What Is a Make-or-Buy Decision?

"Consumer purchase decision" refers to the process by which consumers carefully evaluate the attributes of a product, brand, or service, and select and purchase products that meet a particular need.

Consumer buying decision

"Consumer purchase decision" refers to the process by which consumers carefully evaluate the attributes of a product, brand, or service, and select and purchase products that meet a particular need.

Consumer purchasing decisions are affected by the following aspects: product quality and safety, consumer purchasing habits, consumer income levels, consumer age, consumer family and surrounding relatives and friends, social consumer culture, social supply constraints, transportation and logistics Influence, store consumption environment factors, product sales, and after-sales factors.

Therefore, consumers' purchasing decisions are affected by various factors, and any small factor may affect whether consumers buy products or services.

Chinese name

Consumer buying decision

Features

Carefully evaluate a product

Attributes

Make a choice, buy

Object

Products for a specific need

In a broad sense, consumer purchase decision means that in order to meet a certain demand, under the control of a certain purchase motivation, among two or more alternative purchase options, consumers can analyze, evaluate, choose and implement The best purchase plan, and the process of post-purchase evaluation activities. It is a systematic decision-making process, including the determination of needs, the formation of purchase motivation, the selection and implementation of purchase plans, and post-purchase evaluation.

Need to summarize features

Many scholars have different description processes for consumer purchase decisions in order to guide readers to consumer purchase decisions

Summary

different

Problem awareness

When consumers realize that they have a need, it is the beginning of their decision-making process. This need may be caused by internal physiological activities or by some external stimulus.

For example, seeing other people wearing trendy clothing, they also want to buy it; or the result of a combination of internal and external factors. Therefore, marketers should pay attention to taking appropriate measures to arouse and strengthen the needs of consumers.

Search for information

There are four main sources of information:

Personal sources, such as family, relatives, neighbors, colleagues, etc .;

Commercial sources, such as advertising, salespeople, distributors, etc .;

Public sources, such as mass media, consumer organizations, etc .;

Sources of experience, such as experience in operating, experimenting, and using the product.

Evaluation options

All kinds of relevant information obtained by consumers may be repeated or even contradictory. Therefore, analysis, evaluation and selection are also required, which is the decisive link in the decision-making process.

In the process of consumer evaluation and selection, the following points are worthy of attention by marketers:

1) Product performance is the number one issue for buyers;

2) Different consumers pay different attention to various performances of products, or have different evaluation standards;

3) The selection process of most consumers is to compare the actual product with their ideal product.

decision making

After comparing and selecting product information, consumers have formed a willingness to purchase. However, from the purchase intention to the decision to purchase, two factors are also affected:

1) The attitude of others, the stronger the opposition, or the closer the opposition is to the buyer, the more likely it is to modify the purchase intention;

2) Unexpected circumstances. If an unexpected situation occursunemployment, unexpected need, price increase, etc., it is likely to change the purchase intention.

Evaluation

include:

1) Satisfaction after purchase;

2) Post-purchase activities.

The degree of consumer satisfaction after purchase depends on the comparison between the expected performance of the product and the actual performance of the product in use. Post-purchase satisfaction determines the consumer's post-purchase activities, determines whether consumers repeat the purchase of the product, determines the consumer's attitude towards the brand, and also affects other consumers, forming a chain effect.

Summary

Studying consumer purchasing decision-making patterns is of great significance to better meet consumer needs and improve the effectiveness of corporate marketing efforts. Many scholars and experts at home and abroad have done a lot of research on consumer purchasing decision models and put forward some representative typical models.

General mode

The general pattern of human behavior is the SOR pattern, that is, "stimulation-individual physiology, psychology-response". (S-stimulus, O-Organism, R-Response response)

Understanding of Motivation and Desire

1. What needs or motivations are satisfied by the purchase and use of the product (what benefits do consumers pursue)?

2. Are these consumer needs a potential or an activated one?

3.To what extent are consumers in the target market involved in the product?

Search for information

1.Which product or brand information is stored in the memory of potential consumers?

