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Chapter 10
Customers’ purchase
decision process
WHILE BUYING
Goals
Understand the nature of evaluative criteria and marketing
application based on evaluative criteria
Understand the role and types of situational factors that
affect consumers’ purchase decision
Marketing application based on situational factors
Understand types of consumers’ purchase decision
making
Content
1. Evaluating and choosing alternatives
2. Purchase decision styles
3. Shopping experience: in-store and online
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1. Evaluating and choosing alternatives
1.1 Evaluative criteria
Evaluative criteria are the dimensions we use to judge
the merits of competing options.
Criteria on which products differ from one another carry
more weight in the decision process than do those where
the alternatives are similar.
Determinant attributes are the features we actually use
to differentiate among our choices.
1. Evaluating and choosing alternatives
Evaluative criteria can differ in type, number, and
importance.
The type of evaluative criteria a consumer uses in a
decision varies from tangible cost and performance
features to intangible factors such as style, taste, prestige,
feelings generated, and brand image
The number of criteria used by consumers depends on the
product (simple or complex), individual characteristics
and the buying situation (urgent purchase or purchase for
gifts)
1. Evaluating and choosing alternatives
1.2 Consumers’ judgement and evaluative criteria
Direct judgement: based on consumers’ knowledge about
the technical features the product
Indirect judgement: based on surrogate indicators
Price
Brand
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1. Evaluating and choosing alternatives
1.3 Attribute-based choice vs Affective-based choice
Attribute-based choice requires the knowledge of specific
attributes at the time the choice is made, and it involves
attribute-byattribute comparisons across brands.
Attitude-based choice involves the use of general attitudes,
summary impressions, intuitions, or heuristics; no attribute-
by-attribute comparisons are made at the time of choice.
Motivation, information availability, and situational factors
interact to determine which choice process will be used
Heuristics
Instead of conducting an extensive information search, we
often use shortcuts or heuristics.
These “mental rules of thumb” range from the general
(“higher-priced products are higher-quality products” or
“buy the same brand I bought last time”) to the specific
(“buy Domino, the brand of sugar my mother always
bought”)
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2. Purchase decision styles
The compensatory rule allows a product to make up for its
shortcomings on one dimension by excelling on another
• The simple additive rule leads to the option that has the largest
number of positive attributes.
• A weighted additive rule allows the consumer to take into account the
relative importance of the attributes by weighting each one
2. Purchase decision styles
The noncompensatory rule: if an option doesn’t suit us on one
dimension, we just reject it out of hand and move on to
something else
The elimination-by-aspects rule: customers evaluate brands
on the most important attribute
The conjunctive rule: customers choose a brand if it meets all
the cutoffs, but rejects a brand that fails to meet any one cut-
off.
The lexicographic decision rule: the consumer ranks the
criteria in order of importance and then, selects the brand that
performs best on the most important attribute.
3. Shopping experience: in-store and online
3.1 Shopping orientation
utilitarian function vs hedonic function of shopping
Hedonic shopping motives includes the following:
• Gratification seeking
• Idea shopping
• Adventure seeking
• Social shopping
• Role play
• Value shopping
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3. Shopping experience: in-store and online
3.2 Store design
Layout
3. Shopping experience: in-store and online
3.2 Store design
Retail theming: four basic kinds of theming techniques
• Landscape themes rely on associations with images of nature, Earth,
animals, and the physical body.
• Marketscape themes build on associations with manufactured places.
• Cyberspace themes build on images of information and
communications technology.
• Mindscape themes draw on abstract ideas and concepts, introspection
and fantasy, and often possess spiritual overtones.
3. Shopping experience: in-store and online
3.2 Store design
One popular theming strategy is to convert a store into a being
space, a space that resembles a living room. Many of these
being spaces come and go rapidly – on purpose. Pop-up stores
appear in many forms around the world.
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3. Shopping experience: in-store and online
3.2 Store design
Store Atmospherics: Atmospherics are defined as the
“conscious designing of space and its various dimensions to
evoke certain effects in buyers.” These dimensions include
colors, scents, and sounds.
