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Consumer research An understanding of Consumer
Behavior is necessary for the long-term success and survival of a firm.
Consumer decision making is viewed as the edifice of the marketing concept,
an important orientation in marketing management. The marketer should be able to determine needs and wants of the
target segment and provide product and service offerings more effectively and
efficiently than competitors. Marketing Research concerns the marketing processes. Market Research involves gathering information about target
markets and customers. Consumer Research (sometimes known as Market Research) is a
valuable business tool that can help you understand your customers and what
makes them tick. Consumer Research is a part of Market Research in which the inclination,
motivation, and purchase behaviors of the targeted customers are identified. Consumer Research helps businesses
understand Customer Psychology and create Purchasing Behavior
Profiles. Marketing Research, and Marketing, involve: 1) Analysing market opportunities. 2) Selecting target markets -- identifying unsatisfied needs and
wants. *** Marketing is fulfilling the needs of
consumers more effectively than competitors. Marketing
is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating,
communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for
customers, clients, partners, and society. Marketing
Research is a
process that links the customer and other members of the public to the
marketer through information in order to identify marketing opportunities and
challenges, evaluate marketing actions, and judge the performance of
marketing strategies. *** Marketing consists of, 1) Positioning. 2) Ethics. 3) Segmentation. 4) Sub-cultures. PESS Marketing Mix -- 1) Product or service. 2) Price. 3) Promotion (where and how it is brought to the consumer's
attention 4) Place (where and how it is distributed). PPPP *** Secondary
Data is already
existing info that was gathered for some other reason. Interpretivism involves seeking to understanding consumer
experiences. It is the study of the
act and process of consuming. Psychography is the study and classification of people according to
their attitudes, aspirations, and other psychological criteria, especially in
market research. 4 aspects of Marketing are:
1) Segmentation. 2) Positioning. 3) Sub-cultures. 4) Ethics. *** Qualitative
Research methods
include, 1) Focus
Groups. 2) In-depth
Interviews. 3)
Motivational Research. 4) Semiotics -- the study of signs and signals. 5) Ethnography. 6) Projective
Techniques. *** Semiotics is the study of signs, signals, symbols, metaphors, and
representations (especially visual ones).
One seeks to understand the meaning the symbols convey. Non-verbal.
Logos, promotional packaging design (shape, color, etc) for display. Semiotics is the study of meaning-making, the study of sign
processes and meaningful communication. This includes the study of signs and signalling
processes. Semiotics is also known as Semiotic Studies, and Semiology. *** Projective
Techniques
include, 1) Storytelling. 2) Word
Association. 3) Tell a
Story about a Picture. 4) Draw a
Picture. 5) Selecting
Photos. *** Relationship Marketing 1) Ongoing communication with a customer. 2) Upgrades, other perks. 3) Sense of belonging; club membership. *** Marketing Orientation (or Concept) has evolved -- 1) Production. 2) Product. 3) Selling. 4) Consumer. PPSC 1) Production Orientation It is assumed that consumers will buy whatever is valuable, and
will not wait for what they really specifically want. The marketer does not know -- and does not
seek to know -- the consumers' preferences. This is where a company is heavily focused on streamlining
production processes and concentrating on improving efficiencies with little
focus on anything else. Scenario: We can build a car
for you, but it comes in black only. 2) Product Orientation The company makes all efforts to maximise the quality of the
product. The focus is on the product,
not on what consumers want and need. An approach to business that centres its activities on
continually improving and refining its products. All efforts are put into
making the product better. Scenario: We can offer you
non-chip paint on your car. 3) Selling Orientation This refers to the Hard Sell Approach -- aggressively seeking to persuade the
consumer to buy. Consumers are pushed
-- regardless of what they want and need.
