Buyer Decision-Making Process - Research Paper Example

I. Buyer decision-making process A. Consumer A Consumer A is a 22-year old management consultant who runs her own consulting business.She spends around 75% of her waking hour in front of the computer and connected to the internet. She uses her computer both for work and personal use. Although she does not know much about programming, she is an above-average computer user. She is also very techie kind of person, who utilizes her gadgets to the fullest in order to incorporate in her lifestyle. She is a business woman; she says she wants ultimate value for her money. She gets easily disappointed when a product does not deliver according to her expectations—she sets her expectations according to the reviews that she get. She wants the product to be as accurately portrayed in her annotated reviews; if not she’ll have to reconsider buying the brand the next time as there might be better alternatives in the market. At her age, she is a woman of ambition. She is single, and she describes herself as an independent woman who always knows how to do things her way; she is usually the kind of woman who wants to solve her problems by herself. 2. Recognition of problem/opportunity Consumer A’s line of work as a management consultant now requires her to travel a lot, as her scope of operations grow through internet networking and internet advertising. When before, she is very much contented with her powerful desktop computer, she needs mobility now as her work requires her. As a smart girl she is, she knows she will need to carry on her computer all the time instead of bringing her tablet pc with her. The quality of her work will require her to buy an equally powerful PC that will help her handle her job, at the same time enable her to use it personally. 3. Search for information Consumer A is a bit of a sophisticated buyer. According to her, PC is a high risk purchase, both financially and emotionally. Theoretically, according to her, she will be replacing her desktop with a new computer, a powerful laptop, as her personal tech buddy, that is why this poses and emotional risk to her. Due to this, her search for information is very extensive. She considers the internet the primary medium where she can gather information. Apart from it, part of her decision-making unit, the influencers to her are credible tech bloggers and people who have experiences over tech products. She reads every review about a product and becomes very scrutinizing whenever she encounters a negative feedback about them. Her buying behavior, because it poses very high risk for her requires her high involvement; her information search is a very logical way too, as she considers only credible and sources with authority as sources of information. She also asks knowledgeable computer programmer friends about certain tech queries. 4. Evaluate choices She evaluates choices both in terms of central and peripheral route—that is she has rational considerations as regards the purchase, as well as emotional ones as regards the brands. Her major considerations are the specs: she is after the larger-capacity hard disk drives with bigger RAM (memory). She is also after the other specs—video card, the speed of the processor, the manufacturer of the processor and the manufacturer of other parts. These are her prime considerations. Then she looks across the prices, and look at the best offers—the best specs at the most just price as she perceived, or at least as she has compared a group of computers of the same specs. But she does not completely make her decision according to the specs. When she has narrowed down her decision among a few computers, she looks at the brands. Now, the brand will be the deciding factor. She evaluates her feelings toward them, and what other people say about them—their reputation. She looks at factors other than specs—customer service, durability of the brand, how many have complaint, how the brand is perceived by the people close to her. She looks for most information in order for her to make the most informed choice. 5. Make buying decision She narrows down her choices to two laptops, one with the higher memory but relatively smaller hard disk drive, and the other one with smaller memory but a significantly higher disk drive. When she has made her decision, she places her order in NewEgg’s website, where she constantly reads reviews of consumers as well as testimonial about the company. So far, many consumers are pleased with the company’s customer service. She has seen the website was Verisign secured, as well as an accredited business and has reseller ratings that are good. She places her order and waits for three days. 6. Review decision She gets her order within three days and has been more than happy with her purchase. She has sent a note in line with the purchase as regards the instruction for the software to be installed in her machine. NewEgg has followed all those, and she is more than pleased. When she has looked at the machine, she is very happy with the design. She is happy with the performance of the machine as well as the mobility that she now experiences with her laptop. She carries it everywhere she goes. She ponders on her purchase and because she is happy with her decision—both the manufacturer and the retailer have surpassed her expectations, she considers buying from them again in the future. The retailer has a special appeal to her, as she has decided to buy most of her tech gadgets from it from then on. B. Consumer B 1. Description Consumer B is a 40 year old university librarian. She uses her computer and the internet for basic purposes such as chat, email, social networking, watching videos over the internet, listening to music and sometimes blogging. She is more of an average computer user; she just uses the programs that are installed in her computer, and usually she is late in terms of the new programs and that are out in the market. She does not have much patience learning to use most tech gadgets. Although she earns a lot, she does care much about the price. She does not care much about value, but she is easily enticed by things she can buy at a snap. She describes herself a bit of an impulsive buyer. She can consider the brand, but the brand should not be a premium brand as she will not be pleased to buy something, although she could afford, she has to put effort in paying. She is sociable, very friendly and likes the company of people a lot. At her age she is still single and just enjoys the company of her friends and her family. Although she has hopes of looking for a partner in life, she views herself less of what she is. According to her, she is fun and easy to befriend with; she likes a vast support of people around her to help her manage her persona affairs. 