1.
Buyer Behaviour
and
Problem Solving

2.
Overview
1. Introduction  Nicosia Model
2. Problem Solving  Howard-Sheth Model
 Routinized (Habitual)  Engel-Blackwell-Miniard Model
 Limited 8. Decision processes of most
 Extended consumers when initially
3. Consumer Behaviour and purchasing specific products:
Product Life Cycle  Chewing gum, Sugar and Paper Towels
 Men’s Aftershave Lotion and Carpeting
4. Characteristics of Consumer
 Marketing Research on Carpeting
Problem Solving Approaches
 Luxury Cars
5. Characteristics of Routinized  Mobile Phones
(Habitual) vs. Complex  Marketing Research on Mobile Phones
6. Strategic Implication 9. Conclusion
7. Different Decision Making 10. References
Models

3.
Introduction
 Some purchase decisions are more important than others and the amount
of effort we put into each differs.
 Sometimes the decision-making process is done almost automatically; we
seem to make snap judgements based on very little information.
 At other times, reaching a purchase decision begins to resemble a full-time
job. A person may spend literally days or weeks thinking about an important
purchase such as a new home, even to the point of obsession.
 This process implies that steps in decision-making should be carefully
studied by marketing managers in order to understand how information is
obtained, how beliefs are formed, and what product choice criteria are
specified by consumers.
Source: Solomon, Bamossy, and Askegaard,1999.

4.
Introduction cont.
 The consumer decision process represents a road map of consumers’
minds that marketers and managers can use to help guide product mix,
communication, and sales strategies.
Stages in Consumer Decision Making (CDM)
Problem recognition
Information search
Evaluation of alternatives
Product choice
Outcomes
Source: Blackwell, Miniard and Engel, 2006; Solomon, 2007.

5.
Routinized (Habitual)
Problem Solving (RPS)
 This is when consumers buy a brand they have purchased before, it usually
involves little or no information seeking and is performed quickly.
 Consumers are brand-loyal and tend to buy in a habitual, automatic, and
unconscious way.
 It is far more likely that repeat purchases will be made on the basis of
habits or routines that enable the consumer to cope more effectively with
life pressures.
Source: Loudon & Della Bitta, 1993; Blackwell, Miniard and Engel, 2001.

6.
Limited Problem Solving (LPS)
 Usually, it also involves internal and limited external search, few
alternatives, simple decision rules on a few attributes, and little post-
purchase evaluation.
 In general, limited decision making involves recognising a problem, for
which there are several possible solutions.
 There is an internal and limited amount of external search.
Source: Solomon, Bamossy, and Askegaard,1999; Hawkins et al, 2004.

7.
Extended Problem Solving (EPS)
 Is usually initiated by motive that is fairly central to the self-concept, and the
eventual decision is perceived to carry a fair degree of risk.
 The consumer tries to collect as much information as possible, both from
memory (internal search) and from outside sources (external research).
 At this level, the consumer needs a great deal of information to establish a
set of criteria on which to judge specific brands and a correspondingly large
amount of information concerning each of the brands to be considered.
Source: Solomon, Bamossy, and Askegaard,1999; Peter et al, 1999.

8.
Consumer Behaviour and
Product Life Cycle
 Extensive problem solving: this usually
happens at the introductory stage of the
product life cycle. However, it may also
happen at later stages among consumers
who have just been exposed to the brand.
 Limited problem solving: this second stage
in consumer decision making happens
mostly at the growth stage of the product
life cycle. As consumers develop their
knowledge about the brand and start
to know a few more brands well.
 Routine problem solving: this final stage
is usually found at the maturity level of
the product life cycle. As consumers
appear to buy on impulse since they have
well-developed their knowledge towards
the available brands.
Source: Loudon & Della Bitta, 1993; Blackwell, Miniard and Engel, 2001; Foxall, Goldsmith, and Brown,1998.

