How to Transpose Table A1: J5 to Table A6: E15?
Best Answer -
1) Select the range A1:J5
2) Right-click and select Copy
3) Right-click on A6 and select Paste Special
4) In the Paste Special window select Transpose (bottom right) and press OK
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Without knowing exactly how you wish to 'transpose' the range A1:J5 into A6:E15, here is one method using a BeforeDoubleClick event handler. It is assumed that you wish to 'move' the data, so after the 'transpose', range A1:J5 will be cleared.
Copy the following code to the clipboard (highlight the entire code, right click inside the code, and 'Copy').
Private Sub Worksheet_BeforeDoubleClick(ByVal Target As Range, _
Cancel As Boolean)
Dim i, j, k
For i = 6 To 15
For j = 1 To 5
For k = 1 To 10
Cells(i, j).Value = Cells(j, k).Value
Next k
Next j
Next i
Range("A1:J5").ClearContents
Target.Offset(0, 1).Select
End Sub
Select the worksheet containing the data you wish to transpose and right click the sheet tab at the bottom.
Select 'View Code'.
Paste the event handler into the white editing area to the right.
Close the VBE.
Double click any cell to transpose the data.
Here is the manner in which the data will be 'moved'. Assume you have the numbers 1-5 in range A1:J5, arranged with the 1's in row one, the 2's in row two, the 3's in row three, etc.
After the event handler runs, the 1's will be in column A, the 2's in column B, the 3's in column C, etc. If this is not the manner in which you wish the data to read, please advise.
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Monday, January 30, 2012
Why Consumer Buy
Why Consumers Buy
As we discussed in the What is Marketing? tutorial, customers make purchases in order to satisfy needs. Some of these needs are basic and must be filled by everyone on the planet (e.g., food, shelter) while others are not required for basic survival and vary depending on the person. It probably makes more sense to classify needs that are not a necessity as wants or desires. In fact, in many countries where the standard of living is very high, a large portion of the population’s income is spent on wants and desires rather than on basic needs.
In this tutorial when we mention the consumer we are referring to the actual buyer, the person spending the money. But is should also be pointed out that the one who does the buying is not necessarily the user of what is bought and that others may be involved in the buying decision in addition to the actual buyer. While the purchasing process in the consumer market is not as complex as the business market, having multiple people involved in a purchase decision is not unusual. For example, in planning for a family vacation the mother may make the hotel reservations but others in the family may have input on the hotel choice. Similarly, a father may purchase snacks at the grocery store but his young child may be the one who selected it from the store shelf.
So understanding consumer purchase behavior involves not only understanding how decisions are made but also understanding the dynamics that influence purchases.
What Influences Purchasing
As we discussed the decision-making process for consumers is anything but straight forward. There are many factors that can affect this process as a person works through the purchase decision. The number of potential influences on consumer behavior is limitless. However, marketers are well served to understand the KEY influences. By doing so they may be in a position to tailor their marketing efforts to take advantage of these influences in a way that will satisfy the consumer and the marketer (remember this is a key part of the definition of marketing).
For the purposes of this tutorial we will break these influences down into three main categories: Internal, External and Marketing. However, those interested in learning more about customer buying activity may want to consult one or more consumer behavior books where they will find additional methods for explaining consumer buying behavior.
For the most part the influences are not mutually exclusive. Instead, they are all interconnected and, as we will see, work together to form who we are and how we behave.
For each of the influences that are discussed we will provide a basic description and also suggest its implication to marketers. Bear in mind we only provide a few marketing implications for each influence; clearly there are many more.
Internal Influences: Perceptual Filter
We start our examination of the influences on consumer purchase decisions by first looking inside ourselves to see which are the most important internal factors that affect how we make choices.
Perceptual Filter
Perception is how we see ourselves and the world we live in. However, what ends up being stored inside us doesn’t always get there in a direct manner. Often our mental makeup results from information that has been consciously or subconsciously filtered as we experience it, a process we refer to as a perceptual filter. To us this is our reality, though it does not mean it is an accurate reflection on what is real. Thus, perception is the way we filter stimuli (e.g., someone talking to us, reading a newspaper story) and then make sense out of it.
Perception has several steps.
• Exposure – sensing a stimuli (e.g. seeing an ad)
• Attention – an effort to recognize the nature of a stimuli (e.g. recognizing it is an ad)
• Awareness – assigning meaning to a stimuli (e.g., humorous ad for particular product)
• Retention – adding the meaning to one’s internal makeup (i.e., product has fun ads)
How these steps are eventually carried out depends on a person’s approach to learning. By learning we mean how someone changes what they know, which in turn may affect how they act. There are many theories of learning, a discussion of which is beyond the scope of this tutorial, however, suffice to say that people are likely to learn in different ways. For instance, one person may be able to focus very strongly on a certain advertisement and be able to retain the information after being exposed only one time while another person may need to be exposed to the same advertisement many times before he/she even recognizes what it is. Consumers are also more likely to retain information if a person has a strong interest in the stimuli. If a person is in need of new car they are more likely to pay attention to a new advertisement for a car while someone who does not need a car may need to see the advertisement many times before they recognize the brand of automobile.
Marketing Implications:
Marketers spend large sums of money in an attempt to get customers to have a positive impression of their products. But clearly the existence of a perceptual filter suggests that getting to this stage is not easy. Exposing consumers to a product can be very challenging considering the amount of competing product messages (ads) that are also trying to accomplish the same objective (i.e., advertising clutter). So marketers must be creative and use various means to deliver their message. Once the message reaches consumer it must be interesting enough to capture their attention (e.g., talk about the product’s benefits). But attending to the message is not enough. For marketers the most critical step is the one that occurs with awareness. Here marketers must continually monitor and respond if their message becomes distorted in ways that will negatively shape its meaning. This can often happen due in part to competitive activity (e.g., comparison advertisements). Finally, getting the consumer to give positive meaning to the message they have retained requires the marketer make sure that consumers accurately interpret the facts about the product
Internal Influences: Knowledge
Knowledge is the sum of all information known by a person. It is the facts of the world as he/she knows it and the depth of knowledge is a function of the breadth of worldly experiences and the strength of an individual’s long-term memory. Obviously what exists as knowledge to an individual depends on how an individual’s perceptual filter makes sense of the information it is exposed to.
