Need Recognition,

Search, Prepurchase
Alternative Evaluation,
Purchase
Need Recognition

Depends on how much

discrepancy exists between the
actual state and the desired
state
Need Recognition Process
Desired Actual
State State

Below Degree of At or above

Threshold Discrepancy Threshold

No Need Need
Recognition Recognition
 Need must first be
activated before it can
be recognised

Such factors operate by altering

the person’s actual / desired
states
Need activation factors
 Time
 Changed circumstances
 Product acquisition
 Product consumption
 Individual differences
 Marketing Influences
 Search
Motivated activation of
knowledge stored in memory or
acquisition of information from
the environment
Search can be
 Internal – memory, knowledge, habit,
purchase, degree of satisfaction
 External – when internal search is
inadequate. External search could be pre-
purchase search or on-going search
Dimensions of Search
 Degree
 Direction
 sequence
Degree of Search
 How many brands?
 How many stores?
 How many attributes?
 No. of information sources?
 How much time?
Direction of Search
 Which brands?
 Which stores?
 Which attributes?
 Which information sources?
Sequence of Search
 In what order of brands considered?
 In what order of stores visited?
 In what order of attributes considered?
 In what order of information sources
processed?
Determinants of Search
 Situational
 Product
 Retail
 Consumer
Consumers engage in
more search as their
attitude towards
shopping become
more favourable
“Age and income is often
negatively related to search”
 Prepurchase
Alternative
Evaluation
The process by which a choice
alternative gets evaluated and
selected
Evaluative criteria
 Price
 Brand name
 Country of origin
 Situational influence
 Similarity of choice alternatives
 Motivation
 Knowledge
 Involvement
Decision Rules
 Non-compensatory methods
 Compensatory methods
Non-compensatory Decision
Rules
 Lexicographic
 Elimination by aspects
 Conjunctive
Compensatory Decision
Rules
 Simple additive
 Weighted additive
Some learnings
 Consumers typically have some
determinant attributes that are salient to
actually influence the evaluation process
 Consumers use some cut-offs on attribute
values. A brand that fails to meet a cut-off
may be rejected regardless of how well it
performs on the other attributes
 Consumers make trade-offs between
quality of their choice and the amount of
time and effort necessary to reach a
decision
Purchase
Not all purchase intentions are fulfilled
Reasons could be
 Changed motivations
 Changed circumstances
 New information
 Desired alternatives are no longer
available
Choice of Alternative
 Fully planned purchase – both product
and brand are chosen in advance,
Extended problem solving and high
involvement (61%)
 Partially planned purchase – intention
to buy product but brand chosen at the
time of purchase
 Unplanned purchase – both product and
brand are chosen at point of sale.(50%)
Options for the source of
purchase
 At home – travelling salesmen, internet,
phone ordering, mail-order, catalogues
 Retail
Shopping motivations
 Information acquisition
 Alleviating loneliness
 Dispelling boredom
 Escape
 Fantasy fulfillment
 Relieving depression
Shoppers are a dwindling
species
Reasons
 Less leisure time
 Buying less
 Shopping has ceased to be a pleasure
 Spending less time at shops
 Prefer to buy from home
Enhancing Relationship
Marketing
 Consumer value addition – quality,
consistency, EDLP
 Personal selling- perceived knowledge and
expertise, perceived trustworthiness, customer
knowledge, adaptability
 SalesPromotion – to avoid the rigour of EPS
 Databased marketing – ongoing
personalized contact, loyalty programmes, direct
mailers