Pre-Purchase Processes: Need Recognition, Search, and Evaluation

CHAPTER 4
Pre-purchase Processes:
Need Recognition, Search, and
Evaluation
Roger D. Blackwell, Paul W. Miniard, and James F. Engel, Consumer Behavior, Ninth Edition
Copyright© 2001 by Harcourt, Inc. All rights reserved.
Need Recognition
Blackwell, Miniard, and Engel, Consumer Behavior, Ninth Edition, Copyright© 2001 by Harcourt, Inc. All rights
Need Recognition
The difference between
consumers’ actual and desired
states
The need recognition process

centers on the degree of
discrepancy between the actual
state and desired state
Need Recognition Process
Desired Actual
State State
Below Degree of At or Above

Threshold Discrepancy Threshold
No Need Need
Recognition Recognition
Need Recognition
Understanding need recognition
may identify a segment with
unsatisfied desires
Unsatisfied needs help identify new

product opportunities for the future
Analyzing need recognition can

reveal existing barriers
How Companies Can Activate
Need Recognition
Change consumers’ desired state
with new products or innovations
Need Recognition
Need Recognition
Influence how consumers perceive

their current state
Need Recognition
Influence how consumers perceive

their current state
Remind consumers of a need
Need Recognition
Generic need
recognition
occurs when
companies seek
to grow the size
of the total
market for a
product
category
How Companies Can Activate Need
Recognition
Selective need recognition: the result of stimu-

lating need for specific brand within a category
Search
Internal Search
Internal search involves scanning
and retrieving decision-relevant
knowledge stored in memory
Internal Search
Need Recognition -Existing
Knowledge
Internal Search -Ability to
Retrieve
Stored
Internal Search Knowledge
Successful?
(Yes) (No)
Proceed Undertake
with External
Decision Search
External Search
External search involves collecting
information from the marketplace
External Search
When motivated by an upcoming

purchase decision, external search
is known as pre-purchase search
External Search
When motivated by an upcoming

purchase decision, external search
is known as pre-purchase search
External search is motivated by the
desire to:
make better consumption choices
create a knowledge base for
future decisions
How Much Do Consumers
Search?
Cost versus benefit perspective:
people search for decision-relevant
information when the perceived
benefits of the new information are
greater than perceived costs of
acquiring the information
How Much Do Consumers
Search?
Cost versus benefit perspective:
people search for decision-relevant
information when the perceived
benefits of the new information are
greater than perceived costs of
acquiring the information
Benefit: making better decisions

