Investigative Essay
The essay topic is as follows:

“ A customer is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him/her. He/She is not an outsider in our business. He/She is part of it.” There is no doubt that the digital revolution has changed consumer behaviour. The exchange between consumers and marketers has become highly dynamic, interactive and participative. Discuss.
This is an essay based on scholarly journal article research, theory and critical evaluation/ synthesis (not mere description). You must support your answer with a minimum of 6 journal articles (can be peer reviewed or otherwise but must be from sources classified as Journals). The essays upper word limit is 2,500 words. There is no minimum word limit. The upper word limit is strict. NB. The word limit does not include; title page/cover page, sub-headings, reference list (it does include in-text citations), appendix.
Notes:
•A minimum of 6 journal articles. Penalty of 20/100 marks applied if this criteria is not met.

•Full Harvard author-date referencing is required (in-text citations, and reference list).

•Exceeding the word limit will lead to a deduction of 10/100 marks.
No extensions will be granted. Late tasks will be accepted up to 48 hours after the submission deadline. There will be a deduction of 50%* of the total available marks made from the total awarded mark for each 24 hour period or part thereof that the submission is late. This penalty does not apply for cases in which an application for Disruption to Studies is made and approved..Your essay must be submitted online VIA Turnitin for MKTG203:
Submit softcopy to the plagiarism detection system ‘Turnitin’ VIA iLearn before the deadline on October 30th 9pm.
Please make sure that you are submitting to the correct dropbox.
Please note the following:

•Your soft copy must include a title Page with full official student name (last name in CAPITALS), student ID number, tutors name, tutorial day, tutorial time and tutorial room number. It must also include your reference list. Please name your file as
follows: Surname_Tutor_Final Essay.doc

•Essay should be formatted as follows; size 12 times new roman font, 1.5 line spacing, regular margins, headings in capitals and bold, sub-headings in upper and lower case and bold italics.

•Essays will be marked electronically via GradeMark on Turnitin using iLearn, annotated with comments from the marker and your grades will be available for viewing on the Grades link via iLearn approximately 2-3 weeks after submission. An announcement will be made on iLearn when assignments have been marked.

This Assessment Task relates to the following Learning Outcomes:

•Identify, understand, and articulate a range of influences on consumer behaviour.

•Critically analyse, discuss, evaluate and integrate the theoretical literature to create a
coherent and theoretically rigorous argument.

•Critically evaluate and reflect upon specific marketing decisions and marketing strategies
through the use of applied questions.



