Consumer Behaviour: Blue Lagoon - Assignment Example

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR How could the marketing manager of Blue Lagoon Chocolate Ltd. Use knowledge of the concepts ical and operant conditioning to continue to increase Blue Lagoon market share?: Classical conditioning is a type of learning that occurs when a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a stimulus that causes a reflexive behaviour and in time is sufficient enough to produce that behaviour. Operant conditioning is the learning process that carries along with it the consequences of previous learning. The task of marketing manager of Blue lagoon Chocolate is to select and fix an apt neutral stimulus to form the required behaviour in consumers. The very perception of that stimulus should make them (consumers) think of Blue lagoon Chocolate first, keeping aside the actual sense and meaning of that stimulus to be brought in memory with secondary priority. Peculiar packing, shaping and colouring of chocolate and so on can be formed as stimulus for the consumers of Blue lagoon Chocolate. Effective advertising processes must be constantly made to keep the consumers in touch with the stimulus and quality of chocolate. Identifying the type of use by consumers is also very important to form the neutral stimulus that elicits the required desirous behaviours in consumers. As found in the case study, after-dinner mint chocolate can be pushed into market for sale during the occasions of farewell parties and similar ocassions. The circumstantial factors that are commonly found in similar situations can be tuned as operant conditioning synthesisers. For example, if slightly mint-sprayed tissue papers or hand kerchiefs are placed in parties, the tissue papers would become a classical conditioner in other similar situations. A constant field survey and surveillance is necessary to identify the operant conditioners, that is, the consequences of using Blue lagoon Chocolate, so that they can effectively be harnessed in future occasions. Recent advertising methods are highly innovative in keeping the viewers in tune with the advertisement. Seemingly contradictory or irrelevant aspects are introduced in such advertisements that divert and provoke viewers’ interest in the advertisement. Such methods can be utilised in advertising Blue lagoon Chocolate too. Maslow’s hierarchy theory1 is very much helpful in understanding what motivates a consumer to buy a product. Human needs that are strived to be satisfied starting from basic objectives like food and shelter to ‘higher levels’ of need such as love and belonging. Very small minority of people seek for self-actualisation. In satisfying basic needs too people (consumers) tend to exhibit a ‘swing-trend’ between their needs. For example, a man may spend at least a part of the money allotted for his dinner towards an imminent repair of his vehicle. A mixed trend in gifting the luxury chocolate during special occasions as depicted in Apendix-2 of the case study reveals that Christmas and Easter occasions are selected as the best period by consumers. The decrease in other occasions like dinner party, mothers day etc exhibits the fluctuation in the minds of consumers in fixing occasions for gifting a Luxury Chocolate. A firm is said to win the hearts of consumers only when the classical conditioning is constantly monitored in such a way that operant conditioners are made use of as classical conditioners at later occasions. 2. How could the marketing department of Blue Lagoon could use ACORN geo demographic system in the continual development of the marketing strategy. Write a proposal. CACI effectively conducts research and analysis on their clients’ business realm and creates a data base that would be feasible for the client to handle at every moment towards the development of their marketing. A large US confectionary company has entered into a contract with our service to enhance their marketing strategy. The effectiveness of our services would be self-evident. As the firm intends to launch a brand of after-dinner mint called Blue Lagoon and wishes to gain a foot hold and subsequently establish their presence in the European luxury chocolate market. In this connection the following proposal is placed for perusal and approval advising necessary modifications from the brass hat of CACI. We shall henceforth call the client as Blue Lagoon. As the firm Blue lagoon enters into the luxury chocolate marketing with a new brand of mint chocolate, our services commence from a stage where the company can have a strong data base to start with. For this purpose to be achieved, our attention is focused in the order as follows: Consumer Marketing, Customer Segmentation and Attitudinal Segmentation. The services of Loyalty Assessor would be rendered at a later stage when blue Lagoon has begun to catch hold the roots of their consumer base. Throughout our services the efficacy of people UK would be highlighted at each and every stage of our services. Blue lagoon would certainly enjoy and harness the contents of people UK throughout their business, even after the culmination of our services to them. Consumer marketing: The competition in any marketing field has reached a stage that facing competition has become a day to day activity and requires constant monitoring of other man’s business too to some extent. Consumers are bombarded with scores products and marketing messages. Media and Internet have helped much in this regard. To stand above in the crowded market, understanding the market place of Blue Lagoon and the customer’s lifestyles, motivations and behaviour becomes obligatory. CACI helps Blue Lagoon in achieving this target by 1. Building appropriate propositions responding to the needs and attitudes of the customers. 2. Creating effective communications. 3. Targeting the direct marketing activity at the appropriate customers. 4. Identifying valuable customers and arresting their propensity to defect and 5. Focussing on the highest potential customers. Customer Segmentation: The real problem in marketing today is the insufficient personal contact with every prospective customer by the companies. To have a successful customer relation ship each and every staff of the company would perform the duties as if he or she is the proprietor of the firm. This practically is not possible since, even the top most executive of the company has the identity as a paid staff and not the owner bearing responsibility for their subordinates. Rather the executives bear responsibilities for their own omission and commissions for which alone they are paid well. To substitute such personal and direct touch with the customers, creation of effective data base has been designed. This although can not achieve 100% result as expected, can circumvent the problem of insufficient customer relationships. CACI has created a design consisting of segmentation methods. Segmenting means, pulling together groups of customers, who share the same characteristics, product propensities attitudes and channel preferences. Customer segmentation is sub divided into behaviour segmentation, value segmentation and lifestyle segmentation. Behaviour segmentation groups their customers’ transactional behaviour wise. Since all the customers are not worth the same, the value of the customers are judged as a whole and not as single identity restricted to Blue Lagoon alone. Life stage segmentation is very much needed in any business and Blue Lagoon is not an exception to this; because life stage dictates the purchase decision of any customer. Attitudinal segmentation: CACI has devised Attitudinal Segmentation not be run solo. We have experienced much from this that a combined approach with other aspects like life stage segmentation and many more alone would fetch a fine result. A few words before making Blue Lagoon to use people UK: - Executives occupying top range positions in Blue Lagoon must necessarily go through people UK at least twice. Naturally they would extract the essence of their marketing secrets on going through it. However, the following few suggestions would help them in understanding people UK in relation to their business. 