Customer Understanding

Philp Kotler, born on 27th May 1931. By occupation he is a Marketing Consultant and has consulted many large companies, including IBM, Michelin, Bank of America, General Electric, Motorola and many more. With these companies he has focused in the areas of marketing strategy, planning and organization, and international marketing.
He presents seminars in major international cities around the world on the latest marketing developments to companies and other organisations.

he believes that the factors which influence on Consumer Behaviour are Personal, Organisational, Social, Cultural and Psychological.

An optical illusion (also called a visual illusion) is characterized by visually perceived images that differ from objective reality. The information gathered by the eye is processed in the brain to give percept that does not tally with a physical measurement of the stimulus source. There are three main types: literal optical illusions that create images that are different from the objects that make them, physiological ones that are the effects on the eyes and brain of excessive stimulation of a specific type (brightness, tilt, colour, movement), and cognitive illusions where the eye and brain make unconscious inferences.


According to Kotler Consumer Behaviour is the process the consumer needs to take when buying an item.

Organisational Buyer Behaviour

‘The decision-making process by which formal organisations establish the need for purchased products and services, and identify, evaluate, and choose among alternative brands and suppliers’

Kotler and Armstrong 1989

Perceptual Maps

In helping you develop a market positioning strategy for your product or service, perceptual maps or positioning maps as they are sometimes referred to, are often used to help the organisation identify a positioning straregy.

When plotting a peceptual map two dimensions are commonly used. Below is a very basic perceptual map. If we plot the UK chocolate market we can identify those brands which are high price and high quality. Belgium chocolates are plotted as high quality and high price, and twix is plotted one low quality low price brand. Once completed the perceptual map could help identify where an organisation could launch a new brand perhaps at the medium price and quality range. In our basic map, you can see there is not much competition within that particular area.

We must remember that perceptual maps are plotted on the basis of someones perception and what maybe a quality product to one person, may not be percieved as quality to another.

From searching in this blog I could not found anything about Harvard theories

For the last part of this post I will talk about how perception makes people want to buy their product. From my experience 21 years of it....I would say to buy a product I would by the product if it had good packaging.....Good quality (maybe with a company guarantee). That would make me buy a product!