CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

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Database marketing: tracks specific actions

What’s the business doing every time we make a purchase ? They’re tracking
you, it’s going to a database.
In a single day, create 2.5 quintillion bites of data.

 Develop relationships with consumers : e-mail are different for each

customers, it depends on what we buy, it’s a specific message.

Most of the thing that we purchase say something about us.

POPULAR CULTURE : marketing influences it and vice-versa.
> Transmitted via mass media and aimed younger people
> Traditions and material culture of a particular society
> Music, movies, sports, books, celebrities, entertainment

CONSUMER-BRAND RELATIONSHIPS
- Role theory : We’re all actors in a play, we might have relationships with
brand all the time,
- Self-concept attachment : the product established our identity
- Nostalgic attachment : don’t want to get rid of a product that you bought
because of affection and memories. Products linked to your past
- Interdependence : things that you use on a regular basis that you like
- Love : emotional bond.

MOTIVATION : What we do what we do

- Needs vs want : a need is not comfortable, create a tension that dries the
consumer to reduce that tension. -> have to have in order to survive, we
all have needs / wants : only one way to satisfy it / how the need manifest

Describe a need and a want you have and explain the motivation for the want.

22/01
CHAPTER 2 : CONSUMER AND SOCIAL WELL-BEING
 Do u think that it is important to protect the environment with the product
that u use ?
 The U.S government is trying to encourage businesses and consumers to
select green cleaning products; the Environmental Protection Agency
( EPA ) even signed a promotion agreement with NASCAR to raise
awareness of the DIE label.
2.1 Ethical business is good business.
Ethics : perception of what’s good and what’s wrong
Ethical business is good business.
 50% of consumers are willing to pay more for goods and
services from companies that have implemented programs
to give back to society. But it’s theoretical, are they really
doing it in real life ? Not so sure.

 Unethical to make ppl buy things they don’t need ?

Marketing Ethics and Public Policy
• Business ethics are rules of conduct that guide actions in the marketplace,
includes honesty, trustworthiness, fairness, respect, justice, integrity,
concern for others, accountability and loyalty.
• Some marketers do violate their bonds of trust with customers, these
actions are actually illegal.
• There are cultural differences in what is considered ethical.
 Some country, it is perceived as unethical, and some, it isn’t.

Do Marketers Manipulate Consumers ?

 One of the most common criticisms of marketing is that companies
convince consumers they “need” many material things, and that they will
be unhappy and inferior people if they do not have these “necessities”. ->
Do marketers give people what they want, or do they tell people what they
should want ?
 Advertising leads us to believe that products have magical
properties; the things we buy will transform our lives.
 Advertisers simply do not know enough about people to manipulate them.
Evidence: new product failure rate : 40 to 80% -> if they really manipulate
us, this rate would be lower.
 Consumerspace ( dictate to companies the types of products they want
and how, when, and where they want to learn about those products ) vs
marketerspace ( a time when companies called the shots and decided
what they wanted their customers to know and do ) : consumers have a
voice now -> when, how, where -> you can say NO when the customer
service ask you something about ads. Consumer might even be
manipulating marketers.

Do Marketers Create Artificial Needs?

Objective of marketing: create awareness that needs exist, not to create needs/
marketers simply recommend ways to satisfy the need that is already here.
 The need already exists, we just pointing it out.
 Need : a basic biological motive
 Want : one way that society has taught us that need can be satisfied
 If you’re thirsty, you could drink a lot of things

Are Advertising and Marketing Necessary?

• Products are designed to meet existing needs
• Advertising only helps to communicate their availability
> yes they are necessary, might be a solution for a problem that you might have.
> if you have to search for something it costs you time, so advertising and
marketing save you time.
> without advertising and marketing, we would pay more > we keep in mind the
price that we saw on the ad.

Does advertising foster materialism? Are you what you own ?

> many of us work hard to attain our vision of the good life, which abounds in
material comforts. Most young people can’t imagine a life without cell phones,
MP3 players and other creature comforts. In fact, we can think of marketing as
a system that provides certain standards of living to consumers.
> Materialism : refers to the importance people attach to worldly possessions.
> Materialists are more likely to value possessions for their status and
appearance-related meanings, whereas those who do not emphasize this value
tend to prize products that connect them to other people or that provide them
with pleasure when they use them.
> Materialistic people also appear to link more of their self-identity to products.
Study : materialists tend to value a product before they buy it because they
believe it will make them happy, but their satisfaction with it diminishes after the
purchase when the realize this didn’t happen.
> Provenance : shoppers are willing to pay more for an item when they know
exactly where it comes from, and they are assured that “real people” have
thought-fully selected the things from which they choose.
> materialism is a personality trait -> if the ads were materialism, they would
know your personality trait, but they don’t.
Advertisers are often blamed for promoting a materialistic society by making
their products as desirable as possible.

