Decision Making Process

Each day, consumers have to make decisions about day to day activities from basics such as what to eat or to more important choices such as purchasing products. Zin each decision making process, there are 5 steps. 

Decision making involves many criteria and subcriteria used to rank the alternatives of a decision. There are three levels of consumer decision making, including extensive problem solving, limited problem solving and routinised-response behaviour. When consumers shop on Amazon, there are several perceived risks they have to consider. These include functional, physical, financial, social, psychological and time risks. For example, a customer buying a TV off Amazon mostly combats with functional, financial and social risks according to Brigitte Burgesse’s 2003 journal article, ‘A comparison of TV home shoppers based on risk perception’. 

Need Recognition – This is where consumers develop a need or want for a product or service that needs to be satisfied. This is often associated as the first and most important step in the process because if we as consumers don’t recognise a need or want, we generally won’t consider purchasing a product.

Information Search – stage in the consumer decision process during which a consumer searches for internal or external information. An internal search refers to a consumer’s memory or recollection of a product, and is often triggered or guided by personal experience. On the other hand, an external search is where a person has no prior knowledge about a product or service and and seeks information through personal and public sources including; family, online forums). 

Evaluation – in this stage, consumers evaluate all the available products on a scale of particular features. What’s important to marketers in this stage is to increase the likelihood of their brand becoming part of consumers’ evoked sets and to do this, they need to understand what benefits consumers are searching for, and to find which features  will affect a consumer’s choice most. 

Purchase – During this stage, the consumer may develop an intention to buy the most preferred brand, service or product. There are three important factors to the purchasing stage, being the decision one must make about who they will buy from, when they’ll buy the product, and whether to buy it or not. 

Post Purchase Evaluation – In this final step, the customer assesses whether they are satisfied or dissatisfied with a purchase. How the customer feels about a purchase will significantly influence whether or not they will purchase the product again or consider other products. Cognitive dissonance is an effect of making a purchase. It is when the customer experiences feelings of post-purchase psychological tension or anxiety.

For example, I noticed myself undergoing the decision making process recently. My study chair is quite old and squeaky so I thought it was time to upgrade. This was me realising that I had a problem, a want, that I needed to satisfy. I then started researching chair prices on websites such as Officeworks and relevant competitors and comparing the pros and cons to the varying styles – price, appearance, material, functionality. I am undergoing the information search step here. I discovered, through evaluation of alternatives, that all the products had similar features but officeworks turned out to be the cheapest, at around $200. After evaluating the options, I decided to make a purchase with Officeworks as it would be better off for me because it was cheaper, they offered delivery and assembly with the chair. I am very much satisfied with my purchase and believe that the chair I chose will serve me well – post purchase evaluation. 

Bibliography

Brigitte Burgess, (2003) “A comparison of TV home shoppers based on risk perception”, Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management: An International Journal, Vol. 7 Issue: 3, pp.259-271

Saaty, T.L. (1994) ‘How to make a decision: the analytic hierarchy process’, Interfaces, Vol. 24, No. 6, pp.19–43

MR, Solomon, R, Russell-Bennett & J, Previte (eds), Consumer Behaviour, Pearson, Australia, 2019, pp. 298-304.

Courses.lumenlearning.com. (2019). The Consumer Decision Process | Boundless Marketing, https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-marketing/chapter/the-consumer-decision-process/, Accessed 24 Mar. 2019

Officeworks.com.au. (2019). Office Chairs | Officeworks, https://www.officeworks.com.au/shop/officeworks/c/furniture/office-chairs-seating/office-chairs, Accessed 23 Mar. 2019