Coursework motivational analysis of customer behavior. Motivational analysis of consumer behavior in BK-Market LLP Motivational analysis of customer behavior
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Course work
Marketing
on the topic:
"Motivational analysis of customer behavior"
Introduction.
2. Motivational factors in the behavior of buyers. 12
buyer behavior.
4. Culture as a factor in consumer behavior. 26
5. Social space of the consumer. 36
Conclusion. 41
Bibliography. 43
Introduction.
Marketing research on consumer behavior has been characterized from the beginning by focusing on the individual consumer. As one critic rightly pointed out, marketers studied the consumer as fishermen study fish, not ichthyologists. With this approach, consumer needs are seen as innate rather than shaped by society or the market, so firms seek to "hook" the consumer by offering products or services that satisfy these needs better than those offered by competitors. Thus, traditional marketing research of consumer behavior is close to the concept of a rational economic person.In the 1950s in America, the so-called "motivational studies" came into fashion, based on in-depth interviews and closely related to the tradition of psychoanalysis, coming from Z. Freud. However, in the future, interest in them subsided.
In the 1960s in the research of consumer behavior, new trends appeared that came from psychology. They were based on the understanding of the consumer as information process. The consumer was likened to a computer receiving and processing information to prepare a decision regarding the choice of a product or service. This direction in the study of consumer behavior has joined with the study of cognitive processes in psychology. The first textbooks on consumer behavior were built largely within this understanding of the problem, although some topics were inserted there, relating to culture, subculture, groups, classes, the influence of the family and the individual.
Modern research bears a clear imprint of all the traditions described above, reflecting to a large extent a characteristic feature of American culture - individualism. Their second characteristic- an approach to the behavior of an individual in the market of goods and services, mainly from the point of view of psychological science.
At the same time, the problem of consumption gradually began to enter the circle of interests of a fairly wide range of social scientists - historians, anthropologists, sociologists, culturologists, and social theorists. At the same time, in Western Europe, the theoretical analysis of consumer behavior has taken a completely different path than in America.
The most important contemporary theorist of consumption is the Frenchman Pierre Bourdieu. His main work on this issue is Differences: A Social Critique of Judgments of Taste. One of the greatest theorists of consumption is also the Frenchman Baudrillard, who developed the concept of "consumer society" and wrote a work on the political economy of the sign. The work of the American social psychologist and sociologist I. Hoffman had a great influence on the study of consumption. The works of the Soviet literary critic and culturologist M. Bakhtin enjoy great prestige, whose ideas are also used to understand consumer behavior.
There have been significant developments in the United States as well. In the 1980s Anthropologists, sociologists and even literary critics came to work at the departments of marketing, which naturally expanded their view of consumer behavior. As a result, criticism of the traditional approach began already from within the departments of marketing. The emerging direction in marketing research is called "new". By the 1990s, its right to exist was recognized along with the traditional school. A characteristic feature of the new direction is the focus on culture and social problems. However, the traditional view of consumer behavior quantitatively dominates.
1. Market behavior of consumers.
"Consumer Behavior" (PP) is an applied scientific discipline. This means that it serves as a kind of intermediary between fundamental sciences and practice, translating their very broad, abstract categories to a more concrete level.It is based on a number of fundamental scientific disciplines: sociology, psychology and social Psychology, general economic theory, anthropology, social history and cultural history.
Consumer behavior is closely intertwined with two more applied disciplines: marketing and management. It has a lot to do with marketing. At least one chapter on consumer behavior is included in every marketing textbook. Essentially, marketing is looking at the market from the point of view of the firm operating in it. The problem of consumer behavior on it is key: the entire marketing cycle is the development of technologies for the company's response to consumer behavior.
Any scientific discipline has an object and a subject. The object is what the discipline aims at. For example, the object of macroeconomics is the economic sphere of society, political science - political, medicine - the human body, etc. The object of "Consumer Behavior" in the individualistic tradition is a person. In this sense, the object of this discipline is the same as that of medicine, psychology, and partly sociology, political science, economic theory etc. In the sociological tradition, the object is one of the spheres public life- the process of consumption, existing along with production, distribution.
The subject is that side of the object on which the given scientific discipline is concentrated. Thus, a person is the object of a whole complex of sciences, each of which studies one of its aspects. Physiology studies a person as a natural mechanism, medicine studies the treatment of this mechanism, psychology studies the mental organization of a person, psychiatry - the treatment of mental illness, sociology - human behavior in social systems etc. There is a whole complex of so-called "behavioral disciplines" that study certain mechanisms of human behavior. "Consumer Behavior" is one of many. Its subject is not the whole person, but only his behavior, but not in all its manifestations, but only in the market and only as a consumer. In the sociological tradition, the subject is the behavior of various social communities in the process of consumption.
What is consumption? Traditionally, it was seen as a way to satisfy basic human needs through one-time or long-term consumption-destruction of goods. Thus, by consuming bread, you destroy it; by consuming clothes, you wear it out.
However, the study of consumption in the developed countries of the modern West led a number of researchers to the conclusion that consumption for the broad masses of the population is primarily the production of symbols. A person buys fashionable clothes so that everyone can see his modernity, and avoids extravagant clothes so as not to be considered an eccentric, etc. In other words, a person, while consuming, seeks to communicate some information about himself to others, in this way he writes a kind of text.
In the social sciences of the late twentieth century. consumption is seen as a social and cultural process, including cultural signs and symbols, and not just an economic utilitarian process. Both in developed capitalist and predominantly agrarian countries there are quite a lot of groups of people whose consumption is predetermined mainly by their economic situation, and not by social and cultural practices associated with the ideology of modern consumerism. However, they, even if they are not able to buy goods seen in films, in the press, may strive to acquire them. Thus, consumption is determined not only, and often not so much by basic needs, but by the symbolic meaning that the culture of society puts into things.
True, it is not worth going from one extreme (consumption of only objects) to the other (understanding consumption as exclusively the production of symbols), as is often done. People consume both simply to survive (even the richest experience hunger and cold), and to communicate with each other through the symbols produced in the process of consumption. To say that a car is only a means of transportation is as far from reality as to say that it is only a luxury item. The most elementary commodity that satisfies a basic need is symbolic, and the most symbolic thing bears the stamp of utility. A car not only makes life easier for a person, but is a symbol with the help of which information about the owner is voluntarily or involuntarily transmitted to others: his economic situation, tastes, often claims, and even complexes.
Consumption is a process that includes a number of private processes: choosing a product or service, buying, using, keeping things in order, repairing and disposing.
There are many types of behavior in the marketplace. The subject of this discipline is only one of them - the behavior of a person who solves the problem of buying items to satisfy his needs. Here, a person acts as an end consumer, that is, the acquisition of machinery, equipment for production or trade goes beyond the scope of this subject. At the same time, Consumer Behavior studies human behavior only in a market context. This means that the process of preparing, consuming food is beyond the scope of the subject of this discipline.
So, the subject of Consumer Behavior is the market behavior of a person as a consumer of the final product.
From the final consumer it is necessary to distinguish buyers-manufacturers and intermediaries. The logic of their behavior is completely different, and it cannot be studied simultaneously with the behavior of end consumers.
A customer is someone who buys the goods or services of a particular company. The concepts of consumer and client are very close. The difference is that the client is the consumer of the products of a certain company. The client is a particular kind of consumer.
Marketing revolution
In a society where there is an acute shortage of goods, the main social task is to produce them. Accordingly, the main key to making a profit is the growth of production, its reduction in cost. With a low level of development of productive forces, even in a market economy, goods were produced less than what society needed. Therefore, firms easily found their niches with moderate or no competition at all.
In the XX century. in Western countries, the era of mass conveyor production of basic goods begins, the scientific and technological revolution in the middle of the century gives a new sharp impetus to the development of production. As a result, goods began to be produced noticeably more than the population could consume them. Under these conditions, gradually in one or another industry and country, the problem of marketing becomes central. This leads to the fact that they begin to literally hunt for the consumer, convincing them to buy the product of this particular company with the help of advertising.
In the economy of the Soviet type, similar declarations were proclaimed. Suffice it to recall the "basic economic law of socialism": "more and more complete satisfaction of the growing needs of the working people." However, ideological declarations cannot serve as a motor of economic development. Therefore, the logic of the development of the Soviet-type economy pushed in the exact opposite direction: towards ignoring the consumer, towards the direct and comprehensive dictate of the producer. In such a system, the main problem is not to entice the buyer to buy, but to produce the maximum amount of output in the name of fulfillment. state plan. Therefore, marketing, the struggle for the consumer in such an economy was an absurd activity.
Market reforms in Russia, having barely begun, changed everything radically and in the shortest possible time. The main problem is not production, but marketing. As one Russian director said in an interview, "the fate of the enterprise, the wages of workers now depend not on how much they produce, but on whether I can find buyers and sell products." Already in 1993. the supply of goods began to exceed the effective demand of the population. Therefore, the survival of enterprises and their prosperity are directly dependent on the desire and ability of consumers to buy products. In one leap, Russia has arrived at the same logic that is increasingly asserting itself as the dominant one in the Western economy.
Ideal type and model
A model is a simplified representation of reality, including only those aspects of it that seem important to the creator of the model. Other aspects that are outside his area of interest may be ignored. Thus, a model of a building designed by an architect may not include furniture if it is not part of the architectural design. When modeling consumer behavior, the researcher excludes from the analysis those aspects of human behavior that are not related to consumer behavior or seem insignificant.
In principle, any science is busy developing models that are isolated from natural or social reality. Therefore, it always tends to be detached from reality, to distort it. The value of a scientific concept is measured, on the one hand, by how close it is to reality, and on the other hand, by how significant the processes, phenomena from which this model is built are. Of course, the mirror is closest to reality, but everything in it is intertwined into such a tight ball that it is impossible to separate the main from the secondary, the causes from the consequences. The scientific model, on the other hand, has as its main goal an explanation of the causes of certain processes. By studying consumer behavior, we create ideal models, isolating from reality only what we consider causes and their consequences. Therefore, the main function of the model is explanatory. Simplifying reality, with the help of the model, we seek to answer the questions: why the buyer behaves in this situation in this way, and in another - in a different way.
Social processes can be modeled in a different way. Their model can be expressed in the form of a diagram, table, diagram, and can be presented on a computer by means of multimedia. However, most often it is described in the most traditional way - with the help of words.
Max Weber (1864 - 1920) introduced into scientific circulation the concept of an ideal type - one of the key categories designed to help comprehend the meaning or semantic connection of a frequently repeated phenomenon. Scientific concepts and laws serve as ideal-typical constructions. The ideal type shows "what a certain human behavior would be like if it were strictly purposive-rational in nature, if it were free from delusions and affects, and if it were oriented towards a completely unambiguous goal: Real behavior is extremely rare: and then only approximately, corresponds to the construction ideal type" [Weber 1990: p. 609].
SCIENTIFIC THEORY AS A COMPLEX OF IDEAL TYPES AND MODELS
Theory is a set of concepts, definitions and assumptions (hypotheses) that give a systematic view of any significant phenomenon or process. In our course, theory is a set of concepts that describe consumer behavior. However, the concepts are ambiguous, so the theory includes their definitions, each of which is a mini-model of some aspect of consumer behavior or a factor influencing it. In addition, the theory includes a set of hypotheses that explain both the general mechanism of consumer behavior and its various variants. A hypothesis is an assumption based on results already obtained by science, but going further in its conclusions and therefore in need of verification.
Theory performs several functions:
1. The descriptive function is to create a picture - specific or generalized - of consumer behavior. This function is not equivalent to the function of a mirror, since the picture is built on existing knowledge. Therefore, the picture of an elementary act of consumer behavior is primitive, omits the most essential details, and concentrates on unimportant trifles. In many social sciences, so-called ethnographic methods are used: observation, non-formalized interviews, etc. Their goal is to create an accurate and multifaceted picture of the process being studied. The presence of a scientific description can serve as a good basis for performing other functions of the theory. In the description, we state that consumers with features A usually buy goods with features K, and consumers with features B, respectively, L.
2. The essence of the explanatory function is to identify the causes of certain behavioral acts or behavior in general. ": In science, the subject of which is the meaning of behavior, - wrote M. Weber (1864-1920), - "to explain" means to comprehend the semantic connection, which, in its subjective sense, includes an action accessible to direct understanding" [Weber 1990: c.609 ].
If, when describing a process, we can be satisfied with a statement of fact (usually in the market, phenomena B and C occur next to phenomenon A), then when explaining, we must find the cause, separating it from the effect. Here we are already trying to explain why consumers with traits A tend to buy products with traits K.
However, explaining the meaning of consumer behavior is much more complicated than it might seem at first glance. The "motives" that this individual cites, and those that he "suppresses" (that is, hidden motives), - noted M. Weber, - often mask so much - even in the mind of the acting individual - the true connection of his actions, which is subjective sincere testimonies have only a relative value". Therefore, the task of sociology is "to reveal the connection between motives and, through interpretation, establish its true character" [Weber 1990: p.609].
3. The forecasting function is the most complex and responsible, it involves prediction options behavior under certain conditions.
People involved in any theory are constantly faced with the skeptical attitude of the majority, immersed in the bustle of practice, regarding the significance and usefulness of theoretical research. Most importantly, the people who have the power to allocate resources also share this skepticism and demand obvious and quick practical results for the concrete money invested in research. Therefore, scientists regularly have an itch to go into practice and realize something. Usually the result, in its deplorability, is comparable to the attempts of practitioners to draw theoretical conclusions.
What is the immediate practical meaning of the theory of relativity? From the discovery of electricity or radio waves? None. The same is true in the social sciences. Between theory and practice lies a specialized branch - technology (a description of the tools for applying certain parts of the theory in a certain practical area). Theory acquires practical meaning if there is an individual or group developing the technology practical application theories. In the natural sciences, these are designers, engineers; in the social sciences, they are consultants who know the theory and the needs of practice, but at the same time are not immersed in the endless running in circles that is characteristic of any practical activity.
