Assessing Customer Decision Making Process

The provided report evaluates the customer decision-making process and its impact on marketers, specifically focusing on Coca-Cola. It assesses different stages of consumer decision-making and highlights the need for businesses to consider rational customer views and provide information effectively. The report also discusses various aspects, including business-to-business and business-to-consumer interactions, in order to comprehend the customer decision-making process efficiently.

Consumer Behaviour and
Insight

INTRODUCTION
Consumer purchase behaviour is the study of analysing customer buying behaviours and
the factors that influences an customer to purchase a particular product or services of particular
brand (Mauri and Minazzi, 2013). In this context, how the customer purchase behaviour
influences the sales of Coca Cola will be examined in this report. The different stages of
consumer decision making process will be analysed and the importance of marketers to map the
path of consumer decision making process will be assessed in this assignment. The key
differences of decision making process in context with B2B and B2C will be analysed and the
different approaches of market research and methods of research will be assessed. Evaluation of
how marketers can influence the different stages of the decision-making process of B2Band B2C
will be made in this assignment.
TASK 1
P1 Analysing the stages of consumer decision making journey for products and services of Coca-
Cola
Consumer Decision making: Any person who purchases goods and services from the market
for his/her own personal consumption is called as consumer (Ghose, Ipeirotis and Li, 2014).
From the analysis of the market it was identified that more than 600 million customers,
worldwide consumes Coca Cola products daily thus making it the number one beverage
corporation in the world. As the competition is increasing day by day and the consumer purchase
decision has been greatly influenced by new emerging markets and their products. The process
of customer decision making is listed below:
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 Customer Need Recognition: This is the first step in the process of customer decision
making (Kalnikaitė, Bird and Rogers, 2013). In this step, customer analyse the need to
purchase the particular product. For example, an individual purchase cold drink when he
or she is thirsty and needs something refreshing. Thus in this context, customer who
needs Coca Cola product will made the purchase decision accordingly.
 Information search: This is the second stage of consumer decision making process. In
this stage an individual acquires information about the particular product he or she needs.
The information can be collected from various sources including television commercials,
personal sources like friends or relatives and public sources like newspapers or
magazines. Thus, it is very essential for the marketing management of Coca Cola to
increase their promotional activities so that more and more customers can be attracted. Evaluating alternatives: This is the third stage of consumer decision making process in
which consumer identifies the alternative of products or substitutes. This helps him to
analyse which product is better or efficient (Sekaran and Bougie, 2016). There are
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Figure 1: Customer Decision Making Process Model
(Source: Using Psychology To Strategise Keywords – Consumer Decision Making Process,
2016)

various alternative products like Pepsi, etc. that can impact on customer purchase
behaviour adequately. Purchase decision: The fourth stage where consumer made decision regarding
purchasing the particular product or services. The decision made by examining the
quality, nature and benefits of the product.
 Post Purchase evaluation: The fifth stage of consumer decision making is post purchase
evaluation. Post purchase evaluation refers to a customer’s analysis whether the product
was useful to him or not.
Level of consumer decision making
Figure 2: Levels of Consumer Research
(Source, Stewert, 2017)
Consumer decision making level is divided into three levels which are as follows:
 Routine Decision Making: When consumer already purchased the product of Coca Cola,
he or she requires little or no information regarding it (Alibage and Jetter, 2017). In this
level, consumer does not think much about the product and purchase the product.
 Limited Decision Making: In limited decision making, consumer considers the substitute
or alternative product and acquires information about it. They research for additional
information that assists them to discriminate among various brands.
 Extensive Decision Making: In this level, consumer search for information adequately
whenever they are going to buy new or unfamiliar product or brand (Pearson, 2016).
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They will evaluate the information they acquire and evaluate them efficiently before
making purchase.
Thus, in order to sustain in the competitive environment, the management of Coca-Cola
needs to focus on the customer needs and manufacture those products that generates
maximum customer satisfaction.
Factors influencing decision making
Consumer decision making process is influenced by multiple factors. These factors are
explained below: The influence of heuristics on decision making: The marketers of Coca Cola consider
the importance of customer behaviour and psychology and implement heuristics strategy
to influence customer decision making (Rice, 2014). In this they implement simple and
efficient rules that impacts on the psychology of customers. The influence of elements of marketing mix: The elements of marketing mix influences
the customer decision making process. The price, place, product, promotional strategies
are made in order to attract more and more customers.
 The influence of new technologies: In the era of digitalisation and online shopping,
customer’s decision making process has been influenced greatly (Babin and Zikmund,
2015). Varieties of products are available online and customer can compare and purchase
precise product effectively.
