Consumer Behaviour and Insight: Mapping the Path to Buying

This report explores the factors that impact consumer decision-making process in regards to a product, using Amazon's prime membership as a case study. It also compares and contrasts the B2B and B2C approaches, and discusses market research strategies and methods. The report emphasizes the importance of mapping the path to buying and the ways in which marketers can impact each stage of the choice creation process.

Consumer Behaviour and
Insight

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY.............................................................................................................................1
Evaluating phases of journey of clients through utilizing graphic road map.........................1
Importance for dealers for mapping a path to buying............................................................2
Comparing and contrasting varied stages of the process........................................................3
Market research strategies along with research methods utilized for comprehending
consumer choice creation process in B2B and B2C...............................................................4
Ways in which marketers can impact varied phases of the choice creation process..............5
CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES...........................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Consumers are being regarded as pivotal part for each and every organization and
thus, comprehending as well as identifying the factors that impacts their decision-making
process in regards with any product is very significant. Considering this, the main aim of the
current research report is to produce a case study that encompasses a road map that comprises
the details in relation with the factors that helps in driving the consumers to make decision of
purchase. For this purpose, Amazon an American multinational technology company is being
taken into consideration. It will also throw some light on the ways marketers respond to the
decision-making process by application of suitable theories, models and concepts along with
the factors that impact decision making. Furthermore, the report will also be going to
emphasize on main variances of the choice making in relation with B2C and B2B. The final
section will pay attention on the ways marketers impacts respective phase of decision-making
procedure.
MAIN BODY
Evaluating phases of journey of clients through utilizing graphic road map
The customer choice making is a sub-section of marketing studies which the
marketers most of the time utilized for tracking or determining the whole process of
consumer decision making right from the very start to the end. The chosen product in the
context of business to consumer is prime membership (Tan and Fabrizi, 2020). There are
generally five stages of consumer journey and is being explained below with the help of
visual road map:
 Recognition of the problem – This is stage which encompasses determination of the
needs and requirements of the customers. The consumers determine the factors which
are absent. In case of prime membership of Amazon, people are facing problem
related to delayed delivery of products and more advertisement while watching
movies. This company has determined this issue and introduced prime membership in
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Recognition
of the
probelm
Searching of
information
Analysis of
alternatives Purcahse Post purchase
satsifaction

which people can enjoy unlimited free services, add free music and movies and fast
delivery of eligible items.
 Searching of information – The next stage in the consumer decision making process is
searching for the information. At this level, the data is being gathered by the
consumers in regards with the products by suggestions and earlier experiences of
consumers. Decision is being made on the basis of varied benefits and drawback of
prime membership (Gopinath, 2019). For example, it cost quite extra as compared to
other membership however there are other benefits as well such delivery within 24
hours.
 Analysis of alternatives – This is the phase in which the consumer initiates asking
questions for seeking some alternatives of the product. They analyse the reviews,
make comparison of the prices with other membership of other companies and lastly,
selects a product that is suitable for them.
 Purchase – At this stage, the consumer make decision to buy the product and the final
decision of the purchase is being taken on the basis of assessment of experience,
marketing, emotion and advertisement.
 After – Purchase Satisfaction – The final phase of the consumer decision making
process is after purchase satisfaction and dissatisfaction. It offers data in regards with
satisfaction level of the consumers. Both positive as well as negative feedback are
studied and on the basis of evaluation, modifications are being done (Solomon and
et.al., 2016).
Importance for dealers for mapping a path to buying
The stages to purchase a product is quite cyclic as well as every changing. It is
important on the part of Amazon to comprehend that in the current day and age, people
compare, suggest, consume and then make decision of purchasing a product. Furthermore,
social media along with other review sites also influences the buying decisions. They assume
that organizations must understands their clients and their requirements. Thus, the company
has initiated the novel trend of mapping the journey of consumers. Such kind of maps
involves an overview of the experience of the consumers and the manner in which the people
behave with a specified brand or product. The significance of mapping a path to purchase for
the marketers are being given below:
 First of all, it supports the marketer in development of some tailored experiences and
thus, offering an enhanced manner of gauging the campaigns effectiveness (Kaushik
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and et.al., 2018). In regards with Amazon, the maps being developed from the viable
information help in comprehending the behaviour of the consumer.
