For this assignment, you work for the marketing manager of an organization that is going to launch a new line of personal car

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Narration

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Introduction

Welcome to Consumer Behavior.

In this lesson we will discuss consumers in situations.

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Topics

The following topics will be covered in this lesson:

Situations and value;

Time and consumer behavior;

Time pressure;

Time of year;

Time of day or circadian cycles;

Advertiming;

Place shapes shopping activities;

Shopping and shopping activities;

Shopping values;

Impulsive shopping and consumption;

Impulsive versus unplanned consumer behavior;

Distinguishing impulsive and unplanned consumer behavior;

Susceptibility to situational effects;

Consumer self-regulation;

Impulsive versus compulsive behavior;

Retail and service atmospherics;

Atmosphere elements;

Antecedent conditions;

Economic resources;

Orientation;

Mood; and

Security and fearfulness.

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Topics, continued

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Situations and Value

You should recall from a previous lesson that situational influences have an effect on our behavior as consumers. As a review, situational influences are temporary conditions that can affect communication, shopping, brand preference, purchases, and consumption. What this means is that we act differently in different situations. The context of the situation will have an impact upon our behavior. That said, the value that we receive from a purchase will vary as well based on the context in which the act takes place. These situational influences affect our decision-making and the eventual value experienced.

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Time and Consumer Behavior

Do you sometimes feel like there is not enough time in the day to get everything done that you want to? Probably, your answer is a resounding, yes! We are all time crunched in this fast-paced, technological world we live in. Our time though, is extremely valuable. We spend time working to earn money to pay the bills, raise children, and to improve our quality of life. We also need to have time available for consumption activities such as shopping, cleaning the house, mowing the lawn, and participating in some fun activities with friends and family. Our lives also involve pressures involving time such as meeting deadlines that occur daily or at recurring times of the year. Situational characteristics that relate to time are referred to as temporal factors.

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Time Pressure

Our world is full of pressures related to time. Some are self-imposed, while others are not. The urgency with which a consumer must make a decision based on a real or self-imposed deadline is known as time pressure. You have undoubtedly experienced having to make a decision without the benefit of time. When this occurs, consumers will react in different ways. When time is minimal, less information is processed by consumers. It has been found that they are able to remember less information about product choices than consumers in the same situation who have sufficient time. Secondly, time pressured consumers are more apt to make choices that are simple versus a situation where more time is available to choose. They might simply pick a high quality, well-known brand since they don’t have time to weigh other options. Third, consumers with time pressure prefer to shop alone than with others.

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Time of Year

The time of year may also have an effect on the value we receive from the consumption process. Regularly occurring conditions that vary with the time of year is known as seasonality. We are familiar with this term as it relates to the four seasons of the year. But, our consumption habits and value received is different depending upon the time of the year. For instance, parents are very familiar with the numerous items that children need throughout the academic school year. School pictures, sports physicals, and graduation events are all examples of conditions that vary with the time of year in an academic setting. Many areas of the country have seasonal fruits and vegetables that are popular such as the winter strawberry season in Florida and the fall apple season in upstate New York. The weather may also dictate purchase decisions related to apparel to accommodate the season. Interestingly, it has been discovered that consumers tend to shop earlier in the day during the winter months and spend more money during the summer months.

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Time of Day or Circadian Circles

Now, let’s discuss a bit of biology for a moment. The human body is greatly affected by the time of day. Our bodies have a set rhythm that varies with the time of day. This is known as a circadian cycle. Our circadian cycle is partly responsible for our sleep and wake times and how productive we are. Many individuals experience the afternoon slump that occurs between one p.m. and three p.m. whereby they feel tired and may lack motivation. A host of products are available to consumers to help them gain extra energy, as well as all of the well-known caffeinated beverages that consumers rely on for a boost such as coffee, hot tea, soda, and iced tea.

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Advertiming

Marketers are aware that as consumers, we are in need of specific products to help us solve problems. Some problems that need to be solved may occur at different times of the day or year. For instance, consumers who live in areas that get snow in the winter will need products such as salt for de-icing, winter tires, battery chargers, and windshield scrapers. However, consumers may not be as receptive to advertisements and marketing messages received about products such as this during the warm, summer months. Advertiming is when a company buys advertising to be conducted at a set time when consumers will be most receptive.

