Exercise 1

Look at the following websites:

www.Argos.co.uk

http://www.selfridges.com/GB/en/

How are these sites similar and different? What visual images do they use to attract customers? What different ways do they offer customers to shop? What are the differences between shopping on their websites and shopping in person?

 

Exercise 2

Go to the Consumers International website and look up members in your country. Identify the issues that they are most concerned with.

What are they? Why do you think these concerns are important to consumers in your country?

Now look up a consumer association in a country that you think is different to yours and see how the issues are similar or different. Are there concerns that impact everyone or are some countries more concerned about particular issues?

http://www.consumersinternational.org/our-members/member-directory/

 

Exercise 3

Watch the following short film clips, which show two different ways of researching consumers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-gvTOx_OJk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7VokQv79i8

How would you analyse the approaches to consumer behaviour research represented in these clips? Think about the methods that are used, the assumptions about how consumer behaviour is accessed and measured, the assumptions about the role of the researcher, and which disciplines are informing these types of research.

In your view, what value is there in each approach? How might a commercial marketing company use the information produced in these studies?