Marketing Concept - the appropriate philosophy for conducting business.

Companies are making changes to serve consumers better for 3 Major Reasons:

1. The dramatic success of Japanese companies.

2. The dramatic increase in the quality of consumer and marketing research.

3. The development of the Internet as a marketing tool.

Consumer behavior:

• the dynamic interaction of affect and cognition, behavior, and the environment by which human beings conduct the exchange aspects of their lives.

• involves the thoughts and feelings people experience and the actions they perform in consumption processes.

• is dynamic because the thinking, feelings, and actions of individual consumers, targeted consumer groups, and society at large are constatly changing.

• involves interactions among people’s thinking, feelings, and actions, and the environment.

• involves exchanges between human beings.

3 Major Approaches to Studying Consumer Behavior:

1. Interpretive approach

   • relatively new in the field.

   • based on theories and methods from cultural anthropology.

   • seeks to develop a deep understanding of consumption and its meanings.

   • use long interviews and focus groups.

2. Traditional approach

   • based on theories and methods from cognitive, social, and behavioral psychology, as well as sociology.

   • seeks to develop theories and methods to explain consumer decision making and behavior.

   • involve experiments and surveys.

   • had a profound impact on marketing thought.

3. Marketing Science approach

   • based on theories and methods from economics and statistics.

   • involves developing and testing mathematical models to predict the impact of marketing strategieis on consumer choice and behavior and simulation.

   • has become a mainstay in the consumer packaged goods industry because it can handle large scanner data sets in an efficient manner.

3 Groups that use knowledge about consumer behavior and consumer behavior research:

1. Marketing Organizations

   • include not only businesses attempting to sell products but also hospitals, museums, parks, law firms, universities, and other organizations that seek exchanges with consumers.

2. Government and Political Organizations

   • include government agencies such as the Federal Trade Commission and the Food and Drug Administration.

   • the major concern of these organizations is monitoring and regulating exchanges between marketing organziations and consumers.

3. Consumers and organizational buyers

   • exchange resources for various goods and services

   • their interest is in making exchanges that help them achieve their goals and in understanding their own behavior.

Marketing Strategy

• the design, implementation, and control of a plan to influence exchanges to achieve organizational objectives.

• Developing and presenting marketing stomuli at selected target markets to influence

  • What they think

  • How they feel

  • What they do

• Powerful force

It should be clear that marketing strategies, particularly as developed and implemented by successful companies, have a powerful force on consumers and society at large.