Q1Discuss what is meant by the term“social status,” and explore the featuresyou can identify in an individual’s socialgroup. Do you feel you belong to a social group?

The term social status is one of the stems from social class; it is define as the degree of prestige the members of one social class have in comparison with members of other social classes (Schiffman & Wisenblit 2015, p276). Status can be composed of several factors, including wealth (amount of economic assets), power (the degree of influence over others), and the amount of esteem one receives from others (Schiffman & Wisenblit 2015, p276). 

Firstly, occupation status is a fundamental measure of social standing as it reflect the distribution of power, privilege, and prestige associated with positions in the occupational hierarchy. Thus, during meet up or introducing to someone, people would usually ask what our occupation which would form initial impression is. Although occupational prestige cannot be measured objectively or numerically, it can be measured by administering surveys to large national sample sized between 1,000 and 3,000 people; method such as ladder of social ranking, and occupational prestige ranking can be applied. 

Secondly, education as the more education people have the more likely they are well paid. This is because social-class membership is often mirrored in one’s education, the higher education individuals attends more prestigious schools so they able to access to people in powerful positions who have specialized knowledge which are more elite and more influential.  For example, students at the top ranked universities in the country are often the sons and daughters of alumni and upper-class families. However, children from lower-class education may encourage to just ‘apply and get a good paid job’. 

Thirdly, individual or family income is used to measure social status which is the sources and amount of income. Thus, it also can be distinguish as wealth or income as wealth is based on saving which includes heritage however in the other hand income represents the net worth which is the ability to spend more and create more financial resources. Schiffman (2015) stated that magazine is an excellent medium to determine as it can reach to selective consumer segments in terms of income, education, and occupation. For example, marketers who target upper-middle-class consumers should consider placing ads in Wine and Food magazine because most of its readers are young, educated, and hold managerial positions.

Moreover, clothing, fashion and shopping is also express one’s social status as it shows an individual’s fashionable, tasteful, or elegant varies across social strata. For example, upper middle class likes to wear semi-formal or business casual compare to Polo and T-shirts. However, in this twenty-first century, assessing one’s social class is no longer a straightforward task due to the interference of technology. It provides access to comparable and often identical status symbols to people of different class backgrounds across the world (Medvedec 2020). 

In addition, the way of communication portray one’s social status as member of the lower class often portray it in personal andconcrete terms, whereas members of the middle-class use different language, and upper-class members use their own lexicon (Schiffman & Wisenblit 2015, p287). Sociologically, linguistics indicates that middle-class consumers have a broader or more general view of the world, whereas lower-class consumers have a narrow and personal perspective and see the world only through their immediate experiences. Thus, as the media they refer are different the way they see things would also be different. As higher social classes prefer current events and drama, whereas lower-class individuals prefer soap operas and comedies. Higher-class consumers read more magazines and newspapers than do their lower-class counterparts. Lower-class consumers have greater exposure to publications that dramatize romance and the lifestyles of movie and television celebrities. Hence, marketer would put their advertise based on their target market’s media for example as a high-end watch maker, I would put my advertisement on watch magazines so my target audience would able to review about my products and services provided. 

I believe that everyone is part of social groups such as in primary groups, secondary groups, in-group, out-group, formal or informal group and voluntary or involuntary group. In my opinion, yes I do feel that I belong in social groups. One of the social group I belong to is primary group. Primary group is basically a small social group where we share closeness with our special members such as family and close friends. I believe that primary groups have great sense of importance. We usually have face-to-face interactions regularly, sense of ‘we-feeling’, similar background interest and usually smaller size of group members. For example, I have a very strong primary social group feeling with my family it’s because we have a solid relationship and love, caring, concern and support for each other.  My family and I have a relationship that is long-lasting and we only focus on our relationships rather than achieving any other purposes. I appreciate the family I have because they are always there for me and showers me with love and blessings. 

Q2 Discuss and evaluate the social changes in the last 100 years. Consider global events such as the two world wars, the global recessions of the 1930s and 2008, technology advancements, and changes in worklife balance. What has influenced changes in society over time, and how has family as a social institution influenced this change? Please provide examples

Over the last 100 years, there are a lot of fields have been significant advances with deep impacts on society that created enormous benefits for human beings. Consumers nowadays expect to live with advance technology which will help to make their life easier. Especially for the younger generations of consumers, they have grown up with convenience products and services (Saad 2019). In addition, our daily life is now all about being connected to each other. The mobile devices is not only connecting us with other people, it also allowed us to purchases everything online, provide mobile payments and social media networks (Saad 2019). Besides, the digital technology has made consumers much easier to get the latest information or advice before buying products or services, such as the price comparison services, customer reviews and search engines have transformed the buying process. 

According to Ludlow (2015), one of the biggest changes in technology in World War II was the use of the aircraft carrier. It was the most important ships in the navy, which able to launch air attacks from anywhere in the ocean. Besides, the Germans invented many new types of bombs, included the long range flying bomb called the V-1 along with the another rocket bomb called the V-2. Other than that, they used a machine called Enigma Machine to send secret codes in order to keep communication secrets. (Ludlow 2015)

One of the changes in society over time is increasing Urbanization. Urbanization means the rise of the large cities, with the rise of cities, the people have acquired knowledge of how to preserve their family-centeredness within the society (Kapur, 2018). There have been immense changes brought about with the impact of urbanization. The lifestyle of the individuals have changed. For example, when preparing meals, people use gas cylinders instead of stoves. The living conditions of people who belong to the poor class of society have been greatly improved, and their knowledge and knowledge in various fields are gradually enriched. How family influenced this change? Increasing Urbanization, leads to family-household size tend to decrease, and the cost of raising children are higher.Population experts believe that the reason for the decline in household-size is that millions of people born after World War II decided to pursue education and careers instead of marrying and starting families (Size of U.S. Family Continues To Drop, Census Bureau Says, 1988). In the 1960s and 1970s, the change in the economic structure of the United States –-the inability to support a nuclear family on a single wage–-had a major impact on family life. Women and men began delaying the age of first marriage in order to invest in their earning power before marriage by spending more time in school (Recent Changes in Family Structure, n.d). For various reasons, many people or families tend to have migration, from rural areas to cities and from one country to another.If urbanization occurs rapidly, infrastructure will not be able to support the population (transportation, public health issues, housing, schools, emergency services, jobs) (TOP 10 CAUSES OF GLOBAL SOCIAL CHANGE, n.d). This can result in poverty and class conflict.  Class conflict and poverty may also result if large urban areas experience loss of jobs.

Reference List:

Kapur, R. (2018, March). Family and Society.Retrieved from ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323733863_Family_and_Society

Ludlow, C 2015, ‘Top inventions and technical innovations of World War 2’, Expert Reviews, 1 May, accessed 12 June 2020, <https://www.expertreviews.co.uk/technology/7907/top-inventions-and-technical-innovations-of-world-war-2>.

Medvedec, K, 2020, Social Class and Clothing, lovetoknow, accessed 13/6/2020, < https://fashion-history.lovetoknow.com/fashion-history-eras/social-class-clothing>

Recent Changes in Family Structure.(n.d.). Retrieved from Lumen Boundless Sociology: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-sociology/chapter/recent-changes-in-family-structure/

Schiffman, L & Wisenblit, J 2015, Consumer Behaviour, Pearson Education, Inc., New Jersey, United States of America.

Saad, L 2019, ’10 Major Social Changes in the 100 years Since Woodstock’, Gallup, 16 August, accessed 12 June 2020, < https://news.gallup.com/opinion/gallup/265490/major-social-changes-years-woodstock.aspx>.

Size of U.S. Family Continues To Drop, Census Bureau Says. (1988, June 2). Retrieved from The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/1988/06/02/us/size-of-us-family-continues-to-drop-census-bureau-says.html

TOP 10 CAUSES OF GLOBAL SOCIAL CHANGE.(n.d.). Retrieved from http://people.uncw.edu/pricej/teaching/socialchange/causes%20of%20social%20change.htm

QUESTION 1) A)

Post purchase dissonance is when the consumer’s perception is uneasy after buying a product or service which result in either regretting or returning the product back to where they purchased. The factors that may caused it to happen is cognitive dissonance occurs as the student holds conflicting thoughts about a belief or an attitude object after purchasing the new Apple iPhone 11 pro max as the positive qualities of the alternative such as camera, resolution of display, user interface are left behind (Schiffman et al 2014, p189). It happens because the student has high expectation as expensive purchases like the iPhone require compromise and choice among similar alternatives. It occurs instance which leave the student to have an uneasy feeling about his or hers purchase decision. 

Question 1(b)

How might the student try to overcome it?

The student may regret after buying the new Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max. He thinks that he has overpaid the iPhone, because the price will drop after another new model released. Also, he discovered that Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra is better that the iPhone that he purchased in terms of some features. However, there are a few ways that marketers can help consumers to reduce the post-purchase dissonance. 

First of all, the student can rationalize his decisions (Schiffman & Wisenblit 2015, p189). Since it was a purchase with high cost, the student should do a lot of research, and compare it with other alternatives. Most of the purchasing decision was made depends on emotion or brand-loyalty, so there are multiple ways for the student to justify his choice. 

In addition, the student can seek advertisement that support his purchase decision (Schiffman & Wisenblit 2015, p189). The student who just purchased the new Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max in midnight green color might saw an advertisement on Instagram which shows that the midnight green feels like an atypical color, and the triple-camera system of Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max is excellent. Most importantly, the battery life can be lasted for an average of 12 hours, which is better than all the previous iPhone models. The purchase of Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max is expensive, and the student might be likely to be experiencing dissonance. According to Schiffman & Wisenblit (2015, p189), the advertisement might help to avoid his conflicts because it says that although the price is high, but it has a lot of outstanding performance and features. 

Besides, the student can try to ‘sell’ his friends on the positive features of the new Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max (Schiffman & Wisenblit 2015, p189). The iconic three lenses improved the photo quality, so it is so appealing for consumers who love taking photos and videos. 

Lastly, the student can look to satisfied retailers for reassurance, to get more detailed information (Schiffman & Wisenblit 2015, p189). The student can ask for stronger guarantees if the phone has any defects within a period of time. 

