Consumers use the buying process before purchasing a given item. The consumer makes an either passive or active decision before the purchase of a given item or service, during the purchase, and after the purchase of the item or service. The process can be said to be a way of evaluating the cost-benefit of the product/service in situations where there are more than one options or alternatives (Stankevich, 2017). Additionally, the decision-making process can be defined as coming to a resolution to purchase a certain item after closely analyzing other options and alternatives through collecting relevant information on these options. There are five phases or stages to the consumer decision-making process.
The first stage is problem recognition and during the phase the consumer settles on a product or service that he or she thinks will satisfy their needs. The second stage involved is the research stage and here the consumer gathers information on the product he or she intends to purchase, looking at the alternatives in the process (Herald, 2007). The third phase entails the consumer closely analyzing the alternatives that are available to him or her and which alternative would be most appropriate.
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The fourth stage involves making the purchasing decision (Herald, 2007). The purchasing decision can be influenced by either the opinions of his or her peers or other unknown or unforeseen circumstances, say financial constraints. The last phase is the post purchasing process where the consumer experiences dissonance that the product he or she did not buy would have been a better option (Herald, 2007). These five stages act as a blueprint of analyzing the consumer decision making process. Time allocated to the different stages varies on a number of factors
References
Herald, T. (2007). The Three Factors That Affect Consumers' Purchase Decisions . Retrieved from Autodealer: http://www.autodealermonthly.com/channel/dps-office/article/story/2008/02/the-three-factors-that-affect-consumers-purchase-decisions.aspx
Stankevich, A. (2017). Explaining the Consumer Decision-Making Process: Critical Literature Review. Journal of International Business Research and Marketing , 2 (6), 7-14.
