Consumer Behavior: Analysis of Decision Making Process

Background information

Discuss about the Comsumer Behavior.

The chosen product is a Dell Inspiron signature Edition Laptop, with 15.6” full HD touch-screen, i5 microprocessor, 8GB Random access memory (RAM), 1 terabyte internal memory and Windows 10 operating system specs. The machine is suitable for multitasking and with its high internal storage of 1 terabyte the Laptop is able to store many files internally without having to source for external disks or using cloud storage which will require internet connectivity to be able to access files.

The consumers are two University students which I interviewed in one of the Universities around. Consumer 1 was a 19 year old, male, third year student taking undergraduate studies in Education. Apart from studies consumer has a side hustle of buying latest movies online and reselling the same to the fellow students in the University. His work requires high speed PC with high internal memory probably beyond 800 GB so that he can be able to store the movies as well as storing his class work in school. He is also an upcoming DJ and sometimes does gigs in University for free to fellow students especially at the beginning of every semester and as he puts it “to welcome back students to school life” after break. Review, D. and Review, D. (2017). Dell XPS 13. [online] Laptopmag.com. Available at: http://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/laptops/dell-xps-13 [Accessed 20 Apr. 2017].

 The second participant in the interview consumer 2 was 20 year old, female student in the same University as consumer 1, taking undergraduate studies in software Engineering. She is into software development and already she develops simple apps for fellow students such her University Student Union App that allows students to share the challenges they are facing in University whether academic or social. Since the University has high population of students the problems posted on the platform developed by consumer 2 are always solved fast enough without much ado. She always intents to commercialize her talent and started visiting various companies in her local city to try and see if she can develop them an app or a software which can better streamline their operations. The Dell PC she had i3 processor and 500 GD internal memory. Review, D. and Review, D. (2017). Dell XPS 13. [online] Laptopmag.com. Available at: http://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/laptops/dell-xps-13 [Accessed 20 Apr. 2017].

Both types of purchase were limited and high involvement decision.

Problem recognition

The first consumer was experiencing challenges in storage capacity in his Laptop has his customer number grew with time. He was a times forced to delete older movies in his internal spaces and save them in external disk which presents another challenge of ensuring he carries it with him wherever he goes. He would a time save the files in Google hard-drive commonly which has small memory capacity per account not enough to hold several movies. This problem made him of purchasing a PC with better capacity memory as well as high speed. The HP laptop he had only had 250GB internal memory and i3 processor which means its speed was also not sufficient especially when he needs to multitask downloading a movie and burning others for clients. (Noel, 2009)

Analysis of the respondents’ decision making process

The second consumer experienced challenges when she needed a bigger memory also where she can have all her files together in one place and use external memories only as backups. She also needed a machine with high speed processing capabilities i5 processor and above so that she can load her software efficiently especially for demonstration purposes to a potential client.

Search process     

The two consumers utilized search engines such as Google in searching for the relevant information on best offers available on PC’s especially those with high internal memory and high processing speed. They also sought information from fellow students and friends who had experience with several machines they had and were using them. Both consumers begun their risk management at this stage by avoiding buying machines with less than i5 processor capabilities as they were keen not fall into the trap with a machine with high internal memory but low processor speed. (Mihart, 2012)

Evaluating Alternatives

Both consumers arrived at a conclusion that the PC which will help the effectively carry out their tasks and solve the problems they were facing must be having a minimum specification of 1 terabyte  internal hard disk or memory with a minimum of i5 processor. The other specification like battery life and sleekness or outward appearance were secondary to them and were willing to compromise as long as the primary specs are met fully. Both consumers considered a number of PC available which met and exceeded their primary specification like HP Pavilion which had i7 processor and 1 terabyte internal memory but were both put off by the price which was ranging from 800 USD to 850 USD depending on the store. Consumer 1 went to several stores looking for best deals for the HP PC but in the end he couldn’t find a store with better price for him. For consumer 2 she only went to one major store and drew all comparisons from the store. This was her friends Computer store and she couldn’t go elsewhere to do her checks. She also pointed out that the store had good reputation of having good quality affordable computer machines and accessories. (Mihart, 2012)

Selection stage

After careful considerations they both settled on purchasing Dell Inspiron Laptop, the machine with 1terabyte internal memory and i5 microprocessor. This machine was the best balance according to them with regard to price and specification. Consumer1 purchased his product from an online store which retailed at 380 USD. The online store was carrying out their first sales launch as it was opening its online platform for the first time to clients apart from the physical shop they had in the city. This price was highly subsidized and Consumer 1 learned about it through a social media advert he came across.

