Five hats of the consumer

by Prof Uditha Liyanage

Consumers are typically known to be users of products and services to satisfy their manifold needs. The 'consumer as user' role is, in fact, only one role played by the consumer. There are four other distinct roles, the consumer plays, in different contexts.

Now, marketing, and indeed business is essentially about, 'meeting customer needs profitably'. Hence, knowing particular customer roles which directly relate to customer needs, must, clearly be a priority for organisations, big and small.

Consumer as user

Here, the customer is a mere user of products. The concept of 'utility' in economics is akin to this role of the customer. In this context, the customer buys products, because, through its use, he or she is able to solve a problem. In this regard, the products' attributes and their functions are carefully considered by the customer. The central question that the consumer raises in this regard is: "What will it do for me?"

The consumer in such contexts, will typically become a rational decision-maker who will carefully evaluate attributes of the product vis-a-vis competitors in the market. The 'consumer as user', is typically, a problem-solver.

Consumer as experiencer

The 'consumer as experiencer' raises the question, 'What will it do to me', and is subject to sensory stimulation. He is a seeker of pleasure.

Here, the consumer's role as hedonist is characterised by consumption for pleasure, for sensory stimulation and gratification, accompanied by affect, rather than for survival or to solve a problem.

Gabriel and Lang (1997) refer to the pursuit of pleasure, untarnished by guilt or shame, which becomes the bedrock of a new moral philosophy, a new genre of the good life.

Importantly, Campbell (1987) makes the distinction between utility and pleasure. He describes them as distinct motivational principles, the former deriving from need, and the latter aiming at pleasure. Need, represents the disturbance of a state of psychological equilibrium. It is based on absence, or lack or necessity. By contrast, pleasure, is, "not so much a state of being, as a quality of experience; not an attempt to restore an earlier state of disturbed equilibrium, but is a quest for a certain kind of stimulus which will bring about a pleasurable experience".

He said that "stimulation of the senses is, therefore, itself, a part of the pleasurable experience".

Consumer as member

"Membership groups" are those to which an individual belongs. "Aspirational groups" are those to which one does not belong, but wish to belong to. 'Customer as member' takes two forms. First, a brand, given its sign value, will help the customer to maintain his position in a 'membership group' he belongs to. Second, a product's sign value will enable him to associate himself with an aspirational group. In sum, the use or possession of the brand may signify the customer's membership of a group or his association with an (aspirational) group.

Clearly, the need to belong to or be associated with a social group is a strong motivator and a dominant 'value' of the customer. Here the consumer raises the question, 'What will it do with me?'.

Here, the customer buys, uses and owns brands for their communicative value, not use value. Customers set up and promote their identities through the consumption of brands. In essence, customers 'value' the personal statements they make through the brands they own and use.

At the core of 'customer as communicator' lies the idea that material objects embody a system of meanings, through which we express ourselves and communicate with each other. In this context, we want to buy things, not because of what they can do for us, but because, of what they say about us.

According to this perspective, products and brands tell stories and communicate meanings in different ways, but with the same facility as words. A car, therefore, is not a carrier of a person as much as a carrier of meaning about itself, its owner, its manufacturer and a broader culture.

The recognition of brands as parts of a communicative system, opens great possibilities of explaining the seemingly insatiable character of modern consumption without recourse to concepts of greed and envy.

It opens the possibility of assessing the impact of image-makers, without resorting to the idea of manipulation or deception (Gabriel and Lang, 1997). Here the consumer raises the question, 'What will it say about me'.

Consumer as actualiser

Objects and events, consumers consume and engage in, have meaning. They enable the customer to make a statement about themselves to others. Moreover, objects and events communicate 'value' to customers. McCraken (1988) describes goods, as "bulletin boards for internal messages and billboards for external ones".

Through the goods we consume, we often communicate with ourselves, reinforcing social categories and classifications. Like old family photographs which are not for public display, we may use those private goods to remind ourselves of who we are, and what we have achieved. (Gabriel and Lang. 1997).Customers buy and own brands and goods to buttress their self concept; to feel good about themselves, indeed, to enhance their sense of self-worth. Personality theory refers to the concept of an ideal self. A 'system of things' does help the consumer to symbolically reach this ideal. Such a system provides evidence to oneself that one has achieved a desired state of mind or being. The customer as actualiser raises the question, 'What does it say to me?'.

Meeting customer needs is fundamental to business. Therefore, knowing what consumers want and the different roles they play become imperative to any organisation. The conspicuous 'user role' of the consumer, must be analysed further to sense the deeper psycho-social needs of the consumer, whose satisfaction, drives consumers to do, what they, in fact, do.

References:

Campbell C., (1987), The Romantic Ethic and the Spirit of Modern Consumerism, Oxford, Macmillan, Gabrieal Y and Lang T., (1997), The Unmanaged Consumer, Sage Publications, London, Liyanage Uditha, (2003) "A Customer Value Typology: Beyond the functional-emotional dichotomy", Sri Lankan Journal of Management, Postgraduate Institute of Management, Colombo, July-Dec. McCraken Grant, (1988), Culture and Consumption, New Approaches to the Symbolic Character of Consumer Goods and Activities, Bloomington, Indian University Press.

Prof. Uditha Liyanage is a Senior Marketeer and a Professor of Management at the Postgraduate Institute of Management (PIM) and an Adjunct Professor of the University of Canberra, Australia. He is on the Board of Directors of a number of leading companies.