Consumers & Markets : Analyzing Behavioral Shifts & Emerging Challenges

Explaining consumer behavior today appears to be more complex than interpreting the conventional paradigm of perceptions, attitude, and behavior led by the classical cognitive theories. As the marketplace environment is changing rapidly in the twenty-first century following the growth of innovation, technology, market communications, and changing socio-cultural patterns, consumer behavior is largely driven by emotions, peer influence, and perceived values. When a company connects with customers'' emotions, the returns may be huge. This book documents the current consumer behavior development in changing business paradigms and suggests managerial implication for the companies to follow for gaining competitive advantage. The discussion on the topics of consumer behavior are built in the book around the ten chapters comprising evolving global consumer markets, understanding consumers through marketing research, consumer-market symbiosis, consumer health information and decision-making, catalyzing buying propensity, innovation, technology and consumption, dysfunctional consumption patterns, serving consumers in emerging markets, managing consumer experiences, and the future of consumers.