Page 175 - DMGT551_RETAIL_BUSINESS_ENVIRONMENT

Retail Business Environment

Notes of this business environment, but understanding the business context is critical to the
interpretation of consumer motives in a way that will lead to useful results.

Marketers have realised that motivation research has some shortcomings. Sample sizes of
consumers are small and hardly representative of the total market and the findings are based on
subjective analysis. Based on the same data, two different analysts can possibly produce different
reports offering subjective explanation for consumer behaviour under consideration.
Despite these drawbacks, to have a better understanding of many aspects of consumer behaviour
which conventional marketing research is unable to accomplish, marketers use motivation
research.
Self Assessment

Fill in the blanks:
1. Physiological motives are concerned with satisfying ……………………… needs of the
individual such as hunger, thirst and safety, etc.

2. …………………… motives focus on satisfying psychological needs such as achievement,
affection, or status, etc.
3. ………………………….. Conflict occurs when a consumer is faced with two desirable
alternatives such as either to buy a good music system or a computer.
4. ……………….. needs include reputation, prestige, status, self-esteem, success and
independence, etc.
5. The term ………………………………….. is related to ego needs.
6. Motivation researchers conduct “………………..” interviews with a few dozen consumers
to explore unconscious motives.
7. The thinking, which is almost completely dominated by needs and emotions (day-
dreaming) without relating to reality, is called ……………………...

8. Physiological needs are primary needs or motives because they are essential to
………………………...
9. …………………………….. is said to be the driving force within individuals produced by a
state of tension caused by unfulfilled needs, and wants.

9.5 Perception

Information processing involves a series of activities by which stimuli are recognised, perceived,
transformed into meaningful information and stored in memory (short-term or long-term).
Reality to an individual is that individual’s perception, a personal phenomenon, on the basis of
which the individual acts or reacts and not on the basis of objective reality. For this reason,
marketers are particularly interested in consumers’ perceptions than their knowledge of objective
reality. Simply put, perception is “how we see the world around us.” Different individuals may
be exposed to the same stimuli under the same conditions but how each individual recognises
the stimuli, selects them, organises them and interprets them is unique in case of each person
and depends on his needs, wants, values, beliefs, personal experiences, moods and expectations.
Perception is also influenced by the characteristics of the stimuli, such as size, colour and intensity,
etc., and the context in which it is seen or heard. Some of the basic concepts associated with
perception are as follows:

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