2.Do consumers have the motivation or intention to search for external information?

3.What information sources do consumers use when searching for purchase information?

4.What attributes of the product is the information consumers want?

Program evaluation

1.How hard is the consumer to evaluate or compare purchasing options?

2.Which brands are included in the consumer evaluation?

3. What evaluation standards do consumers use for evaluation programs? Which evaluation standards are the most prominent? How complex is the evaluation (does it use a single standard or a composite standard)?

4. What types of decision-making methods are used to select the best solution? What are the most prominent among the evaluation projects? How complicated is the evaluation?

5. What is the evaluation result of each plan? Do you believe that the characteristics or characteristics of each plan are facts? How well do you know the main characteristics of each plan? What are your attitudes towards the purchase or use of each plan? What are the purchase intentions? These purchases Can intentions come true?

Buy and evaluate

1.Do consumers spend time or effort on the scheme they choose?

2. Are there any additional decisions related to the store (place of purchase)?

3.What types of stores do you prefer?

4. Is there a satisfactory plan and how satisfied is it?

5. Are there any reasons for dissatisfaction and what problems do they reflect?

Influence of personal factors

(1) Stability factors.

This mainly refers to certain characteristics of an individual, such as age, gender, race, ethnicity, income, family, life cycle, occupation, etc. Stability factors can affect not only family decision makers, but also the speed of people's decision-making processes. At a particular stage in the decision-making process, purchasing behavior is also partially determined by stability factors. For example, during the information gathering phase, a person's age and income affect the number and type of information sources and the time it takes to collect information. Stability factors can also affect the scope of consumer use of a product. For example: Suppose that a university professor earns as much income as an administrative official each year, but the distribution of these incomes is very different. This is caused by the difference between the two occupations, the life they need and use There will be obvious differences in supplies.

(2) Random factors.

Random factors refer to the specific occasions and conditions that consumers have when making purchasing decisions. Sometimes, consumer purchase decisions are made unexpectedly, for example, someone might want to buy a ticket to spend their last days with relatives at the end of their life. Or the emergence of a situation will delay or shorten people's decision-making process. For example, a consumer who is considering buying a computer may delay evaluation and selection. Such delays will definitely slow down the decision-making process or cause him to give up buy. However, if a person is in a different environment, such as a 20% increase in wages, the purchase decision process may be completed much faster than without a rise in wages. Moreover, the impact of random factors on consumer behavior is often multifaceted.

Influence of psychological factors

(1) Feeling.

Different people have different conclusions about seeing the same thing at the same time in different ways. Similarly, the same person sees the same thing in different ways at different times, and the conclusion is naturally different. Feeling is the process of identifying, analyzing, and selecting the input information in order to obtain results. People accept their mouths through their senses: see, hear, smell, taste and touch

information. Input information is what we get through various senses. We heard an ad, saw a friend, smelled polluted air and water, and got a message when we touched a product. Although we immediately received a great deal of fragmented information, only part of it became perception. We choose some information and give up a lot of other information, because we cannot pay attention to all the information at the same time. This phenomenon is sometimes called selective retention. Because the information we choose to enter is those that remain outside our minds. If you are focusing on an article, you may not notice people or car noise outside. Even if you receive that information, you will not realize it until you mention it. This is why some information can become consciousness, while others cannot. If information is linked to what is expected, then it is already known. KFC has been known to use a series of billboards. Even though some drivers may not stop, there is a chance here to at least get them to notice these shops. If this information can meet the immediate needs, people may also make this information become conscious. For example, when you are hungry, you may pay attention to food. On the contrary, if you have just eaten it, it is more likely that this kind of advertisement will not be realized. Finally, the intensity of fake information input changes dramatically, and the likelihood of consciousness increases. When a store's processing price reduction is small, it may not be noticed. This is because the change is too small, but if the store cuts the price by half, we notice that the possibility of this price reduction is much greater.

(2) Motivation.

