LECTRUE FOUR: THE BUYING DECISION

4.1 Introduction

People do not just make a purchase, but rather go through a series of steps before they make the
actual process. This lesson will look at various buying situations, the buying roles, stages in
consumer buying decisions and the types of buying behaviors.

4.2 Specific Objectives

At the end of the lecture you should be able:

1. Explain three types of buying situations

2. Explain consumer buying roles
3. Describe the consumer buying decision process
4. Discuss consumer buying behaviours

4.3 Lecture Outline

4.3.1 Buying decision.

4.3.2 Buying Situations
4.3.3 Consumer Buying Roles
4.3.4 Consumer Buying Decision Process
4.3.5 Consumer Buying Behavior

4.3.1 The Buying Decision

Introduction
To be successful, marketers have to develop an understanding of how consumers actually make
their buying decisions. Specifically marketers have to identify the following;

 The Buying Situations

 Who makes the buying decisions
 Steps in the buying decision
 Types of buying decisions behaviour

4.3.2 The Buying Situation

There are 3 types of buying situations:

a) Extensive problem solving situation (EPS)
b) Limited problem solving situation (LPS)
c) Automatic response.

a) Extensive problem solving situation

It refers to the purchase of expensive items e.g. expensive stereo, clothing, automobiles;
in these cases one needs to make the right choice.
In buying such items, careful reasoning and information is necessary. All the stages of consumer
decision-making process have to be followed.
To buy products, consumers look for information from internal and external sources.

External information is preferred where:

 One has little or no previous experience to draw from;
 Previous choices have resulted in dissatisfaction;
 A long time has expired since the product was purchased last;
 Benefits offered by current product differ from earlier product;
 The consumer has little or no confidence in himself/herself;
Future purchases are based on inertia.
b) Limited problem solving situation
This is purchase of products that have one or a few uses e.g. bread, detergents. These items are
bought often. For these items, information sought is very little. They are not bought necessarily
by planning. Future purchases of such items are based on habit.

c) Automatic response
Once a consumer has bought for the time future purchases will be dictated by habit (for limited
problem solving product) and inertia (for extensive problem solving products).

4.3.3 Consumer Buying Roles- {Who Makes The Buying Decisions}

Marketers should identify the buying roles for their products. Where purchase decisions are
made by a group rather than an individual these roles become apparent. However note that these
roles keep changing from one purchase decision to the next. Five roles have been distinguished.
The following are the various roles in the consumer buying process:
1. The Initiator – This is the person who first suggest or thinks of the idea of a particular
product or service.

2. The Influencer – This is the person in the active buying process whose views or advice
influence the buying decision.

3. The Decider – This is the person who finally makes the final buying decisions, or any
part of it. This includes the decisions on whether to buy, when to buy, how to buy and
from whom to buy.

4. The buyer – This is the person who finally makes the actual buying. He carries out the
actual and physical purchase of the object.
5. The User – This is the person who uses the purchased product. In marketing there is a
great need to differentiate between the customer and consumer of the product.
6. The Gatekeepers – The person who may make it more difficult to make the decisions or
prevents the decision from being made.

A marketer must know these roles in order to ably develop a systematic way of evaluating and
negotiating a purchase especially for organizational markets.

