Apply The Theory Of Consumer Behavior To Tea Drinking Marketing Essay

With the deepening of research on consumer behavior, people more and more profoundly realize that consumer behavior is an integral whole, is a process, and obtaining and purchasing are just a stage of this process. Therefore, the study of consumer behavior should investigate and understand the evaluation and selection activities of consumers before the obtaining of products and services, and what’s more, attention should also be paid to the activities of the use and disposal after the obtain of the products (Elizabeth, 2009). Since consumer behavior is important, research on the theory of consumer behavior is necessary. In a narrow sense, consumer behavior only refers to purchase behavior of consumers and the actual consumption of consumer data. In a broad sense, consumer behavior not only comprises some decision-making processes, which refer to various actions that consumers take for the demand and dispose of consumer goods, but also includes a serious of complex processes, such as the obtain of consumption revenue (Leon, 2007). Both theory of central place and model of space interaction regard the consumer group activities as the research object. Theory of central place assumes that consumers will tend to a recent center that can provide goods or services, which accords with the agent of economic-man. According to the theory of central place, consumers are intellectual in saving cost and maximizing their utility. Model of space interaction regards that consumer behavior is closely linked to the reaction of center attraction and the competition among other center systems. In real life, purchase decision-makers, buyers, users of the same goods or services may be the same individual, also may be different. Consumer behavior is closely related to the exchange of products or services (Bruce, 2009). In the condition of modern market economy, enterprises’ research on consumer behavior focuses on establishing and developing long-term exchange relationship with consumers. In order to earn more profits and make a long-term development in the fierce competition, enterprises should firstly need to understand that consumers are how to acquire products and services, and they also need to know that consumers are how to use products and products are how to be treated after the use. Consumers’ spending experience, mode and feeling of disposal old products can have an impact on the next round of consumers’ purchase, in other words, it can directly influence the long-term exchange relation between enterprises and consumers. There are many factors that can have an impact on consumer behavior, and this article will just introduce some main factors (Laura, 2009). The first one is cultural factor. Culture is the basic factor of desires and behavior of human. Different culture can generate different social strata. Due to the diversity of value, consumption, aesthetics and habits of different social strata, they have different ways of choosing pattern, quantity, quality, design requirements of products. Consumers of each stratus have their shops and products of adapting themselves. The second one is social factor. Social factor refers to related groups, character and position of family and individual. In purchasing behavior, consumers often use the most general consumption concept and consumer behavior to regulate their own consumption behavior, so related groups around consumers especially their family and good friends have a considerable influence on the purchasing behavior of consumers. The third one is personal factor. Purchasing decisions of consumers are affected by their individual characteristics, such as age, occupation, economic status, lifestyle and self-concept. The fourth one is psychological factor. The psychological factor concludes demand and motivation, consciousness, learning and memory, attitudes. These factors not only affect and in some extent resolve the decision-making behavior of consumers, but also can has enlarging or inhibition effect on the external environment and marketing stimulation.

2, Apply the theory of consumer behavior to tea drinking

With the improvement of living standards of residents and the changes in the concept of consumption, tea drinking has transferred from the former life luxury to daily necessities of life. More and more consumers choose tea drinking as their main drinking, instead of other drinking. There are many reasons responsible for this phenomenon, and the main reason is that great changes have taken place on purchasing behavior of consumers. A serious of factors that influence consumer behavior can have an impact on tea drinking (Natalie, 2009). The first aspect is the change of cultural factor. With the change of value and consumption of consumers, more and more consumers choose tea drinking. “Natural, healthy, natural regression” has become the main health consume trend that more and more consumers pursue. The reason why tea drinking suddenly “fire” arises is that it meets the consumer’s needs, and the consumption way of tea drinking meets the requirement of modern way of life. The characteristics of tea drinking can be summarized as “three low”: low calorie, low fat and low sugar. Natural, thirst, healthy, refreshing, tea drinking is more thirst than carbonated drinks, and is more pleasant than water drinking. Tea drinking is not only elegant, lingering fragrance, rich in health care, bur also has the function of nutrition, health effect and thirst quencher. The second aspect is the change of social factor. If some consumers like the tea drinking, they can affect the related groups, and the last outcome is that some relevant consumers choose tea drinking. The third aspect is the change of personal factor. One of the reasons that tae beverage began to sell lies in that the income level of young consumers has an improvement in recent years. With the increase of disposable income of the younger generation, most consumers regard that bottle beverage is more expensive, but they feel more “smart”, “fashion”. People with the characteristics of pop, fashionable and fancy will more choose the consumption of tea drinking. The fourth aspect is the change of psychological factor. Brand loyalty has a lot to do with the consumer behavior of tea beverage market. Due to brand loyalty, consumer behavior can have positive effect on tea drinking. Once consumers like to drink some tea drinking, they will choose the same tea drinking under the effect of brand loyalty. Another reason that more and more consumers like tea drinking is that health consciousness of people has risen. In the past carbonated drinks like cola drinks occupy the absolute superiority in the cool and refreshing beverage market, and drinks with high sweetness are popular in the non-carbonated drinks. The reason is that people think that since purchasing, the higher the nutrition has, the more cost-effective it is. With the lifestyle of high-income people gradually European, people start caring about their weight. Because people pursuit vogue weight as a fashion, tea beverage of low sweetness is reasonably to be accepted by people. People with the characteristics of the pursuit of good figure tend to consume tea beverage. Undoubtedly, it is precisely because tea beverage meets the function and psychology demand of contemporary consumer that it develops so quickly in such a very short time. Consumer behavior has an impact on purchase behavior of consumers, which directly decides the demand of tea drinking. Therefore, consumer behavior has a great influence on the development of tea drinking.

