Post on 09-Apr-2022
Consumer Behavior(SOSK-508)
Needs, wants, value?
Joel HietanenCentre for consumer society research
University of Helsinki
What are ‘needs’ in the contemporary market?
How do ‘wants’ come about?
How is ‘value’ generated in consumption?
The market can be divided into distinct groups
• The characteristics of each group must differ substantially (needs, preferences, behavior)
• To the extent that these distinct groups respond differently to products, services and marketing activities
Segmentation
Geographic factors• Geographical area (infra, climate etc.)
Demographic factors• The most typical method of segmentation (age, marital status, income level etc.)
Psychographic factors• The most tricky (cultural, lifestyle, social position, personality)
Behavioral factors• How, when (convenience, time of use – both daily and seasonal etc.)
Combinations of segments• Using multiple segmentation criteria based on the context of the company and
offering
Segmentation
• Lifestyle• Trendy, conservative etc.• Subcultures
• Attitudes• Environment, technology
• Social class• Elitist, blue-collar
• Personal characteristics• Ambitious, convenience-seeker,
social, creative
Segmentation
Targeting
Size and potential growth
Profitability
Competition
Alignment with brand communications (+mission and vision)
Positioning
• Position – the offering or brand has clearly distinct perceptional properties in the target market contra competition (differentiation)• Differentiating the offering in the mind of the target market contra
competition• Developing clear distinctions regarding the most important offering
attributes and benefits
Category membership• To which category an offering belongs where competing offering act as close
substitutes
Points of parity and Points of difference• Consumers typically assess products based on the most important product
attributes• Communicating the unique benefits is central (USP)
Using positional maps• A visual presentation of how brands are perceived (f.ex. quality, usability, design)
Positioning
And, then the article…
Cova, B. (1997). Community and consumption: Towards a definition of the “linking value” of product or services.
European journal of marketing, 31(3/4), 297-316.
Beyond the individual – Enlightenment tradition and neo-tribalism
“We have never been modern”
Paradox of postmodernity – alone in a tribe
Desire to belong – linking value (serve individuality and group)
Cova, B. (1997). Community and consumption: Towards a definition of the “linking value” of product or services.
European journal of marketing, 31(3/4), 297-316.
Beyond the individual – Enlightenment tradition and neo-tribalism
“We have never been modern”
Paradox of postmodernity – alone in a tribe
Desire to belong – linking value (serve individuality and group)
Use-value, exchange value, symbol and sign
Exchange valueUse valueSymbolic valueSign value
Fiction of needs
The whole societal narrative of consumption thus relies on “an anxiousanticipation, not that there may not be enough, but that there is too much,and too much for everyone” (Baudrillard, 1988: 30), where each person
“is reputed to be continuously raising his rate of value production”(Baudrillard, 1981: 206).
You can call use-value what you do withsomething, but this something is never
outside a code of brands and signification
In a consumer society defined by the code as the law,that which you purchase or own is never that what
it actually is as a material good or service