Marketing Implications:
Marketers may conduct research that will gauge consumers’ level of knowledge regarding their product. As we will see below, it is likely that other factors influencing consumer behavior are in large part shaped by what is known about a product. Thus, developing methods (e.g., incentives) to encourage consumers to accept more information (or correct information) may affect other influencing factors.
Internal Influences: Attitude
In simple terms attitude refers to what a person feels or believes about something. Additionally, attitude may be reflected in how an individual acts based on his or her beliefs. Once formed, attitudes can be very difficult to change. Thus, if a consumer has a negative attitude toward a particular issue it will take considerable effort to change what they believe to be true.
Marketing Implications:
Marketers facing consumers who have a negative attitude toward their product must work to identify the key issues shaping a consumer’s attitude then adjust marketing decisions (e.g., advertising) in an effort to change the attitude. For companies competing against strong rivals to whom loyal consumers exhibit a positive attitude, an important strategy is to work to see why consumers feel positive toward the competitor and then try to meet or beat the competitor on these issues. Alternatively, a company can try to locate customers who feel negatively toward the competitor and then increase awareness among this group.
Internal Influences: Personality
An individual’s personality relates to perceived personal characteristics that are consistently exhibited, especially when one acts in the presence of others. In most, but not all, cases the behaviors one projects in a situation is similar to the behaviors a person exhibits in another situation. In this way personality is the sum of sensory experiences others get from experiencing a person (i.e., how one talks, reacts). While one’s personality is often interpreted by those we interact with, the person has their own vision of their personality, called Self Concept, which may or may not be the same has how others view us.
Marketing Implications:
For marketers it is important to know that consumers make purchase decisions to support their self concept. Using research techniques to identify how customers view themselves may give marketers insight into products and promotion options that are not readily apparent. For example, when examining consumers a marketer may initially build marketing strategy around more obvious clues to consumption behavior, such as consumer’s demographic indicators (e.g., age, occupation, income). However, in-depth research may yield information that shows consumers are purchasing products to fulfill self-concept objectives that have little to do with the demographic category they fall into (e.g., senior citizen may be making purchases that make them feel younger). Appealing to the consumer’s self concept needs could expand the market to which the product is targeted.
Internal Influences: Lifestyle
This influencing factor relates to the way we live through the activities we engage in and interests we express. In simple terms it is what we value out of life. Lifestyle is often determined by how we spend our time and money.
Marketing Implications:
Products and services are purchased to support consumers’ lifestyles. Marketers have worked hard researching how consumers in their target markets live their lives since this information is key to developing products, suggesting promotional strategies and even determining how best to distribute products. The fact that lifestyle is so directly tied to marketing activity will be further examined as we discuss developing target market strategies (See Targeting Markets) tutorial.
Internal Influences: Motivation
Motivation relates to our desire to achieve a certain outcome. Many internal factors we have already discussed can affect a customer’s desire to achieve a certain outcome but there are others. For instance, when it comes to making purchase decisions customers’ motivation could be affected by such issues as financial position (e.g., Can I afford the purchase?), time constraints (e.g., Do I need to make the purchase quickly?), overall value (e.g., Am I getting my money’s worth?), and perceived risk (e.g., What happens if I make a bad decision?).
Marketing Implications:
Motivation is also closely tied to the concept of Involvement, which relates to how much effort the consumer will exert in making a decision. Highly motivated consumers will want to get mentally and physically involved in the purchase process. Not all products have a high percentage of highly involved customers (e.g., milk) but marketers who market products and services that may lead to high level of consumer involvement should prepare options that will be attractive to this group. For instance, marketers should make it easy for consumers to learn about their product (e.g., information on website, free video preview) and, for some products, allow customers to experience the product (e.g., free trial) before committing to the purchase.
Internal Influences: Roles
Roles represent the position we feel we hold or others feel we should hold when dealing in a group environment. These positions carry certain responsibilities yet it is important to understand that some of these responsibilities may, in fact, be perceived and not spelled out or even accepted by others. In support of their roles, consumers will make product choices that may vary depending on which role they are assuming. As illustration, a person who is responsible for selecting snack food for an office party his boss will attend may choose higher quality products than he would choose when selecting snacks for his family.
Marketing Implications:
Advertisers often show how the benefits of their products aid consumers as they perform certain roles. Typically the underlying message of this promotional approach is to suggest that using the advertiser’s product will help raise one’s status in the eyes of others while using a competitor’s product may have a negative effect on status.
External Influences: Culture
Consumer purchasing decisions are often affected by factors that are outside of their control but have direct or indirect impact on how we live and what we consume. One example of this are cultural factors
Culture represents the behavior, beliefs and, in many cases, the way we act learned by interacting or observing other members of society. In this way much of what we do is shared behavior, passed along from one member of society to another. Yet culture is a broad concept that, while of interest to marketers, is not nearly as important as understanding what occurs within smaller groups or Sub-Cultures to which we may also belong. Sub-cultures also have shared values but this occurs within smaller groups. For instance, sub-cultures exist where groups share similar values in terms of ethnicity, religious beliefs, geographic location, special interests and many others.
Marketing Implications:
As part of their efforts to convince customers to purchase their products, marketers often use cultural representations, especially in promotional appeals. The objective is to connect to consumers using cultural references that are easily understood and often embraced by the consumer. By doing so the marketer hopes the consumer feels more comfortable with or can relate better to the product since it corresponds with their cultural values. Additionally, smart marketers use strong research efforts in an attempt to identify differences in how sub-culture behaves. These efforts help pave the way for spotting trends within a sub-culture, which the marketer can capitalize on through new marketing tactics (e.g., new products, new sales channels, added value, etc.).
