Routines of Decision Making

Question: Discuss about the Routines of Decision Making. Answer: Introduction Consumer buying behaviour is an important concept for marketing purposes. It is a subjective topic that needs careful analysis and study. Buying behaviour differs from person to person based on the perception of values for a person. Various factors determine the buying behaviour of a person. Generally, consumers purchase typical products for satisfaction of wants and demands. These types of consumers are known as typical consumers. However, there are exceptions to every phenomenon. There are customers that purchase non-typical products (Xu, 2015). These are non-typical consumers that purchase uncommon and rare products based on their psychology and perception of value. These consumers are usually labelled as brand fanatic, early adopter, rebel, visionary resourceful etc. There are different factors that influence their buying behaviour. The report sheds critical light on the buying behaviour of a non-typical customer who indulges in the purchase of non-typical product. The purpose of the report is to shed critical light on the psychology and perception of value to the person and the factors that contribute to the buying behaviour of such customers. Profile of the subject The name of the chosen consumer is Liam Plunkett. He is 25 years old and the gender of the consumer is male. Liam Plunkett works as a teacher at Melbourne Grammar school. He is a postgraduate in the commerce and has successfully completed its masters in education. The chosen customer lives in Melbourne, Victoria and originally hails from Weyden Priors in Upper Wessex, England. Liam Plunkett has been living in Melbourne for the last 15 years. He has pursued his education from Camberwell High school and University of Melbourne. The hobby of Liam is collecting vintage articles. A special quality of Liam that separates him from other ordinary customers is the fascination and affinity to collect vintage products. He derives great pleasure and bliss in having a collection of vintage and rare products. A tendency of his buying behaviour is based on this fact. A major portion of the income of the customer is spent on buying G.I -Joes. The feature that separates him from the rest is that purc hase of toys and the fascination to collect vintage products is not a common tendency among adults and people of his age category. Typical customers spent their income on products they demand and want. Typical products are food, clothing, electronic gadgets, accessories etc. However, the affinity and the inclination to purchase items like toys in adults is a rare phenomenon, which certainly requires analysis and evaluation, in order to understand the psychology behind such occurrence. Liam can be categorized as a person who does not belong to the common crowd. His perception and outlook towards things is very different compared to others. His outlook and views on different subject matters is different, innovative and to an extent strange. His passion and hobbies are different and unique. This has a major bearing on his buying behaviour. A majority part of his income is spent on unique products. These qualities make Liam a non-typical consumer and person. Features of the product The chosen product of the customer is G.I Joe toys. As per the communication and interview with the chosen customer Liam Plunkett, it was observed that he spent a significant portion of money on G.I Joes and vintage toys. The customer had a special fantasy and inclination towards this product and it was observed that he had a huge collection of such toys. One fact that could be observed was the brand fascination towards G.I Joe and his passion towards collection of toys makes him buy this product. G.I Joes are action figure toys produced by the trademark company G.I Joe. The product is based on the comic series G.I Joes. The products represent the U.S armed forces. These products have various features and the product line comprises of toy figures ranging from 9.5 cm and follows the comic series (Yojoe.com, 2016). The toy figures comprises of US armed forces like US police, US army, US navy and US pilot, with a variety of other assistant fighters. As per the theme of the comic, it can be seen that the villains of the comic series are also a part of the product line. These toy figures are a successful product line of the company. The costumes of these toy figures are as per the costume of the character of the comics. These costumes make these toy figures very attractive and unique. The size of the products is appropriate, about 9.5 com size so the handling of these products is easy. Utility of the product to the customer As per conversation with the customer, it was observed that the product provided significant value to the customer. It has to be noted that customer satisfaction and customer buying behaviour is great dependent on the product value to the customer. Such benefit could be materialistic, while some could be psychological. In the case of the customer, the product provided great utility to the customers, and the product value was psychological. Liam is an avid reader and is a great fan of the G.I Joe comic series. He has followed every series of the comic and derived great pleasure from it. As a child he was hooked to the comic