4.3.4 The Consumer/ Buyer Decision Process :{ Steps In The Buying Decision}

This is how consumers make buying decisions. A consumer goes through a series of rational
steps in the buying decision process. The process consists of five distinct stages that include need
recognition, information search, and evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision and post
purchase behaviour.
1. Need Recognition
At this decision stage, the buyer recognizes a problem or need. The buyer senses a
difference between his actual state and some desired state.
A need can be triggered by internal stimuli when one of the persons normal needs e.g.
hunger, thirst, desire etc. rises to a level high enough to become a drive. The need may
also be triggered by external stimuli like an advert, a discussion with a friend or a sales
person talking of the product.
The marketer at this stage should carry out market research to understand consumer
needs, what triggers the needs, how they led a consumer to a particular product and looks
for ways of satisfying them.
2. Information Search
This is the stage in which the consumer is aroused to search for more information. An
aroused consumer may or may not search for more information. The consumer may
move from a state of active information search to a state of heightened attention where
the consumer actively seeks information. The following are the sources of information
that a consumer can turn to:
Personal sources (Buyer sources)
This may be from the family, friends, neighbours, acquaintances, etc. These sources may
be used when:
 - Performance risks are high
- The buyer is particularly interested in avoiding mistakes and hence actively seeks
negative or unfavourable information if it is available.
(ii) Commercial sources.
These include all information sources controlled by the seller. They include:
- Advertising and
- Personal selling
They are used when:-
- The perceived task is too low
- Higher cost of using alternative sources is not justified.
(iii) Public sources:
E.g. - Mass media and
- Consumer organizations
(iv) Experiential sources:
E.g. - Handling
- Examining and
- Using the product.
The relative influence of these sources varies with the product and the buyer. The
consumer receives the most information from the commercial source which is controlled
by the marketer. However, the most effective information source is the personal one.
While the commercial source informs the buyer, the personal source legitimizes and or
evaluates the product for the buyer.
Companies have realized that people who ask others (word of mouth sources) end in
buying. It is convincing and a more cost effective strategy.
The amount of information sought depends on:
 Whether the consumers is buying the product for the first time;
 Cost of the product;
 Durability;
 How often the product is biught;
 Importance of the product; and
 Image of the product.
3. Evaluation of Alternatives
At this stage, the consumer uses the available information to evaluate alternative brands
in the choice set. It indicates how a consumer chooses from among the alternative brands.
Consumers sometimes make careful calculations and logical thinking of the product
benefits and features (complex buying behaviour). At other times, consumers do little or
no evaluation; instead they buy on impulse and rely on intuition. Some other times
consumers make buying decisions on their own, sometimes they turn to friends,
consumer guides or salespeople.
 The marketer needs to understand about the alternative evaluation i.e. how a consumer
processes information to arrive at brand choice. Consumers never apply a simple and
single evaluation process in all the buying situations. Several evaluation processes are put
in play dependent on the buying situation. Marketers should study buyers to find out how
they actually evaluate brand alternatives.
The information obtained helps the consumer to clarify and evaluate the alternatives under
consideration.
The consumer will look at:-
(i) Various product attributes, e.g. type, shape, appearance, texture, aging, cost, colour,
effectiveness, taste/flavour, comfort, fit, style, safety, quality, etc.
(ii) Important weights attached to the attributes.
(iii) The brand image or brand beliefs should also be considered.
(iv) How the consumer expects product satisfaction to vary with different levels of each
attribute.
(v) The consumer will arrive at attitudes towards the brand alternative through some brand
evaluation procedure. These differ among consumers.
Each buyer must arrive at a decision as to what attributes are important and the evaluation
criteria that must be used to compare different alternatives. consumers evaluate products based
on a number of criteria namely and also on the basis of their Beliefs, attitudes and intentions.

Evaluative criteria

Beliefs

Attitudes

Intentions

Evaluation criteria
These are dimensions used by consumers to compare or evaluate products or brands e.g. for a car
it is the:
 Cost;
 Economy;
 Service availability etc.

ii) Beliefs
These are the degree to which the consumers believe that the product has certain characteristics
e.g. safety, quality etc.

iii) Attitudes
These are the degree of liking or disliking for a product which in turn determines whether the
customer will buy it or not.

iv) Intentions
These measure the probability of buying the product. A marketer should assist consumers to
acquire information that will help them to make the purchase decision.
4. Purchase Decisions
At this stage, the buyer makes a decision of which brand to buy. At the evaluation stage,
the consumer ranks the brands and forms purchase intentions. Their purchase decision
will be to buy the most preferred brand. Two factors may influence the buyers’ decision
at this stage:

(a) Others attitude over the product: the influence of someone important to
the consumer or the views of friends, mates and or relatives.
(b) Unexpected situational changes: Where the consumer form a purchase
intention based on such factors as expected income, price and product
benefits which change prior to the purchase.

