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Goals
Chapter 10
Customers’ purchase
decision process
WHILE BUYING
Content
1. Option evaluation and selection
2. Marketing application based on evaluation
3. Situational factors
4. Marketing application based on situational factors
5. Purchase decisions
1. Option evaluation and selection
Evaluative criteria can differ in type, number, and
importance.
The type of evaluative criteria a consumer uses in a
decision varies from tangible cost and performance
features to intangible factors such as style, taste, prestige,
feelings generated, and brand image
The number of criteria used by consumers depends on the
product (simple or complex), individual characteristics
and the buying situation (urgent purchase or purchase for
gifts)
 Understand the nature of evaluative criteria and
marketing application based on evaluative criteria
 Understand the role and types of situational factors that
affect consumers’ purchase decision
 Marketing application based on situational factors
 Understand types of consumers’ purchase decision
making
1. Option evaluation and selection
1.1 Evaluative criteria
Evaluative criteria are the dimensions we use to judge
the merits of competing options.
 Criteria on which products differ from one another carry
more weight in the decision process than do those where
the alternatives are similar.
Determinant attributes are the features we actually use
to differentiate among our choices.
1. Option evaluation and selection
1.2 Consumers’ judgement and evaluative criteria
 Direct judgement: based on consumers’ knowledge about
the technical features the product
 Indirect judgement: based on surrogate indicators
ü Price
ü Brand
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1. Option evaluation and selection 2. Marketing application based on evaluation

1.3 Attribute-based choice vs Affective-based choice Blind Test: get customers try some products without
Attribute-based choice requires the knowledge of specific knowing the brand -> see the influence of brands vs tastes
attributes at the time the choice is made, and it involves on consumers evaluation
attribute-byattribute comparisons across brands.
Attitude-based choice involves the use of general attitudes,
summary impressions, intuitions, or heuristics; no attribute-
by-attribute comparisons are made at the time of choice.
Motivation, information availability, and situational factors
interact to determine which choice process will be used

2. Marketing application based on evaluation 3. Situational factors

 Emphasize the important evaluative criteria of the products The role of situation in consumer behavior
 The Relative Importance and Influence of Evaluative Criteria
Usage situation
Competitive context: the lower the variance across competing Situations
brands on a given evaluative criterion, the less infl uence it is
likely to have in the decision proces Consumers Behaviours
Advertising effect: an ad that increases attention and elaborative
processing of an attribute can increase its perceived importance Marketing
and/or infl uence in the decision activities

Stimuli Response

3. Situational factors 3. Situational factors

3.1 Physical environment 3.1 Physical environment
decor, sounds, aromas, lighting, weather, and configurations
of merchandise or other materials surrounding the stimulus
objec.

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3. Situational factors 3. Situational factors

3.1 Physical environment
3.2 Social environment: the other
Components: individuals present in the particular
color situation.
music Social influence is a significant
crowding force acting on our behavior,
since individuals tend to
comply with group expectations,
particularly when the behavior is
visible

3. Situational factors 3. Situational factors

3.3 Temporal perspectives
3.2 Social environment:
situational characteristics that deal with the effect of time on
Shopping can provide a social consumer behavior
experience outside the home for
making new acquaintances, less time available → shorter information search →less
meeting existing friends, etc. available information → more suboptimal purchases
Some people seek status and
authority in shopping since the
salesperson’s job is to wait on the
customer.

3. Situational factors 3. Situational factors

3.3 Temporal perspectives
Convenient store chains and Internet shopping take
advantage of customers’ time pressure
3.3 Temporal perspectives
Reasons why customers choose Internet shopping
• to reduce the amount of time required to make a specific
purchase.
• to get almost total control over when the purchase is made

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3. Situational factors 3. Situational factors

3.4 Task definition: is the reason the consumption activity is
occurring
shopping for gifts is different from shopping for the same
item for self-use
The type of gift given and desired varies by occasion and
gender.
Wedding gifts tend to be utilitarian, while birthday gifts tend
to be fun.
3.5 Antecedent States
Features of the individual person that are not lasting
characteristics
Whereas moods reflect states of mind, momentary conditions
reflect temporary states of being, such as being tired, being
ill, having extra money, being broke, and so forth

4. Marketing application based on

situational influence
Product positioning based situations: After identifying the
different situations that might involve the consumption of
a product, marketers must determine which products or
brands are most likely to be purchased or consumed across
those situations
Market segmentation based on usage situation

4. Marketing application based on 5. Purchase decisions

situational influence
Identify the type of situational influence for each purchase Types of purchase decisions
behavior Purchase with a detailed plan
Identify products or brands that are bought the most for Purchase with a general plan
each special occasion
Alternative purchase
Unplanned purchase

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5. Purchase decisions 5. Purchase decisions

Unplanned purchase
Purchase outside the initial plan
Detailed planned Impulse purchase
purchase
Planned purchase Purchase without evaluation of alternatives
Alternative purchase

Unplanned purchase

5. Purchase decisions 5. Purchase decisions

Advertised
items Decision rules
Price cut  The compensatory rule allows a product to make up for its
Change shortcomings on one dimension by excelling on another
Evaluation of planned • The simple additive rule leads to the option that has the largest
Store
alternatives purchase number of positive attributes.
display
behaviors
• A weighted additive rule allows the consumer to take into account the
Out of relative importance of the attributes by weighting each one
stock Staff

In-store factors that influence customers’ alternative

evaluation and purchase

5. Purchase decisions

Decision rules
 The noncompensatory rule: if an option doesn’t suit us on one
dimension, we just reject it out of hand and move on to something else
The elimination-by-aspects rule: customers evaluate brands on the
most important attribute
The conjunctive rule: customers choose a brand if it meets all the
cutoffs, but rejects a brand that fails to meet any one cut-off.
The lexicographic decision rule: the consumer ranks the criteria in
order of importance and then, selects the brand that performs best
on the most important attribute.

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Discussion Discussion

1. List all the criteria you would use when evaluating the 2. Describe 3 situation in which you make unplanned
following products/services and choose your decision rule purchase and explain
Buying a house or an apartment
Deciding a vacation destination
Enrolling in an English (or a foreign language) course
Booking a restaurant for a wedding
Booking a hotel or a resort
Selecting a college/university