Consumer Decision Process

Essay by RkrosebudUniversity, Bachelor'sA+, June 2005

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This is a short essay I had to write for my marketing class in how I used the consumer decision process in my personal life.

Consumer Decision Process

Consumer Decision Process is a complete six step process which an individual completes in making purchasing decisions. Some purchases with high levels of social or economic consequences are highly involved, known as high-involvement purchases, such as buying a new car or a new home. Low level purchases, low-involvement purchases, involve routine purchases such as buying a pair of shoes or a type of mustard. No matter the level of involvement of the purchase, high or low, an individual still goes through the steps of the consumer decision process. Below outlines these steps and how they related to my recent car buying experience in 2004.

The first step in the decision process is the consumer becomes aware of a significant discrepancy between an existing situation and a desired situation.

For example, perhaps a girl realizes she needs a dress for her prom next week; she then would begin to prepare for a possible solution, such as a trip to the mall. Sometimes, the problem can be more specific such as the girl has her prom dress but does not have a pair of shoes to match the color of the dress. This problem requires a solution as well. Just last year I was presented with a problem of having only one car and two drivers in the family. Since my daughter had just recently passed her drivers test, she needed a car for her own. Since my car was old it was the perfect for the job, I realized I would need a new car for myself.

Faced with this problem, I began the next step of the consumer decision process by searching...