5.1.1 Stimuli to buy and eat

Stimuli to buy and eat are many, for example the demands of the family or home group, individual hunger, the array of products on the supermarket shelves, the dishes on the menu or even the weather. The influence of family members on the buying of cereals is illustrated in Table 5.1.


Table 5.1 Breakfast cereals: family-member influence on buying

Stages in buying   Initiation Search and evaluation Final decision Husband 2.64 2.51 2.60 Wife 3.64 3.66 3.88 Child 3.91 3.42 3.62   Buying decisions   Husband Wife Child What kind to buy 2.60 3.81 3.95 What brand to buy 2.42 3.90 3.68 What size 2.16 4.20 2.84 Where to purchase 2.07 4.43 2.29 When to purchase 2.14 4.37 2.75 Each score represents the average of the husband’s, wife’s and child’s perception of family member influence, on a scale where 1 = no input and 6 = all of the input.

Source: After Lawson et al., 1996.


This shows the strong influence of the child on all stages of the buying action, and in particular on what kind and brand to buy - long a basic premise in promotion by the breakfast cereal manufacturers.

The stimuli to buy and eat can occur before and after entering the supermarket or the restaurant. When buying bread baked in the supermarket, the stimuli may be hot bread aroma, or the known great flavour of the bread. Consumers can identify other bread characteristics such as ease of cutting, calories, free of additives, but may not be stimulated to buy by them. Because there are so many stimuli the individual does not react to them all on a conscious level, and probably has a basic set used for each type of product. The depth of study in comparing food products and buying is usually not very great; the consumers do it everyday and they want it to be simple and not take time. The product stimuli to buy or not buy include:

     strong 'not buy' factors such as the smell of deteriorating fish, bruising
        of fruit, unusual colour of bacon;

     strong 'buy' factors such as value for money, sensory attractiveness;

     important 'buy' factors such as the size of a loaf and the thickness of
        the slices may not stimulate buying because they accept quite a
        wide variation in them;

     weak 'buy' factors which do not stimulate such as the nutritional value
        and the ingredients list on the label.

In developing the product concept, it is important to recognise these aspects of stimuli for the new product - strong buy/not buy, range of acceptable variation in important factors, and the low importance factors.

The consumer actions after buying the food, in preparing, eating and post- eating, are important in building up long-term attitudes and behaviour. The decisions that can be made, shown in Table 5.2, can lead to strong acceptance or dislike of the food.


Table 5.2 Consumer actions after buying the food product

Action Sub-actions Decisions for and against Preparation Transport, store, prepare, cook, serve Easy/difficult Quick/time-consuming Eating See, feel, smell, bite, savour, swallow Enjoy/neutral/dislike Easy/difficult Clean/messy Quick/takes time Post-eating Digest, general feeling, feeling in stomach Comfortable/indigestion Well/sick Pleasant/unpleasant after-taste   Dispose of waste Compare with other foods None/large, clean/messy Like/dislike Repurchase/never buy again

Think Break Compare the complete consumer behaviour from the initial perceived need to buy food to the post-eating actions for the following: 1. A teenager feeling hungry and deciding to buy a takeaway snack. 2. A person buying the week's food for a household of adults and children     under ten years. 3. A wealthy person deciding to go out to a high-class restaurant.