MRKT19031 Term 1: Analysis of Consumer Behaviour in Vehicle Choices

This report presents an analysis of consumer behaviour in the context of motor vehicle purchases, drawing on survey questionnaires from three respondents. It begins by applying the compensatory decision rule to determine the vehicle each respondent would likely choose based on their stated preferences and the importance they assign to various features. The analysis then compares these calculated choices with the respondents' actual choices, providing explanations for any discrepancies. The report delves into the psychological factors influencing consumer behaviour, including demographics (age, gender, family) and personality traits, to understand the rationale behind the respondents' preferences. Finally, the report offers marketing recommendations to the manufacturer of the Toyota Hilux SR 4x2 Hi-Rider Extra-Cab Pick-Up, focusing on identifying the product's most likely customer characteristics and suggesting how to leverage memory and learning theories to attract this target demographic.

Running Head: Marketing Consumer Behaviour
Marketing
Marketing Consumer Behaviour
Student Name

Marketing Consumer Behaviour
Executive Summary
This report provides an analysis of Marketing Consumer Behaviour using the survey
questionnaires of respondent 1, 2 and 5. These survey questionnaires are based on their
purchase decision about six motor vehicle options. According to the compensatory decision
rule, the vehicle of choice for respondent 1, 2 and 5 is Toyota Camry Ascent Sport, Toyota
Yaris ZR and Toyota Hilux SR 4x2 Hi-Rider Extra-Cab Pick-Up respectively. The actual
choice of these customers and the likeliest choice according to the compensatory decision
rule are same. The report analysed the marketing behaviour of these respondents using the
personality and demographics theories. The respondent-1 is a female student from India that
led her to give a high score to comfort, features and ease of use factors. The respondent 1 is
influenced by the aesthetics rather than technical features. The respondent 2 is a young
medical professional with not much disposable income. So, his professional mentality,
influence of family on vehicle purchase decision and income may have influenced his
purchase decisions. The respondent 5 is a well settled adult having three kids so his purchase
decisions are influenced by his occupation that requires tools/equipment and by his family
size/situation. The report explains the marketer of the vehicle- “Toyota Hilux SR 4x2 Hi-
Rider Extra-Cab Pick-Up” about his customer’s likeliest characteristics. It also recommends
how memory and learning theories can be used to attract the target customers.

Marketing Consumer Behaviour
Contents
1) Introduction.........................................................................................................................1
2) Application of compensatory decision rule........................................................................2
3) Analysis of Behaviour........................................................................................................6
3.1. Respondent-1...................................................................................................................6
3.2. Respondent-2...................................................................................................................6
3.3. Respondent-5...................................................................................................................7
4) Recommendations...............................................................................................................9
4.1. Characteristics of the likeliest customers of Toyota Hilux SR 4x2 Hi-Rider Extra-Cab
Pick-Up:..................................................................................................................................9
4.2. Application of theories of learning and memory by marketers to attract above
customers:...............................................................................................................................9
5) Conclusion........................................................................................................................11
6) References.........................................................................................................................12

Marketing Consumer Behaviour
1) Introduction
This report provides an analysis of Marketing Consumer Behaviour. The report uses the
questionnaires of three respondents regarding their purchase decision about six motor vehicle
options. The purchase decisions of individuals depend upon various factors and this report
analyse those factors. Report finds the vehicle option that a respondent will choose by using
compensatory decision rule. The report uses score given by the respondent to evaluation
criteria and ratings given to these factors for each of the six products to calculate total score
according to this rule. Then it compares this choice with the actual choice of the respondent.
The report also analyse the behaviour of these respondents. It explains the reasons behind the
assigned score/ratings of each respondent to the evaluative criteria and the difference between
their actual choices of vehicle. The report uses theories of demographics (age, gender, family,
ethnicity etc.) and personality to explain these differences. Finally, the report makes
marketing recommendations to the marketer of one motor vehicle from the questionnaire
regarding the characteristics of the product’s likeliest customers. The report also recommends
the manner in which theories of learning and memory (Classical conditioning, Operant
conditioning, cognitive learning and memory) can be used to attract these customers.
