Consumer Buying process - Consumer behaviour, Principles of Marketing Video Lecture | Principles of Marketing - B Com

in this video we're going to discuss the
consumer buying process and the consumer
buying process is a series of stages or
steps that we as consumers go through
when we're attempting to purchase a new
product also applies for a service and
you may be asking well what is the
significance of this why do businesses
need to even be aware of the different
steps that we go through and the answer
is very simple
by understanding all the different
stages that we venture through before we
decide to purchase a product they can
develop and tailor their promotional
messages to us as we go through these
steps so depending upon the stages that
we lie in their promotional messages may
look a little bit different because
they're tailored to someone who might be
generating a problem or a need or
searching for information and I'll
explain a little about this as we go
through the series of steps but let's
get started the first step that we go
through is a problem or a need we
develop a recognition that we have a
problem and we need something to fulfill
that particular issue now how do we
generate problems or develop needs well
marketing specifically advertising is
very creative in actually creating and
cultivating different needs and at least
making us feel like we have a need
whether it be a fancy car commercial and
we feel like we have a need for a new
automobile the one in our driveway just
isn't cutting it or it's a you know
fancy brand new house with all the
different designs and it's it's new and
it has all these different features and
things and all of a sudden the house
that we're in isn't just quite cutting
it anymore and this applies to a variety
of different things electronics for
example you see an advertisement for a
new electronic it does all these
different things and yours doesn't quite
do those things those all force us to or
at least encourage the development of
needs in thinking that the item or
product that we are essentially using is
insufficient for all intents and
purposes and that this one product or
service will essentially fill that void
or that gap if you will and so we all
start by having some type of problem or
need whatever it may be it can be a
number
of different things whether it's a need
for some type of transportation we have
a vehicle that breaks down and all of a
sudden we have a need for transportation
so once you've assessed at your need or
problem we have to go through what we
call the information search stage and in
that stage what we're trying to do is we
are trying to evaluate all of the
different possible sources that could
solve our particular problem so let's
just say that we have a problem with a
vehicle of ours breaking down well we
have to basically search for what are
all the different things that can
possibly solve this particular problem
okay well there's a number of different
things right we can try and repair the
existing car so do some type of repair
we can purchase another vehicle we can
purchase a bicycle or we can get a bus
pass or really anything I mean if our
sole problem is transportation then
there are a number of different things
that can ultimately address that
particular issue and solve that
particular problem and so once we've
evaluated or once we've gathered as much
information as possible
and mind you the sources that we gather
them from they're going to be a number
of different sources right we're going
to consider our personal sources right
family and friends we're going to go
with them and say hey what would you do
in this situation or you know what have
you purchased in the past does it work
for you all those different things we're
going to go based upon our own
experience right if we have a Ford and
it broke down consistently chances are
we probably aren't going to buy a Ford
card or a car or pickup because we have
that bad experience we're going to go
through public sources we're going to
look at things like Kelly Blue Book
we're going to look at different sites
cars comm and a variety of other sources
to determine well what's what's the most
effective use of our resources
once we've done that we're going to do
what's called an evaluation we're going
to evaluate all the different
alternatives that we have at our
disposal there are a number of different
things that ultimately we can do and so
what is the best based upon
our particular position and so
ultimately we have to weigh those and
figure out what is the best use of our
money different products and services
may fit our needs differently there
isn't one that's best for everyone of
course and so we have to evaluate all of
those different things that we have the
next thing that we do is we engage in a
purchase decision which means we make an
actual purchase of the product or
service and we we do we give engage in
purchases for a number of different
reasons right we do very we have very
rational motives in which it's based
upon maybe an evaluation of attributes
- maybe non objective factors and
different things we're evaluating the
cost versus the benefits that would be
very rational we can also purchase
things for very emotional reasons right
we don't evaluate things that are
objective we consider things like
likability we consider is this going to
make people like me am I going to be
popular because of product XYZ what's
the prestige factor am I going to feel
important those are those are some
things that we generally can consider so
when we engage in a purchase decision we
can evaluate things based upon rational
motives well you can also do so based
upon irrational motives or emotional
motives if you will
so once we've engaged in the purchase
decision usually people think well it
automatically stops there that's it
we've purchased the product we're done
we can move on and there's nothing else
to be done but we have to consider also
that there is what we call post purchase
behavior that has to be considered and
this commonly takes the form of what we
call cognitive dissonance and you may be
somewhat familiar with this term before
has a lot of importance from marketing
and advertisers and marketers more
