The Standard Consumer Decision Process Model - Case Study Example

Consumer Decision Process can be defined as series of steps that lead consumers into making wise and rational decisions. There has been a great deal of research done by marketers in order to find out the exact pattern through which buyers go through in order to make a decision. As a fruit of this research, marketers have been able to predict a constant pattern which consists of the following stages: Conventional Model: 1) Need Recognition 2) Information Search 3) Evaluation of alternatives 4) Purchase Decision 5) Post Purchase Behavior This clearly suggests that not only the purchase decision is important to marketers but the entire consumer decision process is important to them. In simple, it is very hard for marketers to separate any single consumer decision process from the entire model. Thus, this process works in the form of a flow chart which follows a pattern and in which one parts only comes after the previous parts and in proper order. This means that part 2 cannot come before part 1 or part 5 cannot occur before part 4. A great deal of emphasis is placed on the order of consumer decision process if rational decisions are to be made. The process can be represented in the form of a flow chart in the figure given below: Figure 1 Figure 1: THE CONSUMER DECISION PROCESS MODEL TAKEN FROM: (ARMSTRONG AND KOTLER, 2003) These are the series of patterns that make up consumer decision process and now we will look at each stage in great detail. NEED RECOGNITION: Need recognition is the first step in the consumer decision process. In this process a consumer recognizes a need or problem. This need can be triggered by various factors such as an internal stimulus where one of the person’s normal needs is hunger becomes high enough to become a drive. A need can also be triggered by external stimuli such as an advertisement or a discussion with people might get you start thinking about buying something. This is the stage where marketers have to conduct market research to find out consumer needs problems, what caused them and how they can be solved. INFORMATION SEARCH: The second stage in the consumer decision process is information search. However, it must be remembered at all the times that an interested consumer may or may not search for more information. If a consumer drive or desire for a certain thing is strong and that thing is near at hand then it may lead him into making an immediate purchase. If not, consumer may opt to indulge himself in the process of information search related to that need. For example, once you have made your mind about buying a new car that is the time you will pay more attention to car ads, car owned by friends and car conversations. The required information will be searched from other sources also like car magazines, newspapers or phone friends. The amount of search that a consumer does depends on his drive to buy that thing, the amount of information that one starts with, the ease of finding new and important information, marginal value of the information and satisfaction from searching the new information. In the recent years the process information search has become more extensive and nowadays it takes more time because of the advent of internet where people can search information very easily. The relative effect of information search varies depending on the buyer and the product. A person who is more cautious will spend more time on searching relevant information than a person who is found to be spendthrift. Similarly, expensive products command for more information search than cheaper items. The amount of information search undertaken increases the customer’s awareness and knowledge about the market and products available in the market. As the information is gathered consumers make their minds about not buying certain brands and preferring some other brands. Many companies nowadays are making their marketing mix in a way so as to make the process of information search easy for buyers so that prompt buying decisions can be taken by the consumers. EVALUATION OF ALTERNATIVES: It is third process of the buyer decision process and probably the most important in terms of buying decision. In this process the consumers use the information obtained from the previous step “information search” to evaluate various available option. This reiterates the previous discussion done that consumer decision process has to be in the proper order. For e.g. without conducting information search, evaluation of alternatives becomes impossible. This process is a lengthy process as consumers are never content with only one technique to evaluate alternatives and they resort to using many different evaluation processes. This evaluation of alternative differs depending on the different buying situations and types of buyers. For example, young people might evaluate products differently than matured and older people. Continuing from the previous example of car purchase, we can clearly see that young people will evaluate car brands differently than older people. Young people are likely to go for fast sporty cars, whereas older people will go for stable cars which give them best value for money. Many attributes are evaluated for different products and if only one attribute is evaluated than the process is whole lot simpler. However, consumers do not resort to using single attribute evaluation. Marketers should evaluate the type of market they are offering their products in order to be certain that the product they are offering are better than competing brands to attract consumers and to make sure that their products passes the “evaluation of alternatives” process. PURCHASE DECISION: It is the fourth process in the consumer decision process. In this process, the buyer makes a final decision about which brand to purchase. This process can only occur after the first three processes already discussed. Without following the sequence of steps, the decision made by the buyers will be irrational. The buyer uses the information searched and based on this information; the buyer evaluates various different alternatives. The brand, which outclasses its competitors in terms of feature and attributes is the one purchased by the buyers. Therefore, marketers try to incorporate such features in their brand that are better than competing brands. Purchase decisions are also based on the attitudes of people you care about. For example, if your wife wants you to buy a car which is low priced, then chances of buying a more expensive car will be reduced. Yet another factor is the unexpected situational factor. For example, you plan to buy an expensive car based on your income and choice. However, some unexpected expenses might decrease your purchasing power and you may end-up buying a smaller cheaper car. Therefore, intention and preferences are not the only factors which lead to purchase decisions, but there are other factors discussed in the above paragraph as well. POST –PURCHASE BEHAVIOR: This is the last process in the consumer decision process and thus cannot come before any of the processes discussed above. This step arises only after the product has been purchased. In this process, the consumer takes further actions depending on the satisfaction he gets from the purchase. For example, if you are satisfied or dissatisfied with the purchase of a car, you normally take post-purchase measures which come under post purchase behavior. In order to boost chances of selling their products many companies claim to assist consumers in post-purchase behavior by offering them after-sale service. However, many companies do not keep their promises which leads to cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance is the discomfort caused by post-purchase conflict. For example, your car company fails to honour a warranty given at the time of purchase. In order to avoid cognitive dissonance and to build better relationships with the customers, many companies offer written warranty clauses to the customers. This is to reduce the chances of cognitive dissonance or any other conflicts that might occur in the future. Marketers have realized the importance of Post-Purchase behavior of the consumers in order to become a successful company and there has been more focus on this part consumer decision process than it was ever before. Many companies have established their own customer service departments and customer care outlet to assist consumers and to reduce cognitive dissonance. Apple, Microsoft, Nokia and LG are the prime example of companies who assist consumers in their post purchase behavior as they realize the importance of this facet of the consumer decision process. CONSUMER DECISION MODEL IN REAL WORLD: I have come across this model from interviewing my old brother. He said that if he were to buy fashionable attire, he will go through the following process. First of all, he will be motivated to buy the new attire if he has money at that time. Then it will depend on his habit, that is, whether he wants to buy a branded item or a simple item. After that he will go into information search regarding the prices of certain items and after that he will make a purchase from the shop that will be giving him the best prices. Similarly, if there are some defects in the item, he will go to the shop from where he has made a purchase and going to take post-purchase measures. If we analyze the two models we will clearly see a lot of similarities between the conventional model and the real-world model. Both of these models consist of series of processes that eventually lead to making a purchase. This means that making a final purchase is not a random behavior but there are other processes associated with it. Similarly, both models rely on information search, evaluation of alternatives, and post purchase behavior. However, one model asks for need recognition whereas the real-world model sees the capability of person in terms of money who is making a purchase. This is where two models are different and probably, the real-world model is better. This is because until and unless the person has money to buy that thing, he won’t be stimulated to make a purchase. These comparisons clearly highlight the drawbacks of conventional model of consumer decision process and help us determining how individuals plan out their purchases. These models also provide us an insight on psychological factors relating to purchase and also the capability of a person to buy something without which a purchase decision cannot be taken. References: Phillip Kotler and Gary Armstrong (2008). Principles of Marketing. Prentice Hall Richard L. Daft. (1994). Management. The Dryden Publishing Peter Drucker (1993). The Practice of Management. Collins Cliff Notes. (2001). Principles of Management. Published by Cliffs Notes Read More