UNDERSTANDING CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR: THEIR CONSUMPTION CHAIN

Year 2013, Volume: 5 Issue: 2, 214 - 229, 01.12.2013

Poh Phaik See

Abstract

Understanding issues on consumer behaviour is analogous to the tedious finding
of a needle in the ocean. It is a never ending task and search for enlightenment by
researchers and marketing managers alike. Yet the search has to go on
continuously as the knowledge of which is so significant and influential in the art
of marketing, it is the epitome of companies’ effectiveness in the formulation of
marketing strategies. This paper aims to uncover hidden opportunities or to
discover points of differentiation in the consumer’s consumption chain. It calls for
congruency with consumer needs with an “outside-in” approach versus the often
used “inside-out” or from the company-focused perspective. In the discovery
process, several sub-components have been drawn up to lay the foundation upon
which the marketing strategies could be crafted. Interspersed in the discussion, the
specific presumed role to “affect, cognitive and experience” (Vakratsas and
Ambler, 1999) which are supposedly the three components of consumer behavior
were elaborated as explanation. Additionally, some hindsight on the postulated
concept to integrate and synthesise the newly gained knowledge on consumer
consumption behaviour with purposive marketing activities were illustrated with
proven real-life examples. The study integrates the reviews of a random selection
of more than twenty published literature on issues on consumer behaviour,
conceptual insights gathered from MacMillan and McGrath (1997) and related
marketing textbooks. Relevant implications of the study were discussed. The
notion of the concept adopted in this paper to implement an “outside-in” approach
to ‘pull’ the consumers by integrating their buying and consumption behavioral
needs with matching and purposive marketing strategies and activities.

Keywords

Consumer behavior, Consumption Chain, Purposive Marketing Activities

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