Unexpected event may change a buyer’s purchase intention e.g. positive growth, a drop of
product price by a competitor or expression of after purchase dissonance (discomfort) of the
product by a friend. Hence preferences or purchase intentions do not always result into the actual
purchase choice.
5. Post-purchase Behaviour
At this stage, the consumers take further action after purchasing the product based on
their satisfaction or dissatisfaction.
If the product falls short of expectations, the consumer is dissatisfied.(cognitive
dissonance). A dissatisfied consumer may:-
 Take legal action
 Seek Redress from the company
 Keep quiet
  Talk to others badly about the company
If it meets expectations, the consumer is satisfied. A satisfied consumer will:-
 Speak well of a company’s product
 Buy the product again
 Buy other products from the company
 Talk to others about the company’s products
If it exceeds expectations, the consumer is delighted.
The larger the gap between expectations and performance the greater consumer
dissatisfaction.
Marketers must at all times strive to satisfy the consumer in order to retain the existing
customers and get new customers. One must promise only what their products or services
can deliver and satisfy the buyers.
Cognitive Dissonance
Is a buyer discomfort caused by post purchase conflict that all major purchases or complex
buying situations result into. After purchase consumers are satisfied with the benefits of the
chosen brand and are glad to avoid the drawbacks of the brands not bought. Every purchase
involves a compromise. Consumers feel uneasy on the drawbacks of the chosen brands and about
losing the benefits of the brands not chosen. Hence they feel at least some post purchase
dissonance with every purchase.
Marketers have a duty to reduce this cognitive dissonance by:
 Writing congratulatory letters to the customers for the wise choice they made in
purchasing that particular brand;
 Having trade-in arrangements;
 Visiting the consumers to see how they are getting on with the product;
 Guarantees and warranties;
 Providing after sales service.

4.3.5 Types of Consumer Buying-Decision Behaviour

There are four types of consumer buying decision behaviour namely:

a) Complex buying behaviour
b) Dissonance reducing buying behaviour.
c) Habitual buying behaviour
d) Variety seeking buying behaviour
 High Involvement Low Involvement

Significant difference Complex buying behaviour Variety seeking buying

between brands behaviour
Few difference between Dissonance reducing Habitual buying
brands buying behaviour behaviour

a. Complex Buying Behaviour

This is a buying behaviour characterized by high consumer involvement in a purchase and
significant perceived differences among brands.
The consumer involvement is high when the product is expensive, risky, purchased infrequently
and it is highly self expressive. Hence the consumer has a lot to learn about the product e.g.
buying a computer, car etc. The buyer first develops beliefs about the product, then attitudes,
and then makes a thoughtful purchase choice.
Marketers of high involvement products must help buyers learn about the product benefits and
features. They can do this by availing a catalogue or describing the brands benefits using print
media.
b. Dissonance Reducing Buying Behaviour
This is a buying behaviour that occurs when consumers are highly involved with an expensive
infrequent or risky purchase, but sees little difference among brands e.g. buying a music system,
a carpet etc.
A consumer buying a music system may face a high involvement decision because the system is
expensive and self-expressive yet buyers may think all the music systems in a given price range
are the same. After purchase a consumer might experience post-purchase dissonance
(discomfort). The marketers must provide after sales services and reassure the consumers that all
is well.
c. Habitual Buying Behaviour
It is a consumer buying behaviour characterized by low consumer involvement and a few
significant perceived brand differences.
Consumers have little involvement in this product category, for example bread. They simply go
to a shop and pick a loaf of bread. If they keep buying the same brand, it is out of habit rather
than strong brand loyalty. Consumers appear to have low involvement with low priced products.
Because buyers are not committed to any brands, marketers of low-involvement products will
use price and sales promotions to create brand familiarity. Television ads are more effective in
such promotions.
d. Variety-Seeking Buying Behaviour
This is a consumer buying behaviour characterized by low consumer involvement but significant
perceived brand differences. A consumer may buy Kasuku brand of cooking fat, without much
evaluation then evaluate the brand during consumption. Next time the consumer may buy Tily,
yet another time Kimbo or Cowbouy. Brand switching occurs for the sake of variety rather than
because of dissatisfaction.
For such products, the marketing strategy may differ for the market leader and for followers.
The market leader will try to encourage habitual buying behaviour by dominating shelf space,
running frequent reminder adverts e.g. Kimbo, Kasuku. Challenging firms will encourage
variety seeking by offering lower prices, special deals, and free samples e.g. Mpishi Poa.

