Main Aspects of Buyer Behaviour - Coursework Example

Buyer Behaviour Fisbein Analysis of Online downloadable film services a. Based on the research rating information given above construct an Attitude toward the Object (Fishbein) analysis for each of the movie download services. Please note that a good answer to this question should contain a discussion about the Extended Fishbein model and also a critique of this model. The consumers’ attitude for online downloadable film services based on Fishbein analysis are the following; Attribute Ratings for Downloadable Film Services Attributes of 1 to 5 scale where 5 is most important and 1 is least important Formula: Ao = biei where, Ao = Attitude toward the object (brand) bi = belief about the brand’s possession of the attribute ei = evaluation of the attribute as being good or bad n = there are a limited number (n) of attributes which the person will consider Attribute Evaluation of attributes on a 1 to 5 scale where 5 = most important, 1 = least important Wide range of movies to rent 5 Ease of viewing web site catalogue 4 Ease of downloading to device 3 Speed of download 2 Picture quality of downloaded movie 4 Cost of downloading movie 3 Ratings out of 10 where 10 is the highest and 1 is the lowest Key factor Rating of LoveFilm Rating of Blockbuster Rating of NetFlix Wide range of movies to rent 8 6 7 Ease of viewing web site catalogue 8 5 6 Ease of downloading to device 6 7 5 Speed of download 8 7 4 Picture quality of downloaded movie 6 7 8 Cost of downloading movie 7 6 8 Fishbein for Love Film Fishbein for Love Film E1 = 8 B1 = 5 E2 = 8 B2 = 4 E3 = 6 B3 = 3 E4 = 8 B4 = 2 E5 = 6 B5 = 4 E6 = 7 B6 = 3 = (8x5)=40+(8x4)=32+(6x3)=18+(8x2)=16+(6x4)=24+(7x3)=21 =40 + 32 + 18 + 16 + 24 + 21 = 121 Fishbein for Blockbuster Fishbein for Blockbuster E1 = 6 B1 = 5 E2 = 5 B2 = 4 E3 = 7 B3 = 3 E4 = 7 B4 = 2 E5 = 7 B5 = 4 E6 = 6 B6 = 3 6x7=42+(5x6)=30+(7x5)=35(7x4)=28=+(7x8)=56+(6x8) =48 42+30+35+28+56+48 = 239 Fishbein for Netflix Fishbein for Netflix E1 = 7 B1 = 5 E2 = 6 B2 = 4 E3 = 5 B3 = 3 E4 = 4 B4 = 2 E5 = 8 B5 = 4 E6 = 8 B6 = 3 7x5=35+(6x4)=24+(5x3)=15(4x2)=8+(8x4)=32+(8x3) = 24 35+24+15+8+32+24 = 138 Fishbein Analysis summary Key factor LoveFilm Blockbuster NetFlix Wide range of movies to rent 40 42 35 Ease of viewing web site catalogue 32 30 24 Ease of downloading to device 24 35 15 Speed of download 16 28 8 Picture quality of downloaded movie 24 56 32 Cost of downloading movie 21 48 24 Fishbein’s analysis enables us to understand consumer preferences and thereby predict consumer behavior by understanding their preferences (Solomon et al 2009). Based on the above analysis, it provided us a snapshot of how the players in the Downloadable Film Services are faring in terms of consumer’s behavior towards them. It showed that Blockbuster is leading in almost all areas making it the dominant player in the UK market. It also gives NetFlix a hint however on which area should it improve for it to successfully launch in the UK. Fishbein’s analysis however is being critiqued to be an inaccurate basis for a product or service success in the market. Market entry such as NetFlix’s entry in the UK market involves a myriad and interplay of various marketing components that relying solely on Fishbein’s model to determine a company’s success of entry in a particular market would be inadequate. b. From the above data and from your Fishbein analysis make recommendations as to how Netflix can make its launch into the UK market more successfully. It is obvious that NetFlix lags behind its competitors in most of preferred ( except in cost and picture where it placed second at 24 to Blockbuster’s 48). Inferring from Fishbein’s extended analysis, NetFlix has a lot of things to do if it intend to launch in UK successfully. First, it has to increase the number of titles it intend to rent out because it is perceived as lacking in this area. Second, it also needs to improve the interface of its website because end users find it complicated compared to its competitors based on the survey conducted. In addition to it, it has to improve the download speed of its server because it is perceived to be slow by its consumers. These factors and perceived weaknesses however are within the control of NetFlix of which it can readily addressed if it wanted to launch in the UK market successfully. 