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Check Your Understanding

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Place Shapes Shopping Activities

Our options for the places that we shop have increased dramatically over the past few years. Now, consumers may regularly shop online via their tablet computers or cell phones. It is not necessary to go to an actual brick and mortar store to purchase some products. Some consumers do not reside in areas of the country that have many retail establishments located nearby and due to this, they may be forced to shop online to obtain the products they need.

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Shopping and Shopping Activities

You undoubtedly know what shopping is since it is something that all consumers must do. Officially, shopping is defined as a set of value-producing activities that increase the chances that something will be purchased. But, as you can see from the definition, shopping does not have to conclude with a purchase. Shopping activities take place in specific places and under specific conditions or contexts and occur in situations that are not easily controlled by the consumer. For instance, the store may be crowded, the consumer may be in a bad mood, or perhaps the consumer feels rushed during her shopping experience. These situations can have an effect on how we shop and whether or not we make a purchase.

Four different types of shopping have been identified. The first, acquisitional shopping, involves activities geared at a specific, intended purchase. A woman who buys groceries for her family each week is participating in acquisitional shopping. This type of shopping is more task-like in orientation. The second type is known as epistemic shopping. Epistemic shopping is oriented toward acquiring knowledge about a product. A consumer interested in buying a home would benefit from acquiring knowledge about local housing prices and financing options for example. Experiential shopping is the third type and it involves recreational-oriented activities that offer excitement, relaxation, fun, or social interaction. Some people may shop for something to do or to have time to catch up with a friend during a shopping outing or they may shop because they are bored. The last type of shopping is impulsive shopping. Impulsive shopping involves spontaneous activities that are characterized by a decreased regard for consequences, increased emotional involvement, and a desire for immediate gratification.

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Shopping Value

What motivates consumers to shop? Of course, it is necessary to purchase goods for survival reasons. However, some consumers receive great value from their actual shopping experience even without making a purchase. Some consumers may receive a different level of value from their shopping experience than others. The personal shopping value is the overall worth of a shopping activity when all related costs and benefits are considered.

The retail environment that we shop in can have a personality. This may sound silly, but it is true. A retail personality is how a store is defined in the mind of the shopper based on the functional qualities of the store and the affective qualities. When we say functional qualities, we mean the basic features of a retail store that facilitates the shopping experience. The affective qualities refer to the ways that retail establishments create an emotionally rewarding shopping environment. For instance, shopping at a Macy’s department store is a different type of experience than shopping at Walmart or Target.

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Impulsive Shopping and Compulsion

Previously in this lesson, you learned a little about impulsive shopping. Impulsive shopping is something that most consumers do at one time or another. To expand a bit further on this concept, impulsive consumption is characterized by three components. The first is that impulsive acts are typically spontaneous. Secondly, impulsive acts are usually associated with a decreased regard for consequences. Lastly, impulsive acts are often motivated by a need for immediate self-gratification and fulfillment with high levels of emotional involvement.

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Impulsive Versus Unplanned Consumer Behavior

You might think that impulsive shopping is the same as unplanned shopping, but there are some differences between the two. The first difference is that unplanned consumer behaviors are characterized by situational memory. This means that there is something in the environment that prompts us to remember that we need to purchase something. For instance, a woman is shopping for groceries for the family for the week with her grocery list. However, the list does not contain an item that she needs. When the woman sees the item on the shelf in the store, she remembers that she needs it and she puts it in her cart for purchase. The woman has made an unplanned purchase.

The second difference between impulsive and unplanned consumer behavior is that unplanned consumer behavior has a utilitarian orientation meaning that little emotional involvement is expended regarding the purchase. Impulsive shopping and unplanned shopping both involve spontaneity since both involve purchases made without any deliberation or prior decision making involved.