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Marketing Consumer Behaviour
2) Application of compensatory decision rule
Three target questionnaires for the analysis of marketing consumer behaviour are surveys
questionnaires of respondent-1, respondent-2 and respondent-5.
Compensatory decision rule is one of the methods used by consumers to evaluate product
alternatives. The basic idea is to trade off certain characteristics with other so as to
compensate bad characteristics with the good ones. The given questionnaires are regarding
the motor vehicle purchase decision. There are various important product features for each of
the motor vehicle and what further makes this decision more complex is value conflict that
some alternatives can be attractive on some features and others on some other features. A
linear weighted additive model can be used to apply compensatory decision rule. It involves,
assigning the score out of 100 to each of the product feature depending upon the relative
importance of each feature/criterion. Then ranking these evaluative criterions for all the
alternatives and calculating a weighted score for each of the choice by summing the
multiplication of the rankings and scores of all the criterions for each product (Gudigantala,
2014).
The following table shows the Evaluative-Criteria and the Importance-Score for these
criterions given by the respondents.
Evaluative-Criteria Importance-Score
Respondent-1 Respondent-2 Respondent-5
Choice of petrol/diesel/hybrid engine 10 5 5
Number of seats available 30 10 20
Multiple systems to alert driver such as
Pre-Collision Safety System, Lane
Departure Alert and Automatic High
Beam
10 50 5
Smart start and entry system 30 5 5
Engine capacity 5 10 30
Size of touchscreen display 5 10 5
Storage inside the car 10 10 30
Total 100 100 100
The following table shows ranking given by the respondents to each of the evaluative
criterion for different products.
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Marketing Consumer Behaviour
Evaluative-Criteria
Products
Toyota
Hilux SR
4x2 Hi-
Rider
Extra-Cab
Pick-Up
Toyota
Prius vi-
Tech
Toyota
Camry
Ascent
Sport
Toyota
C-HR
AWD
Toyota
Kluger
AWD
GXL
Toyota
Yaris ZR
Respondent-1
Choice of
petrol/diesel/hybrid
engine
2 3 4 1 1 1
Number of seats
available
4 5 5 4 5 5
Multiple systems to
alert driver such as
Pre-Collision
Safety System,
Lane Departure
Alert and
Automatic High
Beam
3 2 1 5 2 4
Smart start and
entry system
1 1 1 1 5 1
Engine capacity 5 1 1 1 1 1
Size of touchscreen
display
3 1 1 1 1 1
Storage inside the
car
3 1 1 3 3 2
Respondent-2
Choice of
petrol/diesel/hybrid
engine
2 1 5 2 1 1
Number of seats
available
3 5 5 3 5 5
Multiple systems to
alert driver such as
Pre-Collision
Safety System,
Lane Departure
Alert and
Automatic High
Beam
2 2 1 5 1 5
Smart start and 1 3 5 1 5 1
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Marketing Consumer Behaviour
entry system
Engine capacity 4 1 4 1 1 1
Size of touchscreen
display
4 1 1 1 1 3
Storage inside the
car
1 3 4 3 3 2
Respondent-5
Choice of
petrol/diesel/hybrid
engine
2 3 4 1 1 1
Number of seats
available
4 5 5 4 5 5
Multiple systems to
alert driver such as
Pre-Collision
Safety System,
Lane Departure
Alert and
Automatic High
Beam
3 2 1 5 2 4
Smart start and
entry system
1 1 1 1 5 1
Engine capacity 5 1 1 1 1 1
Size of touchscreen
display
3 1 1 1 1 1
Storage inside the
car
3 1 1 3 3 2
The following table shows the rank weighted sum of the evaluative criteria for each of the
product for different respondents.
