MBA404: Consumer Behavior and Marketing Psychology - FMCG Analysis

This project provides an analysis of consumer behavior and marketing psychology within the context of Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), specifically focusing on the purchase of packaged biscuits. It applies the 5-step Consumer Decision Making Process model to understand the factors influencing a consumer's purchase. The steps include problem recognition (need for a snack or accompaniment to a beverage), information gathering (comparing biscuit options in a supermarket), alternative evaluation (considering factors like quality, price, and flavor), the purchase decision (influenced by taste preference, emotional connection, and in-store display), and post-purchase behavior (evaluating satisfaction and product quality). The project emphasizes the importance of this model for marketers in building and maintaining relationships with customers, especially in the competitive FMCG market, and suggests strategies like feedback collection and guarantees to address potential cognitive dissonance after the purchase.

Running head: CONSUMER BEHAVIOR AND MARKETING PSYCHOLOGY
Consumer Behavior and Marketing Psychology
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s note

1CONSUMER BEHAVIOR AND MARKETING PSYCHOLOGY
Any business organisation has a concrete marketing strategy, with the help of which the
company establishes the brand and the product to the customers. In the process of marketing
understanding the needs and requirements of the customers play an important role so that they
are offered products or services based on their preference. Some of the long term goal of any
organisation is to retain the customers with providing them with satisfaction, by focusing on their
needs. In this video the concept of consumer behaviour and marketing psychology will be
discussed of an FMCG product. In the process the 5-step Consumer Decision Making Process
model will be discussed step by step to understand what led to the purchase of the goods. The
products that are taken are biscuits to explain the concept is packaged biscuits.
Let’s begin by defining consumer behaviour, it is the process by which consumer make
purchase decisions not only that post purchase behaviour is also a part of the concept. The way
the product is used and disposed.
Moving on to the 5-step Consumer Decision Making Process

2CONSUMER BEHAVIOR AND MARKETING PSYCHOLOGY
Step 1: Problem Recognition
Also known as need recognition, the process of making a decision to buy or to avail a
product or a service depends upon the need of the item (Solomon et al. 2014). The desire to fulfil
the need or to solve a problem with the help of the product or service explains the first state. In
the case of purchasing a simple item like Biscuits is based on the need to accompany something
with a hot beverage like tea or coffee, or simply because one likes the taste of it, a person can
also munch on biscuits because they treat it like a snack when they are hungry. This is the factor
which helps in building the brand image, in the minds of the customer the solution should be the
brand to the need of the customer (Marriott, Williams and Dwivedi 2017).

3CONSUMER BEHAVIOR AND MARKETING PSYCHOLOGY
Step 2: Gathering information
Think of the day when one visits a supermarket and then sees an array of biscuits in
display (Juster 2015). What one does is that he goes around the isle looking for the most suitable
product for the need or the solution to his discomfort. People check the ingredients, for example
a person who is looking for a healthy option will look for a biscuit that is gluten free in order to
do that he or she will go through the ingredients list this is the second stage of buying (Alvarez-
Jubete, Arendt and Gallagher 2010). Another instance can be when information regarding a
product is discussed among the common people, for example if a person is looking forward to
buy biscuits that has dry fruit and is of good quality and hears good review or reads a good
review of a brand that caters to these aspects
Step 3: Alternative Evaluation
There is a list of requirements that has to be met in order for a person to end up buying a
product or service. There are a number of options which may cater to these requirement thus this
step is crucial. From the perspective of a marketer, the company has to understand the list that
the customer have and has to stand out in order to increase the sales of the product or service

4CONSUMER BEHAVIOR AND MARKETING PSYCHOLOGY
(Meesala and Paul 2018). A business organisation operates in a competitive industry and in order
to stand out from the crowd a strategy for gaining an edge over the competition is important.
There are a number of factors that help the customer to choose from the options that are
available. In the case of an FMCG product like biscuits these factors may be the quality, price,
taste, flavour, brand preference etc.
Step 4: Purchase
This stage is where the transaction takes place all the steps that are discussed above are
concluded with the purchase of an item or a service. Here from a consumer’s perspective he or
she is aware of the need that they have and act upon it in order to avail the solution to the
problem. The purchase decision that has been made is based on logical reasoning, emotional
attachment and persuasion from the marketing or advertising of the brand or is based on the
combination of all the three aspects (Kasiri et al. 2017). In the case of buying a pack of biscuits,
the buyers visits a store with intention to buy groceries and biscuits are a part of it, he moves to
the biscuit and isle and an array of various brands are displayed he picks out Arnott’s Tim Tam
in various flavour as he knows that his kids enjoys these the most. Preference of taste, emotional
connection and display in the store are all together responsible for the purchase decision
(Dissanayake and Brown 2018).

5CONSUMER BEHAVIOR AND MARKETING PSYCHOLOGY
Step 5: Post-Purchase behaviour
The last step in the model is the perception or the cognitive dissonance that the customer
goes through after the biscuits are purchased. The customer analyses the product on the basis of
some of the factors such as usefulness, the degree of satisfaction delivered, the value of the
purchase in terms of the fulfilment of the requirement etc. With the help of some of the
marketing techniques brands try to bridge these gaps in order to build a valuable relationship
with the customer (Grewal, Roggeveen and Nordfält 2017). Taking feedbacks, providing
guarantees and warranties, giving out some free goodies etc are some of the marketing
techniques used by the brands. For example, if the kids open a pack of Tim Tam and find it
broken and crumbled instead of the nice sandwich looking biscuits there are chances that they
will be disappointed and quickly ask the parents to get something else.
We can conclude this video with the note that the concept of consumer behaviour and the
model of the 5 steps are very essential for the marketers to ensure that there is a constant
understanding and relation in between the brand and its customers. In case of FMCG products
the intense competition makes it even challenging for the brands to develop strategies to stand
out and retain as well as gain new customers.

6CONSUMER BEHAVIOR AND MARKETING PSYCHOLOGY

7CONSUMER BEHAVIOR AND MARKETING PSYCHOLOGY
Bibliography
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