MarketingManagement.pdf

The Consumer Buying Decision Process 97

attributes, differentiate and describe the brand’s features, and motivate store

personnel and others to influence the final brand choice.

➤ Dissonance-reducing buyer behaviorapplies to high-involvement products such as
carpeting. Carpeting is expensive and self-expressive, yet the buyer may consider
most brands in a given price range to be the same. After buying, the consumer
might experience dissonance after noticing certain disquieting features or hearing
favorable things about other brands. Marketers should therefore supply beliefs and
evaluations that help consumers feel good about their brand choices.

➤ Habitual buying behaviorapplies to low-involvement products such as salt. Consumers
keep buying the same brand out of habit, not due to strong brand loyalty, because
they are passive recipients of information conveyed by advertising. Ad repetition
createsbrand familiarityrather than brand conviction.Marketers of such products can
use price and sales promotions to entice new customers to try their products.

➤ Variety-seeking buying behaviorapplies to low-involvement products such as cookies. In
this category, consumers switch brands often because they want more variety. The
market leader will therefore try to encourage habitual buying behavior by
dominating the shelf space, keeping shelves stocked, and running frequent
reminder ads. Challenger firms will encourage variety seeking by offering lower
prices, coupons, free samples, and ads that offer reasons for trying something new.

Table 3.2 Four Types of Consumer Buying Behavior

High Involvement Low Involvement

Significant Differences

between Brands

Few Differences

between Brands

Complex buying behavior—

applies when product is

expensive, bought

infrequently, risky, and self-

expressive; buyer first

develops beliefs about the

product, then develops

attitudes about it, and

finally makes a thoughtful

choice.

Dissonance-reducing

behavior—applies when the

product is expensive,

bought infrequently, and

risky; buyer shops around

and buys fairly quickly, then

later experiences

dissonance but stays alert

to information supporting

the purchase decision.

Variety-seeking buying

behavior—applies when

buyer switches brands for

the sake of variety rather

than dissatisfaction; buyer

has some beliefs about the

product, chooses a brand

with little evaluation, and

evaluates the product

during consumption.

Habitual buying behavior—

applies when the product

is low-cost and frequently

purchased; buyers do not

pass through normal

sequence of belief, attitude,

and behavior but instead

make decisions based on

brand familiarity.

Source:Modified from Henry Assael,Consumer Behavior and Marketing Action(Boston: Kent

Publishing Co., 1987), p. 87. Copyright © 1987 by Wadsworth, Inc. Printed by permission of Kent

Publishing Co., a division of Wadsworth, Inc.