Consumer Decision Making Process - Assignment Example

Introduction Consumer behavior is a theoretical concept that addresses different stages a consumer would pass through before they make a particular purchase decision. To define, consumer behavior is “the study of individuals, groups, or organizations and the processes they use to select, secure, use, and dispose of products and services, experiences or ideas to satisfy needs and the impacts that these processes have on the consumer and society” (Hawkins 1998, p.6). The concept of consumer behavior is important in the field of marketing because it is highly related to consumer decision making and consumer buying process. Hence, marketers must understand consumer behaviour clearly. The individual chosen for this assignment is a male-John Williams (made up name). Williams is a self employed 30 years old online businessman. Since he is working in the online business sector, he greatly depends on his laptop. Recently, his 2 year old child crushed his laptop and hence many of its functions have been lost. Now Williams wants to purchase a new device replacing his broken laptop. Since he needs to travel around the globe as part of his job, mobility is particularly important to him. Williams needs to communicate with his clients even while travelling. While he is on the move, he needs to check emails, read e-books, and browse internet. Therefore functionality is paramount to him rather than the price of the device. This paper will analyze the characteristics affecting the consumer behavior, types of consumer buying decisions, and components that affect the decision making process. Finally, the paper will give some practical marketing recommendations as well. The characteristics that affect consumer behavior Considering the case of Williams, it seems that personal and psychological characteristics influence his buying behavior more than cultural and social factors. According to Tehran and Tehran (2006, p. 193), personal characteristics including occupation, age, education, and sex can have great influence on consumer behavior. Evidently, occupation of an individual is directly linked to the price and brand of the product they purchase. To illustrate, a part-time worker in a retail store is not likely to purchase Rado watches. In this case, Williams is a professional self-employed person who needs to travel across the globe to meet his business clients. Probably, his business meetings include visual presentations and hence he may like to purchase expensive and top-branded device. Since William’s majority of clients are highly reputed professionals, he would not like to use any kind of cheap device to make presentations. Furthermore, as he works in the online business sector and makes business trips all over the world, he may pay particular attention to functionality of the device. The price factor is not likely to affect this purchase because Williams is a global level businessman. In addition, age and sex of the individual would affect the consumer behavior. For instance, when a teenager is interested to buy Cargo Jeans, an elder adult is less likely to do so. Similarly, young males may be more excited to own 800cc cruiser motorcycles while young females in the same age may not do so. Surveys indicate that young men are more interested in technical features of computer products. Since Williams is in his early 30s, technical features of the product are more likely to influence his buying behavior. Psychological factors including individual needs, motivation, image, attitude, and lifestyle also affect consumer behavior (ibid 2006, p.193). Williams is a self-employed professional and his occupational status indicates that he is a business-minded person motivated by the desire for unlimited income. Hence, he strives to enhance his career development. In short, he has a positive attitude towards life because he has been self-motivated. As a result, he will certainly wish to make his presentations appealing to clients and therefore he may purchase a functionally improved device. In addition, other individual needs like better internet accessibility on the move and long battery backup also would influence Williams’ buying behavior. Types of consumer buying decisions The type of buying decision behavior associated with this particular purchase is ‘complex buying behavior’. Complex buying behaviour is one of the most famous buying behaviors identified. Complex buying behaviour is characterized with high consumer involvement and significant differences between brands. Here, consumer involvement refers to various actions that the consumer performs to form a clear view of the product/service he plans to buy. This type of purchase is very complex because the elements of risk involved such as financial commitment are high, and, knowing about significant differences between brands requires collecting a pool of product information. Consumers express complex buying behavior when they plan to purchase something expensive that has to offer long lasting life (Haynes et al 2007, p. 16). As these customers need to form the best possible purchase decision, they try to gather a range of information concerning products and other competitive brands (ibid). Under this particular buyer behavior, consumers require assistance in learning different product attributes and other benefits. Clearly, Williams’ case falls under complex consumer behavior because it is associated with high consumer involvement and differences between brands. To justify, Williams plans to purchase a device that would become an integral part of his day to day business activities. In other words, it can be claimed that the planned purchase can have a significant influence on his future business operations, revenues, and career growth. In addition, he needs to perform a range of operations including e-mail checking, e-book reading, and internet browsing on this device. Therefore, this purchase is very expensive and involves a set of potential risk factors. As Williams is the only and ultimate beneficiary of the planned purchase, his involvement in this purchase decision will be high. It is clear that a number of modern developments such as iPad, notebook, tablet, mobile phone, or e-book reader have the potential to meet the stated needs of the consumer. Hence, Williams has a wide variety of purchase options. Evidently, the differences between these products, or two different brands of the same product, are noticeable. Hence, Williams needs to gather product information before making the final purchase decision. In addition, he needs external assistance to learn more about product attributes, benefits, and demerits. Motor cars, clothes, and electronic equipments are some other products that would warrant complex buying behaviour for this consumer. Components