P2 Importance for marketers to map a path to purchase and understand consumer decision
making process in context of Coca-Cola
. In order to increase the sales and profits of the organisation, the marketing management
of Coca Cola must considers the elements that impacts on the customer decision making process.
It is very essential and important for the organisation to map a path to purchase and understand
the customer decision making process. As Coca Cola is leading beverage company, customer
behaviour towards the company is positive. But in the era of globalisation, many new and
emerging companies are evolving and delivering the identical products in the market (Mauri and
Minazzi, 2013). Thus, in order to survive in the competitive environment, the management of
Coca Cola must consider the customer decision making process and formulate efficient strategies
in order to retain existing customer and attract new customers.
Four views on customer decision making
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Customer purchase views are different varies from customer to customer. In this context,
the four views on customer decision making are provided below: Economic view: In the world of perfect competition, the customer is often described as
economic or the one who makes rational decisions. In this rational customer analyse the
market, acquire all the require information and evaluates the products and their
substitutes before making purchase (Ghose, Ipeirotis and Li, 2014). After that he or she
made the perfect decision and make purchase effectively. Passive view: Passive view is considered as the opposite of economic view. In this
customer made purchase decisions on the basis of the promotional efforts laid by the
marketing department of the organisation. In this context, the management of Coca Cola
creates various promotional strategies that deliver sound information to the customer and
he or she made purchase decision on the basis of that. Cognitive view: In the cognitive view, customer gather useful information about the
products which are necessary and act like a problem solver. Risk is the key component
and customer tries to dispel the risk associated with the products (Kalnikaitė, Bird and
Rogers, 2013). When customer acquires adequate information, he or she stop seeking for
more information and made purchase decision accordingly.
 Emotional view: In the emotional view, customer’s emotions and feeling act as an
influencing factor for making purchase decisions. The attachment of customer towards
particular brand, etc. For example, any individual who have emotional attachment with
Coca Cola will purchase its products without acquiring any information.
M1 Evaluating the response of marketers to the decision making process of customers of Coca
Cola
The marketing management and marketers of Coca Cola needs to formulate ample of
strategies in order to attract more and more customers. The decision making process of customer
greatly influences the marketers and marketing management of Coca Cola. They require to
formulate and implement those strategies that benefit the company by targeting and developing
products and services the customers effectively and efficiently. In order to gain the competitive
advantage and sustain in the competitive economy, the marketing management of Coca Cola
needs to increase their promotional strategies that impact on the customer behaviour and they
tend to purchase more Coca Cola products effectively and efficiently.
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TASK 2
Covered in PPT
TASK 3 Marketing Plan
Introduction
The marketing plan is the blueprint which is made by the marketing management of an
organisation in order to increase their marketing activities and customers simultaneously. In this
context, the marketing plan of Coca Cola will be produced in this task. This will aid in analysing
the different stages of customer decision making process that influences the marketers of Coca
Cola.
P5 Evaluating how marketers can influence the different stages of the decision-making process
of B2Band B2C
Customer decision making is the process by which customer make decision in order to
purchase the product of particular brand. There are five stages of customer decision making
process that impacts and influences the marketers and marketing management of Coca Cola. In
order to sustain in the competitive environment, the management of Coca Cola formulates and
implements ample of strategies that aid in elimination of competition effectively and efficiently.
Business to Business is the commercial transaction between two or more organization (Sekaran
and Bougie, 2016). Coca Cola Company made commercial transactions from different suppliers
who supply them aluminum, plastic and glass for making cans and bottles. B2B transactions
involved till the purchase of raw material and end till the product deliver to the distributor or
showrooms. Business to Consumer is the transaction that made between the final customers and
business organization. For example, the final products like Coca Cola soft drink, Sprite, Fanta,
etc. are purchased by the customers.
The decision making process in context of business to business model is relationship
driven. Coca Cola use marketing to educate various players in the target audience because the
decision to purchase is usually a multi-step process involving more than one person. This aid in
growth and development of the organization effectively and efficiently. In business to customer
model, the organization aim to sell their final products to the customers. The marketers are
greatly influences by the customer decision making process. Each stage of customer decision
making process influences the marketers and marketing management of Coca Cola. They have to
formulate and implement effective and efficient strategies in order to gain more and more
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customer attraction effectively and efficiently (Alibage and Jetter, 2017). In order to do that, the
marketing management of Coca Cola developed effective strategies and promotional practices
that aid in gaining more and more customer attraction. In the era of globalization and
competition, the management of the organization delivers maximum output so that their growth
and development can be made.