Question 1) C)

Customer dissonance is defined as customers conflict or tension when they are try to consider a product purchase (Lister 2020). This can cause the customer to have a uncomfortable feeling and it is lead to the buyers taking their money elsewhere or experiencing remorse. However, marketers should ensure that customers don’t have dissonance while purchasing their products or service, instead business should encourage positive emotions and eliminate the sense of dissonance from customers when buying their products. This factor can lead to a long-term relationship with the customers and maximise business profits.

The retailers should ensure that they reduce the dissonance from customers , so that they don’t have any doubt , by changing their attitude to correspond to the behaviour (Schiffman &Wisenblit 2015). There two ways that retailers can apply to reduce the dissonance of their customers.

Firstly, retailers should engage themselves with students while they are purchasing, their feelings about purchasing the  and this could influence customers feeling about their purchase and also the future purchases (Gerry 2014). For, instance, when students are purchasing their iPhones from Apple store, the representative should make the customers feel comfortable about their purchase. However, after the purchase, Apple marketers should keep track of their customer by sending them email or making call, to ask them how do they feel or the performance of their new iPhone. This an effective tool for marketers to achieve their customers value.

Secondly, is to create after sales videos to share with your customers ( Gerry 2014).These include personal videos from you eliciting your customer’s feedback and comments and will give retailers an  opportunity to respond to any negativity, which if left unattended, could grow and come back to bite you. Videos can also show other uses for your products or services and hence give them greater value to your customer.(Gerry 2014). Videos can also show how to perform proper maintenance and repairs and reduce problems in the future. For example, the retailers can put out videos that simply allow students to learn the simple tricks of iPhone that the students might not know. They should also allow customers to give their feedbacks to retailers and the marketers could work on resolving any issues. 

Question 2 A)

Find Digi advertisements that illustrate each of the four motivational functions of attitudes. Describe how each Digi ads either reinforces an existing attitude or is aimed at changing an attitude (25 marks).

Digi is known as one of Malaysia’s best mobile service provider. The Digi provides wireless telecommunication services to all such as mobile and fixed telephony products and services or variety of mobile communication services such including prepaid plans, post-paid plans and international services (Mustafa 2018). Digi was considered as the only Malaysian company of telecommunication operating among all the Asian countries in 2014 and it was ranked 100^thplace in the Forbes (American business magazines) (Mustafa 2018). One of the visions of Digi is to be recognised as one of the best mobile service provide platform in the eye of public, for delivering excellence communication service to enhance the quality of consumer’s lifestyle, at home and work (Mustafa 2018. Marketers should find ways to change their customer’s negative consumer attitude about their product or service to positive perspective. This may occur not because of the performance of the product or service, but also under other circumstances. The motivation behind an individuals’ attitude is known as ‘function’. The function approach is known as the changing of attitudes by appealing to consumer’s motivations. The author of the textbook has outlined four types functions, which are utilitarian function, ego-defensive function, value-expressive function and knowledge function.

First and foremost, is the Utilitarian function. The Utilitarian Function is the belief that consumers’ attitudes reflect the utilities that brands provide (Schiffman & Wisenblit 2011, p.186). If the product or service has been useful and helpful in the past for the customers or marketers has provided product and services that has enabled to perform the task in the past, then, the customers attitude towards it would be more favourable (Schiffman & Wisenblit 2011, p.186). The strategy that business should implement to change the attitudes in favour of a product or service, is by showing consumers, that the product or service has a utilitarian purpose that customers may have not considered (Schiffman & Wisenblit 2011, p.186).  For example, in the case of Digi company, they’ve have always been working on reducing the greenhouses gases. Digi focuses more on reducing the carbon footprint and they want to create a climate friendly innovation. Digi also takes their responsibility to be guided by the Global e-sustainability Initiative (Digi 2018). The report of GESI, has shown, that how technology companies can improve the quality of human life globally and create a more sustainable world. According to (Digi 2018), the report also has mentioned that, there are chances of cutting down the emission and this would help the companies and consumers to save and use energy. There are working on contributing social benefits widely. For instance, to generate carbon savings in our downstream, our iFleet smart solution reduces fuel wastage and improves driving behaviour for corporate customers while Digi Connected Cars with AXA FlexiDrive is a commercial offering that rewards safe and efficient driving patterns, tracked based on speed and mileage (Digi 2018). This can reinforce customers attitude towards Digi, because, climate change is a serious concern in today’s world, and they are taking some initiative to make some change. This would make customers to purchase their plans from Digi.

The second function is knowing as The ego-defensive function. This function illustrated about maintaining that people from attitudes in order to self- protect themselves. The want to stay away from sensing any kind of doubt and to replace uncertainty with the feelings of security and confidence (Schiffman & Wisenblit 2015, p186). For instance, Digi has released a mobile protection plan that is called as Digi Shield. It is a protection plan that protects your mobile against theft, liquid damage and accidental. The benefit of this protection is that if you accidently damaged you mobile, they are volunteering to repair it for you, however, if its stolen, they would replace a similar device and quality to consumers original device (Bellsa 2018). The need of Digi Shield is to create a sense of security protection for their consumer’s mobile. Since Digi’s main priority is their consumers, they must ensure that, consumers are aware of this protection plan and be part of it.

Thirdly, is the Value-Expressive Function. This function of attitude allows the consumer to express their set of core values, self-concept and beliefs to others. Therefore, marketers can implement this function to understand their customers value, beliefs and concept and deliver these notions through their advertising (Schiffman &Wisenblit 2015, p.187). The Digi Chinese New Year advertisement has redefined the meaning of “home” for the festive season, which is being with your perfectly imperfect family (Marketing Magazines 2020). The important message from this advertisement was that, it doesn’t matter, where and how you celebrate the festive season but rather with whom you celebrated it (Marketing Magazines 2020). The advertisement would increase customers values of relationship with their family members. Digi hopes that people would understand the worth of their family members and appreciate them.

Last but not least, is the Knowledge Function. The knowledge function explains about individuals have strong form of attituded because they “understand the characters of the people, events and objects they have encountered” (Schiffman & Wisenblit 2015, p.187). Marketers would utilize this function, to create awareness towards customers about their brands, products or service and what makes them different over their competitors. For example, Digi has launched a campaign called as ‘Empower Societies’ and ‘Challenge for Change’ programs (Chu 2015). The purpose of this campaign is to inform society of the importance of Internet of thing (IoT) and how it could bring changes to the community. The internet could bring a positive social change and help the business to increase their performance. The Digi believes that this campaign needs to be reached to all the Malaysians and they could benefit from the internet. The Digi’s Chief Executive Director, Albern Murty has said that “Digi Empower Societies is our commitment to deliver internet for all communities to inspire a better Malaysia – giving Malaysians access to education, healthcare, and business opportunities.” 

Question 2(b):

Think back to the time when you were selecting a place to dine in for your birthday dinner. Did you experience dissonance after you had made a decision? Why or Why not? If you did experience dissonance, how did you resolve it? 

Cognitive dissonance theory states that dissonance is likely to occur after a decision has been made that requires a change in existing attitudes or behaviours (Telci et al. 2011, pg. 380). Personally, I have experienced cognitive dissonance. 

When it was my 22^ndbirthday, my family and I choose to dine in one of the most famous Middle-Eastern restaurant called Halab which located in Kuala Lumpur. As before this we had a great experience in the Halab located in Penang. We made a reservation for the next day. The very next day when we were at the restaurant, the staff told us that there’s no reservation and told us that we are late, but we were there 15 minutes earlier. Luckily, the manager was there and we told him regarding this issue. The manager let us in and gave us a table. As we stepped into the restaurant, it was too smoky as some of the customers were smoking shisha and cigarettes inside the restaurant. We felt really uncomfortable due to this problem.

Besides that, the food we ordered took almost an hour plus to be served to us. We also faced discrimination as the waiter served the Middle Eastern customers who came after us. My brother had to raise his voice to get their attention. Finally, they admitted that the order never reached the kitchen. So, we decided to leave the restaurant and choose to dine-in another restaurant nearby. Overall, the service in Halab KL is extremely terrible as compared to Halab Penang. The staff in Halab KL prioritizes Middle East customers more and neglected the local customers that choose to dine-in there. Unlike Halab Penang, we had a really good experience there and the employees over there were extremely polite and friendly. 

There are few solutions to fix the problem based on the situation that I had experienced. Firstly, a proper training needs to be given to all the employees. Training remind employees of the restaurants about principles, procedures and policies to ensure that they consistently fulfill their duties in accordance with these standards. As this will help to improve the morale of the employee. Besides that, one finale way to improve the restaurant customer service is through the act of ‘table touches. For example, the employee comes to your table to ask the customers how their experience has been. These kind of action help diners feel valued. Furthermore, employees should always respond to customers concerns. All restaurants should have an action plan in place for when something goes south. For example, when an employee made a mistake, they should quickly make an apology instead of ignoring the customers. 

Ultimately, loyal customers are the key ingredient to generating revenue, and it’s a great dining experience that keeps them coming back. By maintaining smooth restaurant operations, proactively responding to customer concerns, and seeking to personalize their dining experience, restaurants are able to create a customer service policy that keeps your customers coming back for more.

