How to pull at the heart strings….

How blissful is a newborn baby, that smell, soft skin and unconditional love. Of course all new parents feel this….don’t they?

The marketing science of customer behaviour is never more evident than in the marketing of pregnancy and childbirth. Iacobucci (2014) identifies consumer psychology including sensation and perception, learning and memory, motivation, attitudes and decision making. Each of the aspects can be applied to the My Midwives brand of marketing aimed at the pregnant woman and her family to enable them to have the perfect birth and baby.

Sensation and perception – who doesn’t want the ideal baby, that sleeps soundly? The sensitive topic of independent Midwifery care has been a focus in the media following less than favorable outcomes. The ability to separate the care provided by My Midwives which promotes individualised care, promoting the importance of the customer and her baby, guiding them through the childbirth process, promising to be by their side at every step from early pregnancy through to 6 weeks postnatal. The website which shows women and their babies at various stages of pregnancy and childbirth all with positive images, women friendly pink logos and pastel baby blue and pink themes throughout. Touching every one of the woman’s sense from the tender touch of a newborn baby or supportive touch of a Midwife or birthing partner, to the smell of newborn babies that is implied through visual images.

The My Midwives brand aims at giving women another option which provides them with positive associations with having a baby. The gentle pictures of women being happily pregnant, babies sleeping peacefully, gently being born through clear water and delivered to their parents. These positive associations enable women to attach positive thoughts to the brand, in reality pregnancy and birth is not always as uneventful as this. pictures of severe morning sickness, difficult long labours and traumatic births are nowhere to be found – instead the positive affirmations, constant reference to women being pivotal in the care planning and the role of the midwives to support and the woman’s unique needs to individualised care. All this positiveness and lovely thoughts providing a sense of comfort and stress free care to welcome a baby into the world – now who wouldn’t want that?

The third aspect of consumer behaviour is the motivation. There is plenty to motivate women to buy into the My Midwives brand. Referring to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs Iacobucci  (2014:20) My Midwives not only supports women though out all levels but most significantly encourages self actualisation. The ability for women to achieve the perfect low risk pregnancy and birth through individualised care provided by My Midwives – in contrast to the public system which promotes medicalisation of childbirth. The ability for women to be treated as a individual which motivates women to buy into the brand and connect with what is being promoted. After all who doesn’t the perfect birth?

Finally the issue of attitudes and decision-making is paramount in marketing the My Midwives brand. The ability for women to differentiate from mainstream maternity care through a hospital and turn to individualised maternity care though My Midwives is vital. The marketing of the service highlights the positive, individualised care which is marketed as the ‘ultimate’ in maternity care. With strong branding and developing high expectations the service is aimed at those women who are seeking an alternative to the public sector but as described by Iacobbucci(2014) the weight of customer involvement and the ability to invest not only financially but also physically and emotionally to the process of having the perfect baby.

So the My Midwives brand fulfills all elements of marketing psychology in providing care for women and their families. It differentiates itself from public health care by giving women the drive to buy into the ideal process.

All this uniqueness and individualised care but to what cost…is the financial sacrifice worth buying into when all practitioners are guided by the same code of ethics, laws and guidelines across all models. Surely all models of care aim for safe pregnancies and births and great outcomes – it’s just that some are promoted a little louder.

 

References

Iacobucci, D. (2014). Marketing Management. 4th ed. South-Western, Ch 2

http://mymidwives.com.au/

 

 

 

 

Don’t try this at home–actually you can!

“Those that influence the way we eat are on our television every night”. The staging of TV celebrity endorsed cooking shows has become a constant for consumers. Food preparation and its consumption through the creation of luscious meals using exotic ingredients have altered consumer “taste buds”.  Dining destinations in the CBD of Australian cities, become about perceived image! Dining in restaurants like Chin Chin or Hawker Hall in Melbourne (owned by the same management), endorse this trend.

The other “buying when there’s blood on the streets.” Tragedy and the appeal of guns.

As distasteful as the arms industry may appear to many; i.e. those who would level allegations of profiteering or immoral lobbying practices, the relatively (to the rest of the West) unregulated American market provides interesting insights into consumer behavior and a masterclass in positioning and targeting in an increasingly segmented market. Pursuing segmentation as a strategy involves a unique marketing mix for each subgroup and a move away from mass marketing (Schiffman, L. G., & Kanuk, L. L. 2004, Ch 2), below is a cursory examination of how the firearms industry successfully targets (no pun intended) two extant and one emerging group.
Keen observers of the news will have noticed that after every mass-shooting in the US there is a surge in gun purchases, and an accompanying boost to the value of small arms industry securities.

With every occurrence, the international news media also runs similar stories about this phenomenon. The United States is saturated with firearms, conservative estimations run at around 300m, interestingly however, the percentage of households with registered guns has fallen to 43%, while the average quantity held by each licensed owner has increased to over 8 guns. Firearms represent highly involved, specialty purchases. The slew of online reviewers and industry video content is testament to that. There are only so many types of firearms, with only so many applications; different forms of hunting require different guns, but America is one of the few countries which allows the ownership of guns with the explicit purpose of self -defense (e.g. ownership of a firearm to protect one’s person or property is not a valid reason to obtain a license in Australia). Gun companies have tapped in to the unique cultural and regulatory environment by continually fracturing firearms products into new niches, for instance, a contemporary US consumer may be convinced they need a pistol. So they go and purchase a regular, full sized handgun. After acquiring this, they will be told, that they require a compact model for concealment, and perhaps a subcompact model also, for “open carry” or for their vehicle. They can then be sold prestige brands or collectors items. These sales all occur within the broader category of pistol products, and similar diversification has occurred in other categories in order to create the perception of increased utility, where in reality with each new purchase, utility has dropped significantly. A single hunting firearm and a single pistol offer a high degree of utility to the consumer, why then does the average American gun owner buy six more, or do the top 3% own over twenty-five?