series and his mind drew imaginary parabolas and conjured up visions, which were influenced by the comic series. Thus, it can establish and explain the level of addiction and affinity he had towards the comic series. He has maintained the comics even till date and reads them in his leisure time. Liam is a gifted sketch artist and even sketches these items on the ca nvas. For Liam was not only limited to the comic series and it could be seen that he has deep and great love for the G.I Joe toy products. He has a impressive collection of the G.I Joe toy figures, which comprises of the majority of the characters that are in the comic series. For Liam, the collection of toy figures provides him immense joy. The collection is a product of his immense passion for the toys. He embarks on maintaining a complete collection of the toy figures since it satisfies his passion and provides him joy with such collection of the toys. The biggest passion of Liam is maintaining collection of G. I Joes toy figures and vintage toys. Thus, the consumption pattern of Lim helps in accomplishing his goal for maintaining the collection of G.I Joes. Customer decision making process Customer decision making process is an important concept that explains how customers plan to spend their income on the satisfaction of their demands and needs. Customer decision making process explains the various stages, which determines the customer buying behaviour. The five values influencing the customer buying behaviour is an important model that describes the customer buying behaviour. According to this model, there are five stages that is involved in the decision making process for the customers (Tukej Golob Podnar, 2013). The five stages are described below: Recognition of demands and needs The first stage in the decision making process is the realisation and recognition of the needs and wants for a customer. Firstly, a customer needs to recognize and realise a specific demands, which will satisfy the wants and desires of the customers. There has to be a specific lag between the actual situation of the customers and the desired and the ideal situation. This is an important fact in this case since it will determine what the customer wants to buy. It has to be noted a customer will only purchase an item only if there is a need and desire to buy a product. If there is want and need, there will be demand. The arousal of wants and desires could be triggered by two factors. These are internal stimuli and external stimuli. Internal stimuli refer to the psychological element that triggered the want and desire of product. For example, need for food and water is internal stimuli. External stimuli refer to external factors like advertisement and brand image of a product. Maslow Hierarchy of needs refers to various types of needs that humans want. These needs are : Psychological needs Safety needs Social needs Need of love Self actualization needs Maslows hierarchy of needs explains the phenomenon as to how the needs and wants of human beings change from one level to another depending on their level of intensity of the needs and wants. It is a proven fact that human wants and needs are insatiable and never ending (Liu Han 2013). Seeking of information The second stage in customer decision making process is the seeking for information. Once the need and want is recognized, it becomes important that the solution to satisfy the needs and wants has to be recognized. A customer will require solutions to satisfy the needs and wants. For this purpose, a customer will need solutions for this. The information could be obtained internally and at the same time, the information can be secured from external sources. The internal sources refer to the fact the information can be secured from the memory and experience of the customer and external information could be advertisement and word to mouth stuff (Glimcher and Fehr, 2013). Therefore, the second stage pertains to the seeking of information or solution for satisfying wants and needs for a person. Assessment for different options After getting necessary information for satisfaction of the needs and wants, a customer will try to juggle with the various options that are at the disposal. A customer will try to evaluate and assess the various options that a customer could use (Betsch Haberstroh, 2014). A customer will try to avail to the best possible option. The best possible option for a customer will be able to satisfy the needs and wants of the customer in the best way. Thus, evaluation and assessment of options is the third stage in the customer decision making process. Purchase Purchasing of products is the fourth stage in the customer decision making process. After the evaluation process, a customer will require to make real purchase of products. This will help to satisfy the needs and wants of a customer. The purchase decision will be based on the product and brand that the customer wants (Cina, 2013). The purchase decision will be influenced by the information and the evaluation of the information that a customer has assessed in the prior stages. Post-purchase emotions In the post purchase stage, a customer will evaluate his satisfaction and utility that was derived from the product. Product utility and brand reputation plays major role in this process. This is the fifth and