Understanding Consumer Decision Making

This assignment delves into the complex world of consumer behavior and how individuals make purchasing decisions. It examines various stages of the decision-making process, from need recognition to post-purchase evaluation, highlighting the influence of psychological factors, social cues, and marketing efforts. The analysis draws upon academic sources and real-world examples to provide a comprehensive understanding of consumer motivations, perceptions, and ultimately, their choices.

Consumer decision making
insights

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
P1 Stages of consumer decision making journey for coco cola.............................................1
P2 Significance to map a path of purchasing and understanding consumer decision-making for
marketers. ..............................................................................................................................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
Enclosed in PPT.....................................................................................................................5
P3 Comparing and contrasting the difference of decision making process of B2B and B2C in
Coca Cola...............................................................................................................................5
P4 Evaluating the different approaches to market research and methods used in decision
making process.......................................................................................................................5
M2 Providing a coherent and justified evaluation of how different factors influence decision
making and buying behaviour in Coca Cola..........................................................................5
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................5
P5 Evaluating how marketers influence the different stage of decision making process of B2B
and B2C at Coca Cola............................................................................................................5
M3 Critically evaluate how marketers influence each stage of decision making process at
Coca Cola...............................................................................................................................7
D1 Critically evaluating theories, concept and models influencing and impact upon decision
making process in Coca Cola.................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Consumer behaviour is the study of individuals groups or organization and all major
activities which are related to purchase of products and services to satisfy their needs and wants.
It is also refers to actions of customers in market towards the purchase of products in market
(Goetsch and Davis, 2014). In respect to this, present report will provide an understanding about
consumer behaviour in respect to products of Coco cola brand. It will also describe the process
of consumer decision-making by analysing through development of consumer decision making
model. Moreover, this factors that affects the process of decision making have also been
discussed in present report. At last, different stages of decision-making process have also been
explained and approaches to learning have been highlighted in this assignment.
P1 Stages of consumer decision making journey for coco cola.
Decision-making is the process of selecting the best choice from the available alternatives. For
decision-making a forecast has to be made of each option and also determine the which option is
best for particular situation.
1-importance of mapping a path to purchase – in this the decision that guiders towards the
purchase. A consumer purchases product only when the importance is shown to them.
2- consumer decision journey for pre purchase-
3-purchase- it is a stage where the consumer takes decision to purchase the product. It is to
decided that which brand of product he will purchase but in this the need of the consumer arises.
4- Decision- it is a stage where the final decision is made by the consumer for purchasing a
product. Also it is decided that the product will be of this brand
5- post purchase- in this the consumer evaluate the need required by him with the product
feature. If he is satisfied then he will be delighted and if not he will not purchase again.
Consumer is analysed as person who buy products and services from market for hid
personal consumption. Consumer decision making is considered as process through which an
individual will analyse its requirements, collect information, evaluate alternatives and take
appropriate purchase decision (Solomon, Russell-Bennett and Previte, 2013). These actions
critically describes the psychological and economic factors that are influenced by environmental
factors such as cultural groups and social values. In present context, analysis of consumer
decision making for products of coco cola brand is done to identify the behaviour of consumer
towards it's their products. Mainly the consumer are considered as habitual decision maker that
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makes choices characterised by an impulse made with little efforts and without conscious
control. In order to provide information about the impact of consumer decision-making and
complexities of consumer behaviour on the Coco cola, a five stage model is discussed above:
 Step 1-Identification of needs: It is first stage, needs are analysed as significant factors
which leads to purchase of goods and services. It is also considered as catalyst that
triggers the buying decision of individuals. In this context, for purchasing the products of
Coco cola brand like Coco cola vanilla and other soft drinks (Vohs and et.al., 2014). For
analysing the impact of consumer behaviour, company need to analyse there needs
related to their products For example: An individual who purchase a soft drink should
identify his needs as thirsts.
 Step 2-Gathering information or research: After analysing the needs of particular
product, the consumer tries to gather information from its own sources so that it make an
appropriate decision for purchasing the products. There are various ways through which
an individual can acquire knowledge like internal sources, commercial sources, public
sources and experimental sources. In this context, Decision of consumer towards
purchase of products of Coco cola also get impact due to this research. Positive
information about the products in market will influence the consumer to purchase the
products but if the consumer gets negative information about the products then consumer
will change its perception towards the products or not buy.