9.
Characteristics of Consumer
Problem Solving Approaches
Routinized Limited Extensive
Problem Solving Problem Solving Problem Solving
Purchase Involvement Low Medium High
Level
Problem Recognition Automatic Semi-Automatic Complex
Information Search and Minimal Limited Extensive
Evaluation
Purchasing Orientation Convenience Mixed Shopping
Post-Purchase Processes Very Limited Limited Complex
Habit Inertia to Purchase Loyalty if Satisfied
Brand Loyalty Brand Switching if Complaint if
Dissatisfied Dissatisfied
Source: Loudon & Della Bitta, 1993.

10.
Characteristics of Routinized
(Habitual) vs. Complex
Routinized Decision Making Complex Decision Making
(Habitual)
 Little or no information processing  Extensive information processing
 Frequently purchased products  Infrequently purchased products
 Lower-priced products  Higher-priced products
 Low level of consumer involvement  High level of consumer involvement
 Non-compensatory decision rules  Compensatory decision rules
Limited decision solving rests in between these two decisions, also considered
as a midrange problem solving that neither is complicated not so easy to be
done.
Source: Assael, 1998.

11.
Characteristics of Routinized
(Habitual) vs. Complex cont.
Source: Assael, 1998.

12.
Strategic Implications
Routinized Decision Making Complex Decision Making
 Extensive Distribution  Selective distribution
 Few services requirements  Service often required
 Sales promotions is important  Sales promotion unimportant
 Personal selling of minimal role  Important personal selling role
 Advertising used for reminder  Advertising used to provide
effect information
 Greater price sensitivity  Less price sensitivity
Source: Assael, 1998.

13.
Different Decision Making
Models
 When reviewing the literature, it can be noted that there are various
decision making models.
 Such as:
 Nicosia Model
 Howard-Sheth Model
 These two models are especially important in this category due to
their nature in which the consumer is being analysed as a system with
the incentive as the input and the behaviour as the output.
 Engel-Blackwell-Miniard Model
 This model considers the single consumer as being a structure with
outputs that respond to inputs.
Source: Loudon & Della Bitta, 1993; Blackwell, Miniard and Engel, 2001.

14.
Nicosia’s Model
Field 1: From the Source of the Message to the consumers attitude Field 2: Search for and evaluation of
search means-end(s) relation(s) (Pre-
Sub-Field 2: action field )
Sub-Field 1: Message
Company’s Exposure Consumers ATTITUDE
Attitude Attitude (Pre-
disposition)
Search
FEEDBACK EXPERIENCE Evaluation
Field 4:
The feedback Consumption MOTIVATION
Decision
PURCHASING
BEHAVIOUR Field 3: The act of purchase
Source: Nicosia, 1966; Rau and Samiee, 1981; Foxall , 1980.

15.
Howard-Sheth Model
Inputs Perceptual Constructs Learning Constructs Outputs
Stimulus Display
Significative Intention Purchase
a) Quality
b) Price Overt Confidence
c) Distinctiveness Search Intention
d) Service
e) Availability
Attitude Attitude
Symbolic Stimulus
a) Quality Ambiguity
b) Price
Brand
c) Distinctiveness
Comprehension
d) Service
e) Availability
Choice Brand
Motives Attention
Social Criteria Comprehension
a) Family
b) Reference
Group Attention Perceptual Satisfaction
c)Social Class Bias
Information Flow
Feedback Flow
Source: Howard and Sheth, 1961; Hunt, Pappas, 1972; Rau and Samiee, 1981; Foxall , 1980.

16.
Engel-Blackwell-Miniard Model
Need recognition Environmental
influences:
Culture
Internal Search Social Class
Exposure Personal Influences
Search
Family
Situation
Pre-purchase
Attention evaluation of
Stimuli
Marketing services
Dominated Individual
Non- Comprehension Memory Differences:
Marketing Purchase
Consumer
Dominated Resources
Acceptance Motivation and
Consumption evolvement
Personal Influences
Knowledge
Retention Attributes
Post Consumption
Evaluation Personality, values
External Search and life style
Dissatisfaction Satisfaction
Divestment
Source: Blackwell, Miniard and Engel, 2001; Rau and Samiee, 1981; Foxall , 1980.