The theory of consumer behavior can be useful in two forms. (1) A consultant who has a good knowledge of theory and a specific area of practice can develop recommendations for improvement, for example, in the production of goods or trade. (2) The practitioner who has studied the theory uses it as an impetus to reflect on his own daily activities in a very narrow and specific sector of the market. Therefore, the purpose of the Consumer Behavior course is not to give advice to practitioners on how to work, but to broaden their horizons, which will allow them to develop better technologies themselves. In addition, only a theoretically savvy practitioner is able to competently set a task for a consultant, use his potential.
2. Motivational factors in the behavior of buyers.
Under the motivational factors in psychology understand the motives that determine the actions of a person. Thus, the subject of this study will be the motives that push buyers to shop in the markets and consume the product.Self-expression is an opportunity to do what you want and the way you want and, ultimately, to express yourself in the results of your work at the expense of the money you personally earned (and not state funds). Obviously, this is the dream of any real scientist - to get complete freedom of search and creativity. However, only a few out of millions achieve it: some due to the fact that work in the framework of the fulfillment of other people's orders completely coincides with their personal aspirations; while others, having earned money on their own, do what they like best. And this motive for people of creative work is certainly the highest. It serves as a guiding star for most of them, both in scientific creativity and in entrepreneurship.
However, motivational factors are not limited to individual ones. There are also group motives that influence the formation of a team and form the basis of sufficient factors for the success of private entrepreneurial activity. Indeed, science-intensive business is a team game. At the initial stage of development of a high-tech firm, almost any management will not be able to pay employees remuneration adequate to their labor costs and potential. What will unite the team and mobilize it to solve the tasks facing the organization? Of course, the skillful use by the management of the company of group motivational factors, and the most powerful of them for Russian scientific and technical employees has always been a single, common goal - to obtain more and more scientific results of a level that is not yet achievable for other research groups, not only in our country. country, but throughout the world. Obviously, the achievement of this goal - the inclusion of a group motivational factor of the highest level, implies the presence of two other factors: the formation of a group spirit and solidarity, as well as pride in the team and the desire to win (the fourth and third levels of group motivation, Fig. 1).
As shown in Figure 1, when the motivational factors of higher levels are put into action, tension may appear in the team, associated with a mismatch between personal and group motivational factors.
3. Positivist and postmodern paradigms
buyer behavior.
Modernist outlookWith the collapse of feudalism in Europe, a new era began. In some countries, it began as early as the 17th-18th centuries. (England), in others - from the end of the 19th century. (Russia).
Its technological content is quite clearly conveyed by the concept of an industrial society. Industry became the core of the economy, which predetermined accelerated urbanization: most residents of European countries became city dwellers.
Creation of an industrial society in the twentieth century. followed two socio-economic paths. First, it is the path of capitalist development based on the mechanism of the market and private ownership of the means of production. It became historically the first, and most of the countries that chose the path of industrialization followed it. Secondly, it is the path of state or state-monopoly socialism. This way since 1917. went Russia, which became the Soviet Union, and then the whole of Eastern Europe, China, and a number of other Asian countries. Capitalism and state socialism have become different socio-economic forms of creating an industrial society.
With all the social, political and ideological differences between the capitalist and socialist paths, both of these ways of creating an industrial society gave rise to a common type of worldview, which in the last decades of the twentieth century. called modernism. It was based on several closely interconnected myths.
(1) The myth of the unilinear development of the world. This means that humanity follows the same path, passing through the same stages, forms of social and cultural development. Some countries have gone further, others are slightly behind, others are generally trailing behind and need the leadership of the former. The policy and ideology of colonialism and neo-colonialism, imperialism in their political, economic and cultural forms were built on this myth.
The "white man's burden" was to help the "culturally backward peoples" assimilate the "advanced" European culture, quickly forgetting their traditional one. This was done through the capture of sales markets, which were filled with mass-produced products from Europe and North America backed by force of arms and through the establishment of colonial and semi-colonial regimes. As a result, the patterns of European and American consumption turned into patterns for the rest of the backward humanity. The life of the West, and especially the USA, was presented as the future of the rest of the world, which can be reached by following the already tested path. The West was constructed by the West itself through its economic and propaganda power as a kind of reference (reference) civilization for the rest of the world. The peoples of the Soviet Union were no exception. Western patterns of consumption were borrowed within the limits dictated by technological, economic restrictions and ideological expediency (the struggle against "bourgeois ideology").
In the USSR, this myth had a peculiar form, while maintaining the general content. Here the bearer of the "advanced culture" was the "great Russian people". Through him was the Europeanization of most of the peoples of Soviet Asia, the Caucasus, the hinterland Russian Federation. Russian culture, Russian models of urban consumption were replicated throughout the country as exemplary. The Russian people were proposed as having gone the farthest along the path of "building communism", which was "the bright future of all mankind."
(2) The myth of a "bright future". Its essence was that as the people move along the path of progress, it approaches an ideal society in which all problems of mass underconsumption will be eliminated and all opportunities for happiness will be open. Within the framework of bourgeois and communist ideology, this myth had different colors, which did not prevent it from having a common content: a happy society awaits those who rush forward.
This myth had serious implications for people's daily lives. It was built on the morality of self-restraint and limitation today in the name of happiness in the future. On the one hand, the state sought, by increasing savings by limiting consumption, to quickly push society forward, on the other hand, and at the level of consciousness of individuals, the idea of sacrifice for the sake of the future was cultivated - both for one's own, and especially for children. This idea of sacrifice was fed by ideologies of various forms, ranging from religious asceticism to communist romanticism. Accumulation today (personal or collective) for tomorrow's consumption (personal, family or public) is the core of modernist morality. An integral part of the myth of a bright future was not only the official ideology, but also the personal belief that "tomorrow will be better than yesterday."
(3) The myth of progress. According to this myth, humanity, a separate country, go from stage to stage up the steps of progress. The old, obsolete dies off, is replaced by a new, more progressive one. Hence the belief that the new is always better than the old, hence the neglect of the old at all levels in all forms. The manifestation of this culture was the destruction of old architectural monuments for the construction of new, fashionable structures. Such an urban policy is by no means characteristic only of the Soviet Union. There are many examples of it in the West. At the level of personal consumption, this myth of progress, which permeated the consciousness of people, manifested itself in the desire for new models of clothing and furniture, which, by virtue of their novelty, were recognized as better than the old ones. From the houses they threw out as "old-fashioned" furniture, old utensils. In the 1960s my parents took out of the house to the shed for the same reasons a chest of drawers, a sideboard, a dressing table, made in the 1930s. made of solid wood and painted in dark color. In their place, similar items were bought from chipboard, light in color. And this is not a matter of personal taste. This was the behavior of everyone who had money to keep up with progress.
The modernist worldview is characterized by a cultural gap, and even a conflict between generations. Each of them created its own subculture, which rejected the subculture of another generation. Back in the 1950s and 60s. in our country, the clothes of people aged 30-40 differed sharply from the clothes of young people, people of these generations listened to completely different songs, danced different dances, etc. The youth looked down on the old-fashioned "old men" who could not keep pace with the changing fashion in their tastes.
(4) The myth of the uniformity of the world. From it followed the understanding of national diversity as a manifestation of backwardness, underdevelopment, which will be overcome along the path of advancement following the reference cultures. Development was seen as a path to uniformity. Hence the tendency to in English in the world and anglicization of all other languages through massive borrowing of words, expressions without trying to translate them. In the USSR, this manifested itself in the transformation of the Russian language into a language of interethnic communication with catastrophic consequences for many languages of small peoples, adherence to which was seen as a manifestation of backwardness, nationalism, and redneck. From the same roots grows a tendency towards the rapid destruction of traditional culture, including national clothes, folk music, crafts, unification of life, clothing, etc. At the heart of this modernist trend in the development of culture was the dominance of mass industrial production, for which the uniformity of manufactured products is a reduction in costs, prices and, accordingly, an increase in profitability.
One of the sides of the myth about the uniformity of the world was the belief that there are common standards of beauty, justice, good and evil, etc. for all people, age and social groups, peoples, eras. Hence the tendency towards uniformity in the consumption of clothing, housing, music, books, and so on. Anything that deviates from this uniformity is considered absurd, old-fashioned, ugly. The modernist worldview is characterized by the understanding of fashion as a strict norm that does not tolerate deviations, which were clearly read as signs of outdatedness.
(5) The myth of the knowability of the world. Nature, society were considered objects open to scientific knowledge. It was assumed that science, not today, but tomorrow, is able to give answers to all the secrets of nature, to give recipes for eliminating all the ulcers of society, all human diseases. The modernist consciousness is characterized by unconditional optimism. Hence the high status of science, the prestige of education.
(6) The myth of the manageability of the world. It stemmed from the myth of the complete cognizability of nature and society. Knowledge opened the way, gave the right to manage in accordance with open scientific laws. Since in the cognition of these regularities some took the lead (more "cultured" nations, more educated classes, experts, officials, etc.), while others lagged behind, not understanding how best to go to their own happiness, then violence, coercion in scientific correction the latter was considered quite legitimate. During the years of the civil war in Russia, the slogan "We will drive humanity into happiness with an iron hand" appeared.
First of all, the state was considered the subject that knew the truth and the path to the happiness of all people. Hence the tendency, manifested in different countries in different degrees and in different forms, to strengthen the regulatory role of the state, including in everyday life. This was especially pronounced in the society of state socialism, where it was openly declared that "The Communist Party (read: the state) is the mind, honor and conscience of our era", that "The Communist Party is the guiding force of the entire Soviet society", etc. Here, party-state control penetrated deeply into the sphere of everyday life, personal consumption. The state arrogated to itself the right to decide what the people needed, what was useful, what was harmful, and in accordance with these "cognized" truths, decisions were made which styles of clothing corresponded to the spirit of the time and contributed to the education of people, and which ones reflected bourgeois mores; it was decided which houses to build on a mass scale, what the layout of apartments should be, in which direction life should change, etc. Personal consumption acted as an object of state regulation in its most subtle details. One example of this regulation is the fact that jeans, which had become fashionable around the world since the early 1960s, were forbidden to be produced in our country until the late 1980s, when the first limited-scale factories appeared. and wholesale import of these goods into the USSR. A reflection of the modernist worldview of the Soviet model were attempts to fight with the help of schools, voluntary people's squads, public organizations with long hair, too tight or too wide trousers.
To describe the modernist model of a controlled world, Sigmund Bauman used the metaphor of a gardener who builds his garden according to a predetermined project.
The era of modernity is the era of mass production of the same type of things. Its most striking embodiment was the conveyor. Mass production gave rise to mass consumption in accordance with accepted standards.
Positivism
Scientific research is based on methods and methodology that absorb the atmosphere of time and culture of a given country. The vision of society in the light of the modernist worldview gave rise to the so-called positivist methodology in the social sciences. A characteristic feature of positivism is the attempt to make the social sciences as precise and conclusive as the natural sciences. Hence the special attention paid in the positivist methodology to the accuracy of research procedures, the widespread use of statistical methods. Among the methods that dominate positivism, the so-called quantitative methods come out on top. The collection of information is carried out primarily through surveys on a statistically representative sample, which allows the conclusions to be extended to a wider subject. Positivism is characterized by the belief that, as in the natural sciences, it is possible to predict the future based on the study of the present state, for example, to predict the behavior of consumers. Therefore, a "Practical Recommendations" section is usually inserted into reports of positivist research.
The starting point for the study of consumers in the framework of the positivist methodology is the premise that the consumer is a rational "economic person" who makes a purchase decision as a rational economic decision: he weighs the quality of the purchased item and its price, looks for options for the best ratio of these two parameters and then makes a purchase. . Most modern firms that study consumer behavior on orders from industrial or trade enterprises, stand on positions of positivism.
Thanks to Sigmund Freud, science in the early twentieth century. I came to the understanding that people are not always able to explain their behavior, the reasons for the decision taken in logically coherent categories. Along with the concept of consciousness, the concept of the subconscious has entered the scientific circulation. This trend was called psychoanalysis and grew out of psychiatric practice.
In 1939 Viennese psychoanalyst Ernest Dichter began to use the Freudian method of psychoanalysis to study the hidden motivations of consumers. This direction came to be called "motivational research". By the end of the 1950s. this methodology was widely used by Western marketing and advertising agencies. Motivational research is based on projective techniques and in-depth interviews. Such methods are called qualitative. To conduct such studies, highly qualified interviewers-analysts are required, who collect and analyze data themselves (unlike mass surveys, where data collection and analysis are carried out big amount different people). Due to this technique, the sample is always very small, the conclusions cannot be extended to the general population. Such studies bear a strong imprint of subjectivity, since they are based on the interpretation of the collected information by the analyst (the facts do not speak for themselves). Such research is used primarily to generate ideas for a new product campaign (Schiffman & Kanuk: 24-25).
In modern research, the opposition of supporters of quantitative and qualitative methods is mainly removed by combining them. Qualitative methods are used mainly at the stage of putting forward ideas, research hypotheses, which are then tested in the course of mass surveys using quantitative methods.
Postmodern worldview
The modernist worldview has always faced irony and criticism from skeptics, but for a long time the latter were a weakly audible minority that irritated the state, scientists and the masses.
The experience of the mid-twentieth century. gave a lot of new bright material for critics of the modernist worldview. Nazi Germany showed the whole world one of the extreme options for implementing the modernist project of creating a rational society: the destruction of mentally ill people and "inferior" races, turning the destruction of people into factory production. Stalinism showed the world another version of the same project: building a brighter future with the help of mass terror, forced labor, educating the people with the help of total fear, etc. The United States showed the third extreme version of the modernist myth of science as a bridge to a bright future: the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki demonstrated the warning of the skeptics of the past that science can lead not to a bright future, but to the destruction or degradation of humanity. The progress of military technology, the brewing of an ecological catastrophe gave impetus to the strengthening of a skeptical attitude towards the possibilities of science to improve humanity, to the realization of its potential danger. The rise of the national liberation movement around the world, which led to the collapse of seemingly invincible colonial empires, caused a growing skepticism about the universality and superiority of Western European culture. The development of the student movement in Western countries in the 1960s, the emergence of an influential and mass counterculture contributed to the development of doubts about the value unity of society.