Let’s hypothesise that marketers motivate these consumers by appealing primarily to the middle three tiers within Maslow’s hierarchy, as we know that the hierarchy is used as a framework to appeal to consumer motivation (Iacobucci, D. 2014). American gun owners are spiraling in a saturated, highly competitive market offering hedonic consumption, in the guise of utility, function and appeals to security. In what form then do these calls to action take, and how do they differ between tiers of this hierarchy?

Tier 2  – Appeals to Safety

Marketers appeal to the consumer’s sense of self preservation, particularly in times of perceived uncertainty, such as during a Democratic presidency or after a mass-shooting. The value propositions revolve around home, personal and familial safety. These products make up a substantial part of the market and are generally targeted at the everyday, inexpert consumer, to reflect this they also generally take low to intermediate price points.

In this case the industry is working in tandem with lobby groups such as the NRA, which represents the gun industry, but acts politically using member donations, and with politicians who receive NRA funding.

Here the first image is an NRA sponsored message, the second it from Republican nominee Ted Cruz’s (a recipient of NRA donations) website for the Texas region .

The combination of decades old marketing practices, political clout and organized industry lobbies successfully create the environment where sufficient threat is perceived by the consumer to engage in repeat purchases motivated by safety.

The reason why the combination of current events and this combination leads to a frenzy of gun purchases is that it creates an environment where the events manifest themselves within the consumer as internal motivators and the action of marketers and industry as external motivators.

Tier 3 – Appeal to Belonging

Another targeting strategy used by firearms marketers is to the consumer’s sense of belonging. Generally via patriotic or religious sentiment, notions of conservative or libertarian political values, pro-military sentiment or identity as a hunter or outdoorsman. Social groups built around these constructs are highly divisive in American culture, and as such the calls to action carry more weight than they would in most other markets. Products marketed using these techniques tend to have price points in the middle of the market.

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Tier 4 – Appeal to Esteem

While targeting consumers using calls to action based around the aforementioned motivations can be attested to for many decades, more recent campaigns have moved into higher net worth and “prosumer” demographics, appealing to the consumer via a sense of prestige, self-worth and high social position or identity as a leader. An excellent case study would be in the Legion products marketed by Sig Sauer, who offer exclusive content and products to consumers who join a membership program that can be entered into upon purchasing a luxury product at a high price.

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In this advertisement, note: “independence balanced with responsibility” and “your reward for scrutinising every last detail.”  These are direct calls to esteem and self worth and more specifically to the high value “prosumer” demographic in the latter. Does this advertisement move you to desire the product? Now what if you were socialised as an American?

 

 

Demetre Condos 213217504

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References

Gabbot, M. (2004) Introduction to Marketing. Pearson Education Australia: Frenchs Forest, NSW

Iacobucci, D. (2014). Marketing Management. 4th ed. South-Western, Ch 2, Ch 14.

SCHIFFMAN, L. G., & KANUK, L. L. (2004). Consumer behavior. Upper Saddle River, NJ, Pearson Prentice Hall.

BostonGlobe.com. 2016. Gunmaker stock prices have surged amid rise in mass shootings – The Boston Globe. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/06/13/gunmaker-stock-prices-have-surged-amid-rise-mass-shootings/a5QmKsIZTWKwWekedjW7pO/story.html. [Accessed 02 August 2016].
prosumer Meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary. 2016. prosumer Meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary. [ONLINE] Available at: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/prosumer. [Accessed 02 August 2016].

Washington Post. 2016. The average gun owner now owns 8 guns — double what it used to be – The Washington Post. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/10/21/the-average-gun-owner-now-owns-8-guns-double-what-it-used-to-be/. [Accessed 02 August 2016].

Zachary Crockett. 2016. What happens after a mass shooting? Americans buy more guns. – Vox. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.vox.com/2016/6/15/11936494/after-mass-shooting-americans-buy-more-guns. [Accessed 02 August 2016].

 

JDB, a lendary beverage brand in China

Tianyi Wang

Student ID:  214237144

Today, I’m going to introduce a legendary beverage in China.

Guess, what is the most popular beverage in China now? Coca Cola? Fanta? No, its name is “JDB” which is short for “Jiaduobao”

First, I should clearify a phrase in Chinese context which is different from English context. When you say someone is “On fire”, you mean he/she is awesome, impressive, but in Chinese, when someone is “On fire”, it means he/she feels uncomfortable, they are thirsty , and they have inflammation. So people should get rid of “On fire”.

 

Positioning

 

JDB is a sort of herbal tea, it’s different from “Iced tea”, herbal tea contains Chinese herbs, which is believed have the effect of preventing inflammation.

 

But JDB only sold good in Guangdong Province, because local people know the effect of herb, but the objectives of the company is to push products nationwide, the biggest problem is, should they sell JDB as a herbal tea, or as a beverage, beside Guangdong area, people often solve “on fire” problem through medicine. At this time the company wants to sell it as a drink, but can not find a good way of advertising.

