Attitude Towards The Object Model Marketing Essay

The attitude is a mental predisposition to behave in a certain manner facing a brand, a firm or an object. In other terms, the attitude is a learned predisposition to behave in a consistently favorable or unfavorable way with respect to a given object.

This means the attitude is not inner but the results of experiences and information provided.

Indeed, consumers have positive or negative feeling towards a brand. These feelings depend on the values communicated by the brand and will directly affect the purchasing behaviour of the buyers when they have to choose between two products for example.

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Attitudes contribute to the identification of a number of preferences and consequent actions. Attitudes play a role determining in the process of purchase, particularly at the level of the valuation of resolutions.Moreover, they help determine preferences and later behaviors. Attitude predicts behaviours: based on people’s attitude, we can infer what their behaviour will be. For example if they have a positive attitude, they will probably buy the product and if they have a negative attitude, they won’t probably buy the product.

The notion of attitude is linked to the concept of attributes: these are the decisive characteristics of a product (those taken into account in the process of decision).

The opinion is the expression of an attitude: but they reflect only the consistent attitudes (it’s a limit of inquiries by opinion poll). In marketing studies, they measure attitudes from the position of the individuals in comparison with different items (the ladder of attitude).

Models of attitude

There are 2 models of attitude:

The Tricomponent Attitude Model

The Multiattributes Models

The Tricomponent Attitude Model

It includes three elements:

– A cognitive element: elements of knowledge, your beliefs

– An affective element: you like it or you don’t like it, your feelings and emotions

– A behavioural (or conative) element: it is predisposition in the act of purchase: you buy it or you don’t buy it

There are 4 types of Hierarchy:

Standard Learning Hierarchy

Low-involvement Hierarchy

Experiential Hierarchy

We believe the Vorwerk Thermomix is following the standard learning hierarchy:

It’s the high-involvement hierarchy; indeed, the attitude is based on cognitive information processing.

This means the consumer approaches the product decision as a problem-solving process. First, he forms beliefs about the product by accumulating knowledge regarding relevant attributes (cognitive element). Then, the consumer evaluates these beliefs and forms a feeling about the product (affective element). Overtime, the consumer assembles information about the product, the past-experiences, the pros, the cons and so on… Finally, based on this evaluation, the consumer engages in a relevant behavior, such as buying the product (behavioral element). [1] 

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This careful choice process often results in the following type of loyalty: the consumer “bonds” with the product over time and is not easily persuaded to experiment with other brands. The standard learning hierarchy assumes that a consumer is highly involved in making a purchase decision. The person is motivated to seek out a lot of information, carefully weigh alternatives, and come to a thoughtful decision.

This process is likely to occur in the case of the Vorwerk Thermomix because the decision is important to the consumer (or in some way central to the consumer’s self-concept).

As a matter of fact, as mentioned before, to remain close to its customers and assure them an optimal satisfaction, Vorwerk chose in 1930 to sell directly its products at its clients’ homes.

Indeed, Vorwerk encourages the sale of the Thermomix through local distributors using home demonstrations; accessories and cookbooks are also available through local representatives.

It is a type of sale realized by private individuals who invite a certain number of friends or relatives to a sale at their home (often in exchange for a present). This technique of sale is largely based on the conviviality of the guests. During the personalized demonstration in the client’s kitchen, the Thermomix advisor will present its multiple possibilities of use, will prepare fresh dishes and answer every question.

This is why the Thermomix can’t be ordered online: they want to give the guests the opportunity to test the product to convince them of its features (for free and without any buying obligation).

The “home sales meeting” is a local service: the consumer is listened and advised personally. Customers get complete and transparent information on products: the sales meeting is based on trust in which the home distributor undertakes to provide all the necessary information.

The fact of organizing at home demonstration meetings of the different uses of the Vorwerk Thermomix reassures the clientele. The client can have all the information he needs, experiment the product and decide to buy it or not!

This model provides a strong brand loyalty and high involvement of customers. For instance, Vorwerk has an active user community who share recipes and tips on online forums.

The Multiattributes models

Attitude towards the object model

The Fishbein model is especially suitable for measuring attributes towards a product category or specific brands. According to this model, the consumer’s attitude towards a product is “a function of the presence (or absence) and evaluation of certain product-specific beliefs and/or attributes” [2] . Consumers generally have favorable attitudes towards the brands that they believe have an adequate level of attributes that they evaluate as positive.

Basically, this model stipulates that consumers will list the attributes that are important to them, then they will give a rate for this attribute and weight the criteria or feature and finally they will multiply the importance rating of the attribute to the evaluation or rating of the attribute in order to come up with the brand they should select.