External Influences: Group Membership
In addition to cultural influences, consumers belong to many other groups with which they share certain characteristics and which may influence purchase decisions. Often these groups contain Opinion Leaders or others who have major influence on what the customer purchases. Some of the basic groups we may belong to include:
• Social Class – represents the social standing one has within a society based on such factors as income level, education, occupation
• Family – one’s family situation can have a strong effect on how purchase decisions are made
• Reference groups – most consumers simultaneously belong to many other groups with which they associate or, in some cases, feel the need to disassociate
Marketing Implications:
Identifying and understanding the groups consumers belong to is a key strategy for marketers. Doing so helps identify target markets, develop new products, and create appealing marketing promotions to which consumers can relate. In particular, marketers seek to locate group leaders and others to whom members of the group look for advice or direction. These opinion leaders, if well respected by the group, can be used to gain insight into group behavior and if these opinion leaders accept promotional opportunities could act as effective spokespeople for the marketer’s products
External Influences: Purchase Situation
Purchase Situation
A purchase decision can be strongly affected by the situation in which people find themselves. In general, a situation is the circumstances a person faces when making a purchase decision, such as the nature of their physical environment, their emotional state, or time constraints. Not all situations are controllable, in which case a consumer may not follow their normal process for making a purchase decision. For instance, if a person needs a product quickly and a store does not carry the brand they normally purchase, the customer may choose a competitor’s product.
Marketing Implications:
Marketers can take advantage of decisions made in uncontrollable situations in at least two ways. First, marketers can use promotional methods to reinforce a specific selection of products when the consumer is confronted with a particular situation. For example, automotive services can be purchased that promise to service vehicles if the user runs into problems anywhere and at any time. Second, marketers can use marketing methods that attempt to convince consumers that a situation is less likely to occur if the marketer’s product is used. This can also be seen with auto products, where marketers explain that using their product will prevent unexpected damage to their vehicles.
Types of Consumer Purchase Decisions
Consumers are faced with purchase decisions nearly every day. But not all decisions are treated the same. Some decisions are more complex than others and thus require more effort by the consumer. Other decisions are fairly routine and require little effort. In general, consumers face four types of purchase decisions:
• Minor New Purchase – these purchases represent something new to a consumer but in the customer’s mind is not a very important purchase in terms of need, money or other reason (e.g., status within a group).
• Minor Re-Purchase – these are the most routine of all purchases and often the consumer returns to purchase the same product without giving much thought to other product options (i.e., consumer is brand loyalty).
• Major New Purchase – these purchases are the most difficult of all purchases because the product being purchased is important to the consumer but the consumer has little or no previous experience making these decisions. The consumer’s lack of confidence in making this type of decision often (but not always) requires the consumer to engage in an extensive decision-making process..
• Major Re-Purchase - these purchase decisions are also important to the consumer but the consumer feels confident in making these decisions since they have previous experience purchasing the product.
For marketers it is important to understand how consumers treat the purchase decisions they face. If a company is targeting customers who feel a purchase decision is difficult (i.e., Major New Purchase), their marketing strategy may vary greatly from a company targeting customers who view the purchase decision as routine. In fact, the same company may face both situations at the same time; for some the product is new, while other customers see the purchase as routine. The implication of buying behavior for marketers is that different buying situations require different marketing efforts.
How Consumers Buy
So now that we have discussed the factors influencing a consumer’s decision to purchase, let’s examine the process itself. This process is presented in a sequence of 5 steps as shown below.
However, whether a consumer will actually carryout each step depends on the type of purchase decision that is faced. For instance, for minor re-purchases the consumer may be quite loyal to the same brand, thus the decision is a routine one (i.e., buy the same product) and little effort is involved in making a purchase decision. In cases of routine, brand loyal purchases consumers may skip several steps in the purchasing process since they know exactly what they want allowing the consumer to move quickly through the steps. But for more complex decisions, such as Major New Purchases, the purchasing process can extend for days, weeks, months or longer. So in presenting these steps marketers should realize that, depending on the circumstances surrounding the purchase, the importance of each step may vary.
Purchase Decision Steps 1 and 2
1. Need/Want/Desire is Recognized
In the first step the consumer has determined that for some reason he/she is not satisfied (i.e., consumer’s perceived actual condition) and wants to improve his/her situation (i.e., consumer’s perceived desired condition). For instance, internal triggers, such as hunger or thirst, may tell the consumer that food or drink is needed. External factors can also trigger consumer’s needs. Marketers are particularly good at this through advertising, in-store displays and even the intentional use of scent (e.g., perfume counters). At this stage the decision-making process may stall if the consumer is not motivated to continue (see Motivation above). However, if the consumer does have the internal drive to satisfy the need they will continue to the next step.
2. Search for Information
Assuming consumers are motivated to satisfy his or her need, they will next undertake a search for information on possible solutions. The sources used to acquire this information may be as simple as remembering information from past experience (i.e., memory) or the consumer may expend considerable effort to locate information from outside sources (e.g., Internet search, talk with others, etc.). How much effort the consumer directs toward searching depends on such factors as: the importance of satisfying the need, familiarity with available solutions, and the amount of time available to search. To appeal to consumers who are at the search stage, marketers should make efforts to ensure consumers can locate information related to their product. For example, for marketers whose customers rely on the Internet for information gathering, attaining high rankings in search engines has become a critical marketing objective.
Purchase Decision Steps 3, 4 and 5
3. Evaluate Options
Consumers’ search efforts may result in a set of options from which a choice can be made. It should be noted that there may be two levels to this stage. At level one the consumer may create a set of possible solutions to their needs (i.e., product types) while at level two the consumer may be evaluating particular products (i.e., brands) within each solution. For example, a consumer who needs to replace a television has multiple solutions to choose from such as plasma, LCD and CRT televisions. Within each solution type will be multiple brands from which to choose. Marketers need to understand how consumers evaluate product options and why some products are included while others are not. Most importantly, marketers must determine which criteria consumers are using in their selection of possible options and how each criterion is evaluated. Returning to the television example, marketing tactics will be most effective when the marketer can tailor their efforts by knowing what benefits are most important to consumers when selecting options (e.g., picture quality, brand name, screen size, etc.) and then determine the order of importance of each benefit.