4.4 Activities

Discuss Impulse buying behavior and explain how marketers can use this behavior to his
advantage.

4.5 Summary

In this lecture we have looked at:

Buying Situations

Consumer Buying Roles

Consumer Buying Decision Process

Consumer Buying Behavior

4.6 Suggestions for Further Readings

1 Leon Schiffman, Leslie Kanuk, and Mallika Das. Consumer Behaviour. Canadian
(1st) edition. Pearson Education, 2006.
Type: Textbook. ISBN: 0131463047
 LECTURE FIVE: FACTORS AFFECTING CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOUR

5.1 Introduction

In our last class we discussed the types of behaviours exhibited by consumers as they attempt to
make their purchase decisions. This class shall focus on the factors that affect these behaviours.
We shall discuss this factors under four major classifications i.e Cultural factors, Social Factors,
Personal Factors and Psychological factors.

5.2 Specific Objectives

At the end of the lecture you should be able:

1. To Describe the cultural factors influencing consumer behaviour
2. To Explain the social factors influencing buyer behaviour
3. To Discuss the Personal factors influencing buyer behaviour
4. To Discuss the psychological factors influencing buyer behaviour.

5.3 Lecture Outline

5.3.1 Factors influencing buyer behaviour

5.3.2 Cultural Factors
5.3.3 Social Factors
5.3.4 Personal Factors
5.3.5 Psychological Factors

5.3.1 Factors Influencing Buyer Behaviour

These are also known as the characteristics affecting consumer buying behaviour. The character
of a consumer will largely be affected and or influenced by the following factors:
1. Cultural factors: (Culture, Sub Culture and Social Class)
2. Social factors: (Reference Groups, family and roles and Status)
3. Personal factors: (Age and Life Cycle Stage, Occupation, Economic Situation, Lifestyle,
Personality and Self Concept).
4. Psychological factors: (Motivation, Attitudes, Perception, Learning and Beliefs)
Factors influencing buyer behavior:

Culture

1. Cultural factors Sub-Culture

Social Class

Reference group

Direct influence
- Membership groups
 Primary
 Secondary
2. Social factors
Indirect influence

of orientation
Family
of procreation

Opinion leaders

Roles and statuses

Age and stage in the life cycle

Occupation
3. Personal factors
Economic circumstances

Lifestyle

Personality and self concept

 Motive

Perception

4. Psychological
Factors Learning

Beliefs and attitude

5.3.2 Cultural Factors (Characteristics)

The marketer must understand the role played by the buyer’s culture, subculture and
social class.
(a) Culture – Culture is a society’s personality. It is the sum total of learned beliefs,
values and customs that serve to direct and regulate the consumer behaviour of
members of a particular society. It affects a person’s wants and behaviour. Beliefs
and values are guides for consumer behaviour. Customs are usual and accepted
ways of behaving.
The impact of culture on society is so natural and so ingrained that its influence
on behaviour is rarely noted. Yet culture offers order, direction and guidance to
society members in all phases of human problem solving
Growing up in a society a child learns the basic values, perceptions, wants and
behaviours from the family and other important cultural institutions e.g. different
cultures assign different meanings to colour. White is usually associated with
purity and cleanliness in Western communities. However it can signify death in
Asian countries.
Also according to Taiwan culture, a man puts on green cloths to signify his wife
has been unfaithful.

(b) Subculture – Subculture is a distinct cultural group that exists as an identifiable

segment within a larger, more complex society. It includes nationalities, religions,
racial groups, age subcultures, gender subcultures and geographic regions. Many
 subcultures make up important market segments and marketers often design
products tailored to their needs e.g. the Black Americans in the United States are
strongly motivated by quality and selection. They place more importance on
brand names and are more brand loyal.

Sub cultural analysis enables the marketer to focus on sizeable and natural market
segments. The marketer must determine whether the beliefs, values and customs
shared by the members of a specific subgroup make them desirable candidates for
special marketing attention. Subcultures are hence relevant units of analysis for
market research.

