High involvement and low involvement - Essay Example

The consumer buying process entails different steps and stages of decision making, which, depending on whether the product being purchased needs elaborate decision making stages (high involvement products) or the decision making is relatively simple (low involvement products). The recent marketing campaigns chosen for this paper are Toyota Prius (car) for the high involvement product and Evian water for the low involvement product. Research into the buyer behaviour has shown that consumers go through a five stage process of decision making which starts with need recognition and problem awareness (identification of the need for the product), information search where the buyer scouts for available information on the product and the various brands, evaluates the alternatives, the actual process of buying and finally, the post purchase evaluation (Kotler, 2011, 180).

This five stage process is typically followed for high involvement products like Toyota Prius which need elaborate and detailed inputs as the product is highly specific and high risk as well as involves considerable investment from the buyer. On the other hand, when buying products like Evian Bottled Water, the buyer can jump to the actual purchase stage after being “aware” of the need i.e. when he or she feels thirsty (Ad Cracker, 2011). When one compares the buying process for Toyota Prius and Evian Bottled Water, one finds that the processes are entirely different and hence the point of comparison ends with the first stage where the consumer becomes aware of the need for the product.

Even in this case, becoming aware of the need for a bottle of water is significantly different from the need to buy a car. Whereas the former is an impulsive need that has to be satiated quickly, the articulation of the need for a car like Prius takes time to develop and that too it manifests itself after careful deliberation. Further, when buying a bottle of Evian water, the consumer can right away go to the actual purchase step without having to bother too much information search though evaluation of alternatives is present in this step as well as when buying Prius.

The significant difference here is that the alternatives for Evian are present in the subconscious because of exposure to advertising and marketing campaigns whereas the alternatives to Prius need to be fleshed out using information search from a variety of sources (Sutherland, 2011, 195). The purchase of high involvement products like Prius entails significant decision making processes whereas buying Evian is a one step (or two at the most) process. In conclusion, the marketing campaigns that target potential buyers for these different categories of products need to tailor their strategies taking into account the differing stages in the consumer buyer behaviour and it is only when marketers have a good grasp of the different stages would they be able to devise effective campaigns.

As the analysis of the marketing campaigns for the products chosen here shows, successful campaigns stimulate need as well as place their products among the top of the heap of alternatives and offer ease of purchase and convenience in a final nudge to the consumer to help them make up their minds (Sutherland, 2011, 40). References Ad Cracker. 2011. Consumer Involvement Theory. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.adcracker.com/involvement/Consumer_Involvement_Theory.htm. [Accessed 22 September 11].

Kotler, P, 2011. Marketing Management. 4th ed. London: Penguin. Sutherland, M, 2011. Advertising and the Mind of the Consumer. 2nd ed. London: Doubleday.