Module 6 Consumer Buying Behaviour By: Dr Shahinaz Abdellatif Objectives of the Session To adopt the viewpoint of the individual consumer To identify the psychological process underlying buying behaviour Consumer Decision Making Consumer decision making is essentially a problem-solving process. Most customers, whether individual consumers or organisational buyers, go through similar mental processes in deciding which products and brands to buy. These differences reflect variations in consumers’ personal characteristics their needs, benefits sought, attitudes, values, past experiences, and lifestyles – and their social influences – their social class, reference groups, and family situations. The Consumer Decision Process Problem identification Information search Evaluation of alternatives Purchase Post-purchase evaluation 1- Problem Identification Consumers’ purchase-decision processes are triggered by unsatisfied needs or wants. Individuals perceive differences between ideal and actual states on some physical or socio-psychological dimension. This motivates customers to seek products or services to help bring their current state more into balance with the ideal. 2- Information search The consumer’s next step is to refer to information gained from past experience and stored in memory for possible later use. People seek additional information about alternative brands until they perceive that the costs of obtaining more information are equal to the additional value or benefit derived from the information. The biggest cost when searching for information is the opportunity cost of the time involved in seeking information. There are also psychological costs involved in searching for information. 2- Information search Consumers use information from different sources for different purposes and at different stages within the decision process. Public sources include noncommercial and professional organisations and individual