1- routine response behavior: Choices we make with little to no conscious effort.  Make choices without conscious control = automaticity

2- limited problem solving: Not as motivated to search for information and evaluate each alternative

3- extended problem solving: Correspond most closely to the traditional decision-making perspective. Try to collect as much info as possible from internal search (memory) and external search (Google/search engines)

1. problem need/recognition

2. search for information

3. pre-purchase evaluation of alternatives

4. product choice

5. purchase/consumption

Problem recognition:

-occurs when consumer sees difference between current state and ideal state

- consumers recognize needs and seek to fulfill them, or a product to solve it

-opportunity recognition & need recognition

-internal: retrieving knowledge from memory or genetic tendencies

-external: collecting information from peers, family, and the marketplace

-deliberate: existing product knowledge obtained from previous information search or experience of alternatives

-accidental: mere exposure over time to conditioned stimuli and observations of others

-some consumers avoid external search, especially with minimal time to do so and with durable goods (autos)

-symbolic items require more external search

-variety seeking: desire to choose new alternatives over more familiar ones

-Upside-down parabola

- search is greatest for those moderately knowledgeable

-evoked set: alternatives consumers know about

-consideration set: alternatives consumers actually consider

-evaluative criterion: standards and specifications used to compare different products and brands

-determinant attributes: features actually used to differentiate among the choices & the criteria on which products differ carry more weight

-Pepsi freshness date stamp 

-the mental rules of thumb that lead to a speedy decision

-product signal: communicates an underlying quality of a product through the use of aspects that are only visible in the ad

-market beliefs: a consumer's specific beliefs or decision rules pertaining to marketplace phenomena

-country of origin:original country from which a product is produced

1. Lexicographic: select the brand that is the best on the most important attribute

2. Elimination-by-aspects rule: establish minimum cutoffs for each attribute. Select the most important attribute and eliminate all alternatives that do not exceed the cutoff level. Continue until one alternative remains

3. Conjunctive rule: entails processing by brand, not by attribute. Establish a minimum acceptable level for each attribute. Accept an alternative only if every criterion equals or exceeeds the cutoff

-Simple additive rule: The consumer merely chooses the alternative that has the largest number of positive attributes

- Weighted additive rule: The consumer also takes into account the relative importance of positively related attributes, essentially multiplying brand ratings by importance weights

- benefits: good customer service, more options, more convenience

-limitations: lack of security, fraud, actual shopping experience, shipping charges

- personality of the store

-involves both functional and emotional attributes ( interior design, return policies, credit availability)

-the perceived level of crowding within the store may also affect shopping behavior, reducing shopping for some consumers while appealing to other segments

-Point-of-Purchase stimuli

-impulse buying & unplanned buying 

-salesperson influence

-Postpurchase satisfaction or dissatisfaction is determined by attitude about a product after purchase

When occurs:

1. Negative disconfirmation: when product delivers less than expected

2. Positive disconfirmation: when product delivers more than expected

3. Confirmation: product matches expectations

What could consumers do when they are dissatisfied?

-complain and lawsuits

-Regret: when consumers believe that an alternative course of action other than the one chosen would have produced a better outcome

-Rage: when consumers are extremely upset

-Word-of-mouth and word-of-mouse= talk about how bad it is in person and on computer

-Strong product attachment = painful disposal process

-Ease of product disposal is now a key product attribute to consumers

-Disposal options

-A process in which already-purchased objects are sold to others or exchanged for other items

-divestment rituals:

1. Iconic= taking pictures and videos of objects before we sell them

2. Transition-place= putting items in an out-of-the way location such as a garage or attic before we dispose of them

3. Ritual cleansing= washing, ironing, and/ or meticulously wrapping the item

-an actual or imaginary individual or group that has a significant effect on an individual's evaluations, aspirations, or behavior 

-Influences:

+Normative: when individuals alter their behaviors or beliefs to meet the expectations of a particular group

- Does normative=utilitarian?