Reference List:

Bellsa 2018, ‘Protect your smartphone with Digi Shield powered by AmTrust Mobile Solutions, Digi Community’, accessed 17/5/2020,<https://community.digi.com.my/t5/Apps-Services/Protect-your-smartphone-with-Digi-Shield-powered-by-AmTrust/ta-p/49680

Bhasin, H 2019, ‘What is Post Purchase Dissonance? Causes of Post Purchase Dissonance’, Marketing91, accessed 16/5/2020, < https://www.marketing91.com/post-purchase-dissonance/>

Chu, P 2015, Digi launches ‘Empower Societies’ campaign and ‘Challenge for Change’ program, Malaysia Hardware Zone , accessed 17/5/2020, <https://www.hardwarezone.com.my/tech-news-digi-launches-empower-societies-campaign-and-challenge-change-program

Digi 2018, Sustainability Report, Digi.Com.Berhad, accessed 17/5/2020, <https://images.digi.com.my/annualreport/download/page/Sustainability.pdf

Gerry 2014, How to Reduce Post Purchase Cognitive Dissonance, Video Marketing Communication, accessed 17/5/2020,<https://vimaco.com.au/how-to-reduce-post-purchase-cognitive-dissonance/>

Lister, J 2020, ‘What Is Dissonance in Marketing?, Small Business’, accessed 17/5/2020, <https://smallbusiness.chron.com/dissonance-marketing-25900.html&gt;

Marketing Magazine 2020, ‘Digi & Naga DDB Tribal redefines the meaning of home this festive season’, accessed 17/5/2020<https://marketingmagazine.com.my/digi-naga-ddb-tribal-redefines-the-meaning-of-home-this-festive-season/

Mustafa, S, Nasir, NSB.M, Shamsuri, NNB., Rahim, SAB.A, Rahi,H, Alshaerif, A & Sarif, S, M 2018, Advancing Digi Telecommunications Sdn. Bhd, Research Gate, vol.1, no.1, pp.1-29,accessed17/5/20,<https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329467012_ADVANCING_DIGI_COMPANY_2018>

Schiffman, LG & Wisenblit, J 2015 Consumer Behavior, Pearson Education Inc., New Jersey, The United States of America.

Telci, E.E, Maden, C & Kantur, D 2011, ‘The theory of cognitive dissonance: A marketing and management perspective’, Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, no.24, pp378-386, accessed 17/5/2020, SciVerse ScienceDirect database. 

The importance of knowing your customers behavior is essential. Business should apply certain concepts to learn their consumers behavior. This blog illustrates about brand focus and consumer behavior concepts. This concept would provide us a detail explanation of customers behavior towards the brands. Scopus journal articles are utilised to elaborate relevant article for the concepts.

BLOG TOPIC 1-BRAND FOCUS: APPLE

The topic I would be discussing is on brand focus of Apple, with the application of Intrapersonal Gifting, Intercategory Gifting and Maslow Hierarchy of Needs concepts. As a customer myself, almost every gadget that I own is from Apple. Apple’s identity and unique products had result them in success and caught a strong brand image in the eyes of customers (Razak et al 2020). According to (Reisinger 2018), a study showed that millennial’s has strong bond with Apple. This is because millennial’s are more dependent on mobile devices, social media or they have a trust on the brand (Tsukayama 2015).

First and foremost, the concept that needs to be considered is Intrapersonal Gifting which is defined as “when the giver and the receiver are the same individual” and the other term is self-gifting (Schiffman & Wisenblit 2015, p.375). The need of an individual to self-gift is because they want to seek variety or to reach a certain level of stimulation and therefore, the result would end with individuals feeling satisfied about their purchase (Gupta 2020). For example, generation z purchases Apple products for their own consumption such as, utilizing it for textbook materials and surfing the internet (Gentina 2018). One of the ways Apple wants to contribute to their future customers is by having free online classes for youth to capture their mind (Moorman 2018). This would give future customers a sense of closeness with the Apple products.

Moreover, the second concept that needs to be discussed is Intercategory Gifting which is illustrated as a group getting a gift for a person or a gift given from a person to a group (Schiffman & Wisenblit 2015, p.375). According to (Shanka 2011), individuals gives gift to their closest people because it conveys a strong relationship with the receiver, and it may give a sense of gratefulness. The exchange of gift usually takes place during Christmas, Birthdays, Graduations, Anniversary and many more (Shanka 2011). For example, during Mother’s Day, Apple had gifts that were under 50 dollars such as phone case, a light purse, a temperature mug, a necklace (AppleInsider Staff 2020). Children’s would purchase gifts from apple store and gift it to their Mothers on Mother’s Day and that would make their mom feel special. For instance, children would prefer to get one amazing Apple product for their mom rather than each of the children gifting it individually. This could help the children to save money, time and effort (Schiffman & Wisenblit 2015, pg. 375)

The third concept is Maslow Hierarchy of Needs which contains five stages of needs which are Physiological Needs, Safety, Social Needs, Self-Esteem and Self-Actualization (Sharma et al 2020). In addition, “this theory states that individuals seek to satisfy lower level needs before higher-level needs (Schiffman & Wisenblit 2015, p.90). However, Social Need is the only level of need, I’ll be applying for Apple product. Social Needs includes the needs of love, belonging, affection, friendship and it’s the third level of hierarchy (Schiffman & Wisenblit 2015, pg.90). The social need can be connected to the concept of gifting behavior because as we know that gifting is also considered as sense of affection. According to (Higgins 2007), the author of the article gifted himself an iPhone because Apple managed to convince him through their advertisement, and he did not regret about it because the product has fulfilled his expectation and satisfaction. This would give him a sense of belonging towards Apple.

BLOG TOPIC 2- CONSUMER BEHAVIOR FOCUS: SAMSUNG

In my blog topic 2, I have chosen Samsung as my brand to explore on the theories of Consumer Behavior which includes an Issue, Viral Marketing and Theory of Reasonable Action.

Firstly, the main issue is the case of, where several Samsung users faced incidents of explosions from utilizing Samsung Galaxy smartphones (Chong 2017). These incidents occurred due to swelling in the batteries and overheating (Chong 2017). For instance, a similar incident took place in South Korea in 2011, where the battery exploded while the man was walking down the street and the explosion caused a small burned wound on his thigh (Chong 2017). According to (Wu et all 2019, p.89), the reasons why a product crisis occurs is because the product did not meet the requirements of safety or failure to detect the flaws of fire and chemical which is dangerous, and it can cause product damages. If Samsung faces product injuries, it would bring a negative impact not only on their reputation but also to their consumers. This would affect consumers purchase behaviour where they would have less trust on the brand and their purchasing intention would drop (Wu et all 2019, p.89). One of the suggestion proposed to improve this issue was by having a safety measure check for batteries (Yun et al 2018).Representatives should ensure that they test the batteries before releasing the product, so they can win customers trust on the brand and the number of purchase would rise back again.

The second concept is Viral Marketing which is described as where consumers convey their information or message to other’s from utilizing the internet platform (Sharma & Kaur 2020). There is a real-world example in the case of, Apple users throwed negative comments on Samsung’s advertisement, for directly comparing both Samsung Galaxy S9 with iPhone 6(Shah 2018).The advertisement showed that an individual was facing lots of issues with her phone because of her damaged battery while at the immigrant, airplane and taxi, forcing her to go to Apple Store and one of the representative told her one of the solution is to upgrade her phone , which she did but she upgraded to Samsung smartphone (Shah 2018). Adding on, Apple user were unhappy with the advertisement as they found it unreasonable for Samsung to compare it to an old product (iPhone 6) (Shah 2018). Even though, the issue has led to a negative impact in the market, but Samsung has caught customers attention. People tend to trust online advertisements, and this would influence customers behavior towards Samsung as they are more involved with the advertisements (Saremi & Montazemi 2019). Nevertheless, Samsung is being sued by Apple because of the issue, but the negative impact is found to influence the consumer behavior because it may change their perception towards the brand (Voorveld 2018).

Thirdly, is the concept that needs to be discussed is the Theory of Reasoned Action, which is defined as it contains the components of cognitive, affective and conative (Schiffman & Wisensblit 2015, p.184). According to (Xiao 2019), these components would lead to subjective norms of individuals that are influence by individuals’ beliefs and normative beliefs. For instance, the Samsung consumers would get influence by social beliefs before purchasing a product (Priya & Suganya 2018). If society has given positive reviews of the product, this would lead consumers to buy the product. Similarly, if consumers purchase is satisfied with her purchase, the more positive behaviour the individual has on the product and this would increase their behavioural intention and performance behaviour (Isaid & Faisal 2015). The society’s preferences would affect on individuals buying behaviour.

REFERENCE LIST

Appleinsider staff 2020, Make Mom’s day with these great Mother’s Day gifts, accessed 10/5/2020,<https://appleinsider.com/articles/20/04/26/make-moms-day-with-these-great-mothers-day-gifts>

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Q1)A)Explain stimulus generalization 

According to Schiffman and Wisenblit (2015, p.154) stimulus generalization, is a marketing application of classical conditioning used by marketers to confuse their consumers to respond in the same way to slightly different stimuli. Classical conditioning theory states that learning is not only depending on repetition, but also on the ability of ones to generalize (Schiffman & Wisenblit 2015, p.154). Stimulus generalization was frequently used by most of the companies in the marketing field. By using the similar packaging design on their products which resemble that of the national brand leaders can increase the sales of a product. Marketers confuse their consumers with the similar packaging design with the leading brand and leading them to buy their products (Schiffman & Wisenblit 2015, p.154). For instance, Hintz imitated the packaging design of the famous hazelnut cocoa spread, Nutella. Hintz used the same shape, logo, placement of hazelnuts and color in the product’s packaging to attract consumers who want to purchase Nutella. The company used stimulus generalization to confuse the consumers and leading them to buy their products. 

1)B) Justify Stimulus Discrimination

Stimulus discrimination is the opposite of stimulus generalization, which is the selection of a specific stimulus from among similar stimuli (Schiffman & Wisenblit 2015, p128). It is to discriminate between stimuli is the basis of positioning strategy, which seeks to establish a unique image for a brand in the consumer’s mind (Schiffman et al. 2013, p208). Imitators want consumers to generalize their experience, but market leaders want to retain the top spot by persuading consumers to discriminate (Schiffman et al. 2013, p208). However, it is often difficult to unseat a brand leader once stimulus discrimination has occurred. The reason is that leading companies are usually the first entered the market which had set or taught the consumer to associate the brand name with the product through advertisements which specifically pointed out their uniqueness, standing out from the other brand (Schiffman et al. 2013, p208). Apple is a prominent example of differentiating a product, especially through taglines and product designs. One of its slogans ‘Think Different’ which conveys this nation by featuring famous geniuses, including Albert Einstein and Jim Henson, who thought outside the box, which ultimately changed the world (Schiffman & Wisenblit 2018). 

In short, as currently, our economy is becoming even more competitive, companies and brands must differentiate themselves. However, proper branding still comes in the first place as without adequate branding, stimulating discrimination couldn’t be applied on it as the consumer only will buy any of the brand products and not specifically, the one stands out as all seem to have the same functions. For instance, we can see this scenario a lot, especially during buying shampoos.