To boost the entertainment value of shopping (and to lure
online shoppers back to bricks-and-mortar stores), some
retailers create activity stores that let consumers participate in
the production of the products or services they buy there.
3. Shopping experience: in-store and online
3.3 In-Store Decision Making
The store environment exerts a strong influence on many
purchases.
The shopper engages in unplanned buying when they are
unfamiliar with a store’s layout or perhaps, they are under
some time pressure.
The shopper engages in impulse buying when they experience
a sudden, irresistible urge.
3. Shopping experience: in-store and online
3.4 Point-of-Purchase Stimuli
A point-of-purchase (POP) stimuli can be an elaborate product
display or demonstration, a coupon- dispensing machine, or an
employee who gives out free samples of a new cookie in the
grocery aisle.
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3. Shopping experience: in-store and online
3.5 The Salesperson: A Lead Role in the Play
The salesperson is one of the most important players in the
retailing drama.
The ability to be adaptable is vital when customers and
salespeople have different interaction styles
3. Shopping experience: in-store and online
3.6 E-Commerce and the Digital World
showrooming means that a shopper visits a store like Best Buy
to explore options for big-ticket items like TVs or appliances
and then he or she finds a cheaper price for the specific model
online
Mobile shopping apps on smartphones provide imaginative
new ways for retailers to guide shoppers through the
experience, as they do everything for you: locate merchandise,
identify the nearest restroom in a mall, or scout out sales.
3. Shopping experience: in-store and online
3.6 E-Commerce and the Digital World
Digital wallets are electronic devices that allow an individual
to make e-commerce transactions.
In addition, P2P (peer to peer) payment systems such as
Google Pay Send, PayPal, and Venmo empower ordinary
citizens to transact business with one another.
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3. Shopping experience: in-store and online
3.6 E-Commerce and the Digital World
Online shoppers value these aspects of a website:
• The ability to click on an item to create a pop-up window with
more details about the product.
• The ability to click on an item and add it to your cart without
leaving the page you are on.
• The ability to “feel” merchandise through better imagery, more
product descriptions, and details.
• The ability to enter all data related to your purchase on one page.
• The ability to mix and match product images on one page to
determine whether they look good together.
3. Shopping experience: in-store and online
3.6 E-Commerce and the Digital World
Online shoppers value these aspects of a website:
• The ability to click on an item to create a pop-up window with
more details about the product.
• The ability to click on an item and add it to your cart without
leaving the page you are on.
• The ability to “feel” merchandise through better imagery, more
product descriptions, and details.
• The ability to enter all data related to your purchase on one page.
• The ability to mix and match product images on one page to
determine whether they look good together.
3. Shopping experience: in-store and online
3.6 E-Commerce and the Digital World
In today’s changing market that often values speed, flexibility,
and convenience, consumption tends to be more liquid.
3 core attributes of liquid consumption
• Ephemeral (They value those objects only in certain contexts and
for limited lengths of time.)
• Access-based (Liquid products are “accessed” rather than owned
outright.)
• Dematerialized (Liquid products use fewer or no materials in
order to deliver their desired functionality.)
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Examples of liquid consumption
Media Streaming: Subscribing to Netflix, Spotify, or Disney+
instead of buying physical media.
Transportation: Using Uber, Lyft, or bike-sharing services for
mobility.
Digital Storage: Paying for cloud storage (iCloud, Google
Drive) instead of buying physical hard drives.
Subscription Models: Renting clothing (Rent the Runway) or
accessing software (Adobe Creative Cloud).
Information/Content: Reading articles on websites rather than
buying newspapers.
Discussion
1. List all the criteria you would use when evaluating the
following products/services and choose your decision rule
Buying a house or an apartment
Deciding a vacation destination
Enrolling in an English (or a foreign language) course
Booking a restaurant for a wedding
Booking a hotel or a resort
Selecting a college/university
Discussion
2. Describe 3 situation in which you make unplanned
purchase and explain