2. Porsche Blackberry phones a. Construct two Means End chains, one for the new Porsche Blackberry and another for the standard Blackberry. Means End Chain was originally a research that showed how people’s values affect other aspect of their lives. Means End Chain was later expanded in business to understand how products interact with consumers and how specific values relate to consumption behavior (_____). Means End is divided into three constructs which are attributes, benefits and values that ultimately form the Chain. In constructing Means End Chains for Blackberry Porsche series and standard Blackberry phone, it is important to note that the two phones share the same functional benefits such as telephone, text, email, camera, web browser. They only differed in psychosocial benefits that includes enahnced social status, image through the “Porsche” branding and stylishness which Blackberry can use and capitalize to attract a particular segment of the market. Porsche Blackberry Means End Concrete Attributes – Porsche Blackberry has stylish design. Its stylish design includes Stainless steel frame, hand-wrapped leather back cover, sculpted QWERTY keyboard and crystal touch display. It also boast of a powerful 1.2GHz processor, HD video recording capabilities, 8GB of memory, Liquid Graphics technology, a micro SD expansion slot and an inbuilt NFC module and Blackberry OS 7. Abstract – Blackberry position itself in the market as communication device for business people due to its secure emails that even governments have hard time accessing. Its Blackberry messaging (BBM) is also more cost efficient than the traditional Short Messaging Service (SMS). Functional consequence – Using Blackberry enables its users to have a secure communication in addition to the regular function of smartphones to call, text, email (Blackberry has the distinct advantage of getting emails in real time with its Blackberry service), record photos, videos and audio, web browsing and calendar events. Psychosocial consequence – Porsche Blackberry’s cost of over £2,000 compared to less than £400 for the standard Blackberry already gives the impression that the user belongs to the social class who “can afford”. The price tag of £2,000, along with the “Porsche” brand attached to Blackberry also signals to other people that the Porsche Blackberry user is stylish, sporty and elegant. The psychosocial aspect of the phone precedes the functionality of the phone because the premium price of £2,000 is not attributed to added functionality but rather to the “Porsche” brand and image. Instrumental value – Having the Porsche design in Blackberry will have an appeal to a specific segment in the market who are sporty, stylish and status conscious. Terminal value – the interplay of reliability, functionality, style and status in the use of Porsche Blackberry phone. Standard Blackberry Unlike the Porsche Blackberry Means End Chain that subordinated functionality to the psychosocial aspect of the phone, the standard Blackberry phone will instead capitalize on functionality rather than its psychosocial characteristics. Concrete Attributes – Standard Blackberry has the typical design of a smartphone characterized by a sculpted QWERTY keyboard and crystal touch display. It also boast of a powerful 1.2GHz processor, HD video recording capabilities, 8GB of memory, Liquid Graphics technology, a micro SD expansion slot and an inbuilt NFC module and Blackberry OS 7. Abstract – Blackberry position itself in the market as communication device for business people due to its secure emails that even governments have hard time accessing. Its Blackberry messaging (BBM) is also more cost efficient than the traditional Short Messaging Service (SMS). Functional consequence – Using Blackberry enables its users to have a secure communication in addition to the regular function of smartphones to call, text, email (Blackberry has the distinct advantage of getting emails in real time with its Blackberry service), record photos, videos and audio, web browsing and calendar events. Unlike in Porsche Blackberry, this functionality is the selling point of the phone. Psychosocial consequence – the regular straightforward and business like image of Blackberry users. b. From your analysis, identify how you could use the Means End chain to help RIM increase the sales of its new Porsche Blackberry. RIM can differentiate its new Porsche Blackberry from its competitors by marketing its product as a classy business phone with sporty feature. This niche in the market is not yet fully explored and the new Porsche Blackberry can occupy this niche and regain its lost market share in the market. Its main competitor iPhone and Samsung has marketed its product through its functionality and design and RIM should veer away