For many years, the marketing concept was not fully understood or implemented properly by U.S firms. Often, even firms that accepted the marketing concept in principle did not recognized that the marketing concept required the organization to change its existing practices dramatically. Many successful companies have recognized the importance of consumers and have sophisticated approaches and detailed data from which to develop organizational and marketing strategies.
But, what is consumer behavior exactly? The American Marketing Association defines consumer behavior as “the dynamic interaction of affect and cognition, behavior and environmental events by which human being conduct the exchange aspects of their lives.
To understand about consumer behavior, we need an integrative, strategic marketing approach to consumer behavior. This book is differs from traditional consumer behavior books because it’s deemphasized or omitted date consumer behavior topics and research that have little to do with the developing marketing strategies. It also included topics and research from other areas that are not covered in traditional consumer behavior text. In this book, you will find a simple model that encompasses the major elements of consumer analysis and can be used to integrate the field. This model includes four major interacting elements that must be considered in any consumer analysis.