Decision making. Everyone is a Decision Maker. Types of Managerial Decisions. Identifying the Problem, страница 9

Marketers of products that consumers buy routinely have two tasks. First, they must satisfy current customers by maintaining consistent quality, service, and value. Second, they must try to attract new buyers — to break them out of the routine of buying competing products — by introducing new features and using point-of-purchase displays, price specials, and premiums.

Limited Problem Solving

Buying is more complex when buyers confront an unfamiliar product class^ For example, people thinking about a new tennis racket may be shown a new brand with a new shape or one made of a new material. They ask questions and watch ads tolearn more about the new brand. This is described as limited problem solving because buyers are fully aware of the product class, but are not familiar with all brands and their features.

The marketer recognises that consumers are trying to reduce risk by gathering information. Marketers must design a communication program that helps buyers understand the company's brand and give them confidence in it.

Extensive Problems Solving

Sometimes buyers face complex buying decisions for more expensive, less frequently purchased products in a less familiar product class. For these products, buyers often do not know about valuable brands or what factors to consider when they evaluate different brands or what factors to consider when they evaluate different brands. In these situations, people use extensive problem solving. For example, suppose you want to buy an expensive new stereo components system. You would probably spend time visiting different stores, collecting information, and comparing various brands before making the final decision

Marketers of products in this class must understand the information-gathering and evaluation activities of prospective buyers. They need to help buyers learn about important buying criteria and persuade buyers that their brands rate high on important attributes compared with competing products.

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Stages in the Buyer-Decision Process

Consumers make many buying decisions every day. Most large companies research consumer buying decisions in great detail. They want to answer questions about what consumers buy, where they buy, how and how much they buy, when they buy, and why they buy. Marketers can study consumer purchases to find answers to questions about what they buy, where, and how much. But learning about the whys of consumer buying behaviour and buying decision process is not so easy — the answers are often locked deep within the consumer's head.

We can now examine the stages buyers pass through to reach a buying decision. The consumer passes through five stages: problem recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision, and postpurchase behaviour. This model emphasises that the buying process starts long before the actual purchase and continues after the purchase. It encourages the marketer to focus on the entire buying process, rather than just the purchase decision.

This model seems to imply that consumers pass through all five stages with every purchase. But in more routine purchases, consumers skip or reverse some stages^ A woman buying her regular brand of toothpaste would recognise the need and go right to the purchase decision, skipping information search and evaluation. Problem Recognition

The buying process starts with problem recognition. The buyer recognises a problem or need. The buyer senses a difference between his or her actual state and some desired state. The need can be triggered by internal stimuli. One of the person's normal needs — hunger, thirst, sex — rises to a level high enough to become a drive. From previous experience, the person has learned how to cope with this drive and is motivated toward objects that he or she knows will satisfy it.