Chapter 14

Consumer Decision Making I:

The Process

Consumer Behaviour
Canadian Edition
Schiffman/Kanuk/Das

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Pearson Education Canada Inc.
 Levels of Consumer Decision
Making
Extensive Problem
Solving

Limited Problem
Solving

Routine Response
Behaviour

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 Factors That Affect the Type of
Decision Making Process Used
 Importance of the decision
 Extent of previous experience
 Existence of well-established decision
criteria
 Amount of information at hand about each
alternative
 The number of alternatives available
 Model of consumption being followed

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Consumer Decision Making – The
Process
 Need Recognition
 Pre-purchase Search
 Evaluation of Alternatives

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 Need or Problem Recognition

 The realization that there is a difference

between actual and desired states
– The higher the gap, the stronger the need (or
bigger the problem)

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 Types of Problems

 Active Versus Inactive problems

– Active: those you are aware of
– Inactive: those that you are not yet aware of
(but exist)
 Those that require immediate solutions and
those that do not require immediate
solutions

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 Problem Recognition and
Marketing Strategy
 Identify existing consumer problems and find
solutions for these
 Lower the actual state
 Increase the desired state
 Increase the importance of the gap between actual
and desired states
 Convert inactive problems to active problems
 Convert problems into ones requiring an
immediate solution
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 Pre-Purchase Search

 Types of Information Sources

 Types of Information Sought
 Factors Affecting Extent of Information
Search

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 Figure 14-3: Types of
Information Sources
PERSONAL IMPERSONAL

Friends Newspaper articles

Neighbors Magazine articles
Relatives Consumer Reports
Co-workers Direct-mail brochures
Computer salespeople Information from product
Calling the electronics advertisements
store Internal web site

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 Types of Information Sought

 Brands or alternatives available

 Evaluative criteria to be used
– Generally, product features
 Ratings of brands on evaluative criteria

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 Factors that Increase the Level of
Pre-purchase Search
 Product Factors: Higher search when
– It is a long-lasting or infrequently used
product
– There are frequent changes in product styling
– Large volume is purchased
– The price is high
– There are many alternative brands
– There is much variation in features
» continued
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 Factors that Increase the Level of
Pre-purchase Search
 Situational Factors: Higher search when:
– Experience is lower
– Previous experience was unsatisfactory
 Social Acceptability: Higher search when:
– Purchase is a gift
– Product is socially visible in use

» continued

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 Factors that Increase the Level of
Pre-purchase Search
 Value-Related Factors: Higher search
when:
– Purchase is discretionary
– All alternatives have both positive and
negative qualities
– No agreement among users exists
– Conflicting information is available
– Other considerations exist
» continued
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 Factors that Increase the Level of
Pre-purchase Search
 Consumer Factors: Higher search when:
– Consumers are well-educated, have higher
income levels and are younger
– Consumers are low in dogmatism and risk
perception
– Level of involvement is high
– Shopping is seen as an enjoyable activity
» continued

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Evaluation of Alternatives – Types
of Consumer Choice Processes
 Affective choices
– More holistic; an overall evaluation
– based on how one feels about a purchase
 Attribute-based choices
– Have pre-determined evaluative criteria
– May require both external and internal search
– Complicated decision rules may be used

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 Nature of Evaluative Criteria

 Can be tangible or intangible

 Include surrogate indicators
– Attributes that are used as indicators of another
attribute
 Are often ranked in order of importance

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 Consumer Decision Rules

 Procedures used by consumers to facilitate

brand or other consumption-related choices

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 Consumer Decision Rules
 Compensatory
– Brands evaluated in terms of each relevant
criteria and the best brand (or one with the
highest score) is chosen
 Non-compensatory
– Positive evaluations do not compensate for
negative evaluations

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 Non-Compensatory Consumer
Decision Rules
 Conjunctive Decision Rule
– Product attributes are identified
– a minimally acceptable cutoff point is
established for each attribute
– brands that fall below the cutoff point on
any one attribute are eliminated from
further consideration.
» continued

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 Non-Compensatory Consumer
Decision Rules
 Disjunctive Decision Rule
– consumers identify product attributes
– establish a minimally acceptable cutoff
point for each attribute
– accept the brand that meets or exceeds
the cutoff for any one attribute

» continued
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 Non-Compensatory Consumer
Decision Rules
 Lexicographic Decision Rule
– Product attributes are identified
– Product attributes are ranked in terms of
importance
– brands are compared in terms of the attribute
considered most important
– Brand that scores highest on the first attribute is
chosen
– If there is a tie, the scores on the next attribute
are considered
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Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education Canada Inc.
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 Issues in Alternative Evaluation

 Lifestyles as a Consumer Decision Strategy

 Incomplete Information
 Non-comparable Alternatives
 Series of Decisions
 Consumption Vision
– Mental picture of the consequences of using a
particular product

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Coping with Missing Information

 Delay decision until missing information is

obtained
 Ignore missing information and use
available information
 Change the decision strategy to one that
better accommodates for the missing
information
 Infer the missing information

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 Information Search and
Marketing Strategy
 Get products into consumers’ evoked set
 Limit information search if your brand is
the preferred brand
 Increase information search if your
alternative is not the preferred brand
 Use point-of-purchase advertising
effectively
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 Alternative Evaluation and
Marketing Strategy
 Identify decision rule used by target market and
use suitable promotional messages
 Influence the choice of evaluative criteria
 Influence the rating of your product on evaluative
criteria used
 Use surrogate indicators effectively
 Use ‘consumption vision’

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