4. Purchase
In many cases the solution chosen by the consumer is the same as the product whose evaluation is the highest. However, this may change when it is actually time to make the purchase. The "intended" purchase may be altered at the time of purchase for many reasons such as: the product is out-of-stock, a competitor offers an incentive at the point-of-purchase (e.g., store salesperson mentions a competitor’s offer), the customer lacks the necessary funds (e.g., credit card not working), or members of the consumer’s reference group take a negative view of the purchase (e.g., friend is critical of purchase). Marketers whose product is most desirable to the consumer must make sure that the transaction goes smoothly. For example, Internet retailers have worked hard to prevent consumers from abandoning online purchase (i.e., online shopping carts) by streamlining the checkout process. For marketers whose product is not the consumer’s selected product, last chance marketing efforts may be worth exploring, such as offering incentives to store personnel to "talk up" their product at the checkout line.
5. After-Purchase Evaluation
Once the consumer has made the purchase they are faced with an evaluation of the decision. If the product performs below the consumer’s expectation then he/she will re-evaluate satisfaction with the decision, which at its extreme may result in the consumer returning the product while in less extreme situations the consumer will retain the purchased item but may take a negative view of the product. Such evaluations are more likely to occur in cases of expensive or highly important purchases. To help ease the concerns consumers have with their purchase evaluation, marketers need to be receptive and even encourage consumer contact. Customer service centers and follow-up market research are useful tools in helping to address purchasers’ concerns.
As we’ve seen, consumer purchasing is quite complex. In our next tutorial, Business Buying Behavior, we will see that marketers must also have a thorough understanding of how business purchase decisions are made
As we discussed in the What is Marketing? tutorial, customers make purchases in order to satisfy needs. Some of these needs are basic and must be filled by everyone on the planet (e.g., food, shelter) while others are not required for basic survival and vary depending on the person. It probably makes more sense to classify needs that are not a necessity as wants or desires. In fact, in many countries where the standard of living is very high, a large portion of the population’s income is spent on wants and desires rather than on basic needs.
In this tutorial when we mention the consumer we are referring to the actual buyer, the person spending the money. But is should also be pointed out that the one who does the buying is not necessarily the user of what is bought and that others may be involved in the buying decision in addition to the actual buyer. While the purchasing process in the consumer market is not as complex as the business market, having multiple people involved in a purchase decision is not unusual. For example, in planning for a family vacation the mother may make the hotel reservations but others in the family may have input on the hotel choice. Similarly, a father may purchase snacks at the grocery store but his young child may be the one who selected it from the store shelf.
So understanding consumer purchase behavior involves not only understanding how decisions are made but also understanding the dynamics that influence purchases.
What Influences Purchasing
As we discussed the decision-making process for consumers is anything but straight forward. There are many factors that can affect this process as a person works through the purchase decision. The number of potential influences on consumer behavior is limitless. However, marketers are well served to understand the KEY influences. By doing so they may be in a position to tailor their marketing efforts to take advantage of these influences in a way that will satisfy the consumer and the marketer (remember this is a key part of the definition of marketing).
For the purposes of this tutorial we will break these influences down into three main categories: Internal, External and Marketing. However, those interested in learning more about customer buying activity may want to consult one or more consumer behavior books where they will find additional methods for explaining consumer buying behavior.
For the most part the influences are not mutually exclusive. Instead, they are all interconnected and, as we will see, work together to form who we are and how we behave.
For each of the influences that are discussed we will provide a basic description and also suggest its implication to marketers. Bear in mind we only provide a few marketing implications for each influence; clearly there are many more.
Internal Influences: Perceptual Filter
We start our examination of the influences on consumer purchase decisions by first looking inside ourselves to see which are the most important internal factors that affect how we make choices.
Perceptual Filter
Perception is how we see ourselves and the world we live in. However, what ends up being stored inside us doesn’t always get there in a direct manner. Often our mental makeup results from information that has been consciously or subconsciously filtered as we experience it, a process we refer to as a perceptual filter. To us this is our reality, though it does not mean it is an accurate reflection on what is real. Thus, perception is the way we filter stimuli (e.g., someone talking to us, reading a newspaper story) and then make sense out of it.
Perception has several steps.
• Exposure – sensing a stimuli (e.g. seeing an ad)
• Attention – an effort to recognize the nature of a stimuli (e.g. recognizing it is an ad)
• Awareness – assigning meaning to a stimuli (e.g., humorous ad for particular product)
• Retention – adding the meaning to one’s internal makeup (i.e., product has fun ads)
How these steps are eventually carried out depends on a person’s approach to learning. By learning we mean how someone changes what they know, which in turn may affect how they act. There are many theories of learning, a discussion of which is beyond the scope of this tutorial, however, suffice to say that people are likely to learn in different ways. For instance, one person may be able to focus very strongly on a certain advertisement and be able to retain the information after being exposed only one time while another person may need to be exposed to the same advertisement many times before he/she even recognizes what it is. Consumers are also more likely to retain information if a person has a strong interest in the stimuli. If a person is in need of new car they are more likely to pay attention to a new advertisement for a car while someone who does not need a car may need to see the advertisement many times before they recognize the brand of automobile.
Marketing Implications:
Marketers spend large sums of money in an attempt to get customers to have a positive impression of their products. But clearly the existence of a perceptual filter suggests that getting to this stage is not easy. Exposing consumers to a product can be very challenging considering the amount of competing product messages (ads) that are also trying to accomplish the same objective (i.e., advertising clutter). So marketers must be creative and use various means to deliver their message. Once the message reaches consumer it must be interesting enough to capture their attention (e.g., talk about the product’s benefits). But attending to the message is not enough. For marketers the most critical step is the one that occurs with awareness. Here marketers must continually monitor and respond if their message becomes distorted in ways that will negatively shape its meaning. This can often happen due in part to competitive activity (e.g., comparison advertisements). Finally, getting the consumer to give positive meaning to the message they have retained requires the marketer make sure that consumers accurately interpret the facts about the product
Internal Influences: Knowledge
Knowledge is the sum of all information known by a person. It is the facts of the world as he/she knows it and the depth of knowledge is a function of the breadth of worldly experiences and the strength of an individual’s long-term memory. Obviously what exists as knowledge to an individual depends on how an individual’s perceptual filter makes sense of the information it is exposed to.
Marketing Implications:
Marketers may conduct research that will gauge consumers’ level of knowledge regarding their product. As we will see below, it is likely that other factors influencing consumer behavior are in large part shaped by what is known about a product. Thus, developing methods (e.g., incentives) to encourage consumers to accept more information (or correct information) may affect other influencing factors.