Motivation is an internal capacity that motivates one's actions towards a certain goal. At any one time a buyer is affected by multiple motivations rather than by only one motivation, and at some point some motivations are stronger than others, but this strong motivation is different at different times. Motivation can reduce or increase stress. When motivation drives us towards some goals, they reduce stress. However, if some motives force us to one goal and others drag us to another goal, the pressure may increase because we cannot reach one goal. Many different motivations can immediately influence purchase behavior. For example, a person who wants to buy a sofa may be attracted by the characteristics of this sofa, such as durability, economy, style and so on. If a marketer is trying to attract customers by emphasizing the only attractive feature, perhaps this effort will not result in a satisfactory sale.

Motivation that influences people to buy goods in habitual locations is called patronage motivation. A buyer may use this motivation to buy goods in a particular store. For example, offers such as price, service attitude, location, reputation, product diversity, or even the friendliness of the salesperson. Taking advantage of consumer patronage, marketing should try to understand why habitual customers patronize a store and highlight these characteristics in the sales mix.

Motivation research can help marketers analyze the main motivations of consumers who buy or not buy their products. Motivation is often in a subconscious state and is difficult to measure. People often don't know how to excite the engine. So marketers cannot simply ask what their motivations are. Many motivation studies rely on conversation and speculation techniques.

(3) Experience.

Experience includes changes in personal behavior due to information and experience. Some physiological conditions, such as hunger, fatigue, physical growth changes, aging, and behavioral changes due to retirement, are not included in the consideration of experience. The result of individual behavior strongly influences the process of experience accumulation. If the personal activity brings satisfactory results, he will repeat the previous practice in the same situation in the future. If the behavior does not bring a satisfactory result, he may take a completely different approach in the future. For example, if a consumer buys a certain brand of cigarettes and likes it, then he will continue to buy the same brand of cigarettes until the brand no longer satisfies him.

For a company to successfully market a product, it needs to help consumers understand the product. Consumers can learn about products through direct experience, and many marketers have managed to provide consumers with direct experience before they buy a product. Through the role of salespeople and advertising, marketers must provide consumers with information before they buy to influence consumer experience, so that consumers' attitudes toward the product are conducive to selling the product.

(4) Attitude.

Attitude consists of knowledge and positive and negative emotions towards the goal. We sometimes say that a person has a "positive attitude", but this expression is incomplete. This expression is meaningful only when the goal associated with this attitude is known. The attitudes people aim at may be tangible or intangible, living or inanimate. For example, we have attitudes towards gender, beliefs, politics, etc .; we also have attitudes towards flowers and beer. However, personal attitudes are basically stable and do not change from moment to moment. Similarly, at any time, the impact of personal attitudes is different, some strong and some weak. Consumer attitudes to the company and products are critical to the success or failure of a company's marketing strategy. When consumers take a negative view of one or more aspects of a company's marketing practices, not only will they stop using the company's products themselves, they will also ask relatives and friends to do the same. Marketers should estimate consumers 'attitudes on prices, packaging design, brand names, advertising, sales staff, repair services, store layout, characteristics of existing and future products, etc. There are several ways for marketers to measure consumers' The simplest way to attitude is to ask people questions directly. The speculative techniques in motivation surveys can also be used to estimate attitudes.

(5) Personality.

Some personalities are not necessarily compelling, but everyone has them. Personality is an intrinsic and intrinsic characteristic associated with people's experience and behavior. Originating from different genetics and experiences, everyone's inner world, knowledge structure, and growth process are different. Personality is typically characterized by one or more of the following characteristics, such as: impulsiveness, ambition, flexibility, rigidity, dictatorship, introversion, extraversion, aggressiveness and competitiveness. Marketers should try to discover the relationship between these characteristics and purchasing behavior, and believe that the personality of the person will affect the brand and type of the purchased product. For example, the types of clothing, jewelry, and cars that people buy also reflect one or more personality characteristics. Generally, marketers target advertisements on certain personal characteristics that ordinary people have, and use those positive and valuable personal characteristics to promote. The products that can be promoted through this method mainly include beer, soft drinks, cigarettes and some clothing.

social influence

(1) Role and family.

