The Truth About What Customers Want

Chapter . Introduction

The truth is, this book is about people like you. It concerns the products and services you buy and use and the ways these fit into your life. First, a bit of jargon: The field of consumer behavior is the study of the processes involved when individuals or groups select, purchase, use, or dispose of products, services, ideas, or experiences to satisfy needs and desires. Consumers take many forms, from an eight-year-old child begging her mother for a Webkinz stuffed animal to an executive in a large corporation deciding on a multimillion-dollar computer system. The items we “consume” can include anything from canned peas to a massage, democracy, Reggaeton music, or a celebrity like Lindsay Lohan.

In its early stages of development, ...