Individual Purchase Behavior Journal & Reflection Keep track of your own spending habits and the effect marketing has on you through a spending/purchase behavior journal. Identify a two-week period in the latter half of the semester where you log all your expenditures, planned as well as impulse purchases. Set aside a journal for use during and after you record/keep your Individual Purchase Behavior entries. This may be a physical journal (special notebook or the like), OR you may create a Word doc electronic journal; Include the following information about each purchase: • • • • • • • • • • Note item(s) purchased; Identify physical store (or kiosk) or personal sales method (or venue); If the purchase was made online, please describe the steps and nature of the process; Approximate amount of time spent re the buying process; Was the purchase planned or was it an impulse buy? If impulse, why did you buy it now? (Appealing display? Remembered an ad? A friend persuaded you? Packaging? Point of purchase display? Store atmosphere particularly appealing? Persuasive salesperson? Other?) If you made an online purchase, please recall the specifics (Was there a pop-up ad that caught your attention? Had you received a digital coupon? What factors weighed most heavily in your choice of item/s? Do you regularly visit the purchase site? Comment on the appearance and functionality of the site.) If planned, did you spend more money than you expected to spend? What were your emotions while you were shopping? Were you tired, happy, depressed, angry, bored? Other feelings/mood/life circumstances that were notable? Did you consider “green” or organic product options? Remember to record your purchases each day. At the end of the two-week period, review your journal entries and write an assessment of your overall shopping behaviors in the form of a brief, reflective paper. As you examine your recorded information, consider the following: • • • • • Are you more of an impulsive shopper than a planned spender? Planned Do you tend to buy on sale or full price? somewhere between Did you compare prices? not always Do you use coupons? Reward points (or dollars)? Other incentive programming? I only use discounts codes. Did you look at generic versus branded merchandise? • • • Do you shop when you are in a certain frame of mind or experiencing identifiable emotions? Is your shopping primarily need based? Or, do you shop for diversion or pleasure? How aware are you of a store’s atmosphere – music, smells, décor? How important to you (and your desire to spend) is it? What would the ideal store look like and the ideal experience be if a marketer really wanted to target You? For online purchases, what drew you to the various sites? What would your ideal online shopping experience look like? What emerges as the most essential or desirable factors, when you consider the purchase experience/s and your behavior—in hindsight? UPLOAD YOUR COMPLETED WORD DOC JOURNAL ON OUR BLACKBOARD SITE. IF YOU’VE COMPLETED A PHYSICAL JOURNAL, EMAIL THE PROFESSOR TO MAKE ARRANGEMENTS FOR SUBMITTING YOUR HARD COPY OF THE JOURNAL. (A brief Word doc summary/reflection will also need to be submitted via BB for procedural grading/recording purposes.)
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