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Intro to Consumer Behavior

Consumer Behavior is a big segment of marketing. In order to be a successful marketer, you must know your target audience and their spending trends. For example, your audience could be middle-aged adults who are environmentally friendly and have children. You need to be able to keep this in mind when deciding what sort of mediums you will use and what messages will work best! 

Consumer behavior is an ongoing process.  It is an exchange of value between individuals or groups. These individuals or groups may purchase, select, use, or dispose of products, services, ideas, or experiences to satisfy their needs of desires. The consumers have needs and desires and act on them by making a purchase. Organizations/companies exist to satisfy these needs and desires. Companies are able to determine who their heavy users are and the demographics of their customers by using Big Data. Consumers are always being tracked. Technology has made it easier for companies to get information about their consumers and target specific people online using the information. Have you ever looked up a product on your phone, Nike sneakers for example, and then went onto social media and saw ads for Nike? That's all due to cookies and companies tracking you. They are able to look at your browser history and spending trends. Many individuals are concerned about their privacy. Companies access to Big Data might be diminishing over the next few years due to consumer concerns. 

I have mixed feelings about cookies and big data. On one hand, I do not believe that the internet should be tracking my every move. I don’t like the feeling of being watched. In China, they have it much worse than we do. Considering the country monitors what sites their citizens have access to. I would not like my internet freedom to be restricted. A little more privacy would be appreciated. On the other hand, it is nice to have ads tailored to me. I wouldn’t want to have ads pop up on Google or Instagram tailoring to men or older adults when I am a female in my early 20’s. It is sort of convenient for me to have ads that are about what I like, such as brands and food. Oftentimes, these ads convince me to click the link and see the product. If I have extra spending money and I like the product, I may purchase it. 


I always try to justify my purchases. I try to buy more things that I need than what I want. I have a spending monitoring app on my phone called, Mint, and it tracks my spending on all of my debit and credit cards. It allows me to set a monthly budget on food, clothing, gas, etc. It tells me if I am over budget for the month which is super neat! Also, every few months it tells me how my credit score is. I highly recommend downloading it and giving it a try! 


Anyways, back to purchasing products. There are four types of relationships that an individual may have with a product. These relationships influence what they buy in terms of brands and expense. If an individual agrees with Nike’s mission statement and identifies with their products then that would be a self-concept attachment. If you were a child and your parents always bought you Kraft mac and cheese, then you may continue to purchase it into adulthood. Especially when you move out because it may remind you of home and your childhood. This is called nostalgic attachment. Depending on what phone brand you prefer, Apple or Android, you may always buy this product when you have an upgrade or you damage your phone because it is a part of your daily life and you have an attachment to it. This would be an interdependent relationship. The last relationship is love. You may purchase a product because it makes you feel good and elicits a strong emotion. 


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