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Check Your Understanding

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Distinguishing Impulsive and Unplanned Consumer Behavior

At times, it is not easy to distinguish between impulsive consumer behavior and unplanned consumer behavior. The line between the two is sometimes fuzzy since some unplanned behaviors are impulsive and some impulsive acts are unplanned. Simple unplanned behavior typically doesn’t include much emotional involvement or any significant levels of self-fulfillment or gratification. Further, often unplanned purchases involve very minimal consequences and because of this, they do not really have negative consequences.

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Susceptibility to Situational Effects

How susceptible are consumers to both impulsive and unplanned consumer behavior? The answer to this question is that consumers are very susceptible to both, but not all consumers are equally susceptible. For example, a consumer who is frugal by nature is less susceptible to making either an impulsive or unplanned purchase in comparison to a consumer who is highly materialistic. Our individual characteristics are partly responsible for our consumer behaviors. Impulsivity is a personality trait that represents how sensitive a consumer is to immediate rewards. Consumers with high impulsivity are more prone to impulsive acts.

Retailers capitalize on our susceptibility as consumers by providing retail shopping environments, merchandising, free samples, music and knowledgeable salespeople to encourage us to make purchases. Online retailers have created transaction processes that are simple which may encourage some consumers to make purchases online.

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Consumer Self-Regulation

One way that consumers control their purchase behaviors is through what is called self-regulation. Consumer self-regulation is the tendency for a consumer to inhibit outside influences from interfering with their shopping. As you can probably imagine, some consumers are much better at self-regulating their behavior than others. Consumers with a high ability to self-regulate are referred to as action-oriented. Action-oriented consumers are not as affected by the emotions that are generated through the shopping experience. Consumers with a low ability to self-regulate are referred to as state-oriented. State-oriented consumers have a higher level of emotional involvement and are more likely to make an unplanned purchase than an action-oriented consumer.

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Impulsive Versus Compulsive

You have already learned what impulsive consumer behavior is and its characteristics. Compulsive consumer behavior shares some of its characteristics with impulsive behavior. Both behaviors involve a certain degree of emotional involvement and possess the possibility for negative consequences. However, compulsive behavior differs from impulsive behavior in three ways.

The first is that compulsive behavior is harmful. Secondly, compulsive behavior is somewhat uncontrollable. The last difference is that compulsive behavior is driven by chronic depression. Think about a consumer who is obsessed with buying shoes. She has over three hundred pairs of shoes in her closet, yet she still keeps buying more. Her behavior can be considered harmful and out of control because she is not in a financial position to be able to afford all of the shoes she is buying. As a result, she is unable to pay her rent for two months and is evicted from her apartment. Later on in our lesson, we discuss compulsive behavior in more depth and address the chronic depression component.

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Retail and Service Atmospherics

You have already learned that the physical environment plays a significant role in a consumer’s shopping behavior, value received, and satisfaction. To expand upon this a bit, let’s talk about atmospherics. Atmospherics refers to the emotional nature of an environment and the feelings it creates when all of the physical attributes are combined. The functional quality of the environment is a description of the total attributes that make the shopping experience efficient for the consumer. Examples of functional qualities of the environment are convenience, wide selection, low prices, and knowledgeable employees. A consumer who takes their car to Jiffy Lube in their neighborhood for an oil and filter change is maximizing upon the functional qualities of this type of business. This is also an example of what is known as a service environment. In a service environment, consumers rely upon the expertise of the employees, the convenience of the environment, and the capability of all staff.

On the flip side, the affective quality is a representation of the emotional meaning of the environment resulting from the total effect of all attributes that affect how the consumer feels in the environment. For instance, consumers who visit an amusement park such as Disneyland or SeaWorld realize the ambiance of the environment as soon as they step through the entrance gate. Using colors, lights, music, and smells, these parks have done their homework regarding how they want their visitors to feel. Further, the staff is trained to be extremely friendly and helpful.

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Atmosphere Elements

Now let’s talk about the specific elements of the atmosphere that can have an impact on a consumer’s perception of a shopping environment. Merchants use odors, music, color, and merchandising to create a positive shopping environment that is pleasant and prompts consumers to make purchases. In terms of odors, retailers use them because they have an effect on our cognitive processing of information. For instance, citrus smells have been found to create higher levels of pleasant emotions and increased receptivity to product information.

