Consumer Decision-Making Process - Research Paper Example

In the past, I was involved in the purchase of a smartphone, a process that required me to make an extensive decision because I wanted to have the best product that was available in the market, which suited my budget. I had interacted with many friends and family members with nice smartphones and really needed the best of all those I had come across. That required me to pay a lot of attention in the ‘alternative evaluation’ stage because the market was awash with products from different companies, and which had different functionalities and features. Therefore, when I visited the vendor, I had to spend a lot of time inquiring about different models and comparing them.  I was literally undecided because almost all models had a feature or two I liked, while others were extremely appealing but they surpassed my finances (Solomon & Stuart, 2005).  

 Although finally, I managed to purchase one of the products that really satisfied my needs, what perturbs me is the fact that I afterwards met some friends who told me that they bought the same product at a cheaper price from a certain vendor in town. Considering that finances were a pretty pressing issue by then, I wished I had spent more time on information search. In view of this, if I repeat this process, I would pay a lot of attention to the stage of ‘information search’ more than ‘alternative evaluation’. I will want to gather more information from my peers, family members, the internet and any other source so I become more informed before taking the plunge (Solomon & Stuart, 2005).