 

Later, JDB find an advertising company for consultation, advertising company pointed that JDB”s biggest problem is the product positioning, consumers have no hope to treat “on fire” through the drink, they are more likely to prevention “on fire”, meantime, Chinese have a strong concept that herbal medicine can prevent “on fire”. In 2003, JDB broadcast advertising via CCTV (This TV station covers 95% of Chinese), they said this drink can prevent “on fire”, the same year, JDB”s sales achieved a 400 percent increase, which was 1 billion RMB.

 

The creation of a new demand

 

During the pre-purchase phase, JDB successfully created the consumer demand, this demand is not achieve through the drink before. When customers search and evaluate products that address their needs, they found that there was only one product on the market, this reminds me of famous words from Steve Jobs “It’s really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.”

 

After the establishment of brand positioning, JDB further formulated the marketing direction, promote the brand mainly by creative advertising. In the advertising JDB appeared in a relaxed, cheerful, healthy way, they tried to avoid the “treatment” image, let consumers know, JDB is a drink, not medicine.

 

To better arouse the consumer demand, TV advertising selected five scenes which consumers think  5 most vulnerable situations to get ” on fire” : eat hot pot, stay up late to watch the football matches, eat fried food and fries, barbecue and the summer sunshine bath, on the screen, people enjoy these activities while they drink JDB. Combined with advertising song repeatedly singing “No need to fear, just enjoy life, if “on fire”, just drink JDB”, encouraging consumers remind of JDB when eating hot pot, barbecue, this facilitate the purchase.

 

 

Sensation and perception

Red is the most popular color in China, symbolizing the festive air, JDB made red as their packaging color.，as colors can convey brand identity, when people see red advertising they could think about the new year eve, the party, the hot pot, fried food, and then remind of “on fire”, then the sentence occurs “If you are afraid of on fire, you should drink JDB” These years, when people come together, waiters asked to drink something, about half of the people will blurt out, “JDB” , in China, most of the restaurant”s dishes are not light, people fear to “on fire”, so the JDB naturally became the first choice.

According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, there are five needs for individuals. Generally speaking, beverage is often to meet physiological needs，But in 2008, a strategy of JDB, make drinking JDB rose to social needs and esteem needs.。In 2008, Wenchuan suffered 8.4 degree earthquake, large companies made donations, in China，people concern ethics more than laws，there is no legal mandatory for donation, but in the minds of Chinese, donations tend to rise to the height of “patriotism”, JDB announced they decided to contribute entire annual net profit of more than 100 million RMB, all donated to the disaster area, compared with NOKIA, Microsoft’s only 1 million, people thought JDB is crazy, but the development showed this was successful strategy, people began commenting on internet “from now on, I only choose JDB, because I esteem the company.” Then more and more people support JDB, 100 Million donations made people consider ” drinking JDB ” as a social needs, even self-actualization needs, people think, they should belong to those who is virtuous, and choose the virtuous company.

Word Of mouth

Word Of mouth (WOM) is a consumer-dominated channel of marketing communication whereby the sender is independent of the company. WOM is perceived by consumers to be more reliable, credible and trustworthy than firm-initiated communications. (Sicilia, M et al.2016)

Afterward，customers generated positive word-of-mouth of JDB, then repeat purchases.

 

 

Reference

 

Sicilia, M, Delgado-Ballester, E, & Palazon, M 2016, ‘The need to belong and self-disclosure in positive word-of-mouth behaviours: The moderating effect of self-brand connection’, Journal Of Consumer Behaviour, 15, 1, pp. 60-71, Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection, EBSCOhost, viewed 1 August 2016.

 

https://www.helpscout.net/blog/why-steve-jobs-never-listened-to-his-customers/

 

http://www.warc.com/LatestNews/News/Global_brands_face_China_challenge.news?ID=33349

 

http://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/1668547/chinas-jdb-plans-global-push-its-popular-herbal-tea-drink

Color matters…

Consumers’ decision of buying a product depends on finding a solution to their problem. There are many factors affecting consumer’s choice in purchasing a product. This study of consumers and their process which they adopt in order to select and use a particular product is known as consumer behavior. In taking these simple decisions, several things go around in the background which include finance, biology, psychology, marketing and chemistry. It is a complex process which requires time and money to analyse the consumer’s decision. Due to these reasons, marketers spend millions of dollars to understand consumers’ needs.

Consumers are the best judge of their own needs and wants which is known as consumer sovereignty. When consumers try to gather information by conducting research for the products they are looking for and forming a set of options, this is what the pre-purchase phase is all about. Purchase phase is where consumers narrow down consideration where  the decision could be in favor of delaying the purchase or may not opt for the option. On purchase of the product, success depends on level of satisfaction which could be repeat purchase, return of product or positive and negative publicity (post-purchase phase).

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Source: Ali, 2011

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The literature has classified and structured factors affecting purchase process as personal, psychological and social factors. Psychological factors encompass sensation, perception, motivation, learning, belief and attitude. Here the emphasis is on sensation and perception. Every individual faces several sensory stimuli daily like hearing, vision and smell. It is difficult for the consumer’s brain to work with every stimuli hence they focus on any one of them, for example color.

Though there are many factors which influence the buying decision of a consumer, the most persuasive is the visual appearance/ color which comes above all other factors such as smell, texture and sound.

So, how does color influence the decision of a consumer?

Every color is associated with different feelings and emotions.

Red:

Red color symbolizes anger, love, excitement and hunger. Red has the power to influence consumers. Mostly utilized by several health and food chains like KFC as it uses a red interior to attract customers and to induce hunger.