This approach does not take consumer satisfaction into account. Some businesses see their main problem as not selling enough of
the product or services which they already have available, hence
predominantly focusing on sales and selling techniques. As a result, these
organisations operate as Sales Oriented companies. A sales orientated
business pays little attention to customer needs and wants and is more
concerned about selling. The
Selling Concept holds that a marketer's primary focus should be on selling
the products they have decided to produce, using the Hard Sell Approach. Scenario: If you sign up for
the car now we’ll throw in a sunroof.When a business bases its ability to
make profits by using powerful selling techniques to persuade people to buy
its products, rather than on customer needs. 4) Consumer Orientation Research is done in order to learn what consumers want. This is the Marketing Concept -- the
company does research to find out what the consumer wants and needs. Marketing oriented businesses define their activities as service
activities carried out towards the satisfaction of their customers. They are
driven by customer needs which are identified in their objectives. Scenario: We’ll make your car
in whatever colour you choose. *** Products and services may become popular for some of these reasons: 1) Social Currency. 2) Triggers -- How to trigger people to think about one's
product? 3) Emotions -- High arousal. 4) Public -- Design products that advertise themselves and leave
behind some "Behavioural Residue". 5) Useful -- Knowledge people can use and pass on. Practical value. 6) Stories. *** Diffusion Process 1) Innovation -- An innovative product is put on the
market. 2) Channels of Communication -- Members of the public
learn about the product through various channels of communication. 3) Social System -- Members of the public learn about the
product in various ways through people in the Social System. 4) Time -- The innovative product may become known and
popular over time. *** Creating and working with Focus Groups is a method of
consumer and market research. Focus groups are a small number of people
(typically 8) brought together with a moderator to focus on a specific
product or topic. Focus groups aim at
a discussion instead of on individual responses to formal questions, and
produce qualitative data (preferences and beliefs) that may or may not be
representative of the general population. *** Consumer
Research Process Developing Research Objectives The first step in the consumer research process is developing
the research objectives which involves defining the purposes and objectives
to ensure an appropriate design. A
statement of objective helps to define the type and level of information
needed. Collecting Secondary Data There are two distinct sources of secondary data − internal and
external. Always seek internal sources
first. Most go straight to Google
without considering the fact that data might exist within the organization
itself. This can sometimes be in the
‘heads’ of the personnel. External Sources Consumer Generated Media (CGM) has grown in importance as a data
source. Directories Country information Published marketing research reports News sources CGM (Newsgroups, blogs, groups) Internet – single search engines, and multiple search engines Primary Research is the original
research. Here you yourself collect the information through various tools
available. In primary research, you don’t tend to depend on any third
parties. You may conduct interviews or
surveys, observe, or even directly go to the object for collecting
information. *** Quantitative Research A quantitative research study is comprised of research design,
the data collection methods, instruments to be used, and the sample design. 3 approaches often used for Quantitative
Research − 1) Observational Research In this method of observational research, the people or
customers are observed effectively when they purchase a particular product.
It helps the researcher to gain in-depth understanding of the relationship
between the people and products by observing them while purchasing and using
the product. 2) Experimentation Experimentation is a type of research where only certain
variables are manipulated while others are kept constant in order to
encourage the change in the constant variable 3) Surveys A survey is a method of research in which an interviewer
interacts with respondents to obtain facts, opinions and attitudes. Survey methods that are often used include: 1) Personal interview survey. 2) Telephone survey. 3) Mail surveys. 4) Online surveys. For Quantitative Research the primary data collection instrument
is a questionnaire and the most frequent one is an Attitude Scale, which is
used to capture evaluative data. Questionnaires regarding selected demographic or socio-economic
variables could also be used. *** Qualitative Design Techniques that are methods of
data collection include: In-Depth Interview In-Depth interviews are conducted in length and in a
non-structured manner where the interviewer is highly trained and minimizes
his own participation in the discussion once the general subject is
discussed. Focus Group Focus groups involve many respondents who interact with the
analyst in a group discussion and focuses on a particular product. Creating and working with Focus Groups is a
method of consumer and market
research. Focus groups are a small
number of people (typically 8) brought together with a moderator to focus on
a specific product or topic. Focus
groups aim at a discussion instead of on individual responses to formal
questions, and produce qualitative data (preferences and beliefs) that may or
may not be representative of the general population. *** Customer Value (or Consumer Value) is a marketing and
business concept that attempts to analyze the satisfaction received by a
customer from a purchase. The benefit
the consumer receives is weighed against the cost the consumer must pay to
acquire the benefit. The value the individual consumer places on a product or
service is the customer value for this transaction. *** The VALS Framework ("Values, Attitudes,
and Lifestyles") is a proprietary research methodology used for Psychographic
Market Segmentation. It is a Consumer Behavior and Marketing
Strategy. The VALS 2 program is a Psychographic
Consumer Segmentation System that classifies people into eight basic
lifestyle groups on the basis of two factors: resources and self-orientation. Factors that are measured for classification
of consumers include, 1) Education. 2) Income. 3) Intelligence. 4) Health. 5) Energy level. 6) Eagerness to purchase an item. *** Marketing Strategy and
Consumer Behavior. |