Repeat Purchase: The buyer since he is satisfied from this first trial purchase will repeat it. So customer must be satisfied from the quality of the service and the product it self to repeat the purchase. Thus the vendors should focus on how to keep the customer satisfied in order to maintain a frequent if not repeated purchase.
Since this model is quite simple it can have a general application. In order to achieve repeating purchasing the previous stages must be accomplished and customer must be satisfied from the first trial purchase. This process applies to all repeat purchase products and services; industrial goods just as much as milk.
Buyers in most cases do not go through this examination and consideration process. Many buyers purchase an item due to an urging feeling or because they are fond of a product for no specific reason.
Another model introduced by Engel, Kollat and Blackwell called EKB model of consumer behaviour includes the following seven stages:
1. Need recognition. The individual recognizes that something is missing from his or her life.
2. Search for information. This information search may be internal (remembering facts about products, or recalling experiences with them) or external (reading about possible products, visiting shops, etc)
3. Pre-purchase evaluation of alternatives. The individual considers which of the possible alternatives might provide full satisfaction for the up and coming need.
4. Purchase. The act of making the final selection and paying for it.
5. Consumption. Using the product for the purpose of fulfilling the need.
6. Post-consumption evaluation. Considering whether the product actually satisfied the need or not and whether there were any problems arising from its purchase and consumption.
7. Divestment. Disposing of the product, or its packaging, or any residue left from consuming the product.
All models offer a basic outline of how people make consumption decisions. People do not buy unless they feel they have a need. A need is felt when there is a difference between the person’s actual state and their desired state. If the gap of this difference is to big then person has the proper motivation to proceed with a purchase to bridge this gap. But still this motivation depends on a variety of other factors.
Factors that influence the purchase
When buyers have recognized their need and decide that this need will be satisfied then they enter the pre-purchase series of activities. If the desired product is a routine purchase then buyers do not do extensive research, they already know enough about this product and perhaps they have purchase this product in the past and know what they are looking for.
In case that buyers are interested in a whole new product category or even a high valued product then an extensive search will be conducted. In order to make this search interested parties search for information from different sources such as television, magazines, newspapers, friends, salespeople, internet and forums. These sources can provide enough information to complete the search.
Information search may not be adequate enough and not extensive even when a high priced item is involved. This is mainly caused due to the lack of time, since a market search requires a significant amount of time and effort to be expended. Thus if there is an overflow of information this may affect the buyer in a negative way and could discourage the purchase.
The purchase of a new car for example is a high priced purchase and it is a product that will serve the needs of the potential owner for a quite long time, so an extensive market research is necessary to be made to avoid a wrong decision. This product acquisition involves a market research which is not easy and information can not be easily collected. The perceived value of information is important in deciding whether this purchase serves the buyer’s interest. For example the buyer may seek information about the car’s reliability in relevant theme forums over the Internet to avoid any contingencies that may occur if the car’s reliability is questioned.
Buying effects and results
Even though the potential buyer has all the information needed and has made up his mind to purchase the item, there is still the risk that the buyer has formed the wrong image for the product. If the buyer has not made the correct decision and the product does not meet the desired needs then, there is the likelihood to lead to the following unpleasant situations:
Physical: could occur when the buyer has not fully understood the capabilities of the product he bought and a possible misuse may lead even to injuries.
Financial: due to the purchased product may not meet the buyer’s needs after all. The buyer still has a need to satisfy and in this case the buyer is prone to proceed to another purchase which could lead him to waste money.
Functional: The purchased product might not serve the purpose which was acquired originally.
Psychosocial: This may occur when the product was bought for enhancing the status quo of the recipient, but it proved that exactly the opposite effect.
These buying effects could be reduced as knowledge increases. Whether a product is high priced or could fulfill an important need then an extensive market research should be done prior the purchase.
Buying decisions in various products
Although the above are mentioned in general for consumer products, this essay will examine the factors that influence the purchase of a new car, a soft drink, a present for a friend’s 30th birthday, a new clothes outfit for work.
When a consumer is looking to buy a new car, he will be facing a vast array of brands and models to choose from. At this point the buyer needs to set a list of the requirements and features that the new car should have in order to end up with certain brands and models. Then the buyer has to consider how often, if at all, he may need certain features. These features can form a primary role in vehicle selection such as warranty length, styling, reliability, acquirement costs, quality, resale value, performance, gas mileage. These features may come at an extra financial cost and an extra cost to the environment. Given that many of these costs will be ongoing for the life of the buyer’s car, it is important to make the right decision. Considering public perceptions and concerns, buyers should carefully research the myriad available offers prior to entering the showroom, further empowering their negotiations and easing their concerns.