Source: KFC Logo, Festisite.com

 

Purple:

Wealth, celebration and royalty is associated with the color purple. This color empowers the consumer’s brain and encourages contemplation. However, companies have to make sure of the shade when using this color to endorse their product as a wrong shade of purple can have a negative effect on their consumer by affecting the luxury of the product. In commercial services, this color is often used by the chocolate industry. For example Cadbury  has utilized the learning and memory process in such a way that consumers can relate this color to Cadbury without even looking at the brand name.

Source: KFC Logo, Festisite.com

Green:

Green is the color of nature which is used to indicate healthy, harmonious and natural aspects of a product. Companies utilize green color in order to communicate that they are environment conscious. Whole food is one such example which is America’s healthiest grocery store that represents its eco-friendly nature.

Source: KFC Logo, Festisite.com

Blue:

Blue is the color used in the corporate industry as it gives a sense of security and reflects authority as well as professionalism. It is associated with many software, pharmaceutical and financial companies. A darker shade of blue elicits presence of intelligence whereas a lighter shade represents trustworthiness. For example Skype, Facebook and many others utilize blue color in order to gain a sense of trust, peace and provide a calming effect.  

Source: KFC Logo, Festisite.com

White:

White reflects purity, light and peace. It is used by many companies in their logos as it emphasizes fairness and equality. However, it strains customer’s eyes on their first glance. The cosmetics industry commonly uses white in order to focus on purity and equality. For example, Dove where white reinforces equality and fairness.

Source: KFC Logo, Festisite.com

There are several other colors having varied impacts on consumer behavior which have not been comprehensively detailed in the literature.

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Source: Virginia tech,2013

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Thus, it is clear that the first thing a consumer notices while buying a product is its appearance. Color is the main factor that influences the appearance of a product. Consumer behavior that favors a positive decision to buy a product depends majorly on the product’s color. Marketers needs to do more research in this field as they may not be equipped with application of color literature for a product. Consumer color choice can be derived by executing the concept of associative learning framework to the color literature. Marketing practitioners can create a color association for their products by applying classical conditioning, another of form of associative learning.

 

References:

Grossman, R. and Wisenblit, J. (1999). What we know about consumers’ color choices: Journal of Marketing Practice: Applied Marketing Science: Vol 5, No 3. Journal of Marketing Practice: Applied Marketing Science, [online] 5(3), pp.78 – 88. Available at: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/EUM0000000004565[Accessed 1 Aug. 2016].

 

Iacobucci, D. (2014). Marketing Management. 4th ed. South-Western, Ch 2, Ch 14. 

Perreau, F. (2013). The 4 factors influencing consumer behavior. [online] Theconsumerfactor.com. Available at:http://theconsumerfactor.com/en/4-factors-influencing-consumer-behavior/ [Accessed 1 Aug. 2016]. 

Stávková, J., Stejskal, L. and Toufarová, Z. (2008). Factors influencing consumer behaviour. 6th ed. [ebook] Czech Republic: Faculty of Business and Economics, Mendel University of Agriculture and Forestry, Brno, Czech Republic, pp.276–284. Available at: http://www.agriculturejournals.cz/publicFiles/01585.pdf [Accessed 1 Aug. 2016].

Tornetta, S. (n.d.). How the psychology of color influences consumers. 1st ed. [ebook] Jordan Blackbird. Available at: https://udel.edu/~rworley/e412/Psyc_of_color_final_paper.pdf [Accessed 30 Jul. 2016].

Virginia tech,. Virginia Tech: The Impact Of Color On Consumer Behavior. 2013. Web. 27 July 2016.

Ali, Kamil. Decision Making Process: How Consumers Make Buying Decision?. 2011. Web. 25 July 2016.

 

Username: pimpaleprutha

student id:215221879

Deakin email id: phpi@deakin.edu.au.

 

Don’t shop, FLIP-KART!

Consumer Behaviour is one such area that most of the brands research about and it’s an important aspect for the success of the company, their product or their campaign. Like it or not, consumers play a major role throughout and a lot of planning and marketing takes place to lure them, turning them into loyal customers.

Add internet to e-commerce and we get a better, yet understandable term – Online Shopping! All it took Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, both alumini of IIT, Delhi was an idea to amend the Indian way of shopping and the seeds were sowed in October 2007. They left Amazon to start their own firm, the world now knows as FLIPKART! Their top priority was to off best-priced books to the Indian audience when the started out but currently they have successfully ventured into selling electronics, mobiles, books, games, music etc. So, what was most important in the success of a start up? Understanding the consumer buying behavior.

No kidding, no worries!

Yes, you read that right! That was the campaign Flipkart came up with to target the audience in 2011. By understanding the consumer behavior, they found out that most of the buyers understand the benefits of online shopping but quite a few are held back by shopping physical goods, online. The idea of the campaign was to think online shopping as child’s play. By using kids in adult voices and situations they tried to portray that buying good online is the easiest and the most convenient way and VOILA, it was an instant success! Their sales rose, people’s trust in them doubled and the customer satisfaction was scaling new heights.

Using Maslow’s Hiererchy of Needs and its perks!

Maslow’s Needs Pyramid is a perfect way to understand the human behavior and the drivers of their decision-making. Maslow quotes, “Man is a perpetually wanting animal” which concludes the higher needs are larger generators of desire and want than the lower needs.

As Maslow explains, there are 5 stages of it namely physiological, safety, love and belonging, self-esteem and self-actualization. Flipkart has time and again tried to make use of it with the wide range of products they offer. They have a massive customer loyalty since they fulfill higher needs of the hierarchy and are simple irreplaceable. What are they doing so right?

