Consumer Behavior

Decision making

Types of Purchase
Behavior and the
Consumer Decision
Making Process

Consumer Behavior
Decision making

Outline
Types of purchase decisions
Need arousal
Information acquisition
(types of search, determinants of search, and
sources of information)

Evaluation of alternatives and choice

(choice sets, choice alternatives, choice criteria,
choice heuristics, context effects)

Consumer Behavior
Decision making

The purchase cube

Deliberate purchases

HI

Extended
purchase
decision
making

Symbolic
purchase
behavior

LI

Repetitive
purchase
behavior

Hedonic
purchase
behavior

Think

Feel

Spontaneous purchases

HI

LI

Promotional Exploratory
purchase
purchase
behavior
behavior
Casual
purchase
behavior

Impulsive
purchase
behavior

Think

Feel

Consumer Behavior
Decision making

Types of purchase motives

Functional motives
Problem solving (problem
removal or avoidance)
Quality and performance
Price and value
Familiarity
Convenience
Normal depletion

Psycho-social motives
Social approval
Self-expression
Variety and change
Emotional stimulation
Intellectual stimulation
Sensory gratification

Consumer Behavior
Decision making

FCB grid for some common products

high involvement
life insurance
sports car

car battery

think

stereo component
35 mm camera
washer/dryer
expensive watch
portable TV

suntan lotion
dry bleach

salad oil

perfume
wine for dinner party
complexion/face soap
jeans
feel
toothpaste
greeting card
fast food restaurant

liquid bleach
disposable razor
paper towels

liquid
hand soap

low involvement

regular beer
salty snacks

Consumer Behavior
Decision making

Need arousal
Current (initial)
state

Desired (end)
state

Discrepancy ?

Need arousal
generic
selectiv
e

Consumer Behavior
Decision making

In-class exercise
What triggered the process and what was the basic
motivation for the purchase?
How long did it take for the consumer to
acknowledge the need for this product? Was the
need general at first, or was there a specific brand
preference right away?
What were the major influences on problem
recognition? Were marketing influences involved
in generating the consumer's desire for this
product?

Consumer Behavior
Decision making

Information acquisition
ongoing search: motivated by intrinsic enjoyment
of the search process and the desire to build an
information bank;
prepurchase search: motivated by the desire to
make better purchase decisions;
internal: information is retrieved from
memory;
external: information is obtained from the
environment; research has found that the
level of external search is relatively low;

Consumer Behavior
Decision making

Internal search
Experiences

0/+
++

Brand C

Brand A

Purchase
goal
Attribute
information
Brand B

Consumer Behavior
Decision making

Determinants of external search effort

Environmental and situational variables:
number of alternatives
product differences
store distribution (distance)
time pressure
Product characteristics:
price
social visibility (style and appearance)
perceived risk
number of crucial attributes
Consumer characteristics:
prior knowledge and experience
involvement
positive attitude toward search
education
income
age

+
+

+
+
+
+

+
+
+

Consumer Behavior
Decision making

Information sources
personal sources

commercial
sources

noncommercial
sources

nonpersonal sources

Consumer Behavior
Decision making

In-class exercise (contd)

How much search was involved in the purchase?
How was the search conducted? Was the search
memory-based or was external information
consulted?
What information sources were used?

Consumer Behavior
Decision making

Alternative evaluation
the following information is particularly relevant
to making a choice:
choice alternatives (e.g., brands, stores);
choice criteria (e.g., product or store
attributes);
in order for a product or store to be chosen, it has
to be in the consumers consideration set and it
has to be perceived favorably on the choice
criteria that are important to the consumer;

Consumer Behavior
Decision making

A choice sets model of retail selection

(Spiggle and Sewall 1987)
unawareness
set

inert
set (0)

inaction
set (/0)

quiet
set (/0)

retailer not
chosen (/0)

awareness
set

evoked
set ()

action
set ()

interaction
set ()

retailer
chosen ()

total set

inept
set ()

reject set ()

