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CONSUMER LEARNING

Consumers Decision Making Process / Buying ProcessDecision-making is a process of selecting an appropriate option from two or more alternatives. Acustomer

enjoys the freedom of choosing a particular brand or product when there ismore than one brand or product to choose from.The purchaser or consumer takes his buying decision, for some commoditiesimmediately without much consideration such as items of daily use while forsome other commodities mainly luxury or durable items, he thinks muchbefore taking a decision to purchase it. Sometimes, he consults others.Generally, the purchaser passes through five distinct stages in taking a decisionfor purchasing a particular commodity. Broadly, in making a purchase decisionthe consumer goes through the following stages:1) Problem Recognition: The buying process starts when the buyerrecognizes a problem or need. The need can be triggered by internalstimuli. In the former case one of the persons normal needs-hunger, thirst,

Problem RecognitionPre purchase InformationSearchEvaluation of AlternativesPurchase DecisionPost Purchase BehaviorFigure 10.2: BuyingProcessInfluencers

(Children)Decision-Makers(Parents/ChildrenPurchasers

(Parents)Consumers(Children)InformationGatherers(Parents)CommunicationsTargeted at Children(Taste, Image)CommunicationsTargeted at Parents(Nutrition)Various Roles in Family

sex-rises to a threshold level and become a drive. In the latter case, a need is aroused by an

externalstimulus. A person passes a bakery and sees freshly baked bread that stimulates her hunger,she admires aneighbors new car; or she watches a television ad for a Hawaiian vacation.Marketers need to identify the circumstances that trigger a particular need by gatheringinformation from anumber of consumers; marketers can identify the most frequent stimuli that spark an interest ina productcategory. They can then develop marketing strategies that trigger consumer interest.

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2) Pre-purchase Information Search:An aroused consumer will be inclined to search for moreinformation.We can distinguish between two levels of arousal. The milder search state is called heightenedattention. Atthis level a person simply becomes more receptive to information about a product.

At the next level the person may enter active information search: looking for reading material,

phoningfriends and visiting stores to learn about the product of key interest to the marketers, are themajorinformation sources to which the consumer will turn and the relative influence each will have onthesubsequent purchase decision. Consumer information sources fall into four groups.i) Personal Sources: Family, friends, neighbors, acquaintanceii) Commercial Sources:Advertising, salespersons, dealers, packaging, displays.iii) Public Sources: Mass media, consumer, rating organization.iv) Experiential Sources: Handling, examining, uses the product.The relative amount and influence of these information sources vary with the product categoryand the

buyers characteristics. Generally speaking the consumer receives most of the informationabout a productfrom commercial sourcethat is, marketers-dominated sources. But most effective informationcomes frompersonal sources. Each information sources performs a different function in influencing thebuyingdecision. Commercial information normally performs an informing function, and personalsources performa legitimizing or evaluation function. For example, physicians often learn of new drugs fromcommercialsources but turn to other doctors for evaluative information.3) Evaluation of Alternatives: There is no single evaluation process used by

all consumers or by one consumer in all buying situations. There are severaldecision evaluation processes the most current models of, which see theprocess as cognitively oriented. That is, they see the consumer as framing

judgment largely on a conscious and rational basis.Evaluation may be thought of as a system as depicted in figure 10.3:i) Evaluative (Choice) Criteria: These are the dimensions used byconsumers to compare or evaluate products or brands. In the carexample, the relevant evaluative criteria may be fuel economy, purchaseprice and reliability.ii) Beliefs: These are the degrees to which, in the consumers mind, aproduct possessesvariouscharacteristics, e.g., roominess.

iii) Attitudes: These are the degrees of liking or disliking a product and are in turn dependent ontheevaluative criteria used to judge the products and the beliefs about the product measured bythosecriteria.iv) Intentions: These measure the probability that attitudes will be acted upon. The assumptionis thatfavorable attitudes will increase purchase intentions, i.e., the probability that the consumer willbuy.

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Some basic concepts will help us understand consumer evaluation processes.i) The consumer is trying to satisfy a need.ii) The consumer is looking for certain benefit from the product solution.Evaluative CriteriaBeliefs

AttitudesIntentionsFigure 10.3: Evaluation System

iii) The consumer sees each product as a bundle of attributers with varying abilities of deliveringthebenefit sought to satisfy this need.The attributes of interest to buyers vary by product.Consumers vary as to which product attributers they see as most relevant and the importancethey attach toeach attribute. They will pay the most attention to attributers that deliver the sought benefit. Themarket fora product can often be segmented according to attributes that are salient to different consumergroups.The consumer develops a set of brand beliefs about where each brand stands on each attribute.

The set ofbeliefs about a brand makes up the brand image. The consumers brand image will vary with hisor herexperience as filtered by the effects of selective perception selective distortion and selectiveretention.4) Purchase Decision: In the evaluation stage, the consumer forms preference among thebrand in the choice.The consumer may also form an intention to buy the most preferred brand. However, twofactors canintervene between the purchase intention and the purchase decision.i) The first factor is the attitudes of others. The extent to which another persons attitudereduces, ones

preferred alternative depends on two things:a) The intensity of the other persons negative attitude towards the consumers preferredalternative.b) The consumers motivation to comply with the other persons wishes. ii) The second factor is unanticipated situation factors that may erupt to change the purchaseintention.Preferences and even purchase intentions are not completely reliable predictors of purchase

behavior.