When a potential buyer is prone to buy a less expensive item but still a product which can satisfy a primary need, such as thirst, then is more likely this consumer to buy the product instinctively since the same product may have been bought on a regular basis.
However when the buyer is not familiar with a certain product, like a soft drink, then he will have to choose from a variety of different colors, sizes and shapes. If the buyer is not on any particular rush could make a market search to locate the product that is more appealing to him. Apart from the exterior of a soft drink bottle the consumer is more interested in the interior. The main factor that can influence the consumer is the taste and the flavor of a soft drink. Unfortunately the only way for the consumer to find out the taste of a soft drink is to buy it first with out knowing how it tastes like. Other factors that can influence the consumer to buy a soft drink are his next of keen, friends, colleagues which have tried a soft drink and the potential buyer has feedback from them. Thus some soft drink companies in order to overcome this obstacle offer a free sample of a newly lunched soft drink so as to attract consumers.
On the other hand when a potential buyer is looking for a present for a friend’s birthday, the purchase and market search should be more thorough. This is mainly caused due to the fact that most consumers want their present for their beloved person to be unique and reflect their feelings. This gesture serves communication, social exchange, economic exchange and socialization, so the feedback from the present recipient that the buyer receives is significant and will affect the purchasing method and final selection. The most important condition is that the more intimate the relationship is, the greater the gift in terms of monetary and time expenditures will be. The final selection of a present depends on the relationship that the buyer has with the recipient of the present and will affect the kind of the present and even the time spend for market search, since this present is likely to affect the relationship. If a present is lower than the expectations of the recipient then this could have a negative effect on the two person’s relationship.
Nonetheless, when a potential buyer is looking for new clothes outfit for work has to make a careful market search that will serve best the needs for his working environment. It is possible the final decision of new clothes outfit for work to be limited depending on the company’s dressing codes. Moreover the buyer could be influenced from his colleges dressing outfit or people‘s advices from his close environment. Owing to the fact that companies dressing code could limit the choices of the buyer and settle for an outfit that does not match his character could lead to unpleasant situations and reduce the working performance of the employee. Therefore the buyer should select the clothes outfit that is proper for the excising working environment and at the same time does not affect his mood and consequently his working performance.
In conclusion all products have an affect to consumer’s behaviour, psychology and even their financial plans. Buyers moreover tend to do market search before buying a product, although this depends on the purchasing habits of each consumer and the regularity that a purchase of a specific product takes place. Also there is a link between the value of a product and the available capital the consumer will spend on a product and this determines the time and effort the consumer will spend on a market search. The above influence factors and the order of preference may vary depending on the character of each individual buyer.
Conclusion - Consuming Education
The choices that are called to be made in daily basis between goods and services, so that smaller and bigger needs are satisfied, are becoming continuously more complicated. From reading the ingredients and caloric value in the label of a frozen product up to the technical characteristics of a mobile telephone, and from the terms in a contract for a house loan up to the choice of alternative provider of telephony, it is explicit that the consumption develops gradually in a exceptionally complex process which requires knowledge, information and increased negotiation skills.
More and more consumers realize that it is harder to make the correct and profitable, either for them selves or their relatives, decisions between the permanently increasing choices that they have in their disposal but also the risks that may come across in the market (profiteering, manipulation, low qualitative standards).
The consuming education consequently is forming progressively in to a critical tool for consumers’ income so as for the individual and public good health and well being. This essay can help consumers to take the right decisions concerning vehicles, clothing, refreshments and presents.
There shouldn’t be any doubt that the consumers are developing in to aware purchasers of products and services only when they are sufficiently informed and well educated. Consumers are now in position to comprehend and to develop the breadth of information, the choices and possibilities that they have in their disposal.
References
[1] David, Mercer, 1996, Marketing, Blackwell publishers
[2] Jim, Blythe, 2005, Principles and practice of marketing, Thomson
[3] Jacques Werth, Buying Decisions: Are They Logical or Emotional?, High Probability® Selling < http://www.highprobsell.com/html/buying_decisions.html>
[4] Shamus Brown, The Force That Drives Buying Decisions,
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