Consumer Behaviour and Marketing with International Foundation Year

Consumer behaviour and marketing is a degree that takes seriously the question of why people buy what they buy. Consumer behaviour draws on psychology, sociology, economics and neuroscience to understand how individuals and groups make decisions, how they are influenced by culture, emotion, social context and marketing itself, and what this means for the organisations that are trying to reach them. Marketing translates that understanding into strategy, communication and practice, connecting what organisations offer to the people they want to serve.

At Reading, this four-year programme includes an international foundation year, providing an extended route into the degree that prepares you thoroughly for degree-level study. This route is particularly suited to students who are building their academic English alongside their subject preparation, or who want additional grounding before engaging with the full degree. Once in the main programme, you will study consumer psychology and decision-making alongside the strategic and analytical dimensions of marketing, developing the ability to understand not just what consumers do but why, and to use that understanding to inform effective marketing practice.

Reading's programme connects consumer insight to policy as well as commercial applications, reflecting the breadth of contexts in which understanding consumer behaviour matters.

You will develop research skills, analytical abilities and the capacity to communicate insights clearly to different audiences, all of which are core competencies for marketing and consumer insight roles.

Graduates move into roles in marketing, market research, consumer insight, brand management, digital marketing, advertising, product development and policy. Sectors that employ consumer behaviour and marketing graduates include consumer goods, retail, financial services, technology, healthcare, public sector communications and the media. Postgraduate study in marketing, consumer psychology or business is a natural option.