Consumer and decision making behaviour Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Consumer and decision making behaviour - Essay Example Hence, the concept of status consumption as a process of consuming goods and services by status conscious consumers has gained traction in recent years. Though status consumption was always a trend, the fact that the advent of the global village with its mass manufactured visions of happiness has meant that brands and products that they represent can have uses other than the basic need gratification for which they are made (O’Cass & McEwen, 2010). The paper looks at the concept of status consumption and how a marketer might be able to use status to market a product type or specific brand. To start with, there are many definitions of status consumption. For the purposes of this paper the following definition would be relevant: â€Å"Status consumption relates to the consumers’ behavior of seeking to purchase goods and services for the status they confer, regardless of that consumer’s objective income or social class† (Eastman et al., 1999; Bourdieu, 1989). It is worth noting that status consumption often involves expensive goods and services and that consumers use these goods and services on special occasions and events rather than on a regular basis. One reason for the proliferation of goods used as status symbols is because of the mass marketing techniques of marketers, many products have become commodities and hence consumers have an innate desire to consume goods and services that are perceived to be superior in value. This is the need that astute marketers tap into when marketing goods that they label as premium or exclusive. To take this poi nt a bit further, recent nomenclature in advertisements and marketing collateral for the so-called status products tends to highlight the â€Å"exclusivity† of a particular good or service and to connote that by consuming that good or service, the consumer is being conferred a special status in society (Turunen & Laaksonen, 2011). It has been noted by many researchers that status consumption