Let’s consider the purchase process!

There are three stages to it and consumer behaviour plays a massive role in Flipkart’s rise –

The Pre-purchase phase is an important one as it helps consumers to identify what their needs and desires it. Flipkart has an attractive website with sections and pictures. It’s customer friendly making it easy to surf through offering easy and required solutions to their ever-increasing audience.

In Purchase phase, consumers narrow down on their needs and are ready to make a decision. Flipkart offers insights and specifications for the products and services making it easier for the users, helping them in decision-making.

If Flipkart is famous for something it’s for their Post-purchase satisfication. The e-commerce giants have swift delivery options, easy paying methods and offers discounts on most of their product. The price they offer is way less than their rivals, making it helpful for them to attract consumers.

Better than the best, Flipkart!

The latest figures Flipkart, India’s largest e-commerce firm, generates through monthly advertisement sales is close to 1 million USD. With more than 50 millions loyal users, Flipkart is here to stay and is way ahead of their close rivals. Looking at consumer behavior Flipkart recently signed up more than 50 brands to actively engage with customer’s needs and desires. You want it, we have it, that’s their motto!

REFERENCES –

Mihir Dalal., (2016). Flipkart’s monthly ad sales revenue reacher 1 million. Live mint. http://www.livemint.com/Companies/r1CNmMKPDJFASUJwnrFGtI/Flipkarts-monthly-ad-sales-revenue-reaches-1-million.html (Accessed on 1st August 2016)

Wikipedia., (2016). Flipkart. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flipkart (Accessed on 1st August 2016)

Arati Rao., (2011). Flipkart’s new campaign pegged on “No kidding, no worries”. http://www.campaignindia.in/video/flipkarts-new-campaign-pegged-on-no-kidding-no-worries/414807 (Accessed on 1st August 2016)

Pratik Dattani., (2014). Consumer behaviour toward online shopping Flipkart. http://www.slideshare.net/pratikdattani1/consumer-behavior-toward-online-shopping-flipkart (Accessed on 1st August 2016)

BJ Bueno and Scott Jeffrey., (2014). Why Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs is crucial for business. http://cultbranding.com/ceo/maslows-hierarchy-needs-crucial-for-your-business/ (Accessed on 1st August 2016)

Student Name – Amey Dattatray Ansurkar

Student ID – 216045154

Marketing of the consumers, by the consumers, for the consumers, shall not perish from the Earth.

You must have heard of the phrase ‘The government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth’ by American president Lincoln. Politics has to be conducted and controlled by the people as for the as they are the center of politics.

Likewise, in the market, consumers, people purchase products and services, play the same role as the people in the previous phrase. Consumers are the principle agents of economy activities and lead a consuming marketing. Corporations are unable to survive without consumers purchasing. Therefore, the life and death of companies are in the hands of consumers It is important for corporations to recognize the essential motivation which cause their consumption.

The major factors that affect consumer behavior are categorized in 3 different types.

As you can see from the table above, the consumer behaviors are affected by a diverse range of factors from the environment surrounding them, their family and friends. Companies need to analyze every factor that may be able to improve consumption of their products.

 

ZARA: Just-in-time production system based on customer needs

In particular, global fashion brand ZARA substantially consider that producing and selling new products by grasping what the consumers want is significantly important. Their marketing strategies start from the logic that consumers always have to be first as they are existing by them. In addition, they progress the market segmentation, product differentiation strategies from their own data-system and principle that indicates the needs of consumers. As a result, their marketing strategies are constantly changed by changes of customer preference. Furthermore, their marketing strategies are made by consumer demands, not from their own plans. This consumer orientation marketing strategies increases consumer satisfaction.

For example, managers of ZARA offline stores all over the world frequently send new ideas of designs which are collected from customers to the head office in Spain with PDA called Cassio-peia which is designed to collect data of consumers’ preference. Over 200 fashion designers create new designs based on the data collected by the store managers and then, the new designs are saved in their own market information system in order to transit to the factories around the world. This allows ZARA to be able to produce new design of clothes every second week. However, if the new products do not attract consumer attention, they just get rid of the items straight away. Likewise, it is their first working principle to try to reflect consumers’ preference faster than competitors.

Check out how this ZARA manager works!

 

Huge cultural mistakes by Disneyland.

In general, when international corporations invest the new business in overseas, analyzing the local culture has to be conducted first. Culture is one of the most important factors the global companies consider to success their investment. If someone starts selling hams in the middle-eastern countries, can you imagine what can happen…?

Walt Disney is one of the most successful global companies. They make animations and a wide range of character goods such as dolls, school supplies and so on. They have always been popular among people regardless of sex and age. Upon their success they built theme parks called Disneyland all over the world from U.S.A to China. However, they have been accused of disregarding local culture ever since expanding their theme parks overseas.

Disneyland in Hong Kong opened in 2005 and attracted 5.6 million visitors in the first season that were markedly less than they expected. They launched the US cultural and business facilities in Hong Kong Disneyland. In the beginning, people were no able to bring in the local cuisine into the park and it caused protests against their policy, while the hamburgers were being sold in the park. Originally Chinese people have food sitting at a table at regular meal time. On the contrary, Americans have snacks or food in the street while moving around any time. In addition, they built up the park with western styles of decoration which did not match the its Chinese environment. It was evaluated as a small version of Disneyland in US. The attempted Disneyland of Chinese culture brought about significant cultural backlash in the Middle Kingdom and the Chinese began to view Hong Kong Disneyland as a fake symbol of culture.

