a) Psychological factors affecting purchase of mushrooms

i. Motivation
A need becomes a motive when it is more pressing to direct a person to seek satisfaction.
Tom and John should motivate their customers enough that mushrooms are healthier than
the other convectional alternatives.
ii. Attitude
Marketers should do different experiments on products to make consumers have a positive
attitude towards a product.
iii. Perception
Its selecting interpreting and organizing in a way to produce a meaningful information of
something. A marketer tries to attract a consumer to a product. Tom and John should come
up with affordable prices which a re friendly to the consumers.
iv. Beliefs
We as consumers have different beliefs towards a variety of products. Tom and John should
launch campaigns to change the beliefs of their customers towards mushrooms.
v. Learning
Consumers sometimes have knowledge of freshness of products they buy which is how long
the commodity has been in the market. Tom and John should ensure products reach market
as fast as possible.
b) Marketing mix strategies to compete effectively
i. Price
They should set affordable prices to the consumers so as to increase their sales. They should
also consider their side so that they don’t sell on a loss.
ii. Promotion
They should ensure that their methods are appealing in order to attract the attention of the
buyers. This is done through advertisement, direct marketing and personal selling
iii. People
Tom and John should ensure that the people they employ should get in touch with
customers are properly trained. This will help create a good repour with the customers
iv. Product
When it comes to perishable goods customers are interested in quality rather than quantity.
Tom and John should use refrigerators to ensure their product are in good condition.
v. Place
They should consider market and security of the place they want to sell their commodity.
They can also sell them online.
c) How to increase customer awareness on mushrooms
i. Advertising their mushrooms on social media
This is the most used platform used by millions of people including those who don’t read
newspapers hence many people will be aware of the product in the market.
ii. Holding events in public places
This should be done when there is a public gathering or on most public places.
iii. Launching campaigns
They should do this when they have an experience about their product and how they started
the business and how its fairing on.
iv. Joining forces with M/S Alphonse
 Since there is power in numbers. They should join forces because they have the same
motive.
v. Organizing experimental stunts
This is getting out of the streets and engaging with customers. They prepare mushrooms for
customers to taste.