The use of music in retail atmospheres can have a strong effect on consumers. Foreground music is music that becomes the point of attention for the consumer and it can have a strong effect on a consumer’s willingness to approach or avoid an environment. Think about a retail establishment that is playing a type of music that the consumer does not like. The likelihood that the consumer will remain in this store to shop decreases significantly. Music played below the audible threshold is known as background music. Most service providers and retailers typically provide some type of background music for shoppers.

Color is also used to affect consumer reactions and perceptions since consumers respond differently to different colors. For example, blue is a color that is universally liked. Consumers who see a product in a predominantly blue background often think the product is of higher quality and because of this they are willing to pay more for it. On the other hand, red and orange promote feelings of poor quality and low price.

Merchandising refers to how products are placed and displayed to increase the chances that consumers will purchase the products. This is accomplished through the use of specific product displays, visual imagery, and signage that is appealing to consumers. Merchandising at its finest can be seen in high end department stores with much thought and energy put into how the merchandise will be displayed. This is in contrast to how merchandise is displayed in stores such as Target or Walmart.

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Antecedent Conditions

Antecedent conditions are situational characteristics that the consumer brings to a particular information processing, purchase, or consumption environment. Examples of antecedent conditions include economic resources, orientation, mood, and security and fearfulness which can shape the value in a situation.

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Economic Resources

As you just learned, one antecedent condition is a consumer’s economic resources. A consumer’s buying power is the total amount of economic resources the consumer brings to a specific purchase setting. This total amount may include cash, credit card spending limits, and funds available through debit card or checking account. The amount of money a consumer has on hand will often dictate where they shop.

Many Americans live from paycheck to paycheck. During the past few years, with the country experiencing an economic crisis with employee layoffs, further hardships have been created for families to contend with. Additionally, consumers also experienced hardships related to trying to pay their mortgages after interest rates rose on their adjustable rate mortgages. To aid with these financial hardships, consumers often rely upon check advance services that are available through such establishments such as Amscot who offer payday loans. These payday loans allow the consumer to make ends meet by providing a way for them to get their pay before their company issues them the check. However, the interest rate charges for a payday loan are often extremely high since the loan payback is required within three weeks. The increased expenses associated with the financing for a home mortgage or a payday loan decrease the consumer’s overall buying power.

Not all consumers budget their finances. In fact, most consumers do not perform any type of formal budget process. However, consumers who do budget have different spending habits than those that don’t use a budget. Typically, consumers who budget their finances are more frugal. Some consumers perform mental budgeting which is a mental account of their expenditures. If the consumer over spends in one area, more than likely, they will make up for it by spending less in another area.

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Orientation

As consumers, we typically are oriented to shop a certain way that provides value for us. A shopper’s orientation may be a temporary state. For instance, a family facing an economic hardship may change their grocery shopping habits to accommodate the hardship. They may do more comparison shopping, purchase store brand products which are cheaper, shop during weekly sales, and use manufacturer and store coupons. Their orientation has become more price conscious as they try to save money. A consumer who usually has a strong experiential orientation may temporarily become more task-oriented.

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Mood

It will probably not come as a surprise to you that the antecedent condition of mood has an impact upon our shopping behaviors. Consumers bring their current mood with them when they go shopping. Consumers in bad moods have been known to binge consume. For instance, a woman has a bad day at work and on her way home she stops at a seven eleven and purchases some Oreos. Her bad mood enhances the value of the Oreos temporarily because it provides her with hedonic value from the delicious chocolate taste and it also serves a therapeutic purpose by helping to improve her mood.

The mood that consumers bring to a shopping experience has the potential to exaggerate the actual experience. A consumer in a good mood may receive even greater hedonic value from shopping then they usually do. Our mood can also affect our spending habits and satisfaction. Shoppers in a bad mood are more likely to only buy what they need and they experience lower satisfaction than a consumer in a good mood.

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Security and Fearfulness

The last antecedent condition concerns our security and fearfulness. With the increasing rates of vandalism, muggings, car jackings, assaults, abductions, and terrorism in our country, consumers are constantly reminded of the dangers that lurk when we are out and about in our community. Criminals target unsuspecting victims in large store parking lots and consumers are fearful for their safety at times. This is especially the case for consumers who feel vulnerable. Areas where large numbers of people gather such as airports and shopping malls are known to be potential targets for terrorist activity which creates even more fear in consumers.