broadly pay a lot of attention to this
concept here cognitive dissonance very
simply is buyer's remorse it's the
tendency for consumers to rethink their
purchasing decisions once a purchase has
been made we all go through this process
to some degree we often evaluate well
did we make the right purchase is the
product working out to the extent that I
thought it was and so if there's a
disconnect there that's going to
increase our cognitive dissonance if you
will now the other issue
that the greater the expense of the
product or service the more likely we
are to engage in this process even to a
greater degree if we purchase something
like a house it's a significant
expenditure if there's a significant
amount of time that's invested in
evaluating alternatives there's a
specific or a significant amount of
money that's invested obviously in the
purchase of the home and so those are
things that we're going to consider and
we're going to engage in cognitive
dissonance
to a greater extent now knowing this how
do marketers combat our our tendency to
engage in cognitive dissonance our
tendency to evaluate our items and think
well did we make the right decision
because ultimately what could happen is
if we feel like we've made the wrong
decision the product does not meet our
expectations for whatever reason if our
cognitive dissonance is so great then we
could end up having to return that
product which results in lost sales but
not only that then you have maybe a lost
customer maybe we don't even return the
product or service but we tell everyone
on how horrible it is and then those
obviously aren't positive things for
marketers so what are some of the ways
what are some of the things that they
can do to reduce our cognitive
dissonance well a lot of different
companies especially with products or
services that are more expensive we'll
send you personalized letters in the
mail
basically congratulating you on your
purchase and they'll say hello mr. mr.
or mrs. so-and-so congratulations on
your purchase of product XYZ you've
purchased the best product that does XYZ
kind of iterating reiterating the
benefits of that particular product and
so they thank you for the purchase they
congratulate you almost like you've won
some type of award and that makes us
feel good right it's like yeah I did
make a right decision didn't I I am
really smart
you're right thank you very much but
after that they regurgitate all of the
different benefits of the product and so
what that does in reading that is it
familiarizes ourselves with why we
purchased the product that we think oh
yeah you know what it does do that and
you know what you're right it does do
this as well and so what they're trying
to do is minimize the extent to which we
engage in cognitive dissonance by doing
that and so there's a number of
different things that
that marketers and businesses can do but
sending personalized messages follow-up
emails maybe even follow-up phone calls
once again congratulating someone on the
purchase thanking them reiterating
benefits and all these other different
things are all done with the purpose of
minimizing our buyer's remorse or
cognitive dissonance now just kind of
moving backwards here kind of up the the
consumer buying process in reverse order
you know I mentioned that marketers and
businesses will tailor their efforts
depending upon what stage that we're in
and we've already discussed post
purchase behavior but when we're in a
stage to which we're engaging in a
purchase what's something that could
actually be effective at that stage well
you might say that maybe the company
will do various sales promotional
methods maybe offer discounts or some
type of coupon or cents off or buy one
get one free you know those are all
things that can be used in the post in
the purchase stage to help us lean one
way or the other if we're on the fence
of two products sometimes cost is the
only thing that we're going to consider
if everything else is basically equal
for the most part if products are
considered to be neck-and-neck in terms
of the value they provide me then I'm
going to go with with cost ultimately as
the as the final factor there and so in
stage four maybe it makes sense for
companies to run sales promotions as a
way of lowering those barriers to entry
those obstacles meaning cost that I have
to pay to obtain it could be very very
effective what about in evaluating
alternatives what is something that
companies can do when consumers reside
in stage three well one of the things
they can do is you see a lot of
advertisements that are run that
basically just go over features and
benefits right it's simply an
explanation of what it is the product
does why it's better than anymore
anything else what separates this
product from others a lot of magazine
ads too you'll see products that have
just bulleted points different features
and benefits and those are designed for
consumers that are in the evaluation
stage because they're at the point where
they're trying to weigh their options
and now I have it very clearly and
succinctly laid out there for me it
makes it much easier for
me moving on stage two information
searching stage general advertisements
are generally helpful with regards to
information search and also stage one
generating problems or needs you see
advertisements that don't really explain
a whole lot about the product they're
just designed to pique people's
interests so to speak and so if I see a
particular advertisement I see a nice
car it doesn't explain the advertisement
doesn't tell me what the features and
the benefits are or anything like that I
just don't that it looks really nice and
it looks like it drives really really
fast and so those are some things that
companies can do as a way of creating
these problems and also assisting people
gathering information is by making sure
their products are upfront they're very
visible people are exposed to them
fairly regularly but also as we kind of
move through this consumer buying
process changing the advertisements so
that once again no matter what stage of
the process I'm in they have a targeted
message to me in order to make me feel
like I need to purchase this particular
product or service