As summarized from factors influencing consumer behavior presented above, the consumption process can be viewed as:
Beginning with macro perspective, consumer behavior is influenced by culture and subculture. Group perspective is considered next and consists of various social influences, including social organizations, reference groups, social classes, etc. And,
Macro-perspective (cultural influences)
Group perspective (social influences)
Individual perspective (psychological influences)
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finally, individual determinants of consumer buying patterns accurately predict real purchase behavior, explained by psychological processes such as leaning, perception, motivation, personality, and attitudes.
The macro-perspective is suitable for a cross-cultural study, e.g. the comparison of certain buying behavior in different countries. The group perspective may be taken when the aim of research is to find out differences or similarities between distinguishable societal groups. The individual perspective deals with the consumer’s psychology, which could be more complicated and untraceable than the other two perspectives.
Based on the theory of reasoned action, actual behavior is predicted by intention that can be decomposed into attitude and subjective norm. That is, only when an intention or motivation exists should the real behavior take place. In fact, the prime objective of the marketer is to persuade consumers that the use of their product can satisfy a specific need. As summarized from the above, motivation is defined as the mixture of needs within individual. Hence, understanding of consumers’ motivation is one of the most direct ways for the marketer to precisely grasp consumers’ true needs.
The aim of the present study is to investigate consumers’ motives for breakfast and RTE cereal, and thus providing Kellogg in Taiwan with marketing references to increase its revenues. Motivations to consumer breakfast and RTE cereal could be hierarchical, e.g. some consumers eat breakfast simply for the problem of hunger, i.e.
the lowest physiological need. Other consumers, however, are likely to choose what they usually eat at breakfast because familiarity offers them a sense of security, the second lowest need. Citing the literature reviewed above, higher needs, such as environmental quality, health, and mood are recognized as important food choice motivations by consumers. These important so-called “credence motivations” are different from taste, price, or convenience in that they can be viewed as higher needs in hierarchy.
As market leader, however, Kellogg is faced with low penetration rate in Taiwan.
The basic cause of unwillingness to try Kellogg’s products is that RTE cereal fails to satisfy consumers’ needs. Therefore, what is necessary for Kellogg is to understand consumers’ motivations to buy breakfast, and to examine if its products meet consumers’ needs. Consumers are assumed to make decisions based on the importance of breakfast-buying factor, that is, they behave in the way which they believe will give the most desired outcomes. Through a thorough understanding of consumers’ motivations, Kellogg can tackle the marketing problem by increasing the expectancy of consumers’ most important motivations.
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Chapter Three Research Method
Although possessing the strongest brand recognition in the breakfast cereal industry, Kellogg’s still has a long way to go before attaining a satisfactory amount of revenue and volume, for the RTE cereal has not yet penetrated enough into Taiwan’s breakfast food industry, with a penetration rate only about 15 to 20%.
It may not be easy, however, to induce new customers to accept RTE cereal due to the unique breakfast habit in Taiwan. First, Taiwanese do not admire Western food consumption habits as much as Japanese do. Taiwanese still prefer warm Chinese-style foods for their breakfast, such as egg rolls, steamed and stuffed buns, soybean milk, etc, to RTE cereal mixed with cold milk. The other reason why Taiwanese do not choose to stay home eating RTE cereal is due to the omnipresence of convenience stores, Western and Chinese fast food restaurants, and other types of breakfast vendors. Consumers have access to various choices, which allow them to vary their breakfast on a daily basis. Therefore, consumers in Taiwan are less willing to buy a whole package of RTE cereal than those in US, where consumers cannot easily find breakfast restaurants within walking distance from their homes or place of work.
According to the interview with Ms. Ku, the product manager of Kellogg’s Taiwan, the penetrated market is restricted to the few families who are familiar with Western lifestyles, and usually with parents in high employment and education status.
The primary challenge for Kellogg’s Taiwan is how to convince the other 80% of population, outside the penetrated market, to take RTE cereal into concern as a breakfast selection, thus the first task is to investigate what stops Taiwanese consumers from buying RTE cereal.
In addition to focusing on penetration rate, Kellogg’s can also increase its revenues by eliciting more demand from its penetrated market, that is, the set of consumers who are already buying its products (Kotler & Keller, 2005). There are some feasible approaches, for example, Kellogg’s can try to persuade customers to select RTE cereal not only as breakfast but also as an all-day food and as a snack alternative In order to allow customers to purchase more, an examination of which factor prompts them the most to buy RTE cereal is required.
There are a number of techniques associated with the research of consumer motivation, including depth interview, group discussion or focus group, and projective techniques. Motivation research presents several difficulties mainly related to the correlation between motivation and act of purchasing a product. For example, a respondent’s motivation could simply be an expression of an aspiration which does not necessarily correspond to the real decision-making process. In addition, validity of a survey is suspicious if the numbers of respondents interviewed is not representative
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(and commonly is not, due to the costs involved), and the issue of what constitutes a representative group has to be dealt with.