In the second half of the twentieth century. in Western countries, an intellectual trend is developing, which received in the late 1970s. the name of postmodernism. It is not formalized scientific school, it is rather a new worldview, manifesting itself as a trend in literature, art, science, literary criticism, philosophy, sociology. Meanwhile, this intellectual trend, on the one hand, has an impact on the mass consciousness, and on the other hand, it is itself fueled by shifts in the worldview of the broad masses. To say, like many supporters of postmodernism, that the era of modernity has been replaced by the era of postmodernism, there are no grounds yet. The modernist worldview is still clearly manifested not only in Russia, but also in the USA and Western Europe. Rather, we can say that the undivided dominance of the modernist worldview has been replaced by an era of its peaceful coexistence with an increasingly stronger postmodernist worldview, reflecting the trend towards the formation of a new postmodern society.
What are the main features of the postmodern worldview?
Sigmund Bauman described the shift in society as follows, which led to the formation of postmodernism as a new social phenomenon and postmodernism as a worldview trend: "The universality, universality of the project requires power with universal claims. Such power is not yet visible. Erosion and weakening of state power, when The measures to establish and maintain an artificial order based on legislation and the state monopoly on the means of coercion, the loyalty of the townsfolk and the regulation of their behavior, now do not seem to be as high-priority and obligatory as in the initial phase of the process "modernization" (modernization), when it was necessary to fill the normative void after the collapse of local communities, breaking the mechanisms of neighborly control and ridiculing traditions.The regularity of human actions, the preservation and reproduction of the routine of modern life are perfectly managed today petty government intervention. Urgent needs that once required laboriously securing common agreement through intimidation mixed with ideological indoctrination are now being handled by a market that fears nothing more than uniformity of inclinations, tastes, and beliefs. Instead of regulation the behavior of the layman - the seduction of the consumer; instead of implanting an ideology - advertising; instead of legitimizing power - press centers and press bureaus" (Bauman 1994: 73-74).
Postmodern authors are also united by a different understanding of culture. The idea of a single culture of society, of the progressive development of a culture of peace, of an ascending line from one phase to another has been replaced by an understanding of it as a fragmentary phenomenon.
Researchers of the culture of postmodern society note that the goal of the new generation is consumption, including the consumption of trademarks as sensual images. For both the consumer and the evaluator, consumption becomes a form of presenting oneself to others and communicating with them. You can already say: "You are what you eat, wear and drive, .. In short, you are what you consume" .
Consumption, in turn, radically changes its character: if before it was the consumption of daily bread, now it is the consumption of symbols (Campbell: 98). The very idea of value, the value of a thing is changing. Its value is constructed with the help of the meanings represented by things. Consumers in the economically advanced countries of the West tend to favor product image and brands such as Nike shoes, BMW cars, and Levi jeans. Consumers who can afford them make a sort of personal statement through the products they consume.
Post-Soviet Russia found itself in a contradictory position. On the one hand, the problems of modernization have not been fully resolved here. The presence of these problems is a breeding ground for the reproduction of the modernist worldview. On the other hand, Russia lives in a world with open cultural borders, which ensures the influx of postmodern ideas and new technologies here. Russia in the 1990s is a country living between two poles - a shovel and the Internet. In addition, Russia is not such a backward country that the life of the West seemed to its citizens something completely alien. It has partially passed the era of modernization and is on the threshold of the postmodern era. Therefore, the postmodern worldview shift also finds fertile soil here.
This postmodern shift in public consciousness and practice is causing more or less significant shifts in consumer behavior. Even before, it was possible to speak of a consumer in the singular only at a very big stretch, but in the context of the shift described above, there is no longer a single consumer, but there are many types that act according to completely different, sometimes opposite rules.
The values of society, which have a strong influence on consumer choice, are becoming more and more differentiated, crumbling into many options. The lines between culture and counterculture are blurring.
Fashion is losing its former rigidity. As a result, features of completely different styles peacefully coexist in it: mini and maxi skirts, platform shoes and stilettos, etc. - eclecticism, unthinkable in the 1960s and 70s. The trend of the progressive development of fashion seems to have already been exhausted: it has become difficult to create something new without repeating itself. Therefore, postmodern fashion is replete with quotations from the styles of previous years, quotations that are easily recognizable.
Faith in a single standard of consumer behavior disappears. For different groups of consumers - different reference groups. Therefore, the same thing almost always has a chance to meet a completely different reaction.
In place of the neglect of the past, her cult came to antiquity. The "retro" style has become a symbol of modern postmodern culture, what until recently was thrown into a landfill without hesitation, is now being carefully restored for big money and turned into a source of pride. Antique stores in Western countries, especially in the US, are more common than grocery stores (although they are smaller in size). Every wealthy American family strives to have antiques or pseudo-antiques in their home, collects old things, utensils, flaunting them as a valuable interior decoration. This fashion for antiquity in Russia is still weak, but its development is beyond doubt.
Cultural pluralism, cultural tolerance is an attribute of postmodernity. This is manifested in the trend of formation and cultivation of ethnic pluralism. In America, where from the moment of its discovery by Europeans, the emphasis has always been on assimilation, on erasing the memory of the culture of ancestors, a cult of ethnic roots, the national culture of ancestors is now developing. A huge market has emerged from this cultural trend. So, American blacks now prefer to call themselves African-Americans, many of them emphasize their African roots, this interest has led to the formation of large-scale imports of folk crafts from African countries, to the creation of industries that imitate African crafts in America itself. In all Western countries, there is a similar tendency to counteract ethnic assimilation, a tendency towards the formation of cultural nationalism. Soviet Union experienced this trend in all its force. Representatives of national minorities in Russia, who 10-20 years ago preferred to be called Russians, are now changing entries in their passports, learning their forgotten languages, sending their children to national gymnasiums, buying folk crafts, etc. Being different ceases to be shameful. Ethnic otherness in the context of postmodernity is not considered a sign of cultural backwardness or redneck.
If the modern era is characterized by a rather rigid connection between class, professional affiliation and consumption style, then the postmodern era tends to weaken this connection. Symbols of previous generations are no longer able to convey their former meaning, as the labels of high-status fashion houses appear on clothes and other products that are available to anyone with money and to which anyone can aspire. Those who do not have enough funds to purchase them can steal and use them.
Table 1.
The world of modern and postmodern
| Modernism | Postmodernism |
| Unilinearity, single-variant development of the world. | Multivariate development of the world. |
| Hierarchy of cultures with selection of reference ones. The desire for cultural universalization, assimilation, etc. | The equivalence of cultures, doubts about the superiority of cultures that were considered reference. The idea of cultural pluralism as the basis of society. |
| Faith in a bright future, unconditional optimism. | Doubt that tomorrow will be better than today, fears, predictions of the end of the world, stories, etc. Z. Bauman: "The favorite call of any state with engineering claims has lost its force: to endure today for the sake of a happy future" (1994: 74). |
| Unconditional faith in progress | Denial of progress, especially moral progress. Skepticism about the long-term consequences of scientific and technological progress. Z. Bauman: "People do not expect something completely different from the future compared to the present" (1994:73). |
| Belief in the cognizability of the world, in the omnipotence of science. | Doubt in the possibilities of the natural and social sciences, a sharp narrowing of the range of their functions. |
| Trust in the state as the hand of progress, based on the achievements of science. | Distrust of the state, denial of its right to interfere in many spheres of society, the desire for denationalization of society. Z. Bauman: "Not this or that specific state has lost authority, but the state as such, power as such..." (1994: 74). |
| The idea of a single culture of society | The idea of culture fragmentation |
| Mass production of the same things | The transition from mass production to flexible and the replacement of the mass market with micro-markets, market niches |
| Production is the basis of society | Postmodern society is a consumer society |
| The basis of the economy is the national market | Formation of a global market covering the whole world. Under these conditions, production designed for a narrow circle of consumers, a specific and even extravagant taste, can be massive, cheap and profitable. |
| Each country is a special cultural reality. To get acquainted even with its individual parts, one must go on a journey. | The Emergence of Hyperreality (Thomas: 55). Sites of a different cultural reality are emerging all over the world. For example, Disneyland, McDonald's, Chinese, French, Italian, etc. restaurants. |
| Consumption is primarily an instrumental activity aimed at meeting the natural needs of a person. | In a postmodern society, consumption is primarily the consumption of symbols, and not an instrumental activity. |
Postmodern studies
In the context of the postmodern worldview, studies of consumer behavior have appeared, which differ markedly from positivist ones in their initial settings. Marketing research carried out within the framework of the postmodern approach has called into question a number of axioms characteristic of marketing and consumer behavior textbooks about the leading role of consumer needs, his sovereignty, the consistency of his behavioral acts, the separation of production and consumption, etc. .
First of all, in postmodern studies, the subject of analysis is no longer a simple act of purchase, but the process of consumption as a whole, which includes, in addition to purchase, the use of a product, its maintenance, repair, discussion, etc. Even from a purely applied point of view, such an approach is more fruitful, because the purchase decision is not born in the store, even if it seems so to both the observer and the buyer himself. This short-term act follows from the entire previous history of the given individual, woven into the culture of the country, time, it directly follows from the experience of using the same or similar thing by himself or other people. That is, the act of buying is much more complicated than it seems at first glance.
Modernism and postmodernism differ significantly in the understanding of the consumer himself. "The modernist vision of consumers," M. Thomas notes, "represents them as rational, planning, organized, conformist, and probably loyal. Postmodernism looks at consumers as irrational, inconsistent, contradictory, and perhaps immoral, but certainly not moral individualists."
This direction in scientific research is often called interpretive, since the main goal here is not an indication of how to do it, but an interpretation (explanation) of how it is done now. The postmodern approach to the study of consumer behavior relies primarily on research methods such as in-depth interviews, semiotic analysis of the use of things, consumption in general as a process of transmitting information using symbols, and ethnographic methods.
The latter are borrowed from cultural anthropology. They are based on the technique of including a researcher in the society under study in order to understand the meanings and meaning of different types of cultural practices. In this case, the process of consumption of a particular item is considered and described in detail, which shows its connection with the wider context of social, economic and cultural relations. This allows you to catch the meaning that people put in, acquiring this or that thing, choosing from many.
In the postmodern worldview, the once rigid interdisciplinary framework is being erased, since the object of study is considered from different angles. As a result, consumer behavior falls into the center of interest not only of economists, but also of sociologists, social psychologists, psychologists, anthropologists, ethnologists and ethnographers, ecologists, political scientists, cultural scientists. Its study from the point of view of the traditions of one of the classical sciences turns into an anachronism. There are more and more specialists who do not fit into the traditional professional definitions working at the intersection of a number of sciences at the same time, using their tools.
| Goals |
|
| Positivism | Predicting the actions of buyers |
| Interpretivism | Understanding consumer practices |
| Methodology |
|
| Positivism | quantitative |
| Interpretivism | quality |
| Initial theoretical ideas |
|
| Positivism | 1. Rationalism: the consumer makes a decision after weighing the alternatives. 2. Cause and effect can be identified and separated. 3. Individuals are subjects, problem solving in the process of information processing. 4. There is only one reality. 5. Events can be measured objectively. 6. The causes of behavior can be determined, so it is possible, by manipulating the causes, to influence the behavior of consumers. 7. Data can be used to characterize a wider population. |
| Interpretivism | 1. There is no single, objective truth. 2. Reality is subjective. 3. Causes cannot be separated from effects. 4. Each consumer experience is unique. 5. The interaction of the researcher and the respondent affects the results obtained. 6. Data is often not applicable to understanding the behavior of a wider range of people. |
4. Culture as a factor in consumer behavior.
Culture categoryThe behavior of animals, insects, and birds is programmed by a system of instincts: they are naturally given a set of how and what to eat, how to survive, how to make nests, when and where to fly, etc. In man, the instinctual system has died out, although researchers argue as to to what extent. The function that instincts perform in nature is performed by culture in human society. It gives each individual an approximate program of his life, while defining a set of options. A lot of people live with the illusion that they themselves have chosen the goals of their lives, the forms of consumption. Meanwhile, when comparing the lives of people in different cultures, it is difficult not to be struck by the uniformity of "free" choice in one country and era, while the same need in another culture is satisfied in completely different forms. The reason is that culture is the environment that determines our behavioral choices. Just as the set of behavioral options for the same people in water differs from the options for their movement on land, in a swamp, etc., so culture dictates our "free" choice.
What is culture? In the philosophical, sociological, art history and management literature there is a large number of its definitions. Most of them differ only in wording, accents. But there are also significant differences. At one extreme is the understanding of culture, which is widespread in philosophy as everything that is not natural, and at the other, culture as an object of administrative regulation by the Ministry of Culture: libraries, houses of culture, museums, theaters. Arguing about categories is an activity, in many cases tantamount to arguing about which language is correct. Concepts are primarily the result of an agreement that allows interacting individuals to mean the same phenomenon by the same word. In this paper, culture is considered within the framework of the tradition that takes place in sociology, although it is not generally accepted.
Culture is a set of sustainable forms of social interaction, enshrined in norms and values, means of communication, often passed down from generation to generation. It manifests itself in the existence of relatively stable forms, models of consumption. It is only by comparing the cultures of different countries and eras that one can see that forms of consumption that seem "for granted" in a given country or at a given time become strange or even absurd in another country and at another time.
A subculture is a subsystem of culture that includes a set of stable specific forms of interaction inherent in any social group or stratum. One of the most important manifestations of subculture is consumption patterns that are characteristic of age, professional, regional groups, as well as groups of people united by some common idea, interest (for example, tourism, fishing), taste (for example, a common love for a particular musical genre, style, etc.).
The operation of culture is coercive, which is ensured by sanctions that encourage the observance of norms and punish their violation. Sanctions are divided into positive (“carrot” for those who observe cultural norms) and negative (“stick” for those who violate them).
Culture and subculture are concrete historical in nature. The set of universal elements of culture (the so-called "universal values and norms") is very limited and very abstract. When we turn to consumption, it turns out to be very difficult to isolate its universal elements. Try to do this by comparing consumption primitive man, concerned about the departure of mammoths to another forest, and a modern Russian, concerned about rising prices as a result of the growth of the dollar.