(c) Social Class is a continuum or a range of social positions on which each member
of the society may be placed. It is the division of members of a society into a
hierarchy of distinct status classes, so that members of each class have relatively
the same status and members of all other classes have either more or less status.
Social classes are society’s relatively permanent and ordered divisions whose
members share similar values, interests and behaviours e.g. of social class: upper
class, middle class, lower class.
Social class is determined by many factors like income, occupation, education,
wealth and other variables. Marketers are interested in social class because
people within a given social class tend to exhibit similar buying behaviour. Social
classes show distinct product and brand preferences in areas like clothing, home
furnishings, automobiles etc.

5.3.3 Social Factors

The buyer’s behaviour may also be influenced by social factors, such as groups, the
family, social roles and status.
(a) Reference Groups – A group is a combination of two or more people who have
come together or interact to accomplish individual or mutual goals.
A group member is influenced by the other members as one strives to belong.
Marketers try to identify the reference groups of their target markets. Reference
 groups expose a person to new behaviours, lifestyles and create pressure to
conform e.g. a group of young people can be attracted to the football game and
would wish to put on branded products just like the football player whom they
wish to imitate.
(b) Family
Marketers are interested in the roles and influence of the husband, wife, children
and house help on the purchase of different products and service. In most
families, the wife is the main buyer of food, household products and clothes. The
husband is the main buyer f hardware, car or even a home. However changes in
the market trend have seen women take up the reverse roles.
Children and house helps are the main consumers of T.V. adverts and may from
time to time influence the family buying decisions.
(c) Roles and Status
A role consist of the activities a person is expected to perform according to the
people around them e.g. Mary is a daughter to her parents, she plays the role of a
daughter, in her family, she plays the role of a wife, in her company she plays the
role of the brand manager. Each of her roles influences her buying behaviour.

5.3.4 Personal factors

These are common individual characteristics that can influence one’s behaviour or
decisions. They include the buyer’s age and life cycle stage, occupation, economic
situation, lifestyle, personality and self concept.
(a) Age and Lifecycle Stage
Marketers often define their target markets in terms of the life-cycle stage and
develop appropriate products and marketing plans for each stage.
Traditionally family life-cycle include:

Stage Buying/behaviour pattern

Bachelor stage: - Few financial burden
Young, single people - Fashion opinion leaders
- Recreation orientated
They Buy: Basic kitchen equipment, basic furniture, cars,
vacations.
Newly married couples Better off financially than they will be in the near future.
Young, no children Highest purchase rates and highest average purchase of
durables.
They Buy: Cars, fridges, stoves, furniture, vacations.

Full nest I Home purchasing at peak.

Oldest child under six Interested in new product, likes advertised products.
Buys: TV, baby food, toys.

Full nest II Financial position better less influenced by advertising.

Youngest child over six. Buy: Many foods, Music lessons.

Full nest III Home ownership at peak, not interested in new products.
Older married couples with
dependent children.

Empty nest I Home ownership at peak, not interested in new products.

Older married couples
No children living with them

Empty nest II Drastic cut in income. Keep home.

Older married Buy: Medical appliances, medical care products that aid in
Head of household retired sleep, health and digestion.

Solitary survivor, in labour Income still good but likely to sell house.
force.

Solitary survivor. Medical needs

Retired. Drastic cut in incomes. Special need for attention, affection
and security.

(b) Economic Situation

Product choice is greatly affected by ones economic circumstances.
People’s economic circumstances consist of:
o Their spendable incomes (level, stability and time pattern)
o Savings
o Assets
o Debts
o Borrowing power and
o Attitude toward spending verses savings, among others
Economic situation of an individual affect his/her buying ability. A high income
earner has more income to spend and a low income earner has little income to
 spend. Marketers of income sensitive goods watch trends in personal income,
savings and interest rates. During economic recession, marketers must re-price
reposition or even redesign their products.

(c) Lifestyle
Lifestyle is a person’s pattern of living as expressed in his or her activities,
interest and opinions. Marketers classify people based on how they spend their
money and time as follows:
(ii) Status oriented buyers – Base their purchases on the actions and opinions
of others.
(iii) Action oriented buyers – Are driven by their desire for acting, risk taking
and variety.
(iv) Principle oriented buyers – Consumers who buy based on their views of
the world.
Based on lifestyle, consumers can also be classified as:
(i) Actualisers – People with so many resources that they can indulge in any
of the orientations above.
(ii) Achievers – People with middle income and just enough resources. They
strive to be actualisers and are often status oriented.
(iii) Strivers – People with little resources and are principle oriented.
(iv) Strugglers – People with too few or no resources. They are often not
included in any consumer orientation.
(v) Other life style classifications such as
a. Those interested in change
b. Followers
c. Traditionalists
d. Contented
e. Under achievers, etc.

