We are proud to herald in the twenty first century with our seventh edition, which examines the full range of consumer behavior in the context of the incredibly dynamic, high tech global environment in which we live. Instantaneous satellite transmissions spread the word on new products and fashions simultaneously across the globe to an increasingly wired global population. The volume and diversity of Internet marketing seems to explode daily, while regional and global marketing expands rapidly and geometrically. The variety of the service and product offerings seems boundless.

The population of students and professors has never before been so diverse, so savvy, so experienced, so technologically literate. Never before have research sources - journals, articles, archives, esoteric compilations - been so available, on stream, on line, in hand.

And therein lay our challenge. For this streamlined age, we had to produce a streamlined book: We did a wide - ranging, encyclopedic search of the literature, selected the latest and most relevant articles for our new citations, pared back on old citations, and managed to reduce the book from 21 chapters to 16 chapters, with no sacrifice in coverage.

In this new edition we have intensified our emphasis on marketing strategy, using both a theoretical and an applications-oriented approach. Always true believers in the marketing concept, we have tried our best to meet the needs of our consumers-students, marketing practitioners, and professors of consumer behavior- by providing a text that is highly readable and that clearly explains the relevant concepts upon which the discipline of consumer behavior is based. We have supplemented this material with a great many "real-world" examples in order to demonstrate how consumer behavior concepts are used by marketing practitioners to develop and implement effective marketing strategies. This book is amply illustrated with timely, effective marketplace examples.

To make the seventh edition as useful as possible to both graduate and undergraduate students, we have sought to maintain an even balance of basic behavioral concepts, research findings, and applied marketing examples. We are convinced that a major contribution of consumer behavior studies to the practice of marketing is the provision of structure and direction for effective market segmentation. To this end, we have paid particular attention to revising and refining the discussion on market segmentation.

The seventh edition of Consumer Behavior is divided into four parts, consisting of sixteen chapters. Part I provides the background and the tools for a strong and comprehensive understanding of the consumer behavior principles that follow. Chapter 1 introduces the reader to the study of consumer behavior, its diversity, its development, and the role of consumer research. It contains a detailed discussion of ethical considerations in marketing and consumer practices. The first chapter also introduces a simple model of consumer decision making, which provides the framework for understanding and relating the consumer behavior principles studied throughout the book. Chapter 2 provides readers with a detailed overview of the critical consumer research process and the techniques associated with consumer behavior research, including a discussion of positivist and interpretivist research methods. Chapter 3 presents a comprehensive examination of market segmentation.

Part II discusses the consumer as an individual. It begins with an exploration of consumer needs and motivations, recognizing the rational and emotional bases of many consumer actions. Chapter 5 discusses the impact of a full range of personality theories on consumer behavior, explores consumer materialism, fixated consumption, and compulsive consumption behavior. The chapter considers the related concepts of "self" and "self-image" and includes a new discussion of "virtual personality" and self. Chapter 6 provides a comprehensive examination of the impact of consumer perception on marketing strategy, and the importance of product positioning and repositioning. This chapter is followed by a discussion of consumer learning, limited and extensive information processing, and the applications of involvement theory marketing practice. After an in-depth examination of consumer attitudes (now one comprehensive chapter), Part II concludes with a discussion of communication and persuasion, and links consumers as individuals to the world and people around them.

Part III is concerned with the social role and cultural dimensions of consumer behavior. It begins with a newly combined discussion of consumer reference groups (including virtual groups and communities), family role orientations and changing family lifestyles. Chapter 11 presents consumers in their social and cultural milieus (including the emergence of the new "techno class"), and investigates the impact of societal and subculture values, beliefs, and customs on consumer behavior. Part III concludes with an extensive discussion of cross-cultural marketing within an increasingly global marketplace.

Part IV explores various aspects of consumer decision making. It begins with a comprehensive discussion of personal influence, opinion leadership, and the diffusion of innovations. Next, it describes how consumers make product decisions, and explores the newly important practice of relationship marketing. This section examines in detail the simple model of consumer decision making that was briefly introduced in Chapter 1, and ties together the psychological, social, and cultural concepts discussed throughout the book. It includes a greatly expanded exploration of consumer gifting behavior, and concludes with an examination of the expanding research focus on individual consumption behavior and the symbolic meanings of consumer possessions.