Page 174 - Marketing Management

Analyzing Consumer

Markets

The aim of marketing is to meet and satisfy target customers’ needs and
wants better than competitors. Marketers must have a thorough understanding of how con-
sumers think, feel, and act and offer clear value to each and every target consumer.

LEGO of Billund, Denmark, may have been one of the first mass customized brands.
Every child who has ever had a set of the most basic LEGO blocks has built his or her
own unique and amazing creations, brick by plastic brick. When LEGO decided to
become a lifestyle brand and launch theme parks; its own lines of clothes, watches, and
video games; and products such as Clikits craft sets designed to attract more girls to the
brand franchise, it neglected its core market of five- to nine-year-old boys. Plunging profits led to
layoffs of almost half its employees as the firm streamlined its brand portfolio to emphasize its core
businesses. To better coordinate new product activities, LEGO revamped its organizational structure
into four functional groups managing eight key areas. One group was responsible for supporting
customer communities and tapping into them for product ideas. LEGO
also set up what was later renamed LEGO Design byME, which let
Successful marketing requires that companies
customers design, share, and build their own custom LEGO products
fully connect with their customers. Adopting a holistic
using LEGO’s freely downloadable Digital Designer 3.0 software. The marketing orientation means understanding customers—
creations that result can exist—and be shared with other enthusiasts— gaining a 360-degree view of both their daily lives and the
solely online, or, if customers want to build them, the software tabulates changes that occur during their lifetimes so the right products
the pieces required and sends an order to LEGO’s Enfield, Connecticut, are always marketed to the right customers in the right way.
warehouse. Customers can request step-by-step building guide instruc- This chapter explores individual consumer buying dynamics; the
tions and even design their own box to store the pieces. 1 next chapter explores the buying dynamics of business buyers.

What Influences Consumer

Behavior?

Consumer behavior is the study of how individuals, groups, and organizations select, buy, use, and
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dispose of goods, services, ideas, or experiences to satisfy their needs and wants. Marketers must
fully understand both the theory and reality of consumer behavior. Table 6.1 provides a snap-
shot profile of U.S. consumers.
A consumer’s buying behavior is influenced by cultural, social, and personal factors. Of these,
cultural factors exert the broadest and deepest influence.

Cultural Factors
Culture, subculture, and social class are particularly important influences on consumer buying be-
havior. Culture is the fundamental determinant of a person’s wants and behavior. Through family
and other key institutions, a child growing up in the United States is exposed to values such as
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