Consumer Behavior and Marketing
Consumer behavior is “the study of individuals, groups, and organizations and the processes they use to select, secure, use, and dispose of products, services, experiences, or ideas to satisfy needs and the impacts that these processes have on the consumer and society” (Hawkins, 2008). The study of consumer behavior is used in many different ones. One of the main uses of the study of consumer behavior relates to marketing and marketing strategy.
Studying consumer behavior helps groups and organizations understand many things about consumers. Organizations learn how consumers think, feel, reason, and select between different things (Hawkins, 2008). Learning how a consumer relates to his or her environment, consumer motivation and how marketers can change their strategies are all things to be learned from consumer behavior.
Understanding consumer behavior and how it relates to marketing strategy helps companies and marketers make better decisions on strategy. Knowing how consumers think about making purchases helps to aim marketing at those thoughts. For example, food ads are more successful when people are hungry. Late night television commercials are often food ads for these reasons. Many people get hungry late at night for various reasons. Seeing food ads on television just intensifies that affect. Consumers may not rush right out and buy what they see, but they will still want it the next day and will possibly go get it then.
Consumers choose products for various reasons. These reasons are usually related to the 4P’s. The 4P’s are product, price, promotion, and place. The area of product refers to tangible items and services. Some of the areas covered under product include brand name, styling, quality, packaging ...