Department of Marketing Management

MAR 3345: Consumer Behavior

Individual Assignment

ANALYSING OWN CONSUMPTION

EXPERIENCE
(own consumption experience of a Laptop)

Name: Hasini Jayathilaka

CPM: 17713
MC: 86781
Table of Contents

1. Introduction..............................................................................................................................1

2. Consumer decision making process.........................................................................................1

2.1 Need recognition...............................................................................................................1

2.2 Searching for information.................................................................................................2

2.3 Evaluate alternatives.........................................................................................................3

2.4 Purchase Decision.............................................................................................................4

2.5 Post purchase decision......................................................................................................5

3. Conclusion................................................................................................................................5
 1. Introduction

This report is regarding my own purchasing experience of Laptop with reference to the consumer
decision making process.

There are four views of consumer decision making process which are Economic, Passive,
Cognitive and Emotional model. In order to purchase a Laptop, here I have followed Cognitive
model of decision making. Theoretically it is between two extremes of Economic and Passive
models of consumer decision making process. Because I was not aware of all the alternatives and
not capable of selecting the best alternative with the perfect decision. Therefore, I could not
follow Economic model. Further I could not follow Passive model too because I was not totally
depending on the promotional efforts when purchasing a Laptop. Of course, it not Emotional
model because purchasing a Laptop is a high involvement purchase. Therefore, I had to spend
more time researching and evaluating alternatives.

Under Cognitive model, here I discussed how was the buying behavior of purchasing a Laptop
with reference to consumer decision making process.

2.2 Consumer decision making process

2.1 Need recognition

After issued the O/L results in 2014, my sister promised me to give a Laptop or a Desktop
computer for my further education. I also needed a Laptop or a Desktop computer for my studies
because after O/Ls I was planning to follow a computer course, so I needed to purchase a
computer since my Desktop computer had broken already.

I was preferred to Laptop rather than a Desktop computer because at that time most of my
friends had Laptop computers and others was moving to Laptop computer from Desktop
computers.

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Not just for the educational purpose I was planning to use Laptop for my entertainment purposes
too. Because I had not a DVD player to watch movies, so I planned to watch movies from the
Laptop that I was going to purchase.

At that time, I did not have place to store my photos and other collections of music, movies and
other things since my Desktop computer was broken. My Pen drive also not enough to store
everything.

Since I wanted the computer for my personal use, I decided to purchase a normal computer
which was average speed and functions. However, I needed a good storage capacity because I
had lot of stuff to store in my Laptop. I was preferring to have an average size Laptop which is
easy to carry. Specially the price should not that much expensive.

When considering my need recognition for purchasing a Laptop according to theory we can
elaborate as follows,

I have recognized education as my need to purchasing a Laptop which is my generic goal to be

satisfied. However, my generic goal leads to some other needs as well. Those are entertainment
needs, store my photos movies and music etc. and self-esteem of having my own Laptop since at
that time my friends had their own Laptops.

2.2 Searching for information

After recognizing my need I was searching for information of different Laptop brands available
in the market. At that time most of the people who were searching for Laptops bought several
brands of Laptops such as Dell, Samsung, TOSHIBA, Apple and HP.

For this part I had a good personal source who is a friend of my sister and he was a computer
programmer. Since I did not have much knowledge regarding Laptops and I ever had not own a
Laptop I decided to ask himself and called few of my friends who owned Laptop computers.

At that time, I was not that much aware of internet and other online purchasing facilities of
computers. Therefore, I visited shops where sells Laptops such as Abans, Samsung & Singer
arcades. I went through newspaper advertisements regarding Laptops too. That is how I searched
information regarding Laptops.

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However, I felt like there are some risks associated with my purchasing decision. Mainly there
was a risk of whether the Laptop is worth for the money I am going to spend. Other than that, I
had a risk whether the Laptop will not work as I expected. Another risk is the time that I spend
on searching information. That means it will be a waste of time spend on searching information
regarding Laptops if the Laptop will not perform as I expected.

So, in order to minimize those risks first I was searching some computer showrooms such as
Abans, Samsung & Singer. Because those showrooms have good reputation regarding Laptops.
Not only that they gave warranties and some discounts as well. So, I felt like in every aspect it
will minimize my risk of purchasing a Laptop rather than any other computer shop. I found that
the salespeople also experts regarding Laptops in those showrooms when I visited those
showrooms/ Arcades.