Consumers can be affected by fearfulness during their shopping experience. A consumer who shops while in a fearful mood won’t shop in the manner that they typically do. They will buy less and enjoy the experience less. Some fearful shoppers may opt to do their shopping online from the safety and security of their home. However, consumers may be fearful of providing their private information during a purchase transaction due to the risk of identity theft.

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Check Your Understanding

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Summary

We have reached the end of this lesson. Let’s take a look at what we’ve covered.

We began our lesson talking about how situational influences have an effect on value and that the context of a situation will have an impact on how we behave as consumers. Then, we discussed the value of time for consumers and defined temporal factors which are situational characteristics related to time. Time pressure is the urgency with which a consumer must make a decision based upon either a self-imposed or real deadline. We then noted that regularly occurring conditions that vary with time of year is known as seasonality and that consumption habits and value are affected by the time of year. The time of day or circadian cycle is the set rhythm in our bodies that varies with the time of day and is responsible for our sleep and wake cycles and productivity. Our options for shopping have increased dramatically over the years with more online shopping being conducted.

You then learned that the official definition of shopping is value-producing activities that increase the changes that something will be purchased. The four different types of shopping activities were identified and include acquisitional, epistemic, experiential, and impulsive.

You then learned that the personal shopping value is the overall worth of a shopping activity when all related costs and benefits are considered and that retail environments can have a personality. A retail personality is how a store is defined in the mind of the shopper based on the functional qualities of the store and the affective qualities. Impulsive consumption is characterized by three components including being spontaneous, a decreased regard for consequences, and a need for immediate self-gratification.

Next, our discussion continued with a comparison of impulsive shopping versus unplanned shopping. Unplanned shopping differs from impulsive shopping in that it involves situational memory and a utilitarian orientation. Impulsive shopping and unplanned shopping share the characteristic of spontaneity. At times, it is not easy to distinguish between impulsive consumer behavior and unplanned consumer behavior. The line between the two is sometimes fuzzy since some unplanned behaviors are impulsive and some impulsive acts are unplanned. All consumers are susceptible to impulsive and unplanned purchases, but individual characteristics and personality traits play a role also. The tendency for a consumer to inhibit outside influences from interfering with shopping is known as consumer self-regulation. Some consumers are much better at self-regulating than others. Consumers who have high levels of self-regulation are known as action-oriented. Those with low levels are known as state-oriented.

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Summary, continued

Our lesson continued with the three characteristics of compulsive behavior which are that it is harmful, somewhat uncontrollable, and driven by chronic depression. Next, we discussed retail and service atmospheres and learned that the emotional nature of an environment and the feelings created when the attributes are combined is known as atmospherics. Atmosphere elements create a positive, pleasant shopping experience for consumers. The use of odors, music, colors, and merchandising are all examples of how atmosphere elements can impact upon the feelings created for the consumer during the shopping experience.

We next learned that situational characteristics the consumer brings to a particular information processing, purchase, or consumption environment are known as antecedent conditions. Examples of antecedent conditions are economic resources, orientation, mood, and security and fearfulness. The first antecedent condition of economic resources includes a consumer’s buying power which is the total amount of economic resources the consumer brings to a specific purchase setting. The second antecedent condition is orientation. Orientation refers to the type of shopper we typically are. However, our shopping orientation may be temporary when situations warrant more price consciousness. Mood, the third antecedent condition, impacts upon our shopping behaviors. Consumers in a good mood receive greater value from their purchases than those in a bad mood. Mood also has the potential to exaggerate the actual shopping experience. Our spending habits and satisfaction are affected by our mood as well.

Finally to conclude the lesson we looked at the last antecedent condition which relates to a consumer’s sense of security and his fearfulness level. Due to increases in crime, consumers may not feel safe and secure while shopping and any fear that is felt may affect shopping behaviors. Some consumers have turned to the Internet to shop to alleviate these concerns.

This completes the lesson.

Slide #

Topics

Narration