M3 Critically evaluate how marketers influence each stage of the decision-making process with
reference to relevant methods and models applied at Coca-Cola
Each stage of customer decision making model impacts on the marketing management of
Coca Cola greatly. Customer made purchase decision on the basis of needs and necessities to
purchase the particular product. Thus, in this context, marketers of Coca Cola made several and
effective strategies that influences the customers and evolves an urge and need in them. This
assists in attraction of customers effectively and efficiently. In order to sustain in the competitive
market, Coca Cola marketing management implements several strategies that aid in providing
information to the customers (Pearson, 2016). As in the second stage of customer decision
making process, the customer aim to collect the information about the particular product of the
organisation. Thus, the marketing management of the Coca Cola aims to provide all the
information in different ways so that rational consumer can get all the information he needs and
make purchase decision afterwards. This strategy helps the management of the Coca Cola to
increase their brand value and sales effectively. In this context, it is very important for the
marketing management of Coca Cola to consider the needs and importance of consumers so that
they can purchase the product of the organisation efficiently. This will aid the organisation to
increase their productivity and profitability and leads the company towards the path of growth
and development.
D1 Critically evaluate the application of appropriate theories, concepts and models that influence
and Impact upon the decision making process in the context of Coca-Cola
The marketing mix model and theory is the framework through which the marketing
management of Coca Cola aims to increase their customer base and profits efficiently. The 7P’s
of marketing mix helps the marketing management of Coca Cola to increase their productivity
effectively. These 7P’s includes Product, Price, Place, Promotion, Physical Evidence, Process
and People assist the marketing management of the organisation to focus on the target market
and acquire the maximum marketing share effectively and efficiently. Further, the marketing mix
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is very essential for the marketing management of Coca Cola in order to sustain in the
competitive environment and globalisation (Rice, 2014). It also influences the customer decision
making process as the strategies and plans are made to increase the amount of customers and
sales. As from the case study, it was analysed that there are more than 600 million customer who
consumes the products and services of Coca Cola daily. This implies that the marketing model
implemented by the organisation is efficient enough to increase their sales and profits. Customers
have different view before making purchase. There are various types of customers in the market
thus, the marketing management of the organisation needs to consider each and every view and
deliver their products accordingly. This will aid in growth and development of the organisation
and also assist in gaining the competitive advantage adequately (Babin and Zikmund, 2015).
This implies that marketers and marketing management of the organisation greatly influenced by
the customer decision making process and they aim to put maximum efforts in order to increase
the sales and profits of the company.
Conclusion
The above marketing plan was made for Coca Cola in order to comprehend the customer
decision making process effectively and efficiently. In the above marketing plan the influence of
different stages of customer decision making on marketers has been assessed. Further, the
evaluation of business to business and business to consumer on consumer decision making
process has been made. The critical analysis of appropriate theory that aid in growth and
development of the organisation has been made.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be understood that customer decision making process greatly
influences the marketers of Coca Cola. In order to sustain in the market economy of the country,
the management of Coca Cola needs to consider the rational customer view and provide the
information effectively. In this context, various aspects including business to business and
business to customers has been assessed in this report. Evaluation of each aspect has been made
in order to comprehend the customer decision making process effectively and efficiently.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Alibage, A. and Jetter, A., 2017. Drivers of Consumers’ Emotional Engagement with Everyday
Products: An Intensive Review of the Literature and an Attempt to Conceptualize the
Consumer-Product Interactions Within the Emotional Design Process.
Babin, B.J. and Zikmund, W.G., 2015. Exploring marketing research. Cengage Learning.
Ghose, A., Ipeirotis, P.G. and Li, B., 2014. Examining the impact of ranking on consumer
behavior and search engine revenue. Management Science, 60(7), pp.1632-1654.
Kalnikaitė, V., Bird, J. and Rogers, Y., 2013. Decision-making in the aisles: informing,
overwhelming or nudging supermarket shoppers?. Personal and Ubiquitous
Computing, 17(6), pp.1247-1259.
Mauri, A.G. and Minazzi, R., 2013. Web reviews influence on expectations and purchasing
intentions of hotel potential customers. International Journal of Hospitality
Management, 34, pp.99-107.
Pearson, S., 2016. Building brands directly: creating business value from customer relationships.
Springer.
Rice, G., 2014. Book Review—Leveraging Data: Perspectives on Consumer Decision Making,
Brand Loyalty, and People Management. Global Business and Organizational
Excellence, 33(5), pp.90-95.
Sekaran, U. and Bougie, R., 2016. Research methods for business: A skill building approach.
John Wiley & Sons.
Online
Stewart, K., 2017. Extensive Decision Making: Definition & Examples. [Online]. Available
through:>http://study.com/academy/lesson/extensive-decision-making-definition-
examples.html>
Using Psychology To Strategise Keywords – Consumer Decision Making Process. 2016.
[Online]. Available through:<http://www.monidigital.com/using-psychology-to-strategise-
keywords-consumer-decision-making-process/>
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