The Buyer Decision ProcessWhen deciding to make a purchase, most consumers unknowingly pass through a series of stages that help them to make choices about which products or services to buy. (Armstrong and Kolter, 2007 p.142)According to Wikipedia, decision making is said to be a psychological process. (2007) One definition of consumer behavior is process by which individuals search for, select, purchase, use, and dispose of goods and services, in satisfaction of their needs and wants. (businessdictionary.com) Taking what I have learned from researching various definitions, I have compiled a series of questions based on the "Buyer Decision process".
Example of Markov Decision Process (MDP) transitio...
English: Flowchart of Rational Planning and Decisi...
English: Flow chart of the decision-making process...Interview Questions1. What problem or need arose to make you want to pursue this particular purchase? {Need recognition}2. Did you search to obtain information about this purchase? {Information search}3. Where there other alternative to you purchase available? {Evaluation of alternatives}4. What were the deciding factors that motivated you to continue with your decision to make this purchase? {Purchase decision}5. Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with your purchase behavior? {Post purchase behavior}FindingsI then continued to conduct an interview of two individuals that have recently purchased cigarettes, using the above questions. My findings show that the two interviewees have contrast in the way they chose to buy the aforementioned product. For the rest of this discussion, interviewee #1 will be referred to as Debra and #2 will be referred to as Eric.
Eric and Debra both had a craving for a cigarette, and realized that their packs were empty. {Need recognition} Eric recognized his need and went straight to the purchase decision, skipping the information search and evaluation process, because he was making a routine purchase, and already knew what he wanted and how much it was going to cost. (Armstrong and Kolter, 2007 p.142) Debra on the other hand,