Internal Influences: Attitude
In simple terms attitude refers to what a person feels or believes about something. Additionally, attitude may be reflected in how an individual acts based on his or her beliefs. Once formed, attitudes can be very difficult to change. Thus, if a consumer has a negative attitude toward a particular issue it will take considerable effort to change what they believe to be true.
Marketing Implications:
Marketers facing consumers who have a negative attitude toward their product must work to identify the key issues shaping a consumer’s attitude then adjust marketing decisions (e.g., advertising) in an effort to change the attitude. For companies competing against strong rivals to whom loyal consumers exhibit a positive attitude, an important strategy is to work to see why consumers feel positive toward the competitor and then try to meet or beat the competitor on these issues. Alternatively, a company can try to locate customers who feel negatively toward the competitor and then increase awareness among this group.
Internal Influences: Personality
An individual’s personality relates to perceived personal characteristics that are consistently exhibited, especially when one acts in the presence of others. In most, but not all, cases the behaviors one projects in a situation is similar to the behaviors a person exhibits in another situation. In this way personality is the sum of sensory experiences others get from experiencing a person (i.e., how one talks, reacts). While one’s personality is often interpreted by those we interact with, the person has their own vision of their personality, called Self Concept, which may or may not be the same has how others view us.
Marketing Implications:
For marketers it is important to know that consumers make purchase decisions to support their self concept. Using research techniques to identify how customers view themselves may give marketers insight into products and promotion options that are not readily apparent. For example, when examining consumers a marketer may initially build marketing strategy around more obvious clues to consumption behavior, such as consumer’s demographic indicators (e.g., age, occupation, income). However, in-depth research may yield information that shows consumers are purchasing products to fulfill self-concept objectives that have little to do with the demographic category they fall into (e.g., senior citizen may be making purchases that make them feel younger). Appealing to the consumer’s self concept needs could expand the market to which the product is targeted.
Internal Influences: Lifestyle
This influencing factor relates to the way we live through the activities we engage in and interests we express. In simple terms it is what we value out of life. Lifestyle is often determined by how we spend our time and money.
Marketing Implications:
Products and services are purchased to support consumers’ lifestyles. Marketers have worked hard researching how consumers in their target markets live their lives since this information is key to developing products, suggesting promotional strategies and even determining how best to distribute products. The fact that lifestyle is so directly tied to marketing activity will be further examined as we discuss developing target market strategies (See Targeting Markets) tutorial.
Internal Influences: Motivation
Motivation relates to our desire to achieve a certain outcome. Many internal factors we have already discussed can affect a customer’s desire to achieve a certain outcome but there are others. For instance, when it comes to making purchase decisions customers’ motivation could be affected by such issues as financial position (e.g., Can I afford the purchase?), time constraints (e.g., Do I need to make the purchase quickly?), overall value (e.g., Am I getting my money’s worth?), and perceived risk (e.g., What happens if I make a bad decision?).
Marketing Implications:
Motivation is also closely tied to the concept of Involvement, which relates to how much effort the consumer will exert in making a decision. Highly motivated consumers will want to get mentally and physically involved in the purchase process. Not all products have a high percentage of highly involved customers (e.g., milk) but marketers who market products and services that may lead to high level of consumer involvement should prepare options that will be attractive to this group. For instance, marketers should make it easy for consumers to learn about their product (e.g., information on website, free video preview) and, for some products, allow customers to experience the product (e.g., free trial) before committing to the purchase.
Internal Influences: Roles
Roles represent the position we feel we hold or others feel we should hold when dealing in a group environment. These positions carry certain responsibilities yet it is important to understand that some of these responsibilities may, in fact, be perceived and not spelled out or even accepted by others. In support of their roles, consumers will make product choices that may vary depending on which role they are assuming. As illustration, a person who is responsible for selecting snack food for an office party his boss will attend may choose higher quality products than he would choose when selecting snacks for his family.
Marketing Implications:
Advertisers often show how the benefits of their products aid consumers as they perform certain roles. Typically the underlying message of this promotional approach is to suggest that using the advertiser’s product will help raise one’s status in the eyes of others while using a competitor’s product may have a negative effect on status.
External Influences: Culture
Consumer purchasing decisions are often affected by factors that are outside of their control but have direct or indirect impact on how we live and what we consume. One example of this are cultural factors
Culture represents the behavior, beliefs and, in many cases, the way we act learned by interacting or observing other members of society. In this way much of what we do is shared behavior, passed along from one member of society to another. Yet culture is a broad concept that, while of interest to marketers, is not nearly as important as understanding what occurs within smaller groups or Sub-Cultures to which we may also belong. Sub-cultures also have shared values but this occurs within smaller groups. For instance, sub-cultures exist where groups share similar values in terms of ethnicity, religious beliefs, geographic location, special interests and many others.
Marketing Implications:
As part of their efforts to convince customers to purchase their products, marketers often use cultural representations, especially in promotional appeals. The objective is to connect to consumers using cultural references that are easily understood and often embraced by the consumer. By doing so the marketer hopes the consumer feels more comfortable with or can relate better to the product since it corresponds with their cultural values. Additionally, smart marketers use strong research efforts in an attempt to identify differences in how sub-culture behaves. These efforts help pave the way for spotting trends within a sub-culture, which the marketer can capitalize on through new marketing tactics (e.g., new products, new sales channels, added value, etc.).