 

 

Since their failure to adapt to the local culture Walt Disney changed their policy of their business. It took them over 10 years to build the most recent Disneyland in Shanghai their planning took into account the local culture ensuring the parks success. The park has been highly rated by the locals in China as the park was designed for the people of China

 

<reference>

MAtusitz , J & Palermo, L. 2014. The Disneyfication of the World: A Grobalisation Perspective. Journal of Organisational Transformation & Social Change. 11(2), pp. 91-107.

UK Essays. 2013. Brand Personality And Positioning Effects On Consumer Behaviour Marketing Essay. 23, 2013. <https://www.ukessays.com/essays/marketing/brand&gt;

Martin, H & Makeine,  J. 2016. Shanghai Disney opens next week, and it’s working hard to avoid cultural faux pas. Los angeles times(Latimescom). 9 June 2016. <http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-disney-shanghai-culture-adv-snap-story.html> 

Vullano, V. 2016.Why Shanghai Disneyland Differs So Much From the Others. AFAR Media. 1 21 June 2016.< http://www.afar.com/magazine/why-shanghai-disneyland-differs-so-much-from-the-others>

 

SEUNGHO HAN 216006196

KFC: Conquering cultures across borders…

Have you ever wondered who are we as consumers? …

Consumers are essentially actors in the market wherein they assume various roles ranging from information providers to payers and ultimately disposers.

The crucial role of consumers’ behavior in a market place has multitudinous implications starting right from the marketing strategy of the firm.

Consumer behavior at the heart of marketing strategy…

Consumer behavior can be defined as the underlying decision process and series of activities that consumers engage in during the process of evaluation, acquisition, utility as well as disposition of goods and services (Iacobucci, 2014). At the risk of oversimplification, consumer behavior can be explained as the study of consumers’ action in the market along with the rationale that influences those decisions.

The purchase process stemming from consumer behavior…

Consumer decision-making comprises an on-going interaction between environmental and behavioral factors that ranges from pre-purchase information, purchase  and post-purchase outcomes (Iacobucci, 2014).

Once the consumer realizes his needs, he undertakes an information search across external and internal sources of information regarding the brand, quality, alternatives available as well as product variations. Following collection of information, consumers narrow down their consideration set and may/ may not ultimately make the purchase. Lastly, following the purchase of a product, the consumer experiences post-purchase dissonance depending on the level of satisfaction attained following the purchase. It may range from sheer delight to dissatisfaction (Iacobucci, 2014).

What guides the buying process for a consumer? …

The buying process is influenced by horde of factors comprising internal and external factors. The internal factors range from sensation, perception, learning, motives and attitudes to lifestyle. The external factors comprise a reference group, family effects, social class, values as well as cultural differences (Haseeb, 2016).

KFC’s positive consumer influencing strategy across borders…

Consumer attitude towards a product or service is a fine indicator of the potential success of the business. When a consumer accepts or rejects a particular product or service, it is dependent on his/ her attitude. Here, in the case of KFC, the fast food giant targets the attitude of consumers with their Healthy Menu.

According to psychological researchers, there are three features of attitude that can be related to consumer purchasing behavior.

The first feature of attitude is an object, which can be interpreted as an entity having specific consumption. In this context, the object of KFC is its Healthy Menu.

The second feature is ‘learned predisposition’ which is an attitude that can be related to consumer purchasing behavior. This can be formed by direct experience with the product, word-of-mouth publicity and advertisement (TV commercials and print media). Through the advertisement, consumers can be motivated or indifferent towards the product.

Source: juc4b4l4, 2009

The third and final feature of attitude is consumer consumption ‘consistency’. In order to maintain consistency among consumers, KFC has fried chicken despite the consumers’ overall positive attitude towards the Healthy Menu to cater to those consumers who place primacy on taste over health (Haseeb, 2016).

KFC has not only positively influenced consumer behavior by addressing varied consumer attitudes but also targets external factors influencing consumer behavior as enlisted above.

Conquering cultures since 1952…

Culture refers to the way people live their life. It varies with every country.

People now-a-days tend to look at the quality of food. This is a change from their past behavior (Schiffman, 2000).

KFC alters its menu for your Country…

KFC’s core products are chicken and it creates brand standards for every market that it caters to.

Source: llaael, 2013

The China Chronicle…

KFC serves around 50 items as compared to 29 items in the United States to cater to the highly populous Republic of China in order to increase consumer traffic and encourage multiple visits. Menus offer spicy chicken, rice dishes, soy milk drinks, egg tarts, wraps with local sauces as well as fish and shrimp burgers on fresh buns. Particularly in China, spice levels are extremely important to customers.  Thus, the company changes its recipes to suit the regions. KFC also offers Congee, a popular rice porridge that is hard to make at home which is a KFC best-seller in the breakfast menu of China (Bell, 2011).

 

The Indian Tale…

                            (Image source: Malwani, 2014)

Chicken consumption in India is more common than beef. However, meals are typically carbohydrate-heavy with increased preference to a vegetarian diet. Furthermore, the chicken that is eaten is traditionally prepared in the form of Tandoori. In order to engage more consumers, KFC has decided to add spicier versions of their chicken which includes a fiery grill flavor mimicking the red hue as well as hot spice of traditional tandoori and curry chicken modeled after the highly popular local curries. In addition, to capture the widely prevalent vegan market, KFC also added plenty of vegetarian items. Therefore, KFC serves fried vegetable strips and burger patties made of either potato or vegetables to meet the needs of vegeterian consumers (Friend, 2013).