 Secondly, it helps in keeping the emphasis on the development of long-term
association with the clients through collecting information on the basis of attitude,
demographic data, conduct and perspective of people (Haider and Shakib, 2017).
 Mapping a path to purchase also assist in triggering people to purchase products and
services from the support of awareness campaign.
 It is also crucial in the sense that it offers a supporting hand to the organization in
creating a business plan as per the requirement and needs of the consumers. A good
quality journey map is that it supports in determination of the touch points that can
help in attaining the consumer centric objectives.
 It also supports in comprehending the procurement stage and make the dealers to
emphasize more on that phase (Rėklaitis and Pilelienė, 2019).
 Last but not the least, it also helps in determination of the gap in the business
objectives. It creates an outline for the workers to work in collaboration for
improvising the overall performance of the company.
Application of model
As per the Simon model of decision making, decision making is nothing but a process
to arrive at a specified decision. The core of this process is being described with the help of
three important states of this process that is aptitude movement, enterprise movement and
optimal movement. In the present time, customers are just like an unsolidified that can
consider different steps for making a buying decision. Thus, it becomes important on the part
of the organisations to comprehend the critical path being taken by their clients (Diba, Vella,
and Abratt, 2019). Considering the Simon model, Amazon has not made it compulsion of the
people to pay for the contribution payment of prime membership service. Rather, it has kept
as an option with some extra amount. Those clients who desire to avail the advantages of
prime membership can pay for the same.
Comparing and contrasting varied stages of the process
Business to consumer and business to business are being referred as the two important
approaches utilized by the companies for selling their products. Both the approaches are
different from each other where B2B involves purchasing and selling of products amid two
business firms and on the other hand, B2C involves selling and buying amid the business and
the end users that is the consumers. The buyers are urbane who comprehend the products and
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services effectively and desire to buy the same for keeping their firm competitive. Focusing
in relation with the business to consumer buyers, they often search for the best price and
analyse the market along with the competitiveness prior making any purchase decision. Other
than this, there is one more factor that plays a crucial part is the faith of the consumer on
online business. It has been originated that people normally does not have faith on online
business and thus, often buy from reliable physical outlets (Iankova and et.al., 2019). In this
regards, Business 2 Consumer marketing should emphasize on structuring belief, hope as
well as faithfulness with their clients.
On the other side, Business 2 Business marketing is association driven which
emphasize on the procedure related to making important decisions of the consumers. The
buyers of this marketing places quality as their main element in business. Further, in such
kind of approach, client facility has a very important role because depraved service to the
client can result in wastage of all the exertions of marketing of the firm. Furthermore, client
facility takes place prior making the first sales and encompasses contacting the customers
through phone calls and other means.
Market research strategies along with research methods utilized for comprehending consumer
choice creation process in B2B and B2C
In business to business, assorted investigate approaches are very popular. The
research method utilized for knowing the consumer choice creation process can be
quantitative, qualitative as well as ethnographic on the basis of the kind of outcomes being
anticipated by the researcher. Further, the advertising investigate is very intricate as well as
multifaceted and thus, manifold methods are smeared. Additionally, in B2B research
methodologies are also neutral. Tele-depth approach is being considered as the most famous
qualitative strategy because in this type of marketing, the business can make most of the
transactions through phone (Hall, 2019). On the other side, in relation with the business to
consumer, the sample size is quite large and thus, research is less skewed and more
dependable. Other than this, B2C research is also customer centric instead of business centric
for comprehending the viewpoint of the clients while buying the products and services.
Furthermore, since business to consumer emphasize on development of association with the
clients and loyal base of customers, the strategies in B2C involves offering incentives to the
contributors in the arrangement of prize points, gift cards, cash and coupons.
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Factors influencing the decision making and buying behaviour
There are diverse aspects that might distress the choice creation as well as
procurement conduct of the consumers like personal, social and psychological factors.
Consumer are mainly being driven by the social class and sub-culture. For example, the
requirement of Asian subcontinent will be quite different from those living in European
nations. Further, the decision of purchase is also influenced by experience from the past,
knowledge, age, commitment, belief in personal relevance, differences in opinions and biases
(Hollebeek and Macky, 2019).
