Consumer behavior is the study of how individuals and groups make purchasing decisions influenced by social, psychological, and situational factors. The decision-making process involves five steps: need recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase and consumption, and post-purchase evaluation, with various levels of consumer involvement impacting these stages. Effective marketing strategies target the consumer's evoked set to enhance satisfaction and encourage repeat business.

1. CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

2. "The study of individuals, groups, or organizations and
all the activities associated with the purchase, use and
disposal of goods and services."
-Wikipedia
The preferences of the consumer directly influence their
buying behavior and decision process.
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

3. BEHAVIOR INFLUENCES
Some of the factors that can influence what a consumer buys
and how the consumer decides to make a purchase are
Social- family, culture, social media
Marketing Mix- product, place, promotion, and price
Psychological- attitudes, motives, perceptions, lifestyle,
intelligence
Situational- specific purchase situation, sensory situation
or time of day

4. CONSUMER INVOLVEMENT
Effort used and level of consumer engagement in the
decision process is impacted by the 3 levels of
consumer involvement.
ROUTINE (low): relying on habit and/or impulse, not
commonly using alternative evaluation
LIMITED (medium): mediocre effort and less reliant on
habitual purchasing
EXTENSIVE (high): major effort and problem-solving skills
used, common in high-risk purchase decisions

5. Step 1
• Need Recognition
Step 2
• Search for information
Step 3
• Evaluation of Alternatives
Step 4
• Purchase
and Consumption
Step 5
• Post-purchase
CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR
The Decision Process

6. Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a popular
model depicting the different needs for an
individual.
 He believed that you should satisfy needs
on the lower level before satisfying the
higher levels.
STEP 1: NEED RECOGNITION
Identifying a need and desire to satisfy this need

7. STEP 2:
INFORMATION SEARCH
Search of options available to buy in hopes to satisfy need
Internal search: using personal memory and
knowledge about the product or service gathered
through past experiences.
External search: gathering information outside of
personal knowledge by talking to friends, family, or
salesperson, reading commercial media, like Consumer
Reports or utilizing an online search engine like
Google or Bing.
 Perception of risk involved with the purchase directly impacts the level of effort a
consumer will use to search and evaluate options.
 Lack of control, for example an immediate need or lack of search options
available also impacts effort given.

8. STEP 3:
ALTERNATIVE EVALUTATION
Evaluating the available options and alternatives to satisfy need
Attribute sets are the evaluative criteria the consumer uses
to decide what purchase option is best.
Universal- all possible choices
Retrieval- memory of previous choices
Evoked- influenced or considered choices
 Effective marketing will position a product into the evoked set

9. STEP 4:
PURCHASE AND CONSUMPTION
Note: The consumer may purchase online or in-store
Customers make the best purchase and use/consume the product

10. STEP 5:
POSTPURCHASE
Consumer changes from potential to actual customer
Did the product satisfy the need?
Will the consumer repurchase this item?
 Consumers decide if they are satisfied with their
purchase, or suffer from post-purchase dissonance,
commonly known as buyer's remorse.
 If the consumer is satisfied, they are more likely
to keep their product, and repeat business with the
merchant.
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11. Grewal, D. and Levy, M., n.d. Marketing. 8th ed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_behaviour
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