Page 185 - DMGT506_CONSUMER_BEHAVIOUR

Consumer Behaviour

Notes expensive national brands and decide to buy a medium priced brand which is on promotion and
gets a small pack of toothpaste free.
There are various types of consumer decision processes. It is useful to view purchase decision
involvement as a continuum and as the consumer moves from a low level of involvement with
the purchase situation to a high level of involvement, purchase decision making becomes
increasingly complex. Based on the amount of effort that goes into decision making, consumer
researchers have found it convenient to think that on one end is the habitual purchase decision
making or nominal decision making and at the other extreme is extended decision making.
Many decisions fall somewhere in the middle and are characterised by limited decision making.
It should be kept in mind that the types of decision processes are not distinct but rather blend
into each other.

Purchase involvement is the level of concern for, or interest in, the purchase process stimulated
by the need to consider a certain purchase. It is important to realise that consumer involvement
can take many forms and a broad distinction is that it can be cognitive, such as a consumer may
be motivated to learn about the latest specifications of the new iMac or emotion when a consumer
is considering the purchase of a gift for his wife on their first marriage anniversary. A consumer
may be very involved with a product category (coffee) or brand (Maruti Zen) and yet have very
low -involvement with a particular purchase because of brand loyalty, time pressure, or other
reasons. Or, a consumer may have low-involvement with a product such as car tyre but is highly
involved because of her/his desire to save money. According to Marsha L Richins, Peter H Block
and Edward F McQuarrie, there are several broad types of involvement related to the product,
the message, or the perceiver.

Product involvement refers to a consumer’s level of interest in a certain product. Marketers
communicate many sales promotions to increase consumer involvement in a product. Tata
Indica V2 sponsored a contest in which participants were to submit five words that describe the
car starting with the letter “V.”
Advertising involvement refers to the consumer’s interest in processing the ad messages.
Television is said to be a low-involvement medium and consumers process information in a
passive manner. In contrast, print is a high-involvement medium as the readers actively process
information.
Purchase situation involvement may occur while buying the same item in different contexts.
For example, when a consumer wants to impress someone, she/he may buy a different brand
that reflects good taste than the usual one that he buys.

J C Mowen found that the focus on many consumer decisions is on feelings
and emotions associated with acquiring or using the brand or with the environment in
which it is purchased or used rather than its attributes.

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