Consumer Buying Process

some products require low involvement while many other needs high involvement for buying decision process. Although there is no hard and fast rule regarding the compulsion to follow up a rigid buying process, a rational consumer usually follows certain process that is explained as follows.

1. Need recognition
2. Information search
3. Alternative evaluation
4. Purchase decision
5. Post purchase evaluation

Need recognition

Need recognition means awareness od a want, desire, or consumption problem, without the fulfillment of which the consumer becomes dissatisfied and generally builds up a tension. A consumer’s want or desire may be initiated by:

• His self-problem
• By some other initiators
• By some communication media like beautiful advertisement and publicity of the products

The first step in the consumer buying process is to recognize whether the consumer needs that particular product of not.

There are two types of consumer need namely.

1. Functional need
2. Psychological need

Information search

Once a need or a problem is recognized, the consumer is exposed to the existence of the product that may satisfy his need. This awareness initiates him to search for information regarding the product he needs. Information search occurs consumer uncertainty and to provide the basis for evaluation of alternatives. Information search may be:

• Internal
• External

Alternative evaluation

Once the information of alternative products is gathered and maintained, they are properly evaluated to find out the best product that can satisfy the consumer to a great extent. To evaluate alternative meaningfully and purposefully, the consumer must perform a four-tiered task:

• Organize the data into a desired from that is useful for evaluation.
• Establish meaningful decision criteria such as cost criteria, performance criteria, suitability criteria, and convenience criteria.

Purchase decision

Once the alternative products are properly evaluated, the consumer will make a purchase decision. A purchase decision means selecting on alternative among many. At this stage, a consumer may face many decision problems such as how to travel from which store to buy, what brands to buy, what prices are acceptable, what product lines are desirable, and so forth.

Post purchase evaluation

Most of the typical buyers do not to evaluate the performance of products purchased and consumed. But a rational consumer usually evaluates the product in terms of product performance and the satisfaction derived from the product.