Consumer Buying Process.

By

Njunga Gilson
BCOM-MR/15/01/021

In Partial Fulfilment to the Requirement for

Consumer and Buyer Behaviour
Course Code: MKT 3013

Malawi Assemblies of God University

Lilongwe, Malawi

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 The time a customer spends on buying a product or service is often determined by the
price. The higher the price or the more expensive a product is, the more time a customer takes
in purchasing it. For example, when a customer is trying to purchase a new gaming computer
which come with quite a hefty price, they may want to do research on the different
alternatives, talk to fellow gamer friends in the gaming community about it, and weigh the
benefits and the negatives of going through with the purchase, (Solomon M., 2011. 90). This
is how a consumer buys products or services and more on this (buying process) will be talked
of below.

In business, the above process is often depicted as a sales funnel. In this funnel, more
and more people drop off as they move further into the funnel and at each point during this
process, the customer will go through a specific thought pattern. If the business wants to help
a customer with the purchasing of the product or service, it must understand what their needs
are at each point. Therefore, the six stages of the buying process will be discussed in detail
below, (Pride W. and Ferrell O. C., 2009. 209).

The first stage in the buying process is problem recognition. In this stage, the
consumer has to realise that he or she is in need of the product or service before he or she
makes the purchase. It is considered to be the most important stage in the decision process
because of this. This stage gives the business the opportunity and also the challenge of
identifying the customer in need of their product. The best strategy to utilize in this stage is
that of making the customers problem clear in the organisations marketing efforts so that the
customer really feels like the product or service will help out with their problem, (Mooij M.,
2011. 187).

This strategy can be implemented even with the use of traditional marketing or public
relations strategies. This can be done through advertising. In advertising, the organisation can
have an advert that clearly explains what the customer’s problem is, and how the product or
service can solve it. In the new digital world, the problem recognition stage is different. In
here it is influenced through content marketing. This means that with the right content, one
can identify with one’s audience, articulate their needs, and offer helpful resources and tools,
(Belch G. E. and Belch M. A., 2004. 102).

In this stage, a customer’s needs can be recognized in different ways. One of them is
through internal (this is a physiological need that is felt in an individual as hunger or thirst
and external stimuli (can include exposure to an advert or seeing sensing some good smells

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whilst passing by a restaurant). The needs or problems in this stage can also be classified as
functional need (related to a specific function or feature of the product), social need
(originates from being in a social environment) or need for change, (Jones S., 2014).

The second stage is that of information search. Basically, what happens in this stage is
that the customer will begin searching for information that will help them find the best
solution to their problem. The customer can use various sources to find this information like
in today’s world, some people use the internet. Some people also ask their friends, family
members, and colleagues for recommendations on certain products, (Johnson J., 2018).

In the hunt for information by the customer, they are two general kinds of
information. These are internal information and external information. In internal information,
the info is already in the customer’s mind and it may have originated from past experiences
with certain products or brands. In external information, the information can be obtained
from other parties like other customers, the internet, family and friends. In this stage, the
consumer pays more attention to the internal information and that from the people he is close
to or trusts, (Belch G. E. and Belch M. A., 2004. 50).

An organisation can also carry out various information based roles in this stage. While
the organisation cannot force a customer into adopting the product, it can try to influence the
customer to purchase the product by ensuring that good quality information is noticed by the
customers. One of the ways of doing this is by focusing on the product. This is an indirect
method of improving this stage because if the product is really good, people are going to start
being the organisations brand advocates automatically and they will be the ones spreading the
information without even paying them, (Pride W. and Ferrell O. C., 2009. 130).

Building authority is also another way. In here regular marketing can be done in order
to spread information. This can mean that the organisation should work on its company web
aesthetics in order to make it catchy and this will help make it easy for customers to find the
organisation and learn more about the product. Reviews and partnerships are also another
way and in here, the organisation can be establishing connections with experts in the field (or
bloggers, review websites, etc.). These experts will help one stand out, (Solomon M., 2011.
122).

Evaluation of alternatives is the third stage in the process. The consumer picks the
best alternatives out of what he has been offered by the organisation. This alternative will
best suit his needs. Therefore, the customer has to evaluate the alternatives basing on two

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aspects in order to make this possible. These are objective characteristics (product features
and functionality) and subjective (brand perceptions and perceived value or reputation),
(Mooij M., 2011. 166).

