Marketing ManagementMarketing ManagementQuestion # 1Discuss and analyze the five stages of purchasing decision model on page 247 of the textbook. Please discuss the processes and importance of each of these stages as discussed on pp. 246 – 249.
Answer:The buying decision process: the five-stage modelFive stages comprise the consumer buying decision process: problem recognition, information search, alternative evaluation, purchase decision and post-purchase behavior. Consumer passes through five stages of decision process in making chose which products or services to buy. However, customers often skip or reverse some of stages in routine purchase. These stages are important for making marketing decisions. Companies forced to analyses whole decision making process, rather than purchase decision only. A company or merchant can influence on customer purchase behavior by providing targeted information, advertisement or guidance about products.
Problem recognitionThe buying process starts with need recognition. Problem recognition arises when the consumer realizes that there is a need for some item. At this point the consumer has only decided to seek a solution to a problem, perhaps by buying a category of product. The needs felt can be categorized as either utilitarian (concerned with the functional attributes of the product) or hedonic (concerned with the pleasurable or aesthetic aspects of the product). The current view is that there is a balance between the two types of need in most decisions.
An internal stimulus, or drive, comes about because there is a gap between the actual and desired states. Drives are generated by encouraging a revision of the desired state. The higher the drive level, the more open the individual is to considering new ways of satisfying the need: in simple terms, a starving man will try almost any kind of food. Drives lead on to motivation, which is the reason why people take action. The level of motivation will depend on the desirability of the end goal, and the ease of achieving the end goal; motivations are subjective, so it is difficult to infer motivation from behavior.
An “aroused” customer then needs to decide how much information is required. If the need is strong and there is a product or service that meets the need close to hand, then a purchase decision is likely to be made there and then. If not, then the process of information search begins.
Information SearchHaving become motivated to seek a solution to the need problem, consumers engage in two forms of information search.The internal search involves remembering previous experiences of the product category, and thinking about what he/she has heard about the product category.
The external search involves shopping around, reading manufacturers literature and advertisements, and perhaps talking to friends about the proposed purchase.
Information sources:Personal sources: family, friends, neighbors etc.• Commercial sources: advertising; salespeople; retailers; dealers; packaging; point-of-sale displays• Public sources: newspapers, radio, television, consumer organizations; specialist magazines• Experiential sources: handling, examining, using the productThe usefulness and influence of these sources of information will vary by product and by customer. Customers value and respect personal sources more than commercial sources (the influence of “word of mouth”). The challenge for the marketing team is to identify which information sources are most influential in their target markets.
Evaluation of alternativesIn the evaluation stage, the customer must choose between the alternative brands, products and services. Having found out about several competing brands, the consumer will evaluate the alternatives, based on the information collected or remembered. In the first instance, the consumer will select a consideration set, which is the group of products that would most closely meet the need. Signals are important when making choices; a particular price-tag, a brand name, even the retailer will have some effect on the consumers perception of the product. Price is frequently used as an indicator of quality, for example, but this can be reduced in the presence of other signals. The decision-making process appears lengthy and complex as stated here, yet most of us make several purchasing decisions in a day without going through a lengthy decision-making process. This is because most of
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steps are not simple, and a consumer can get lost in many of these steps without actually learning them. This is why, in this article, we will focus on the third option first, a category of alternatives that is used more frequently on e-mail. Our preferred alternative is $5.75 a day. As a business, we need an efficient system that requires at least half as many processing units as a computer. However, if we don’t have such an efficient system then there is little or no chance of successfully adopting a higher priced alternative. Our only objective in choosing this alternative is the one that is most competitive with most other options. To get started it is important to understand how and why e-mail marketing may be done in a competitive way. It will be interesting to see the results of successful e-mail marketing as the number of sales are increasing steadily. A strong competitor or one with the most to lose from e-mail marketing generally is less likely to come to the rescue by a bad decision-making process. So how are e-mail marketing changed in the future? First of all, any marketing process that relies heavily on digital means to be transparent is a poor way to implement e-mail marketing. For this reason, we advise consumers to start taking advantage of digital means where it can become more profitable to provide e-mail marketing by utilizing an in-car option. The In-car option is the most popular option for e-mails and the most economical way for a large e-mail company to start sending customers e-mail. A car service is a fast, short service and only takes about 1-2 minutes to complete. Furthermore, this option offers no cost. The company can send the service faster than it can send their own e-mails. It works great for small e-mail companies that want to expand their staff while creating an effective link to customers. At the same time, the In-car feature allows e-mail companies to deliver e-mails in a more convenient and comfortable fashion. All e-mails will be delivered as soon as the customer enters the shopping cart or enters the checkout portal. This will allow the customer to take part in the delivery process while the e-mails are being sent by e-mail. It can be done more quickly and with less effort than traditional e-mail services. But a car operator that also sends e-mails is not likely to have the same decision-making ability as e-mail companies, such as a car salesman. As one of the two largest mail firms in the nation, and one of the most successful mailer companies in the United States , we have seen the adoption of one of the most successful automated options in the industry. It is certainly a step forward, but it requires a lot of expertise and considerable time commitment to design and implement a system that is well-suited to the needs of our consumers. This option is already available in nearly all major American cities with a wide variety of services. As the first e-mail company in America to offer In-car e-mail from Carfax and Carfax in the U.S., it has proven invaluable for all our e-mail customers. We are also confident that the In-car option offers a great advantage for our customers by increasing the rate at which e-mails go through our services, decreasing the impact of duplicate data generated by fax, and allowing our services to remain in-house even after we take control of the business. For the consumers of e-mail, it is essential that they do not just want in-car services, but do not even want their customers to access it