Q1) C) Adapt with the example that you observe during your visit to the supermarket.

Stimulus Generalisation and Stimulus Discrimination are the terms that marketers utilise when they promote their brands. Each of this factor plays a different role for the brands. Stimulus Generalisation is defined as an organism makes the same response to different stimuli (Schiffman & Wisenblit 2015). Marketers basically tries to confuse their consumers by producing a product but applying the similar packaging or redesigning their packaging. 

For example, let’s look at Aldi. Aldi’s is a supermarket company which is famous brand in Germany. According to (Stein 2019), Aldi is the third largest supermarkets retailer in the US, leaving behind Kroger and Walmart, and they must build more stores over the decades. As you can in the picture above, as a customer I will be to recognise that the promotion and branding strategies such as the shapes and colours of advertisements are very similar to other supermarkets such as Coles and Woolworths. However, the similarities of the products will confuse the consumer with the original brand to the non-original brand. Customers would get curiousness about the non-original brand and they are chances of them purchasing the products from Aldi. On top of that, Aldi provided reasonable price range of products and as a customer, this would attract my attention. Customers would prefer to buy somewhere reasonable and has a good product quality. Aldi supplies a perfect “ingenious formula that combines to make them the most efficient grocer in the business” (Stein 2019). This is one way they could attract their customers and allows them to have a trust on their brand.

Stimulus Discrimination is the opposite of Stimulus Generalisations and is explained as when organism responds differently to two stimuli (Schiffman & Wisenblit 2015).

For example, Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Coca-Cola and Pepsi are famous for their drink, but their packaging strategies are very different and that makes them unique. Coca-Cola’s label has always been red, and the slogan of their brand has changed overtime but the latest is “Taste the Feeling” (Brown 2016). Coca-Cola is famous for their logos, taste, the shape of the bottle and many more. According to (Feloni 2016), “one the businessman made the Coca-Cola famous through the marketing strategies with regional bottles and the new bottle design would convey to customers that coke is a premium product that wouldn’t be confused with other brands”. When they released the new bottle of coke, it attracted many customers and it was recognised as the icon bottle of Coca-Cola. This has created a strong brand image in customers mind and different from other brands.

However, Pepsi’s label has been blue, and the slogan of people is “That’s What I Like” (Steinberg 2020). Pepsi is also known for their colour, packaging, shapes, logo and many more. According to (Trefis 2016) “the aggressive marketing and innovation for Pepsi has intended to create an excitement around its brand and seemed to pay off with the company gaining the top spot in 2016”. Their innovative strategies have made them as one of the most valuable brands in 2019. For instance, Pepsi is now focusing on health and they want to make sure that the deliver healthier products to their consumers by reducing the sugars in the product(Bailey 2019).Consumers who focuses more on eating and drinking healthy, this strategy might be able to attract their attention.

Question 2

The Gillette Company, which produces the highly successful Sensor shaving blade, has recently introduced the Gillette Series consisting of shaving cream, skin conditioner, antiperspirant, and deodorant.

1. How can the company use stimulus generalization to market these products?

The definition of stimulus generalization is being discussed as above. 

The Gillette Company shaving blades, the company can apply stimulus generalization for these products by using similar packaging such as colors, shape, textures in the new product line. For instance, Gillette can get consumers to respond to the new products in the same way they do for Gillette’s highly successful and reputable Sensor shaving blade in terms on all packaging by using family brand. When the company apply stimulus generalization in the new product line that consists of shaving cream, skin conditioner, antiperspirant, and deodorant, consumers will see these new products line are in the same ‘family’ as the highly successful Sensor shaving blade, which potentially reduce any perceived risk in buying these new products and emanates quality and precision at the same time. Therefore, by introducing the new products line, the company can increase the sales of the new product line by using the similar packaging design with the highly successful Sensor shaving blade.

 2. Is instrumental conditioning applicable to this marketing situation?

Instrumental conditioning is a behavioural theory of learning based on a trial-and-error process, the result of reward received for certain responses or behaviour when habits formed (Schiffman & Wisenblit 2015 p157). Another term for instrumental conditioning is operant conditioning which is a learning process first described by B. F. Skinner. In instrumental conditioning, reinforcement or punishment are used to either increase or decrease the probability that a behavior will repeat again in the future.For example, if a student is rewarded with praise every time she scored well in school, she becomes more likely to score again in the future.

A stimulus and responses are needed in instrumental conditioning. The Gillette Company is the world leader in the men’s grooming product category as well as in certain women’s grooming products. Although more than half of company profits are still derived from shaving equipment. Gillette has also attained the top spots worldwide in writing instruments such as Paper Mate, Parker, and Waterman brands. They even produce toothbrushes and other oral care products such as Oral-B and alkaline batteries which generate almost one-fourth of company profits. 

Gillette company is actually one of the most well known brand when it comes to shaving because of the name and the quality product they have built.  The Gillette shaving cream is one of the best selling shaving cream in the year of 2019 (Editors 2020). This is achieved thru celebrity endorsement where the company will use a famous sports star to advertise their brand to influence others (Zipporah & Mberia 2014). The advertisement shows that clean and clear skin can be achieved when using their famous shaving cream and they have range of shaving creams for all skin types as well as for sensitive skin type. This advertisement creates a strong impression to the public and Gillette will be the first choice on consumer mind when it comes  to the Gillette shaver and shaving cream.

Reference List:

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Stein, S 2019, Aldi, Right Moves-The German Grocer Sending Shock Waves Throughout Walmart and Kroger, Forbes, accessed 23/4/2020,<https://www.forbes.com/sites/sanfordstein/2019/10/25/aldi-right-movesthe-german-grocer-sending-shock-waves-throughout-walmart-and-kroger/#60e015941bf7>

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Zipporah, MM & Mberia, HK. 2014, ‘The Effects Of Celebrity Endorsement in Advertisements’, International Journal of Academic Research in Economics and Management Sciences, vol. 3, no. 5, pp.178-pp.187.

1) Using your knowledge of the principles that influence consumers’ perception and interpretation of the world, explain how Tim Tam marketing strategy has created a perception of quality in the minds of the consumer.

One of the well-known chocolate brands in Australia is Tim Tam. Tim Tam is a chocolate biscuit that is made by the Arnott’s company. According to (Thlang 2017), Tim Tam was introduced by Ian Norris in 1964 and is considered as one of the most famous biscuits brands in Australia, because almost 95% of the household consumes it .They are different products served by the Arnott’s such as Savoury, Crackers , Sweet Biscuit and Chocolate biscuit (Griffiths 2016). Its perfect taste and texture have made the consumers to purchase their product. There also other terms used to call Tim Tam such as Tim Tam Slam, Tim Tam Bomb, Tim Tam Shotgun and Tim Tam Explosion. Their ultimate uniqueness has stolen many hearts from all around the world.Tim Tam has applied few marketing strategies to create a perception of quality in the minds of the consumer. First and foremost, Tim Tam has applied the brand image strategy. According to (Schiffman & Wisenblit 2015, p.133) brand image is defined as “the desired outcome of effective positioning is a distinct “position” (or image) that a brand occupies in consumers’ minds”. It must contain uniqueness and excellent quality. For example, Tim Tam should release products that has a range of calories level appropriate to consumers who are health conscious (Thlang 2017). Tim Tam delivers quality ingredients. For instance, Tim Tam should work with the trusted sources and distribute products with a high quality of ingredient (Thlang,2017). When Tim Tam produce products according to consumers’ needs and wants, they will be able to create a powerful brand image in the minds of consumer. Consumers will always have a trust on their brand and would will never look for alternatives.

The second strategy is packaging image. Package image is defined as “the product’s name, appearance and features, packaging also conveys the brands image” (Schiffman & Wisenblit 2015, p.133). Packaging is one the most important part of the brand because it transfers message, attraction and uniqueness of the brand or product. It creates a brand impression and brand personality. Packaging is an effective way to promote their brand because it can differentiate their products from competitors. According to (Worldwide Kosher Certification 2018), almost one third of all consumers makes their purchasing decision based on the packaging that indicates it is vital part on the shelves. The products should be produced in various design, colors and most importantly, the accessibility. For instance, Tim Tam collaborated with the chilled treat expert Gelato Messina and the manager of the packaging development mentioned that Tim Tam logo is well recognized and it was replaced with the word Chill Me and the logo would change from white to blue if the product is placed in the fridge for at least four hours(Hughson 2018).That is very interesting. The idea came from the gelato as they design products to be chilled and the packaging was created to deliver the message of changing the colors and Tim Tam logo (Hughson 2018). Tim Tam believed that this would bring excitements to consumers. This would create a quality image in consumers mind.

The third strategy is perceived price. Perceived price is defined as what customers are willing to pay for a particular product or service based on their perception about the product. Perceived pricing is not based on the cost of the product, but it is the value which the customer thinks that they are deriving from consuming a product or a service (The Economic Times 2016). As we all know, Arnott’s has position itself at a higher price set. Arnott’s is in a proportionally strong position in regard its most powerful customers (Thlang 2017). The pricing power can be shown by the price war between Tim Tam and Coles in recent year. Tim Tam can gain its price power due to its strong brand loyalty, strong positioning in consumers mind and Tim Tam has alternative distribution partners such as Woolworth, SupaIGA, and many more (Thlang 2017). However, in order to maintain the market leader position, Tim Tam price should be set just a bit higher than competitions. This is to ensure the premium brand image could be achieved.

The fourth strategy is promotional messages. Promotional messages are platform where brands utilize to communicate their products and services to their customers (Adam 2018). Arnott’s used the promotional mix for Tim Tam product range. For example, Tim Tam are promoted in giant supermarkets. This reflects strong personal and direct selling strategy collaboration with retailer in promotion.  Tim Tam also uses occasional sales promotion at supermarket shelves to keep communication with consumers (Thlang 2017). Tim Tam used social media such as Twitter and Facebook to communicate important messages, listen to feedbacks and complaints from consumers. 