Problem recognition

Consumer 2 had to purchase the same product from her friends store for friendship reasons. She also intended to build a business relationship with her so that she can refer to her clients who visit her computer store inquiring about software. She bought the product at 420 USD.

Evaluation of Decision

After purchasing the products both consumers were satisfied with their performance. Consumer one could easily multitask on several operations for different clients such as burning to disks, saving to USB sticks, downloading new series and checking internal memory for other previous movies downloaded. He could keep his movies for longer period without deleting incase a customer pops up to inquire about it. Consumer 2 would was able to load and carry out demonstrations to her potential clients smoothly without machines hanging or loading slowly.

Comparisons between respondents’ purchase decision making process and existing literature.

On the first part of problem recognition the consumers demonstrated similarities with existing literature whereby they were both in a problem that they needed solved just as captured in the previous literature. The consumers needed to solve the storage size and speed problem which they were facing. There was however difference on the fact that both consumers had an avenue of considering buying external memories and continue using the same machines but they could not this direction to avoid carrying with them too many gadgets wherever they go. Most Literature I read on this topic did not contain this aspect on this part. (Yap and Yazdanifard, 2014)

On the search process the two respondents utilized search engines as well as their friends and fellow students. They also used previous experience they had from previous machines they were using. This is reminiscent to what is captured in the existing literature and I did not find any evidence on the difference between the two cases.

The evaluating alternative stage the consumers took a bit different routes while consumer 1 went to several stores to evaluate his product consumer 2 felt the need to boost her friends business and could not evaluate her product by visiting various stores. This is a difference from the existing literature as all of the literature I considered did not have this aspect where friendship could affect the nature of the evaluation stage in consumer purchasing process. (Yap and Yazdanifard, 2014)

The selecting stage also had some similarities as well as difference with the previous literature. While consumer 1 was swayed by the advert he came across social media to buy the product from a new online store launching services as captured in the literature, consumer two had to stick to her friend computer store and ended up paying 40 USD more than the first respondent for the same product. Therefore this was the only difference I noted on this stage of the consumer decision making process. (Shankar, Cova and Kozinets, 2007)

On the final stage of evaluation decision there was no difference in the way these two consumers behaved in comparison with the existing literature. The consumers gave feedback on whether the product was able to solve their problems just as captured in the literature that I considered.  

Conclusion

In conclusion, we have seen how the two consumers went about the process of selecting the Dell Inspiron product. From the first stage of problem identification through the last stage of evaluation decision, we have noted similarities and difference in comparison to the existing literatures especially on the consumer number two who had friendships reason to incorporate into her decision making process. In future more research should be done on the effect other aspects like friendships has on the purchase decision making process of the consumer. Marketers should also consider channeling more adverts towards social media feeds as this is now one of the major platforms where companies can meet potential clients and pitch to them about their products or services. The traditional marketing techniques such as radio adverts should have less attention as found out in this research. More research can however be done to ascertain this finding. (Shankar, Cova and Kozinets, 2007)

References

Burnett, M. and Lunsford, D. (2010). Conceptualizing Guilt in the Consumer Decision?making  Process. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 11(3), pp.33-43.

Mihart, C. (2012). Impact of Integrated Marketing Communication on Consumer Behaviour: Effects on Consumer Decision – Making Process. International Journal of Marketing Studies, 4(2).

Nair. (2010). Consumer behaviour & marketing research. [Place of publication not identified]: Himalaya Publishing House.

Noel, H. (2009). Basics Marketing : Consumer Behaviour. AVA Academia.

Quester, P., Pettigrew, S. and Hawkins, D. (2011). Consumer behaviour. New York: McGraw- Hill.

Review, D. and Review, D. (2017). Dell XPS 13. [online] Laptopmag.com. Available at:   http://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/laptops/dell-xps-13 [Accessed 21 Apr. 2017].

Shankar, A., Cova, B. and Kozinets, R. (2007). Tribal marketing. Oxford: Butterworth- Heinemann.

Yap, C. and Yazdanifard, R. (2014). How Consumer Decision Making Process Differ From Youngster to Older Consumer Generation. Journal of Research in Marketing, 2(2), p.151.