CONSUMER ENVIRONMENT
those factors existing independently of individual consumers and firms that influence the exchange process

MARKETING SITUATIONS

• information acquisition
• shopping
• purchasing
• consumption/usage
• disposition

PERSON, SITUATION, PRODUCT INTERACTIONS

Do you like grapes? Peas?

• on your morning cereal?

Do you like oatmeal?

• as a desert after dinner?

When are grapes most likely to be consumed and enjoyed? Peas? Oatmeal?

EXAMPLES OF SITUATIONS / SITUATIONAL INFLUENCES

Information acquisition:

• Watching a TV commercial during a football broadcast at a party in a dorm room at 1:00 p.m. Saturday afternoon

• Watching a TV commercial alone during a zombie movie at 1:00 a.m. Tuesday morning.

Consumption:

• Eating at an expensive restaurant with date at 6:30 p.m. Saturday evening

• Eating at McDonald's at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday morning on the way to work.

Shopping:

• Shopping at the mall for an interview suit.

• Shopping at Salvation Army for a dorm room sofa.

SITUATIONAL INFLUENCES
temporary environmental factors that form the context within which a consumer activity occurs at a particular time and place

a set of factors outside of and removed from the individual consumer

Five environmental/situational influences:

• physical surroundings
• social surroundings
• task definition
• time
• antecedent states

PHYSICAL SURROUNDINGS
the concrete physical and spatial aspects of the environment encompassing a consumer activity

Marketers have control over some of these, such as atmospherics.

Non spatial:

• music
• aroma
• lighting
• noise
• humidity
• weather
• - etc.

• density/crowding
• store location
• store displays
• - etc.

SOCIAL SURROUNDINGS
deal with other persons present who could have an impact on the individual consumer's behavior; the effects of other people on a consumer in a consumer activity

You are in a store looking at personal hygiene products. An attractive classmate of the opposite gender sees you and stops to chat. Would this encounter affect what brand you choose? Would you delay the purchase?

You are walking through the mall and something in the lingerie store looks interesting. Would you stop to further investigate if you are with your best friend? If you are with your mother?

more details when we discuss group influences:

• culture
• subculture
• social class
• reference groups
• family

TASK DEFINITION
reflects the purpose or reason for engaging in the buying or consumption behavior

• shopping for a birthday gift
• shopping for bread and milk
• shopping for an interview outfit
• using a computer at home
• using a computer at work

TIME AND TEMPORAL PERSPECTIVE
deal with the effect of time on consumer behavior

Contrast:

• you have a job interview lined up for next Wednesday and need an interview outfit

• you will be graduating in two years and will need to find an interview outfit before then

ANTECEDENT STATES
features of the individual person that are not lasting or relatively enduring characteristics

Include:

• Momentary moods are such things as temporary states of depression or high excitement. (Moods are transient feeling sates that are not tied to a specific event or object.)

• Momentary conditions are such things as being tired, feeling ill, etc.