The purpose of the shopping insights diary is to broaden your understanding of consumer decision-making by having you think through the purchase process involved in five recent purchases. You will need to provide a description of how and why you decided to purchase the product as well as offer insights to other consumers like yourself, and marketers. Each purchase description should contain a discussion of the following essential elements:
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How did you decide where to buy the product, and what other products/stores were considered? |
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What information was gathered to guide your decision, and from whom? |
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Was this purchase for self-consumption, shared consumption, or for someone else? How did this influence the decision? |
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How do you feel about the purchase now that it’s over? What regrets, if any, do you have? |
The objective of this exercise is to better understand the decision process that governed your purchases in terms that can be useful to you as a consumer, and to a marketing manager attempting to sell a product to someone like you.
Your goal is to gain an understanding of the differences between first time versus repeat purchases; involving, uninvolving, and routine purchase decisions; planned, unplanned, and impulsive decisions; and functional versus ego expressive products and services. In order to do this you will need to classify each purchase according to these four criteria. The experiences you report won’t cover this entire spectrum, however, your insights will be shared with other class members to build a deeper understanding of how these four criteria influence consumer decision-making and satisfaction.
After classifying the product, think through the various steps involved in your purchase decision. These steps are likely to include:
Step 1: Need recognition: Becoming aware of an unfulfilled need, such as buying a new SUV to reach remote areas – and perhaps gain peer approval;
Step 2: Search for information: Gathering information from various sources in order to make a better-informed decision. For example, the SUV buyer may consult with others who own one and conduct research on the Web (manufacturer sites, online automobile magazines, etc.).
Step 3: Evaluation of alternatives: Once the consideration set has been narrowed, you might compare the products based on the criteria that matter most. Continuing with the SUV example, you may decide that the SUV must be both comfortable on the highway and agile in the backcountry, be pleasing to look at and convenient for loading mountain bikes and other gear.
Step 4: Deciding what to buy and then purchasing it: At this stage, you may look for the best dealer, based on such factors as service, location and price.
Step 5: Consumption: Once it’s yours for keeps, how do you feel about your decision and the experience?
This exercise should help you to develop a deeper understanding of how the consumer decision process varies with experience, purchase involvement, and across differing types of products and services. In addition this should help you to develop a deeper understanding of the factors in the environment, and the mind of the customer that play a role in how the person acts, thinks, and feels about the product or service.
If you don’t
have the opportunity to evaluate five personal purchase decisions you can
interview another individual who has recently gone through the buying process
and write about his or her experience in similar manner.
When preparing for our class discussion on this topic consider the following:
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What insights might a marketer gain from your experience? |
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What advice would you offer to assist others, like you, in making decisions that will result in increased satisfaction? |
[last updated March 23, 2003]