2.3 Evaluate alternatives

As I mentioned earlier there were several Laptops such as Dell, Samsung, TOSHIBA, Apple and
HP at that time. So, in order to select a Laptop brand, I consider several factors. I considered
mainly price of the Laptop and then storage capacity, speed, warranty, durability and easy to
carry (weight).

Even though most of my friends had HP and Dell Laptops they were not encourage me to buy a
Dell or HP Laptop. Most of them told me Dell Laptops slow down the functions with the time. I
was really confused when selecting a brand from other brands of my evoked set. Even there are
some criteria which I considered I was really confused with what my close friends said about
Laptops and what others said. When my friends told not to purchase Dell or HP Laptop others
always encouraged me to buy Dell or HP laptop since at that time most of the people bought
those two brands. So, I myself evaluated alternatives with the help of the information that I
searched.

First, I considered the price of the Laptop since I was search for a Laptop which is not that much
expensive. Therefore, I did not consider Apple Laptops since the price of the Apple Laptops
were not affordable for my budget. At the time I got the decision to eliminate Apple Laptop I
was not aware of the theory behind my decision. But now I think that decision, I followed non

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compensatory decision rule. Since Apple Laptop is not in my affordable budget, I had
ultimately eliminated it from my further evaluation.

At that time Dell was the heaviest Laptop from the brands I considered, and I found the speed of
the Dell and HP Laptops reduce with the time. Not only that I found many of my friends repair
their Laptops in very short time and there are so many crashers and breakdowns too. Therefore, I
eliminated both Dell and HP Laptops from my further evaluation. When considering the theory, I
think even thought I was not aware of that I was following Conjunctive rule under non
compensatory decision rule. I was eliminated those two brands since those two brands were not
reach to the cutoff point which I expected (durability and speed).

After that there was only two brands in my mind. Those were Samsung and TOSHIBA. When
comparing two brands I found TOSHIBA is better than Samsung with the criteria which I
considered. When it comes to the theory here, I have followed Compensatory decision rule.
which means I selected TOSHOBA instead of Samsung considering with the plus and negative
features of both brands. I found TOSHIBA is better than Samsung with its speed, durability,
storage capacity even it is heavy. So, I decided to go to the Singer or Abans showroom in order
to purchase.

2.4 Purchase Decision

First, I went to Abans showroom since that was the nearest showroom. I found there was a
discount for the Laptops which purchase cash on hand since at that time there was a promotion.
After hearing this I decided to purchase my Laptop from Abans. In order to overcome my risks
associated with the purchase decision as I said earlier, I already decided to purchase my Laptop
from well-known showroom instead of any other computer shops.

I purchased TOSHIBA Laptop from Abans.

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 2.5 Post purchase decision
I was really satisfied with my purchasing decision and I was recommended TOSHIBA Laptop
for everyone who ask about Laptops. Now it is almost 6 years and now also my Laptop is
working well. Although there are some small issues with the speed overall performance is still
good. Throughout 6 years I was only repair my Laptop for three times. When compare with my
friends who have other brands, I think TOSHIBA is better.

However, there is a big issue with the battery power of the Laptop. Even I changed Laptop
battery I could not get the desired outcome. After 3 or 4 years I had to plug my Laptop to the
charger whenever I use it. That was a huge issue of my Laptop and because of that I could not
use my Laptop in the places where have not pugging facilities and electricity. Even though I
changed my battery it could not help at all.

I was frustrated to certain level in this regard, I thought TOSHIBA was the best option which
was affordable for me at that time. And also is a blame to myself too because I was not properly
maintain and place my files and folders. So that could be a reason to slow down the speed. Of
course, I was not considered the battery power of the Laptop when purchasing the Laptop.

That is how I minimized the frustration with defense mechanisms. According to the theory I was
following rationalization in order to overcome the frustration I have faced.

2.3 Conclusion

Since purchasing a Laptop is a high involvement purchase, I had followed cognitive decision-
making model. Under cognitive decision-making model I followed need recognition, search
information, evaluate alternatives, purchase decision and post purchase decision stages.

Since I was planning to purchase a Laptop for using another 6 or 7 years, it can be considered as
a long-term commitment purchase too.

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Even thought I was not aware of the theories which I followed at that time I was taking this
decision, now it is clear that I have unintentionally applied some consumer behavior theories.

(words – 1705)