Unit- II

Buying Decision Process-

Consumers go through 5 stages in making the decision to buy any goods or services.

The Consumer Decision Process has 5 stages (Buyer

Decision Process);

➢ Problem identification or need identification.

➢ Information search.
➢ Evaluation of alternatives.
➢ Purchase decision.
➢ Post purchase evaluation.
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While making a purchase, the buyer goes through these 5 stages of the decision process.
Clearly, the buying process starts long before the actual purchase and continues for a long
time. The job of marketers is to understand buyer's behavior at each stage.
Step-1-

The first step of the buyer decision process is the need recognition stage. Here the
consumer recognizes a need or problem and feels a difference between the actual state and
some desired state. They try to find goods to satisfy such needs.

Step-2-

This leads to the second stage of searching for information about the product. The
consumer tries the find out as much as possible about the product’s available brands.

Step-3

At the Third stage, is consumer uses the information to evaluate alternative brands.

Step-4

After that, the buyer makes the purchase decision at the fourth stage by selecting the most
suitable product.

Step-5
The fifth stage is the post-purchase evaluation, and it is the most important one. Depending
on the level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction, the consumer will become a loyal customer or
actively avoid the brand and tells others to do so via online reviews and word of mouth.

Influence of group and individual factors

Important Factors That Influence the Buying Decision-

1. Economic factors

The most important and first is the economic factor. It is the

mainstay of any buying decision. The reason for this is that
ordinary people cannot buy what they do not have financial
condition. The need for the product also doesn't play a role
here, but the most important thing is affordability.

2. Marketing Mix Factors

There are 4 components in the marketing mix, i.e. product, pricing, promotion and place of
distribution and each of these components have a direct or indirect impact on the buying process
of the consumers. The consumers consider various things like the characteristics of the product,
price charged, availability of the product at the required location and much more.

3. Personal Factors

The personal factors include age, occupation, lifestyle, social and economic status and the
gender of the consumer. These factors can individually or collectively affect the buying
decisions of the consumers.

4. Psychological Factor

When it comes to the psychological factors there are 4 important things affecting the consumer
buying behaviour, i.e. perception, motivation, learning, beliefs and attitudes.

5. Social Factors

Social factors include reference groups, family, and social status. These factors too affect the
buying behaviour of the consumer.

Customer shopping behaviour & Satisfaction-

1. Complex buying behavior
Complex buying behavior is encountered particularly when consumers are buying an
expensive product. In this infrequent transaction, consumers are highly involved in the
purchase decision. Consumers will research thoroughly before committing to invest.

Consumer behaves very differently when buying an expensive product or a product that is
unfamiliar to them. When the risk of buying a product is very high, a consumer consults
friends, family, and experts before making the decision.

For example, when a consumer is buying a car for the first time, it’s a big decision as it
involves high economic risk. There is a lot of thought on how it looks, how his friends and
family will react, how will his social status change after buying the car, and so on.

2. Dissonance-reducing buying behavior

Inconsistency-reducing buying behavior occurs when consumers are highly involved with a
rare, expensive, or risky purchase, but see minimal differences between brands.

For Example
Customers who are looking to buy a newly arrived LED TV will not find much difference
between brands, but the price of the product and its technicalities will make them more
involved. Similar behavior is seen in the smartphone market, where there are so many
phones in the same price range with almost similar features that the customer is unable to
decide which phone to buy.
3. Habitual buying behavior
Habitual Buying Behavior is depicted when a consumer has low involvement in a purchase
decision. In this case, the consumer is perceiving only a few significant differences between
brands.
When consumers are buying products that they use for their daily routine, they do not put
a lot of thought. They either buy their favorite brand or the one that they use regularly – or
the one available in the store or the one that costs the least.
For example, when a consumer buys a loaf of bread, he tends to buy the brand that he is
familiar with without actually putting in a lot of research and time. Many products fit into
this category. Everyday use products, such as salt, sugar, biscuits, toilet paper, and black
pepper all fit into this product category.
4. Variety seeking buying behavior
In variety-seeking consumer behavior, consumer involvement is low. There are significant
differences between brands. Here consumers often do a lot of brand switching. The cost of
switching products is low, and hence consumers might want to try out new products just
out of curiosity or boredom. Consumers here, generally buy different products not because
of dissatisfaction but mainly with an urge to seek variety.
For example, a consumer likes to buy a cookie and choose a brand without putting much
thought into it. Next time, the same consumer might choose a different brand out of a
wish for a different taste. Brand switching occurs often and without intention.