3, Impact of theory on marketing strategies for tea

The foundation of marketing decision-making is the research on consumer behavior, which is inseparable with the marketing activities of enterprises. The establishment of marketing strategies for tea is not an exception, and it will be affected by the theory of consumer behavior. The research on consumer behavior has a very important significance on improving the level of marketing decision-making and enhancing the effectiveness of marketing strategies. Consumer behavior can have an impact on drinking behavior, which influences the formulation of marketing strategies for tea, such as advertising and drinking environment (Lee, 2007). On the one hand, there are many kings of tea, if enterprises want to accepted by consumers and establish brand loyalty, it is necessary to emphasize brand image and brand management. Through the research on consumer behavior, enterprises can understand each index of various brands, such as visibility, buy/usage, loyalty, conversion and reputation. Based on understanding image, status and evaluation of each brand in the consumers, enterprises can make better brand development strategy. Tea has many different types, such as green tea and black tea, and different types should lay out different marketing strategies in order to attract more consumers. On the other hand, because people pursuit vogue weight and some consumers pursue nutrition, it is necessary to make market segmentation in the tea beverage market. Market segmentation is the foundation for the formulation of marketing strategies. The purpose of marketing segment for enterprises is to find target markets which are appropriate for themselves. According to the demand of target markets, tea enterprises can formulate targeted marketing plans, in order to more fully satisfy the unique needs for consumers of the target markets (Norton, 2006). Through the effective market segmentation, tea enterprises can divide different consumers into different consumer groups so that they can implement efficient marketing strategies to meet the needs of different consumers. In the process of enterprises’ development, every enterprise has to develop new products in order to meet the needs of consumers. In the course of implementation of new products, tea enterprises can take marketing strategy that every consumer can drink free of charge in a certain period of time so that consumers can accept the new product better. Besides, tea enterprises can give tea of small packing to consumers. Tea enterprises can develop new products according to understanding the needs and desires of consumers and the evaluation of various products attributes. It can be said that the research on consumer behavior is an important source for the design of new products, and meanwhile it is also an important way of testing new products of various factors, such as performance, packaging, taste, color, specifications, which can be accepted and in what ways it should be further perfected. The aim of the development of new products is to obtain more market shares and meet the needs of different consumers. “Natural, healthy, natural regression” has become the main health consume trend that more and more consumers pursue, so tea enterprises should blend this trend into their advertising and marketing strategies (Eric, 2004). Consumers regard tea drinking as a fashion, so advertising and marketing strategies of tea enterprises should add fashionable element so that consumers can accept it easily. Through the study of consumer behavior, tea enterprises can understand the way that consumers gain information, the attitude and evaluation that consumers treat advertising and promotion of enterprises, so that tea enterprises can set up set up reasonable and effective advertising and promotion strategies.

4, Statistics on Tea consumption in China

According to introducing of tea industry insiders, tea beverage is the fastest-drinks in Europe and America in the 1990s, and it is regarded as a beverage of new era. In Taiwan and Japan, tea beverage has become the first biggest drink variety, and 95% of beverage enterprises in Taiwan produce tea beverage. In recent years, the development speed of tea beverage market in China has exceeded 300%, and tea drinking has become the third drinking after carbonated drinks and bottled drinks, increasing rapidly. According to tea consumption in China, readers can find that the development of tea consumption is China is fast. With the passage of time, the consumption will continue to become larger.

The following form is the tea consumption in China in recent years (internet data):

year

Output(tons)

Revenue(billion yuan)

1984

0.66

3.3

1990

1.7

4.4

1995

6.9

23

1996

9.4

35.2

1997

10.5

41

1998

11.6

45

1999

13.5

54

2000

14.4

55.5

2001

15.5

58

2002

17.5

65

2003

20

70

Form the above form we can find that with the improvement of living standards of residents and the changes in the concept of consumption in China, tea drinking has transferred from the former life luxury to daily necessities of life, and Chinese consumers have more and more tea consumption.