Lifestyle study is used by marketers to design appropriate adverts for each class of
consumers.
 (e) Personality and Self-concept
Personality is the distinguishing psychological characteristic that leads to
relatively consisted and lasting responses to one’s own environment.

Personality can be described as self-confident, dominant, social, defensive,

adaptable and aggressive.

Personality is useful in analyzing consumer behaviour for certain products e.g.

coffee marketers have discovered that heavy coffee drinkers are highly sociable.

5.3.5 Psychological Factors

A person’s buying choices are further influenced by motivation, perception,

learning, beliefs and attitudes.
(a) Motivation
A motive (drive) is a need that is sufficiently pressing to direct the person to seek
satisfaction.
Many marketers develop adverts bearing in mind their products ability to quench
the buyers motive e.g. the Pepsi slogan “dear for more”,
The Sprite advert “obey your thirst”, Nakumatt slogan “You need it we’ve got
it”, Toyota Pickup advert, ‘Shujaa wa Kazi’ etc.
Abraham Maslow
Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) forwarded the theory of motivation. Maslow concluded that the
needs that people are motivated to satisfy fall into a well defined hierarchy.

Self Act.

Esteem Needs
Belongingness

Safety needs

Physiological Needs
Physiological needs are at the bottom of the hierarchy. According to Maslow, this is the first and
most basic level of needs. These needs are essential to sustain biological life and include air,
water, food, shelter, clothing and sex - all the primary or biogenic needs. Physiological needs are
very potent when they are chronically unfulfilled. In his book, 'A Theory of Human Motivation',
Maslow says, "For the man who is extremely and dangerously hungry, no other interest exists
but food. He dreams food, he remembers food, he thinks about food, he emotes only about food,
he perceives only food and he wants only food."

Safety needs After physiological needs, safety and security needs acquire the driving force and
influence an individual's behaviour. These needs are concerned with much more than only the
physical safety and include routine, familiarity, security, certainty and stability etc. Example:
The labour unions in India provide members the security of employment
Belongingness (Social Needs) The third level, social needs, include love, affection, acceptance,
belonging and friendship etc. People need warm and satisfying human relationships with others.
People have strong attachment with their families and are motivated by love and affection. Ads
of personal care products often emphasise appeals based on social acceptance.

Esteem needs (Ego Needs) The fourth level is concerned with ego needs. These needs include
reputation, prestige, status, self-esteem, success and independence etc. Example: Many ads of
ego intensive products emphasize ego appeals such as expensive watches, jewellery and designer
dresses etc.
Self Actualization needs are at the top of the hierarchy. Maslow believed that most people are
unable to satisfy their ego needs sufficiently and as a result of this are unable to move to the fifth
and last level. Self-actualization refers to a person's desire to achieve or become what one is
capable of. People express this need in different ways. The only common thing is that they all
 seem to be striving for excellence in whatever they are doing. They work single-mindedly for
years to achieve what they want.

Maslow theory of motivation was based on three assumptions about human nature;
i. Human beings have needs that are never completely satisfied
ii. Human action is aimed at fulfilling the needs that are unsatisfied at a given point in time.
iii. Human needs fit into a predictable hierarchy, ranging from basic, lower levels needs to
higher needs at the top.

(b) Perception

Perception refers to the process of receiving, organizing, and assigning meaning to

information or stimuli detected by the five senses from the environment to help to make a
choice. It is a way consumers interpret or give meaning to the environment surrounding
them. It involves seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting and smelling.

Consumers will perceive a certain market offering only after they have perceived sensory
stimuli. Eg
 Seeing plays a role in purchasing such items as; jewelry and fashion clothes
 Hearing plays a role in purchasing musical equipment and electronic equipments.
 Feeling plays a role in purchasing clothes/materials and even fruits.
 Tasting plays a role in purchasing sweets, food stuffs.
 Smelling plays a role in purchasing deodorants, perfumes, flowers.