Question 1(b) – Consumer Perceptions driving Marketing Strategy: Packaging

With reference to TIM TAM, comment particularly on the packaging, describing the quality perceptions of the product that are communicated by the packaging (20 marks)

Packaging itself plays an important role in the marketing mix because it can differentiate the company’s products from competitors and is also a way to communicate with consumers. According to (Ahmed, Billo & Lakhan, 2012), Packaging is the last impression for consumers and they make purchasing decisions on the basis of product packaging which built a perception in the consumers mind. In order to secure sale, packaging play an important role, this can be the form of brand image, brand values, product quality and innovations. 

From all the pictures above, we can see that Tim Tam do a very good job on their packaging. It tells about the product name, brand name, brand logo, picture of the product, different kinds of labels such as ingredients, manufacturing and expiry date, warnings, price, using method of the product, company name, company place etc. Most importantly, the packaging also safeguards the product.

An intrinsic product cue can be any product characteristic inherent in the product itself, such as engine capacity for a car or flavor for a soft drink, while an extrinsic cue is a product characteristic not fundamental to the product itself but externally attributed to the good or service, for example, price, brand, place of purchase, or country of origin (Lee & Lou, 1996; Teas & Agarwal, 2000). Estiri, Hasangholipour, Yazdani, Nejad and Rayej (2010) argue that product quality judgements are largely influenced by product characteristics reflected by packaging between different stages of decision-making process. If communication is high, consumers tend to think that the product is of high quality. If packaging represents low quality, consumers will associate this low perception with the product itself. Tim Tam hold the power to attract customers, the packaging included those elements like colours, images typography, print styles and overall design. The packaging using the same colour with the product, different colour of the packaging represent different flavor of the product. And Tim Tam add an emotional connection between buyer and the product, these emotional connections could be a written message, an image or the shape that can trigger particular emotional in the buyers. Just like, Tim Tam included a written message “The most irresistible chocolate biscuit” and included the image of the product, it makes the consumers think that the chocolate biscuit is very delicious, crispy, and fill with full of chocolate. According to (Saeed, Lodhi, Rauf, Rana, Mahmood& Ahmed, 2013) consumers purchase more quantity of product after seeing its label so it is clear that labeling influence the consumers buying behavior but there are many other factors that influence which influence the consumers buying behavior. An honest and effective packaging will absorb a lot of consumers and will increase people’s intentions on buying products (Shruti,2014). Tim Tam also very clear and honest to label all the information of the product, thus this can increase the people’s confidence on buying the product and increase sales. The packaging material and wrappers are also very important factors in product packaging; as most of the consumer’s didn’t buy the products due to creepy packaging material and wrappers. Studies have shown that when the packaging of a product or brand is damaged, the buyer ’s trust in the product or brand will declines steadily, when the packaging is damaged, as many as 55% of shoppers leave the brand, and 36% of consumers switch to another brand.

As we can see from the picture, the packaging of Tim Tam is under a very good condition on the shelf. Hence this shown that Tim Tam do a very good job on their packaging and do not need to worry about decline on buyer’s trust and lose sale.

	Tim Tam	Cadbury
Colour	Different flavour have different colour	Only one colour
Packaging material	Plastic	Using more smoother surface plastic looks more quality
Font design	Normal bigger font	Use more elegant font design to make others feel more upscale
Written message	Tim Tam using “The most irresistible chocolate biscuit” message to create emotional connection between buyers and the product	Cadbury only using words to describe the product “Milk chocolate & light wafer layers covered in milk chocolate”. Trying to let the buyers imagine how the product looks and taste like

2)Find three ads that contain symbolism. Examine the symbols and discuss the meaning the symbols convey. Identify the different types of signs used in the ads and the product qualities being communicated by each. 

Symbols were used by marketers to represent their brands and businesses. Symbolism conveys deeper meaning through writing, and it was used in marketing to allow the consumer to read and understand the brands and products easily (Kadirov & Varey 2010). Besides, consumers judge product quality based on physical characteristics. Physical characteristics are intrinsic cues, such as size, flavor, aroma, color, and others. Schiffman & Wisenblit (2015, p110) states that the majority of consumers believe that their evaluations of product quality are based on physical characteristics. These physical characteristics enable consumers to judge product quality as being positive or negative (Schiffman & Wisenblit 2015, p110). 

Baskin Robbins is an American chain traditional ice cream shop. The company used ’Baskin Robbins 31’ as their slogan (Hauser 2017). Baskin Robbins is one of the most famous ice cream brands because of selling 31 flavors of ice cream (Hauser 2017). The unique idea of selling 31 flavors refers to a flavor for their customers to try each day of the month. For the company’s logo, a capital B and a capital R was used as a symbol to stand for Baskin Robbins. The company used a color contrast of pink and blue as a trademark in their logo (Giuliano 2015). The pink color was used to highlight parts of the B and the R to look like the number 31 in their logo. Pink color signifies the pink spoon, which is given to taste samples of ice cream, where the blue color represents the quality and excellence of the product. The design of the logo means to convey the fun and energy of their brand (Giuliano 2015). Baskin Robbins used the color contrast and brand’s initial to expose the subliminal message because of most marketing communication appeals to sight (Schiffman & Wisenblit 2015, p90). The new logo of Baskin Robbins was introduced in 2006 as part of a brand refresh (Giuliano 2015). The new logo of Baskin Robbins features a type bearing a striking resemblance to the commercial font called Variex Regular (Schweigert 2019). Baskin Robbin believes that their customers should be enjoyed and having fun when eating the ice cream. Therefore, as a part of communicating product qualities, they used unusual zig-zag letters as a sign to create a playful and happy mood for their consumers (Giuliano 2015). 

Secondly, Pepsi one of the largest leading beverage company and over 122-year history, their logo has seen 11 redesigns but still keep on delivering the flavors and brand experience that people expected. From the year 1898 to 1940, Pepsi logo uses different lettering, which looks very similar to Coca-cola making customers unable to differentiate them, leading to 2-time bankruptcy. It only until 1950, using three colors to show patriotism that followed World Warr II, they had rebranded themselves and delivered a better value that carried till since today. The tagline is “More bounce to the ounce” which promised more than just more soda per bottle than Coca-Cola. Moreover, From 1962, Pepsi ditched the word “Cola” to have a more symmetrical look which looks more modern, geometric-feeling logo and minimalist, even brutalist font, Pepsi was niching down its target demographic and overtly marketing itself to younger consumers, referring to them as the “Pepsi Generation” in a 1961 ad campaign(Kramer 2020). Currently, Pepsi’s logo becomes flat, and for the fonts has no more serifs, no more uppercase letters, and perhaps most revolutionary across the globe (Kramer 2020). Now, the world was tilted on its side, showing a band that’s wide where the world faces upward and thinner toward the bottom (Kramer 2020). To portrait a young and fun image, the logo also evokes a smile which able to be more engaged with the younger generation. 

But on the downside, the words are written in a single stroke, which looks mechanical, meaning that only machine can draw it. In short, it lacks the warmth of a human hand compare with its biggest competitor, Coca-Cola, as their logo is the hand-drawn script it is full of human warmth and, with the high-contrast of red and white, became an even stronger visual attraction. 

In 2014, Pepsi’s logo went viral on the internet as a YouTuber flips the Pepsi can, which demonstrates out ‘isded” therefore, people used on countless Internet memes and YouTube videos spiking huge popularity for Pepsi. 

Lastly, Marlboro, one of the most famous tobacco brands in the US, the color scheme of the Marlboro logo is based on the combination of red, black, and white which seen as passion, courage (red), purity (white), elegance and mystery (red).Plus, as the font uses Neo contact, which not only signifies community, class also a hint of elegance. The visual center of the Marlboro emblem is the black wordmark, and it is placed on the white background having a mountain-like shape. The rest of the symbol is in red and has a golden crest, depicting the “P” and “M” characters, with a rampant horse on both sides, and these letters are Philip Morris initials (1000logos 2020). However, laws ban to advertise products for tobacco and alcohol; therefore, Marlboro had made a twist to promote themselves more subtly. They created a more subtle design by painting a bar code on the back of the car that simulated a tobacco packet. 

Reference List: 

Adam 2018, 8 Keys to Effective promotional message’,jarvee, accessed at 17/4/2020

<https://jarvee.com/8-keys-to-effective-promotional-messaging/&gt;

Chaudhary, S., (2014), International journal in IT and Engineering, Vol.2, ISSN:2321-1776

Estiri, M., Hasangholipour, T., Yazdani, H., Nejad, H.J., and Rayej, H. (2010). Food products consumer behaviour: The role of packaging elements. Journal of Applied Sciences, Vol. 10(7), pp 535-543.

Giuliano, K 2015 ‘13 Famous Logos With Hidden Messages’, CNBC, 4 May, accessed 16/04/2020, <https://www.cnbc.com/2015/05/01/13-famous-logos-that-require-a-double-take.html>

Griffiths, E 2016, Spotlight On Australia’s Favourite Biscuit, The Tim Tam,Culture Trip, accessed 16/4/ 2020< https://theculturetrip.com/pacific/australia/articles/tim-tam-spotlight-on-australias-favourite-biscuits/>

Hauser, T 2017 ‘10+ Hidden Symbols In Famous Logos’, Guff, accessed 16/04/2020,       https://guff.com/hidden-symbols-in-famous-logos

Hughson, L 2018, Arnott’s Colour-Changing Tim Tam Packaging Creates Cool Engagemen,Packaging news, accessed 17/4/2020  <www.packagingnews.com.au/food/arnott-s-colour-changing-tim-tam-packaging-creates-cool-engagement>

Kadirov, D & Varey, R 2010 ‘Symbolism in Marketing Systems’, Sage Journals, vol. 31, pp160-171 <https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0276146710393519?journalCode=jmka&gt;

Kramer, L, 2020, The history of the Pepsi logo, 99designs, accessed 16/04/2020, <https://99designs.com/blog/famous-design/pepsi-logo-history/> 

Lee, M., & Lou, C.-C. (1996). Consumer reliance on intrinsic and extrinsic cues in product evaluations: A conjoint approach. Journal of Applied Business Research, 12(1), pp 21 – 30.

