Example Student Response to Discussion Post Answer Question 1 - It sounds like you and your wife did a lot of homework in finding your car seat, including gathering information from various sources from personal, to commercial to public!  I think in this situation though, information search via experiential sources would benefit you as well.  Actually using the products that could be identified as alternatives would be a great way to gather information on what attributes are most important to you and your wife.  Taking a friends child, with their permission of course, and going through a few motions you would typically do yourself, like getting the baby in the car seat, from the car seat to the stroller etc. would be a great way to evaluate each option.  Just like you would test drive a car by actually being behind the wheel, I think this type of information search, and in turn, evaluation of alternatives could have greatly helped the purchase decision process. Also, I wonder if any intervening factors came into play in the purchase decision.  I know with major purchases, the factor of attitudes of others, usually will intervene for my husband, meaning his “motivation to comply with other person’s wishes” (second type of this factor from Kotler and Keller, 2016).  It ends up he usually agrees with what I want! In this situation, I wouldn’t be surprised if maybe you were influenced by your wife’s preference as well, and were more likely to go with what she wants.  Overall I am sure you made the right choice and will be interested to see what you think of it once it is truly in use! Question 2 – For your VALS results, I find it interesting that you do not completely agree with the results.  I myself found my results to be quite accurate. Since of course I don’t know you well I can’t comment on whether or not I agree with yours, but maybe taking the two results and combining them might provide a better understanding.  For example, with you saying you do not worry about trends, which is an Experiencer trait, it might relate to the Innovator trait of being confident to experiment and looking toward the future.  You might not be worrying about the trends or actively following them, but in your actions of experimenting, you maybe are a part of starting the trend which you don’t realize. Just something to think about for how that particular result came about. Assignment: Read the discussion questions and answers below and write a written response (at least half page, single space for each answer) by working in the textbook pdfs (see attachments labeled pg 172-178 and pg 258-259, be sure to use them as references at least once in each of your responses).  If you need to see a student example (do not use this answer, this is just for reference) of a response to a discussion post by another student, see attachment that’s labeled “Response Post”. Question 1: Discuss the five stages of the Buying Decision Process by applying them to an example of ...

1. Example Student Response to Discussion Post Answer
Question 1 -
It sounds like you and your wife did a lot of homework in
finding your car seat, including gathering information from
various sources from personal, to commercial to public! I think
in this situation though, information search via experiential
sources would benefit you as well. Actually using the products
that could be identified as alternatives would be a great way to
gather information on what attributes are most important to you
and your wife. Taking a friends child, with their permission of
course, and going through a few motions you would typically do
yourself, like getting the baby in the car seat, from the car seat
to the stroller etc. would be a great way to evaluate each
option. Just like you would test drive a car by actually being
behind the wheel, I think this type of information search, and in
turn, evaluation of alternatives could have greatly helped the
purchase decision process.
Also, I wonder if any intervening factors came into play in the
purchase decision. I know with major purchases, the factor of
attitudes of others, usually will intervene for my husband,
meaning his “motivation to comply with other person’s wishes”
(second type of this factor from Kotler and Keller, 2016). It
ends up he usually agrees with what I want! In this situation, I
wouldn’t be surprised if maybe you were influenced by your
wife’s preference as well, and were more likely to go with what
she wants. Overall I am sure you made the right choice and will
be interested to see what you think of it once it is truly in use!
Question 2 –
For your VALS results, I find it interesting that you do not
completely agree with the results. I myself found my results to
be quite accurate. Since of course I don’t know you well I can’t

2. comment on whether or not I agree with yours, but maybe
taking the two results and combining them might provide a
better understanding. For example, with you saying you do not
worry about trends, which is an Experiencer trait, it might relate
to the Innovator trait of being confident to experiment and
looking toward the future. You might not be worrying about the
trends or actively following them, but in your actions of
experimenting, you maybe are a part of starting the trend which
you don’t realize. Just something to think about for how that
particular result came about.
Assignment: Read the discussion questions and answers below
and write a written response (at least half page, single space for
each answer) by working in the textbook pdfs (see attachments
labeled pg 172-178 and pg 258-259, be sure to use them as
references at least once in each of your responses). If you need
to see a student example (do not use this answer, this is just for
reference) of a response to a discussion post by another student,
see attachment that’s labeled “Response Post”.
Question 1: Discuss the five stages of the Buying Decision
Process by applying them to an example of a recent or important
purchase that you have made as a consumer.
Answer: In today’s economy, consumers have more power than
ever over the goods and services they purchase. With modern
technology as advanced as it is, consumers have the ability to
price out items and find deals at the drop of a hat. These
advancements have led to less impulse purchases and we as
consumers are placing more thought into what we are
consuming. According to the Wall Street Journal (2014),
“customers are now browsing online first and then coming into
stores on a mission. Shoppers who once spent two hours at a
women’s apparel retailer are down to 45 minutes.” These
changes have led to a much more extensive Buying Decision
Process. According to Kotler and Keller (2015), “Consumers
don’t always pass through all five stages – they may skip or