Structure of culture
Culture has a complex structure. Consider its main components.
1. Value is the result of an agent (subject) evaluating the comparative qualities of several objects from the point of view of their own or accepted as their own public interests. Evaluation takes place on two main scales: use value (what is more useful?) and exchange value (what is more expensive, what can be exchanged for more other things?). There is no value in the things themselves. It arises only as a result of evaluation, that is, the contact of the acting agent (individual, group, organization) with the object. So, oil is valuable only for people who have learned how to make kerosene or gasoline from it. Value always appears in the context of a certain human practice. So, the ruble is a value only in Russia, in other countries it will not be accepted as a means of payment, and in many it is impossible even to exchange for local currency, therefore, there its value is equal to the value of a piece of paper.
Use and exchange value are closely intertwined. Valuable is what is useful. Some values are able to satisfy the needs of people directly, others indirectly: a diamond, which I will never use as an ornament, is useful as a means of payment.
Values are located on a scale by which people evaluate, compare actions, things, other people and themselves. As V. Mayakovsky wrote, "The baby son came to his father and asked the baby:" What is good and what is bad? "Assessing something as" bad ", we automatically oppose this something to something" good ". Values always act as a scale on which there are opposite poles: very valuable, valuable, somewhat valuable, worthless (trash), anti-value (harmful, dangerous).In many cases, values can have a monetary expression.When we say that thing X has value, we place it in one place or another on the value scale.
With the help of a scale of values, a person structures the world around him, laying out objects and phenomena according to the criterion of their value, that is, utility. As a result, there is a kind of classifier in consciousness as a mental structure. In his practical activity, a person, faced with the need for evaluation, uses this scale of values, characterizing real concrete people, their actions, things as very valuable or as completely useless. The result is the construction of social reality with the help of this mental structure - the scale of values. Specifically, this is manifested in the fact that they try to distance themselves from some objects, people (dangerous, unnecessary). So, there is a resettlement from areas overloaded with industry or criminals. Here the price of housing falls, from here migration begins. Qualities that are highly valued (i.e., useful to the evaluator) are relatively highly rewarded; qualities that are rated as dangerous or useless, on the contrary, lead to punishment or best case lack of reward. At the same time, any quality is evaluated only in the context of certain social and cultural relations; in a different context, it can have a completely different assessment. So, vodka is a valuable drink among drinkers, but completely useless among teetotalers, and among militant teetotalers it is anti-value. A thing that is valuable because of its fashion today, in five or seven years can cause ridicule, becoming a symbol of old-fashionedness.
Values act as important regulators of people's behavior in all areas, including consumption. They line up on a scale on which some objects attract, others leave indifferent, and others repel. Accordingly, the consumer uses the scale of values, like a traveler's compass.
Change social practice leads to a change in values, so they are of a concrete historical nature, due to time. In addition, within the same society of the same time there are different subcultures that may have different or even opposite values.
2. Norms are rules, patterns of behavior imposed by culture. The rules are multi-layered. Ideals are norms that delight, beckon, but are not achievable. Ideals set the direction of action, but do not imply that people should achieve goals. The cardinal directions play a similar role: going north does not mean reaching the North Pole. In Christianity, this ideal is Christ. Models are recommended behaviors that are difficult to achieve, but with due diligence, character and abilities are real. Saints, heroes, "stars", etc. act as models. If a person does not reach the level of the model, no one will condemn him. There are minimally acceptable behavior patterns that are neither approved nor condemned, as well as unacceptable behavior patterns that describe such actions that are considered criminal, immoral, etc. in a given culture.
Norms come in a variety of forms:
(a) Law is the norms of conduct enshrined in law. Usually, the law is limited to describing a model of unacceptable behavior, which in this case is called either a crime or an offense. Many countries have laws governing
etc.................
Introduction………………………………………………………………………….3
Chapter I. Studying consumers………………………………………………….5
1.1 Model of buying behavior……………………………….5
1.2 Factors influencing customer behavior………………….6
1.3 Motivation theories………………………………………………......11
1.4 Purchasing decision process……………………………..12
Chapter ΙΙ. Motivational analysis of consumer behavior
Shoes consumers…………………………………………………...13
2.1 Strategy for building and updating a shoe wardrobe ………13
2.2 Attitude towards fashion…………………………………………………..24
Conclusion……………………………………………………………….…….26
List of sources used…………………………………….…….28
Introduction
The study of purchasing behavior is key point in marketing policy. If the marketing process ends after the consumption of the product, then, consequently, the marketing policy should begin with getting to know the consumer.
In the methodology of studying the market and developing the concept of marketing, recently an increasing role is played by psychological methods, methods of studying the motivation of buyers. The study of customer motivation goes in two directions. In one case, the motives of a person's behavior (his actions) when choosing and buying a product are studied. In another case, efforts are directed towards finding ways to effectively influence these decisions of buyers.
For the best promotion of goods on the market, a thorough study of this market, as well as the factors influencing the behavior of buyers, is necessary. To this end, a number of concepts and principles have been created in marketing science, such as the consumer market, consumer behavior, market segmentation, product positioning, etc.
It is important to bear in mind that the identification of true purchase motives can lead to a significant deviation from the purchase motives assumed by the manufacturer of a product or service.
The study of motivation is to discover the hidden meaning of installations in the purchases made. This is done through psychological analysis of indirect surveys of potential buyers. The purpose of surveys is to establish: what pushes a person to buy; what keeps a person from buying; how the decision to buy a particular product arises; what is the connection of this purchase with other purchases made earlier.
The starting point for understanding customer behavior can be a model of marketing incentives and customer response. motivating factors of the environment are input elements in relation to the consciousness of the buyer, and a specific purchase decision depends on the personal characteristics of the individual and the features of the decision-making process. The final choice of the buyer of the goods is formed under the influence of many cultural, social, personal and psychological factors.
Object of study consumer footwear market.
As a subject research examines the motives of consumers' purchases when choosing shoes.
aim
work is the study and use of consumer motivation in marketing.
^
Chapter I. Analysis of consumer buying behavior
Buying Behavior Model
^ Consumer Behavior - a set of people's actions in the process of choosing, buying and using products and services to satisfy their own needs and desires. The study of consumer behavior offers answers to questions about what they buy, why they buy, when they buy, where they buy, how often they buy, how they buy. Therefore, enterprises and professionals spend a lot of effort on the study of dependencies between marketing incentives and consumer response.
After passing through the "black box" of the buyer's mind, all these stimuli cause a series of observable consumer reactions, represented in the right box: product selection, brand selection, dealer selection, purchase timing, purchase volume selection. The task of the marketer is to understand what happens in the "black box" of the consumer's consciousness between the arrival of stimuli and the manifestation of responses to them. The black box itself consists of two parts:
1) characteristics of the buyer, which have a major impact on how a person perceives stimuli and reacts to them;
2) the process of making a purchasing decision, on which the result depends.
^
1.2 Factors affecting customer behavior
The starting point for understanding buyer behavior can be a model of marketing incentives and buyer response (Fig. 2). In accordance with it, marketing stimuli and environmental stimuli are input elements in relation to the mind of the buyer, and a specific purchase decision depends on the personal characteristics of the individual and the features of the decision-making process. The task of the marketer is to understand what happens in the mind of the consumer between the moment he is exposed to external stimuli and the decision to purchase is made.
Fig.2 Buyer Behavior Model
The final choice of the buyer of the goods is formed under the influence of many cultural, social, personal and psychological factors, and the decisive role in this process belongs to culture.
^ CULTURAL FACTORS
The most important of the factors we have listed are the culture of the consumer, his belonging to a particular subculture and social class. culture- a determining factor in the needs and behavior of an individual who, from childhood, has learned in the family and through other social institutions a certain set of values, stereotypes of perception and behavior.
Each culture is made up of individual subculture tour. Subcultures are formed on a national, religious, racial or regional basis.
Almost every modern society is divided into various social strata. One of the most rigid structures of this kind is castes, whose members are assigned certain roles, and the transition from caste to caste is not allowed. Much less rigid is the division of society into social classes- built in a strict hierarchy, relatively homogeneous, stable social groups, united by common values, interests and behavior.
^ SOCIAL FACTORS
In addition to cultural, consumer behavior is influenced by such social factors as reference groups, family, roles and statuses.
^ reference groups. The reference group consists of people who have a direct or indirect influence on the attitude of the individual to something (someone) and his behavior. Groups that have a direct impact on a person are called belonging groups. Membership groups can be primary or secondary.
Marketers must define reference groups of target consumers, not forgetting their different impact on people when buying certain products or brands.
Family. The family is the most important social group of consumers-buyers. Family members make up the most influential primary reference group. There are two types of families. The guiding family consists of the individual's parents and relatives. Religious beliefs are formed in it, the life goals of the individual, feelings of self-worth and love are determined here, positions in the sphere of politics and economics are determined. The direct influence on the buyer's behavior is exerted by his generated family - spouse and children. First of all, marketers study the roles of husband, wife and children and their relative influence on each other in the process of acquiring goods and services.
^ Roles and statuses. Throughout his life, the individual participates in the activities of many groups - family, friends, various organizations. His position in each group is determined by the role he plays and his status. A role is a set of actions that are expected from a person by the people around him. It is very important that the marketer is aware of the potential for product and brand to become status symbols.
^ PERSONAL FACTORS
The decision of the buyer is influenced by his personal characteristics: the age and stage of the life cycle of his family, work, economic status, lifestyle, character traits and self-perception.
^ Age and stage life cycle . Throughout life, a person acquires a variety of goods and services.
The consumption structure of an individual also depends on what stage of the life cycle his family is at. Often during development marketing plan producers are guided by certain target groups in accordance with the periods of the family life cycle. Marketers pay great attention to the circumstances that lead to significant changes in a person's life - divorce, widowhood, remarriage - and their impact on consumer behavior.
^ Occupation and economic status. A great influence on the purchase of goods by the buyer is provided by the type of his occupation. Marketers seek to identify professional groups interested in purchasing specific goods and services, and companies are guided by the release of relevant products.
The economic situation of the individual has a huge impact on the choice of goods by the consumer: disposable income, savings, debt obligations, creditworthiness, as well as attitudes towards the very process of accumulating and spending funds.
Producers of goods, the demand for which depends on the level of income of buyers, constantly monitor trends in changes in personal incomes of the population, savings rates and interest rates.
^ Lifestyle. Belonging to the same sub-culture, the same social class and having the same occupation, individuals can lead a completely different lifestyle, adhere to its different styles. Lifestyle is a form of being of a person in the world, expressed in his activities, interests and opinions. Lifestyle reflects the "whole person" in his interaction with others. Marketers seek to identify links between the company's products and groups of individuals united by their lifestyles.
^ Personality type and self-perception. The purchasing behavior of a person is largely determined by the type of his personality. A personality type is understood as a set of distinctive psychological characteristics of an individual that determines his relatively constant and consistent reactions to environmental influences.
^ PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS
The buyer's choice of goods is influenced by four main psychological factors - motivation, perception, training, beliefs and attitudes.
Motivation. At any moment in life, a person experiences a lot of needs. Some of them have biogenic nature, arise under a certain physiological state of a person. The nature of others is rather psychogenic the result of such states of psychological discomfort as the individual's need for recognition. A need becomes a motive when it forces an individual to act, and its satisfaction reduces the level of psychological discomfort.
Perception. Perception is the process of selection, organization and interpretation by an individual of information coming from outside and the creation of a complete picture. Perception depends not only on physical stimuli, but also on the attitude to the environment and on the personal characteristics of a person. Keyword in the definition of the concept of "perception" - "individual".
Education. In the process of conscious activity, a person acquires certain knowledge. Learning - certain changes in a person's behavior that occur as he accumulates experience. First of all, human behavior is the result of learning. Learning theory shows marketers that they have the ability to increase the demand for promoted products if they manage to use strong incentives in their campaign, motivating consumers incentives and provide it with positive reinforcement.
^ beliefs and attitudes. Beliefs and attitudes of the individual are formed through actions and learning and directly affect the behavior of consumers. Beliefs form images of goods and brands in the mind, focusing on which consumers make purchases.
Marketers are very interested in consumer beliefs about their products and brands.
Installation- a stable positive or negative assessment by a person of an object or idea, feelings towards them and the direction of possible actions in relation to them. People form attitudes about religion and politics, clothing and music, food, etc. Attitudes towards an object make people love it or hate it, strive for it or avoid it.
^ 1.3 Theories of motivation
Theory of motivation according to 3. Freud. The great psychologist believed that people for the most part are not aware of the psychological forces that guide the behavior of the individual, which means that they are not able to fully understand the motives of their actions. When a consumer studies individual brands of goods, he pays attention not only to their main characteristics, but also to less noticeable details. Shape, size, weight, color, brand name and material evoke certain associations and emotions.
Modern motivation researchers adhere to the traditional Freudian interpretation.
^ A. Maslow's theory of motivation. The scientist-psychologist tried to explain why at different times an individual feels different needs. A. Maslow explains this by the fact that the system of human needs is built in a hierarchical order, in accordance with the degree of importance of its elements: physiological needs, the need for a sense of security, social needs and the need for self-actualization. The individual first of all tries to satisfy the most urgent needs. When he succeeds, the satisfied need ceases to be motivating and the person strives to satisfy the next in importance.
^ The theory of motivation according to F. Herzberg. Frederick Herzberg is the author of the two-factor theory of motivation, according to which a person's discontent and his satisfaction are determined by two groups of fundamentally different factors. In order for the purchase to take place, it is not enough to be absent dissatisfaction factor - active presence required satisfaction factorlet-creation.
^ 1.4 Purchase decision process
Awareness of need
^ Search for information
^ Buying decision
^ Purchase reaction
After the purchase, the consumer experiences either a sense of satisfaction or dissatisfaction. He's getting buy response. If the product does not live up to expectations, then the buyer is not satisfied; if the goods correspond to them, the buyer is satisfied; if the product exceeds expectations, then the buyer is more than delighted. Almost every major purchase causes cognitive (cognitive) dissonance, i.e. a feeling of discomfort, which is caused by doubts about the correctness of the choice made; such doubts almost inevitably visit the buyer after making a purchase.