Nawaz, A. , Billoo, M. and Lakhan, A. A. (2012). Effect of Product Packaging in Consumer Buying Decision, Journal of Business Strategies, Vol.6, No. 2, pp 1-10

Saeed, R., Lodhi, R.N., Rauf, A., Rana, M.I., Mahmood, Z., and Ahmed, N.(2013). Impact of Labelling on Customer Buying Behavior in Sahiwal, Pakistan, World Applied Sciences Journal, Vol:  24 (9),ISSN: 1250-1254.

Schiffman, G, J & Wisenblit, L, J 2015, Consumer Behavior,11^thGlobal Edition, Pearson Educational International,United States of America.

Schweigert, A 2019 ‘9 Ads With Subliminal Messages You’ve Probably Missed’, weblog post, 

Hubspot, 29 October, accessed 16/04/2020, <https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/ads-with-subliminal-messages>

Teas, R.K., and Agarwal, S. (2000). The effects of extrinsic product cues on consumers’ perception of quality, sacrifice, and value. Journal of Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 28(2), pp 278-290

THE ECONOMIC TIMES 2016, Perceived Value Pricing, accessed 18/04/2020 <https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/p/perceived-value-pricing/articleshow/51807284.cms>

Thlang, C 2017, Marketing Stratgey of Arnott’s Tim Tam,Onekhmer, accessed 16/4/ 2020       < http://www.onekhmer.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Thlang_Marketing.pdf>

Worldwide Kosher Certification 2018, What Consumers Look For in Packaging,KLBD Kosher, accessed 17/4/2020  <https://www.klbdkosher.org/news-and-articles/what-consumers-look-for-in-packaging/>

1)A marketer of health foods is attempting to segment its market on the basis of Australian consumers’ self‐image. Describe the types of consumer self‐image and discuss which one(s) would be most effective for the stated purpose.

Health is one of the vital factors in human’s live. There is saying “the greatest wealth is health”, which describes that health is equivalent to human’s happiness and well-being. According to (Consumer Health in Australia 2019), the Australian’s are very keen in sustaining their health and consuming vitamins, supplementary and herbal nutrition’s. For Australian marketers to find out the most effective way to segment their foods, they should apply the self-image theory. Self-image is defined how an individual looks at themselves (Schiffman & Wisenblit,2015, p.109). Customers purchase products or services that helps them to improve their self-images. There are five types of self-image such as actual self-image, ideal self-image, social self-image, ideal social self-image and expected self-image (Koolivandi & Lotfizadeh,2015, p.2).

Firstly, Actual Self-Image is how customers see themselves now (Schiffman & Wisenblit,2015, p.110). Consumers are usually self-obsessed. For example, certain individuals with an eating disorder may have a self-image that they are fat but in real they are thin. Next, Ideal Self-Image is who customers would like to be (Schiffman & Wisenblit,2015, p.110). Sometimes, individuals have thoughts of what they want to look like. For instance, when consumers see their family or friends being healthy and fit, they too want to look fit and health by consuming healthy foods. Thirdly, is Social Self-Image being how customers feel when other people see them (Schiffman & Wisenblit,2015, p.110). For instance, when other people see an individual as a responsible and hardworking person, the individual would feel confident about themselves. Fourth, is Ideal Self-Image how would customers like to be seen by others (Schiffman & Wisenblit,2015, p.110). For example, when individuals fulfil their strong wish such as losing weigh or scoring high for their exams, they would feel better about themselves and they would want others to look at them as someone who is motivated. Finally, is Expected Self- Image where how customers expect to look at themselves in the future. For example, customers are changing their heath lifestyle, in order to have a fit body in the future.

One of the best ways for marketers to segment their health food is by applying the Expected Self-Image. This is between of Actual Self-Image and Ideal Self-Image (Wisdom jobs,2020). The Expected Self-Image allows customers to change themselves within a time frame together with a realistic opportunity. For instance, the marketers can segment health foods according to this image. Marketers can attract customers who would want to increase their quality lifestyles through adding more nutrition’s in the foods. Some consumers are concern about their health and would make healthy choices in their food consumption decisions (Hanspal & Devasagayam, 2017, p.7). Marketers should target consumers who are health conscious and who take their health seriously. Consumers will gain awareness of how important health is as they age. Moreover, some consumers choose to purchase healthy foods due to family tradition, influenced by peers or individual’s health conscious. Certain consumers regularly monitor their calorie intake to avoid obesity and make efforts for an ideal weight (Hanspal & Devasagayam,2017, p.7). Marketers should always segment health foods that meets the requirements of targeted consumers because by doing that, they can keep the consumers satisfied and healthy. This is also one of the ways where marketers can promote their products and services. For example, Aussie Health Product is Australia’s leading online health food. One of their purposes is to deliver consumers the high quality of product with reasonable prices (Aussie Health Products, 2020). Marketers can apply this image and result in advancing the needs of segments and maximizing their business gains.

In addition, one other way the marketers can segment their health food in Australia is by using social self-image. Social self-image basically means ‘how you think others see you’ (Schiffman & Wisenblit 2015, p110).  In other words, it can be seen that consumers are cognizant towards how others see and feel about them especially in terms of status, appearance and wealth. For instance, the health food marketers can use the social self-image to target their customers who are more concern about health, diet, calories and food intakes. Currently, it can be seen that many Australian children are consuming a diet that is characterized by large quantities of discretionary items. Based on the research, we found out that many Australian children have a poor knowledge regarding eating healthy. (Velardo & Drummond 2017).

2) (a) What is motivational research?

Motivational research is the term used to refer to all types of research methods into consumers’ motives in the marketplace (Schiffman & Wisenblit 2015, p65). It is a selection of qualitative research methods conducted by Dr. Ernest Dichter in the 1950s and 1960. The studies were designed to explain the consumers’ subconscious or latent motivations underlying everyday consumption and purchasing behaviors (Schiffman & Wisenblit 2015, p65). By this research, marketing managers are able to discover the reasons of why consumers behave in certain ways. It determines the consumers’ behavior, attitudes, hidden feelings, and emotions concerning product, service, or brand use (Schiffman & Wisenblit 2015, p65).

(b) What are its strengths and weaknesses?

Strengths: Motivational research had become an important marketing new tool in the businesses. It encouraged marketers to focus on the reasons of why consumers behave as they do. Schiffman and Wisenblit (2015, p66) states that motivational research helps to determine the desires and explain the buyers’ behavior in the marketplace. The form of research helps marketers to discover the changes and mystery of human behavior, where the marketing problems are mostly wrapped in emotional involvement. Furthermore, Schiffman and Wisenblit (2015, p66) illustrated motivational research as a tool to shows unsuspected consumer motivations concerning product or brand usage. Also, it is often used by marketers to estimate market potential and develop conceptual framework for promotional campaigns (Schiffman & Wisenblit 2015, p67). Besides, motivational research also leads marketers to survey more representative consumer samples, which can help a business trigger off motives to his advantages.

Weaknesses: Motivation research provides more valuable information than traditional consumer research, but it has some restrictions. Lake (2019) states that motivation research requires a longer time to analyze the consumers’ behaviors and may takes up to a few hours to be conducted. As a result, the research could not be conducted with any confidence in a short period of time if the sample sizes were more than hundred or certain amount of people. Another limitation of motivational research is that results are to be determined by professional and trained psychologists (Lake 2019). The resultant data should be identified and interpreted according to the psychological theory. Lastly, the designing and administering of these techniques need qualified and skilled researchers (Lake 2019). However, such trained researchers are not easily available.

(c) How did Ernest Dichterapply Freudian theory to consumer behavior?

Freudian theory is built on the premise that unconscious needs or drive, especially sexual and other biological drives, are at the heart of human motivation and personality (Schiffman et al. 2013, p111). Freud also proposed that human character consists of three interacting systems: the id, the superego, and the ego (Schiffman et al. 2013, p111).  The ID is the component of self-oriented toward immediate gratification as it operates according to pleasure principles such as thirst, hunger, and even sex. Secondly, the superego refers to the counterweights of id, which is the person’s conscience that internalizes society’s rules and works to prevent it from seeking selfish gratification. Following ego is a system that mediates between the id and superego, which is the referee in fights between temptation and virtue. 

He believes that advertising informed by behaviourism could harness the primal human drives of love, fear, and rage, as he stated that baking is an expression of femininity and motherhood and dolls, are essential toys for little girls (Schiffman et al. 2013, p100). Therefore, by focusing on desire and motives, Dichter finds a connection between psychoanalytic theory and qualitative market research as it can delve into consumer’s unconscious or hidden reasons through ways such as metaphor analysis, storytelling, and more. (Samuel 2013, p35).

Dichter stated that “frosted food needs emotional defrosting” by avoiding naming products with “unfortunate names,” which related to the cold as appetite is flourished in an atmosphere of love, warmth, and trust. By applying Freudian theory, in 1957, Green Giant ad features a cupid shooting love arrow into a pea while a woman fed peas to a grown man. This portrait that the vegetable is a loving touch for any meals and encourages women to “Fuss over ‘em like a hen over her only chick’ (Parkin 2007, p32). The second example, as diet food is most likely to emphasize the traits between food, health, and sex, so yogurt ads used attractive and vivacious young women to sell. The reason is, based on research, women eat yogurt is not only that it tasted good, and to keep or achieve a thin figure (Parkin 2007, p180).

(d) How was motivational research used in the 1950s?

The most commonly used research methods in the 1950s were “depth” interviews and several projective techniques (Fullerton, unknown). However, multiple other methods are sometimes used in the same study, reflecting the overall breadth and diversity of Motivation Research. This is illustrated by the in-depth reports of Motivation Research studies presented by Newman in his 1957 book. Table 1 will illustrate.

TABLE 1:

Techniques Employed in Some Major MR Projects

(Source: Newman 1957)

PROJECT and MR FIRM	TECHNIQUE(S)
State Farm Auto Insurance/ Needham, Louis, and Brorby	Questionnaire (qualitative) random sample of 7500 Focus group interviews Incomplete sentences (Projection) Narrative projection Balloon tests (Projection)
Automobiles / Chicago Tribune	Attitude and Opinion (open-ended) Questions Cartoon Tests (Projection) Depth Interviews Sentence Completion (Projection) Thematic Apperception (Projection) Analysis of social class
Donahue Sales/ Young and Rubicam	Cartoon Tests (Projection) Depth Interviews Word Association Tests (Projection
Dieting/ Young and Rubicam	Qualitative questionnaire Social class and status analysis
Jewell Tea (1953)/ Social Research, Inc.	Detailed (depth) interviews Observations Sentence Completion (Projection) Thematic Apperception (Projection)

Although “depth” interview was widely used, but there were several problems. The greatest was that there were relatively few really good depths interviewers, so the quality of the results is unstable or unreliable.

