With the Americans being increasingly conscious of their weight, and their reluctance to exercise, they turn their attention to diet plans which were less costly than programs offered by slimming centers. Dr Atkins stepped up in 1992 to offer his low-carb theory once again despite his failures for the past 20 years, not to mention the fact that many had tried introducing this theory which contradicts the traditional low-calories weight loss diet plan.
Tapping on his experience as salesman and resort entertainer, he proved himself a natural at self-promotion. The book surfaced, backed by aggressive marketing campaign and became the best fast-selling book.
2.2 Consumers and Their Behaviors
The answer to how consumers respond to various marketing efforts the company might use lies in the stimulus response model of buyer behavior as shown in Figure 2.1. The figure shows that marketing and other stimuli enter the consumer's "black box" and produce certain responses. For effective marketing, marketers must figure out what is in the buyer's black box. The stimuli consist of the four Ps as shown: product, price, place and promotion. Other stimuli include major forces and events in the buyer's environment: economic, technological, political and cultural. All these inputs enter the buyer's black box, where they are turned into a set of observable buyer responses: product choice, brand choice, dealer choice, purchase choice and purchase amount.
To understand how the stimuli are changed into responses inside the consumer's black box, marketers must first know how the buyer's characteristics influence his or her perception and reaction to the stimuli (as shown in Figure 2.2). Next, they must identify buyer characteristics as they affect buying behav ...