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3 pages/β‰ˆ825 words
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6 Sources
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APA
Subject:
Business & Marketing
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Essay
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English (U.S.)
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Topic:

Understanding Consumer and Business Buyer Behavior

Essay Instructions:

Goodwill Industries – Marketing to a variety of customer types 
Assignment Objectives 
1. Learn to recognize the various types of customers a company may have. 
2. Understand what creates value for different customers. 
3. Appreciate how consumer buying behavior may vary by type of customer. 
4. Recognize how changes in the marketing environment affect a company’s marketing efforts.
5. Recognize how a company using marketing tools to appeal to its various customers. 
6. Demonstrate effective writing skills. 
Course Concepts 
1. Creating and Capturing Customer Value (Chapter 1) 
2. Analyzing the Marketing Environment (Chapter 3) 
3. Characteristics affecting Consumer Behavior (Chapter 5) 
Overview 
Since 1902, Goodwill Industries has funded job training and placement programs through its chain of thrift stores. While selling used clothing, furniture, and other items may not seem like big business, for Goodwill, it amounts to over $3 billion in annual sales. You might think of thrift stores as musty, low-class operations. But Goodwill is putting an end to such perceptions by focusing on concepts of consumer behavior. Like any good marketing company, Goodwill recognizes that not all customers are the same. This video demonstrates how Goodwill caters to different types of customers by recognizing the cultural, social, personal, and psychological factors that affect how customers make buying decisions. In this manner, Goodwill is able to maximize customer value by offering the right mix of goods at unbeatable bargains. 
Your Task 
You will be demonstrating that you understand the above-­‐noted course concepts by applying them to the Goodwill Video Case Study (found in MyMarketingLab). 
Directions 
• View the Goodwill Industries video, which can be found in Mymarketinglab under Chapter 5. 
• Think about your own experiences with shopping at Goodwill. Have you bought items at Goodwill? Why did you shop there? What did you buy? What influenced you in your decision to buy that item? 
• Ask about other people’s experience with shopping at Goodwill. Ask your family and friends about their experiences purchasing items at Goodwill. What did they buy? Why? What motivates them to shop at Goodwill? Is it the same reason every time or does it vary—and if so, how does it vary? What is their image of the Goodwill? 
• Review the requirements for written assignments and the grading rubric in your course syllabus under project descriptions. 
• Prepare your three-­‐ to four-­‐page written assignment by addressing each of the following questions in order. 
Questions 
1. Goodwill customer types. Describe the three customer types mentioned in the video. What is each customer type looking for when they shop at Goodwill? What is most important to each customer type? 2. Value offered. What is Goodwill's value proposition and is it the same for all customer groups. 3. Factors affecting Goodwill consumer behavior. How do the four sets of factors affecting consumer behavior affect the buying behavior of Goodwill’s customers? Which of the four sets of factors affecting consumer behavior do you believe most strongly affects consumers’ purchase decisions from Goodwill? 4. Changes in the marketing environment. What environmental trend(s) does the video discuss that significantly impacts Goodwill’s performance? 
What two “metrics” (key factors Goodwill tracks determine how well business is doing) are affected and why does this affect how Goodwill markets its retail goods? 
5. Impact on Goodwill’s Marketing strategies and tactics. How does Goodwill’s recognition of consumer behavior principles affect its marketing mix

Essay Sample Content Preview:

Marketing Principles
Name
Course
Instructor
Date
Goodwill: Understanding Consumer and Business Buyer Behavior
Types of customers
The early adopters, late adopters as well as the critical mass are the three main types of customers who shop at Goodwill. Early adopters customers typically try out new products compared to the other two categories and they are more likely to be fashion shoppers. However, they may also seek the opinion of other customers. The late adopters typically purchase products after they have become more common and the early adopters are into other products (Paradice, 2010). They are price sensitive and hence prefer to wait for the prices to fall, meaning that they are more likely to look for information from the mass media before making purchasing decisions. The critical mass customers are identified their preference to purchase products when it is absolutely necessary, incases the price has fallen over time and at times the products are considered obsolete by other groups (Paradice, 2010). The bargain hunters tend to be late adopters, or in the critical mass category and they are price sensitive while prefer to wait for the prices to fall or chose the company’s stores because of low prices, but people also bargain hunt in cases when the economy is bad. 
Goodwill's value proposition
For the customers Goodwill focuses on selling its good quality merchandise at discounted prices while employees learn about customer service skills in an environment that is similar to that of retail stores (Pearson, n.d.). As such, for all the three types of customers, the value proposition is the same as they all purchase good quality donated merchandise at low prices. There are high quality attires and the notion that it stocks low quality products is simply a misconception.
Factors affecting Goodwill consumer
Cultural, social, personal and psychological factors affect the consumer behavior
Cultural
Goodwill takes into account the cultural factors that are common in a neighborhood, to stock, products that are most likely to sell (Pearson, n.d.).  The demographics of an area affect purchasing options, since the more conservative areas are likely to have different preference to the funkier and trendy areas.
Social
  The social factors depend on social groups, status, family as well as the role of people in the society high end stores are target at the higher income earning social groups. The e-commerce platform allows the company to reach out to online shoppers. When goods do not move quickly they are transferred to another store, while also relying on the lateral price point (Pearson, 2010).
Personal
The way of life, lifestyle, purchasing power and personalities are all persona factors that influence purchasing behavior. For the customers to identify with different brands, then there is a need to focus on personal factors as Goodwill adapts to changes in personal factors to increase sales.
Psychological
  The beliefs, attitudes, learning as well as perceptions are psychological factors that affect consumer preferences. Consumers typically have a desire that drives them to shop for certain products over others, their beliefs and attitudes may inf...
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