of the decision making process The management literature suggests that a customer goes through five distinct stages before making a purchase decision. Referring to Capon and Hulbert, these five stages are recognizing problems, acquiring information, evaluating alternatives, making a choice, and post-purchase processes (p.102). The purchase decision making process starts with recognizing problems. Under this phase, the consumer identifies his problem/need or sometimes responds to a marketing stimulus (eg: shop displays, television advertisements etc.). A customer would identify his actual need or problem when he becomes dissatisfied or a potential marketer points it out. It is the shortest stage of the decision making process. Williams identified his problem when his laptop was damaged by his kid. In other words, the broken laptop made him dissatisfied and caused him experience a need. Once the customer has identified a particular need or problem, he would seek to acquire information to meet the need or to resolve the problem. The customer can collect information from internal as well as external sources (Capon & Hulbert 2007, p. 103). Internal information represents the customer’s own perceptual information about product attributes and features while external information can be collected from sources like colleagues, friends and relatives, salespeople, magazines, and internet (ibid, p.103). While seeking information, the customer would pay particular attention to features or attributes that would satisfy his need. In addition, the customer may try to identify the criteria for analyzing a satisfactory performance. The customer may also search for alternatives that would meet his need. In the given case, Williams would acquire information about different products (laptop, iPad, tablet etc.) giving particular focus to his needs. He may also identify what product features and attributes would make him satisfied. The customer evaluates the attributes and features of alternatives in the Stage 2. Here, the customer particularly tries to identify whether the alternatives would provide any advantage over the targeted product. In this case, Williams would evaluate which product would make him more satisfied based on the criteria formed in the last phase. He is more likely to consider some potential alternatives like tablet or notebook. From the evaluation process, the customer may identify the product that would meet his needs in the right sense. Once that product is identified, there will be no delay in the purchase. After evaluating different products, Williams would determine the one that can be more helpful to promote his future business operations. Finally, post purchase processes mainly include evaluation of the purchase made. It must be noted that the consumer’s decision making process does not end with the purchase made. According to Longenecker et al (2006, p. 298), the main two consumer activities that occur during post purchase evaluation are post-purchase dissonance and consumer complaints. The authors add that these activities are directly linked to customer satisfaction. Post-purchase dissonance occurs when consumers rethink about the wisdom of their purchase (ibid). In the post-purchase evaluation phase, Williams would examine the reasonableness of the purchase made. In addition, he may evaluate whether the device purchased provides the expected benefits. Marketing Recommendations From the above sections, it is clear that Williams is a potential customer who is likely to purchase a laptop or an alternative device in the near future. Hence, it is advisable for marketers to frame a particular marketing strategy to target him. Williams has identified his need (laptop) and now he goes through the second phase (acquiring information). Therefore, marketers must particularly try to provide Williams with maximum product information. For this, marketers may employ e-mail promotion techniques, SMS ads, telephone promotion, or direct marketing tactics. It is recommendable for marketers to choose direct marketing strategy because it would greatly help them to convince the customer easily and thereby so as to close the sale quickly. Similarly, the marketers must provide details of various alternative products they can offer Williams. Although Williams is a self-employed professional working in the online sector, he may not fully understand all the technical features of different alternatives. Therefore, it is the duty of the marketer to assist Williams to learn more about the product features and attributes. Marketers are obliged to clarify the concerns raised by Williams over the quality and functionality of different products. By communicating with Williams, marketers can identify the product type and the price range that would fit his interests. Once these factors are recognized, marketers must make a shortlist of some products that can meet these criteria. It is advisable for the marketers to send their executives to Williams’ home and demonstrate the functions of the devices shortlisted. If this is not easy, the marketer may persuade Williams to visit the nearest retail shop. Conclusion From the above discussion, it is clear that personal and psychological factors including occupation, age, sex, motivation, attitude, and lifestyle may greatly affect the consumer behaviour of Williams when making this particular purchase. It is also assumed that Williams would exhibit complex buying behavior during the course of this purchase because his involvement will be high and the differences between brands are significant. The five stages of consumer decision-making process are recognizing problems, acquiring information, evaluating alternatives, making a choice, and post-purchase processes. Since financial commitment and other risk factors involved in this purchase are high, Williams may take a relatively long time to acquire product information and to evaluate alternatives. In order to target this particular customer, marketers should identify his actual needs through direct communication or other methods. They can make a shortlist of the products which may meet williams’ need. Marketers can choose different promotional strategies like direct marketing or telephone marketing to market the products shortlisted to Williams. References Capon, N & Hulbert, J. M. (2007) Managing Marketing in the 21st Century. New York: Wessex Publishing. Hawkins, D. I. (1998) Consumer behavior: Building marketing strategy. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Education. Haynes, R et al. (2007) FCS Consumer Behaviour Level 2. Pearson South Africa. Longenecker, J. G et al. (2006) Small Business Management: An Entrepreneurial Emphasis, Volume 1. US: Cengage Learning. Tehran, M & Tehran, R. (2006) Advertising and Sales Management. New Delhi: FK Publications. Read More