2.2 Marketers have an obligation to provide safe and functional

products as part of their business activities.
Marketers have an obligation to provide safe and functional products as
part of their business activities.
> did you buy a product from an ads and it didn’t work ? fushigui ball
> marketers have an obligation – tell the truth
> AIG : American International Group -> workers’ compensation -> they
lied about how much premiums it had collected. -> the more revenue you
have, the more you have to pay -> in this case, almost 2million dollars
> Situational cheating : behavior is often a function of the situation in
which you make the decision, even factors you barely notice. -> small
percentage that vmake it bad for everyone ( businesses that lie to you )
> if you’re not satisfied with something that you purchase, what are you
doing ? ask for a refund / exchange it / complain -> there are few thins
that you can do when you’re not satisfied.

Courses of Action
• Voice : You can appeal directly to the retailer for redress ( ex : a
refund ), leave bad review
• Private : You can express your dissatisfaction to friends and boycott
the product or the store where you bought it.
• Third-Party Response : You can take legal action against the
merchant, register a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, or
write a letter to a newspaper.
 People tends to tell most people when they’re dissatisfied
 Sew them to have your money back
 It’s important that marketers recognize
 Costs you : money, time, reputation -> it takes time to build a good
reputation but in one second, you can destroy it.

Consumers’ Rights and Product Satisfaction

Market Regulation
- ( FDA ( food & drugs administration ) : most important ones for
consumers -> it polices advertising claims as well as the contents of
edible products and pharmaceuticals
- SEC ( security and exchange commission )
- EPA (protection agency ), etc )
Corrective advertising (what are the rules that guide small businesses )

Consumerism ( the preoccupation of society with the acquisition of

consumer goods )
– Culture jamming ( strategy to disrupt efforts by the corporate
world to dominate our cultural landscape )
 President John F. Kennedy ushered in the modern era of
consumerism with his “Declaration of Consumer Rights” in 1962.
These include the right to safety, the right to be informed, the right
to redress and the right to choice.
 Many people have a vigorous interest in consumer-related issues,
ranging from environmental concerns such as global warming and
climate change, toxic waste, and so on, to excessive violence and
sex on television or in the lyrics of popular rock and rap songs.
 What makes an ads unfair ? causes or is likely to cause substantial
consumer injury which a consumer could not reasonably avoid.

Transformative Consumer Research

 Some consumer researchers are themselves organizing, not only to
study but also to rectify what they see as pressing social problems in
the marketplace.
 TCR : promotes research projects that include the goal of helping
people or bringing about social change.

Social Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (C S R)

 A brand’s philanthropic activities can influence shoppers behavior
and ultimately purchase decisions.
 Smokey the Bear : encourages positive behavior and discourages
negative behaviors -> “only you can prevent forest fires” because
people sometimes can be irresponsible
 Apple : promising to be carbon neutral in five years from now ->
they want to be more responsible
 Consumers are especially interested in choosing brands that support
causes they find personally relevant.
 Social marketing strategies use the techniques that marketers
normally employ to sell beer or detergent to encourage positive
behaviors such as increased literacy and to discourage negative
activities such as drunk driving.
 Many firms today try to integrate CSR into their business models.
 CSR : processes that encourage the organization to make a positive
impact on the various stakeholders in its community including
consumers, employees and the environment.
 Bombas : “Make a purchase, make a difference” The Bombas 2024
Imparct records : One purchased = One Donated
 Cause marketing is a popular strategy that aligns a company or
brand with a cause to generate business and social benefits.
Sample of Federal Legislation Intended to Enhance Consumers’
Welfare

2.3 Consumer behavior impacts directly on major public policy

issues that confront our society.
Data Privacy and Identity Theft
 Consumer behavior impacts directly on major public policy issues
that confront our society.
 The Personal Data Notification & Protection Act of 2015 :
strengthen the obligations companies have to notify customers when
their personal information has been exposed
 The Student Digital Privacy and Parental Rights Act of 2015 :
prevent companies from selling K-12 students’ online data to third
parties or otherwise sharing information unless it is for a school-
related purpose.
 Real-time bidding : an electronic trading system that sells ad
space on the Web pages people click at the moment they visit them.
 Identity theft occurs when someone steals your personal
information and uses it without your permission. It is the most
common consumer complaint : almost 20% of all consumers report.
  high-tech phishing scams in which people receive fraudulent
emails that ask them to supply account information. EX : Anne &
Brad Pitt story / Zelle Scam Spreads : tried to put her money but
then gone .