Chapter ΙΙ. Motivational analysis of purchasing behavior of footwear consumers
^
2.1 Strategy for building and updating a shoe wardrobe
The results of the study, carried out by the method in-depth interview in four cities of Russia - Moscow, St. Petersburg, Rostov and Krasnoyarsk.
The sample size is 200 respondents, of which 152 are women and 48 are men. (In each city, 38 women and 12 men were interviewed). Such a sample size for a qualitative study is very large.
Respondents are equally represented among women and men age categories: 20 - 28 years old and 29 - 50 years old. An additional selection criterion was the income of the respondents - from $200 to $1,000 per month per family member. The parameters for the selection of respondents were established on the basis of previous studies of the target audience of consumers of interest to the Customer.
The study, the results of which are presented, was conducted in July 2009 by order of a large shoe company.
To what extent are certain strategies common today among representatives of various target groups? How did specific ideas about fashion, style preferences, etc. change?
Answering these questions is the task of current research, in which, we believe, the proposed approach can help.
Women. For a better understanding of consumer strategies, it is necessary to rely on some classification. We propose to consider shoe buying strategies based on simple criteria. Our classification is based on empirical data for the following reasons:
1. First of all, we estimate the volume of consumption - the number of pairs of shoes that are constantly worn (purely sports and other shoes for special purposes are excluded, as well as old shoes - shoes that “wear out” and are not used for everyday wear).
Based on this information, respondents are divided into those who have a "small" and "large" shoe wardrobe.
“Small” (M) 5 - 10 - we call a set of shoes when there are no more than 10 pairs in constant wear, i.e. an average of 3 pairs for each season; "large" (B) 11 or more - a set of shoes, including more than 10 pairs.
2. The second indicator that we consider is the timing of wear or the frequency of updating shoes (frequency of purchases). At the same time, it is taken into account that different types of shoes are a priori designed for different periods of wear. (So, winter boots, due to the nature of the weather and the widespread use of reagents, for the vast majority of respondents wear out in 2 winter seasons, while boots and other demi-season shoes for 3-4 spring-autumn seasons, etc.).
After analyzing the information collected, we believe that shoes are rarely updated if the period of wearing boots is 3 seasons or more, demi-season shoes - 4 seasons or more, shoes - 4 or more, sandals - 2-3 seasons or more. Accordingly, the shoe wardrobe of the respondents who buy new winter boots after 1-2 seasons of wear, new demi-season shoes after 2-3 seasons, shoes - 1-2, and "sandals" after 1 season of wear are often updated.
3. The third indicator, on the basis of which we propose to analyze shoe consumption strategies, is the “leading motive” for updating, the main factor that prompts the purchase of a new pair of shoes in most cases of purchase.
The leading motives are defined by us as follows:
1.pragmatic : shoes are updated in the process of wear, a new pair must perform the functions of the previous one (at the same time, for various reasons, one type of shoe can be replaced by another; for example, demi-season shoes are bought instead of boots, etc., but the essence of this does not change).
2. desire to follow fashion : shoes are updated under the influence of fashion trends, a new pair is bought in order to have in the wardrobe fashionable shoes in the opinion of the respondent, regardless of the degree of wear of the old one, the purchase is stimulated by a change in fashion.
3.striving for novelty , the desire for diversity: new shoes are purchased not only and not so much in connection with the wear of the old, the respondent strives for change, diversifies her wardrobe, moves away from a purely functional pragmatic approach.
^ 4.mixed motif : in this case, two (or even three) motives act as factors that encourage the purchase of new shoes. For example, most purchases are made strictly as needed, but the respondent tends to have in her wardrobe 1-2 new-fangled, in her opinion, pairs of shoes that are bought in connection with sharper fashion turns, etc.
Obviously, the selected motives can be present in the behavior of almost any woman. Every woman at least once in her life bought shoes under the influence of situational factors. Building our classification, we considered the dominant motive, the basic approach to buying shoes inherent in this customer, which she is guided by in most cases.
According to the proposed approach, the strategy of consumer behavior of a particular respondent can be described, for example, as follows: a small wardrobe (up to 10 pairs in constant wear), long wearing periods. Shoes are rarely updated (for example, shoes after 5-6 seasons of wear), the leading motive is pragmatic - shoes are bought as they wear out, etc. (see table 1.1).
Given the possible number of combinations of the three criteria, theoretically, 16 types of consumer strategies can be distinguished. Of course, real - less. “Cutting off” strategies that are rarely found in real behavior, we analyze common strategies that collectively unite up to 90% of respondents.
Based on empirical data, 4 basic strategies of consumer behavior have been identified. The carriers of each strategy constitute a separate segment of the consumer market.
Table 1.1 shows the quantitative distribution of consumer behavior strategies. Detailed description given after the table.
(The number of respondents is indicated in each cell of the table. The distribution by age groups is specified in brackets: the first figure is the number of respondents aged 29-50, the second - 20-28 years old.)
Let's turn to the analysis of the final data.
The largest number of respondents "falls" into the first cell of the table - i.e. the most common is the strategy described below as an example.
1. Small shoe wardrobe (up to 10 pairs of shoes in constant wear), shoes are worn for a long time, the leading motive is pragmatic - in most cases new shoes are bought only as they are worn out - 40% of respondents.
The carriers of this approach are characterized by the following features.
Respondents are guided by a fairly tough pragmatic approach, rarely making spontaneous purchases. They are meticulous about the choice of shoes and their care. Fashion for them is secondary: purchases are not stimulated by changes in fashion. The main criteria for choosing shoes are durability, resistance to harmful environmental influences, ultimate versatility, which implies a limited choice of colors, materials, finishing methods, allowing you to wear shoes in different situations, with different items of clothing (with a long coat and jacket, with trousers and a skirt) .
This group included mainly respondents with an income of no more than $300, both age groups are equally represented (20-28, 29-50).
Younger people are more likely to make "unplanned" purchases, influenced by sharp turns in fashion or situational factors, retreating from a hard pragmatic approach.
Young people tend to be more flexible. Potentially, they are ready to expand their wardrobe, with the growth of income, the consumption of shoes will increase. At this stage, consumption is constrained by limited material resources.
The second largest group consisted of respondents whose consumer behavior is described by the following strategy:
2. Small shoe wardrobe (up to 10 pairs), short wear time, shoes are updated frequently; the motivation is complex: the wardrobe is updated partly as it wears out, partly under the influence of fashion changes - 20% of respondents.
Respondents who adhere to the strategy under consideration have a small shoe wardrobe, this is largely due to the desire to update shoes more often. Representatives of this group do not strive to carefully protect shoes so that they keep their appearance. However, the choice of shoes in the wardrobe is not so great as to allow a great variety of styles and colors, the requirements for functionality and "convenience" are high. The desire for diversity is realized in the more frequent replacement of shoes with new ones.
Table 1.1
| | Shoes are updated frequently short wear time |
|||||
| Leading motif | Leading motif |
|||||
| Pragmatic | Mixed | Striving to follow fashion | Pragmatic | Mixed | Striving to follow fashion |
|
| Small shoe wardrobe | 63(33-30) 40% | 28(11-17) 20% | ||||
| Large shoe wardrobe | 23(11-12) 15% | 14(8-6) 10% |
||||
For the respondents of this group, fashion requirements are more significant. They differ from the representatives of the first - not only in the frequency of purchases. In the behavior of the respondents who adhere to this strategy, a complex motivation is clearly manifested: some purchases are made as they wear out, however, some purchases are not stimulated by hard necessity. In these cases, the incentive is the desire to follow fashion. The higher importance of the fashion factor largely shaped the approach itself: to have few shoes in everyday life, but to update them more often.
All representatives of this group are united by the approach to solving the fashion-comfort compromise: among fashion innovations, they select only those that meet personal requirements of convenience and functionality. This group also includes those respondents who, as a rule, renew their shoes as they wear out, but in case of sharper fashion turns, they force new purchases. The group included respondents of different age groups and different levels income.
The next largest group consisted of respondents whose consumer strategy is described as follows.
3. Large wardrobe (more than 10 pairs), wear time is short, shoes are updated frequently, the leading motive is the desire to follow fashion - 15% of respondents.
This group included female consumers, who can be attributed to the "early followers" of fashion. The main stimulus for purchases is the need to comply with fashion trends. The desire to be among the first to adopt the latest in shoe design encourages respondents to frequently update their shoes. Among the bearers of this strategy, there are those for whom following fashion is rather normative, and those for whom, due to their priorities and aspirations, interest in fashion is part of a lifestyle, a self-improvement program. Respondents in this group have an income of over $400 per person.
The next group consisted of the respondents who fall into the last cell of the table.
4. Large shoe wardrobe (more than 10 pairs of shoes), short wear times, frequent updates; the leading motive is the desire for diversity and novelty - 10% of respondents.
Respondents in this group have a lot of shoes, constantly acquiring new ones, so purchases are made often. In other cases, the principle “more shoes good and different” applies to the shoe wardrobe as a whole.
Due to the described features, the respondents in this group have the most flexible criteria for choosing shoes. It can be functional and vice versa; it can be classic, moderately fashionable, however, more fashionable avant-garde, extravagant models are allowed. Only in this group is there a true color variety, a wide range of materials and finishing methods.
This group included respondents of different ages, social and professional status, whose income is above $500 per person. Young people in this group, in 2 cases, belong to families where the attitude to shoes and such an approach was instilled by the mother, who builds her wardrobe in the same way. However, it should be noted that in half of the cases, variety and a large selection is achieved through relatively inexpensive shoes (such as "Le Monti"). For such respondents, it is preferable to buy two pairs for $50, which will last one season, rather than buy one pair for $100.
Analyzing price orientations, we noted a general pattern that can be traced in the behavior of 80% of women. It is typical for them when winter and demi-season shoes fall into higher price ranges than summer ones. This trend is easily explained: the requirements for quality, "strength, durability" of winter and demi-season shoes are generally much higher. In search of a guarantee of quality, they often turn to specialized stores, buying winter and demi-season shoes, while they can continue to buy summer shoes at clothing markets.
An analysis of the results shows that the main factors that determine the requirements for footwear ultimately come down to the following:
1. Representatives of the target audience have few shoes.
The absolute majority (3/4 of the respondents) have no more than 10 pairs of shoes in their wardrobe. Even those who, by the standards of our sample, fall into the category of women with a large shoe wardrobe, as a rule, have 11-15 pairs of shoes. In this case, it is necessary to take into account the duration of the socks. It is significant that the described levels of consumption are typical not only for women with an income of $200-300 (per family member), but also for those with higher incomes.
The results obtained are easily explained. The cost structure of our respondents and the real cost of living in the surveyed cities limit the level of footwear consumption. Obviously, with the growth of real incomes, the level of consumption will increase, and strategies will change. (In the context of the general economic situation, it is difficult to expect drastic changes).
Analyzing and predicting the level of consumption, we must not forget about the history of the emergence of the social group that interests us.
For us, the first factor is significant in view of the fact that it largely determines what kind of shoes the respondents will buy.
It is precisely because there are few shoes in the wardrobe that the criteria for choosing them are quite strict: consciously or unconsciously, the respondents set a certain system of requirements that the purchased shoes must meet. It is precisely because there are few shoes in the wardrobe that the subjective significance of the purchase increases. In most cases, the purchase of shoes is preceded by a targeted search, the selection criteria may not always be conscious, but often they are quite strict (the possibilities of interchangeability of certain characteristics of shoes are small).
The motivation and decision-making patterns for buying shoes are comparable to buying durable goods.
Finally, due to the fact that there are few footwear, certain requirements are imposed on its functionality, versatility, resistance to harmful environmental influences, etc.
2. Representatives of the target audience walk a lot, move around the city in public transport.
Among the respondents selected according to the given criteria, the absolute majority does not use a personal car in everyday practice. This applies to both the less affluent and the more affluent respondents.
Men.Analyzing the strategies of consumer behavior of men, we retained the approach on the basis of which the strategies of behavior of female customers were described. However, the quantitative criteria for assessing the volume of a shoe wardrobe and the frequency of purchases have changed in accordance with the specifics of "male consumption".
1. Estimating the size of the men's shoe wardrobe based on empirical data, we set the following intervals: small (M) 4-7 we called a set of shoes that includes no more than 7 pairs for constant wear; "large" (B) - 8 pairs or more.
2. Terms of wear and frequency of renewal: shoes are rarely updated if the terms of wearing winter shoes are more than 2 seasons, demi-season shoes are more than 3, shoes and open shoes are more than 2.
3. As you might expect, the attitude of men to shoes is significantly different from the "women's approach". Analyzing the motivation and the main factors that stimulate purchases from men, we identified 3 leading motives: “pragmatic”, “mixed”, and “the desire to follow fashion”:
1.Pragmatic : shoes are bought only as they wear out, spontaneous unplanned purchases are practically excluded.
2.Mixed : shoes are bought not only as they wear out, purchases are possible under the influence of situational factors, replacement of shoes due to its “obsolescence” or changes in fashion trends.
3.Striving to follow fashion : shopping is stimulated by fashion changes.
Based on empirical data, 4 basic strategies. Consumers who adhere to each of them constitute a separate segment of the shoe market.
Table 1.2 shows the quantitative distribution of consumer behavior strategies.
The most numerous is the group of respondents whose behavior is determined by the following strategy.
1. Small shoe wardrobe , short periods of wear, shoes are updated frequently, the leading motive is pragmatic - shoes are bought strictly as they wear out - 40% of respondents.
Respondents in this group adhere to a rigid pragmatic approach. Almost all purchases are made only to replace a worn pair with a new one, spontaneous, unplanned - in fact, excluded. The main criterion for choosing shoes is functionality, "comfort". This group included respondents of both age categories (20 - 28 and 29 - 50), whose income level is from $200 to $1000, the majority has an income of $400 - $500 per family member.
The second largest group consisted of respondents whose strategy is described below.
2. Small shoe wardrobe , long periods of wear, shoes are rarely updated; the leading motive is pragmatic - 27% of the respondents.
