Sales Promotion

Consumer Behavior MBA Sem. – III IMP Questions Unit I 1. Describe the interrelationship between consumer behavior and marketing concept. (what is marketing and societal marketing concept, embracing the marketing concept and segmentation, targeting and positioning) 2. Describe the interrelationship between marketing research, market segmentation and targeting and the development of the marketing mix for a manufacture of mobile phone. (embracing the marketing concept, utilizing the concepts of segmentation-targeting-positioning and marketing mix. ) 3.

Explain the interrelation between customer value, satisfaction, trust and retention. Also explain why customer retention is essential? 4. Explain the difference between traditional marketing and value oriented marketing. (table 1. 1 page 14) 5. Explain the consumer decision making model in detail. 6. What is the difference between primary and secondary research? Under what circumstances might the availability of secondary data make primary research unnecessary? What are some major sources of secondary data? 7. What are the advantages and limitations of secondary data? . A manufacturer of a new product for whitening teeth would like to investigate the effects of package design and label information on consumers’ perceptions of the product and their intentions to buy it. Would you advise the manufacturer to use observational research, experimentation, or a survey? Explain your choice. (show which method will be more appropriate for the research) 9. Why might a researcher prefer to use focus groups rather than depth interviews? When might depth interviews be preferable? (explain focus group and depth interview.

Show the difference between the two and when depth interview are more appropriate? ) 10. How would the interpretation of survey results change if the researcher used a probability sample rather than a non-probability sample? Explain your answer. (give the answer based on the comparison of the elements of quantitative and qualitative research designs table 2. 4 page 46) 11. Explain various tools for qualitative research. (depth interview, focus group, discussion guides, projective techniques, metaphor analysis and online focus group) 12. Explain different types of quantitative research. observational research, experimentation and survey research) 13. Briefly explain different data collection instruments for quantitative research. (questionnaires, attitude scales, customer satisfaction measurement) 14. Briefly explain different types of sampling. (table 2. 3 page 45) 15. Why is observation becoming a more important component of consumer research? Describe new technologies that can be used to observe consumption behavior and explain why they are better to use than questioning consumers about the same behavior. (discussion on observational research page 35) 16.

How are market segmentation, targeting and positioning interrelated? Illustrate how these three concepts can be used to develop a marketing strategy for a product of your choice. (explain the three concepts and take example of any product and show how the three concepts are used in marketing the product. ) 17. Apply the five criteria for effective targeting to marketing a product of your choice to college students. (take any product used by collegians and apply the five criteria of targeting – page 56) 18. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using demographics as a basis for segmentation.

Can demographics and psychographics be used together to segment markets? Illustrate your answer with a specific example. (Advantages on page 59. One of the most prominent disadvantage of this market segmentation strategy, which is often cited by its critics, is the one dimensional approach that it follows. In this segmentation strategy, it is usually believed that all the individuals belonging to a particular ‘group’ have same needs – which is not necessarily the case. If an organization is resorting to demographic segmentation alone, it is more likely to be vulnerable to its competitors.

Explain demographic and psychographic segmentation and give examples. Read online articles http://marketance. com/how-to-use-psychographics-to-improve-demographic-market-segmentation/ and http://www. articledashboard. com/Article/Psychographics-VS-Demographics/950328 for combining geographic and psychographic segmentation. Think about some examples) 19. Discuss consumption specific segmentation with appropriate examples. (page 71) 20. How can a marketer for a chain of health clubs use the VALS segmentation profiles to develop an advertising campaign? Which egments should be targeted? How should the health club be positioned to each of these segments? (Answer should be based on VALS model page no. 66) Unit II 21. Discuss the statement “marketers don’t create needs; needs preexist marketers. ” Can marketing efforts change consumers’ needs? Why or why not? Can they arouse consumer needs? If yes, how? (discuss the introductory paragraphs of the chapter. ) 22. Consumers have both innate and acquired needs. Give examples of each kind of need and show how the same purchase can serve to fulfill either or both kind of needs. 23.

Why are consumers’ needs and goals constantly changing? What factors influence the formation of new goals? 24. Explain the model of motivation process. 25. Explain needs and goals and interdependence of needs and goals. 26. Explain different kinds of defense mechanism. 27. Write a note on motivational research. 28. How would you explain the fact that, although no two individuals have identical personalities, personality is sometimes used in consumer research to identify distinct and sizable market segments? (define personality and discuss nature of personality) 29.

Contrast the major characteristics of the following personality theories (a) Freudian theory (b) Neo-Freudian theory and (c) trait theory. In your answer, illustrate how each theory is applied to the understanding of consumer behavior. (explain and differentiate characteristics of all three theories. ) 30. Describe personality trait theory. Give examples of how personality traits can be used in consumer research. 31. Explain consumer innovativeness and related personality traits. (explain consumer innovativeness, dogmatism, social character, need for uniqueness, optimum stimulation level, sensation seeking and variety or novelty seeking. 2. Is there likely to be a difference in personality traits between individuals who readily purchase foreign-made products and those who prefer American made products? How can marketers use the consumer ethnocentrism scale segment consumers? (discuss consumer ethnocentrism page 138) 33. A marketer of health foods is attempting to segment a certain market on the basis of consumer self-image. Describe the four types of consumer self image and discuss with one/ ones that would be most effective for the stated purpose. 34. How does sensory adaptation affect advertising effectiveness?

How can marketers overcome sensory adaptation? (discuss sensation, the absolute threshold, the differential threshold and subliminal perception. ) 35. How do advertisers use contrast to make sure that their ads are noticed? Would the lack of contrast between the ad and the medium in which it appears help or hinder the effectiveness of the ad? (discussion on contrast page no 165) 36. Why are marketers forced to reposition their products or services? Illustrate your answer with examples. (product repositioning and brand repositioning pate 180) Unit III 37.

How does the principles of (a) classical conditioning and (b) instrumental conditioning be applied to the development of marketing strategies? 38. Explain how consumers store, retain and retrieve information? 39. Why are both attitudinal and behavioral measures important in measuring brand loyalty? 40. What is the relationship between brand loyalty and brand equity? What role do these concepts play in development of marketing strategies? 41. How can marketers use measures of recognition and recall to study the extent of consumer learning? (page 221) 42.

Explain how the situational factors are likely to influence the degree of consistency between attitudes and behavior. (what is attitude? Attitudes have consistency and page 235 discussion on attitudes occur within a situation) 43. Explain a person’s attitude towards visiting Disney World in terms of the tricomponent attitude model. 44. Explain how the product manager of a breakfast cereal might change consumer attitudes toward the company’s brand by (a) changing beliefs about the brand (b) changing beliefs about competing brands, (c) changing the relative evaluation of attributes and (d) adding an attribute. strategies of attitude change page 250) 45. Should the marketer of a popular computer graphics program prefer consumers to make internal or external attribution? Explain your answer. (page 260 attribution theory) 46. A college student has just purchased a new personal computer. What factors might cause the student to experience post-purchase dissonance? How might the student try to overcome it? How can the retailer who sold the computer help reduce the student’s dissonance? How can the computer’s manufacturer help? (page 259 cognitive dissonance theory)