+Informational: when people have difficulty assessing product or brand characteristics by their own observations or contact

+Value-expressive: when a need for psychological association with a group causes acceptance of its values, attitudes, or behaviors

•   Any external influence that provides social clues can be a reference group

o   Cultural figure

o   Parents

o   Large, formal organizations

o   Small informal groups

- Exert a more powerful influence on individual consumers

- A part of our day-to-day lives

-Membership: when individuals are recognized as members of a group, the have achieved formal acceptance status in the group--ordinary people

- Aspirational: exhibit a desire to adopt the norms, values, and behaviors of others with whom the individuals aspire to associate--celebrities

- Positive: want to be a part of

-Negative: don't want to be a part of

-Brand Community: a group of consumers who share a set of social relationships based upon usage or interest in a product

- Consumer tribe: share emotions, moral beliefs, styles of life, and affiliated product

-Avoidance reference group

- Anti-brand community: coalesce around a celebrity, store, or brand-- but in this case they're united by their disdain for it

- Deindividuation: individual identities become submerged within a group

- Social loafing: people don't devote as much to a task when their contribution is part of a larger group

- Risky shift: group members show a greater willingness to consider riskier alternatives following group discussion than if members made their own decisions

- The sender of information is often considered an opinion leader--a person who influences the decisions of others

-Experts in one area but not others

-Know more people now

- Actively involved in transmitting marketplace information of all types, just into shopping and aware of trends, overall knowledge of how and where to get products

- Act as agents to guide, direct, and conduct activities in the marketplace, interior decorators, consumer relinquishes control over decision-making functions

-WOM is product information transmitted by individuals 

-More reliable form of marketing

-Social pressure to conform

-Influences two-thirds of all sales

- We rely upon WOM in later stages of product adoption

-Powerful when we are unfamiliar with product category

-Subculture: a distinct cultural group that exists that exists as an identifiable segment within a larger, more complex society

-Microculture: share and a strong identification with an activity or art form

-Ethnic culture: Self-perpetuating group of consumers who share common cultural or genetic ties where both its members an others recognize it as a distinct category

-Minorities find an advertising spokesperson from their own group more trustworthy

-Deethnicization: occurs when a product we associate with a specific ethnic group detaches itself from its roots and appeals to other groups as well

-Hispanic: largest population subculture

-African Americans: household income and education increasing

-Asian Americans: fastest-growing racial group due to immigration

- The process of movement and adaptation to one cultural environment by a person from another culture

1. Family

2. Friends

3. Church organizations 

4. Media

- Age exerts a significant influence on his/her identity

- Age cohort= My generation

-Our possessions let us identify with others of a certain age/life stage 

- Generation Y: 1/3 of popilation, 1977-1994 (Mine), millenials, computers and TV

- Generation X: 1966-1976, no labels/cynical, stable families, save income, view individuality

- Baby Boomers: 1946-1965, more than 40 percent of population, peak earning years, active, mid-life crisis

- Gray Market: 65 years+, growing group because of good medical care, longer, healthier lives,fastest growing internet users

- Brand loyalty develops during adolescence, teen influence of family purchase decisions

- Coolhunters= kids in major markets who roam urban streets and report back on cutting-edge trends

- "How you feel" as opposed to real age

- The older we get, the younger we feel relative to actual age 

- The sum total of learned beliefs, values, meanings, rituals, norms, traditions, and customs that serve to regulate the consumer behavior of members of a particular society

- 

-Power distance: Way members perceive differences in power when they form interpersonal relationships

- Uncertainty avoidance: Degree to which people feel threatened by ambiguous situations

- Masculine vs. Feminine: Degree to which sex roles are clearly dealienated

-Individualism vs. Collectivism: Extent to which culture values the welfare of the individual vs. that of the group

-High context vs. Low context: Extent to which communication is abstract or literal