from that approach because that segment of the market is already saturated. Instead, RIM can capitalize on the psychosocial consequence of the End Means Chain of its Porsche Blackberry phone instead of its functional consequence which its competitors are using to position its product in the market. Blackberry is known to be a business phone and pioneered the smartphone market. It can reinforce this pioneering and “professional image” by capitalizing on the psychosocial consequence which in effect could enhances the business image of the phone. In sum, the value proposition of the End Means Chains of the Porsche Blackberry is the appeal of the “interplay between work and play” which would become attractive to customers who gives importance to their personal lives as they do on their professional work which could prove to be effective in regaining its leading market position in the smartphone segment. 3. Facebook a. Describe the principle theories of Conditioning in relation to Buyer Behaviour. Conditioning is the process where a behavior is “conditioned” or prepared to respond to a particular stimulus. One of the pioneers in Conditioning is Pavlov who was famous for his experiment in making a dog salivate at the sound of a bell. This basic principle of Pavlov about conditioning has been expanded in other fields such as marketing to elicit a certain behavior from its potential consumers after an orchestrated marketing effort. The response can either be positive or negative depending on the conditioning of an individual or a group of individual (such as market or consumers). Align to this idea on conditioning is the Instrumental conditioning which aims to produce positive outcome and to avoid those that produce negative outcomes. Relating this to Buyer Behavior, sellers employ the use of discount to produce positive outcome of patronage from its market. One of the popular marketing strategies of the use of celebrity endorser such as Kobe Bryant or Manny Pacquiao of Nike is actually aligned to this principle of conditioning. This is the vicarious conditioning whereby consumers see modelled behaviour and consequence from the celebrities they are attached to that will favour the product or service of the marketer. Favourable ideals such as Nike’s “fall seven times and rise eight times” is also a vicarious conditioning whereby consumers attached perseverance in sport and life in general to Nike that does not only improve the brand recall of Nike but also its position in the market as one of the most preferred brand of the consumers. b. How can Facebook use the principles of the various theories of Conditioning in its marketing strategy to help it increase its sales growth and become a serious rival to Facebook? Facebook can use the principles of conditioning in its marketing strategy to help it increase its sales growth by developing or making the use of the social network a “habit” among its end users. Forming and developing the habit of Facebook use among its end users can be done in a lot of ways. It can use the classical instrumental conditioning of eliciting favourable behavior from its users by associating Facebook to positive experience. For example, its strategy of buying Instagram the online photography company that allows users to edit and upload photos online has the positive experience both to the end user and audience of the pictures. The end user is able to capture and share wonderful moments in his or her life while the audience are able to appreciate the uploaded pictures especially if they are emotionally attached to it such as pictures of family and friends. Also, the exercise of seeing and knowing interesting people online is an effective tool to “hook” people in Facebook which is really the essence of a social networking site. Once this habit is already formed and cemented, it would be very difficult to change the behavior of its end users because “Facebooking” is already a part of their routine or system. Thus, even if Facebook will include paid advertisements to increase its revenue that also raises the question of privacy, in the end, such resistance will be overcome by the end users attachment to Facebook. Because of this conditioned habit and attachment, users will ignore or bear with the added advertisements in Facebook to the point that they will just disregard the question about privacy to continue using Facebook. This is favorable to Facebook because it was not able to erode its users/audience base which is its advantage to ask hefty fees from its advertisers to increase its revenue. Read More