There are certain factors that play a role in perception. They include
 Perception being selective whereby individuals are exposed to a lot of information
whereby they select only a relatively small percentage of it. (Perceptual defense)
 Perception being subjective when individuals see and hear what they are interested in
because of what they are, what they believe, what their values are etc.
 Perception being based upon individuals past experience where by the experience has
built up a relatively stable cognitive organization within the individual that determines
the meaning of a particular perception.

There are certain Perceptual defense mechanisms that consumers tend to have against
undesirable stimuli from the environment. They include:
Selective exposure
Occurs when people selectively choose to expose themselves only to certain stimuli. Eg turning
of the television when commercials come on, quickly paging through a magazine and missing
adverts.

Selective attention
Occurs when the individual doesn’t pay full attention to the stimuli picked up by the senses. It
makes or causes a consumer not to comprehend the content of the marketing message.
Selective interpretation
Occurs when the stimuli are perceived but the message itself is not interpreted as it was intended
to be. Consumers can interpret the marketing message incorrectly by distorting the meaning or
by misunderstanding it.
Selective recall
Refers to the individual ability to remember only certain stimuli, and to forget others which may
be important.
A marketing department may find different ways to deal with the above defense mechanisms.
1. Selective attention and recall
 Large stimuli can be offered to the market e.g. One page advertisements in newspapers,
higher frequency i.e. repetition in TV and radio
 Use both color and movements when advertising which attracts attention.
 In supermarkets objects can be placed near the center of the visual fields.

2. Selective Interpretation
 Marketers should pre test their message so as to achieve correct interpretation of the
message
 Marketers should determine how cultural differences influence the use of colors, symbols
and numbers so as to correctly pass the message appropriately to certain cultures, races
etc.
 Marketers should not set unrealistic expectations.

3. Selective retention
 For effective retention marketers should incorporate visibility of their products through
demonstrations
 Repetition of the message is important to reinforce the message
 Marketers should make use of the consumer’s ability to learn.

(c) Learning
Learning describes changes in an individual’s behaviour arising from experience.
Most human behaviour is learned. Learning occurs through the interplay of
drives, stimuli, cues, responses and reinforcement e.g. if a consumer buys a Nokia
phone, if his experience with the phone is rewarding he will in future reinforce
 this behaviour by buying it again. But if it is not rewarding he will not reinforce
the need for that product.
(d) Beliefs
A belief is a descriptive thought that a person has about something e.g. Kenyans
have an attitude that Nissan cars are not durable on Kenyan roads and are highly
in favour of Toyota cars. These beliefs may be based on real knowledge, opinion
or faith.
Marketers must understand the beliefs that people formulate about a specific
product because the belief make up product and brand images.
If some beliefs are wrong and prevent purchase, a marketer launches a campaign
to correct them e.g. the Jik advert on detergents that bleach and tear your
garments, the Nissan X-trail advert that depicts Nissan on rough roads.

(e) Attitudes
Attitude is a person’s consistently favourable or unfavourable evaluation, feelings
and tendencies toward an object or idea e.g. people have the attitude that Japanese
electronics are quality products while Chinese electronics are poor quality
products.
A marketer must understand people’s attitudes and try to change them to their
benefit.

5.4 Activities

Discuss the effect of Motivation on consumer behaviour.

5.5 Summary

We have had a detailed look at the factors influencing buyer behaviour. These Factors are
broadly classified into Four as shown below.
 Cultural Factors; -Culture, Sub-culture , Social Class
 Social Factors;- Groups, Family, Opinion Leaders, Roles& Statuses
 Personal Factors;- Age, lifecycle, Economic circumstances, Pesonality
 Psychological Factors;- Motivation, Perception, attitude, beliefs, learning
5.6 Suggestions for further Readings.

1) Kotler P. and Armstrong G.,(2008), Principles of Marketing, 12th Edition, Prentice Hall.

2) Kotler, P & Keller, K.L., (2006), Marketing Management. 12th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Pearson – Prentice Hall
3) Etzel, M.J., Walker, B.J. and Stanton, W.J., (2007), Marketing, 14TH edn. McGraw-Hill,
Irwin.