The importance of consumer behaviour through the example of Dim's marketing: A successful French tights company

Résumé du document

“Consumer behaviour has been described as the dynamic interaction of affect and cognition, behaviour, and environmental events by which human beings conduct the exchange aspects of their lives” (Blythe, J. The essence of consumer behaviour, p.2). In other words, marketing strategies should understand how consumers think and are influenced, how they behave while shopping, how they process information, which and how much information can they process, what drives and motivates them, what is the room for emotions… “Consumer economics (…) is the study of the “demand behind the demand”: what drives people to want, need, and buy –or not. Only when this most basic unit of consumer motivation is in place can businesses design products and marketing messages to speak clearly and directly to the only motivations that count: the buyer's.”(King, M.J. & Rigby, B., The Galt Global Review, August 10th, 2005, article: “Cause and effect: consumer economics”)

Extraits

[...] The first phase of Dim's positioning: the tights market 1965 marked a turning point in the French society. The French woman was already a –young- voter, but in ten years, between 1965 and 1975, she obtained two fundamental rights. In 1966, a law (allowed her) to be on the pill and in 1975, ( ) abortion became legal. From now on, with these two rights, the French woman was the owner of her body. It marked the beginning of the French women's emancipation, which became total thanks to the sexual liberation and their massive coming in the labour market”. [...]

[...] So, it was of prime necessity for Dim to make the consumer strongly believe that his or her needs and wants towards the products were rationally oriented. With this aim in view, the company designed customized campaigns which proved very efficient, stimulating the affective and cognitive. For instance, in 1968, while women were gaining their autonomy, Dim launched the tights “Tels gave a very natural effect, which was really appreciated in this time in which the hippy movement commended a return to nature”[2]. [...]

[...] Musical identity also enables the consumer to identify the brand only with its associated music. According to studies, sound has by nature a greater emotional impact than picture. (http://librapport.org/getpdf.php?iddocument=391) Conclusion Dim proved through its success and history how consumer behaviour has to be understood in order to successfully conduct the marketing processes and set up brand image's changes whenever needed. It was the first French company that could follow the trend of woman's new femininity and had assumed the position of a leader on its market for decades. [...]

[...] The goal is for the consumer to automatically make the link between Tights” and “Fashion”. Following a given frequency of exposure to the advertisement, the consumer will process the reinforced information, constructing the relation tights equal fashion”. Furthermore, the slogans lend themselves to “chunking” and are so short that the most important words “Fashion” are very clear, and easily remembered, even after a limited exposure to the advertising message. “Learning is ( ) more likely to occur when the individual can understand a relationship between behaviour and consequences.” (http://www.consumerpsychologist.com/#Learning). [...]

[...] “Many consumer researchers believe that people view their possession (of a product) as an extension of themselves. In fact, various studies have found a definite relationship between a person's self-image and certain products that the person buys. Products noted for this self- image/ product image congruence are: clothing, food and cigarettes ( . It answers two of the three central motivations of the consumers: hedonism and self-expression. In this way, regarding the “Self-Concept Attachment”, as "Clothes make the man (or woman)" (http://www.atkinson.yorku.ca/~lripley/cbUbuyhavebe.htm), Dim responded to the motivation of women to be satisfied concerning their appearance. [...]