This document discusses consumer decision making and the consumer decision process. It describes three levels of consumer decision making - extensive problem solving, limited problem solving, and routine response behavior. It also lists factors that affect the type of decision making process used, such as importance of decision and amount of information available. The consumer decision making process involves need recognition, pre-purchase search, and evaluation of alternatives. The document provides details on each step of the process and issues that can influence it.

1. Copyright © 2006
Pearson Education Canada Inc.
Chapter 14
Consumer Decision Making I:
The Process
Consumer Behaviour
Canadian Edition
Schiffman/Kanuk/Das

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Levels of Consumer Decision
Making
Extensive Problem
Solving
Limited Problem
Solving
Routine Response
Behaviour

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Factors That Affect the Type of
Decision Making Process Used
 Importance of the decision
 Extent of previous experience
 Existence of well-established decision
criteria
 Amount of information at hand about each
alternative
 The number of alternatives available
 Model of consumption being followed

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Consumer Decision Making – The
Process
 Need Recognition
 Pre-purchase Search
 Evaluation of Alternatives

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Need or Problem Recognition
 The realization that there is a difference
between actual and desired states
– The higher the gap, the stronger the need (or
bigger the problem)

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Types of Problems
 Active Versus Inactive problems
– Active: those you are aware of
– Inactive: those that you are not yet aware of
(but exist)
 Those that require immediate solutions and
those that do not require immediate
solutions

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Problem Recognition and
Marketing Strategy
 Identify existing consumer problems and find
solutions for these
 Lower the actual state
 Increase the desired state
 Increase the importance of the gap between actual
and desired states
 Convert inactive problems to active problems
 Convert problems into ones requiring an
immediate solution

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Pre-Purchase Search
 Types of Information Sources
 Types of Information Sought
 Factors Affecting Extent of Information
Search

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Figure 14-3: Types of
Information Sources
PERSONAL
Friends
Neighbors
Relatives
Co-workers
Computer salespeople
Calling the electronics
store
IMPERSONAL
Newspaper articles
Magazine articles
Consumer Reports
Direct-mail brochures
Information from product
advertisements
Internal web site

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Types of Information Sought
 Brands or alternatives available
 Evaluative criteria to be used
– Generally, product features
 Ratings of brands on evaluative criteria

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Factors that Increase the Level of
Pre-purchase Search
 Product Factors: Higher search when
– It is a long-lasting or infrequently used
product
– There are frequent changes in product styling
– Large volume is purchased
– The price is high
– There are many alternative brands
– There is much variation in features
» continued

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Factors that Increase the Level of
Pre-purchase Search
 Situational Factors: Higher search when:
– Experience is lower
– Previous experience was unsatisfactory
 Social Acceptability: Higher search when:
– Purchase is a gift
– Product is socially visible in use
» continued

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Factors that Increase the Level of
Pre-purchase Search
 Value-Related Factors: Higher search
when:
– Purchase is discretionary
– All alternatives have both positive and
negative qualities
– No agreement among users exists
– Conflicting information is available
– Other considerations exist
» continued

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Factors that Increase the Level of
Pre-purchase Search
 Consumer Factors: Higher search when:
– Consumers are well-educated, have higher
income levels and are younger
– Consumers are low in dogmatism and risk
perception
– Level of involvement is high
– Shopping is seen as an enjoyable activity
» continued

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Evaluation of Alternatives – Types
of Consumer Choice Processes
 Affective choices
– More holistic; an overall evaluation
– based on how one feels about a purchase
 Attribute-based choices
– Have pre-determined evaluative criteria
– May require both external and internal search
– Complicated decision rules may be used

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Nature of Evaluative Criteria
 Can be tangible or intangible
 Include surrogate indicators
– Attributes that are used as indicators of another
attribute
 Are often ranked in order of importance

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Consumer Decision Rules
 Procedures used by consumers to facilitate
brand or other consumption-related choices

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Consumer Decision Rules
 Compensatory
– Brands evaluated in terms of each relevant
criteria and the best brand (or one with the
highest score) is chosen
 Non-compensatory
– Positive evaluations do not compensate for
negative evaluations

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Non-Compensatory Consumer
Decision Rules
 Conjunctive Decision Rule
– Product attributes are identified
– a minimally acceptable cutoff point is
established for each attribute
– brands that fall below the cutoff point on
any one attribute are eliminated from
further consideration.
» continued

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Non-Compensatory Consumer
Decision Rules
 Disjunctive Decision Rule
– consumers identify product attributes
– establish a minimally acceptable cutoff
point for each attribute
– accept the brand that meets or exceeds
the cutoff for any one attribute
» continued

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Non-Compensatory Consumer
Decision Rules
 Lexicographic Decision Rule
– Product attributes are identified
– Product attributes are ranked in terms of
importance
– brands are compared in terms of the attribute
considered most important
– Brand that scores highest on the first attribute is
chosen
– If there is a tie, the scores on the next attribute
are considered

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Issues in Alternative Evaluation
 Lifestyles as a Consumer Decision Strategy
 Incomplete Information
 Non-comparable Alternatives
 Series of Decisions
 Consumption Vision
– Mental picture of the consequences of using a
particular product

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Coping with Missing Information
 Delay decision until missing information is
obtained
 Ignore missing information and use
available information
 Change the decision strategy to one that
better accommodates for the missing
information
 Infer the missing information

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Information Search and
Marketing Strategy
 Get products into consumers’ evoked set
 Limit information search if your brand is
the preferred brand
 Increase information search if your
alternative is not the preferred brand
 Use point-of-purchase advertising
effectively

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Alternative Evaluation and
Marketing Strategy
 Identify decision rule used by target market and
use suitable promotional messages
 Influence the choice of evaluative criteria
 Influence the rating of your product on evaluative
criteria used
 Use surrogate indicators effectively
 Use ‘consumption vision’