5, History of Lipton Tea

“Lipton” is the largest tea brand in the world. It not only represents the tea experts, but also stands for an international, fashionable, urbanization life. Lipton has remained superior quality and aromatic delicious of successive generation for more than 100 years (internet data). With its bright yellow Lipton delivers its purpose to the world: natural light, vigor and good fun. Mr. Thomas once went out to travel and reached Ceylon, a famous tea production area. British people like Ceylon tea very much, but due to the high price of drinks, only few people can enjoy it. Lipton sensitively realized that if he can make the tea enter the mass of everyday life, it will become a good business. Lipton was founded by Mr. Thomas in 1871. In 1890 he officially launched Lipton tea in Britain, and his slogan is “direct from tea garden to the tea pot”. In 1892, Lipton began its globalization movement. It firstly opened its factories in the United States, and then ran its branches in India, entering the far eastern markets. In 1898, Lipton was conferred dignity by queen, winning the reputation of “the king of tea”. 80 years after the old Lipton beginning its global expansion of Lipton brand, the history of Lipton occurred qualitative change, and the unilever, the most famous global individual consumer group bought the entire Lipton brand. Since then, Lipton boarded this global ship of unilevel and started its more powerful expansion. Combining the marketing experience of Lipton and unilever, products of Lipton tea now are on sale in the 110 countries and regions. Whether fame or sales, Lipton tea is the biggest global brand in the world, and its sales are higher at least one time than the second-largest brand. At the same time, Lipton tea is the third non-alcoholic beverage that consumers choose most, only after the Coca Cola and Pepsi cola. In 1992, Lipton tea entered the oldest and largest nation in the world: China. Within five years, Lipton tea won the achievements of the first tea bags sales and the first market share in the investigation of mall in China. In 2001, Lipton established its global brand image again. According to different taste of consumers, Lipton makes precise market segmentation, and launches a serious of tea products in order to meet the needs of different consumers. Distinctive brand logo for the new movement of Lipton is quickly popular among young people all over the world. The vitality, healthy and upward that Lipton creates have infiltrated into the heart of young people. Lipton not only creates a kind of brand-new brand experience for young consumers, but also pours a fresh energy into tea drinks.

6, Branding and marketing of Lipton Tea – China

Tea culture, especially green tea culture has taken root in China for over a thousand years. Under the influence of ancient tea culture, Chinese consumers have a deep understanding about tea and the benefit of tea. Black tea originated in China has become the indispensable tea drinks in Europe and America. However, Lipton tea is obviously an exotic for today’s Chinese consumers (Adam, 2009). Using black tea as its core brand, since entering Chinese market in 1992 Lipton has realized that it must break through the traditional branding and marketing gimmick of tea products in order to make Chinese consumers understand and accept Lipton brand. On the one hand, Lipton Tea is guided by the market rather than the product orientation. Lipton divides various products of tea into different categories, constantly creating new tastes and user experience. Aiming the demand of consumers’ rapidly drinking a cup of tea, Lipton attracts a lot of young people and office white-collar. In the website, Lipton puts several dynamic humorous videos for consumers, delivering the information that drinking tea can achieve the following purposes: keeping lightsome body, representation of youth, getting rid of fatigue and prolonging life. Various functions and different flavors of products can meet different age groups and different needs, so that Lipton can have a clear market goal and pounce in branding and marketing. On the other hand, Lipton devotes to standardization of products and brand image. Due to the reasons of plant environment, picking and making, tea products are difficulty in forming the standardization of taste. Many consumers have not the ability of identification of tea, so tea enterprises have the opportunity of shoddy. With the media exposure and the gradually mature of consumer behavior, it actually is a trust crisis for enterprises. Based on function orientation of products and brand orientation, Lipton has made a good image in the mind of consumers, so standardization of products and brand image is a great wealth for Lipton. In addition, the branding and marketing of Lipton is winning channels and the king of terminals. Lipton uses its strong image in the channel and terminal change the drinking habit of young generation and White-collar. Using the innovation marketing method of internet, Lipton has closely “interaction” with consumers in the fan BBS, which lets Lipton brand into the life of generation even the mood.

7, Current marketing strategies

Besides the high quality and the solid foundation of brand, Lipton never slows the pace of understanding consumers and establishing communication with consumers (Jean-Pierre, 2001). Lipton devotes itself to marketing innovation: brand promotion. The current marketing strategies of Lipton focus on modern young people and White-collar. They are active, like pop culture, pay attention to health and wander about working partners to share little drops of life. Now Lipton values the needs of the Internet boom and the emotional contact between consumers. As the core products, Lipton tea is not only a simple office drinking, but also strives to deeply communicate with office white-collar group in emotional level. Lipton finds that everywhere is busy White-collar in modern city, though they are lucrative, they work strain. Although they want to contact with friends, office life takes most of their time. Lipton uses Lipton tea as a contact link between friends, which can close the relations between colleagues through the good office afternoon tea in relaxed moments. On the one hand, Lipton establishes brand image of “the tea experts” in the targeted consumers. On the other hand, it brings forth healthy tea and life attitude for consumers. In order to satisfy the consumers’ needs of good form and health, after efforts of four years the global R&D center of Lipton and Lipton tea research institute launch Lipton tea, rich in catechin and healthy diet.