External Influences: Group Membership
In addition to cultural influences, consumers belong to many other groups with which they share certain characteristics and which may influence purchase decisions. Often these groups contain Opinion Leaders or others who have major influence on what the customer purchases. Some of the basic groups we may belong to include:
• Social Class – represents the social standing one has within a society based on such factors as income level, education, occupation
• Family – one’s family situation can have a strong effect on how purchase decisions are made
• Reference groups – most consumers simultaneously belong to many other groups with which they associate or, in some cases, feel the need to disassociate
Marketing Implications:
Identifying and understanding the groups consumers belong to is a key strategy for marketers. Doing so helps identify target markets, develop new products, and create appealing marketing promotions to which consumers can relate. In particular, marketers seek to locate group leaders and others to whom members of the group look for advice or direction. These opinion leaders, if well respected by the group, can be used to gain insight into group behavior and if these opinion leaders accept promotional opportunities could act as effective spokespeople for the marketer’s products
External Influences: Purchase Situation
Purchase Situation
A purchase decision can be strongly affected by the situation in which people find themselves. In general, a situation is the circumstances a person faces when making a purchase decision, such as the nature of their physical environment, their emotional state, or time constraints. Not all situations are controllable, in which case a consumer may not follow their normal process for making a purchase decision. For instance, if a person needs a product quickly and a store does not carry the brand they normally purchase, the customer may choose a competitor’s product.
Marketing Implications:
Marketers can take advantage of decisions made in uncontrollable situations in at least two ways. First, marketers can use promotional methods to reinforce a specific selection of products when the consumer is confronted with a particular situation. For example, automotive services can be purchased that promise to service vehicles if the user runs into problems anywhere and at any time. Second, marketers can use marketing methods that attempt to convince consumers that a situation is less likely to occur if the marketer’s product is used. This can also be seen with auto products, where marketers explain that using their product will prevent unexpected damage to their vehicles.
Types of Consumer Purchase Decisions
Consumers are faced with purchase decisions nearly every day. But not all decisions are treated the same. Some decisions are more complex than others and thus require more effort by the consumer. Other decisions are fairly routine and require little effort. In general, consumers face four types of purchase decisions:
• Minor New Purchase – these purchases represent something new to a consumer but in the customer’s mind is not a very important purchase in terms of need, money or other reason (e.g., status within a group).
• Minor Re-Purchase – these are the most routine of all purchases and often the consumer returns to purchase the same product without giving much thought to other product options (i.e., consumer is brand loyalty).
• Major New Purchase – these purchases are the most difficult of all purchases because the product being purchased is important to the consumer but the consumer has little or no previous experience making these decisions. The consumer’s lack of confidence in making this type of decision often (but not always) requires the consumer to engage in an extensive decision-making process..
• Major Re-Purchase - these purchase decisions are also important to the consumer but the consumer feels confident in making these decisions since they have previous experience purchasing the product.
For marketers it is important to understand how consumers treat the purchase decisions they face. If a company is targeting customers who feel a purchase decision is difficult (i.e., Major New Purchase), their marketing strategy may vary greatly from a company targeting customers who view the purchase decision as routine. In fact, the same company may face both situations at the same time; for some the product is new, while other customers see the purchase as routine. The implication of buying behavior for marketers is that different buying situations require different marketing efforts.
How Consumers Buy
So now that we have discussed the factors influencing a consumer’s decision to purchase, let’s examine the process itself. This process is presented in a sequence of 5 steps as shown below.
However, whether a consumer will actually carryout each step depends on the type of purchase decision that is faced. For instance, for minor re-purchases the consumer may be quite loyal to the same brand, thus the decision is a routine one (i.e., buy the same product) and little effort is involved in making a purchase decision. In cases of routine, brand loyal purchases consumers may skip several steps in the purchasing process since they know exactly what they want allowing the consumer to move quickly through the steps. But for more complex decisions, such as Major New Purchases, the purchasing process can extend for days, weeks, months or longer. So in presenting these steps marketers should realize that, depending on the circumstances surrounding the purchase, the importance of each step may vary.
Purchase Decision Steps 1 and 2
1. Need/Want/Desire is Recognized
In the first step the consumer has determined that for some reason he/she is not satisfied (i.e., consumer’s perceived actual condition) and wants to improve his/her situation (i.e., consumer’s perceived desired condition). For instance, internal triggers, such as hunger or thirst, may tell the consumer that food or drink is needed. External factors can also trigger consumer’s needs. Marketers are particularly good at this through advertising, in-store displays and even the intentional use of scent (e.g., perfume counters). At this stage the decision-making process may stall if the consumer is not motivated to continue (see Motivation above). However, if the consumer does have the internal drive to satisfy the need they will continue to the next step.
2. Search for Information
Assuming consumers are motivated to satisfy his or her need, they will next undertake a search for information on possible solutions. The sources used to acquire this information may be as simple as remembering information from past experience (i.e., memory) or the consumer may expend considerable effort to locate information from outside sources (e.g., Internet search, talk with others, etc.). How much effort the consumer directs toward searching depends on such factors as: the importance of satisfying the need, familiarity with available solutions, and the amount of time available to search. To appeal to consumers who are at the search stage, marketers should make efforts to ensure consumers can locate information related to their product. For example, for marketers whose customers rely on the Internet for information gathering, attaining high rankings in search engines has become a critical marketing objective.
Purchase Decision Steps 3, 4 and 5
3. Evaluate Options
Consumers’ search efforts may result in a set of options from which a choice can be made. It should be noted that there may be two levels to this stage. At level one the consumer may create a set of possible solutions to their needs (i.e., product types) while at level two the consumer may be evaluating particular products (i.e., brands) within each solution. For example, a consumer who needs to replace a television has multiple solutions to choose from such as plasma, LCD and CRT televisions. Within each solution type will be multiple brands from which to choose. Marketers need to understand how consumers evaluate product options and why some products are included while others are not. Most importantly, marketers must determine which criteria consumers are using in their selection of possible options and how each criterion is evaluated. Returning to the television example, marketing tactics will be most effective when the marketer can tailor their efforts by knowing what benefits are most important to consumers when selecting options (e.g., picture quality, brand name, screen size, etc.) and then determine the order of importance of each benefit.
4. Purchase
In many cases the solution chosen by the consumer is the same as the product whose evaluation is the highest. However, this may change when it is actually time to make the purchase. The "intended" purchase may be altered at the time of purchase for many reasons such as: the product is out-of-stock, a competitor offers an incentive at the point-of-purchase (e.g., store salesperson mentions a competitor’s offer), the customer lacks the necessary funds (e.g., credit card not working), or members of the consumer’s reference group take a negative view of the purchase (e.g., friend is critical of purchase). Marketers whose product is most desirable to the consumer must make sure that the transaction goes smoothly. For example, Internet retailers have worked hard to prevent consumers from abandoning online purchase (i.e., online shopping carts) by streamlining the checkout process. For marketers whose product is not the consumer’s selected product, last chance marketing efforts may be worth exploring, such as offering incentives to store personnel to "talk up" their product at the checkout line.
