Perceptions and Motivation

The role of perception in consumer behaviour is significant for companies to enhance the sales. Therefore, it is significant for a company to ensure that it offers consumers packaging effectively. Charles (2002) notes that according to Aristotle’s interpretation, “the perception is not a simple, efficient, causal one. Since it essentially involves some technological elements, it allows him to classify perceptual experiences in terms of their causes when (in the ways explained) all is functional well” (p.122). The consumer’s perception process is stimulated by the human sense organs as stated by Aristotle such as vision (eyes), hearing (ears), taste (tongue), touch (skin) and smell (nose) (Wade & Tavris, 1992).

However, in retailing, these five human senses play a significant role for consumers to perceive a commercial environment and has impact of visual cues on consumer behaviour in retail setting such as consumption, purchase quantity or sale (Hultén, 2012). Consumer’s perception occurs when the brain stimulates and processes the product information through its packaging attributes through the five senses in the product evaluation process or to make purchasing decisions depending on frame of reference. Van der Walt (1991) explains consumer perception as that; “Merely seeing or hearing, however, cannot be referred to as perception. Perception is seeing or hearing it in terms of a person’s frame of reference” (p. 296). The frame of reference is based on the consumer’s personality, needs and experiences that shape their beliefs and attitudes which can influence their perceptions.

Snelders & Schoormans (2004) note that abstract attributes of product are used to form perceptions and consumers are able to describe a product using the characteristics and its quality of attributes such as ‘modern’ as opposed to ‘old-fashioned, ‘post-modern’ or ‘classical’. It is significant to the marketers and managers that packaging attributes of giftware design can forming specific perceptions. Consumer perception might also be different according to the social and personal values such as demographic, socio- economic and cultural referents that may influence the process of purchasing decisions which lies within the product image and symbolism (Nwankwo, Hamelin, & Khaled, 2014).

On the other hand, motivation is reflected by both physiological and psychological where consumers fulfil their needs and wants through the purchase and use of products, services, ideas and experiences. Britt (1950) argues that it is significant for marketers to recognise the impelling and compelling force behind the marketplace behaviours and the process of consumer motivation to satisfy needs can be perceived. (Kotler & Keller, 2016) stated that motivation and perception are particularly influenced by several factors. They are:

• Cultural: culture, subculture and social class are significant influences on consumer buying behaviour and determinant of a person’s want and behaviour. The marketers need to understand and find the opportunity for their existing product and new product to fulfil needs and desires. The specific subcultures factors such as nationalities, religions, racial groups and geographic regions provide more specific identification and socialisation for their members. The marketers must also recognise the hierarchical levels who share similar values, interests and behaviour in the form of social classes: lower lowers, upper lowers, working class, middle class, upper

middles, lower uppers and upper uppers. This social members show distinct product and brand preferences in many areas.

• Social: the reference groups, family and social roles and statuses affect consumer buying behaviour. The reference groups have direct and indirect influences on consumer attitudes or behaviour. The membership groups have direct influences, while primary groups (family, friends, neighbours, co-workers) interact fairly and secondary groups (religious, professional, trade-union groups) have less continuous interaction. The marketers should understand that this reference groups influence members in three ways. They expose an individual to new behaviours and lifestyles, they influence attitudes and self-concept and they create pressures for conformity that may affect product and brand choices. Moreover, the direct influence on consumer buying behaviour and motivation is the family of procreation because family members are the most influential groups. The role and statuses is significant to define norms for behaviour because people tend to choose products that reflect and communicate their role or desired status in society. By identifying the demographic and psychographic characteristics, the marketers can influence their behaviour and motivation.

• Personal: the age, lifecycle, occupation, economic circumstances, personality and self-concept and lifestyle; and values have direct impact on consumer buying behaviour. The psychological life-cycle phase is significant where the transformations of experiences change and evolve as they go through life. The consumer’s needs and wants are generally different with different target of age groups. Although they are different in many ways, even sharing the same age groups, the consumers are still sharing their common experiences and values. The marketers

should recognise the consumer critical life events or transitions to fulfil such new needs such as marriage, childbirth, illness, relocation, divorce, first job, career change, retirement and death. Marketers also create the brands through personality because human psychological traits respond to environment stimuli including their purchasing behaviour. Although the consumers are sharing their demographics features such as same age group or gender, however their lifestyles differ from one to the other. The purchasing habits are affected by their lifestyles where they value the products or services they will buy. Also, the marketers must contemplate their brands that reflect consumer’s location and engage with its lifestyle and values as consumer’s living pattern signifies their activities, interests and opinions.

Consumer behaviour can be recognised when the marketers and managers have a deeper understanding of how consumer thinks, feels and acts; and recognise factors that influence its behaviour and attitudes. The consumer’s needs are constantly changing at different times and different consumer groups. Further, consumer behaviour is also influenced by the interactions between other human beings and the behaviour changes when they give up something of value to others and receive something in return.