The success of KFC from Kentucky across borders has been achieved by localization of products across regional markets. This indicates that consumer behavior plays an essential role as consumer holds the ultimate power. Therefore, as long as any organization is able to decode the behavior of consumers, success is just a matter of time.

 

References

Bell, D. and Shelman, M. (2011). KFC’s Radical Approach to China. [online] Harvard Business Review. Available at: https://hbr.org/2011/11/kfcs-radical-approach-to-china [Accessed 1 Aug. 2016].

Buyer Behaviour KFC. (2013). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xLcGJWeDrE [Accessed 1 Aug. 2016].

Drewery, H. (2014). West Meets East: KFC and Its Success in China – Armstrong Undergraduate Journal of History. [online] Archive.armstrong.edu. Available at: http://archive.armstrong.edu/Initiatives/history_journal/history_journal_west_meets_east_kfc_and_its_success_in_china [Accessed 1 Aug. 2016].

 FRIEND, E. (2013). Third-Ranked KFC is Winning the Fast Food Battle in India – For Now. [Blog] euromonitor. Available at: http://blog.euromonitor.com/2013/12/third-ranked-kfc-is-winning-the-fast-food-battle-in-india-for-now.html [Accessed 1 Aug. 2016].

Haseeb, (2016). Haseeb | Marketing Dawn. [online] Marketingdawn.com. Available at: http://marketingdawn.com/author/haseeb/ [Accessed 1 Aug. 2016].

Iacobucci, D. (2014). Marketing Management. 4th ed. South-Western, Ch 2 & Ch 14.

juc4b4l4, (2009). KFC Ad – Australia. Available at: https://youtu.be/Ib3ZLJU8A8E [Accessed 1 Aug. 2016].

Schiffman, G. and Kanuk, L. (2000). REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE. 7th ed. [ebook] Prentice Hall International, pp.6 – 18. Available at: http://digi.library.tu.ac.th/thesis/lg/0459/06CHAPTER_TWO.pdf [Accessed 1 Aug. 2016].

 

Submitted by:

Sabrina Advani (User name: advanisabrina)

Deakin ID: 215224798

KNOCK ! KNOCK !

Who’s there ? Your delivery from FLIPKART sir !

Feels so good !

Doesn’t it uplift our mood when you get your new shirt ? And you finally can try it on ? Yes…this is how a consumer feels and responds to a product.

”People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care” a well said quote by Robert Cavett .

With Pokemon GO, helping consumers shed some lbs, there are various others like it trying to make it.

Consumer response to our product will make us possible to track a typical behavioural pattern.
The branding and connection of company is the root of the cause.
Products with health benefits or psychological factors have gained much popularity. The aim to please the consumer will give us satisfying after purchase benefits. These may be service, mending charges, delivery of new updates.
The targeted public should be selected as per pervious experience and records.
FLIPKART and SNAPDEAL
are gaining more popularity for online shopping in the Indian market.
The public seems to be busy with daily routine. The 10 to 7 jobs and dirty dead lines have crushed the public. The behaviour has become lethargic and lazy. How will fashion market not drown ? So there comes the quest of social connection, health or mental causes. It’s all about the service provided. Fast delivery is the key service of both apps. They provide with easy and simple return policies. That affects consumer behaviour. They know their money is put to great effect. They know they can get all trends about fashion and lifestyle at these companies. They trust more than the mall shopping. Products come directly home… consumer does not find time and they relay on them for their products. Thus, fashion industry is saved from sever drought and people are happy to have latest trends in their closets.
In short, the consumer behaviour depends on how the company brands the products, how are the pay offs and services provided.
India is a market where the trends are followed as per Western market. The new launched products gain popularity when it is published in presentable and professional manner.
The popularity of products will be the vale of the company. It is well done when public relations are good.
Remember how people sold and bought stuff a decade ago ? They went to shops, they bought it home with a lot of physical and mental strength. Later, people put advertisements in daily newspapers. This is how consumers went to the seller and bought their products.
And now ?? You have to just upload the photos and description of your product ! Volla !! People will check it and ask you for price !
World has developed so fast !
The pro is delivered to the consumer at his doorstep. Without any fuss of traveling expenses and damage due to breakages. And such apps have gained overnight popularity !

They are OLX and QUIKR, serving doorstep delivery to consumers. The market has raised by almost 30% from last 2 years. It has been gaining popularity like a craze ! Consumer has given positive results ! They love how fast, smooth and secure their transaction can happen. The online system of buying and selling products has gained tremendous love from consumers. These apps help them socialise, help them save time and money !
Social factors like caste, income group of consumers affect largely the market. Also factors like age, working positions, hierarchy shape the success of products.

Rightly said that the consumers may not like the product but like the idea of virtual shopping.
World’s economy has largely depended upon the consumers. At most care should be taken before launching new ones.
The product must come with some after purchase benefits, so the after purchase behaviour is easy to understand and repair the old methods of consumer relations.
So, publicise greatly and provide awesome service. The consumer behaviour should show satisfied nature. That they do not want much changed.

Chirag Modi

215398027

cbmodi@deakin.edu.au

References:

Click to access file.php

 

http://www.talkingtrendo.com/quikr-or-olx-which-is-better-in-services/

 

How many calories can you burn playing Pokemon Go?

 

http://gadgets.ndtv.com/internet/features/olx-and-quikr-battle-it-out-to-be-indias-craigslist-508790

 

 

 

DOES CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENTS HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO TRANSFORM A BRAND?

