Name:Sam Bowen
Student ID:11193041
Example: Male Underwear
Consumers always have to make a decision of what good they want, why they want that good and what price they are willing to pay for that good. Many different things influence consumers decisions, such as, Situational influences, Cultural influences, Class influences, Social influences, Individual influences, Internal and External influences, Demographics and Pysiographics.
First the consumer will have to decide what they want/need. The consumer recognises that they are unsatisfied with their current goods, so they want/need to purchase new and better goods. Consumers wants are often effected by a lot of influences, including Class, Social, Individual and Cultural. If a new fashion comes in, then most people will want to purchase this new good to keep up with the trends so they can be accepted by their peers and society in general. Also, if role models are seen advertising a certain good, consumers look up to them and the younger people want to be like them so they try and purchase the item for their own personal satisfaction. Eg. Dan Carter advertising jockey underwear.
Consumers will then seek information on what is the better good to purchase, e.g, better quality is more likely to last longer. People often go to friends to ask what their opinions are on the matter, others ask the workers in the shops or even do research on the internet. If a friend or a reference you have gotten has told you that a certain good they have purchased was junk and didn't last for them, you wouldn't pruchase it, but on the other hand if they gave you good feedback on it, it would highly increase the possibility of you purchasing that particular good. Although sometimes, a consumer might need to purchase something fast and wouldn't have time to do pre-purchase research so they would end up taking the sole advice of the salesperson behind the counter.
The consumer will then have to evaluate all possible goods, and decide on some criteria he wants his purchased good to have. Eg, with MaleUnderwear, you could want them to be tight, loose, have good support or be silky. Then you will need to rank all the alternative options and make a list of which is best for value, and even shop around outlets to find the best possible deal for yourself. Individual influences would be a big factor when buying items like male underwear, as for different activities, your wants/needs for underwear may change. Eg, for sport you want a tight fit so they stay on your hips while you are running. After deciding between alternatives, the consumer would then have to decide on other uses for their money, instead of purchasing underwear, think what else the money could be spent on and decide which is more important to you.
Once you have decided on purchasing, a purchaser will then need to decide on what product and brand they want. E.g, Jockey, silky or the old fashion style underwear. This is hugely affected by social influences, as most young male rugby players all want to wear jockeys as they are advertised by one of New Zealands rugby idols, Dan Carter. Then the consumer decides whether or not to purchase the product or not, this is effected by the price of the good. The consumer will either then purchase or not purchase the good depending on whether or not the consumer feels he's getting a good deal.
Once purchased, the consumer will evaluate how they feel about their purchased good and if they are satisfied and feel they got a good deal or not. Post-purchase cognitive dissonance then comes in to play, as once you've purchased you always wonder, 'What if i got those instead' etc. You will then give feedback to other people in society on your level of satisfaction from the good purchased, and will gather an opinion of the brand/product itself.
Purchasing male underwear is a fairly Limited decision making choice. We are very familiar with them, but they aren't bought too frequently as underwear tends to last for a long time if washed regularly. Other goods can be Habitual decision making, which is very low-risk purchasing, involving small goods which are bought in a routine, e.g. Groceries. The final decision making choice is Extended decision making, which involves high-risk purchasing. This normally includes a high price and the product is fairly un-familiar to you.