Market Access
> Market access : ability to find and purchase goods and services
> Disabilities: 54 million adults with disabilities who spend almost 200$
billion annually. -> 11 million U.S adults have a condition that makes it
difficult for them to leave home to shop, so they rely almost exclusively on
catalogs and the Internet to purchase products.
> Food deserts: food desert as a Centrus tract where 33 percent of the
population or 500 people, whichever is less, live more than a mile from
grocery store in a urban area or more than 10 miles away in a rural area.
Healthy food is hard to find. -> 23.5 million people live in food deserts in
United States.
> Literacy: Media literacy refers to a consumer’s ability to access, analyze,
evaluate and communicate information in a variety of forms, including
print and nonprint messages.
Many of us assume that whatever comes up in Google search or Wikipedia
is completely true and accurate (but there’s a lot of fake news )
> 1 in 7 U.S adults are functionally illiterate -> person whose reading skills
are not adequate to carry out everyday tasks, such as reading the
newspaper or the instructions on a pill bottle.

Sustainability and Environmental Stewardship

> Tripple bottom-line orientation refers to business strategies that strive to
maximize return in three ways :
1. The financial bottom line : Provide profits to stakeholders
2. The social bottom line : Return benefits to the communities where
the organization operates.
3. The environmental bottom line : Minimize damage to the
environment or even improve natural conditions.
> EX : IKEA / Ben&Jerry’s
>Sustainability is based on a simple principle : Everything that we need
for our survival and well-being depends, either directly or indirectly, on our
natural environment. -> creates and maintains the conditions under which
humans and nature can exist in productive harmony, that permit fulfilling
the social, economic and other requirements of present and future
generations.
> Conscientious consumerism : personal health is merging with a growing
interest in global health.

Green Marketing and Greenwashing

> Green marketing : strategy that involves the development and
promotion of environmentally friendly products and stressing this attribute
when the manufacturer communicates with customers.
> Greenwashing : occurs when companies make false or exaggerated
claims about how environmentally friendly their products are. Say that
they are eco-friendly but they’re not.
> more than 95 percent of consumer companies that market as “green”
make misleading or inaccurate claims.
> segment of consumers called LOHAS ( lifestyles of health and
sustainability) : people who worry about then environment, want products
to be produced in a sustainable way and spend money to advance what
they see as their personal development and potential.

2.4 Consumer behavior can be harmful to individuals and to

society.
The Dark Side of Consumer Behavior
>Sometimes, we are our own worst enemies.
>Consumers’ desires, choices, and actions often result in negative
consequences to individuals and the society in which they live.
Exposure to unattainable ideals of beauty and success creates
dissatisfaction with our bodies or our achievements.

Consumer Terrorism
>Cyberterrorism : added to the list of pressing concerns, especially in the
light of high-profile attacks on the computer systems of large financial
institutions such as American Express.

Addictive Consumption
>Consumer addiction : is a physiological or psychological dependency on
products or services.
>Psychologists compare social media addiction to chemical dependency to
the point of inducing symptoms of withdrawal when users are deprived of
their fix.
> 1 in 3 smartphone owners would rather give up sex than their phones.
> Cyberbullying : willful and repeated harm inflicted through the use of
computer, cell phones, and other electronic devices.
> 1 in 5 middle school students in the US were subject to cyberbullying.
> Phantom Vibration Syndrome : tendency to habitually reach for your cell
phone because you feel it vibrating.
> Compulsive consumption : repetitive and often excessive shopping
performed as an antidote to tension, anxiety, depression or boredom.
3 common elements characterize many negative or destructive consumer
behavior
- The behavior is not done by choice
- The gratification derived from the behavior is short-lived
- The person experiences strong feelings of regret or guilt afterward

Consumed consumers
>Consumed consumers : people who are used or exploited, willingly or
not, for commercial gain in the marketplace.
- Prostitutes : 20$ billion annually
- Organ blood and hair donors : red market for body parts.
- Babies for sale :Several thousand surrogate mothers have been paid to
be medically impregnated and carry babies to term for infertile couples.

Illegal Acquisition and Product Use

>cost of crimes against business : 40$ billion dollars.

Consumer Theft and Fraud

>Shrinkage : industry term for inventory and cash losses from
shoplifting and employee theft.
>Counterfeiting ( contre-facon)
>Anticonsumption( contre la conso de masse )