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 Step 3 -Evaluation of alternatives: Consumer at this stage will make decision to
purchase a product after analysing the alternative products and make comparison with the
product on basis of quality, taste, price and attractiveness etc (Beach, 2014). Through
this, it will able to analyse the suitability of products to satisfy the needs. For influence
the behaviour of consumer towards the products, Coco cola has developed various unique
products like Coco cola vanilla,Fresca, Mello Yello, Murge and Barq's Root Beer etc. to
differentiate its brand from other alternatives.
 Step 4-Purchase of product service: After going through the above stages, customer
finally purchase the products. With effective evaluation, they will make the final decision
and purchase products to satisfy their needs. From the effective research, Coco cola has
achieved continuous growth in sale of its products as they have influence the behaviour
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Illustration 1: Customer Decision Making Process Model
(Source:Marketing & Buyer Behaviour - the Decision-Making Process, 2017)

of consumer by analysing there demand for products and providing the quality products
at reasonable prices.
 Step5-Post purchase evaluation: The purchase of product is followed by post purchase
analysis evaluation. At this stage, the consumer will analyse that whether the products
was useful to him or satisfied his needs or not. In this context, this analysis also affects
the sale of products of coco cola in market as the customer will provide his review about
product that influence purchase decision of other consumers.
Thus, it can be said that consumer decision making towards the products is important for
organization in analysing sale forecast of product in the future.
Moreover, the factors that affects the decision-making have also been discussed below:
 Impact of heuristics : heuristic approach is considered as aspects in which the marketer of
companies will focus on behaviour of consumers as well as their psychology to purchase
the products. In Coco cola, management of marketing through development attractive and
simple with aim to target the behaviour of consumers. Hence, this approach will provide
a positive influence on consumer behaviour.
 Influence of marketing mix: It is considered as major elements that provide support to
enterprise in targeting its customers in process of marketing (Schütte and Ciarlante,
2016). There are seven elements of marketing mix like Product, prices, place, promotion,
people, process and physical evidence that affects the customers to make purchase
decision. Before making a purchase decision making customers analyse all the factors.
 Effect of new technological advancement: major influence of new technologies have
been made on the consumers' behaviour (Schiffman and et.al., 2013). Introduction of e-
commerce market had influence the purchase decisions of consumer greatly. At present,
most of the people prefer online shopping. Thus, it is considered as significant for
management of brand to consider and implement this new technologies in order to raise
there consumer base.
P2 Significance to map a path of purchasing and understanding consumer decision-making for
marketers.
In present competitive environment, there are various challenges have been faced by
companies in increasing marketing of products and services. For maintain position, it essential
for marketeers and marketing management of coco cola brand to analyse the process of
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consumer decision making. It will support the management to raise market growth rate and
consumer base. These factors influence the customers to buy the products and satisfaction level
which consumer has experienced after consumption of product will support enterprise to identify
and evaluate quality of products (Zarantonello, L. and Schmitt, B.H., 2010). Further, through this
organization will be able to improve quality of its products and services to increase the
satisfaction so that consumer will purchase more and more products. Wide variety of soft drinks
have been offered by Coco cola to its customers. Hence, in order to recognise its most successful
products, marketing management of organisation needs to value consumer decision-making
process and it will assist in growth and development of enterprise and also enable them to gain
competitive advantage over its rivals. There are fours views on customers decision making have
been discussed above:
It is being classified in to four views which are economic view, passive, cognitive and emotional.
Elaboration of these four points are given below:
 Economic view: It is also considered as rational view in which critical evaluation of
products is done by consumers (Whitmarsh and Palmieri, 2011). It also identifies the c
benefits and costs of products then develop decision of purchasing a products so that
there wants will be satisfied effectively. Consumers always have there subjective choice
that depends upon information achieved by them about the product.
 Passive View: In this, customers view of purchase are basis on efforts of promotion laid
by marketing organization. In passive, view customers determines and evaluates products
on the basis of promotional activity done by Coco cola.
 Cognitive view: In cognitive view, consumer makes purchase decision on the needs and
own self interest and comprehending the demand. The marketeers of Coco cola needs to
support customers to develop shortcut
 Emotional view: In this, evaluation of products is not done by consumers and will get
influenced by their emotions to buy a particular product. For instance, individual who
love Coco cola brand will prefer to consume their product without evaluating alternative
in market.