3. reverse some” (P195). However, when making larger purchases
and even some smaller purchases many times consumers will
use a 5 stage model as I did when looking for a new home.
Stage 1- Problem Recognition: In February of this year, my
current lease was up at the apartment that I was renting. The
problem in that situation was evident that I needed to either find
a new place to live, or renew my lease with the current
apartment complex even though they were requesting a
significant “inflation adjustment” in order to live there again.
According to the Wolters World video, I clearly had a
functional problem and needed to serve a purpose, finding a
place to live.
Stage 2 – Information Search: The second stage of the buying
decision process is to seek out information. This information
can come from a variety of sources. According to Kotler and
Keller (2015), there are 4 major sources of which consumers
with turn to for information. The four sources include: personal
sources, commercial sources, public sources, and experiential
sources. I used multiple sources when looking for a place to
live because I was concerned about price, location, the
condition of my residence, previous tenants that have lived on
the property and other pertinent information that must be taken
into account when looking for a place to live. I asked other
personal friends and family how they found homes in the area
that I was searching. I also went to the public and used an
agent to help find and narrow down some location for my next
home. This was a major decision that I was about to make so I
wanted to make sure that I searched reasonably for
information.
Stage 3 – Evaluation of Alternatives: The third step in the
process is to evaluate your alternatives. I needed to look at all
of my different options and prior to purchasing and make sure
that I had done my due diligence. I did have slight brand
loyalty to the complex that I was already at. The apartment was
nice, the living conditions were great, I really enjoyed the
location but I was frustrated with the price increase. I was also

4. looking at a few houses because I wanted more space to live in,
a yard and to not have to deal with constantly being able to hear
people around me. In doing so, I compared my choices using
multiple determinant attributes, (Woltersworld 2012).
Stage 4 – Purchase Decision: In the previous stage, I had to
determine my most preferred living area and prepare for the
purchase stage. Throughout the Buying Decision process, it
was imperative that I evaluate all of my options, not make an
impulse decision and find the location that was right for me. I
eventually settled on a house in the Buckhead area, called up
the real estate agent and went to sign the lease and finally paid
my deposit and made the transaction.
Stage 5 – Post Purchase Behavior: The fifth and final stage in
the buying process is the post purchase behavior. Companies
strive to give customers the maximum amount of customer
satisfaction so that they will consider them and use them in the
future for their purchases. In my specific situation, I was
ecstatic and still am at the location, size and features of the
house that I am in. I had a few moments of dissatisfaction
because of how old the house is. There were a few appliances
that I had difficulty with. The AC unit was old and had not
been tended to in a while and this caused for a significant power
bill one month. Other than that, I have been extremely happy
with my purchase.
Each step of the purchasing process is extremely important for a
customer to make the right decision. As I mentioned
previously, I believe that the 5 stages are now more relevant
than ever and companies must continue to improve in order to
meet customer demands.
Question 2: Discuss the VALSTM approach to Psychographic
segmentation. Take the VALS Survey and discuss your results.
Do you agree with your survey results and why/why not?
Answer: Psychographic segmentation uses psychology and
demographics to better understand customers (Kotler&Keller,
2016). Companies are able to divide consumers into different
groups in order to attack their target market in the most

5. efficient and profitable way. The VALs framework that is
discussed by Kotler and Keller stands for values, attitude, and
lifestyle. The VALs approach classifies US adults into eight
primary groups: innovators, thinkers, achievers, experiencers,
believers, strivers, makers and survivors. These different
groups are divided up from the dimensions that a consumer
exhibits, primarily consumer motivation or consumer resources
and according to Kotler and Keller, the primary motivators are
ideals, achievement and self-expression.
Vals results- My results showed that I am primarily an
experiencer and my secondarily and achiever. As an
experiencer, I have access to high resources and self-expression
motivation. I fall into a category that loves physical activity,
goes against the mainstream, sees myself as very sociable and
have a heightened sense of visualization. According to the text,
those with self-expression motivation also desire activity,
variety and risk. Achievers are goal oriented, hardworking,
scheduled, and put myself first.
I am mixed with my results. I agree with certain sections of my
segment, but do not agree entirely as I imagine is pretty
common. I do agree that I am sociable, love physical activity
and tend to go against the mainstream. However, I absolutely
do not think I am up on the latest fashions, nor have I ever been
too concerned with my attire. I tend to wish that I was more
spontaneous but in many instances I find myself being
somewhat reserved. I also believe that I share many of the same
characteristics of innovators in that I am constantly wanting to
learn, am future oriented and thoroughly enjoy problem solving.