.

This is a very interesting study and even though it is not fully researched, it is however worth
replicating with a longitudinal data to fully determine whether social media networks are
really effective as the finding of this study suggests. In social science data can be categorized
into two types; data that are collected at more than one point in time (longitudinal) and data
that are collected on one occasion. Therefore it would be important to collect the performance
data in terms of sales figures and brand equity over a long time to determine whether social
media networks are really effective than the traditional advertising channels such as radio and
prints.

The accessibility and transparency of information that social media has offered to consumers
have been indicated throughout the entire research. Consumers are able to access to relevant
information not only in a great range but also in a faster speed, which mass media consumes
more time in searching information. In contrary, contents are not in control and monitored,
thus the chance of getting false and nonfactual information which the consumers have shown
concern of. In terms of a business context, marketers have to be aware of the bad mouth on
social media, because it can be spread virally and led to a damage to brand‟s reputation. it has
suggested that the essence of consumer behavior still remains the same even after the advent
of social media, in which individuals have to go through the all the stages before a purchase,
instead of straight to the purchase decision once a thought of purchase being triggered.

5.2 FUTURE RESEARCH:

Considering the limited time and scope of this research, many theories related to the subject
were covered but in a rather general perspective so as to provide a big picture for the readers.

78
Therefore, if further research could be conducted, then an in-depth survey should be carried
out in tackling the research objective.

Since research has revealed that consumers do not feel encouraged to generate the word of
mouth through social media, and this indications may imply that marketers would have to
carry out certain actions in order to provoke these conversations. Therefore, a future research
can be conducted based on this perspective in investigating the reasons associating with this
particular feeling and how it could be altered in order to utilize social media as an effective
purchase validation tool.

Nonetheless, if further research could be conducted for companies, then theories could be
implied more accurately, because some of the theories are proposed and developed in aiming
to help companies to gain a better position in the transition from the traditional marketing
approach to the new marketing mindset. In that case, findings and conclusions could be
drawn without vagueness.

5.3 RECOMMENDATION:

Since this is a very important and new phenomenon it is recommended that a further research
to study this phenomenon would be appropriate. From a company perspective there is a huge
potential in the social media and with the resources that have got they should consider
expanding their social media strategies to include online surveys and Blogs for product
reviews, for example writing opinionated content on the blogs would enable the company to
initiate conversation which will enhance the level at which people would want to engage with
the brands should measure its social media marketing metrics, for example if they want to
measure awareness, they would need to monitor growth, likes, subscribers and brand
awareness. As for loyalty the thing to look at would be engagement, influence and referrals.
Engaging customers online to solicit suggestions would also give the company insight to co-
innovate.

The company can also use the power of social media to implement other vertical services that
could instantly bring value to the company in terms of sales. The fact that the company is
located in Vasa where there are universities and international companies give it the potential

79
to attract more customers to purchase non Apple products, because Apple products usually
attract a large customer base. Therefore the online strategy should focus on building a strong
online community in Vasa that targets the universities and the company‟s community.

80
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APPENDIX:

QUESTIONNAIRE:

1. Age ?

a. 18 - 25 years

b. 26 - 30 years

c. 31- 40 years

d. Above 40 years

2. Gender ?

a. Male

b. Female

3. Educational Level ?

a. School Level

b. 12th Pass

c. Under Graduation

d. Post – Graduation

e. Others

83
4. What is the Occupation ?

a. Business

b. Service

c. Student

d. Others

5. Which social networking sites you prefer the most ?

a. Facebook

b. Instagram

c. Twitter

d. Youtube

6. How much time do u currently spend on social media networking sites per day ?

a. 0 – 1 hours

b. 1 – 2 hours

c. 2 – 3 hours

d. 3 – 4 hours

e. More than 4 hours

84
7. How often do you check your personal social networking site account ?

a. Many times a day

b. Once in a day

c. 3 – 4 times in a week

d. Once in a week

8. Through which electronic device you access social networking site regularly ?

a. Computer

b. Smart Phones

c. Laptop

d. Ipad

9. What are the reasons for following on social media networks ?

a. Exclusive deals or offers

b. I am a current customer

c. Interesting or entertaining contents

d. Other people I know are fans of the brand

e. Services, support or product news

d. Others

85
10. Do you prefer to buy products on trail basis through these social marketing ?

a. Yes

b. No

c. Maybe

11. What will be your sources of purchasing of branded product ?

a. Online

b. Offline

12. How long have you been purchasing products through social networking site ?

a. Less than 13 months

b. 13 – 14 months

c. 24 – 36 months

d. More than 36 months

13. Which type of payment mode you prefer the most ?

a. Cash on delivery

b. Online payment

14. How much do you agree that social media helps in acquiring information about
fashion trends ?

a. Strongly agree

b. Agree

86
c. Neutral

d. Disagree

c. Strongly disagree

15. How often do you buy products that you see on these sites ?

a. Always

b. Sometimes

16. Do you follow fashion related blogs ?

a. Yes

b. No

c. Sometimes

87