Introduction
The consumer decision process describes the stages a consumer experiences, from recognizing a need for a product or service to finally determining whether their final purchase meets their needs and expectations. It represents the five stages a consumer goes through to make a purchase (Faulds et al., 2018). By understanding the consumer’s decision-making process, sellers can increase their chances of successfully marketing their product or service (Kumar et al., 2018). Six months ago, I was in the process of deciding to buy a new refrigerator.
Main body
Awareness of the problem (need). There are two groups of stimuli – internal and external. At this stage, it is determined what problems arose, what caused their occurrence, and how they brought the consumer to a particular product.
For a month, my old refrigerator has shut down randomly, and water is leaking all over the floor. Because of this, I finally decided it was time to buy a new refrigerator.
Search for information. The consumer has recognized their need for the product and is now looking into the types of products available in the market. They can search the web, watch ads, explore products in stores, and/or ask family and friends for advice to help them purchase.
I started searching on the Internet and looked at models of refrigerators in several different stores, including the one where I bought my current refrigerator. I also ask my friends and parents about their refrigerators and pay attention whenever there is a TV commercial for a kitchen appliance.
Evaluation of options. The consumer compares the properties of goods, indicators of the significance of the characteristic properties of the goods, beliefs about brands (well-known), and utility functions of different variants of goods that can solve the problem. Affordability is another factor that consumers can use to determine which company to buy from.
Having better understood the types of models on the market, I narrow down my choice to two retailers with similar models. The first retailer offered a refrigerator in the price range I expected, and with most of the features I needed. However, reviews say the refrigerator often needs repair and will not last long. The second seller’s prices are higher than I’d like to spend, but the reviews are great, and the fridge has even more features than expected.
Trial purchase. After getting acquainted with the purchase options and comparing them, the consumer can explore the product in more detail. They can take the selected product for temporary use (rent or borrow), see it in a physical store, and more.
I visited selected stores to get more detailed information from specialist consultants and look at the goods in reality.
Purchase decision. That is accepted as a result of the previous stages, and decisions about what product is bought, in what quantity, at what price, and so on are important here.
Because I need a great quality refrigerator, I decided to spend the extra money and buy from a second seller.
Conclusion
Reaction to the purchase (assessment of the correctness of the choice of goods). Once consumers buy a product and use it, they can determine exactly if it is worth the price and if they want to make additional purchases from the same company (Sahoo et al., 2018). They may decide to leave a review on a product page or order more of the same product before it sells out.
After six months of using my new refrigerator, I have concluded that it has everything I need and that it works well. I have also written a positive online review and have decided to return it to the seller for any future purchases.
References
Faulds, D. J., Mangold, W. G., Raju, P. S., & Valsalan, S. (2018). The mobile shopping revolution: Redefining the consumer decision process. Business Horizons, 61(2), 323–338. Web.
Kumar, A., Mangla, S. K., Luthra, S., Rana, N. P., & Dwivedi, Y. K. (2018). Predicting changing pattern: Building model for consumer decision making in Digital Market. Journal of Enterprise Information Management, 31(5), 674–703. Web.
Sahoo, N., Dellarocas, C., & Srinivasan, S. (2018). The impact of online product reviews on product returns. Information Systems Research, 29(3), 723–738. Web.