MKG 330 CSU The Consumer Decision Making Process Research Paper

User Generated

Zvxrqnuqny01

Humanities

MKG 330

Colorado State University

MKG

Description

The Consumer Decision-Making Process

Whether you realize it or not, you’ve been a consumer all your life. The types and costs of your purchases have changed over time, but you’ve learned from watching others and experiencing the sensation of choosing an item and making the purchase. What you may not realize is that you’ve likely followed a consumer-purchase process.

For this assignment, you will do a three-part deep dive into the consumer decision-making process.

Part One. Complete the following:

  • Identify and discuss the process, taking care to explain each step. Walk your reader through each step of the consumer purchase process, defining each step. 
  • Choose a major purchase that you plan to make in the future (e.g., a vacation, a car, a smartphone, a computer, a Hermes handbag, a horse, etc.).
  • Apply each step to your purchase (e.g., identify why you find yourself making this purchase, perform an information search, evaluate alternatives using a table, make a choice and justify it, and so forth.).

You are not expected to actually make the purchase, so you may predict the outcome, as opposed to actually describing it.

Part Two. In this section, you will identify and analyze the factors that have influenced your actions and decisions throughout the process.  These include:

  • Personal factors that affect your perspective (e.g., faith, age, lifestyle, location)
  • Pricing and personal accounting
  • The type of purchase—functional versus hedonistic
  • Family influence
  • Ethical considerations
  • Image
  • Ease and place of purchase

Part Three. For this final section, synthesize your findings and analysis from Parts One and Two. Consider the following questions: What factors are strongest and least likely to change your purchase decisions? What factors are more variable? How can marketers use these insights to attract new customers and deepen relations with existing ones?

Explanation & Answer:
10 Pages
User generated content is uploaded by users for the purposes of learning and should be used following Studypool's honor code & terms of service.

Explanation & Answer

check this

Running head: ASSIGNMENT

1

Assignment
Instructor name
Student name
Date

ASSIGNMENT

2

Introduction
Consumer decision-making process is all about the involvement of consumers to
identify their needs, gather the necessary information, evaluate the alternatives and then make
the buying decision. The decision-making process is based on the psychological and
economic factors and they are also likely to be influenced by environmental factors like
cultural and social values. It is a complex procedure that begins with identifying the problem
recognition to the post-purchase activity. The paper will discuss the decision-making process
along with the applicability to the purchase I would like to do in future, factors that influence
my actions and decisions for the process, and the strongest and least likely to be changed
factors for the purchase decision and the factors which are likely to be changed.
Part one
Consumer decision-making process
Need recognition: New recognition happens when the consumer identifiers that there
is a need for the thing. The consumer can have a feeling that something is missing and the
thing needs to be addressed so that the gap can be filled. When the businesses also determine
the likely needs of the consumers in the target market, they can avail the opportunity to
develop and brand their product. For example, the person who purchases water identifies
there need in terms of thirst (Mihrat, 2012). In this case, search for information and
evaluation of alternatives is missing. All the consumer decision-making steps are important
when the decision is to be made for the purchase of an expensive brand like cars, mobile
phones, laptops, jewellery, property, etc.
Information search: It is the second stage of the consumer decision-making process
which changes with the increase in the information about the products. The information can

ASSIGNMENT

3

be obtained from the recommendations based on the previous experiences of the purchase of
the product. This is the stage where consumer considers the risk management and maintains a
list of the characteristics of all the brands related to the product. This is an important stage
because people do not want to regret at later stage. The information can be obtained from
various sources like personnel, public, commercial, and experiential. Personal sources are the
needs discussed with the family and friends for recommendation. Public sources can be
internet, newspaper and magazines (McGuire, 1976). Commercial sources are promotional
campaigns, advertisements, and salespeople. Experiential sources are the own experiences of
using a specific brand.
Evaluation of alternatives: This is the third step of the consumer decision-making
process in which various alternatives are evaluated. After the identification of the existence of
the need, the consumer begins to identify the best option available in the market. The
evaluation can be based on various factors related to the purchase like price, quality, quantity,
etc (McGuire, 1976). The consumers are also likely to compare the prices and read the
reviews to know if the product will satisfy all the needs.
Purchase decision: After the evaluation of all the alternatives, the consumer finally
decides to purchase the product. This is the stage where the consumer evaluates all the facts
and finalizes the brand that satisfies the need to the maximum (Mihrat, 2012). The consumer
concludes which is either based on the influence of the marketing campaigns, personal
experiences, or emotional connections.
Post-purchase behavior: this is the last stage of the consumer decision-making process
which deals with analyzing the product was useful to the consumer or not. If the product
fulfils all the needs and matches the expectations of the consumer, they will be the brand
ambassadors who have the ability to influence the potential customers which will enhance the

ASSIGNMENT

4

customer base for the particular brand. The same is applicable for the negative experiences.
In other words, consumers will stop potential customers from buying the product of a specific
brand.
Major purchase
The major purchase that I would like to make in the future is a car. It is a major
necessity for me right now because I have to travel by public transport. My daily travel time
is four hours by public transport. This can be reduced to half if I will purchase my own car.
A...


Anonymous
Great study resource, helped me a lot.

Studypool
4.7
Trustpilot
4.5
Sitejabber
4.4

Similar Content

Related Tags