The carriers of this approach are characterized by the following features.
The main criteria for choosing shoes are "strength", resistance to harmful environmental influences, and ease of care. The key requirement is versatility. Representatives of the described group in the vast majority of cases have their own, well-established over the years, preferences regarding style. This group included representatives of both age categories in equal proportions. Up to 80% are men with an income of no more than $400. However, among the carriers of the described strategy there are also wealthier ones - with an income of $600 to $800.
The next group consisted of respondents whose approach to completing a shoe wardrobe deviates from a purely pragmatic one.
3. Large wardrobe , short periods of wear, shoes are updated frequently, the leading motive is mixed - 10% of respondents.
Table 1.2
| Shoes are rarely updated, long wear time | Shoes are updated frequently short wear time |
|||||
| Leading motif | Leading motif |
|||||
| Pragmatic | Mixed | Striving to follow fashion | Pragmatic | Mixed | Striving to follow fashion |
|
| Small shoe wardrobe | 13(7 – 6)27% | 19(10 – 9)40% | ||||
| Large shoe wardrobe | 5(3 – 2)10% | 5(1 – 4)10% |
||||
Respondents in this group make purchases not only to replace a worn pair with a new one. Representatives of the fourth group stand out from the rest of the men.
4. Large shoe wardrobe , the shoes are updated frequently; the leading motive is the desire to follow fashion - 10% of respondents.
Respondents in this group have a lot of shoes for different functional purposes in their wardrobe. The incentive for the next purchase is the desire to comply with those fashion trends that meet the style preferences of the respondents.
This group consisted of young people aged 20-25 with an income of $400-600. They are united by a commitment to "youth", "youth avant-garde", "foppish" styles.
^
2.2 Relationship to fashion
Women. Summarizing a large empirical material, we can draw the following conclusions:
1. The dominant attitude towards fashion is normative-pragmatic. What is the meaning of this concept?
Firstly, the majority of respondents (approximately 2/3 in both age groups) prioritize different criteria for evaluating shoes when making purchases. "Fashion" in most cases is secondary, acceptable gradation is closely related to the style characteristics of shoes and individual requirements for functionality and comfort.
Secondly, for the majority of respondents (up to 70% of cases), fashion appears, first of all, in one of its incarnations - normative.
At the same time, the motives that guide them can be different: the desire not to stand out from a certain social and age group; the desire to meet the role and status requirements; economy - but the essence of this does not change.
2. Some of the respondents in both age groups differ from the majority in their attitudes towards fashion. Such respondents, in turn, can be divided into two groups.
The first group (up to 20%) is made up of those who are fashion-oriented to the least extent, they live as if “out of fashion”, drawing from new collections only what fully meets either their aesthetic principles or is most convenient for them. There are more representatives of this group among women over 30 years old.
The second group (10% of cases) consists of those for whom fashion is not so much the norm that dominates in a certain period of time as an aesthetic value.
The results obtained have a very definite practical outcome.
The normative-pragmatic attitude to fashion is most often expressed in an attitude akin to the criteria for finding a good husband who has all the virtues with the prefix “no”: “whatever he drinks, doesn’t smoke ...” Similarly, respondents often choose the degree of fashion that it does not so much imply the presence of recent innovations as the absence of such innovations that will allow one to uniquely identify a certain style, period of time, etc. (and not only because they are going to wear these shoes for a long time).
For women, for whom following shoe fashion is not one of the priorities in designing themselves, it is difficult to assess what they see in front of them: a new direction that will soon gain recognition or a momentary whim of designers.
Men. An analysis of consumer behavior has shown that no more than 10% of men's purchases are directly stimulated by fashion changes. We have repeatedly noted that in comparison with "convenience", functionality, price preferences, fashion is secondary.
What is the acceptable degree of fashion for men?
The vast majority (90%), as well as the majority of women, are focused on models that do not so much imply the presence of fashionable features and details, but the absence of features that are noticeably different from those that dominate the streets, go beyond the calm classical style, can quickly go out of fashion.
In this regard, the approaches of men and women are extremely close. The differences lie elsewhere. Women do not have a single sample of such shoes. IN general view- these are boats with minimal adaptation to fashionable elements. However, depending on personal preferences, they may have a straight or tapered heel, a rounded or square toe, etc. Men have such a pattern. 70% (!) of respondents say that shoes that guarantee the degree of fashionability that allows them to feel comfortable should have a rounded toe, low heels, and not accentuated (massive, wide welts, etc.) soles. This pattern is a classic for them in shoes.
Among women, there are 10-15% of those who consider only a boat on a thin stiletto heel with a tapering toe to be forever fashionable. Similarly, among men, up to 10% of those who prefer a narrow sock and consider this style to be classic, expressing their readiness to always buy it.
CONCLUSION
The main goal of marketing is to satisfy the needs and demands of consumers. Thus, consumer behavior is formed in the marketing system. Realizing his needs, the buyer begins to choose from the proposed range of goods (services) the one that meets his needs, tastes.
Each consumer has certain personal characteristics. Every customer has a different process of making a purchasing decision.
Marketers need to study consumers, understand how the personal characteristics of the buyer affect consumer behavior when making a purchase decision.
Having made a decision to purchase a certain product, the buyer forms a certain reaction to this purchase. Any company should regularly study the degree of satisfaction of its customers. Don't count on dissatisfied customers to come along and say they don't like something. 96% of dissatisfied customers never turn to company representatives with their problems. The company must create a system that encourages consumers to express dissatisfaction, then the company can find out if it is doing well and what can be improved.
The study of customer needs and the process of making purchases is the basis successful marketing. Understanding the stages a customer goes through in the buying process enables the marketer to find the key to better satisfying the customer's needs. Understanding the role of the different actors in the buying process and the factors that influence purchasing behavior allows the marketer to design an effective program to support demand in the market.
Summing up the motives for buying shoes by consumers, we note the trends that are manifested in consumer behavior, both women and men.
The main factor determining the selection criteria is the volume of consumption.
Why is a brand a more important selection criterion for men than for women? Women's choice, as a rule, is more complex, multi-criteria. The analysis showed that men tend to simplify search algorithms. As a result, they have shortened routes for searching for shoes. Men tend to develop 1 - 2 basic criteria, or share responsibility for the choice with his wife. The trademark becomes the very beacon that indicates the shortest path to the goal. Men have always been more interested in cars, audio and video equipment - goods that our consumer is accustomed to distinguish and evaluate on the basis of brands. They transferred this kind of experience to shoes.
Textbooks and study guides
Kotler F. "Marketing from A to Z" / per. from English. ed. T. R. Teor- SPb.: Neva Publishing House, 2003.- 224 p.
Marketing: Textbook, workshop and educational-methodical complex on marketing / R. B. Nozdrev, G. D. Krylova, M. I. Sokolova, V. I. Sokolova. V. Yu. Grechkov. - M .: Jurist, 2004. - 568 p.
Marketing management. 11th ed. /F. Kotler - St. Petersburg: Peter. 2005.-800 p.
Marketing: Textbook / A. N. Romanov. Yu. Yu. Korlyugov. S. A. Krasilnikov and others; Ed. A. N. Romanova. - M .: Banks and stock exchanges, UNITI, 2003. - 560 p.
Kotler, Philip, Armstrong, Gary, Saunders, John, Wong, Veronica. Fundamentals of Marketing: Per. from English. - 2nd European ed. – M.; St. Petersburg; TO.; Williams Publishing House, 2003. - 944 p.
Pankrukhin A.P. Marketing: Textbook. – M.: Omega-L, 2003. – 656 p.
Marketing: tutorial/ A. P. Mishchenko, A. I. Bannikov, M. Kh.
Bikhtemirova; under total ed. A. P. Mishchenko.- M.: KNORUS, 2006.- 288 p.
Marketing: general course: textbook for university students studying in the direction of "Economics" / ed. N.Ya. Kolyuzhnova. A. Ya. Yakobson.- M.: Omega-L Publishing House, 2006.- 476 p.
Marketing: Textbook for universities / N. D. Eriashvili, K. Howard, Yu. A. Tsypkin and others; Ed. N. D. Eriashvili, 3rd ed., revised. and additional .- M .: UNITY - DANA, 2003.
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Consumer behavior is the complex, purposeful activity of choosing, buying, and using products. It aims to meet the needs and is influenced by the environment and individual differences of consumers.
Every day, consumers make many decisions about what to buy. In order to understand what guides the buyer, making this or that purchase, it is necessary to determine what factors influence his behavior.
The behavior of people when making a purchase is shaped by many factors. On the one hand, the consumer's actions take place under certain conditions, i.e. they are determined by the environment, and on the other hand, the purchase decision is made by the consumer, taking into account his personal values, lifestyle, emotions, knowledge. Thus, all factors influencing consumer behavior can be divided into two groups:
1) External factors. As part of the influence of the environment on purchasing behavior, the following groups of factors are considered:
cultural factors.
Culture has a major influence on human needs and behavior. Human behavior largely depends on education. Growing up in society, the child perceives the basic values, models of perception, needs and stereotypes of behavior - in the family and various social institutions. For a person, the following values are usually the most important: goal achievement and success, an active life position and participation in public life, efficiency and practicality, progress, material comfort, individualism, freedom, humanism, youth, good physical shape and health.
Each class or society has its own culture, and in different countries culture influences purchasing behavior in different ways. Culture is constantly in development, in this regard, strategies must be flexible. Manufacturers need to seek to identify cultural shifts in order to find out what new products consumers would like to purchase and how, in accordance with the emerging values, benefits should be presented to the consumer. For example, there has been a cultural shift in which people have begun to pay more attention to their own health and fitness. This shift caused the creation of a gigantic exercise equipment industry, sportswear, reduced-fat foods, natural products, and health and fitness services. Another cultural shift - the establishment of less formal relationships between people - has led to an increase in demand for simple and comfortable clothes, less calorie, natural food and drinks. This allowed SPRING to change the trend of the Omsk beverage market towards the emergence of a “new era” of carbonated water without dyes and fruit flavor. The growing desire to spend more time on recreation has led to an increase in demand for goods and services that make household chores easier, in particular for microwave ovens and fast food. This same cultural shift helped catalog sales flourish.
Each culture consists of smaller elements - subcultures, or groups of people who adhere to a certain system of values based on their common life experience and position in society. Separate subcultures are represented by groups of people united by national, religious, racial characteristics or living in the same geographical region. Consumers belonging to different subcultures form important market segments, and it is necessary to develop products and special programs based on them. Since the strategies developed should more adapt to cultural traditions than change the values of the consumer segment.
Social classes, roles and status of the buyer.
Almost every society has a class structure in one form or another. Social classes are stable and ordered groups of society, whose members have approximately equal social position, interests and behavior. Belonging to a particular social class is determined not by any single factor, such as earnings, but by a combination of occupation, income, education, material well-being and other characteristics. The behavior of the consumer strongly depends on the social class to which he belongs (choice of store, preference for brands, etc.). Social classes have their own characteristics in the awareness of the need, the choice of evaluation criteria, in the processing of information, in the buying process itself. For example, the purchase of clothes is carried out according to the criterion of expressing one's belonging to the desired social class. The upper social strata most often choose expensive, rare, unique goods, the middle strata are sensitive to the style and design of household items, the lower strata are focused on the functionality of items. The individual is a member of many social groups (families, clubs, organizations). His position in each of them can be characterized in terms of role and status. A role is a set of actions that are expected from an individual by those around him. Each role corresponds to a status that reflects the assessment given to this role by society. A person often chooses goods that speak of his status in society. Thus, company presidents drive Mercedes or Cadillac cars, wear expensive, well-tailored suits, visit expensive stores, and often resort to such methods of acquiring goods as buying from catalogs and via the Internet. Marketers are realizing the potential for goods to become status symbols. However, such symbols turn out to be different not only for different social classes, but also for different geographical areas. In New York City, status symbols are jogging to work, fishing, hunting, and cosmetic surgery for men; in Chicago - catalog shopping, bagels, tacos (a Mexican variety of pasties), a phone in a car.
personal influence.
The decision to buy is often influenced by the people who surround the consumer and in whom he has confidence. There are two forms of personal influence: the influence of reference groups (groups that have a direct, i.e., through personal contact or indirect influence on a person’s attitudes or behavior.) and the influence of “competent individuals” (consumers often turn to the people around them, family members, friends for advice on choosing products and services). Reference groups have a particularly strong influence on a person. Groups that have a direct influence on a person are called membership groups. These are the groups to which the individual belongs and with which he interacts. Some of these collectives are primary, and interaction with them is quite constant. These are family, friends, neighbors and work colleagues. Primary collectives are usually informal and are the most influential. In addition, a person belongs to a number of secondary groups, which, as a rule, are more formal and interaction with which is not permanent. It's a different kind public organizations types of religious associations, professional associations and trade unions. The influence that such groups have on behavior depends on the willingness of the individual to accept and follow the norms. Individuals are also influenced by groups to which they do not belong. A desirable collective is a group to which a person wants or aspires to belong. An undesirable collective is a group whose values and behavior the individual does not accept. Market actors seek to identify all reference groups specific market where they sell their products. A particular group affects the buyer in different ways, but this influence is enhanced if the purchase attracts the noticeable attention of others. If a person decides to buy a public luxury, such as a yacht, then he, in general, falls under the significant influence of others. A lot of people will notice the yacht because few people can buy it. In addition, they will pay attention to the trademark, as many have become interested in the yacht. Thus, both the product and its brand can have a significant impact on the buyer's decision to purchase a yacht and choose its brand. On the other hand, groups have less influence on the consumer who purchases individual necessities, since those around them will not pay much attention to either these goods or their brands.
Reference groups influence people in at least three ways. First, the individual is faced with new manifestations of behavior and ways of life. Secondly, the group affects the attitude of the individual and his idea of himself, since he, as a rule, seeks to "fit" into the collective. And, thirdly, the group pushes the individual towards comfort, which may influence his choice of specific products and brands.
Family influence.
