INTERNET EXERCISES
Chapter 8: Consumer
Behaviour
Exercise 1 – Consumer Behaviour Changes and Companies
Have to Keep Up
Exercise 2 – Small Businesses Must Overcome Some
Negative Consumer Attitudes
Exercise 1 – Consumer Behaviour Changes and Companies Have to
Keep Up Vignette: Retail outlets owned by The Gap Inc. were highly successful
for many years, but their sales are now declining. To reverse its fortunes,
the company has to determine how to satisfy changing consumer needs without
alienating its current loyal customer base.
Featured URL: www.gap.com
Effective Marketing Depends Upon Accurately Assessing Consumer Behaviour
The Gap’s success was due to the fact that it represented a fresh
fashion idea: don’t chase the latest trends; let the wearer bring
style to the clothes, not the reverse. However, when the dot.com bubble
burst, some of the Gap magic seemed to go too. The “dress-down” revolution
looked old; Gap’s advertising lost its edge. Today’s twentysomething
buyers, the Gen Y’s, don’t identify or buy into The Gap because
the clothing is too homogeneous. This change in consumer tastes, combined
with new high-end and low-end competition such as Gucci and Zara, means
The Gap is facing a huge challenge. Its original success was based on
accurately assessing the consumer needs and attitudes of the time. Now
it must do that again to remain an effective and viable competitor in
the retail clothing market.
Activity
-
Tour the featured Web site for The Gap. Go into the “About
Gap Inc.” and the “Financials and Media” sections of
the Web site and update your understanding of the company’s
situation by looking at its history and latest financial figures.
-
Look at its current product offerings and styles. Is there any
indication that The Gap, Banana Republic, or Old Navy have changed
their approach
to fashion?
-
The text states that a favourable consumer attitude is a prerequisite
for success and that a marketer has two choices when faced with a
negative attitude: either attempt to change the attitude to bring
it into accord
with the product or change the product to bring it into line with
the attitude. Which of these approaches does The Gap appear to be
doing?
Which approach would you take if you were the head of The Gap Inc.?
-
The text also states that attitudes consist of three related
components: cognitive, affective, and conative, and that attitude
change may occur
when inconsistencies are introduced among the three components. Break
down your age group’s attitude toward The Gap into these three
components. If you were trying to change your age group’s attitude
toward The Gap, in which component would you create an inconsistency?
How would you change The Gap’s Web site to reflect this?
Resources Other major retailers that sell both men’s and women’s
casual clothes: Mark’s Work Wearhouse: a
Canadian retail chain that sells "clothes that work” in both leisurewear and
workwear styles
Tilley Endurables: a Canadian retail
chain that sells “Tilley hats and the finest travel clothing in the world”
Northern Group Retail Ltd: a
Canadian chain that sells clothes that are “styled to fit your life”
Consumer behaviour information available over the Internet:
A.C.
Nielsen: an
article by A.C. Nielsen U.S. on its recent finding that the University
of Michigan’s respected Consumer Sentiment Index is a good predictor
of future changes in consumer purchasing of food, health and beauty aids,
and non-food consumer packaged goods
ECEN: a report on influencing
consumer attitudes toward sustainable tourism in the Third World
A.C. Nielsen: the
newsletter at this site has articles on some of Nielsen’s recent consumer
research findings in the Asia-Pacific region
Exercise 2 – Small Businesses Must Overcome Some Negative Consumer
Attitudes
Featured URL: www.gotvmail.com
Some Consumers Have Difficulty Trusting Small Businesses
Small businesses have a problem with consumer confidence. Consumers sometimes
doubt that a smaller shop can actually deliver, so small businesses
need to appear large in order to overcome this common misconception.
Since consumer confidence is built from the very first moment of communication,
a telecom company in the U.S., GotVMail Communications (www.gotvmail.com),
has been launched. It focuses on providing small businesses “with
an image of success and professionalism.”
Activity
-
Visit the featured Web site for GotVMail Communications. Look at
the services it provides and read its example solutions and testimonials.
How does having these services produce attitude change in potential
customers?
-
Which attitude component is changed when a small business signs
up for the services provided by GotVMail Communications?
-
Look at the price GotVMail charges for its services. If you owned
a small business, would you be willing to pay this price to help change
consumer behaviour toward your firm?
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