Respondent-1
Toyota Hilux
SR 4x2 Hi-
Rider Extra-
Cab Pick-Up
Toyota Prius
vi-Tech
Toyota
Camry
Ascent Sport
Toyota C-HR
AWD
Toyota
Kluger AWD
GXL
Toyota Yaris
ZR
10*1+30*2+
10*1+30*1+
5*5+5*3+10
*4
10*3+30*4+
10*2+30*1+
5*1+5*1+10
*4
10*5+30*4+
10*3+30*5+
5*3+5*5+10
*4
10*1+30*4+
10*5+30*1+
5*1+5*1+10
*5
10*1+30*5+
10*2+30*4+
5*1+5*1+10
*4
10*1+30*4+
10*3+30*1+
5*2+5*3+10
*1
190 250 430 270 380 225
Respondent-2
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Marketing Consumer Behaviour
Toyota Hilux
SR 4x2 Hi-
Rider Extra-
Cab Pick-Up
Toyota Prius
vi-Tech
Toyota
Camry
Ascent Sport
Toyota C-HR
AWD
Toyota
Kluger AWD
GXL
Toyota Yaris
ZR
5*2+10*3+5
0*2+5*1+10
*4+10*4+10
*1
5*1+10*5+5
0*2+5*3+10
*1+10*1+10
*3
5*5+10*5+5
0*1+5*5+10
*4+10*1+10
*4
5*2+10*3+5
0*5+5*1+10
*1+10*1+10
*3
5*1+10*5+5
0*1+5*5+10
*1+10*1+10
*3
5*1+10*5+5
0*5+5*1+10
*1+10*3+10
*2
235 220 240 345 180 370
Respondent-5
Toyota Hilux
SR 4x2 Hi-
Rider Extra-
Cab Pick-Up
Toyota Prius
vi-Tech
Toyota
Camry
Ascent Sport
Toyota C-HR
AWD
Toyota
Kluger AWD
GXL
Toyota Yaris
ZR
5*2+20*4+5
*3+5*1+30*
5+5*3+30*3
5*3+20*5+5
*2+5*1+30*
1+5*1+30*1
5*4+20*5+5
*1+5*1+30*
1+5*1+30*1
5*1+20*4+5
*5+5*1+30*
1+5*1+30*3
5*1+20*5+5
*2+5*5+30*
1+5*1+30*3
5*1+20*5+5
*4+5*1+30*
1+5*1+30*2
365 195 195 240 265 225
The following table shows the motor-vehicle option the respondent will choose according to
compensatory decision rule.
Respondent-1 Toyota Camry Ascent Sport
Respondent-2 Toyota Yaris ZR
Respondent-5 Toyota Hilux SR 4x2 Hi-Rider Extra-Cab Pick-Up
The following table shows the motor-vehicle the respondent would have actually chosen out
of the different product options.
Respondent-1 Toyota Camry Ascent Sport
Respondent-2 Toyota Yaris ZR
Respondent-5 Toyota Hilux SR 4x2 Hi-Rider Extra-Cab Pick-Up
Both the actual choice and the choice according to compensatory decision rule are same for
all the three respondents.
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Marketing Consumer Behaviour
3) Analysis of Behaviour
According to Bakshi (2012), various factors which can influence the consumer behaviour
while making a purchase decision are income, age, gender, education, lifestyle, occupation,
family, culture/ethnicity etc.
3.1. Respondent-1
According to Srinivas (2017), women gives lot of importance to interior comforts and close
to 30% of women have easy enter/exit as a first preference on interior comforts. This can be
seen in respondent 1 decision of giving score of 30 to the Smart start and entry system.
Women are influenced more with the safety and comfort features (Jayakrishnan & Aruna,
2019). The Indian young adults live with their parents and travel together. It is also
mentioned in the questionnaire that respondent’s purchase decision is influenced by the
family. So, that might have led the respondent to give the high score of 30 to the number of
seats available.