The family is the primary informal group. She acts as a base social institution, whose influence extends to the habits, addictions, actions and beliefs of people. The degree of influence of family members on an individual depends on his belonging to one or another type of family. The guiding family consists of the parents of the individual. From them a person receives instructions about religion, politics, economics, ambition, self-respect, love. Even when the buyer no longer interacts closely with his parents, their influence on his unconscious behavior may still be significant. In countries where parents and children continue to live together, parental influence can be decisive.
A more direct influence on everyday buying behavior comes from an individual's family of origin, i.e. his spouse and children. The family is the most important consumer buying organization within society and is subjected to extensive scrutiny. Marketers are interested in the roles of husband, wife, and children and the influence each has on the purchase of a variety of goods and services.
The ratio of the influences of husband and wife varies widely depending on the product category. The wife traditionally acts as the main purchaser for the family of food, household items and basic clothing. However, with the increase in the number of working wives and the increased willingness of husbands to make more family purchases, the situation is changing. So mainstream sellers will make the mistake of continuing to think of women as the main and only buyers of their products.
For expensive goods and services, the husband and wife usually make a joint decision. The marketer needs to find out whose opinion is more important when it comes to buying a particular product or a particular service. Here is how the influence of each is most often divided in relation to a number of goods and services:
Husband's opinion: life insurance, cars, television.
Wife's opinion: washing machines, carpets, furniture, except for living room furniture, kitchen utensils.
General solution: living room furniture, vacation, choice of accommodation, entertainment outside the home.
Influence of situations.
Consumer behavior is formed under the influence of five main situational factors: physical environment (geographical location, design, sounds, smells, lighting, appearance of the product), social environment (presence or absence of other people in a given situation), time (temporal characteristics associated with the moment purchases), the consumer's task (what the person must achieve in a given situation), the previous state (the mood or conditions with which the consumer enters the situation: anxiety, good mood, amount of money, fatigue).
All consumer situations are divided into three groups:
- 1. Situations of communication arise in conditions of personal and non-personal communication. Personal communication takes place in the relationship of the consumer with the seller or other consumers, non-personal communication is determined by the impact of advertising, sales promotion programs and other stimuli.
- 2. Purchase situations are the conditions in which consumers purchase goods and services. When buying, the information environment is of decisive importance. the buyer's decisions depend on information coming from the external environment and his memory.
- 3. Situations of use. When buying a product, the buyer programs the situation of consumption, so it has a great influence on him.
- 2) Internal factors. Internal or unobservable factors that influence consumer behavior include:
Types of consumer behavior and self-image.
Each person has a unique set of personal characteristics that influence their buying behavior. There is a close relationship between personality variables and types of consumer behavior: purchase, media choice, product choice, risk, attitude. The most convenient classification of personality types was proposed by K. Jung. He considered a person as a system for the perception and processing of information, using the mental functions of sensation, intuition, thinking and feelings. Jung singled out two main types of information perception - extravertive (there is an accumulation of undigested material from outside) and introvertive (controls the choice of information, it is easier to focus on the main thing). Within these groups, individuals differ in the processes of perception and processing of information. In addition to extraversion and introversion, Jung identified the following types: thinking - feeling, sensory - intuitive. Depending on belonging to a particular psychological type, buyers behave differently when making a purchase decision. For example, sensory types think twice as often as intuitive types. This is due to the fact that for the sensory type of people, practicality and reliability are characteristic features, and the intuitive type is guided in their actions by enthusiasm, often infecting others with it. In addition to the type of personality, such a concept as self-perception (a person's idea of himself) is used. The essence of this concept lies in the fact that everything that a person owns reflects his individuality and at the same time influences it. For example, the founder and director of a leading US bookstore believes that people buy books to maintain their own self-image and to make a statement about their tastes, education, and culture.
Personal values.
In modern strategies, consumer values are criteria based on which consumers are divided into homogeneous groups with similar values; the type of appeal in advertising, design, pricing decisions are selected. Value orientations have an impact both at the stage of formation of evaluation criteria by consumers and at the stage of making a purchase decision. Consumers tend to prefer trade marks, having a high value, because it is easier for them to understand what advantages the product has, they feel more trust in it and get more satisfaction from using it. To discover how values determine market demand, use a multi-stage analysis that shows the relationship between product qualities and consumers' personal values. The process of interconnection between life values and characteristics of the product is called leddring. Personal values are closely related to social changes in society. For example, a modern woman's understanding of her role in the family has changed: she no longer sees herself as a "servant for the home", the main goal has become "self-realization at work." Based on this, many companies have developed a series of products, the preparation of which saves time.
Personal characteristics.
Personal characteristics that influence consumer behavior include:
- - Age. With age, there are changes in the assortment and nomenclature of goods and services purchased by people. In the early years, a person needs products for baby food. In the years of growing up and maturity, he eats a wide variety of foods, in old age - special dietary ones. Over the years, his tastes in clothing, furniture, leisure and entertainment also change.
- - Occupation and economic status of the individual. A certain influence on the nature of goods and services acquired by a person is exerted by his occupation. The worker can buy work clothes, work shoes, lunch boxes, bowling equipment. The president of the firm can buy himself blue serge suits, travel by plane, join privileged country clubs, buy himself a big sailboat. The marketer seeks to identify such occupational groups whose members show an increased interest in his goods and services. The firm may even specialize in the production of goods needed by a particular professional group. The economic situation of a person also affects the choice of goods. High-value manufacturers track trends in personal income, savings, and interest rates.
- - Life style. Lifestyle is a way of life of a person, including his interests, opinions, types of preferred activities. It is formed under the influence of both individual characteristics of a person (personality type) and external social factors - culture, values, etc. Persons belonging to the same subculture, the same social class and even the same occupation, can lead completely different lifestyles. Lifestyle paints a "comprehensive portrait" of the consumer, it shows more than the fact of belonging to a particular social class or personality type; lifestyle allows us to present a general description of human activity and its relationship with the outside world. Lifestyle influences the needs and therefore determines the behavior of the buyer in the market. Lifestyle measures are based on CIM indicators: activities (work, hobbies, shopping, sports, participation in social life), interests (fashion, family, leisure), and opinions (about oneself, others, products and goods).
- - Human experience. It determines his behavior when making a purchase decision, since each buyer has some ideas about how to behave when buying specific goods, what aspects need to be clarified, clarified and what characteristics should be paid attention to. Under the influence of life experience, an individual can make a choice of those places where it is most expedient to purchase a product or service.
- - Attitudes and beliefs are formed largely under the influence of the environment. They form the basis of the individual's worldview. An attitude is a readiness to carry out precisely those actions that are adequate to a given situation, preceding any, including psychological, acts. Attitudes and beliefs of a person begin to form from early childhood under the influence of family, culture, they are also closely related to social changes taking place in society.
cognitive processes.
Every day the consumer perceives a huge amount of information. Its impact is manifested in the processes of processing this information, emotions, thoughts, possible solutions that determine consumer behavior. Psychological research has proven that behavior is determined by cognitive (cognitive), emotional and behavioral factors. Cognitive processes include the processes of perception and processing of information. These are sensations (color, shape, size, sound, taste, pain, hunger, thirst, etc.), perception (includes two important regulatory processes: attention and pattern recognition), thinking, memory (capturing, storing and reproducing past experience ), opinions, beliefs, assimilation of experience, etc. Understanding the laws by which the consumer processes information allows you to understand what he is guided by in the process of making a purchase decision. Emotions also play an important role in regulating consumer behavior. These are the subjective states of a person that arise in response to the influence of external or internal signals and manifest themselves in the form of direct experiences (pleasure, joy, fear, anger). Emotions form the motivational system of a person, which changes, controls and directs his behavior.
The word "motivation" comes from the Latin word movere - to set in motion, to push. Motivation is an incentive, an impetus to purposeful action. Purposeful action or behavior is the outward expression of motivation. The term "motivation" is interpreted in different ways:
- - as a set of factors that determine behavior;
- - as a set of motives;
- - as a process of mental regulation of a specific activity;
- - as a mechanism that determines the emergence, direction and methods of implementation of specific forms of activity.
Thus, we can say that motivation is a process that includes needs, motives, goals and actions aimed at satisfying a need. The search for answers to questions such as "why", "why", "for what purpose", "in what way", gives an idea of the motivation of activity.
The motivational process is formed from several stages:
- Stage 1: Formation of the need. The normal functioning of the body is possible only while maintaining the internal constancy of the environment. With a deviation from the level that ensures the normal functioning of the body, a person begins to feel the need for special substances. At this stage, the need forms an abstract motive (eat, drink). An organic need (need) becomes a need of the individual in the case when it is realized, i.e. when there is a feeling of hunger, thirst. The subject of satisfying a need acts as a generalized image (you need to eat, drink), i.e. an abstract goal appears, without concretization (what to eat, what to drink). The appearance of an abstract goal forms an incentive to search for a specific object to satisfy the need.
- Stage 2: Based on the analysis of external and inside information the motive of purposeful behavior is formed, a goal is chosen and a decision is made. This stage of formation of the motivational process occurs under the influence of external stimuli and accumulated experience stored in memory.
- Stage 3: Selection of specific action programs and formation of intentions. In accordance with the decision made, a program of action is built and a mental image of the result of the action of this program is created. If the procedure for buying a product and the product itself correspond to the mental image, then it is purchased. If there is no such decision, then a new decision is made, and new actions are carried out until the results coincide with the program.
Psychologists have developed a number of theories of human motivation. The most popular of these, the theory of Sigmund Freud and the theory of Abraham Maslow, suggest very different implications for consumer research activities.
Freud believed that people are basically unaware of the real psychological forces that shape their behavior, that a person grows, while suppressing many drives in himself. These cravings never completely disappear and are never completely controlled. They manifest themselves in dreams, reservations, neurotic behavior, obsessive states. And, finally, in psychoses, in which the human "ego" is unable to balance the powerful pulses of its own "id" with the oppression of the "super-ego". Thus, a person is not fully aware of the origins of his own motivation. Motivation researchers have made a number of interesting, and sometimes strange, conclusions about what can influence the consumer's mind when making certain purchases. So, they think that:
b Consumers resist buying prunes because they are shriveled and look like old people.
b Men smoke cigars as an adult alternative to thumb sucking. They like cigars with a strong smell that emphasizes their masculinity.
ü Women prefer vegetable fats to animal fats, which make them feel guilty about slaughtered animals.
A woman takes the process of baking cupcakes very seriously, because for her it is subconsciously associated with the process of childbirth. She doesn't like easy-to-use cake mixes, because the easy life makes her feel guilty.
Abraham Maslow tried to explain why people are driven by different needs at different times. He believes that human needs are arranged in order of hierarchical importance from most to least necessary.
In order of importance, the needs are arranged in the following order: physiological needs, self-preservation needs, social needs, respect needs and self-affirmation needs. A person will strive to satisfy the most important needs first. As soon as he manages to satisfy some important need, it ceases to be a driving motive for a while. At the same time, there is an incentive to satisfy the next most important need.
For example, a starving person (need No. 1) is not interested in what is happening in the art world (need No. 5), nor in how they look at it and to what extent others respect it (needs No. 3 and No. 4), nor in pure whether he breathes air (need #2). But as the next most important need is satisfied, the next need after it comes to the fore (see Figure 2).
Under the motivational factors in psychology understand the motives that determine the actions of a person. Thus, the subject of this study will be the motives that push buyers to shop in the markets and consume the product.
Self-expression is an opportunity to do what you want and the way you want and, ultimately, to express yourself in the results of your work at the expense of the money you personally earned (and not state funds). Obviously, it is the dream of any real scientist to get
complete freedom of search and creativity.
Figure 2. Hierarchy of motives according to Maslow
However, only a few out of millions achieve it: some due to the fact that work in the framework of the fulfillment of other people's orders completely coincides with their personal aspirations; while others, having earned money on their own, do what they like best. And this motive for people of creative work is certainly the highest. It serves as a guiding star for most of them, both in scientific creativity and in entrepreneurship.
However, motivational factors are not limited to individual ones. There are also group motives that influence the formation of a team and form the basis of sufficient factors for the success of private entrepreneurial activity. Indeed, science-intensive business is a team game. At the initial stage of development of a high-tech firm, almost any management will not be able to pay employees remuneration adequate to their labor costs and potential. What will unite the team and mobilize it to solve the tasks facing the organization? Of course, the skillful use by the management of the company of group motivational factors, and the most powerful of them for Russian scientific and technical employees has always been a single, common goal - to obtain more and more scientific results of a level that is not yet achievable for other research groups, not only in our country. country, but throughout the world. Obviously, the achievement of this goal - the inclusion of a group motivational factor of the highest level, implies the presence of two other factors: the formation of a group spirit and solidarity, as well as pride in the team and the desire to win (the fourth and third levels of group motivation, Figure 1).
As shown in Figure 1, when the motivational factors of higher levels are put into action, tension in the team may appear, associated with a mismatch between personal and group motivational factors.
Research methodology
Conducting research on the topic thesis was carried out in three stages, reflecting the appropriate sequence of work.
At the first stage, a theoretical and methodological substantiation of the topic of the thesis is carried out. The economic essence of consumer behavior, the prerequisites for the theory of consumer behavior were considered. At this stage, a monographic research method was used.
In the second stage, they reveal general characteristics enterprises, his legal status, internal and external environment enterprises, features of motivation of behavior of buyers. The analysis used monographic, graphic, statistical and economic research methods.
At the third stage, the motivational analysis of consumers is considered, the characteristics of consumer preferences in the market are studied. building materials. At this stage, analytical research methods were used.
At the end, general conclusions and recommendations are made. After the conclusion, a list of used literature sources is attached.
In the past, marketers learned to understand their customers in the course of their day-to-day sales interactions with them. However, the growth of the firm and the market has deprived many marketing executives of direct contact with customers. Managers have to increasingly resort to consumer research. They are spending more than ever before on consumer research, trying to figure out exactly who is buying, when exactly they are buying, where exactly they are buying, and why they are buying.
Consumer behavior is influenced by a number of factors. These factors can be divided into external and internal. In its turn external factors are usually subdivided into environmental and marketing factors, and internal - into psychological and personal. Let us dwell in more detail on the selected groups of factors.
