Consumer Behavior. Business & Marketing Assignment

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Consumer Behavior
Consumers are crucial players in market exchange. Successful marketers take the necessary steps to gain a clear insight into what influences the decision-making process of consumers, commonly termed as consumer behavior(East et al. 6). Consequently, several models have been developed to help break down the complexity of consumer behavior. The black box model otherwise known as the stimulus-response model is the most common model, which postulates that buyers make decisions by responding to external or internal factors (Kanagal 87). The buyers 'black box,' in this case, represents the buyers' mental process, and the influential factors are either psychological, personal, or social factors. The black box model further outlines the various factors that can act as barriers to the consumer involvement in a market exchange; Motivation, Ability, and Opportunity and thus the MAO framework.
When a consumer lacks the desire to act toward the external or internal stimulus, the consumer is experiencing the motivation barrier. Sometimes the consumer has no proficient skills or adequate funds to participate in market exchange, thus ability becomes the barrier. When there is no favorable environment to participate in a market exchange, the opportunity becomes the barrier. The extent to which consumers encounter these barriers either independently or collectively varies from low to high. When the consumer manages to limit or overcome these barriers, there is a higher chance of involvement unlike when the barriers encountered are high. To overcome the challenges of high and low participation barriers, marketers that employ the MAO framework introduce the aspect of segmenting consumers in order to understand their reasons for choosing products as well as devise appropriate communications. To realize strategic marketing, there are other important aspects of marketing that need to be incorporated segm...