17.
Decision processes of most consumers
when initially purchasing specific products
Chewing Gum Sugar
Paper Towels Carpeting
Men’s Aftershave Lotion Luxury Cars
Mobile Phones

18.
Chewing Gum, Sugar and Paper
Towels as RPS
A large number of product experiences can lead to routinized response
behaviour, especially for products such as chewing gum, sugar and paper towels.
 Low Purchase involvement.
 Frequently purchased and low cost products.
 Choices are automatic with minimal conscious effort.
 Low cognitive effort in which few possibilities are considered.
 Buy a particular brand out of habit or convenience.
 Previous behaviour guides future behaviour.
 Products purchased with little or no planning or information search.
 Risks of making a wrong choice and the associated benefits are low to
the consumer.
Marketers:
Building brand awareness and trying to become top of mind is crucial in order
to be included in the limited set of brands that a consumer is willing to consider,
to retain brand loyalty and to enhance brand switching.
Source: Pelsmacker, 2007;Vaughn, 1986; Solomon, 2004 and 2006; Arnould et al., 2004; Loudon & Della Bitta,
1993; Gbadamosi, 2009.

19.
Men’s Aftershave Lotion and
Carpeting as LPS
 LPS is the type of assessment consumers most likely engage in when purchasing
these products.
 It covers the middle ground between nominal and extended decision making.
 Considered to be of lower level of complexity than EPS and as illustrated by Harold
Kassarjian consumers usually ‘’muddle through’’ in this stage.
 Choice of buying a new aftershave lotion or a new carpet follows usually a simple
rule of buying a brand that is recognized, buy the cheapest brand or why not try a
new product.
 Products involved in LPS are usually those that arouse mild interest and curiosity,
which could be the case of aftershave lotion that requires a slight more involvement
that a chewing gum, sugar or paper towels.
 Engaging in these type of purchases takes place when a customer is already familiar
with the product class and merely wants to adjust his information or fill in new gaps
revealed by internal search.
Source: Hawkins et al., 2004; Horton, 1984; Blackwell, Miniard and Engel, 2001; Blyth, 1997; Assael, 1998.

20.
Marketing Research on Carpeting
 Objective:
 To find out the nature of the process that consumers usually engage in
when buying carpets.
 Methodology:
 An interview was conducted with a Carpet Right shop manager.
 Analysis Methodology:
 Data was summarized with key points highlighted.

21.
Marketing Research on Carpeting
cont.
 Analysis of Findings:
 The process depends purely on the consumer him/her-self.
 Some spend hours, some days and others weeks.
 The participant did state that the majority of consumers nowadays
engage in a little search and usually their decision is an in-store one.
 The confirmation that customers are hugely influenced by store displays
and promotions.
 Findings Conclusion:
 Further research needs to be conducted.
 However, the facts above additionally illustrate that carpeting is a limited
problem solving decision, that hold the characteristics of LPS.

22.
Luxury Cars as EPS
 Factors determining high involvement:
 Price which is certainly an expensive one for luxury cars
 Infrequency of purchase
 Carries major symbolic meanings
 Social visibility, which is a key factor in determining whether the product
is an EPS or not, since these products are linked heavily to the
conspicuous consumption theory
 Level of risk is also a key point for high involvement products. The more
risk associated with the purchase, the more thought goes into the decision-
making process.
 There is a reduction of risk through brand awareness and high perceptions
of quality
Source: Elliot and Percy, 2007; Blyth, 1997; Kleber, 2006.

23.
Luxury Cars as EPS cont.
 From the findings of a qualitative study on luxury car purchasing in the
USA, it can be seen that there is an inconsistency of interactions when
purchasing a luxury car, as opposed to other luxury goods.
 It is ideal for companies to handle the transaction as not selling a car, but
rather selling a brand. This provides for higher brand value and loyalty from
the consumer, and reduces the associated risks for this luxury item.
 “For the purchase of new cars, more than 70% of people considered
visiting” (Elliot and Percy 2007, p.7) more than one car dealer preceding to
purchase.
Source: Elliot and Percy, 2007; Blyth, 1997; Kleber, 2006.

