Consumer behavior research

3 Consumer decision-making process…………………………………………………………4 Stages of the consumer decision-making process…………………………………. 4 Problem recognition…………………………………………………………………4 Information search…………………………………………………………………. 4 Evaluation of alternatives……………………………………………………………5 Actual purchasing…………………………………………………………………. 6 Post-purchase evaluation……………………………………………………………. 7 Influences on purchase decisions……………………………………………………………. It is deals with everyone who participates whether directly or indirectly. Research has proved that even for experts in the field, consumer behavior is not easy to predict (Deaton & Muellbauer, n. d. , p. Nevertheless, new research methods like consumer neuroscience an ethnography are clarifying how customers reach their decisions to purchase goods and acquire services. Customers are very vigorous decision-makers because they have to choose what to buy mostly according to their budget and decision making. They may change their preferences in relation to their budget and other factors. Some of the purchase decisions include thorough procedures where wide information is searched in order to select between conflicting choices.

Other purchase decisions such as customary or instinct buys are made promptly with minimum or no use of effort or time in information exploration. Some buying decisions are made individually while others are made by groups such as household, businesses or families. Normally, a purchaser performs an internal search which scans the memory for appropriate brands. The purchaser may then supplement the brands in his memory by performing an external search like using the internet, product reviews, brand websites and referrals from peers. The fact that the purchaser knows the brand does not always indicate that the brand is considered as a possible purchase (Tang, 2013, p. A customer may know several brands but he or she may not be favorably inclined towards them.

These brands will be automatically removed from further examination as purchase options. The beliefs of a consumer about a certain brand may vary based on factors which may include the consumers' past experience and the impact of distortion, perception, and preservation. Consumers who have little knowledge about a brand mostly evaluate the brand according on its useful attributes. Nevertheless, when a consumer becomes well-informed about a particular brand, the functional characteristics diminish and the consumer evaluates more abstract information concerning the brand. Marketing companies ought to deeply understand what benefits are highly valued by customers and the characteristics that are the most vital in the consumers' purchase decision(Ruiz Mafe & Sanz Blas, 2013, p. In the evaluation of options, a purchaser assesses and ranks the relative benefits of different available options.

A consumers approach to make the actual purchase decision mostly relies on individual information sources. Personal sales representatives should be good at providing sale fields and have better strategies for closing the sale. A good method which can be used is social evidence where the salesperson provides evidence of satisfaction from other consumers and the previous success of the product. Also, scarcity technique may be incorporated where the salesperson claims that the offer is limited forcing the purchaser to make a quicker decision and giving him less time to evaluate other options("List of Authors," 2013, p. The next stage is the post-purchase evaluation stage. Consumers use various plans to minimize post-purchase dissonance. A common plan may include looking to peers for authentication of the purchase option.

There are several factors which influence purchase decisions. These factors can either be external or internal. Internal factors may include emotions and motivations, perceptions, and prior experience. Marketers are mostly interested in the perceptions of consumers about packaging, brands, and pricing, labeling, and product formulations. A marketer may reduce the price of a product before consumers realize that is a bargain. Also, marketer global marketers need to know the cultural variances in perception. For instance, westerners associate color white with hygiene and purity while easterners associate it with death and mourning. The prior experience of a consumer with a category, brand or product affects the purchase decision making. While prospective Chinese purchasers wish to the vehicle off the showroom floor, customers from Australia, US, and the UK expect to wait up to twelve months for a custom made Ferrari vehicle.

Subcultures are based on religious, age, racial. Ethnic and geographical differences. Subcultures mostly occur when individuals with common interests firm a group with a unique identity which is known as a consumer tribe. Members of a particular subculture signify their membership by adopting rituals, symbols or behavior such as hairstyles, dress codes and a unique method of speaking which are widely understood by members of other tribes. The top quintiles are of specific interest to marketers who deal with luxurious services and goods such as entertainment, luxury cars, travel, investments, designer labels and dining out. Reference groups are defined as groups whose supposed values or perceptions are used by a person as the base of his actions, judgment or attitudes. These groups are important because they help in guiding the beliefs, values, and attributes of a person.