Basic Marketing: A Global Managerial Approach

Perreault−McCarthy: Basic

Marketing: A

Global−Managerial

Approach, 14/e

6. Behavior Dimensions of
   the Consumer Market

Text © The McGraw−Hill

Companies, 2002

176 Chapter 6

PepsiCo had to work with the adoption process when it introduced Pepsi One,

a low-calorie cola. Many consumers are interested in staying trim, but diet sodas

have an image of bad taste. In light of that, Pepsi’s initial ads didn’t directly say

that Pepsi One was a diet drink. Rather, they used the slogan “True Cola Taste. One

Calorie.” But that confused a lot of consumers who couldn’t tell what made it dif-

ferent from Diet Pepsi. As a result, consumer interest was not as great as Pepsi had

expected. Because awareness and interest were low among consumers, retailers didn’t

devote much shelf space to Pepsi One, so it often wasn’t even there for a consumer

to evaluate. Even after a year on the market, trial was low. To help more consumers

through the adoption process, Pepsi made changes. To build awareness and inter-

est, new ads explained that Pepsi One was using a new sweetener, recently approved

by the government, which tasted better than the sweetener used in other diet drinks.

The ads showed consumers drinking Pepsi One and not being able to taste the dif-

ference from a regular cola; they used the tagline “Too good to be one calorie, but

it is.” Pepsi also changed the packaging graphics to put more emphasis on the sweet-

ener at the point of purchase. To generate more trial, Pepsi pushed to get Pepsi One

promoted on special end-aisle displays and stepped up its sampling program with

taste-testing booths on campuses, in office cafeterias, and at movie theaters. Of

course, consumers will decide to regularly buy Pepsi One only if they are satisfied

with the taste.^26

A buyer may have second thoughts after making a purchase decision. The buyer

may have chosen from among several attractive alternatives—weighing the pros

and cons and finally making a decision. Later doubts, however, may lead to

dissonance—tension caused by uncertainty about the rightness of a decision. Dis-

sonance may lead a buyer to search for additional information to confirm the

wisdom of the decision and so reduce tension. Without this confirmation, the

adopter might buy something else next time or not comment positively about the

product to others.^27

Dissonance may set
in after the decision

Several Processes Are Related and Relevant to Strategy Planning

Exhibit 6-10 shows the interrelation of the problem-solving process, the adop-

tion process, and learning. It is important to see this interrelation and to

understand that promotion can modify or accelerate it. Also note that the poten-

tial buyers’ problem-solving behavior should affect how firms design their

distribution systems. Similarly, customers’ attitudes may determine how price sen-

sitive they are and what price the firm should charge. Knowing how target

markets handle these processes helps companies with their marketing strategy

planning.

Internet

Internet Exercise To make it easier for consumers to visualize how certain

fashions will look, the Lands’ End website (www.landsend.com) has an inter-

active “virtual model” feature. Go to the Lands’ End website, click on “My

Model,” and check out this feature. Do you think that it makes it easier to

evaluate a potential purchase?