Course information

Length

1 year full-time, 2 years part-time

Course overview

The MSc Marketing & Consumer Behaviour equips you with a comprehensive grounding in approaches to understanding consumer preferences, judgements, decision-making and behaviour.

Why study MSc Marketing & Consumer Behaviour

  • You'll learn how to use this knowledge to improve organisational strategy and success, in terms of targeting, product placement, advertising, marketing, influencing and protecting consumers.
  • The programme aims to enhance your employability by fostering the development of the real-life and job-relevant competencies and skills that are required to succeed in today's competitive job market. You will be provided with the strong knowledge base and hands-on research experience needed for succeeding in careers such as marketing, media, communications, advertising, consumer research, consumer insight, entrepreneurship, and public relations.

You will develop the skills necessary to conduct independent research and to understand:

  • the psychological and cultural processes underlying consumer behaviour
  • the psychology of consumer preferences and choices
  • psychological theories of attitude change, persuasion, and influence
  • the psychology and strategy of branding
  • how to create and sustain customer experience
  • behavioural economics (including the psychology of pricing)
  • the psychological impact of various types of media and advertising

The MSc Marketing & Consumer Behaviour contributes to and strengthens Goldsmiths’ reputation as being one of the premier institutions of its kind in the United Kingdom.

Contact the department

If you have specific questions about the degree, contact Dr Shaheen Hosany.

What you'll study

Overview

The MSc in Marketing & Consumer Behaviour consists of:

  • 90 credits of compulsory modules
  • 30 credits of optional modules
  • a research dissertation of 60 credits

The modules are organised within the Institute of Management Studies (IMS) and most have a strong practical component.

All lecturers on this programme have a strong research profile, which they bring to bear when presenting the theoretical, technical, and applied components of consumer behaviour.

Compulsory modules

Module title Credits
Consumer Behaviour 15 credits
Psychology of Marketing and Advertising 15 credits
Research Design and Applied Statistics 15 credits
Marketing Strategy 15 credits
Creating Customer Experiences 15 Credits
Consumer Culture 15 credits
Research Project/Dissertation 60 credits

Option modules

You can also choose up to 30 credits of option modules. The list of approved modules will include those run by the Institute of Management Studies and by other departments at Goldsmiths that have modules relevant to Marketing & Consumer Behaviour.

A list of modules will be published annually by the department, and may include the following:

Module title Credits
Innovation Case Studies 15 credits
Project Management 30 credits
Technological Innovation & Market Creation 15 credits
Digital Marketing and Branding 15 Credits
Marketing Analytics 15 credits

Download the programme specification.

Please note that due to staff research commitments not all of these modules may be available every year.

Entry requirements

You should have (or expect to be awarded) an undergraduate degree of at least upper second class standard in a relevant/related subject. 

Appropriate work experience will be considered in place of an undergraduate qualification on a case-by-case basis. This may include (but not be limited to) sufficient experience within a design agency, and/or marketing or advertising department.

 

International qualifications

We accept a wide range of international qualifications. Find out more about the qualifications we accept from around the world.

If English isn’t your first language, you will need an IELTS score (or equivalent English language qualification) of 6.5 with a 6.5 in writing and no element lower than 6.0 to study this programme. If you need assistance with your English language, we offer a range of courses that can help prepare you for postgraduate-level study.

Fees, funding & scholarships

Annual tuition fees

These are the fees for students starting their programme in the 2024/2025 academic year.

  • Home - full-time: £15980
  • Home - part-time: £TBC
  • International - full-time: £22640

If your fees are not listed here, please check our postgraduate fees guidance or contact the Fees Office, who can also advise you about how to pay your fees.

It’s not currently possible for international students to study part-time under a student visa. If you think you might be eligible to study part-time while being on another visa type, please contact our Admissions Team for more information.

If you are looking to pay your fees please see our guide to making a payment.

Additional costs

In addition to your tuition fees, you'll be responsible for any additional costs associated with your course, such as buying stationery and paying for photocopying. You can find out more about what you need to budget for on our study costs page.

There may also be specific additional costs associated with your programme. This can include things like paying for field trips or specialist materials for your assignments. Please check the programme specification for more information.

Funding opportunities

Find out more about postgraduate fees and explore funding opportunities. If you're applying for funding, you may be subject to an application deadline.

How to apply

You apply directly to Goldsmiths using our online application system. 

Before submitting your application you’ll need to have:

  • Details of your academic qualifications
  • The email address of your referee who we can request a reference from, or alternatively a copy of your academic reference
  • Copies of your educational transcripts or certificates
  • personal statement – this can either be uploaded as a Word Document or PDF, or completed online. Please see our guidance on writing a postgraduate statement

You'll be able to save your progress at any point and return to your application by logging in using your username/email and password.

When to apply 

We accept applications from October for students wanting to start the following September. 

We encourage you to complete your application as early as possible, even if you haven't finished your current programme of study. It's very common to be offered a place conditional on you achieving a particular qualification. 

If you're applying for external funding from one of the Research Councils, make sure you submit your application by the deadline they've specified. 

Late applications will only be considered if there are spaces available.

Selection process 

Admission to many programmes is by interview either in person or via Skype.

Find out more about applying.

Staff

The following staff members all teach on this programme and are complemented by visiting tutors and industry professionals in the delivery of the programme curriculum.