Consumer’s feeling responses and thinking responses are correlated and occur with little awareness. For instance, sometimes consumer prefers to do online shopping rather than in store. Therefore, the marketing strategy should be designed not only to influence consumers but also to be influenced by them. The marketers set a few influence stimuli factors to attract consumer’s cognition such as affect and behaviour to purchase the product. Affect and cognition is one of the marketing strategies where the company creates a website and provides them information about their brands in order to understand the dynamic of consumer behaviour (Peter and Olson, 2008). They also state

that this strategy is designed based on stimuli factors such as products, brands, packaging, advertisements, coupons, stores, credit cards, price tags, salespeople’s communications, sounds, smells and other sensory cues.

Figure 2.5 Coca Cola advertisement shows the brand offering

Consumer decisions are the underlying attitudes and behaviours and are influenced by basic values. Figure 2.5 shows the marketer can influence consumers by offering desirable value for their brand through packaging. These advertisements refer to physical action where consumers are directly observed and measured by others. Peter and Olson (2008) emphasise that the marketers must develop a few strategies to enhance their influence on consumer’s affective and cognitive responses. Solomon (2013) also explains that a culture of participation, a belief in democracy and free interaction of people are the platform of social media that allows consumers to share and build their own point of view towards a product or a brand. Solomon also argued that social media is a medium to not to create needs but to satisfy the consumer’s needs.

Furthermore, according to Hoyer and MacInnis (2010), consumer behaviour is also driven by motivation that is defined as the arousal of an inner state in achieving goals.

There are a few factors that generated this motivation such as money, their awareness and experience, style of thinking, information complexity, education and age. The motivated reasoning comprises consumer’s enthusiasm of achieving goals by evaluating the product information critically and remembers it in processing information and making decisions through packaging and its attributes. The marketers are interested in understanding consumer purchase behaviour in purchasing products or services and their processing information that affects their motivations in decision- making. The consumer’s motivations in making decisions are affected by their personal relevance, needs, consistency with self-concept, beliefs and values. Hoyer & MacInnis (2010) also argue that these factors develop when there is a motivation that is perceived as personal relevance and has some concern that has a direct attitude on the self and important implication for their lives.

According to Jacoby & Chestnut (1978), the brand company is only interested in selling more products with affordable price so that the consumers can purchase the products repeatedly. The number of frequent consumers purchase the products is the long-term profitability success of that particular brand rather than one-time purchase only. The brand manager always seeks for the ‘constant process’ of purchasing where it only happens when the consumer purchases the products or services. The repetition of purchasing behaviour of the same brand by the same purchaser is the significance of brand loyalty.

In contrast, according to Evans, Jamal, & Foxall (2009), consumer behaviour is heavily influenced by their social groups where all decisions made within the environment of the family and their interaction with others are affected by the desires and attitudes of members of social groups. The social group can provide settings and influence a

person’s behaviour described as ‘reference groups’. The ‘reference groups’ are really important aspects of consumer behaviour because the consumer use reference group as sources of attitudes, beliefs, values and behaviours. Evans et al. (2009) outline that there are three types of reference groups as shown in Table 2.3.

REFERENCE GROUPS

EXAMPLES

Aspirational A group would like to compare themselves with an individual like their

attitudes, behaviour and performance. Popular sport celebrities like David Beckham, Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods are examples of consumers adopting the norms and behaviour as their own.

Associative A group that inspires an individual to fit in the surrounding

environment such as people who have more accurate inference by watching the behaviour of others including friends, neighbours and co- workers.

Dissociative A group that avoids adopting behaviours, beliefs and values as their

own; for instance, they would not like to be like a famous celebrity having a very bad public image.

Table 2.3 Reference groups that affect consumer behaviour by Evans et al., (2009)

These reference groups result in implications for marketing strategy process where the interaction between consumer and social media determines how each member of the group is perceived by others and bound by the norms, attitudes and values together over time. Booth and Matic (2011) argue that;

“Through social networks, blogs and videos, consumers are entrenched in the dissemination of information. Long gone are the days when media would communicate a brand’s message to consumers. Consumers are now the individuals broadcasting personal or second-hand stories to their social networks and the world” (p. 185).

Alternatively, Foxall, (1990) also argue that product and person also influence the nature of purchase and consumption behaviours. According Holbrook and Hirschman

(1982) “the aspect of purchase and consumption behaviour are reinforced by feelings, fun, fantasies, amusement, arousal, sensory stimulation and enjoyment” (as cited in Foxall, 1990).

Figure 2.6 Consumer behaviour model

Motivation is a crucial point in consumer purchase decision-making process where it is related to the fulfilling of their expectations, needs and wants. Therefore, the marketers should understand that some needs are biogenic (arise from physiological states of tension such as hunger, thirst or discomfort) and psychogenic (arise from physiological states of tension such as the need for recognition, esteem or belonging). These needs arise and are stimulated before it becomes motive. Motive can be defined as a drive or urge and creates desires or wants for which an individual seeks satisfaction by purchasing the products or services. There are four key psychological processes that consumer use to search, select and use products or services to satisfy their needs shown in Figure 2.6 (as cited in Kotler & Keller, 2016). This model helps the marketers to understand consumer needs and contributes actively in the product development process. The consumer buying decision process passes through five stages: problem

recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision and post- purchase behaviour. This model builds a deeper basic understanding of the characteristics of an individual such ad demographics and behavioural variables in fulfilling their needs through packaging attributes.