the final stage in the customer decision making process. A customer will try to evaluate the fact that if the product was able to help the customer in accomplishing the goals and objectives of the customers. This will play a major factor in the recurrence of the demand of the product in future. The level of satisfaction will be the deciding factor in the demand of the product or brand loyalty (Solomon, 2014). The expected value and the actual value are compared and on the basis of this, the satisfaction level will be determined. This will determine the product loyalty and the brand loyalty that a customer will have towards a product or a brand. In the case of Liam, it can be seen the post purchase behaviour plays a major role in his buying behaviour. The passion of Liam, which is to collect G.I Joes and other vintage toys are satisfied with the purchase of the toy figures. The expected level of value surpasses his actual value and thus, his satisfaction level since it helps him to accomplish his goals and objectives, which he intends to fulfil from the purchase. Consumption process As per the interview with Liam, the consumption pattern is explicitly seen. The demands and needs of Liam occur when there are new supplies of the toy figures in the nearest retail toy shop. The G.I Joes toy figures have gone through various stages of change in design and structure. More advanced versions of the toy figures have been released based on the latest movies made on G.I Joes. Therefore, his demand and need for the product rises when there are new supplies or launch of new and advanced products in the market. Liam purchases the toy figures from the nearest retail toy shop that deals exclusively in these toy figures and other vintage toys. The toy shop is named Little Corner, which is located in Melbourne. Liam is able to purchase all his requirements from these shops and add to his G.I Joes galore. The shop keeps upgrading its stocks with new and latest collection of toys, especially in respect of G.I Joes. G.I. Joes shares his toys with his nieces and nephews. Resources of the consumer Resources are the most influential factors when it comes to consumption processes. In this case, it has to be kept in mind that a consumer will have to assess and evaluate the resources that will play an important role in buying behaviour of the consumers. As per the conversation with the consumers, it was seen that the resources played an important role in the buying behaviour and decision making process. Time and money were an important factor for Liam in this case. The toy shop from where Liam purchased these products where in close proximity to his house. It took him 10-15 minutes by foot to travel to the shop to make his purchases. Thus, one thing that worked in favour of Liam was that he was able to save time and money in regards of conveyance and it was easy for him to travel to shop to make the purchases. Another factor that worked in the favour of Liam regarding the buying behaviour was the nominal and appropriate price. Even though, Liam had brand loyalty towards G.I Joes, the prices of the toy figures were nominal, which increased the satisfaction level for him and made it easier for him to fulfil his needs and demands and accomplish his satisfaction level in the process. Consumers perception about the product On interviewing Liam, his views and perceptions about the product were exposed and highlighted. The nature and behaviour of Liam has a lot to do with this fact. One of the facts is that he is an introvert person and stays aloof from social community. Liam is a creative person and dwells in his own imaginary world and as result normal products and items do not appeal much to him or satisfy his wants or desires. Another fact that can be noticed is that Liam feels very connected to the comic series and the movies series made on it. In such circumstances, the G.I Joes are a means to feed his imagination. With the toy figures, he can use his imagination and relive it with the toys. These toys are his source of entertainment during his leisure time. It helps him to feel the excitement with the toy figures. It helps him to relive the excitement that he feels while reading the comic series or while watching the movies. The toy figures are a vital source of satisfaction of his passion to main tain his passion of collecting vintage toys. The toys figures are his source of company in his time of leisure and allow him to secure bliss and serenity. Positive factors that encourage the buying behaviour of the customer Some of the positive factors that encourage the buying behaviour of Liam are: Psychological factors One of the positive facts that encourage Liam in his buying behaviour is the mental joy and serenity that he derives from such collection of the toy figures. These are psychological factors that have a deep and a positive impact on him. These toy figure serve as a major source of happiness for him. It gave him immense bliss and satisfaction, especially when he saw the collection of the toy figures increase. It also provided him the escape from the monotonous routine of life. The post purchase experience for him regarding these toys is positive and it influences him to buy to more of these toy figures since it satisfies his needs and wants and his satisfaction level is high from such