Consumer Behaviour Review

Approx. 1000 words
Consumer Behaviour

In my essay about the term ‘trans-media’, it included information on the theme of consumer behaviour and how it can be analysed to result in the improvement of product sales in the media industry.

The book that provided the information is titled, Consumer Behaviour, written by Hayden Noel and explained the different factors that affect how the public views products and how they justify their purchases in the market.

Consumer behaviour is ‘‘the products and services consumers buy and use and how these purchases influence their daily lives.’’ (Noel, 2009, Pg 12)

The consumer is any member of the public who recognises ‘a need or desire, searches for a product in order to satisfy the need.’ (Noel, 2009, Pg 12)

This linked with the topic of trans-media because as competition between entertainment businesses grows each year, the desire to keep the public amused is necessary especially when it comes to films and videogames.

‘’After consumers acquire an item, they then use it in some manner.’’ (Noel, 2009, Pg 13), when the consumers have used or obtained a product or in a media sense, watched a film or TV show, what helps improve popularity and profit of this product is positive reviews received. This is very interesting because most of the public do not know what the term ‘trans-media’ but presented it in many ways, because as human beings we yearn for knowledge, that is one of our needs.

Positive reviews can result in other consumers taking the action to purchase a product, Martin Lindstorm explains in his book, Buyology, the term ‘mirror neurons’.  These neurons in the brain are responsible for why we often unwittingly imitate other people’s behaviour, ‘’mirror neurons explain why we often smile when we see someone who is happy or wince when we see someone who is in physical pain’’. (Lindstorm, 2009, Pg 57)

A similar example is, when a group of friends go see a film at the cinema, and leave happy, their positive reviews to their other friends will influence those to go see the film themselves, so naturally they are helping to advertise a product to another consumer.

The consisting factors that can influence consumer behaviour are external, internal and post-decision processes. External factors include religion, social class and ethnicity; internal factors are motivation, knowledge, decision-making and perception.

There are groups some companies think about depending on what they are offering, such as religion, because it ‘’provides individuals with a structured set of beliefs and values that guide their behaviour and help them makes choices.’’ (Noel, 2009, Pg 16)

Religious groups such as the Amish do not believe in using technology so would not be targeted as a group that the technology company, Apple, would aim their marketing to because it goes against the Amish beliefs.

The age of the consumers can play a big role, as teenagers in the 21^st century are more socially technology driven, teenagers currently above the age of 16 own smartphones, laptops, I-pads and are signed on to common social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook. On the other side of the spectrum, the older generation from the age 40 plus are not common users of smartphones and social networking sites. However, the market aims for them, because these teenagers can teach their grandmothers and fathers to use the smartphone if needed, and once a consumer sees a ‘’need’’ for a product, they obtain it. The new technologies are designed to be intuitive so new consumers can learn to use them quickly than have to read the manual which most skip through.

Besides the factors that affect consumer behaviour, there are consumer categories to consider such class, age and gender.

In society today, there is a ‘’some form of social class structure’’ (Noel, 2009, 68), the public in these classes tend to live life in a similar manner, like participating in similar activities or buy similar products. The factors that hold the most significance are ‘’education, occupation and income.’’ (Noel, 2009, 68)

For example, ‘’the more educated a person is the more likely they are to be employed in a profession that generates a lot of income’’ (Noel, 2009, 68) and these people tend to be marketed for products of a higher price because ‘’individuals who share an occupation also possess similar goals, and purchase similar clothing, cars and leisure activities.’’ (Noel, 2009, 68) This means certain occupations are ranked ‘’more on prestige than on objective criteria like income.’’ (Noel, 2009, 68)

In conclusion, consumer behaviour is analysed by advertising companies as the need to understand the different types of consumers helps to ‘’ allows marketers to determine which segments would be best for them to target with their products and services.’’ (Noel, 2009, 30)

This makes sense because creating an advert suited more for kids will not attract audiences aged 20.

The advertising and marketing industry is a fast paced environment that changes daily to keep up with the popular consumer groups and their needs so it makes sense that the researching these changes is a necessity.

Bibliography

1.  Hayden Noel, 2009. Basics Marketing 01: Consumer Behaviour, Fairchild Books
2. Martin Lindstrom, 2009. Buy-ology: How Everything We Believe About Why We Buy is Wrong. Edition. RH Books