For instance, for the Vorwerk Thermomix, these attributes are:

Performance of the product (capable of many functions, including chopping, mixing, kneading, simmering, boiling and steaming)

Exclusive selling atmosphere

Small number of interchangeable attachments

Personal assistance and advice

Reliability of the product

???

However it’s a very rational model, people have to think a lot, it’s a long process and not a lot of customers go through this whole process.

Attitude towards behavior model

The attitude towards behavior model is “the individual’s attitude towards behaving or acting with respect to an object rather than the attitude towards the object itself” [3] .

The appeal of the attitude towards behavior models is that it seems to correspond more closely to consumers’ actual behavior than does the attitude towards object model.

As a matter of fact, this model includes subjective norms: the effects of what we believe what people think we should do, the beliefs about what specific referents think. This model acknowledges the power of other people in influencing behavior. Indeed, many of our behaviors are not determined in isolation but what we think others would like us to do may be more relevant than our own individual preferences.

It highlights that people you like, people who are very important to a customer may influence their behavior and will have an impact on the consumer’s final decision.

In the case of the Vorwerk Thermomix, we belive there can be an important social pressure.

Indeed, as mentioned before, this product is sold during home demonstrations. Because consumers are surrounded by relatives (friends and/or family), we think they don’t want their choice to be unpopular, they might want to do like the others and follow what the others want them to do and thus buy the product.

The fact that the product is sold only during group meetings may influence intentions to behave and behaviors. We believe peer pressure (pressure of “significant” others) is very important in the case of the Thermomix.

For instance, if in a group of 6 women, 5 of them decide to buy the product, the 6th woman might be influenced and finally convinced to buy the product whereas if she was alone, she might not buy the product: there is a true motivation to comply with the referents.

Change

As we said before, attitudes have got 3 components: the cognitive, the affective and the behavioural elements. To change the attitude of the consumers it is an obligation to change one or more of these components.

To change attitude, we have to spot and match the balance of one of the components, especially in the person’s self-image.

For example,

if the affective component is very strong, the brand should offer emotional arguments

if the cognitive component is very strong, the brand should use rational arguments

if the behavioral component is very strong, the brand should react, do something

Changing the last element is easier because the first two components are fixed in the consumers’ minds and thus very difficult to change.

The strength of attitude increases with the accessibility and knowledge about the topic in question [4] . We can thus conclude that the attitude changes according to acquired information and advertising on products and brands.

Basically there are 5 ways to achieve attitude change:

change the basic motivational functions of attitude

create new associations (associate the product with an event or a cause)

resolve conflicting attitudes

alter components of multi-attributes models

change consumers’ beliefs about competitors brands

For example, for the Vorwerk Thermomix, we could:

????

V. Communication & Marketing stimuli

Vorwerk has a very unique communication strategy. Indeed, Vorwerck markets its devices only by direct selling. Only accessories and consumable Kobold and Thermomix are sold on their website and in their Technical Approved Stations.

The communication is based on word-of-mouth; there isn’t any store or advertising.

The “home sales meeting” sales technique was primarily used in the USA and was discovered in France thanks to the brands Tupperware and Avon. Since the arrival in the 1960s in France, of the Avon cosmetics and of the famous Tupperware boxes, this sector is booming.

This type of sale makes more and more followers, essentially women (80%). It has become a form of very dynamic relational sales, rapidly expanding today. The benefits of sales meeting to customers are numerous. For example the sales meeting provides an incomparable atmosphere and conviviality and furthermore, the consumer is personally listened and advised.

The home sales meeting allows to present products such as the Thermomix in a very pleasant and effective way. The fact of organizing home demonstrations reassures the clientele.

The home sales meeting is a method of distribution which brings consumers and distributors who market the products some enormous advantages. This distribution method has very popular and timeless values, values of exchanges and swaps around the product, which, unlike e-commerce do not authorize direct contact with the customer.

The Thermomix adviser explains the various functions and features of the product, taking into account the particular needs and culinary and cooking habits of the guests: the advisor offers a really personalized service.

Once the meeting is over, the guests and the host decide to buy or not the product, with the guarantee of complete services and especially the expertise of a Thermomix advisor.

The sales meeting is based on trust in which the home distributor undertakes to provide all the necessary information. The Thermomix adviser stays at the disposal of the customer to help him and guide him after the purchase of the product. This is why Thermomix cannot be ordered on-line: only a personalized service is a good quality service.