The Essence of Consumer Behaviour Book Notes - Jim Blythe

I have found the book sources to be really helpful in terms of understanding the consumer and understanding consumers needs for retail. This has allowed myself to become more aware of these factors which have ensured that I will think of these when creating and placing my campaign together. This has introduced how the consumers needs to always be placed first and anything that can be done to ensure the consumer is happy is key.

Another book that I came across when researching in the Library was this one; The essence of consumer Behaviour by Jim Blythe. This is an invaluable reference source for managers on retails. The questions that this covers include; why is a knowledge on consumer behaviour so essential to effective marketing? How can an understanding of why people buy help marketers know how to sell? How are attitudes towards products formed- and how can those attitudes be changed? and What can managers do to persuade consumers to buy- and buy again?

Key points that I found within the book are;

PAGE 1: "Without customers, there is no business"

"The customer is always right: and even if the customer is wrong. there still the customer."

PAGE 2: "The marketing concept is important because consumers have very wide choice as to where to spend their hard-earned money. People are better educated than ever before, with greater spending power and mobility, and they are able to shop around much more in order to buy whatever best meets their needs."

"The marketing concept therefore requires that managers observe everything from the viewpoint of the consumers; look at the firms and its products as the consumer sees them; and plan around the consumer's needs and aspirations"

Again this reinforces the importance of the consumer and how they need to be looked after at all time ensuring that they are happy one with what the brand are offering and also the way they are being treated by the brand. This is key.

PAGE 3: "Consumer behaviour invokes interaction; we need to know what consumers think, what they feel, what they do, and the things and places that influence and are influenced by what they think, feel and do."

"Consumers behaviour involves exchanges between human beings. Trade can only happen when port parties end up better off; if this were not so, people would not want to trade."

Interaction and conversation supports that this is where and how majority of sales happen which means that this needs to be on top form and onto of their game to allow the upper hand.

PAGE 4: 

"Product: what products are the consumers using at present? What do they like about the products, and what don't they like about them? What would they like the products to do, in addition to what thy do already?

Place: Where would they like to buy our product from? Where do they currently buy this type of product, and why? Is it convenient for them to buy from this source? Could we make it easier for them to buy our product offering it through a different outlet?

Price:What price will they see as good value? This is not necessarily the lowest price; very few consumers consistently buy the cheapest products they can find. However, most have a very clear idea of what represents good value for money.

Promotion: What type of promotion will interest them? Which will encourage them to buy? Which addresses their needs, in terms of activating the need and offering a credible way of satisfying it?"

This reinforces the importance of the 4P's.

PAGE 7: " View the consumers as an asset of the business"

The consumer is the person who is making the brand stay in business so they need to be considered as an asset to the brand. Whether they buy a product or not still means they are key as we want them to remain loyal to the brand and return when they feel the need or want to. This means that the consumer needs to be treated in the right manner.

PAGE 97: " Situation consists of physical surroundings, social surroundings, time, task and antecedent state."

"Advertising clutter reuslts in avoidance of the advertisements by the consumers"

"Warm colours work best for the outside of shops; cool colours for the insides"

The key pointer from this page is the use of colours. This is something that I had no knowledge about which means that this will help in in terms of designing my layout and the colour selection.

PAGE 136: " Firms must innovate or die because the product life cycle ensures that all products eventually become obsolete."

PAGE 165: "Segments must be measurable, accessible, substantial ad congruous"

PAGE 178: " Consumers rely much more on word-of-mouth when choosing services and will be more prone to using word-of-mouth after purchasing a service - whether to praise or condemn"

This was key and vital information found as this is something I will try and maintain within my service. With word-of-mouth being so popular I want this to happen with my service. I believe this will be a great success due to this being a brand new service so by one consumer spreading the word this is where the fan base become created.