Consumer Behaviour College Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Consumer Behaviour College - Essay Example This term, central to any understanding of consumer behaviour, refers to how consumers view a product/service, its price and its quality, among others. It focuses on subjective consumer interpretations of a product's attributes versus its price, what its possession and use will contribute to a consumer versus its price. Within the context of consumer theory, personality has two meanings. The first is consumer personality and the second is brand personality. Ideally, correlation between the two motivates the consumer market to purchase the brand in question and exhibit loyalty towards it. In both instances, personality refers to perceived attributes and characteristics. Consumer market segmentation is integral to focused marketing and the identification of potential consumers. The elderly refers to the consumer market segment which is comprised of the aged, generally those at, or above, pension age. This type of segmentation is restricted to age. The second type of segmentation is concerned with economic status. It effectively refers to consumer income and, more specifically, to those in the upper income brackets. The affluent are the rich consumers, irrespective of gender and age. The ever-increasing popularity, both national and global, of plastic surgery is amply evidence in the appeal of television shows and serials such as "Extreme Makeover" and "Nip/Tuck." Plastic surgery is now openly discussed and is no longer confined to emergencies or to the female market. In other words, plastic/cosmetic surgery is regularly performed for beautification and anti-ageing purposes and not out of necessity and is now being undertaken by both males and females, not just the latter. 3.1 Industry Facts and Figures The American Society of Plastic Surgeons (cited in Ruiz, 2007) estimates that the number of cosmetics surgeries performed per year has increased by almost 50% from 2000 to 2006. Market researcher, writing on the size of the industry and market, assert the impossibility of gauging the size of the industry/market as statistics are based upon procedures performed in hospitals and not those carried out in private clinics (Davis, 1995). Hazarding a guess, nevertheless, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (cited in Ruiz, 2007) asserts that it is a multi-billion pound industry. Indeed, tens of billions of pounds are spent on the global plastic surgery industry per annum (Jeffreys, 2005). It is, in other words, an extremely lucrative, constantly growing market. 3.2 Consumer Characteristics Several