Page 177 - DMGT551_RETAIL_BUSINESS_ENVIRONMENT

Retail Business Environment

Notes Attention

Attention occurs when one or more stimuli activate one or more sensory receptor nerves and
the resulting sensations reach the brain for further processing. Human beings are constantly
exposed to numerous stimuli every minute of the day. This heavy intensity of stimulation to
which we are exposed should serve to confuse us totally but it does not. The reason is that
perception is not a function of sensory input alone. An important principle of perception is that
raw sensory input alone does not elicit or explain the coherent picture of the world that most
adults possess. Perception is the outcome of interaction of physical stimuli from external
environment and an individual’s expectations, motives and learning based on earlier experiences.
The interaction of these two types of very different stimuli creates, for an individual, a very
private and personal picture of the world. Since every individual is unique because of needs,
wants, desires, expectations and experiences, no two people perceive the world precisely the
same way.

Perceptual Selection

Human beings, subconsciously, are quite selective in their perception. Everyday we look at so
many things, ignore others and do not even notice many others. We really perceive only a very
small fraction of stimuli to which we are exposed. In a market place a consumer is exposed to
numerous marketing related stimuli besides numerous others. Even then, on a regular basis,
consumers visit the market and make desired purchases without any disorientation or losing
sanity. The reason is that we all unconsciously exercise selectivity in perception. The selectivity
of stimuli depends on consumer’s previous experience and motives, besides the nature of stimulus
itself. One or more factors related to experience and motives affect consumer’s ‘selective exposure’
and ‘selective attention’ at a given time and can increase or decrease the probability that a
certain stimulus will be perceived.

Stimulus Factors

There are numerous marketing related stimuli that affect consumer’s perception, such as type of
product, physical characteristics, packaging, colour, brand name, advertisement, claims, endorser,
size of ad, position of ad or time of commercial, etc. The product and its components such as
package, contents and physical properties, etc., are primary or intrinsic stimuli while marketing
communications developed to influence consumer behaviour are secondary or extrinsic stimuli.
Expectations

People generally see what they expect to see and this expectation is based on familiarity and
previous experience. Consumers often perceive products and product attributes as per their
expectations. If a consumer has been expecting a new soft drink to have bitter aftertaste because
the friends said so, probably it would taste bitter. It is also true that in many instances stimuli
that are in sharp contrast to expectations attract more attention than those that meet our
expectation. For instance, an ad showing a man wearing a hat, tie and an underwear but no shirt
and pants is more likely to attract attention than a properly dressed man.

Motives

Consumers tend to perceive those things that are top most in their need or want list. They are
highly perceptive of stimuli that are relevant to their needs and interests. Thus, stronger the felt
need, greater is the tendency to notice motive-related things and ignore unrelated stimuli in the
environment. For example, a person who is contemplating buying a computer is more likely to
notice ads of computers and ignore other ads irrelevant to felt needs or interests.

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