Prof. B. B.

Mishra
Extensive Problem
Solving

Limited Problem
Solving

Routine Response
Behaviour
 Importance of the decision
 Extent of previous experience
 Existence of well-established decision
criteria
 Amount of information at hand about each
alternative
 The number of alternatives available
 Model of consumption being followed
 Need Recognition
 Pre-purchase Search
 Evaluation of Alternatives
 The realization that there is a difference
between actual and desired states
 The higher the gap, the stronger the need (or bigger
the problem)
• Active Versus Inactive problems
– Active: those you are aware of
– Inactive: those that you are not yet aware of (but
exist)
• Those that require immediate solutions and
those that do not require immediate solutions
• Considering the knowledge about occurrence
of the problem and immediacy of solution;
consumer problems can be –
Routine type, Emergency, Planning, Evolving
 Identify existing consumer problems and find
solutions for these
 Lower the actual state
 Increase the desired state
 Increase the importance of the gap between
actual and desired states
 Convert inactive problems to active problems
 Convert problems into ones requiring an
immediate solution
 Types of Information Sources
 Types of Information Sought
 Factors Affecting Extent of Information Search
PERSONAL IMPERSONAL

Friends Newspaper articles

Neighbors Magazine articles
Relatives Consumer Reports
Co-workers Direct-mail brochures
Computer salespeople Information from product
Calling the electronics advertisements
store Internal web site
 Brands or alternatives available
 Evaluative criteria to be used
 Generally, product features
 Ratings of brands on evaluative criteria
 Product Factors: Higher search when
 It is a long-lasting or infrequently used product
 There are frequent changes in product styling
 Large volume is purchased
 The price is high
 There are many alternative brands
 There is much variation in features
 continued
 Situational Factors: Higher search when:
 Experience is lower
 Previous experience was unsatisfactory
 Social Acceptability: Higher search when:
 Purchase is a gift
 Product is socially visible in use

 continued
 Value-Related Factors: Higher search when:
 Purchase is discretionary
 All alternatives have both positive and negative
qualities
 No agreement among users exists
 Conflicting information is available
 Other considerations exist
 continued
 Consumer Factors: Higher search when:
 Consumers are well-educated, have higher
income levels and are younger
 Consumers are low in dogmatism and risk
perception
 Level of involvement is high
 Shopping is seen as an enjoyable activity
 continued
 Affective choices
 More holistic; an overall evaluation
 based on how one feels about a purchase
 Attribute-based choices
 Have pre-determined evaluative criteria
 May require both external and internal search
 Complicated decision rules may be used
 Can be tangible or intangible
 Include surrogate indicators
 Attributes that are used as indicators of another
attribute
 Are often ranked in order of importance
 Procedures used by consumers to facilitate
brand or other consumption-related choices
 Compensatory
 Brands evaluated in terms of each relevant criteria and
the best brand (or one with the highest score) is chosen
 Non-compensatory
 Positive evaluations do not compensate for negative
evaluations
• Conjunctive Decision Rule
– Product attributes are identified
– a minimally acceptable cutoff point is
established for each attribute
– brands that fall below the cutoff point
on any one attribute are eliminated
from further consideration.
» continued
• Disjunctive Decision Rule
– consumers identify product attributes
– establish a minimally acceptable cutoff
point for each attribute
– accept the brand that meets or exceeds
the cutoff for any one attribute

» continued
 Lexicographic Decision Rule
 Product attributes are identified
 Product attributes are ranked in terms of
importance
 brands are compared in terms of the attribute
considered most important
 Brand that scores highest on the first attribute is
chosen
 If there is a tie, the scores on the next attribute are
considered
 Lifestyles as a Consumer Decision Strategy
 Incomplete Information
 Non-comparable Alternatives
 Series of Decisions
 Consumption Vision
 Mental picture of the consequences of using a
particular product
 Delay decision until missing information is
obtained
 Ignore missing information and use
available information
 Change the decision strategy to one that
better accommodates for the missing
information
 Infer the missing information
 Get products into consumers’ evoked set
 Limit information search if your brand is the
preferred brand
 Increase information search if your alternative
is not the preferred brand
 Use point-of-purchase advertising effectively
 Identify decision rule used by target market
and use suitable promotional messages
 Influence the choice of evaluative criteria
 Influence the rating of your product on
evaluative criteria used
 Use surrogate indicators effectively
 Use ‘consumption vision’