Consumer Behaviour, Brand Value and the Psychology of Choice.

By Nadia Alexander-Khan
Market Research . Consumer Behaviour . Marketing Strategy
Founder Alexander Research

Consumer behaviour has long resisted purely functional explanations. A purchase may satisfy a practical need, but it can also communicate identity, aspiration, belonging and taste.

Belk’s influential work on the extended self showed how possessions can become intertwined with identity, while later research has examined how consumers use brands and products to signal both similarity and difference within social groups. These ideas remain highly relevant to contemporary marketing because they remind us that value is not created solely by product performance.

A technically excellent product can still fail to become desirable.

Conversely, consumers may attach considerable value to products that acquire cultural, emotional or symbolic significance beyond their functional use.

This distinction is particularly important in premium markets. When competing products perform similar tasks, differentiation often depends on less tangible questions:

What a brand represents, how ownership feels, which social meanings surround it and whether it fits the consumer’s perception of who they are or who they hope to become.

The implication for marketing is straightforward but often overlooked. 

Understanding what people buy is not the same as understanding why they choose it.

Demographic information can describe a market. Behavioural and psychological research can begin to explain it.

That difference matters increasingly in markets characterised by abundant choice, sophisticated digital targeting and rapidly changing cultural signals. More data does not automatically produce greater consumer understanding. The strategic advantage forms in knowing which questions deserve to be asked.

My continuing research considers these questions throughout consumer behaviour, market intelligence and brand strategy, with particular interest in how perceptions of value, identity and aspiration influence contemporary purchasing decisions.

The work forms part of an ongoing programme of research within Alexander Research.

Selected references

Belk, R.W. (1988) ‘Possessions and the Extended Self’, Journal of Consumer Research, 15(2), pp. 139–168.

Berger, J. and Heath, C. (2007) ‘Where Consumers Diverge from Others: Identity Signaling and Product Domains’, Journal of Consumer Research, 34(2), pp. 121–134.

Sirgy, M.J. (1982) ‘Self-Concept in Consumer Behavior: A Critical Review’, Journal of Consumer Research, 9(3), pp. 287–300.

Research and commentary reflect the author’s independent work and views.