Ways in which marketers can impact varied phases of the choice creation process
There are different ways and methods through which the marketers can impact each
stage of consumer decision making process in both B2B and B2C context. Explanation of this
is being done in the subsequent section:
Phases of choice
creation process
Influence and role of marketers
Problem identification
This is the first stage where both the consumer and the business
recognize the requirement of buying the prime membership due to
issues such as delay in deliveries, more ads etc. This is being
influenced by the advertisements along with campaigns being
progressed by the marketers at Amazon. This is the stage where the
marketers also attract the clients for the products. B2B clients are
being attracted on the basis of quality and B2C on the basis of price
(Deepak and Jeyakumar, 2019).
Information search
This is the phase where the clients search for data for the prime
membership and the main role of marketer here is to offering relevant
information through different sources such as social media, emails,
brochures and websites. They also offer data by blog posts, videos
and guides.
Analysis of
alternatives
This is the phase where comparison is being made with the chosen
prime membership plan to that of other companies. Marketers helps
the clients in making accurate decision based on their requirements.
This is being done by using both qualitative as well as quantitative
market segment tools which helps in evaluating the factors like
geographic, behavioural, age, location etc. The marketer makes
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efforts to build relationship with the clients based on usage,
experience and knowledge (Ashman, Solomon and Wolny, 2015).
Purchase
The decision to make purchase of the product is totally being
impacted by the marketers because the consumer is very much
dependent on the data being offered by the marketer at the previous
stage.
Post purchase
satisfaction or
dissatisfaction
This is the last stage, in which the marketer plays an important role
because they gather data as well as feedback from the clients in
regards with the prime membership they have bought and analyse
their satisfaction level.
CONCLUSION
Thus, from the above analysis it can be concluded that consumer decision making
process of being regarded as one of the most important elements that needs to be considered
by every organization for the growth of their business. in addition to this, different stages of
consumer decision making in regards with the chosen products that is prime membership is
being talked about significantly. Different factors such as inter-personal, environmental,
organizational and individual that impact the decision-making process of the consumers
about the products and services and were being identified.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Ashman, R., Solomon, M.R. and Wolny, J., 2015. An old model for a new age: Consumer
decision making in participatory digital culture. Journal of Customer Behaviour.
14(2). pp.127-146.
Deepak, R.K.A. and Jeyakumar, S., 2019. Marketing management. Education Publishing.
Diba, H., Vella, J.M. and Abratt, R., 2019. Social media influence on the B2B buying
process. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing. 34(7). pp.1482-1496.
Gopinath, R., 2019. Factors influencing consumer decision behaviour in FMCG. Factors
influencing consumer decision behaviour in FMCG. 9(7). pp.249-255.
Haider, T. and Shakib, S., 2017. A Study on the influences of advertisement on consumer
buying behaviour. Business Studies Journal. 9(1).
Hall, H., 2019. An Application of Qualitative Marketing Studies in the Identification of the
Consumer Decision-Making Process. Effects and Benefits. Anna Ostrowska-
Dankiewicz.
Hollebeek, L.D. and Macky, K., 2019. Digital content marketing's role in fostering consumer
engagement, trust, and value: framework, fundamental propositions, and
implications. Journal of Interactive Marketing. 45. pp.27-41.
Iankova, S., Davies, I., Archer-Brown, C., Marder, B. and Yau, A., 2019. A comparison of
social media marketing between B2B, B2C and mixed business models. Industrial
Marketing Management. 81. pp.169-179.
Kaushik, K., Mishra, M., Rana, N.M. and Dwivedi, Y.K., 2018. Exploring reviews and
review sequences on e-commerce platform: A study of helpful reviews on
Amazon.in. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services. 45. pp.21-32.
Rėklaitis, K. and Pilelienė, L., 2019. Principle Differences between B2B and B2C Marketing
Communication Processes. Vytauto Didžiojo Universitetas.
Solomon, M., Bamossy, G., Askegaard, K. and Hogg, M., 2016. Consumer Behaviour A
European Perspective. 3rded. Prentice Hall Financial Times.
Tan, Y.L. and Fabrizi, S., 2020. Consumer Decision-making under Uncertainty on Digital
Platforms. Pearson education.
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