2. Recognition of problem/opportunity Because she does not care much about the new products in the market, she is amazed at the new product her officemates carries with them—small notebook computers. She has then realized that her computer is old, and because the small notebooks look good, it is an opportunity for her to buy another computer. 3. Search for information Her search for information is less elaborate. When she meets her brother who is an IT consultant, she asks him about the new tech gadgets in the market. Because she does not understand most of the specs, she says she just wants a pretty little notebook to replace her old desktop. She is price-conscious, so she asks him what she could possibly buy right that afternoon, as she states that all she needs for the computer is to do her usual tasks: surf the net, email, chat, watch videos, upload pictures, some word and spreadsheet works, and listening to music. She just wants a new cute stuff to replace her old desktop. 4. Evaluate choices She goes to Best Buy to look for gadgets that afternoon when she meets her younger brother. She looks at the different computers and become amazed by the plethora of choices for the small notebooks. As she does not know anything about them, and she cannot tell much of their differences, she just wants to focus on the looks. As she stumbles on the many small notebooks, a friendly, young and eager staff approaches her. She finds her endearing, they have talked; she has said what she is looking for in a notebook. The eager staff shows her some three items, but it is clear there is one that the staff prefers. She continues to look. 5. Make buying decision She has made her decision to buy what the staff recommends. Indeed, the notebook is very pretty. It is cheap, as she sees it so she immediately buys it. She thanks the staff and parted with her with a smile. 6. Review decision When she gets home and meets her younger brother again, she shows her notebook. Her brother has told her, it is not a notebook. As apparent in its price, it is then a netbook—a notebook with less power but can perform the basic functionalities. Well, her brother is a bit disappointed with her choice, telling her that although it is cheap, she can have chosen other alternatives with better value. She argues that it is not the specs she is after, but the looks and nonetheless, the notebook just suits her. She feels happy with her choice, but with a bit of disappointment, thinking of what her brother has said. It is indeed a high involvement as she wants it to be ‘her notebook’ and based on looks, she has decided on what she is looking for, but the feedback from what she considers an influencer keeps her on thinking. She is indeed happy with her choice, but because of the negative thought she cannot be fully satisfied. She regards the brand as OK, but that when she buys a real notebook in the future she better look closely on other alternatives first. II. Conclusion There are crucial points that can be learned from the interview. Looking at the different stages of the decision-making of these consumers, from the first-hand perspective provides a lot of insight as regards the manufacturers’ marketing practices. Sources of information. For every purchase decision, customers look for information in order to aid them to make an informed decision. However, different customers have different ways of looking for information, as well as different sources of information. One of the most significant sources is the ‘influencer’—a person or a group that the target market considers an authority from which she can get information. This is very important to target for manufacturers in terms of spreading information and making this information reach the buyers. Proper identification of the influencers will be very beneficial to marketers. Also, the getting these authority to review and create an opinion on the product, based on an objective viewpoint will give the manufacturer credibility. If the target consumer finds the information from the influencer helpful, the influencer will play a larger role in the future, being the one consulted by the target market. Degree of expectation for the product. The perceived expectation on a product as a result of many different factors that describe and communicate to it through the target market will determine the satisfaction level of the target market. There are consumers who are very hard to please—they should be known and whether the company will gain much from pleasing them to the fullest, say if the market is a very profitable segment as well as having high lifetime value should be determined. Nonetheless, it is always important for manufacturers to surpass the expectation of the target market in order to create loyalty to the brand, as well as create a preference for the brand as regards future purchase. Factors the target market considers at point-of-purchase. No matter how good the marketing communications effort are, no matter how good the factors that could influence the purchase are, if the factors present at that deciding moment, at the point-of-purchase are not good enough to prompt the consumers into action, the marketers’ efforts will be close to wasted. That is the crucial moment. Marketers should consider the factors the consumers give emphasis on. For instance, for consumers like Consumer A, the credibility of the online reseller is very important and what the authorities say about it. For the likes of Consumers B, the friendliness of the people at the store, peripheral to the device becomes deciding factor, as well as the product itself in order to conclude the purchase. The moment these consumers back out because the factors at the point-of-purchase are not enough to entice them to act, or gives them doubt and change their minds, the marketers will have a very harder time as they may see other options; or when they decide to not buy at all. Therefore, these points have to be considered by the marketers in crafting their strategy. If we can see, these have something to do with the marketing communications of the company and how it responds through touch points, and not just through traditional advertising and media relations. References Duncan, Tom. “Principles of Advertising and IMC.” 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005. Kotler, Philip, and Gary Armstrong. “Principles of Marketing.” 10th ed. New Jersey: Pearson Education, 2004. Pickton David, and Amanda Broderick. “Integrated marketing communications.” 2nd ed. United Kingdom: Pearson Education UK Ltd, 2001. Read More