Consumer Decision Making Process
An
individual who purchases products and services from the market for his/her own
personal consumption is called as consumer.
To
understand the complete process of consumer decision making, let us first go
through the following example:
Tim
went to a nearby retail store to buy a laptop for himself. The store manager
showed him all the latest models and after few rounds of negotiations, Tim
immediately selected one for himself.
In
the above example Tim is the consumer and the laptop is the product which Tim
wanted to purchase for his end-use.
Why
do you think Tim went to the nearby store to purchase a new laptop ?
The
answer is very simple. Tim needed a laptop.
In other words it was actually Tim’s need to buy a laptop which took him to the
store.
The
Need to buy a laptop can be due to any of the following reasons:
- His old laptop was giving him problems.
- He wanted a new laptop to check his personal mails
at home.
- He wanted to gift a new laptop to his wife.
- He needed a new laptop to start his own business.
The
store manager showed Tim all the samples available with him and explained him
the features and specifications of each model. This is called information. Tim
before buying the laptop checked few other options as well. The information can
come from various other sources such as newspaper, websites, magazines,
advertisements, billboards etc.
This
explains the consumer buying decision process.
A consumer goes through several stages before purchasing
a product or service.
NEED
↓
INFORMATION GATHERING/SEARCH
↓
EVALUATION OF ALTERNATIVES
↓
PURCHASE OF PRODUCT/SERVICE
↓
POST PURCHASE EVALUATION
↓
INFORMATION GATHERING/SEARCH
↓
EVALUATION OF ALTERNATIVES
↓
PURCHASE OF PRODUCT/SERVICE
↓
POST PURCHASE EVALUATION
1.
Step 1 - Need
is the most important factor which leads to buying of products and services.
Need infact is the catalyst which triggers the buying decision of individuals.
An individual who buys cold
drink or a bottle of mineral water identifies his/her need as thirst. However
in such cases steps such as information search and evaluation of alternatives
are generally missing. These two steps are important when an individual
purchases expensive products/services such as laptop, cars, mobile phones and
so on.
2.
Step 2 - When
an individual recognizes his need for a particular product/service he tries to
gather as much information as he can.
An individual can acquire
information through any of the following sources:
§
Personal Sources - He might discuss his need
with his friends, family members, co workers and other acquaintances.
§
Commercial sources - Advertisements, sales
people (in Tim’s case it was the store manager), Packaging of a particular
product in many cases prompt individuals to buy the same, Displays (Props,
Mannequins etc)
§
Public sources - Newspaper, Radio, Magazine
§
Experiential sources - Individual’s own
experience, prior handling of a particular product (Tim would definitely
purchase a Dell laptop again if he had already used one)
3.
Step 3 - The
next step is to evaluate the various alternatives available in the market. An
individual after gathering relevant information tries to choose the best option
available as per his need, taste and pocket.
4.
Step 4 - After
going through all the above stages, customer finally purchases the product.
5.
Step 5 - The
purchase of the product is followed by post purchase evaluation. Post purchase
evaluation refers to a customer’s analysis whether the product was useful to
him or not, whether the product fulfilled his need or not?
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