 

Dr Adele Gruen, PhD
Courses: Consumer Behaviour, Dissertations

Adèle Gruen is the Director of the MSc in Consumer Behaviour. She holds a BSc in Management, an MSc and an MRes in Marketing Research and Strategy from Université Paris-Dauphine in France. She holds a PhD in consumer behaviour at that same university. Adele’s research interests lie in the field of the developing access economy (i.e., collaborative consumption or sharing economy). Her research is grounded in consumer culture and aims to understand the relationship consumers develop with objects and places they access and share with other consumers. She studied the fields of car sharing and coworking spaces. She is interested in understanding the connections between consumption and work in new ways of working.

 

Dr Sven Molner, PhD
Courses: Marketing Strategy, Technological Innovation & Market Creation, Dissertation

Sven is the Director of the MSc in Marketing and Technology. Prior to joining Goldsmiths, Sven worked at Cass Business School, City University London, as a Lecturer in Marketing, and was a Research Fellow at Judge Business School, University of Cambridge. He obtained his PhD in Management from the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland. Sven’s research lies at the intersection of Marketing Strategy, Innovation Management, and Entrepreneurship. He examines how inventors, managers, and entrepreneurs explore, identify, and create new market space for early-stage ideas and technologies. Sven’s research work is mainly set in the empirical context of university technology transfer, with a special emphasis on science-based start-up companies. He aims to extend his research efforts to purpose-driven start-ups in the near future. With his research, Sven seeks to help individuals faced with ambiguous and undefined market spaces achieve commercial success.

 

Dr Annemijn Loermans, PhD
Courses: Psychology of Marketing and Advertising, Dissertations

Annemijn Loermans is a Lecturer in Marketing and the Graduate Careers Coordinator for Marketing. Prior to joining Goldsmiths, Annemijn worked as a postdoctoral researcher at ESSEC Business School, in Paris, France. She holds a BA in Social Sciences from Utrecht University, an MSc in Behavioural Science from the Radboud University Nijmegen, and a PhD in Psychology from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, all in the Netherlands. Annemijn’s research lies at the intersection between marketing, psychology and management. She examines differences in the cognitive representation of abstract concepts, concepts like time, future selves, and brands, and explores how these differences drive our (consumer) behaviour, motivation, and emotions. She mainly employs quantitative techniques in studying these topics and with her research seeks to contribute to a better understanding of cultural differences, how people navigate career transitions, and how consumers interact with brands and consumer goods.

 

Chris Eichert
Course: Creating Customer Experience

Christian A Eichert is a lecturer in Marketing and Consumer Behaviour. He is currently finishing his PhD in Marketing and Consumption Studies at Cass Business School. Christian started his first company aged 14 and has more than 15 years of experience in founding, managing, and consulting for businesses in Europe and the United States. He has worked in a variety of industries, including online B2C and B2B services, data centre and IP infrastructure, blockchain technology, education, and investment management and advisory. His current research projects encompass three topical and theoretical domains of inquiry: (1) vulnerable and marginalized communities and subcultures, for example how consumers avoid, manage, and resist social stigma in the marketplace; (2) gender and sexuality, for example how consumers navigate markets for casual intimacy on smartphone apps such as "Tinder" or "Grindr"; and (3) digitalisation and globalisation, for example how new technologies facilitate the emergence of location-independent work and consumer lifestyles.

 

Dr Nigel Guenole BA (Hons), MA, GradDipApplStat, PhD
Courses: Research Design and Applied Statistics, Dissertation

Nigel is the Director of the MSc Global Leadership programme and teaches the Leadership and Talent Management course on the MSc Management of Innovation. His research focuses on the measurement of high performance for leadership and talent management using advanced psychometric methods. His consulting work focuses on the design and validation of psychological assessment instruments for employee selection and development purposes. He supervises MSc Management of Innovation dissertations focused on quantitative methods and advanced statistics.

Staff in the Institute of Management Studies

Careers

Skills

You will become adept at assessing marketing techniques, problem-solving, interpreting human behaviour, influencing consumer choice, analysing complex information, working in teams and excelling in individual projects.

Careers

Possible careers for graduates of the programme include:

  • Consumer insight
  • Market research
  • Consumer research
  • Marketing
  • Media
  • Communications
  • Advertising
  • Consumer research
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Public relations

Similar programmes

MA Culture Industry

‘Culture is a paradoxical commodity. So completely is it subject to the law of exchange that it is no longer exchanged; it is so blindly consumed in use that it can no longer be used. [...] The whole world is made to pass through the filter of the culture industry.’ –Theodor W. Adorno and Max Horkheimer, ‘The Culture Industry’, 1947

MSc Occupational Psychology

Shape the future of work by training as an Occupational Psychologist in the Institute of Management Studies (IMS). Gain the scientific knowledge, practical skills, and professional network to challenge the status quo and offer innovative workplace solutions.

MSc Management of Innovation

This programme will equip you with the fundamental business and social enterprise knowledge and skills needed to manage innovative product and brand or policy development, service delivery, and integration of emerging technologies in fast-paced industries.

MSc Marketing & Technology

The MSc Marketing & Technology aims to transform students into uniquely-trained individuals possessing the knowledge and skills required to be successful marketers in dynamic and technology-driven industries.

Related content links