Stages in Consumer Decision Making Process
An individual who purchases products and services from the market for his/her own personal consumption is called as consumer.
To understand the complete process of consumer decision making, let us first go through the following example:
Tim went to a nearby retail store to buy a laptop for himself. The store manager showed him all the latest models and after few rounds of negotiations, Tim immediately selected one for himself.
In the above example Tim is the consumer and the laptop is the product which Tim wanted to purchase for his end-use.
Why do you think Tim went to the nearby store to purchase a new laptop ?
The answer is very simple. Tim needed a laptop. In other words it was actually Tims need to buy a laptop which took him to the store.
The Need to buy a laptop can be due to any of the following reasons:
The store manager showed Tim all the samples available with him and explained him the features and specifications of each model. This is called information. Tim before buying the laptop checked few other options as well. The information can come from various other sources such as newspaper, websites, magazines, advertisements, billboards etc.
This explains the consumer buying decision process.
A consumer goes through several stages before purchasing a product or service.
NEED
↓
INFORMATION GATHERING/SEARCH
↓
EVALUATION OF ALTERNATIVES
↓
PURCHASE OF PRODUCT/SERVICE
↓
POST PURCHASE EVALUATION
Related Articles
- Consumer Behaviour - An Overview
- Cultural Factors affecting the Behaviour
- Social Factors affecting the Behaviour
- Personal Factors affecting the Behaviour
- Psychological Factors affecting Behaviour

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