Then, Focus group was a relatively new social science technique, were used more as the decade went on. But survey research with statistical analysis was also used. For example, Herta Herzog, after using depth interviews, checked their results by using structured questionnaires on samples up to three thousand people (Packard, 1957, p. 203)

(e) How do marketers use the technique today?

Most marketing research organizations claim to do qualitative research today, even if only or mainly focus groups (Levy 2005). The technique used by marketers nowadays in the consumer research field adds some basic knowledge to the early learning (Levy 2005). According to Levy (2005), the technique used in 1950s was less concerned with frequent repetition than with the nature of the whole situation.

From 1950s to 1980s, all the face-to-face interviews, video recorded focus groups, computer assisted telephone interviewing and postal mail surveys emerge as the primary qualitative data gathering method (Steber 2017). During these periods, audio recorded is added to focus groups. (Steber 2017)

From 1990s to present, the first website on the World Wide Web goes live and market research analysis software becomes commercially available online (Steber 2017). The techniques used today are online focus group, computer aided web interviewing, and bulletin boards (Steber 2017). These techniques today show to be more efficient and ease of use as most of the techniques are being used through online platform compare to in-dept interview that involves one to one interviewing session that is used early years. The technique used by marketers today often involve fundamental investment to help businesses increase customer engagement and improve customer experience (Steber 2017). In a recent example reported Chrysler’s ‘’first vehicle designed entirely through an unconventional market research process known as ‘archetype research’ (Levy 2005). The research involved poring over focus group protocols in which participants were asked to drift back to their childhoods and jot down the memories invoked by the prototype of the vehicle (Levy 2005).

Group Members:

Chen Ming Hui(6969699)

Chin Wei Kian(5951501)

Fan Yu Ying (6957754)

Kang Chuan Sheng(6292914)

Simran Kaur Dhillon(5839324)

Harpreet Kaur (5839300)

References:

Euromonitor International 2019,Consumer Health in Australia, accessed 11/4/2020, <https://www.euromonitor.com/consumer-health-in-australia/report>

Fullerton, R. A. (n.d.). The Birth of Consumer Behavior: Motivation Research in the 1950s . Retrieved from etcases: https://www.etcases.com/media/clnews/14247709461343610813.pdf

Hanspal , S & Devasagayam , R, P 2017, Impact of Consumers’ Self-Image and Demographics on Preference Labelled Foods, Journals of Sage,no.10,accessed 11 April 2020, <https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/2158244016677325>

Koolivandi, S & Lotfizadeh, F 2015, Effects of Actual Self and Idea Self Image On Consumer Responses: The Moderating Effect Of Store Image, British Journal of Marketing Studies, Vol.3, No.8, pp1-16.

Lake, L 2019, ‘Motivation Research and How It Is Used’, weblog post, The Balance Small Business, 28 July, accessed 8/04/2020,< https://www.thebalancesmb.com/what-is-motivation-research-2295518>

Levy, S.J. 2005, ‘The Evolution of Qualitative Research in Consumer Behavior’, Jorunal of    Business Research, Vol. 58, pp. 341-347.

Newman, J.W. (1957), Motivation Research and Marketing Management, Harvard University Press, Boston.

Packard, V. (1957), The Hidden Persuaders, Macmillan, London

Parkin, J, 2007, Food Is Love: Advertising and Gender Roles in Modern America, University of Pennsylvania Press.

Pixel House 2020, Health Food Store Online ,Aussie Health Products, accessed 11/4/2020, <https://www.aussiehealthproducts.com.au/>

Samuel, L, 2013, Freud on Madison Avenue: Motivation Research and Subliminal Advertising in America, University of Pennsylvania Press.

Schiffman, G, J & Wisenblit, L, J 2015, Consumer Behavior, 11^th Global Edition, Pearson Education International, New Jersey, United States of America.

Steber, C 2017, ‘A Look Back at the History of Market Research’, Communication for Research, viewed 12 April 2020, < https://www.cfrinc.net/cfrblog/history-of-market-research>

Wisdomjobs,2020, Self-Concept Consumer Behaviour, accessed 11/4/2020, <https://www.wisdomjobs.com/e-university/consumer-behaviour-tutorial-94/self-concept-10535.html>

Velardo, S & Drummond, M 2018, Australian children’s perceptions of discretionary foods, Appetite, Vol. 120, pp 43-48.

A) Colgate wants to determine whether a new line of baking soda toothpaste would be profitable.

Colgate is a well-known oral hygiene brand. In order to determine whether the new baking soda toothpaste product line is profitable, we can carry out some consumer research. A product that is profitable, surely the product is meet the customer’s needs and wants, so by conducting consumer research we can know that whether the new baking soda toothpaste is it acceptable by the customers, or better than the current available toothpaste. For Colgate we suggest they should go for survey, which researchers wish to ask consumers about their purchase preferences and consumption experiences (Schiffman& Wisenblit 2015). They can go for internet surveys, because it is cheaper and can reach more people by using online ads. For example, putting advertisement online, we can know that how many people is attracted by this new baking soda toothpaste, is it suitable and acceptable by the market and make profit on it.

Furthermore, Colgate can go for test market. Test marketing is an experiment conducted in a field laboratory (the test market) comprising of actual stores and real-life buying situations. It simulates the eventual market-mix to ascertain consumer reaction. Depending on the quality and quantity of sales data required for the final decision  (BusinessDictionary, 2020). Colgate can set up booth at those grocery store in the shopping malls to promote the new baking soda toothpaste, collecting information from customers such as their preferences and their opinion about the new product, by doing so we also can know who our customers are. Then we can know whether the new baking soda toothpaste is profitable or not, and should Colgate accept this new product line.

B) Holeproof wants to decide if it should introduce a premium range to its exiting Underdaks brand.

Holeproof is a company that manufactures lingerie, and they are deciding whether they should introduce a premium range to its existing. Therefore, consumer research is necessary to know whether this premium range of products will satisfy their needs and wants. Due to the nature of the product, people were not always willing to reveal those reasons to others in person. Therefore, we suggest that they should go for an internet survey, one of quantitative research data collection methods to ask consumers about their purchase preferences and consumption experiences as potential respondents are directed to the marketer’s website by online ads or targeted email invitations as mostly everyone owns a smartphone (Schiffman& Wisenblit 2015). Based on Statista, a total of 20.4 million mobile phone internet users in Malaysia so internet survey is easier to spread. Plus, as it is an internet survey its able marketers to accumulate and monitor data continuously with the help of software. Inside the survey, we suggest they used attitude scales, which is Likert scale as it is easy for both researchers to prepare and to interpret, and simple for consumers to answer. Holeproof can simply ask whether they will spend money on premium range lingerie or underwear.

Furthermore, we suggest that Holeproof use an email survey as it also easy and quick to distribute. Besides, with an accurate list of email addresses, it is very inexpensive to distribute even a large number of questionnaires (Schiffman& Wisenblit 2015). In the survey, we suggest Holeproof to asked closed-ended questions such as multiple-choice and true or false questions because respondents likely will not answer the open-ended question as it takes up more time. For example, Holeproof can ask what did you think about a premium range of Holeproof Underdaks brand underwear? The answer given to choose would be great, or it is not what I needed? In short, at the end, Holeproof able to determine either they should introduce or turn down the decision of a premium range from its existing range based on both potential new customers or existing customer’s feedback from the survey given. 

C) Nike wants to find out which colours to use in a new line of running shoes it is introducing

Nike is known for their amazing footwears. In order to satisfy their customers, need and wants, they would apply certain research pattern to find out customers preferences. Nike is planning on introducing a new line of running shoes. They want to get some suggestions from their customers about which colours to use in the new line of running shoes. There are many forms of consumer research that Nike can apply to find out customers choices of colour. First and foremost, Nike can apply the close-ended questions. Close-ended questions “require respondents to check their appropriate answer from a list options” (Schiffman& Wisenblit 2015). Typically, questions like that only need responses such ‘YES or NO’ or multiple choices. For instance, if Nike applies this pattern, they can list down a few choices of colours and leave one column empty just so if the customer’s choice of colour is not in the list. When customers visit their stores, they can get a representative to approach the customers and ask them to answer the question. They can also ask customers to pass their emails, so that they can send the questions through email and this could save time. Social media is considered as one the best platform for marketers. Nike can post their questions on social media and they can receive an immediate response from their consumers.  

The second suggestion is personal interviews surveys. According to (Sincero 2018), personal interviews is described as a survey that aims a large population and explore the responses of the people to assemble more and deeper information. This survey usually takes place at public spaces, malls or rented office. For instance, Nike can set up booths at malls or around housing areas, to collect responses from customers. Nike can also use up this opportunity to display their shoe designs and style to customers. This way, they can gather all the responses about the shoes and identify customers preferences. Nike can use this information to produce running shoes according to customers’ expectations.

Group Members:

Harpreet Kaur(5839300)

Simran Kaur Dhillon(5839324)

Kang Chuan Sheng(6292914)

Chen Ming Hui(6963699)

Fan Yu Ying(6957754)

References

BusinessDictionary. (2020, 4 6). Retrieved from BusinessDictionary: <http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/test-marketing.html&gt;

Schiffman and Wisenblit, 2015, Consumer Behaviour, 11th Global Edition, Pearson Education International

Sincero, M, S 2018, ‘Personal Interview Survey’,Explorable,accessed at 6^th April 2020, <https://explorable.com/personal-interview-survey&gt;

Statista, 2020, Mobile phone internet users in Malaysia 2023, Statista, accessed 7/4/2020, <https://www.statista.com/statistics/558698/number-of-mobile-internet-user-in-malaysia/>

1)Identify a product, service, or style that was recently adopted by you and/or some of your friends. Identify what type of innovation it is and describe its diffusion process up to this point in time. What are the characteristics of the people who adopted it first? What types of people did not adopt it? What feature of the product, service or style are likely to determine its eventual success or failure?‘

AirPods is an innovative new wireless headphone. It is a continuous innovation as the product keep involving. Following, the second generation of AirPods has a slight improvement compared to the first generation AirPods with better audio and voice quality, an additional hour of talk time, 30% lower latency, and support for voice-activated Siri (Gil 2020). However, the design remains the same and does not come in new colors (Gil 2020). In 2019, Apple released AirPods Pro with some significant upgrades such as water resistance, sound quality, noise cancellation, battery life, and charging case (Cohen 2020).

