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Marketing

CHAPTER 6

ANALYZING CONSUMER MARKETS
The aim ConsuorPART 3 CONNECTING WITH CUSTOMERS of marketing is to meet unsatisfied target c. and wants better than competitors.men's grooming products, fueling the success of brands such as Unilever's Axe, a fragrant all-over body spray, The Body Shop's "For Men" line, and U.K. drugstore chain Boots' newly opened Men's Zones}

Successful marketing requires that companies fully connect with their customers. Adopting a holistic marketing orientation means understanding consumers—gaining a 360-degree view of both their daily lives and the changes that occur during their lifetimes. Gaining a thorough, in-depth consumer understanding helps to ensure that the right products are marketed to the right consumers in the right way. This chapter explores individual consumer buying dynamics; the next chapter explores the buying dynamics of business buyers.

:::What Influences Consumer Behavior?
Marketers must fully understand both the theory and reality of consumer behavior. Table 6.1 includes some interesting facts about the American consumer in 2001, and "Marketing Insight: Consumer Trends for the Future" gives an idea of what marketers can expect to encounter in the year 2025.
A consumer's buying behavior is influenced by cultural, social, and personal factors. Cultural factors exert the broadest and deepest influence.
Cultural Factors
Culture, subculture, and social class are particularly important influences on consumer buying behavior. Culture is the fundamental determinant of a person's wants and behavior. The growing child acquires a set of values, perceptions, preferences, and behaviors through his or her family and other key institutions. A child growing up in the United States is exposed to the following values: achievement and success, activity, efficiency and practicality, progress, material comfort, individualism, freedom, external comfort, humanitarianism, and youthfulness.2
Each culture...