5. After-Purchase Evaluation
Once the consumer has made the purchase they are faced with an evaluation of the decision. If the product performs below the consumer’s expectation then he/she will re-evaluate satisfaction with the decision, which at its extreme may result in the consumer returning the product while in less extreme situations the consumer will retain the purchased item but may take a negative view of the product. Such evaluations are more likely to occur in cases of expensive or highly important purchases. To help ease the concerns consumers have with their purchase evaluation, marketers need to be receptive and even encourage consumer contact. Customer service centers and follow-up market research are useful tools in helping to address purchasers’ concerns.
As we’ve seen, consumer purchasing is quite complex. In our next tutorial, Business Buying Behavior, we will see that marketers must also have a thorough understanding of how business purchase decisions are made
Computer Tablet Justification
Been waiting to order an ExoPC here in the US of A? Well, today is your day -- ExoPC has just announced that it's teamed up with Microsoft's very own store to bring you the 11.6-inch Windows 7 tablet. There's only one configuration at the moment, but $699 buys you a rather thin 0.5-inch slate with 64GB of flash storage, an Intel Atom N450 processor, 2GB of RAM, Windows 7 Home Premium with ExoPC's unique UI layer, and a front-facing 1.3 megapixel camera. As for that UI, ExoPC just told us that a major update should be coming next week and that it'll amend a number of issues we had with our early review unit.
The slate is currently up for pre-order on the Microsoft Store website, but we're told it will start shipping out early next week. And if you're waiting to check it out in person before pulling out the plastic, we hear they should be arriving in all those Microsoft retail locations soon -- apparently, San Diego and Scottsdale already have 'em in stock. Hey, looks like Mr. Ballmer was right, we will have Win 7 tablets this "crucial holiday season."
Justification
Windows 7 Home Premium with ExoPC's unique UI layer,
ExoPC's also preloaded the tablet with touch apps, built out its own app store and included a Broadcom Crystal HD accelerator to handle full 1080p video.
does it live up to the promise and provide the more enhanced and finger-friendly Windows experience.
The slate is currently up for pre-order on the Microsoft Store website, but we're told it will start shipping out early next week. And if you're waiting to check it out in person before pulling out the plastic, we hear they should be arriving in all those Microsoft retail locations soon -- apparently, San Diego and Scottsdale already have 'em in stock. Hey, looks like Mr. Ballmer was right, we will have Win 7 tablets this "crucial holiday season."
Justification
Windows 7 Home Premium with ExoPC's unique UI layer,
ExoPC's also preloaded the tablet with touch apps, built out its own app store and included a Broadcom Crystal HD accelerator to handle full 1080p video.
does it live up to the promise and provide the more enhanced and finger-friendly Windows experience.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
ExoPC Utility Applications
ExoCP Applications and Utilities
Arts & Crafts
Unit’s conversion tool
Clocks
Health
Music
Education
Animation
Reading
…Classic Books
…Picture Books
Games
…Action
…Mind Games
…Sports
…Decorate
…Adventure
…Cards & Casinos
…Skill Challenges
…Strategy
Education
…Biology
…Sciences
…Geography
…History
…Languages
…Math
Web
Links
…Headlines
…Technology
Social Networks
…Facebook
Search Engines
…Bing
Shopping
…Amazon
Weather
Media
Reference
…eHow
Tools & More
…All Recipes
Sports
…NHL
Children
…PBS Kids
Customization
…Page Themes
… …Cinema
… …Education \Light yellow, Green
Music
Petroleum
ExoPC New Need
In contrast to consumer-oriented tablets like the Apple iPad, this new breed of Tablet PCs promise to be more appropriate for business content creators such as developers, merchants, sourcing managers, and other professionals that need access to full business software applications.
PC Tablet Global Growth
Infinite Research is pleased to announce the publication of our Worldwide Tablet Market Forecast Report. The report presents the most comprehensive analysis available of the global market for Tablet computers. The analysis covers all critical data measures, including market sizes, growth rates, market shares, and shipment statistics. Additionally, the report covers the complete impact of Tablet computers on the Technology and Telecommunications industries, as well as the state of Tablet adoption in the Consumer, Healthcare, Education, Retail, Military, Business, and Industrial sectors.
In the next 5 years, total shipments of Tablet computers are expected to increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 56%, with shipments rising from 16.1 million units in 2010 to 147.2 million units in 2015. Tablets computers are now a main component of the mobile computing market, and their impact will continue to expand in the coming years.
Rapid growth in the Tablet market is being driven by the demands of today’s mobile society. Consumers and enterprises alike are seeking real-time, on-demand access to content, the internet, computing and communication tools, and applications (apps). The Tablet has emerged as the perfect device to provide access to these features.
“Tablet adoption is occurring at an even faster pace than the historic rates set by peer devices such as smartphones, computers, mp3 players, game consoles, and DVD players” said Mark Ritorto, President, Infinite Research. In a short period of time, the Tablet market has spawned a robust industry and ecosystem with an impressive outlook. Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), component suppliers, software developers, service providers, and IP & content owners are profiting from the growth of the Tablet market.
The report provides in-depth coverage of these opportunities and details the key trends, forces, developments, and success factors presently impacting the Tablet market. Additionally, the report’s market forecasts are broken down according to geography, operating system type, connectivity technology type, and vendor market share, providing a complete view of the Tablet space.
Infinite Research is a leading market research and strategic consulting firm focused on the connected device space. Our clients include product manufacturers, technology suppliers, service organizations, the investment community, and government institutes. To order this report or request more information please contact Mark Ritorto at mritorto (at) infiniteresearch.net.
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2011/01/prweb4985134.htm
In the next 5 years, total shipments of Tablet computers are expected to increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 56%, with shipments rising from 16.1 million units in 2010 to 147.2 million units in 2015. Tablets computers are now a main component of the mobile computing market, and their impact will continue to expand in the coming years.
