Q1: Consumer behavior describes how consumers make purchase decisions and how they use and dispose of the products they buy. An understanding of consumer behavior reduces marketing managers’ uncertainty when they are defining a target market and designing a marketing mix.
Q2: The consumer decision-making process consists of five steps, which are need recognition, information search, evaluations of alternatives, purchase and post-purchase behavior. These steps can be a guide for marketers to understand and communicate effectively to consumers. One note is that consumers do not always move in the exact order through the process; it can depend on the type of product, the buying stage of the consumer and even financial status.
Q3: Consumer postpurchase evaluation is influenced by prepurchase expectations, the prepurchase information search, and the consumer’s general level of self-confidence. Cognitive dissonance is the inner tension that a consumer experiences after recognizing a purchased product’s disadvantages. When a purchase creates cognitive dissonance, consumers tend to react by seeking positive reinforcement for the purchase decision, avoiding negative information about the purchase decision, or revoking the purchase decision by returning the product.
Q4: Consumer decision making falls into three broad categories. First, consumers exhibit routine response behavior for frequently purchased, low-cost items that require very little decision effort; routine response behavior is typically characterized by brand loyalty. Second, consumers engage in limited decision making for occasional purchases or for unfamiliar brands in familiar product categories. Third, consumers practice extensive decision making when making unfamiliar, expensive, or infrequent purchases. High-involvement decisions usually include an extensive information search and a thorough evaluation of alternatives. In contrast, low-involvement decisions are characterized by brand loyalty and a lack of personal identification with the product. The main factors affecting the level of consumer involvement are previous experience, interest, perceived risk of negative consequences (financial, social, and psychological), situation, and social visibility .