In this stage, the consumer might base his final decision of the best alternative from
certain factors. One of this is that of the brand power which can due to customer loyalty to
the brand and the likes. Another factor is that of the actual features of the product or service.
This is why it is seen in some cases that even if the organisation has the best product to meet
the customer’s needs, the customer still may decide to go with someone else.

In this stage, the organisation can also come up with two different sets. One being of
products that have a probability of being purchased (evoked set) and another that does not
have a probability of being purchased called inept set. This will help in the organisations
marketing of their products to different customers, (Belch G. E. and Belch M. A., 2004. 93).

Since it has been stated earlier that in this stage, a customer can be affected by many
factors, the one thing that the organisation can do at this stage is to offer a lot more value than
the competitors and communicate that with the customers. For example, in the software
industry, more powerful features can be added to the software package.

Purchase decision is the fourth stage. After the customer has explored their carious
alternatives, they will the make a decision about whether to go forward with the purchase or
not. In this stage, the customer is considered to be rather fragile because even though they
have picked the best alternative, one small thing can cause them not to make the purchase,
(Jones S., 2014).

Therefore, at this point, the customers need a sense of security. They must feel that
they are purchasing the right product that they need. They also needed to be reminded of the
problem that brought them here in the first place. If the worst happens and a customer does
decide to walk away, it is at this point this that is best in the process to bring the customer
back. Depending on the industry the organisation is, the retention process could be as simple
as an email reminder, (Mooij M., 2011. 140).

Purchase stage is the next stage in the process. At this stage, the organisation has to
make it as easy as possible for the customers to make the purchase. The website has to be fast
and not lag if the organisation has an online payment system. The website also has to adapt to
the various platforms it is being used by (mobile site for the mobile and desktop site for the
desktop or pc platform). In this stage, the customer has already decided that they want to do

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business with the organisation, so it is the organisations duty not to make it hard for them
because if it happens to be hard, they might just decide to ditch and go to the competitor,
(Johnson J., 2018).

The last stage in the process is the post-purchase evaluation. This is the stage in which
the organisation has to evaluate the customers experience with the product. This is so because
the customers themselves will evaluate their purchase based on previous expectations and
decide whether or not they are satisfied. If they’re not happy with the product, they can
simply never use it again. This leads to the loss of recurring customers and everyone knows
that recurring customers are much better than those buying just once, (Belch G. E. and Belch
M. A., 2004. 170).

Sometimes it might get worse for the organisation and the customers can ask the
organisation for their money back. This will definitely lead to losses which is not good for the
organisation. Customers will react differently depending on how the situation is handled by
the organisation. This is where good customer service and other post purchase strategies kick
in to ensure that if the customer is satisfied, and help the customer if he or she is facing
problems with the product. The customers just have treated right or the organisation will lose
them forever and can also destroy their reputation. Sending a customer, a follow up email can
also help show the customers that the organisation cares for them and keep them loyal, (,
(Solomon M., 2011. 135).

In a nutshell, these six steps given above will help one have a better understanding of
the thought process that goes into making a purchase. These stages can be greatly helpful can
if they are used as a framework to analyse the customer’s thinking when before and after
making a purchase. The organisation can then use this information gained together with other
marketing efforts in order to develop better strategies and let the organisation grow.

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 References List
Belch G. E. and Belch M. A., 2004. Advertising and Promotion: An Integrated Marketing
Communications Perspective. 6th Edition. New York: McGraw‐Hill.
Johnson J., 2018. The 6 Stages of the Customer Buying Process & How to Leverage Them.
Available at: https://tallyfy.com/buying-process/. Accessed on: 10th March 2018.
Jones S., 2014. The Six Stages of the Consumer Buying Process and How to Market to Them.
https://www.business2community.com/consumer-marketing/six-stages-consumer-
buying-process-market-0811565. Accessed on: 10th March 2018.
Mooij M., 2011. Customer Behaviour and Culture: Consequences for Global Marketing and
Advertising. 2nd Edition. San Francisco: SAGE Publications.
Pride W. and Ferrell O. C., 2009. Foundations of Marketing. 3rd Edition. Houghton Mifflin
Company.
Solomon M., 2011. Consumer Behaviour: Buying, Having, and Being, 9th Edition. Prentice
Hall.