Consumer Purchase Behaviour

University Degree Business and Administrative studies

Consumer Purchase Behaviour

.0 Introduction

The purpose of this report is to analyze and evaluate the decision-making process consumers go through when purchasing health supplements.

Health products is a growing industry as more people are more aware of good health in relation to their lifestyle, and how they can use health supplements to enhance self heal health care.

2.0 Decision Making Processes

The following compares the five different stages of decision making processes with respect to health supplements.

* Problem Recognition

* Information Search

* Evaluation of Alternatives

* Purchase Decision

* Post Purchase Evaluation

2.1 Problem Recognition

Today, people are looking for prevention rather than just cure. The desire needs for health supplements product are:

. Prevention as a method of reducing disease: for example, foods with low fat, reduced sugar and added calcium;

2. Wellness, where food is used as a method of balancing body, mind and spirit;

3. Performance to boost physical and mental ability;

4. Cosmetics, where eating functional foods enhances self-esteem and creates an improved appearance: for example, weight control, reduced aging effects and stress reduction.

If the desired state obviously exceeds their actual states, then the problem is recognized and a search for a decision is initiated.

2.2 Information Search

When customer recognizes their need they may bypass the search for information and the evaluation of alternatives, to proceed directly to purchase on the basis of a previously satisfying exchange.

2.2.1 Internal Search

The consumer purchases the recalled brand, and habitual decision-making has occurred. For example, a customer who has a headache problem may recall the previous brand of pain relief they have used previously without further information search or evaluation.

2.2.2 External Search

Customers will start to search information for the cure of that new problem. They can get information by asking their friends and families for advice or they can simply go into the store and ask the sales person for their opinions. There is no need to compare the prices between stores because they are more likely to be the same.

2.3Evaluation of alternatives and the purchase

In health supplements evaluation, consumers are more willing to consider a wide range of brands because of lack of commitment to one or several brands. Given a lack of commitment, they are less willing to spend time interpreting advertising messages and evaluating brands. As a result of this, consumers purchase the most familiar brand and buy the same brand repetitively.

The decision to purchase health supplement is base on the following evaluation criteria:

) Convenience of the stores

2) Their familiarity of the products

3) Price of the products

Consumers buying health supplements do not care much on where they buy their products from.

2.4 Post Purchase Process

The health supplements are evaluated after the purchase only if there is a noticeable product failure such as the tablets they bought did not perform as what they have expected. Most likely, if customers were dissatisfied with the product failure, they are likely to turn and try other brands of a similar product next time.

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3.0 Involvement

The purchase of health supplements requires minimal or no premeditation and planning for some consumers. High involvement purchases are those that are important to the consumer either from a financial, social, or psychological point of views.

The purchase is characterized by personal relevance and identification with the outcome. An individual anticipates a potentially significant gain from expending time and effort in comparison-shopping before buying.

Therefore, a high level of felt involvement can increase an individual's willingness to search for, process, and transmit information about a purchase. If a consumer perceived a product, ...