Rapid growth in the Tablet market is being driven by the demands of today’s mobile society. Consumers and enterprises alike are seeking real-time, on-demand access to content, the internet, computing and communication tools, and applications (apps). The Tablet has emerged as the perfect device to provide access to these features.
“Tablet adoption is occurring at an even faster pace than the historic rates set by peer devices such as smartphones, computers, mp3 players, game consoles, and DVD players” said Mark Ritorto, President, Infinite Research. In a short period of time, the Tablet market has spawned a robust industry and ecosystem with an impressive outlook. Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), component suppliers, software developers, service providers, and IP & content owners are profiting from the growth of the Tablet market.
The report provides in-depth coverage of these opportunities and details the key trends, forces, developments, and success factors presently impacting the Tablet market. Additionally, the report’s market forecasts are broken down according to geography, operating system type, connectivity technology type, and vendor market share, providing a complete view of the Tablet space.
Infinite Research is a leading market research and strategic consulting firm focused on the connected device space. Our clients include product manufacturers, technology suppliers, service organizations, the investment community, and government institutes. To order this report or request more information please contact Mark Ritorto at mritorto (at) infiniteresearch.net.
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2011/01/prweb4985134.htm
ExoPC
The feature-rich EXOPC Slate gives you a full PC experience
in slate form. Its unique and user-friendly interface gives you easy access to
apps, your favorite websites, your social networks, and anything else you want
it to. All this on an 11.6-inch, multi-touch display that's fun and easy to
interact with.
• 2 GB of RAM allows for smooth multitasking among multiple programs and applications
• 1.3-megapixel webcam keeps you in touch with friends, family, and colleagues
• Mini-HDMI port lets you project high-def content onto your big-screen TV
• Energy-efficient Intel Atom Pineview processor designed for longer battery life
• 2 GB of RAM allows for smooth multitasking among multiple programs and applications
• 1.3-megapixel webcam keeps you in touch with friends, family, and colleagues
• Mini-HDMI port lets you project high-def content onto your big-screen TV
• Energy-efficient Intel Atom Pineview processor designed for longer battery life
This PC comes with Microsoft Signature
• Your PC will arrive tuned and configured for top
performance
• No trialware and sample software that bogs down new PCs
• Includes Microsoft Security Essentials anti-virus software
We've spent the last three Windows 7 tablet reviews lamenting about the lack of finger friendly software in Microsoft's desktop OS, but ExoPC gets what the others don't: it's the software, stupid. For those unfamiliar with the company's unique software layer, the polka dot grid or Connect Four-like ExoPC UI was built on native code and HTML to provide an alternative operating environment and not tax the CPU too much. And before we dive in deep into the functionality of the overlay, we can report off the bat that the layer is much snappier than the others we've seen -- including CTL's QuickBits and Thinix. You don't have to wait as it transitions to another panel or twiddle your thumbs as it attempts to open an application.
ExoPC set out to design software that was extremely easy and intuitive to navigate with a finger, and it certainly accomplishes that task. The grid of icons / shortcuts is straddled by two columns of basic controls, which includes a home button, Windows icon to take you back to the desktop, application store, and power button to shut off the layer altogether. Launching one of the applications or folders on the grid doesn't only launch said app or folder on the center of the screen, but also displays a small circular icon on the right side. You can then toggle to different applications within the UI by hitting the little circles or close a specific program by sliding the icon off the right of the screen. It may seem a bit complicated, but it really becomes second nature and it's truly finger-friendly -- for instance, it's much easier to close apps by sliding a finger than by hitting a small X at the top of a windows.
• No trialware and sample software that bogs down new PCs
• Includes Microsoft Security Essentials anti-virus software
ExoPC set out to design software that was extremely easy and intuitive to navigate with a finger, and it certainly accomplishes that task. The grid of icons / shortcuts is straddled by two columns of basic controls, which includes a home button, Windows icon to take you back to the desktop, application store, and power button to shut off the layer altogether. Launching one of the applications or folders on the grid doesn't only launch said app or folder on the center of the screen, but also displays a small circular icon on the right side. You can then toggle to different applications within the UI by hitting the little circles or close a specific program by sliding the icon off the right of the screen. It may seem a bit complicated, but it really becomes second nature and it's truly finger-friendly -- for instance, it's much easier to close apps by sliding a finger than by hitting a small X at the top of a windows.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Speech Recognition Software to Help You Type Faster
http://www.deskshare.com/dictation.aspx
Speech to Text
Speech to Text
- Say words and watch them appear on your screen
- Create documents, reports, and messages just by speaking
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Friday, January 6, 2012
How to Download Video Clips on You Tube
are very easy to create , you can check out them ,if you visit my channel in you tube.
If you don't have movie marker , here you can download a free version, here is the link :
http://windows-movie-maker-portable.soft…
also here is my youtube channel :http://www.youtube.com/user/4817116
Once you made your video ,you should have your youtube account and then you can upload
your video. Good luck and thank you
Source(s):
Youtuber::http://www.youtube.com/user/4817116
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0dGkKrNWYw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBjiQctb4a4
If you don't have movie marker , here you can download a free version, here is the link :
http://windows-movie-maker-portable.soft…
also here is my youtube channel :http://www.youtube.com/user/4817116
Once you made your video ,you should have your youtube account and then you can upload
your video. Good luck and thank you
Source(s):
Youtuber::http://www.youtube.com/user/4817116
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0dGkKrNWYw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBjiQctb4a4
- Hi, you can't convert audio file(mp3) to a youtube file
directly, because youtube don't accept audio file, but you can easy to
make a video from your mp3 file(you can use a picture as video, or
directly use black color as video), then uplaod the music video on
youtube, if you don't know how to do that, that's easy, just follow me to
use Youtube Movie Maker, it can be used to make and upload youtube videos
from various videos, pics, musics, texts/lyrics, etc. with it you can easy
to make a video from your mp3 file and upload onto youtube, easy to run
youtube movie maker, add your mp3 file into the program, then drag and
drop the mp3 file into the audio line, then press "publish to
youtube" button, you will get a music video on youtube from your mp3
file, you can download it from makeyoutubevideo.com, and view below
channel for some online guides youtube.com/easymakevideo, hope it can help
you
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
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