Student:
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Consumer Behavior
It is in the interest of every business to ensure that customers are happy and satisfied. The primary aim of every business is to make profits. There are several factors that contribute towards the achievement of this goal. Consumer behavior certainly forms a big part of the success of any business. Yet consumer behavior is shaped by many a factor including the nature of treatment a customer receives from the business. It is crucial for every business to appreciate the important role played by customers (Thomas & Panayiotopolous 2012). Customers are not dependent on a business. Rather, it is the business that is dependent on a customer.
Customers are not outsiders of a business. They form part and parcel of the entire business, perhaps the most crucial of all other parts. To help in developing this discussion further, three main themes namely brand meaning, brand loyalty and value would be used. These are the three most important guiding principles which play a determining role in the decisions made by consumers on their purchasing behavior. This essay also discusses consumer-brand relationship as well as relationship marketing and social media.
1.0 Value
A product must stand out in being exemplary when it comes to serving its purpose. It is notable that features are what a business organization builds into its services and products but value is what the company’s client’s get out of them. In essence, value could be explained using the following formula: Benefits – Costs = Value (Klein 2012). Provided that clients think that the benefit which they are receiving actually outweighs the costs which they paid, then they would believe that they have received value. They would be satisfied (Erasmus, 2011).
1.1 Characteristics of value
The value that individual customers place on a given service or product is understood as the customer value for that service or product offering. In the past, consumers would evaluate the quality of a product just by basing on the face value of the product. Lack of information and limited variety to choose from saw consumers blindly pick products that would not always meet their needs. However, with a lot of information readily available in the internet as a result of technological advancements, consumers can now access as much information as possible about a product. For example, in a generation where people are very conscious about the kind of food they eat, they can check calorie information online or product reviews by experts and decide whether to buy or not (Swinyard & Coney 2012).
1.2 Importance of value to consumer behavior
As a result of the information overload, consumers are now rational in their decision making process. Now that they are better informed and understand the absolute value factor, they will not make any purchase until they are fully convinced that they are getting value for their money (Holbrook & Hirshman 2012). This paradigm shift has definitely caught business owners unawares hence the need to come up with a quick damage control method. Customer value is measured or assessed against the customer values that are assigned for similar services or products which would offer the same benefit. Typically, a consumer would buy the product/service that provides the greatest customer value amongst all the product/service offerings within the marketplace. Each consumer has a distinctive set of resources and needs, and therefore no 2 customers would have similar customer value to the same service or product offering (Schiffman et al. 2013).
1.3 Findings and Literature
Holbrook and Hirshman (2012) noted that value forms the basic tenet of consumer behavior. Consumers will only appreciate a product if they are fully assured that they are getting value for their money. If customers feel duped in terms of cost or quality, they will definitely shift loyalty. Value is a great determinant of consumer behavior. It is necessary for manufacturers to ensure that they fully win the consumers over by reassuring them about the value of their products (Hunt & Pappas 2012).
1.4 Summary and Evaluation
Value is essentially what each customer eventually pursues so as to address their wants and needs. As a starting point, business owners must familiarize themselves with the various sources from which consumers obtain information. It is from these sources that business owners will create strategy of marketing to counter information that could be damaging. It is not always that the information obtained online is fully correct (Sharma 2010). Making clarifications on confusing and grey areas will be a good point to start. Taking time to clarify is in itself an attraction to customers and will help pull them back. Consumers like to feel that they are well taken care of and that they are valued.
2.0 Brand Meaning
Brand refers to the unique manner in which consumers distinguish a product from various others in the market. In essence, a brand is a concept, service or product which is overtly differentiated from other concepts, services or products so that it could be communicated and marketed easily. The name of the unique concept, service or product is referred to as the brand name (Baggozzi & Warshaw 2010).
2.1 Characteristics
Brand is the identity of a product which is unique and different from all others. This means no other product can be registered under an already existing brand name. It is notable that a brand is typically protected from use by other companies or individuals by obtaining a service mark or trademark from an authorized organization. Graphic representations such as logos are used to express brands. The brand of a company and the public knowledge about the brand is usually utilized as a factor in assessing the business (Herbig, Koehler & Day 2013). It is carefully crafted with an aim of attracting customers. Brand is also crafted in such a way that it is not calculated to deceive and cannot be easily confused with similar brands or products in the market.
2.2 Importance to Consumer Behavior
Having a variety of similar products in the market can be very confusing to consumers. Brand is crucial in ensuring that consumers are well informed and are actually certain on the product they are purchasing (Erasmus 2011). If products did not have brands with which they are associated, consumers would end up purchasing different products from what they intended. The brand of a given company resides in the minds and hearts of prospects, clients and customers. The brand is basically the total of their perceptions, views as well as experiences, some of which the business organization can influence while others are beyond the company’s control (Schiffman et al. 2013).
2.3 Findings and Literature
A couple of years back, it was evident that majority of consumers were acting widely out of ignorance. Lack of information was seen to be the product of some of the unwise decisions that consumers would make (Keillor & Scheffer 2011). In the modern era with emergence of technology and digital platforms, the ignorance has slowly been eroded and in its place paved way for loads of information. What was perhaps seen as information among the few is now public knowledge. Brand name plays a crucial role in helping consumers make informed decisions.
2.4 Summary and Evaluation
In the definition of consumer behavior, the act of purchase by consumer is an entire process that undergoes various steps. With the vast information that is available to consumers, the purchase path has changed a great deal (Erasmus 2011). Businesses must rebrand strategically in order to increase the numbered of customers. All in all, a strong brand is something that is actually priceless and very valuable as the fight for clients becomes more and more intense every day. It is of great importance for a company to spend considerable amount of time to research, define and build its brand. <...