Lecture Unit 9: Pre-purchase, purchase and post-ppurchase proces (1/3) Flashcards
What is the pre-purchase process?
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Problem or need recognition
(C recognizes what the problem or need is, and subsequently what product would be able to meet this need - Information search: here the C searches for internal or external information
- Evaluation of alternatives: here the C evaluates all products available on a scale of particular attributes
What does the “need recognition process center about”?
centers on the degree of discrepancy between the actual state and desired state
Why should marketers focus on the need recognition proces in consumers?
- Understanding need recognition may identify a segment with unsatisfied desires
- Unsatisfied needs help identify new business and product opportunities for the future
- Analyzing need recognition can reveal existing barriers
How can companies activate need recognitiion?
- Change consumers’ desired state with new products or innovations
- Influence how consumers perceive their current state
- Remind consumers of a need
How companies activiate need recognition: What is generic and selective need recognition?
Generic need recognition occurs when companies seek to grow the size of the total market for a product category
Selective need recognition is the result of stimulating the need for a specific brand within a category
Why is need or problem recognition one of the first crucial steps in the process?
- If a consumer does not perceive a problem or need,
- he generally will not move forward with considering a product purchase
How can a need be triggered?
- Need can be triggered by internal or external stimuli
- Internal stimuli refers to a personal perception experienced by the consumer, such as hunger or thirst
What is meant with information seach?
the motivated acquisition of knowledge stored in memory or acquisition of information from the environment
- either internal or external search
What is internal or external search? (Information seearch)
Internal search
- involves scanning and retrieving decision-relevant knowledge stored in memory
External search
- involves collecting information from the environment: Ads, magazines, Internet, friends and family members.
What are the determinants of internal search?
- Existing knowledge
- Confidence in existing knowledge
- Satisfaction with prior purchases
- Ability to retrieve stored knowledge
When do we call external search pre-purchase search ?
when motivated by an upcoming purchase decision
What is ongoing search?
- When information acquisition takes place on a relatively regular basis
- regardless of sporadic purchase needs, it is known as ongoing search
When can external search occur?
External search can occur:
- To make better consumption choices
- To create a knowledge base for future decisions
- Simply for enjoymen
What is the external search set?
= are Choice alternatives that consumers gather information about during pre-purchase search
On what does the extend of the external search set of a consumer depend upon?
- Depending on the consumer’s experience and
- the importance of the decision, a considerable amount of effort may be invested into identifying search set members
- Consumers must also decide what they wish to learn about each of the set members
What are the different informational sources available?
Personal:
- In-store: Sales personnel, other shoppers
- Out of store: Family, friends, coworkers, experts,
Impersonal:
- In Store: product labels, store signage, point of purchase materials (display, advertising circulars)
- Out of store: magazines, webstives, television and radio shows
What is the more preffered informational source for consumers?
are more likely to rely upon the opinions of other individuals than information sources with vested interests in their decisions
What are opinion leaders or influentials?
Other consumers respected for their expertise in a particular product category are referred to as opinion leaders or influentials
How much do consumers search:
What is the cost vs. benefit perspective?
- People search for decision-relevant information
- when perceived benefits of the new information are greater than perceived costs of acquiring the information(time/effort spent searching)
How much do consumers search.
What is meant with the perceived rissk onf consumers search?
= represents consumers’ uncertainty about the potential positive and negative consequences of the purchase decision
- making better decision is the primary benefit, this depends on the perceived risk
How can companies benefit from understanding the information search?
- Adjusting the breadth of a product line based on consumers’ willingness to search
- Monitoring consumers’ price comparison activities to gauge their price sensitivity
- Focus promotions on sources that consumers search most, including individuals that provide information
- Monitor search activities to identify new ways to reach and gain customers
What happens during the information search?
- option available to the consumer are identified or further clarified
What is the pre-purchase evaluation?
- The evaluation of choice alternatives
- Intertwined with the search proces
What is the considerations set?
alternatives considered during decision making (also known as the evoked set)
How can companies get into a consumers consideration set?
- Ask to be in the set
- Offer incentives
- Modify product offering
Forming the consideration set:
How does the construction of the consideration set from memory work? / What is the retrieval set?
Retrieval set: consideration set that depends on recall of alternatives from memory
- Not all alternatives retrieved from memory will be considered
- Consumers limit their consideration to those alternatives toward which they are favorably predisposed
Forming the consideration set:
How does the construction of the consideration set work without prior knowledge?
- Consumers may talk to others or consider all brands in the store
- External factors have greater oportunity to affect consideration sets with less knowledgeable consumers than when search is from memory
- Recognition of brands or products at the point of sale is important to get into consumers´ consideration sets
How do consumers decide on how to evaluate choice alternatives? what are the two experiences?
= rely on preexisting product evaluations stored in memory
- Direct experience: prior purchase or consumption experience with a product
- Indirect experience: experience or impressions gained second-hand
–>Construct new evaluations based on information acquired through internal or external search
Constructing new evaluations
What is the categorization process?
= the evaluation of a choice alternative based on the evaluation of the category to which it is assigned
Characteristics of the categorization process?
- Categories may be general (drinks) or specific (colas)
- Evaluation of a category can be transferred to a new product assigned to that category
- Brand extensions allow firms to use categorization to their advantage
What is the piecemeal process?
= constructing an evaluation of a choice alternative by considering its advantages and disadvantages along important product dimensions
What are the steps in the piecemeal process?
- Determine the particular criteria or product dimensions to be used in the evaluation
- Evaluate each considered alternative based on the identified criteria
- Cutoff: restriction or requirement for acceptable performance
- Signals: product attributes used to infer other product attributes (e.g., using high price to infer higher quality)
