Analysis of Sales Promotion Effects on Household Purchase Behavior

the part <strong>of</strong> the consumer. Many forces not under the direct control <strong>of</strong> firms also influence
consumer behavior. These are labeled environmental factors and include economic
conditions, social determinants, and cultural influences. Marketers have little or no control
over these, but they do try to anticipate and forecast their effects.
Katona (1951) was one <strong>of</strong> the first researchers that focused the attention on
psychological and sociological factors, in order to explain the large variability in
expenditures on durable goods. This development was a reaction to the economic model,
which Katona (1951) claimed missed a number <strong>of</strong> important details.
By use <strong>of</strong> a stimulus-response approach, marketers can discover the reactions <strong>of</strong>
consumers to different advertising appeals, package designs, and prices, to name a few
stimuli. The stimulus-response model is an appealing model. First <strong>of</strong> all, it is simple, which
makes it easy to understand and communicate to others. Second, it is a highly useful
managerial tool and it has been found to work well in the past. On the other hand, the
stimulus-response model falls short on one very important and far-reaching criterion: it
omits the processes through which stimuli induce responses. Marketers need to now how
their actions bring about responses so that they can more effectively and efficiently design
and target their stimuli. Another limitation is that it fails to allow for the possibility that
some purchase behaviors are self-generated and (almost) uninfluenced by external stimuli.
The stimulus-response model, by definition, ignores the origin and determination <strong>of</strong> buying
intentions. People are represented as being buffeted by stimuli rather than freely
discovering their needs and choosing among alternatives. Consumers, <strong>of</strong> course, make
purchases in both ways, depending on the circumstances, and marketers need theory rich
enough to capture the dynamics.
Recognizing the need to examine how stimuli actually influence responses,
marketers have increasingly turned to approaches representing the psychological and
psychological processes governing behavior. The general form that these efforts take is
dealt with in the next section.
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