A low score of 5 is given to the other technical aspects like engine capacity as students may
not give much importance to the technical stuff but concentrate more upon the shape and
features of the vehicle. Rest of the factors were given average scores.
According to (Muniady, Al-Mamun, Permarupan & Zainol, 2014), purchase decision of
students depends mostly upon their personality in comparison to their economic condition.
According to the questionnaire, the respondent is extrovert and adventurous. So, this may
have influenced the actual choice “Toyota Camry Ascent Sport” as this vehicle has sporty
build and features. Kowang et al. (2018) also suggested the same that consumer behaviour of
young undergraduates is impacted by the aesthetics of the car and not much influenced by the
pricing factor.
3.2. Respondent-2
According to Khaniwale (2015), there is significant impact of the individual’s occupation on
his buying decision. The consumers generally select items which are suited to their profession
and they prefer the product features according to their professional mentality and general
personality. Respondent is from medical profession and works as a nurse so it might have led
him to give high score of 50 to the safety features regarding multiple systems to alert driver
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Marketing Consumer Behaviour
such as Pre-Collision Safety System, Lane Departure Alert and Automatic High Beam. He
has given low score of 5 to the technical features like Choice of engine as he is not from
technical background. It is mentioned in the questionnaire that his dad plays a role in motor
vehicle purchase decision and that might have led him to give low score of 5 to fancy features
like Smart start and entry system. The score given to all the other factors is average.
Europeans give lot of preference to vehicle safety and respondent has mentioned himself as
careful and efficient. So, his ethnicity and personality could have influenced his actual choice
of Toyota Yaris ZR as the car does not have much fancy features but it has good safety
features along with optional Toyota Safety Sense including Pre-Collision Safety System
(PCS), Lane Departure Alert (LDA) and Automatic High Beam (AHB). Product pricing can
also be one of the factors impacting his choice as he is a young professional and his
household income of $50,000 consists only of his own income. He might also have some
outstanding student loans. So, the disposable income after meeting his expenses may not be
that much and which would have made this car a suitable choice at price of $ $21,786.
3.3. Respondent-5
Respondent 5 has given high score of 30 to the Engine capacity and Storage inside the car.
The factors responsible for it can be the suitability of the vehicle to the consumer’s
occupation and the size of consumer’s family. The respondent is plasterer and may require
carrying heavy equipment in his car so this may have led him to give importance to the
engine capacity and car storage (Khaniwale, 2015). He has custodial access to his three
children every second weekend so he might need good seating capacity and storage capacity
in his vehicle. That may have caused him to give score of 20 to the Number of seats available
feature (Deloitte, 2014). He has given low score to all other factors as they may not be
important for him.
His actual choice of “Toyota Hilux SR 4x2 Hi-Rider Extra-Cab Pick-Up” may be influenced
by his occupation as this vehicle has nice space to carry equipment and other stuff. The
vehicle has high safety rating and it also has other features like 7" colour touchscreen display
with Toyota Link, USB/AUX input, Voice Recognition and Bluetooth® connectivity and
12V accessory socket. These features may be suitable for the respondent as they will help
entertain his 3 children. The factor responsible for favouring vehicle with such features can
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Marketing Consumer Behaviour
be the influencing power of children in the family purchase decisions of various product
categories (Kiriinya, 2014).
