Purchase Decision Process

(noun)

The decision-making processes undertaken by consumers in regard to a potential market transaction before, during, and after the purchase of a product or service.

Related Terms

Examples of Purchase Decision Process in the following topics:

  • Post-Purchase Behavior

    • Post-purchase behavior is when the customer assesses whether he is satisfied or dissatisfied with a purchase.
    • An example of cognitive dissonance is when a customer might feel compelled to question whether he has made the right purchase decision.
    • Post-purchase behavior is the final stage in the consumer decision process when the customer assesses whether he is satisfied or dissatisfied with a purchase.
    • A customer will also be able to influence the purchase decision of others because he will likely feel compelled to share his feelings about the purchase.
    • For example, the customer might feel compelled to question whether he has made the right decision.

  • Purchase

    • During the purchase decision stage, the consumer may form an intention to buy the most preferred brand or product.
    • The purchase decision is the fourth stage in the consumer decision process and when the purchase actually takes place.
    • According to Philip Kotler, Keller, Koshy and Jha (2009), the final purchase decision, can be disrupted by two factors:
    • The decision may be disrupted due to a situation that one did not anticipate, such as losing a job or a retail store closing down.
    • This is also a time during the which the consumer might decide against making the purchase decision.

  • Marketing Changes Due to Involvement

    • Marketing strategy should take into account the level of involvement that a consumer has with a specific product, as this also dictates the type of information that the consumer needs to process in order to make a purchase decision.
    • Low-Involvement purchases tend to be made by habitual decisions (e.g., dish washing liquid, toothbrush).
    • Moderate-Involvement purchases tend to be made by simple decisions (e.g., orange juice, snacks).
    • High-Involvement purchases tend to be made by lengthy or more involved decisions (e.g., a car or a house).
    • Print advertising is considered high-involvement because newspapers and magazines provide information that can be processed clearly and can help shape attitudes and influence decisions.

  • Stages of Business Buying

    • The purchasing process is different in both cases and the following is a list of the stages involved in B2B buying:
    • Results become feedback for other stages in future business purchasing decisions
    • This 5 step process is mainly used with new-task purchases and several stages are used for modified rebuy and straight rebuy.
    • In order to entice and persuade a consumer to buy a product, marketers try to determine the behavioral process of how a given product is purchased.
    • Additionally, the purchasing office / manager may have to justify a purchasing decision.

  • Customer Wants and Needs

    • There is a five step process that consumers can go through in making a purchase decision.
    • The customer decision process begins with need identification.
    • The next step is information search and processing.
    • During the purchase phase of the decision-making process, the consumer may form an intention to buy the most preferred brand because he has evaluated all the alternatives and identified the value that it will bring him.
    • Companies should pay attention to the extent to which what customers say they want does not match their purchasing decisions.

  • Lifestyle

    • In consumer marketing, lifestyle is considered a psychological variable known to influence the buyer decision process for consumers.
    • However, in consumer marketing, lifestyle is considered a psychological variable known to influence the buyer decision process of consumers.
    • Lifestyle is also referred to as a buyer characteristic in the Black Box Model, which shows the interaction of stimuli, consumer characteristics, decision process, and consumer responses.
    • The buyer's "black box" contains the buyer characteristics (e.g., attitudes, motivation, perception, lifestyle, personality, and knowledge) and the decision process (e.g., problem recognition, information research, alternative evaluation, purchase decision, and post-purchase behavior) which determine the buyer's response (e.g., product choice, brand choice, dealer choice, purchase timing, and purchase amount).
    • The Black Box Model considers the buyer's response as a result of a conscious, rational decision process, in which it is assumed that the buyer has recognized the problem.

  • Buying Centers

    • A buying center is a group of people within an organization who make business purchase decisions.
    • Many people are involved in the daily transactions and the purchase decisions both on the buying side and the selling side.
    • A buying center is a group of employees, family members, or members of any type of organization responsible for finalizing major purchase decisions.
    • Users - The users will be the ones to use the product, initiate the purchase process, generate purchase specs, and evaluate product performance after the purchase.
    • The chairman of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange is an example of a member in an organization responsible for finalizing major purchase decisions.

  • Purchase Behavior

    • Business customers also purchase a wide variety of different services, depending on their business needs.
    • Because B2B sales cycles can extend over months and even a few years, the business customers are more cautious and rational in their purchasing decisions than day-to-day consumers.
    • Predicting customer purchase behavior also allows B2B companies to segment industrial markets.
    • Companies and organizations face challenges in business market segmentation since B2B markets face greater complexity in buying processes, buying criteria and actual products and services.
    • The goal for every industrial market segmentation scheme is to identify the most significant differences among current and potential customers and/or suppliers that will influence their purchase decisions or buying behavior, while keeping the segmentation approach as simple as possible.

  • Purchase Influences

    • Similar to consumers, B2B purchase influences encompass different variables that affect business customers' buying behavior.
    • Personalized customer service and marketing programs are also influential during the B2B evaluation and selection process.
    • Unlike consumer buyer markets, business customers are less emotional and more task-oriented during the buying and decision-making process.
    • To facilitate the evaluation and selection process, B2B customers specifically look for product attributes such as economy in cost and use, productivity, and functionality.
    • Quality, price, and delivery mechanisms, rather than emotional motives, tend to dominate the purchase decisions of B2B buyers.

  • Information Search

    • Information Search is a stage in the Consumer Decision Process during which a consumer searches for internal or external information.
    • For instance, when a salesperson at Macy's explains the benefits of a parka that can withstand sub zero temperatures or a friend who purchased the parka relates its warmth and comfort in very cold climates.
    • Information search is considered the second of five stages that comprise the Consumer Decision Process.
    • If the product is considered a staple or something that is frequently purchased, internal information search may be enough to trigger a purchase.