A Framework for Consumer Analysis
Buying a Home Security System
Barbara Linton is 37, divorced, and the mother of two daughters, Joanne and Jenny, ages 7 and 10. A successful doctor, she earns more than $100,000 annually. She lives in her own home in a Chicago suburb with her children, who go to private schools.
Recently a number of robberies and burglaries have occurred close to her neighborhood. One of her friends was attacked in a mall parking lot and robbed. Barbara is concerned about her safety and that of her children and is considering buying a home security system. However, she knows nothing about this product.
Barbara’s uncle who lives in Minneapolis had a home security system installed a few years ago after his home had been burglarized. After the 10 o’clock news report on another robbery in her area, Barbara decides to take the kids and fly home to see her family the following weekend. She plans to include a visit to her uncle’s house to chat with him about his home security system.
Her uncle AL is glad to see her and lad to explain the system he bought. He has a wireless activator on his keychain which enables him to arm or disarm the system from anywhere in his home. When armed, the system automatically sets off an alarm and calls the security company if someone tries to break into his home. The company then calls the local authorities and has them sent to his address. He paid for installation and pays a monthly monitoring fee for this service. ”The peace of mind and feeling of security I get from this system makes it well worth the money,” he tells Barbara.
When she returns home, she goes online and Googles “Home Security System.” She finds an article on how to choose a company for a continually monitored home security system, and finds a variety of other useful information and companies that offer this service. She decides to purchase from ADT Security Services since it advertises that it is “America’s #I home security service provider.” She calls ADT and a few weeks later, the system is installed and she writes a check to pay for it. She feels much safer in her home and believes it was the right thing to do to protect her children.
What factors are involved in the purchase made by Barbara Linton? Many theories, models, and concepts have been borrowed from other fields and developed by marketing researchers in attempts to understand consumer behavior. In many cade, these ideas overlap and ever compete with one another as useful description of consumers.To date, no one approach is fully accepted, nor is it likely that a single, grand theory lf consumer behavior can be devised that all researchers would agree on.
Nevertheless, in this chapter we present a framework for researching, analyzing, and understanding consumers to help