Assignment 1: Whos picking up the puffed rice?
Due Week 5 and worth 200 points

For this assignment, visit your local grocery store to observe and record behaviors in the various aisles. Your visit should be long enough to observe several behaviors and situations. Read the assignment thoroughly before your observational visit in order to watch for specific behaviors.

Write a four to five (4-5) page paper in which you:

1. Identify the store and the day and time you made your observation.
2. Analyze the behaviors you observed to determine how consumers progressed through the consumer behavior process while in different aisles. 
3. Assess how consumers determine value for their various purchases. This can be addressed with at least two (2) specific consumer examples or by combining all the consumers you observed.
4. Pick two specific consumers that seemed to be very different from each other. Contrast how these two (2) consumers progressed through the consumer perception process. 
5. Analyze how different manufacturers motivated consumers to pick their specific brands. Articulate thoroughly the behaviors displayed and tactics used by the store or manufacturer to motivate the purchase.
6. Record all your observations in a table placed in an Appendix.

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

• Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
• Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

• Explain how consumers determine value and the value framework they assign to goods and services.
• Analyze the internal influences that affect consumer behavior.
• Use technology and information resources to research issues in consumer behavior.
• Write clearly and concisely about consumer behavior using proper writing mechanics.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

DISCUSSIONS

According to the textbook, a microculture is a group of people who share similar values and tastes that are subsumed within a larger culture. Go to Pinterest, and sign up for an account if you have not already done so (see “Pinterest 101” in the course shell for more details on creating an account). Look around the Website and observe the different microcultures that are represented, as well as the different consumer behavior activities taking place within the Website. This week, blog a response to the following question: How does Pinterest enable marketers to target different microcultures? Include specific examples that support your response. (Hint: See Chapter 9 in the textbook for more details.)

• Your blog entry should be approximately two to three (2-3) paragraphs in length. Additionally, be sure to respond to the blog entries created by two (2) of your peers.