Each of us occupies a certain position in a certain organization, institution, and group, and what is associated with each position is the role.

Because people occupy multiple seats, they play multiple roles simultaneously. For example, a man not only plays the role of father and husband, but may also be a company executive, a director of a society, a sports coach, or a student of a university night school, so that he has multiple expectations for one's behavior. Personal roles affect not only general behavior, but also purchasing behavior. Individual needs for multiple roles may be inconsistent. To illustrate this, suppose the man mentioned above intends to buy a car, his wife wants him to buy a Guangzhou Honda car, his son wants to buy Shanghai Buick, and his colleagues It is recommended to buy imported BMWs, because that brand is more well-known, so personal purchasing behavior is partially affected by other people's opinions. The role played at home is directly linked to the purchase decision. The male owner in the household may be the buyer of tobacco and alcohol, and the purchase decisions of many household items, including health products, toiletries, paper products and food are mainly determined by his wife. Husbands, wives, and children's purchasing decisions are mainly durable goods. When two or more family members are involved in the purchase, they have to divide the work, and each person has to complete a certain task.

(2) Related groups.

Relevant groups refer to individuals' recognition of groups, and adopt and accept the values, attitudes and behaviors of group members. Some groups may be negative related groups to individuals. Some people belong to a certain group at a certain time, but then they reject the group's values and do not become one of them. Similarly, a person can take special actions to avoid a particular group. However, we are talking about groups of people that have a positive impact on individuals. Relevant groups can serve as a reference and source of information for individuals, and customer behavior can become consistent with the behavior and beliefs of group members. For example, one person stopped using one brand of food and was using another because of the influence of members of the relevant group. The degree of influence of related groups on purchasing decisions depends on the sensitivity of the individual to the related groups and the strength of the combination of individuals and related groups. Marketers sometimes struggle to use the influence of relevant groups in advertising to promote that each group of people buys a product and is highly satisfied. Through this appeal, advertisers hope that a large number of people will regard the recommended group as a relevant group, and they will buy (make a more positive response) this product. The success of this type of advertising depends on the effectiveness of advertising in conveying information, the type of product, and the sensitivity of the individual to the impact of the relevant group.

(3) Social class.

Social class is an open group of people with similar social status. Open means that individuals are free to enter and leave. The main factors include: occupation, education, income, health, region, race, ethics, belief and wealth. It is not necessary to consider all social standards to classify an individual into a certain class. The number of criteria chosen and their importance depend on the characteristics of the class to which they are assigned and the value of the individual within the class. To a certain extent, members in a certain class adopt similar behavior patterns, and they have similar attitudes, values, language styles, and wealth. Social classes influence many aspects of our lives. For example, it can affect our profession, beliefs, child development, and educational entertainment. Because social strata affect many aspects of people's lives, they can also influence purchasing decisions.

(4) Culture.

Culture refers to the sum of material wealth and spiritual wealth created by human beings, and is the crystallization of human labor, including tangible things: food, furniture, architecture, clothing, and tools; intangible concepts: such as education, welfare, and law. Culture also includes values and behaviors that are acceptable to society as a whole. The concepts, values, and behaviors that make up a culture are learned and taught from generation to generation.

Culture has a wide-ranging influence on buying behavior because it permeates our daily lives. Culture determines what we eat, wear, live and travel. Culture influences how we buy and use products, but it also affects the satisfaction we get from them. Because culture determines the way in which products are purchased and used, it affects product development, promotion, distribution, and pricing. Food marketers, for example, make many changes in their marketing process. More than 20 years ago, many of our families ate together almost every day. Mothers spent 4-6 hours a day preparing for this, and more than 60% of the 25-40 age group employed by the company basically ate out.

When marketers sell goods in other countries, they often see the strong impact of culture on the purchase and use of products. International marketers find that people in other parts of the world have different attitudes, values and needs, which requires different marketing methods and different marketing mixes. Some international marketers fail because they do not or cannot adjust the marketing concept mix according to cultural differences.