Consumer Behavior Essay Examples

There are five stages in consumer decision process; they are as follows. Need recognition/Problem recognition, Information search, Alternative evaluation, Purchase decision, Post-purchase Behavior .
Consumer recognizes his/her need through various ways they include; advertising campaigns, Physical factors e.g. need for umbrella during rainy season, A person’s self-image will also tend to influence what he or she will buy a CEO of a company tends to buy expensive phones to maintain image of success.  Social factors also influence what the consumers buy; teenagers tend to buy what they see in their role models. Consumer need is also influenced by learning; an individual tends to purchase a particular type of car because of his/her experience of good fuel consumption.
Search / information processing” stage steps include internal, external information search and decision making.  Internal information search refers to information already present in the consumer’s memory. It is from previous experiences with a product or brand. Internal information search works best for products consumed more often e.g. food stuff. External information search refers to a situation consumer may ask people opinions, reviews in Consumer Reports, research on different sites and so forth. Most suited for items like machinery. Finally decision-making process based on either internal or external information search, consumers tend to put much weight on information from internal information and external information than from advertising.
Heuristics are the "rules of thumb" that people use to make judgments and decisions. They are general decision making strategies people use. Examples of heuristics include, choice heuristic for instance a consumer cannot buy a phone on year of issue, search heuristic a consumer buys product from a specified supplier.
Purchase decision process of car purchase Stage 1 Need recognition: You are stuck at home due to unavability of public transport. You will think of purchasing your own car. Stage 2 Information search: Your friend’s experience on a particular Toyota car excites you. Stage 3 Alternative evaluations: You compare the specific Toyota model with other models and check further on issues like costs and fuel consumption. Stage 4 Purchase decision: You decide to choose the Toyota car model that meets your budget and fuel consumption needs. Stage 5 Post-purchase behavior: Your experience on the car issues like availability of spare parts and costs affect your post purchase behavior.
Different members of the family have the most influence over certain purchases. Consumer decision making within the family has begun to receive a growing amount of attention with the increased realization of the magnitude of the effect that each individual within the family exert over the consumer activities of this primary social group . Children have a great deal of influence over many household purchases. Fathers on issues relating to type of investments, mothers on items for instance to decorate the house.
Subculture is categorized into nationality, religion, geographic region, race, age, gender occupation, social class, ethnicity . Subculture I belong to is African; buying behavior related to the sub culture is certain cosmetics are more suited to my skin pigmentation.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a hierarchy of needs model which help in understanding of human motivation. The hierarchy is divided into various levels. The first level contains basic needs (water, sleep, food).  Second level is the safety needs (shelter, security, and protection). Third level needs include belongingness needs (love, friendship, and acceptance). Fourth level is ego needs (self-esteem, achievement). Fifth and final level is need for self-actualization. Examples of product and service that meet Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a family man driven for need of water and food may be convinced to live in a place with easy access of water and food for the his family. Customer driven by Maslow's fourth level (ego needs) looking for recognition and achievement may be convinced to buy a Mercedes Benz other than a Toyota car.

Works Cited

Asudra, Aadity. "Influence of Culture and Subculture on Consumer Behavior." 2015. Author Stream. 25 February 2015. <http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/aadityasudra-1945079-influence-culture-subculture-consumer-behavior/>.
Hall, John and Mike Shaw. "Influence Of Children On Family Consumer Decision Making" European Advances in Consumer Research 2 (1995).
Perreau, Fanny. The Consumer Factor. 2013. 25 February 2015. <http://theconsumerfactor.com/en/5-stages-consumer-buying-decision-process/>.