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Unit 7: Consumer Analysis

Today consumers can find many varieties and styles of shoes for running, bicycling, soccer, Notes
basketball, and other sports. These shoes vary in design, features, and price ranges to appeal to
groups of consumers that are similar in some ways.

Example: Reebok developed its Blacktop shoe for young basketball players on urban
outdoor courts.
The shoe was a few ounces heavier than those of competitors, moderately priced, and designed
for performance on asphalt and concrete. The shoe looked good, so it appealed to the 80 percent
of consumers who buy athletic shoes solely for fashion, but it also was tough enough to stand up
to rugged outdoor play. The shoe sold out in many stores in its first two months, and more than
2.2 million pairs were expected to be sold in its first year—a smashing marketing success. Thus,
by understanding the wants and preferences (cognition and affect) of urban youths (target
market) for a good-looking, moderately priced, long-wearing shoe, promoted for regular guys
who play basketball (behavior) on outdoor courts (environment), Reebok developed a successful
marketing strategy.

Self Assessment

State whether the following statements are true or false:

10. A marketing strategy is a set of stimuli placed in consumers’ environments designed to
negatively influence their affect, cognition, and behavior.
11. Successful firms in an industry usually multiply the total market into segments and try to
appeal most strongly to one or more of them.
12. The Wheel of Consumer Analysis can be used to analyze groups of consumers who have
some similarity in cognition, affect, behavior, and environment.
7.5 Individual Consumers

Finally, the Wheel of Consumer Analysis can be used to analyze the consumption history, a
single purchase, or some aspect of a purchase for a specific consumer. Lands’ End, a catalog
marketer, carefully analyzes individual consumers in terms of their previous purchasing history.
The company can then target individual consumers with specialty catalogs of the types of
merchandise previously bought.

7.5.1 Customer Service

Providing superior service has always been a complex and challenging job for retailers. This is
because of the intangible and inconsistent nature of services. Retailers generally use customisation
and standardization to deliver customer services. While customisation motivates the service
providers to customize services according to the needs of individual customers, standardization
ensures that they follow established guidelines when delivering service.
The various services provided by retailers to customers can be grouped under three categories;
pre transaction, transaction and post transaction services. Convenient store hours and information
availability are the most common pre-transaction services offered to customers. Pre transaction
services help target customers gather information about a store’s merchandise and methods for
purchasing it easily. Transaction services are delivered to customers while they are shopping at
a store. Post transaction services are provided by retailers after the merchandise or the services
have been purchased.

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