1. The data base of people UK can be viewed in two major categories, namely people interested in self-catering and the other those who are interested in eating outside their living environment. 2. Self-catering individuals can be apprised of the use of mints in their after-dinner dessert. 3. Hotels need not be categorically avoided in the promotion of Blue Lagoon Mint chocolate, as they can introduce the product among the out side eating customers. 4. Reading habits envisaged in people UK can pass light on the issue through which advertisements for Blue Lagoon can be disseminated. Accounting the population percentage, life stages and potentiality of customers people UK would be an effective tool for Blue Lagoon to win in tackling the European luxury chocolate market. 3. How the purchase of Blue Lagoon might be linked to consumer self-concept. Self concept is generally a critical aspect of social development emerging who and how one stands relative to other people.2 Psychologists consider this to refer to the beliefs, desires, values and attributes that define a person to the self. A consumer’s self concept revolves around the way he or she makes the decision to buy a product or service. Decision making of a consumer is a vital part to be accounted for in business management while evolving marketing strategies. When actual consumers and decision makers are one and the same, the strategy evolved works in certain ways. But the same strategy can not work when the decision makers differ from the actual consumer. For example, kids like very much the sweets and candies, while the decision makers are the parents, the adults. Impulsive purchase by children should be allowed to be maintained along with the maintenance of quality and price of the product that makes parents allow the kids to continue. Self concept is often translated in terms of a person’s life style. The Values And Life Styles Project (VALS) developed by Stanford Research Institute attempted to classify people based on a combination of values and resources. The team found that although achievers and strivers wanted public recognition, only the achievers had the resources to bring their target out3. If the marketing strategy developed by the business administration is well knit capable of converting its product into the part and parcel of human life style, competition in the field will not near the firm until the strategy developed is run for years together without making any flexible changes in accordance with changes in consumer needs. Coffee business in Asian countries is a best example of this type of marketing strategy. The current competition in this field is among those who satiate consumers’ various needs. Likewise, use of Blue Lagoon mint Chocolates can be made a way of life aspect among consumers by giving wide publicity of the positive effects of mints and its consequences. Such informative advertisements would certainly have impact on self-actualising consumers. Actions and movements of such self-actualising personals are regarded by many other people in many ways although they can not completely copy their mentors, the self-actualising personalities. So many business concerns of present days use this concept in using celebrities in their advertisements to try to infuse the above said effect among people. But it’s merely a pseudo-trial. In order to exhibit the heroism of the celebrities, the advertisements are to carry several unbelievable and even impracticable activities, finally forcing them to display warning note in their advertisements such as “DO NOT Try the Actions of the hero in this Advertisement”. Thus decision provocation must be sown in the minds of consumers without any detriment to their self-concepts. Then alone the business development of Blue lagoon would flourish in a fertile soil of consumers’ self-concept. 4. Importance of group influence in successful marketing of Blue Lagoon brand. Discuss. A reference group is defined as ‘an actual or imagery individual or group conceived of having significant relevance upon an individual’s evaluations, aspirations or behaviour4. The above definition of reference group does not completely explain why individuals influenced by same group do not behave in similar way. Reference Group Concept5 formed by Hyman in 1942, when read along with this definition provides a way to comprehend why many individuals do not behave like others in a social group. A reference has basically two functions6; one namely, the normative function and the other a comparative function. The normative functional group sets and enforces standards for individuals, while a comparative functional group serves as a comparison point against which an individual; evaluates himself and others. Park and Lessing had elaborated this classification of Reference Groups into further three models. They are: informational, utilitarian and value-expressive. Individuals when face the problem of decision making for want of sufficient information is helped by the informational reference group. Individuals who resort to decision making in order to satisfy the desires and wishes of others or to avoid punishments from others are influenced by utilitarian reference group. This group often induces almost a sycophantic decision making in individuals. Value-expressive influence is characterised by the individual’s acceptance for certain external stand points given his psychological need to associate with a person or group. Two factors generally affect the reference group influences. They are: brand decision and product decisions. Product decision usually swings between necessities and luxuries. Brand decision is centred on the mode of consuming the product, that is, whether publicly consumed or privately consumed7. Keeping all the above features of group influences, the Blue Lagoon Chocolate marketing can effectively be shoot up focussing on informational reference group at the outset. In forming informational reference group, the self use (For Me) type of consumer usage can not be completely be neglected for the purpose of promotion. Self consumers are the seeds of effective advertisement. When and administration or business manager is confident enough that the quality of their product would by all means attract the consumers again towards their product, if info about the product is evenly disseminated or dispersed, then it is the self users who ought to be focussed towards promotion. Although the occasions for after-dinner mints do not carry along with them any romance or thanks giving, the impact of mints in self consumers are certain to make them talk of the same mints in similar occasions where they do not come across mints. Read More