BUS 3605 Consumer Behavior

Week #1

Module

How important is consumer behavior to business? If you ask the marketers who bring you television commercials or ads on your computer, they may say it is the most important thing they need to know. This course will explore the dynamic ways that society, culture, lifestyle, and groups of people impact consumer behavior.

After completing this lesson, you should be able to:

• Define consumer behavior in applied terms
• Recognize and apply the basic principles of consumer behavior to marketing ethics
• Demonstrate an understanding of interdisciplinary concepts from psychology, semiotics, and cultural anthropology
• Explain the role of perception

Lecture

Introduction

Meet your instructor, Nicole DeCaro, Ph.D. Dr. DeCaro will explain the details of her background as well as the goals for this course.

Lecture

Consumer Behavior

Begin your exploration of consumer behavior by examining multi-generational relationships and how they impact businesses.

Lecture

Consumer Behavior Within the Scope of Business/Organization

What are the four Ps of the marketing mix, and how do they fit into consumer behavior? Listen as Dr. DeCaro lectures about consumer behavior within the scope of a business.

Week #2

Module

Ponder this scenario. Three students walk into a coffee shop. All three buy a drink, but they all buy something different. This week, you’ll discover how perception, learning, memory, and motivation shape our decisions.

After completing this lesson, you should be able to:

• Recognize connections between the relationship between learning, memory, and behavior
• Evaluate the strength of memory’s role in learning and the nature of learning and memory
• Challenge the myth that conditioning has a negative connotation for most individuals
• Associate the relationship between values and conscientious consumerism

Lecture

Perception, Learning, Memory, and Motivation

Why do people shop the way that they do? Discover the impact of perception, learning, memory, and motivation on consumer behaviors.

Week #3

Module

Everyone is different, and so are their impulse habits when it comes to buying. This week, you will explore how influences shape who we are and our behavior as consumers.

After completing this lesson, you should be able to:

• Associate concepts of self and culture as influential to consumer behavior
• Support or refute the question of whether marketing ethics encourages infatuation with self
• Recognize the correlation between personality and marketing stimuli response
• Examine the many consumer lifestyles which are key in the development and implementation of marketing strategies

Lecture

Personality and Lifestyles

This week, analyze how a person’s personality – that is, his/her psychological makeup – influences his/her buying choices.

Week #4

Module

Here is another scenario: you are standing in a store looking at two similar products, both are good, the same price, yet you cannot decide what to buy. There is a good reason why. This week, we will explore those buying behaviors.

After completing this lesson, you should be able to:

• Illustrate how attitude models are used to identify consumer attitudes toward goods and services
• Examine the strategies used to alter consumer attitudes and beliefs toward purchase decision making
• Recognize the many influences which change our buying decisions over a lifetime
• Defend the statement that decision making is not always rational

Lecture

The Decision-Making Process

What is really going on behind the scenes in the decision-making process? Explore the steps involved in decision making and how consumers react to their choices. 

Week #5

Module

Have you ever felt like you need a horse to pull your shopping cart to the car? Retailers hope you do. This week, discover how the retail mix and other factors impact buying decisions.

After completing this lesson, you should be able to:

• Justify the need for marketers to be concerned with consumer post-purchase evaluation
• Explain the significance of the salesperson as a critical link between interest and purchase commitment
• Illustrate how social networks have impacted the relationship between organizations and their ultimate consumers
• Recognize and examine the power of group influence

Lecture

The Art and Science of the Buying Process

What you see is what you get. At least that’s what retailers want to happen. This week, explore strategy used to influence consumer buying.

Week #6

Module

Here is a third scenario. You just bought a new iDevice that came out a year ago, when suddenly, they announce a brand-new iDevice is coming out in three weeks. Do you skip it, or like your friends, do you buy it so you are not left behind? This week, we explore how lifestyles and the desire for social status impact consumer buying habits.  

After completing this lesson, you should be able to:

• Recognize how children learn how to consume goods and services
• Compare and contrast the similarities and differences between business and consumer purchase decisions
• Explain how product choices are influenced by social class distinctions
• Associate the relationship between social class and spending patterns

Lecture

Income and Social Class

In this week’s lecture, we will address one of the myths in business and marketing: the relationship between income and social class.

Week #7

Module

What are buying trends of a 25 year old compared to a 60 year old when it comes to buying a cell phone? This week will describe the many subcultures that impact consumer behavior.

After completing this lesson, you should be able to:

• Recognize that memberships in ethnic, racial, and religious subcultures often guide consumption behavior
• Explain the relevance of acculturation in relation to adapting from one cultural environment to another
• Justify the movement to segment and target teenagers and baby boomers
• Associate consumer buyer decision making with the concept of perceived age

Lecture

Dynamics of Age and Consumer Behavior

Everyone in life ages. But do consumer behaviors change with age? Listen to this week’s lecture to discover the dynamics of age and consumer behavior.

Week #8

Module

Success or failure for marketers depends upon understanding the culture of today and predicting the cultural demands of tomorrow. Conclude your course this week with a glimpse into the future of consumer behavior.

After completing this lesson, you should be able to:

• Determine how marketers can address and meet the diverse cultural values in terms of modern day marketing messages
• Examine the ways in which societal personality shapes individual identity
• Distinguish between high and low culture
• Explain why products that succeed in one country may fail in another through the recognition and identification of contributing factors toward failure or success

Lecture

The Future of Consumer Behavior

The future of consumer behaviors contains a variety of research methods and technologies. In this lecture, examine an overview of the strategies retailers use to predict the future of consumer behavior.