External factors
External factors have a significant impact on the behavior of buyers and consumers. These factors include:
- - culture;
- - subculture;
- - social class;
- - reference groups;
- - family;
- - roles and statuses.
The degree of influence of each of these factors on consumers is not the same. Culture has the widest impact, and family, roles and statuses have the strongest. Schematically, this can be represented as an inverted pyramid, at the top of which is the culture that most widely affects consumers, and at the bottom are the family, roles and statuses that have the strongest influence on consumer behavior.
culture- widely recognized views, norms and values that determine the behavior of members of a given society. Such views, norms and values are brought up in the family, school, religion, and other public institutions. An important influence on the level of culture of each person has his life experience.
The level of culture in society has the most direct impact on people's lives. From the point of view of marketing, such an impact is reflected in what goods are purchased, what value is attached to them in the process of consumption. In other words, the level of cultural development is most directly related to consumer behavior.
It should be borne in mind that certain shifts in its development are characteristic of culture. These shifts must be constantly reviewed by marketers to better address the changing needs and demands of specific consumers.
Subculture or, as it is sometimes called, microculture is integral part culture of this society. It is determined by a set of views, values and norms of behavior, transformed to a certain group of people, united on a national, religious, racial, regional or some other basis.
Such groups of people can be considered as separate market segments, which are characterized by buying behavior that has its own specifics.
Under social class usually refers to a collection of individuals or families that are characterized by similar beliefs, lifestyles, interests and behaviors.
Usually, when distinguishing social classes, such characteristics as profession, income, value orientation, class consciousness, and wealth are taken into account.
As for the former socialist countries, they are characterized by the process of formation of social classes. In many other countries such classes have been formed. For example, in the United States, there are seven social classes:
- - the highest upper class (1% of the population);
- - low upper class (2%);
- - middle upper class (12%);
- - middle class (32%);
- - working class (38%);
- - upper lower class (9%);
- - low lower class (7%).
The selected social classes are characterized by their preferences in clothing, cars, leisure activities, etc. Thus, each of the social classes represents a certain group of consumers with approximately the same behavior, due to their economic position in the market. This behavior should be studied by marketers and used in the activities of the relevant business structures.
The so-called reference groups. A reference group is usually understood as a certain set of people capable of influencing a person's attitudes and behavior.
The degree of influence in the reference group depends on its form. Given the degree of such influence, the following types of reference groups are most often considered: primary and secondary; attractive and repulsive; formal and informal.
The highest level of influence on human behavior is typical for primary groups. Such groups are formed by people directly surrounding the given person and, first of all, by family members, neighbors, friends, work colleagues.
In secondary reference groups, the influence on a person's thoughts and behavior is not so significant and is mostly episodic. These groups include various public organizations, trade unions, professional associations.
Attractive reference groups are characterized by the presence of such values and such behavior of their members that are desirable for a given person. The latter is ready to perceive the established norms, values and behavior of the corresponding set of people and seeks to associate himself with such a group.
IN real life there may also be such groups of people with which the given person seeks to avoid associations. In this case one speaks of repulsive reference groups.
Finally, formal reference groups are characterized by the fact that their qualitative composition is clearly defined, norms and rules of behavior are stipulated. Unlike formal ones, in informal reference groups there is no clear organizational structure; they are formed due to the presence of common interests for a given set of people.
Each of the reference groups has a certain effect on a person. This influence finds its expression in the following: the lifestyle and behavior of a person change; changes in a person's ideas about himself and his attitude to life; a certain opinion of an individual about a particular product and its trademark is formed.
The strongest influence on buying behavior is family and household. This is due to the following reasons. Families and households buy and consume a wide variety of goods. The family has the strongest influence on the attitudes and behavior of people. It is the family that shapes us as consumers.
In the family, its members play different roles in the process of buying and consuming goods and services. In the light of what has been said, one usually considers:
- - initiators - family members, from whom the initiative in the acquisition of this product comes;
- - influential persons - family members, consciously or subconsciously, words and actions influencing the decision to purchase a product or service and their consumption;
- - decision makers to buy;
- - buyers - family members making purchases;
- - consumers - family members who make purchases;
- - Consumers - family members who directly use goods or services.
These roles of individual family members in the process of making decisions about the purchase and consumption of goods and services have significant differences for social classes and countries. They also significantly depend on the stage of the family life cycle, and in marketing theory, the following stages of the family life cycle are usually considered:
- - bachelors
- - a young family without children;
- - a young married couple with children under 6 years old;
- - married couples with children (the youngest child is 6 or more years old);
- - mature married couple with adult children;
- - elderly couples living without children;
- - Elderly loners.
At each stage of the life cycle, the family has its own specific needs. If young couples with children spend a lot of money on the purchase of goods for children, then older couples attach paramount importance to their health, paying special attention to leisure and recreation.
Differences in consumer behavior depending on the life cycle of the family take into account in their activities various business structures especially financial and banking institutions. Latest structures subject to possible changes in stock Money and the main directions of their intended use, introduce various services and position them in the relevant target segments of the selected market.
When considering reference groups, it has already been emphasized that each of us belongs to several of them. In these groups, we perform a certain role and we have the corresponding status. For example, we can act as children to our parents and at the same time be parents to our children. In addition, we play a certain role in our work, occupying the appropriate position. In all these cases, our role is a set of actions that we perform in relation to the people around us. Such actions are expected and quite predictable. Moreover, depending on what role we perform, our purchasing behavior is also determined.
Each role corresponds to a certain status, which expresses the general assessment given to a person by society. In other words, status is the position of a person in society.
Having an appropriate status, a person acquires and consumes those goods and services by which one can judge his position in society.
Personal factors
The next group of factors that influence the behavior of buyers are the so-called personal factors. Personal factors include factors that characterize permanent and stable forms of behavior. Usually they include:
- - age;
- - Lifestyle;
- - life style;
- - work;
- - economic conditions.
Throughout life, the needs and requirements of each person change. In accordance with this, there are changes in the range and nomenclature of consumed goods and services. Yes, in school age sportswear, audio and video cassettes, and school goods are consumed more. Young people aged 20 to 34 pay more attention to cars, housing, clothing, furniture, and leisure equipment. Changes in the assortment and nomenclature of purchased goods and services are also taking place in subsequent years, and the stage of the family life cycle has the most direct influence on this.
Age and the stage of the life cycle are the initial parameters for segmenting the market for consumer goods and services. This was discussed in detail in the previous chapter.
Under way of life usually understood as the established forms of human existence in the world, which are expressed in his activities, interests and beliefs. At the same time, human activity can be related to work, social events, recreation, entertainment, focused on the family, home, means mass media, fashion, food. Opinions can be driven by social events, politics, businesses, economics, culture, education, and personal achievement.
The main parameters that characterize the lifestyle are listed above. Psychographics deals with the description of these parameters and their measurement. It allows you to measure lifestyle characteristics and classify them.
Thus, using psychographics, a marketer can determine the impact of lifestyle on the consumption of individual goods and services, and therefore, properly model the behavior of relevant buyers and consumers.
One of the main characteristics of a lifestyle is life style. Lifestyle refers to a certain type of behavior of an individual or a group of people, for the most part reproducing the same features, manners, habits, tastes and inclinations. Like lifestyle, lifestyle can be described by psychographics and used by marketers in their practice.
The choice of goods and services is significantly influenced by occupation person. For example, a farmer consumes more work clothes, an employee pays more attention to fashionable clothes, a manager strives to have a prestigious car. In all such cases, it is advisable to take into account the professional needs of buyers and consumers and, if possible, specialize a given enterprise for the specific needs and requirements of the group concerned.
The most direct influence on consumer behavior is economic conditions.
As you know, under favorable economic conditions, real current incomes increase, the savings of the population increase, and there is also the opportunity to obtain preferential loans. In the event of a deterioration in the economic situation, these factors tend to change for the worse, i.e., the income and savings of the population decrease, and problems arise in obtaining credit on acceptable terms. All this negatively affects the purchasing power of the population. Therefore, marketers must take into account possible changes in economic conditions and timely offer goods and services that best suit the emerging purchasing power of the population.
Psychological factors
Psychological factors have a major influence on the decision to purchase goods and services. These factors include:
- - needs;
- - motives;
- - perception;
- - attitude.
Need defined as a need that has accepted its specific form depending on the level of culture and personality traits of a person. In turn, need is characterized as a person's feeling of lack of something.
Every person experiences a variety of needs at any given moment. Some of them are so significant that they motivate a person to look for ways and means to satisfy them. In other words, a need that has reached its maximum level of intensity becomes a motive. The motive induces a person to perform certain actions designed to satisfy the needs that have arisen.
By buying and consuming individual goods, people satisfy their specific desires, which were motivated by the presence of certain needs. For example, when buying a women's dress, every woman wants, first of all, to be attractive in it. Attractiveness is one of the motives for purchasing a dress. There are others motives. The job of marketers is to:
- - identify all the motives that have a direct impact on the acquisition and consumption of this product;
- - develop and implement marketing strategies that take into account the entire range of motives for the behavior of consumers in the target market;
- - to achieve harmonization of the inclusion of individual motives and eliminate possible conflicts between them.
I would like to add to what was considered earlier that the needs of a person, according to A. Maslow, give the desired result due to the corresponding perception by a person of a real situation.
So, perception can be defined as the process of selecting, organizing and interpreting available information to create an objective view of a given situation or object, such as a product or service.
From the point of view of marketing, consumers and buyers of goods and services are characterized by selective perception. This means that different consumers perceive the same information about a product differently. In this case, in the process of selective perception, the following are usually distinguished:
- a) selective influence - a person does not perceive all the information, but only that part of it that most closely matches his views, prevailing judgments and ideas. For example, a buyer of a new TV set will be quicker to accept positive information about their chosen brand of TV and may ignore any negative information related to their choice;
- b) selective understanding - a person is not always inclined to interpret information in a way that relates to reality. People tend to interpret information in such a way that it correlates with their psychological state, coincides with the prevailing opinion and belief. For example, smokers often ignore or downplay various health warnings. This ignorance does not allow them to believe that the information available about smoking is reliable;
- c) selective memorization - each person tends to remember not all the information, but only part of it, which confirms his attitudes and beliefs. So, a heavy smoker is able not to pay due attention to the harm of smoking, at the same time he will perceive and remember advertising, which personifies the complete freedom of a person, including regarding smoking.
Given the selectivity of impact, understanding and memorization, it is necessary to constantly and make a lot of efforts to ensure that the corresponding message about goods and services reaches buyers and consumers and has the required impact on them. Such influence should form a high image of goods, their producers and sellers.
Each of us creates our own attitude to clothing, food, politics, music, theatre, religion and more. These relationships are characterized by the prevailing stable favorable or unfavorable opinion about existing goods, services or ideas. The two components of the attitude are the belief about the product and its evaluation. Belief about a product - characteristics attributed to a product by a given person.
Evaluation characterizes the positive or negative opinion of this individual about the relevant product, service or idea.
Needs, perceptions, attitudes and its constituent beliefs and evaluations interact closely, influencing the behavior of buyers and consumers. This influence must be constantly taken into account when formulating marketing strategies.
Moscow State University of Engineering Ecology
Course work
Marketing
"Motivational analysis of customer behavior"
Completed by: Barmin V.I gr. M-46
Checked by: Sekerin V.D.
MOSCOW 2007
Introduction. 3
1. Market behavior of consumers. five
2.Motivational factors in the behavior of buyers. 12
3. Positivist and postmodernist paradigms 13
buyer behavior. 13
4. Culture as a factor in consumer behavior. 27
5. Social space of the consumer. 36
Conclusion. 42
Bibliography. 44
Introduction.
Marketing research on consumer behavior has been characterized from the beginning by focusing on the individual consumer. As one critic rightly pointed out, marketers studied the consumer as fishermen study fish, not ichthyologists. With this approach, consumer needs are seen as innate rather than shaped by society or the market, so firms seek to "hook" the consumer by offering products or services that satisfy these needs better than those offered by competitors. Thus, traditional marketing research of consumer behavior is close to the concept of a rational economic person.
In the 1950s in America, the so-called "motivational studies" came into fashion, based on in-depth interviews and closely related to the tradition of psychoanalysis, coming from Z. Freud. However, in the future, interest in them subsided.
In the 1960s in the research of consumer behavior, new trends appeared that came from psychology. They were based on the understanding of the consumer as an information process. The consumer was likened to a computer receiving and processing information to prepare a decision regarding the choice of a product or service. This direction in the study of consumer behavior has joined with the study of cognitive processes in psychology. The first textbooks on consumer behavior were built largely within this understanding of the problem, although some topics were inserted there, relating to culture, subculture, groups, classes, the influence of the family and the individual.
Modern research bears a clear imprint of all the traditions described above, reflecting to a large extent a characteristic feature of American culture - individualism. Their second characteristic feature is the approach to the behavior of an individual in the market of goods and services, mainly from the point of view of psychological science.
At the same time, the problem of consumption gradually began to enter the circle of interests of a fairly wide range of social scientists - historians, anthropologists, sociologists, culturologists, and social theorists. At the same time, in Western Europe, the theoretical analysis of consumer behavior has taken a completely different path than in America.
The most important contemporary theorist of consumption is the Frenchman Pierre Bourdieu. His main work on this issue is Differences: A Social Critique of Judgments of Taste. One of the greatest theorists of consumption is also the Frenchman Baudrillard, who developed the concept of "consumer society" and wrote a work on the political economy of the sign. The work of the American social psychologist and sociologist I. Hoffman had a great influence on the study of consumption. The works of the Soviet literary critic and culturologist M. Bakhtin enjoy great prestige, whose ideas are also used to understand consumer behavior. There have been significant developments in the United States as well. In the 1980s Anthropologists, sociologists and even literary critics came to work in the departments of marketing, which naturally expanded the view of consumer behavior. As a result, criticism of the traditional approach began already from within the departments of marketing. The emerging direction in marketing research is called "new". By the 1990s, its right to exist was recognized along with the traditional school. A characteristic feature of the new direction is the focus on culture and social problems. However, the traditional view of consumer behavior quantitatively dominates.