Discussion
The purpose of this exercise is to increase your understanding of the process that consumers go through when making a purchase decision. Provide a
specific
example of a time when
YOU made an
actual
large purchase. Then, in outline or paragraph format, explain and describe how you utilized each of the steps in the consumer decision making process. Explain how you reached your choice and whether your were happy with your selection or not. Next, refer back to Section 6.2 and 6.3 of your textbook.
Describe what influenced your final decision the most. Was it an internal influence or an external influence? (Examples: selected what college to attend, bought a computer, rented an apt, bought a house, purchased a car)
· Problem recognition
· Information search
· Evaluation of alternatives
· Product choice
· Postpurchase evaluation
*** Please use purchasing a car, or purchasing a house. I am a female.
6.2 Objective Summary
Explain how internal factors influence consumers’ decision-making processes.
Several internal factors influence consumer decisions. Perception is how consumers select, organize, and interpret stimuli. Motivation is an internal state that drives consumers to satisfy needs. Learning is a change in behavior that results from information or experience. Behavioral learning results from external events, whereas cognitive learning refers to internal mental activity. An attitude is a lasting evaluation of a person, object, or issue and includes three components: affect, cognition, and behavior. Personality influences how consumers respond to situations in the environment. Marketers seek to understand a consumer’s self-concept to develop product attributes that match some aspect of the consumer’s self-concept.
Consumers’ age, family life cycle, and lifestyle are also strongly related to consumption preferences. Marketers may use psychographics to group people according to activities, interests, and opinions that may explain reasons for purchasing products.
6.3 Objective Summary
Show how situational factors and consumers’ relationships with other people influence consumer behavior.
Situational influences include our physical surroundings and time pressures. Dimensions of the physical environment create arousal and pleasure and can determine how consumers react to the environment. The time of day, the season of the year, and how much time one has to make a purchase also affect decision making. Consumers’ overall preferences for products are determined by their membership in cultures and subcultures and by cultural values, such as collectivism and individualism. Consumerism is a social movement directed toward protecting consumers from harmful business practices. Social class, group memberships, and opinion leaders are other types of social influences that affect consumer choices. A reference group is a set of people a consumer wants to please or imitate, and this affects the consumer’s purchasing decisions. Purchases also result from conformity to real or imagined group pressures.
Another way social influence is felt is in gender roles, the expectations of society regarding the proper roles for men and women and what products are appropriate for each gender. Today, as cultures and gender roles are changing, many marketing programs include ads and other strategies that give support to the acceptance of all LGBTQ+ people and thus discourage discrimination.
