Question

1. For years Mark sold new cars, but he and his wife recently grew tired of city life and moved to a beach town. Now he sells costume jewelry (made by his wife) at an open-air market near the ocean. To be successful, what will Mark have to recognize about the difference between consumer’s problem solving processes for cars and costume jewelry?

2. Marketers often use the principles and theories from other disciplines to understand consumer actions and develop marketing strategies. What disciplines are most useful to marketers trying to understand consumer behavior?

3. Of the three buying situations, in which one is a salesperson most likely to be heavily involved?

4. How do tariffs affect markets?

Answer 1

A change from car to costume jewellery will definitely affect the consumer's problem solving as they are completely different products The problem seen in automobile is totally different from a jewelley customer so the tone of the marketer and his strategy will definitely change.

MrarshallianEconomics: Alfred Marshall was an economist who believed that consumers buy their goods and services based on what offers the most personal satisfaction. Some have criticized this theory for being uninformative. (It is assumed that people buy what they like, if they can afford it.) However, the theory has given marketers several useful hypotheses. Some include:

If a product’s price is lower, the sales of that product will be higher.

When there is a product and substitute of that product, sales of the substitute will be greater if its price is lower than the price of the original product.

When the income of consumers is higher, sales of a product will therefore be higher, provided the product is not an inferior one.

Ultimately, the Marshallian model offers a way for marketers to understand the behavior of consumers when they are making purchases that require rational consideration.

Psychoanalytic Theory :Psychoanalytic theory traces back to Sigmund Freud, the Austrian founder of psychoanalysis. Although he himself was not concerned with consumer behavior, his theories of human behavior were revolutionary. He believed that humans are not able to fully understand their own motivations because the psychological factors that shape them are largely unconscious. A major part of the unconscious mind is comprised of strong urges and desires. Since these desires can cause significant guilt and shame when they surface, people will repress them.

According to psychoanalytic theory, consumers respond to symbolic concerns as much as they respond to those of economics and function. Freud’s work implies that external factors such as age and income cannot fully account for consumer behavior because motivations lay deep in the psyche. Instead, marketing messages that contain an emotional appeal to consumers’ feelings, hopes, aspirations and fears are often more effective than rational appeals.

Pavlovian Theory: This theory comes from the work of Russian psychologist Ivan Pavlov. In a famous experiment, Pavlov discovered that if he rang a bell immediately prior to feeding a dog, he could eventually get the dog to salivate just by ringing it. He concluded that much of human behavior results from conditioned responses.

Veblenian Social-Psychological Model:Economist Thorstein Veblen suggested that humans are social creatures who conform to the standards of the culture and subgroups in which they live. He believed that people’s individual needs and desires are created and influenced by group membership. Veblen focused his theory on members of society’s “leisure class,” whom he hypothesized were influenced by the desire for prestige rather than utilitarian need fulfillment. Although critics of Veblen’s theory argue that it may be overstated in scope, the theory still proves useful. It suggests that marketers should understand the social influences that impact consumers in order to better comprehend product demand.

Tariffs, or taxes imposed on imports, have been making news lately as the Trump administration initiated multiple tariff rounds on China and elsewhere.

Tariffs are a type of protectionist trade barrier that can come in several forms.

While tariffs may benefit a few domestic sectors, economists agree that free trade policies in a global market are ideal.

Tariffs are paid by domestic consumers and not the exporting country, but they have the effect of raising the relative prices of imported products