Celebrity endorsement advertising has been recognized as “ubiquitous feature of modern day marketing”. (McCracken, 1989).

                                                                  Source: Google Images

Sporting personalities have proved the most successful for branding. The most memorable and long standing endorsements involve a great match between the values of a brand, the quality and the type of product, the right celebrity face to champion it. For example, real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo joins with Herbalife. The five-year agreement includes global publicity rights and promotion activities; and also Herbalife will work with Ronaldo to develop his own personalized nutrition programme.

Understanding the needs of the consumer is really important when it comes to creating the right advertisement for the right audience. Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the greatest football players in the world, and someone who embodies philosophy of good nutrition being at the core of a healthy, active life, and a key advantage in the competitive world of professional sport. “Hence his passion and belief will undoubtedly translate into tremendous opportunities for Herbalife and its independent distributors”, said chairman and chief executive officer of Herbalife, Michael Johnson.

Celebrity endorsements are a staple of brand marketing. Product and celebrity have always gone hand in hand, selling not just items but aspirational lifestyles too.  But with those consumers empowered both by an abundance of choice and a wealth of information, they’re now in a position to question whether those brand promises really are true and whether the brand is truly worth buying in to.

Identify target audience: The advertisement in some way must touch the hearts of the end users for them to buy the product.

Understanding the psychology of how consumers think, helps companies to improve their marketing strategies. Meanwhile, badly thought out endorsements have the potential to negatively impact a brand. But some brands get it right. Like, Herbalife cleverly chooses world’s greatest sport celebrities for endorsing their products of health and nutrition. Having a famous player as endorser attracts most of the fans who are mostly young adults who tend to follow him. This logic definitely encourages young fans to use the product. With the emergence of sites like youtube.com or metacafe.com people tend to make videos about the reviews and results of the products indirectly doing free marketing for the companies.

The key question for businesses today, is how to expose marketing blind spots and remain relevant in the face of an evolving marketplace?  It begins with understanding customers at a deep level. Understanding them as individuals, not demographic segments, but as social beings. Celebrities hold meanings in the eyes of the audience through their public manifestations. The underlying use of celebrities is the belief that they draw attention to the messages they deliver and transfer the image values into the communication messages and thus influence consumers.

Advertisements use celebrities because they enhance audience attentiveness, make the ad memorable, credible, and desirable and add glamour to product (Spielman, 1981).

                                                                     Source: Google Images

Kaikati (1987) describes five advantages of employing celebrities to endorse products: drawing attention, crises management, brand repositioning, global marketing and boosting sales.

                                         Source: (Biswas, Hussain and O’Donnell, 2009)

Culture influences behaviour through its manifestations: values, heroes, rituals, and symbols (Hofstede, 1997). In this framework we will consider consumer values and heroes as the relevant cultural manifestations. Celebrities fit into this category of heroes as reference groups and opinion leaders.  The relationship between values and heroes can also be bidirectional. Celebrities who shape and refine existing cultural meaning and encourage the reform of cultural values.

In this adapted framework to study celebrity endorsements, the focus is on the cognitive aspects, which include:

• Perceptions of celebrity endorsements or advertisements with celebrities.
• Perceptions of brand or product with celebrities.

Advertisements in low-context cultures such as United states have more of hard sell approach (Mueller,1987). On the other hand, advertisements in high-context cultures such as India are likely to be emotional have more on soft sell approach. Compared to us consumers, Indian consumers are more likely to perceive celebrities to be employed as visual cues and for emotional appeal.

 

WHEN CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENTS GO WRONG

Sporting icons, movie stars and other famous celebrities have been associated with leading global companies who tend to increase their brand recognition and sales. But the same way an endorser private life can also effect the brand in many ways. The high profile celebrity scandals can lead to losing the contract with company and also effects the consumers trust with the product.

Source:(Ipsos-mori.com, 2016)

So have you had your shake today? But that’s what Cristiano Ronaldo says.

 

REFERENCES

• Biswas, S., Hussain, M. and O’Donnell, K. (2009). Celebrity Endorsements in Advertisements and Consumer Perceptions: A Cross-Cultural Study. Journal of Global Marketing, 22(2), pp.121-137.
• Consumerpsychologist.com. (2016). Consumer Behavior: The Psychology of Marketing. [online] Available at: http://www.consumerpsychologist.com/ [Accessed 26 Jul. 2016].
• Ipsos-mori.com. (2016). Ipsos MORI | Comment & Analysis | When celebrity endorsements go wrong. [online] Available at: https://www.ipsos-mori.com/newsevents/ca/840/When-celebrity-endorsements-go-wrong.aspx [Accessed 27 Jul. 2016].
• Managementstudyguide.com. (2016). Role of Consumer Behaviour in Advertising. [online] Available at: https://www.managementstudyguide.com/role-of-consumer-behaviour-in-advertising.htm [Accessed 26 Jul. 2016].
• Sportspromedia.com. (2016). Ronaldo agrees five-year Herbalife endorsement – Sports Personal Endorsement news – Soccer Europe – SportsPro Media. [online] Available at: http://www.sportspromedia.com/news/ronaldo_joins_messi_with_new_five_year_deal [Accessed 24 Jul. 2016].
• Todaro, D. (2016). Celebrity Endorsements Have the Potential to Transform a Brand | Branding magazine. [online] Branding magazine. Available at: http://www.brandingmagazine.com/2014/11/11/celebrity-endorsements-have-the-potential-to-transform-a-brand/# [Accessed 25 Jul. 2016].

 

Submitted By:

Kaki Himabindu

Id: 216063578