Cost: time and effort spent in search
How Companies Benefit From
Understanding Search
Adjust how many product alternatives
are available to consumers
Monitor consumers’ price comparison
activities and build price sensitivity into
pricing strategies
pricing strategies
Focus promotions on sources that
consumers search most, including
individuals that provide information
pricing strategies
Focus promotions on sources that
consumers search most, including
individuals that provide information
Monitor search activities to identify new
ways to reach and gain customers
Pre-purchase Evaluation
The evaluation of choice
alternatives
Intertwined with search process
Forming the
Consideration Set
Forming the
Consideration Set
Evaluating
Alternatives
Forming the
Consideration Set
Evaluating
Alternatives
Rely on Construct
Preexisting Evaluations
Evaluations
Forming the
Consideration Set
Evaluating
Alternatives
Rely on Construct
Evaluations
Categorical Piecemeal
Process Process
Forming the
Consideration Set
Evaluating
Alternatives
Rely on Construct
Evaluations
Process Process
Consideration set: alternatives
considered during decision making
(evoked set)
How Companies Can Get Into
Consumers’ Consideration Sets
Ask to be in the set
Adjust one of the 4Ps
Encourage consumers to consider
its brand and competitors’ brand
Attraction effect: enhance odds of
becoming consumer choice by
adding an inferior product to the
consideration set
Constructing The Consideration
Set Primarily From Memory
Retrieval set: consideration set that
depends on recall of alternatives
from memory
Set Primarily From Memory
Retrieval set: consideration set that
depends on recall of alternatives
from memory
Not all alternatives retrieved from
memory will be considered
Consumers limit their consideration
to those alternatives toward which
they are favorably predisposed
Set Without Prior Knowledge
Consumers may talk to others or
consider all brands in the store
Set Without Prior Knowledge
Consumers may talk to others or
consider all brands in the store
External factors have greater oppor-
tunity to affect consideration set
with less knowledgeable consumers
than when search is from memory
Recognition of brands or products
at point of sale is important to get
into consumers’ consideration set
Forming the
Consideration Set
Evaluating
Alternatives
Rely on Construct
Evaluations
Process Process
Deciding How To Evaluate
Choice Alternatives
Rely on preexisting product
evaluations stored in memory
Direct Experience: prior purchase or
consumption experiences with product
Indirect Experience: experiences or
impressions gained second-hand
Deciding How To Evaluate
Choice Alternatives
Rely on preexisting product
evaluations stored in memory
Direct Experience: prior purchase or
consumption experiences with product
Indirect Experience: experiences or
impressions gained second-hand
Construct new evaluations based
on information acquired through
internal or external search
Prepurchase Evaluation
Forming the
Consideration Set
Evaluating
Alternatives
Rely on Construct
Evaluations
Process Process
Constructing New Evaluations
The Categorization Process: the
evaluation of a choice alternative
based on the evaluation of the
category to which it is assigned
The Categorization Process: the
evaluation of a choice alternative
based on the evaluation of the
category to which it is assigned
Categories may be general (drinks) or
specific (colas)
Evaluation of a category can be trans-
ferred to a new product assigned to that
category
Brand extentions allow firms to use
categorization to their advantage
The Piecemeal Process:
constructing an evaluation of a
choice alternative using bits and
pieces
The Piecemeal Process:
Determine particular criteria or product
dimensions to be used in evaluation
Evaluate each considered alternative
based on the identified criteria
Cutoff: restriction or requirement for
acceptable performance
Signals are product attributes used to
infer other product attributes (high price
often infers higher quality)
Noncompensatory Evaluation
Strategies: a product’s weakness
on one attribute cannot be offset
by strong performance on another
attribute
Strategies
Lexicographic strategy: brands are

compared initially on the most
important attribute, and the winner is
chosen. If more than one is evaluated
similarly on that attribute, the second
most-important is considered, and so
on, until a choice is identified
Strategies
Elimination by aspects: similar to the
lexicographic strategy; however, the
consumer imposes cutoffs
Conjunctive strategy: each brand is
compared, one at a time, against a
set of attributes which is established
for each salient attribute. If a brand
meets cutoffs for each attribute, it is
chosen.
Strategies
Brand Performance
Ratings (Brands A,B,C,D)
Importance
Attribute Ranking A B C D
Taste 1 E E VG E
Price 2 VG G E F
Nutrition 3 G G P E
Convenience 4 F G G E
E=Excellent, G=Good, VG=Very Good, F=Fair

Compensatory Evaluation
Strategies
Strategies: a perceived weakness
of one attribute may be offset or
compensated for by the perceived
strength of another attribute
Strategies
Simple additive: the consumer counts
or adds the number of times each
alternative is judged favorably in terms
of the set of salient evaluative criteria.
The choice with the largest number of
positive attributes is chosen.
Weighted additive: judgements about
alternatives’ performance, beyond
favorable or unfavorable, which are
weighted according to importance
Consumer Behavior
Roger D. Blackwell
Paul W. Miniard
James F. Engel
Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the work should be
mailed to the following address:
Permissions Department, Harcourt, Inc.
6277 Sea Harbor Drive
Orlando, Florida 32887-6777
Copyright© 2001 by Harcourt, Inc. All rights reserved.

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CHAPTER 4

The need recognition process

Below Degree of At or Above

Unsatisfied needs help identify new

Analyzing need recognition can

Influence how consumers perceive

Influence how consumers perceive

Remind consumers of a need

Selective need recognition: the result of stimu-

When motivated by an upcoming

When motivated by an upcoming

Benefit: making better decisions

Lexicographic strategy: brands are

E=Excellent, G=Good, VG=Very Good, F=Fair

Copyright© 2001 by Harcourt, Inc. All rights reserved.

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