The diffusion process includes four elements, which are the innovation, the channels of communication, the social system, and time. AirPods is innovation if wireless headphones which use to make phone calls, listen to music, enjoy TV shows and movies, play games, and interact with Siri. The channels of communication are how marketers create awareness of innovation and share information with consumers. The Consumer Reports (2016) provides information that AirPods was first introduced alongside the iPhone 7 on September 7, 2016, at a media event in San Francisco. It also advertised through social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook to gain acceptance from consumers.

Moreover, Apple also set up some colossal billboard advertising to promote AirPods all over the world. Then, it also released a fun new commercial for its new AirPods Pro when it just released (Apple 2019). AirPods was designed to target teens and adults who seek for handsfree and cord-free while using headphones. Apple is well known for Technology and Innovation. However, AirPods was initially mocked by the design when it first introduced in 2016 (Cresci 2019). But when Apple announced its 2nd generation AirPods, its popularity only started to overgrow in 2019 (Rooke 2020). It took around three years to gain acceptance within the market. 

As Apple mainly target Airpod audience who are tech-savvy at the aged between 18 to 45, the characteristic of people adopted it first would be “Apple Fans” which are Apple’s consistent buyers from its strong customer loyalty based. According to Techpinions (2017), they stated that Airpods reach customer satisfaction of 98%, which surpassed all of Apple’s products as a result of Airpods innovation and unique designs. According to research, 75% of customers said they would likely pay a premium price for the innovation as they are satisfied with the product they purchased (CustomerThink, 2015). However, on the other hand, people who did not adopt it simply does not adore Apple and maybe favoring one of Apple’s biggest competitor such as Samsung, Huawei, and Xiaomi. Plus, as Apple position itself as a premium brand, it’s pricing on its products is relatively high compare to other brands; for example, their newest Airpods Pro has a price tag of RM1099; however, for Samsung Buds+ costed RM599. Apple cost almost twice compared to Samsung, which making customer with low budget to choose their competitors.  The feature of the new Airpod Pro was a big hit, and it was sold out everywhere in 2019 and lead to a short supply in early 2020 (Pound 2019). As a big fan of Airpods, I eventually just got it on hand in February 2020 when it just renewed their stock on that day. The second feature that customers are amazed about is noise cancellation and its new fantastic design with a customized fit for everyone. The noise cancellation was miraculous as it would block the general loudness around us. For its unique design, I was satisfied as I can comfortably wear for hours, and due to its custom fir at the point, I forget they are placed at my earholes.  

2)The key characteristics that influence buyer behavior toward new products are perceived risk, media influence, social characteristics, and demographic characteristics. Imagine that you are planning to purchase a brand-new luxury motor vehicle and explain how each of these factors would affect your purchase decision. Please use examples to support your responses – Chapter 14 11th Edition (Page 379)

In consumer behavior, there are plenty of key factors that influences customers’ buying behaviour towards new products. Mainly, there are four elements that can define the effect of their purchase decision. Firstly, is the perceived risk. Perceived risk is defined as consumers senses that the product or service might be unfavourable, and the amount will be lost if the implications of an act weren’t favourable (Cabanero 2008).Every time a consumer considers buying a product, they would certainly have doubts about the product especially if the price is extremely high. There are two factors that influences the purchase strategies under perceive risk which are the degree of risk that consumers perceive and tolerance. According to (Schiffman & Wisenblit 2015), “in high-risk situations, consumers are likely to engage in complex and extensive information search and evaluation; in low-risk situations, they are likely to use very simple or limited search and evaluation”. Most customers are likely to fall in the high perceived risk because they want to make sure that the product or service they purchase is beneficial and up to their expectations. For instance, if I am deciding to purchase Tesla, as a consumer I would have doubts about of the motor vehicle as it might not function well, or the performance of the car is not up to my expectation. This would be a waste of money for a me. Another example is even though Tesla is considered as one the luxuries car, they may not produce the best quality vehicles. According to (Hopkins 2018), if Tesla parts were great quality, then customers wouldn’t be facing problems such as bolts rusting off after a few years of ownership or doors that was constantly misaligning themselves. The cost of maintenance is so high that it could burn the hole of my pocket and this will give me doubts about buying Tesla.

The second element that affects the purchase decision is the media influence. The media influences so many people’s behaviour nowadays. Media influence is recognised as one of the strong platforms for delivering message to consumers (Haghshens et al 2015). Media influence is an efficient tool that can be used by adverts to interact indirectly with their consumers, reading reviews about a product or service and many more. For example, Lazada does advertisements through social media and television which makes it easier for them to convince and deliver their message the society. Nowadays, everything around is technology and the expansion of technology can allow the organizations to know how it influences customer behaviour (Careers in Psychology). Media influences can produce advantage and disadvantages. One of the decision-making process that can be applied is the pre-purchase. Pre purchase is illustrated as “when a consumer perceives a need that might be satisfied by the purchase and consumption of a products” (Schiffman & Wisenblit 2015). Every now and then, customers can use their past purchases in making their decision about a product. However, it is stated that “consumers post-purchase dissonance results from an unsuccessful pre-purchase search” (Schiffman & Wisenblit 2015). If this occurs, it will be known as a “search regret” and there are outcomes that can be applied to decrease this event. For example, some of my friends own Tesla so they tell about their experiences and it was mostly full of positive reviews. That would influence me to buy the car even though the price is relatively high. Nevertheless, maybe after purchasing the car, I would face a few issues. One of the issues is that autopilot doesn’t notice cars that aren’t moving. It has been stated by (Hopkins 2018), “Tesla’s autopilot cannot detect stationary vehicles, so if you rely heavily on this feature then you may be in for a rude awakening”. This is dangerous because drivers a much more likely to get into an accident. The cost of repairing is also extremely high. One battery would cost thousands of ringgits. Customers should make the right decision before buying a product.

The third element that affects the purchase decision is the social characteristics. Social factors tend to influence consumer behavior. Every individual will have someone around influencing them in their buying decisions. The important social factors are such as reference groups, family, role and status (Perreau 2014). It has been scientifically proven that family members can influence individual consumers’ buying behavior. For instance, my brother actually owns a luxury car and he basically influence me to get a brand new luxury car. A family forms the environment for an individual to acquire values, develop and shape personality. This environment offers the possibility to develop attitudes and opinions towards several subjects such as social relations, society and politics. In many societies status is important and people want the admiration of others. Social status can be acquired by being successful in life or being born into money.

The fourth element that affects the purchase decision is the demographic characteristics. People are grouped in classes according to their income, wealth, education and type of occupation (Schiffman & Wisenblit 2015).Perhaps the simplest to define this class is a three-tiered approach that includes the rich, the middle class and the poor. Generally, the rich will have the ability to purchase more consumer goods than those with less income and goods are of higher quality. There is also a distinction in the type of goods purchased. For example, the upper class tend to be the primary buyers of luxury cars and often shop at exclusive retailers. The lower class, in contrast, are much more concerned with simply getting by focusing more on necessities. For instance, if I am rich I will choose to buy Tesla as I have the privilege to drive a luxury car. Speaking of car troubles, Tesla dealerships are so sparse that many owners are forced to plan out their trip to the service center much more thoroughly than the average driver would. What’s worse is that many of these technical difficulties are not fully resolved during the first visit as there is not much knowledge on electric vehicles and technicians may not be as familiar with the problems that plague these vehicles, primarily because a Tesla operates more like a computer than it does an old gas guzzler (Hopkins 2018).

Group Members :

Harpreet Kaur (5839300)

Simran Kaur Dhillon(5839324)

Kang Chuan Sheng(6292914)

Cheng Ming Hui (6963699)

Fan Yu Ying(6957754)

Reference List

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Last year June, I purchased an iPad Air as a replacement of my damaged laptop. When the product was launched, I instantly went through the Apple website to refer about the characteristics of the product and watched a few videos on YouTube to hear some feedback’s about of the iPad. Majority of the feedback’s were positive, and I made my mind to buy it. I acquired the product from the Apple Store that was located in Kuala Lumpur City Centre. The product consists of a 10-hour battery and a very useful battery life for me because it can go all day on with just a single charge. The product is thin and light that it can be carried anywhere. In addition, the performance of the iPad is smooth and efficient because of A12 Bionic chip that enables a remarkable level of power and intelligence. On top of that, the Apple cameras takes stunning photos and video with 1080p HD. A keyboard and Apple pencil is optional but if you have any of it, you can easily take down notes or create a presentation.

I had a great experience purchasing the iPad. Firstly, when I walked into the store, some of the employees greeted my family and I with a smile. One of the employees walked towards us and asked if we required any help or is there anything that we are looking for. I mentioned about the iPad air and the employee directly showed me the display product. While using the iPad, the employee was explaining about the characteristic, features, and its uniqueness . Honestly, I was amazed because i have been to many apple stores and none of them explained about the products in detail. Then, informed the employee that I would love to purchase one of it and she instantly brought out the product. The employee carefully guided me step by step throughout the setting up process. Once the setup was done, the employee brought me along to the payment station and allowed us to do the payment through our credit cards.

The Maslow hierarchy explains that consumers search for products or service that would deliver them a sense of satisfaction. Genuinely, I am satisfied with the product and have no regrets of buying the product because it has kept up to my expectation and the service was great. I have been utilizing it for my college and work purpose. Now, I carry my iPad to college and it’s so convenient. Earlier, I could not watch movies on my laptop because it would lag and now, I can simply watch any movies without any interruption.