products. Physical factors Physical factors relate to physical features of a product. The physical appearance of the product has deep impact on a consumer. It can be seen that in the case of Liam, the appearance of G.I Joes has a deep and strong effect on him. The G.I Joes are in appropriate in size around 9.5 cm and with attractive look and costumes, which grabs the attention of Liam. It makes his collection of toys look attractive and it decorates the display section of these toys at home. The appropriate size makes it portable and he can carry it from place to place without much hassle. The attractive and style make it another reason for him to increase his purchases of the toy figure and at the same time it positively influences his purchasing behaviour. Sweet memories of the consumer relating to the product As per the conversation with Liam, it was seen that another factor that influenced his buying behaviour was the nostalgia factor. According to Liam, there were sweet memories related to the product. These toys provided him with memories of his childhood when he read the comic series of the G.I Joes and the excitement he had when he purchased G.I Joes for the first time. As per his statement, he felt the same thrill and excitement when he purchased the toy figures. Same emotions and feelings were triggered when he purchases these products. The quotient of nostalgia is high for him regarding the purchasing and the satisfaction derived from the toys. The reminiscence of his childhood days could be felt by him. The sweet memories and the happy moments relating to the G.I Joes have a special place in the heart of Liam. It encouraged him to purchase more of such products and held a special place in the heart of Liam. It revived his days of reading G.I Joes comic and the movies watched by h im. Special connection with the brand One fact that needs to be noted is that Liam is a gritty person. He has a strong will power and has a great determination level. He took great interest in martial arts and sports in his school days. G.I Joes comic series were based on action and thrill. The toy figures were of US armed forces and depicted action and thrill. Therefore, the brand portrays action and thrill. The toy figures are armed forces and depict the concept of the brand, which is based on action, grit, determination and strong will power that are features of the characters of the G.I Joes. Liam feels a connection with the brand based on these lines. He finds congruency between his ideal and the concept of the brand. This fact draws him closer to the brand and increases his brand loyalty and product loyalty. Recommendations Some of the recommendations that were given to Liam during the conversations were: Researching on better substitutes to G.I Joes Researching on better substitutes that could provide increased and better satisfaction level to him was one of the recommendations given to him. It was suggested that he should inspect about different products that could be close substitutes to these toy figures, which could provide him higher level of satisfaction and contentment with the product. It might also give him greater product value and might also provide a better source of entertainment and leisure for him. Researching in different competitor Competitors like Funskool have brand image and have good product portfolio. Therefore, if he inspected different competitors and inspected their product, it might help him to obtain greater satisfaction. Reflection There were quite a few points that I took note after my conversation with Liam. One of the things that I learnt is that customer buying behaviour and customer decision making process is a subjective view. The mental faculties play a vital in the decision making process of a customer. My personal view is that Liam is a non-typical customer and is a person who is creative and unconventional. He does not think like normal people and has great imagination level. His demands and needs do not pertain to common products. G.I. Joes are a famous brand with attractive product line. G. I Joes are well known and reputed throughout the world. From the interview, I learnt that Liam has specific parameters and metrics for utility and satisfaction from the product. His perception about product value is different and unique. His psychology is the fundamental point that determines his satisfaction and content level from a product level. Resources also play a major role regarding customer decision maki ng process. Price and time are the two main and fundamental pillars regarding customer decision making process. Nostalgia and memories play a major in the buying behaviour of Liam. He has unique perceptions about the product and his nature and passion play and important role in creating perceptions about product and product value. The brand slogan and the concept of a brand play a vital role in determining the demand and desire of a product. The concept of G.I Joes finds congruency with the ideals and outlook of Liam. This also influences his decision. Features of a product also influences customer buying behavior and what I saw was that there were certain positive features of the toy figures that induced Liam in buying these products. Bibliography Betsch, T., Haberstroh, S. (Eds.). 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