Question

Emma's cousin Jack is having a birthday party in a few weeks. Her whole family is planning on going and everyone has bought Jack a present apart from Emma. It is his 10th birthday and the families want to make it memorable as they always do for milestone birthdays. Emma has never been close with Jack and asked her brother Simon for advice as Simon and Jack are best friends. Emma was thinking of buying him a gift card so that he could buy himself whatever he wanted, but Simon suggested she buy him a computer game that he knows Jack wants. Simon already picked out another game for Jack, and Emma decided to listen to her brother and bought what he had suggested.There are five stages in the consumer decision making process. Explain how Emma and brother Simon would have progressed through these five stages in their decision towards purchasing their gifts for Jack. As part of your answer, you should discuss their likely level of involvement in this purchase, as well as the type of consumer buying decision that occurred. Finally, explain 1 cultural factor, 1 social factor, and 1 psychological factor that might have influenced Emma's and Simon's decision making process. (800 words essay)

Answer 1

Coustomer Decision - Making Process:

The consumer decision-making process can seem mysterious, but all consumers go through basic steps when making a purchase to determine what products and services will best fit their needs.

Think about your own thought process when buying something––especially when it’s something big, like a car. You consider what you need, research, and compare your options before taking the plunge. Afterwards, you often wonder if you made the right call.

Consumer decision making process involves the consumers to identify their needs, gather information, evaluate alternatives and then make their buying decision. The consumer behavior may be determined by economic and psychological factors and are influenced by environmental factors like social and cultural values.

The consumer decision making behavior is a complex procedure and involves everything starting from problem recognition to post-purchase activities. Every consumer has different needs in their daily lives and these are those needs which make than to make different decisions. Decisions can be complex, comparing, evaluating, selecting as well as purchasing from a variety of products depending upon the opinion of a consumer over a particular product. This renders understanding and realizing the basic problem of the consumer decision making process for marketers to make their products and services different from others in the marketplace.

Steps in the consumer decision process

Emma and her brother Simon have gone through same customer decision making process of purchasing computer viddeo game. Lets go through procedure step by step.

Generally speaking, the consumer decision-making process involves five basic steps.

Problem recognition

The first step of the consumer decision-making process is recognizing the need for a service or product. Need recognition, whether prompted internally or externally, results in the same response: a want. Once consumers recognize a want, they need to gather information to understand how they can fulfill that want, which leads to step 2.

Thus Emma & Simon have a need of specific video game which they desire to present to Jack. As Simon have already purchased his choice of video game and they desire only particular video game so there is no need for further study of various brands. lets say they want to gift Assassin's Creed Game to Jack. So Emma & Simon have cleared first stage of customer decision making process where they have choosen Assassin's Creed Video Game.

Information search

When researching their options, consumers again rely on internal and external factors, as well as past interactions with a product or brand, both positive and negative. In the information stage, they may browse through options at a physical location or consult online resources, such as Google or customer reviews.

As Emma have simon suggest Assassin's Creed Video Game thus Emma's work load of searching best video game have been leesened. Whereas Simon must have done information search. He must have got suggestion from his friends as well as watched advertisement of this video game suggesting it's a wonderful game. He must have talked to retailers for it's review as well as searched how many people have purchased and playing with the data easily available on the internet.

Alternatives evaluation

At this point in the consumer decision-making process, prospective buyers have developed criteria for what they want in a product. Now they weigh their prospective choices against comparable alternatives.

Alternatives may present themselves in the form of lower prices, additional product benefits, product availability, or something as personal as color or style options. Your marketing material should be geared towards convincing consumers that your product is superior to other alternatives. Be ready to overcome any objections––e.g., in sales calls, know your competitors so you can answer questions and compare benefits.

As Emma & Simon have already decieded to give which game so this stage is almost of no use to them as they are not going to search another video game based on it's cost. Where as they must have gone to various stores providing/selling this video game for it's price. They must have got good deal visiting various store as they need to clear stock and sold the old stock at discounted prices.

Purchase decision

This is the moment the consumer has been waiting for: the actual purchase. Once they have gathered all the facts, including feedback from previous customers, consumers should arrive at a logical conclusion on the product or service to purchase.

Now Emma & Simon have decided to purchase Assassin's Creed Video Game and selected the store providing best deal, so now they will proceed for purchasing the product.

Post-purchase evaluation

This part of the consumer decision-making process involves reflection from both the consumer and the seller.

Emma & Simon will have to see wheather product was good and in working condition and satisfy their need. Jack needs to be happy with the product.

Cultural, Psychological and Social Factors Play a Role in Emma & Simon Video Game Buy

Culture and social factors can play a major role in the popularity of a product. Industry groups spend a lot of money trying to influence popular opinion because they know how influential culture can be on industry sales. In addition to culture, there may also be social factors, such as family or church roles, at play in a product’s success.

Thus Emma & Simon must have seen the popularity of Assassin's Creed video game popularity and decided to purchase the same. Where as Simon's friends must have given suggestion based on it's popularity that Assassin's Creed is best video game put social impact on Simon's & Emma's purchase decision.

There are four psychological factors that influence consumer behaviour: Motivation, perception, learning, and attitude or belief system. Motivation speaks to the internal needs of the consumer. Understanding how to motivate your customer is a powerful tool. The way your target customer perceives the world or learns about your product, whether online or in person, can also influence behaviour. Finally, belief systems have the ability to influence all of the above.

Jack's Birthday was motivation, Assassin's Creed is best video game which jack requires was learning and perception. They have to present the same to Jack is Emma's and Simon's attitude for purchasing video game.