24.
Mobile Phone as EPS
 Buying a Mobile phone is a confusing process for individuals who are always
presented by a stunning display of handsets with new features that were
not available even weeks ago.
 Buying a car is usually a full-time job, whereas purchasing a phone is a part-
time job to most people; mobile phones and further considered to be high
involvement types of products, in terms of:
 Price
 Frequency of purchase
 Symbolic meaning
 Social visibility
 Time commitment
 Technical complexity
 Level of risk is also a key point for high involvement products. The more
risk associated with the purchase, the more thought goes into the decision-
making process.
Source: Elliot and Percy, 2007; Blyth, 1997.

25.
Marketing Research on Mobile
Phones
 Objective:
 Mobile phones are considered to be the most controversial product
among the other product categories. The researchers have decided to
launch a survey in order to establish with today's consumer, what
process is usually engage with the purchasing of mobile phones.
 Methodology:
 An online Survey conducted over the period of one week, with approx.
60 respondents.
 Analysis Methodology:
 Data was converted and extracted from the online survey results into an
Excel spread sheet and analysed using graphs.
Source: www. kwiksurveys.com.

26.
Marketing Research on Mobile
Phones
 Analysis of Findings:
 Question one: Do you do research before buying a mobile phone?
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
Yes No
 79% of the respondents have confirmed that they engage into some type
of research before buying a mobile phone.

27.
Marketing Research on Mobile
Phones cont.
 Question two: Where do you look to for information when
purchasing a mobile phone?
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
 The majority agreed that their core source of information before buying
a phone is online research (61%), compared to the second highest
source being Word of Mouth (14%).

28.
Marketing Research on Mobile
Phones cont.
 Question three: On average, how much time do you spend
researching until buying a mobile phone?
40%
35%
30%
25% 1-3 Days
1 Week
20%
2 Weeks or more
15%
10%
5%
0%
1-3 Days 1 Week 2 Weeks or more
 Two weeks or more is the most preferred time consumers (39%) usually
engage in when deciding to buy a mobile handset.

29.
Marketing Research on Mobile
Phones cont.
 Findings Conclusion:
 The degree of sophistication and complexity this product carries, made
the researchers emphasize on it:
Why Mobile Phones as an EPS process:
 The product has a high involvement, one that is not cheap and is
infrequently bought.
 The majority of consumers do engage in some type of research,
mainly online research which is a characteristic of EPS.
 The Time spent in buying the product takes usually more than 2
weeks, which only says that this product is special to people and it is
the intangible associations consumers are buying, rather than the
handset it self.

30.
Marketing Research on Mobile
Phones cont.
 Findings Conclusion cont.:
What transformed this product into a controversial one:
 Brands are the only elements that could interfere in this process,
having a defined purpose of driving customers towards their products,
convincing them that their product is the best choice and thinking on
the behalf of them. Further, this encourages the purchaser to only
complete one step of the CDM model, which is the actual purchase.
 In general purchasing a mobile phone can be seen as an EPS, at least until
now; but this could be criticized by some individuals, since they consider
that the ever-growing role of brands is transforming this market into a
less complicated one.

31.
Conclusion
 Routinized (Habitual,) Limited and Extensive Problem Solving Decisions are
theories that are hard to implement to all products, since the buying
process is purely related to the consumer himself and the past belief of
being able to understand the whole buying process of the consumer who
was considered as a rational and cognitive individual, is now discarded.
 Products that carry a high involvement level and those which are linked to
the conspicuous consumption theory which is to purchase in order to
enhance the social position are those that might carry a high level of risk
thus, being of extensive nature.
Source: Earl and Kemp, 1999.

32.
Conclusion Cont.
 The CDM process also has implications for marketers as they need to
design strategies in such a way that the consumer perceives a product's
features or benefits as providing an answer to a perceived problem and felt
needs. Hence marketing strategies need to adapt both creatively and
strategically to the different decision processes and models.
 The individual's complicated process of buying is the real reason why
marketing started; and it's crucial for marketers to constantly understand
their customer's growing demands in order to serve them in the best way
bearing that each product and consumer is different than the other.
Source: Earl and Kemp, 1999.

33.
Problem Solved!
Any Questions?

34.
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