Consumer Psychology Essay

* Physiological needs are so basic that they are all too obvious. They are needs without which a human being cannot survive and include air, water, food, shelter.

Consumer behavior is defined in a variety of ways such as “the dynamic interaction of affect and cognition, behavior and environmental events by which human beings conduct the exchange aspects of their lives.” by the American Marketing Association. (2008). In a simpler form, consumer behavior can be explained as the actions of consumers and the different approaches a person may take to decide what to buy and the decision making process. The decision making process can be effected by many factors all related to a person or persons lifestyle. Determining that behavior can be confusing and

Consumption is a process of acquiring, using and disposing of goods and services. Emotions play a very large role in consumer behavior. This behavior and emotions are affected and created by the society and the culture in which the consumer lives. For example, an American may approach the purchase of a costly car with relatively less pressure than a person in a developing country where a car could be a high unaffordable luxury. The customer will comprehend brands, offers and the meaning of the product based on the understanding that he or she has of similar brands and their experience by analogy or by hearsay from peers and form an opinion. For example a new soft drink from Pepsi may not be very informative in its advertisement but that it is from the stable of PepsiCo makes the users of Pepsi brands take it in without much research. Such an opinion is not based mostly on the complete set of facts. Where there are many alternatives or the information is scarce the customer has to make a lot of effort or 'high effort' to reach a decision and such a situation could be a turnoff. On the other hand the customer may not be inclined to devolve deep into facts in case where the brand value is established and may make a decision on little or even sometimes no information. (Hoyer;

Consumers should know their consuming behaviour before purchasing a product. The purpose of this portfolio is to review and evaluate my own consuming behaviour distributed over three categories. Firstly, I will review on my philosophical assumptions and to discuss about my beliefs on the importance of advertising and marketing. Secondly, I will identify a consumer behaviour that I have done recently and to analysis what type of decision maker I am. Finally, I will examine how do I express my complaints to the organisation and my dissatisfaction. These three categories are formed by different worksheets. This portfolio is designed to help and understand how to take advantages from my consumer behaviour when purchasing

Abraham Maslow developed the Hierarchy of Needs model in 1940-50s USA, and the Hierarchy of Needs theory remains valid today for understanding human motivation, management training, and personal development.

Consumer buyer behavior refers to the buying behavior of final consumers-individuals and households that buy goods and services for personal consumption. All of this final consumer combine to make up the consumer market. The American consumer market consist of more than 300 million people who consume more than $13 trillion worth of goods and services each year, making it one of the most attractive consumer markets in the world. The world consumer market consists of more than 6.6 billion people who annually consume an estimated $65 trillion worth of goods and services.

Figure 3: Lush label states "Fresh Handmade Cosmetics" and "Bring back 5 Pots and Get a Fresh Face Mask Free"

1. What are the types of reference groups? Please share an example of each from your own experience.

Consumer behaviour is the study of how individuals, groups and organizations select, buy, use and dispose of goods, services, ideas or experiences to satisfy their needs and wants. The emerging costumer trends play an important role in analysing the marketing opportunities. A consumer buying behaviour is influenced by cultural, social and personal factors. The consumer passes through five stages of the buying decision process: Problem Recognition, Information Search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision and post purchase behaviour. This model is important for anyone making marketing decision and customer pass through all stages in every purchase.

Body -Physiological Needs On this level are the very basic needs for air, warmth, food, sleep, stimulation and activity. People can die due to lack of biological needs and equilibrium (homeostasis).

The definition of consumer buying behaviour is an individual and households who buy goods for personal consumption. There are four main influencers within the buying behavior of consumers which are the following personal, social, cultural and physiological. All these factors put together will determine whether the consumer purchases your product/service or which product/service is purchased.

Consumer Psychology is the art of determining consumer requirements through study and analysis of consumer spending and purchasing habits relating to products or services advertised for sale. The analysis portion focuses on consumer motivation concerning products and mood relative to purchasing products. The Cherry (2012) website Consumer Psychology is a specialty area that studies how our thoughts, beliefs, feelings, perceptions influence how people buy and relate to goods and services. One formal definition of the field describes it as the study of

Consumer behaviour is the study of when, why, how, and where people do or do not buy a product. It blends elements from psychology, sociology, social anthropology and economics. It attempts to understand the buyer decision making process, both individually and in groups.

The research in consumer behavior and psychology shows that the brand related information determines the probability if the customer will select a particular brand (Mitchell 100). Companies have learned to play with the psychology and emotions of consumers and have succeeded in attracting even those consumers that were not motivated by the traditional advertisements. Companies these days are focusing on the basic psychological principles to understand how to plan and execute the advertisement.

Brand Personality: “A brand personality is the set of traits people attribute to a product as if it were