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Chapter 9

Buying and Disposing

CONSUMER BEHAVIOR, 9eMichael R. Solomon

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Chapter Objectives

When you finish this chapter, you should understand why:

• Factors at the time of purchase dramatically influence the consumer decision-making process.

• In addition to what a shopper already knows or believes about a product, information, a store, or Web site provides can strongly influence a purchase decision.

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Chapter Objectives (continued)

• A salesperson can be the crucial link between interest in a product and its actual purchase.

• Marketers need to be concerned about a consumer’s evaluations of a product after he buys it as well as before.

• Getting rid of products when consumers no longer need or want them is a major concern both to marketers and to public policy makers.

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Figure 9.1 Issues Related to Purchase and Postpurchase Activities

• A consumer’s choices are affected by many personal factors…and the sale doesn’t end at the time of purchase

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Situational Influences

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Social and Physical Surroundings

• Affect a consumer’s motives for product usage and product evaluation

• Décor, odors, temperature

• Co-consumers as product attribute

• Large numbers of people = arousal

• Interpretation of arousal: density versus crowding

• Type of patrons

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Temporal Factors: Economic Time

Timestyle

Time Poverty

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Temporal Factors: Psychological Time

Social

Temporal Orientation

Planning Orientation

Polychronic

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Five Perspectives on Time

• Time is a _____.

• Pressure cooker

• Map

• Mirror

• River

• Feast

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Temporal Factors: The Experience of Time

• Culture and the experience of time

• Linear separable time

• Procedural time

• Circular/cyclic time

• Queuing theory

• Waiting for product = good quality

• Too much waiting = negative feelings

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Figure 9.2 Drawings of Time

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Figure 9.3 The Shopping Experience:Dimensions of Emotional States

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Reasons for Shopping

• Social experiences

• Sharing of common interests

• Interpersonal attraction

• Instant status

• The thrill of the hunt

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E-Commerce: Clicks versus Bricks

• Benefits: good customer service, more options, more convenient

• Limitations: lack of security, fraud, actual shopping experience, shipping charges

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Discussion

• Will e-commerce eventually replace traditional brick-and-mortar retailing? Why or why not?

• What are the benefits that traditional retail stores provide that e-commerce cannot provide?

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Retailing as Theater

• Landscape themes

• Marketscape themes

• Cyberspace themes

• Mindscape themes

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Store Image

• Store image: personality of the store

• Location + merchandise suitability + knowledge/congeniality of sales staff

• Other intangible factors affecting overall store evaluation:

• Interior design

• Types of patrons

• Return policies

• Credit availability

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FedEx Makeover

BEFORE AFTER

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Discussion

• The mall of the future will most likely be less about purchasing products than exploring them in a physical setting. Retail environments will have to become places to build brand images, rather than just places to sell products.

• What are some strategies stores can use to enhance the emotional/sensory experiences their customers receive?

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In-Store Decision Making

• Spontaneous shopping

• Unplanned buying

• Impulse buying

• Point-of-purchase (POP) stimuli

• Salesperson influence

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Figure 9.4 Image of an Impulse Buyer

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Discussion

• What qualities seem to differentiate good and bad salespeople?

• In what retail outlets do you tend to find “good” salespeople? Why?

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Postpurchase Satisfaction

• Postpurchase satisfaction or dissatisfaction is determined by attitude about a product after purchase

• Marketers constantly on lookout for sources of consumer dissatisfaction

• United Airlines’ “United Rising” campaign

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Quality Is What We Expect It to Be

• Expectancy Disconfirmation Model

• Marketers must manage expectations

• Don’t overpromise

• When product fails,

reassure customers

with honesty

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Figure 9.5 Customer Expectation Zones

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Acting on Dissatisfaction

• Voice response: appeal to retailer directly

• Private response: express dissatisfaction to friends or boycott store

• Third-party response: take legal action

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Figure 9.6 Going to the Gemba

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Product Disposal

• Strong product attachment = painful disposal process

• Ease of product disposal is now a key product attribute to consumers

• Disposal options

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Divesting of Unwanted Items

Iconic Transfer Ritual

Transition Place Ritual

Ritual Cleansing

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Discussion

• Interview people who have sold items at a flea market or garage sale.

• Ask them to identify some items to which they had a strong attachment.

• What divestment rituals did they go through as they prepared to offer these items for sale?

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Chapter Summary

• Many factors beyond the qualities of a product influence purchase decisions.

• People can be influenced by store image, point-of-purchase stimuli, salespeople, and more as they make product choices.

• Consumers evaluate their choice after making it and this evaluation affects future choices.

• Disposing of products is a challenge.