Consumer Behavior
Decision making

Purchasing a diamond
engagement ring

Consumer Behavior
Decision making

Choice heuristics
if an overall evaluation for each brand is
available in memory, the decision can be
made based on affect referral;
attribute-based choice heuristics differ
based on whether they are compensatory or
noncompensatory and whether processing
occurs by brand or by attribute;
phased decision strategies are often used in
practice;

Consumer Behavior
Decision making

Attribute-based choice heuristics

Processing
by brand

Processing
by attribute

Compensatory

Noncompensatory

weighted additive rule

equal weight heuristic

conjunctive heuristic

additive difference rule

lexicographic heuristic
elimination by aspects
heuristic

Choosing a mid-size sedan

Price

Warranty
(years/
miles)

J.D.Power
mechanical
quality

Crash
test
rating

Horsepower

EPA mileage
(city/
highway)

(6)

$19,800
(7)

3/36K
(7)

3
(6)

Excellent
(10)

175
(8)

23/29
(8)

(8)

$17,095
(8)

3/36K
(7)

4
(8)

Excellent
(10)

160
(7)

24/34
(9)

(9)

$19,025
(7)

3/36K
(7)

3
(6)

Excellent
(10)

160
(7)

24/34
(9)

(6)

$21,200
(5)

3/36K
(7)

3
(6)

Good
(8)

153
(5)

20/27
(7)

(10)

$25,045
(4)

5/50K
(9)

4
(8)

Excellent
(10)

180
(9)

22/29
(8)

Attribute
importance

10

Cutoff level

>(5)

<$22,000

>2/30K

>2 (6)

at least
good

>170

>20/27

Brand
Image
Nissan Altima
Honda Accord
Toyota Camry
Ford Taurus
VW Jetta

Consumer Behavior
Decision making

The cost-benefit approach to

consumer choice
question of how consumers decide which choice
heuristic to use in a given case;
the cost/benefit framework suggests that rule usage
depends on the costs and benefits associated with
the application of a given heuristic;
important components of costs and benefits are the
cognitive effort required by a choice heuristic and
the accuracy of the choice resulting from the use of
a heuristic;

Consumer Behavior
Decision making

Contextual influences on
consumer decision making
because consumers preferences are often
not well-formed, seemingly minor
variations in the way the decision is framed
(either by the consumer or the marketer)
can have a profound effect on choice;
marketers can influence consumer decision
making by manipulating various task and
context factors;

Consumer Behavior
Decision making

Effect of choice set composition on

consumers purchase decisions:
The attraction effect
Cross pen
$6
Cross pen
inferior, lesser-known pen
$6

Consumer Behavior
Decision making

Effect of choice set composition on

consumers purchase decisions:
The compromise effect
Brand B costs $350, w/ a picture quality of 85
Brand C costs $299, w/ a picture quality of 80
Same as above, except that there is also Brand A,
at a price of $503 and a picture quality of 100
Same as above, except that there is also Brand D,
at a price of $146 and a picture quality of 65

Consumer Behavior
Decision making

Methods for studying decision making

input-output approaches: a decision process is
hypothesized and factors that affect this process are
identified; if manipulations of these factors (inputs) lead to
the predicted results (outputs), this is interpreted as
evidence in support of the underlying process;
process tracing approaches: ongoing decision processes
are measured directly;
verbal protocols: concurrent or retrospective thought
verbalizations;
information acquisition approaches: information display boards,
eye movement recording, and computer-based information
displays;
chronometric analysis: analysis of response times;

Consumer Behavior
Decision making

Brand personality
idea that brands have personalities (sets of
human characteristics) and that consumers
may use brands for self-expressive purposes;
recent research by Aaker (1997) suggests
that a brands personality can be described in
terms of five underlying dimensions;
according to the image congruence
hypothesis, consumers prefer brands that
have images similar to their own self-image;

Consumer Behavior
Decision making

A brand personality framework

Brand
personality

Sincerity

Excitement

Competence

Sophistication

Ruggedness

down-to-earth
honest
wholesome
cheerful

daring
spirited
imaginative
up-to-date

reliable
intelligent
successful

upper class
charming

tough
outdoorsy