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Marketing Consumer Behaviour
4) Recommendations
4.1. Characteristics of the likeliest customers of Toyota Hilux SR 4x2 Hi-Rider
Extra-Cab Pick-Up:
Gender/Age/Background Male customers who are well settled, who have basic technical
knowledge and who pay attention to the features and technical
aspects of the vehicle
Occupation Occupation- Builders, Construction workers, Repair
workers/servicemen, Plasterers, Painters, etc. who require to carry
some tools and equipment
Family Customers with family/children, who needs nice sitting space with
appropriate storage space
Personality/Lifestyle Outgoing and socially confident customers who like to go on
outings and adventurous trips
4.2. Application of theories of learning and memory by marketers to attract
above customers:
Classical conditioning: This theory explains learning by the association of a particular thing
(potent unconditional stimulus) with another (neutral conditional stimulus) over a period of
time (Asiegbu, Daubry & Iruka, 2012). Marketers can use this by giving advertisements in
which they show people of above profession- builders, plasterers, painters etc. using this
vehicle and by showing how conveniently storage space can be used for the professional as
well as personal use. They can use banners showing happy family and use of this vehicle for
family trips. They can also use celebrity advertisements as customers have attachment and
love for the celebrities. The celebrity in the same age group as target customers can be shown
working in the same profession and using this vehicle. By doing this marketers can elicit the
desired response from above customers as they will begin to associate this vehicle with both
the things they love- their profession and celebrities (Tsai, 2012).
Operant conditioning: It looks at how people learn from the consequences or results of their
action/decision or use of something. If result is positive then they will repeat these
actions/decisions and vice-versa. So, marketers can provide free test drives to such customers
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Marketing Consumer Behaviour
for longer duration so that they can feel the benefits of the features and technical aspects of
this vehicle and which will increase their chances of making this purchase. Marketers can
also plan rallies/trips for above customers using this vehicle so that customers can
acknowledge the positive sides of this vehicle and this positive reinforcement will attract
them more towards the vehicle. Other type of positive reinforcement can be via special
discounts for these professionals, vehicle paint protection for 5 years, etc.
Cognitive learning: This tells how people acquire knowledge by cognitive process.
Customers can learn by experiencing, listening, watching or reading about the product and
then processing and remembering this information. Marketers can use this theory by
informing these target customers about the vehicle by distributing soft and hard copies of the
product presentation. They can also hold events to explain the features, details and
advantages of this vehicle so that these customers can get to know the vehicle in detail and
which can further influence their purchase decision.
Memory: Memory is related with the storage of learning and knowledge and how this
knowledge is retrieved and represented. The information stored in the memory can be
received via relevant triggers. Generally, the information stored in the long-term memory
stays there but it is difficult to retrieve this information without appropriate triggers/cues.
Marketers can use cues via advertisements to make the target consumers remember their past
experiences to attract them more towards this vehicle. For example, marketers can make
advertisement showing how a young painter/builder is using this vehicle for his profession
and how this vehicle is helping him. This will ignite the feeling of nostalgia in the
experienced customers and this pleasant feeling will increase their chances of making this
purchase.
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Marketing Consumer Behaviour
5) Conclusion
This report analysed Marketing Consumer Behaviour using the survey questionnaires of
respondent 1, 2 and 5. These survey questionnaires are based on their purchase decision about
six motor vehicle options. The report used compensatory decision rule to find the vehicle of
choice for these respondents. The likeliest vehicle according to this rule for respondent 1, 2
and 5 is Toyota Camry Ascent Sport, Toyota Yaris ZR and Toyota Hilux SR 4x2 Hi-Rider
Extra-Cab Pick-Up respectively. This is same as the actual choice of these customers. The
report analysed the marketing behaviour of these respondents using the theories of
demographics and personality. The respondent 1 is a female student from India and her
purchase decision is influenced by her gender, ethnicity and qualification. The respondent 2
is a young medical professional with not much disposable income and his professional
mentality, influence of family on vehicle purchase decision and income have influenced his
purchase decisions. The respondent 5 is well settled men having three kids and working as a
professional so his purchase decisions are influenced by his occupation that requires carrying
tools/equipment and by his family size/situation that requires appropriate seat and storage
capacity. The report recommended the marketer of Toyota Hilux SR 4x2 Hi-Rider Extra-Cab
Pick-Up about the likeliest characteristics of his customers and how the theories of learning
and memory can be used to attract the target customers.
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Marketing Consumer Behaviour
6) References
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