There is huge influence on the elements of marketing mix on purchase decision. This is
because of the changing taste and preference of consumers. The taste and preference of
consumers will have a huge impact on the marketing mix. According to the customers needs the
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product is prepared. Also, the marketing of that product is done on the basis of new product
features so that customers are attracted towards the product. The decision-making is entirely
dependent on marketing of product. More effective marketing will be more demands of the
product will generate and will lead the customers to buy that product.
TASK 2
Enclosed in PPT
P3 Comparing and contrasting the difference of decision making process of B2B and B2C in
Coca Cola.
P4 Evaluating the different approaches to market research and methods used in decision making
process.
M2 Providing a coherent and justified evaluation of how different factors influence decision
making and buying behaviour in Coca Cola.
TASK 3
P5 Evaluating how marketers influence the different stage of decision making process of B2B
and B2C at Coca Cola.
Introduction:
By doing the marketing of all the products and services available with the company it is
easy for marketer to get inside the head of all its customer (Gunter and Furnham, 2014).
Marketers who are doing the marketing of cold drinks of Coca Cola they are all influencing the
buying decision of customer at both business and market. The consumer's buying decision
making process will include identifying the need of that consumer and at the last making the
decision to buy that product or not. There are mainly five stages of customer making the buying
decision and every stage of this process are influenced by marketers who are helping the
customer to buy the product of Coca Cola.
 Problem Recognition- this is probably the first stage of customer buying the commodity
as most of the decision made by customer are based on some form of problem
( Schiffman, O'Cass and Carlson, 2013). This problem will then lead to satisfaction of
that want and the customer will feel that they need to do something to make themselves
satisfied. If the marketer makes out when customer is about to change the product
because of the bad experience at that time marketer will target that part of customer. This
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problem arising from the bad experience from other company;s product Coca Cola will
advertise their product to customer thus influencing the problem recognition stage of
buyer.
 Information search- once the customer has seen the advertisement of Coca Cola then
they will try to find more information about that product. How is the product, what is the
quality or taste and how it is different from the others available in the market. The best
way to find more information is to access it on Google, the customer will also prefer to
ask their family and friends about that product ( Rödiger and Hamm, 2015). In Gathering
information about the product of Coca Cola marketer will help the customer as they are
the one in company who are responsible for maintenance of the customer company
relationship in market.
 Evaluation of alternatives- after customer has gathered the information about the
product of Coca Cola then he will try to find all alternatives available in market.
Evaluating all the alternatives in market will help customer in differentiating all products
on the bases of the quality and taste of the alternatives ( Pérez and Rodríguez del Bosque,
2013). The evaluation will also be in terms of price and other factors which are important
for them. Customer will also consider the review and compare the price of all the
products available and then will be choosing the best that would be satisfying the
parameters.
 Purchase- this is the main stage for both the marketer and for customer as at this stage
they decide to buy the product by making the purchase of the product. This purchase will
be based on the knowledge gathered and on the decision of from where to buy the
product (Oliver, 2014). This is the profitable stage for both customers and Coca Cola as
customer will get the desired product and Coca Cola will get the money in return of the
purchase. This stage is also said as the selection stage as the customer is selecting the
product after information gathering and evaluation of the alternatives. Marketer will help
the customer in buying the product from all the alternatives available if the market
campaign of Coca Cola is very effective then it will become easy for customer in buying
the product.
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 Post purchase- this stage is generally not considered by many of marketers as they think
that it is not that much necessary for the company. But for Coca Cola this is an important
part of customer buying process as this tell company to analysis the satisfaction level.
The customer himself do the evaluation of the decision which he had taken to buy the
product. Whether the product has satisfied the need of customer and will he purchase the
product again in and become the loyal customer (So and Wang, 2016). Marketer will help
the customer in buying the product and make the post purchase decision.
The political, social, economical and technological factor also play important role on consumer
buying behaviour.
Political Like if any of the product has been banned by the government of certain country then
the customer will not be able to buy this product and automatically will be effecting the decision
to whether buy it or not.
Economical And if the economic condition of the country is not good then it will not be able to
import certain type so goods so the customer will not be able to purchase them.
Technological If the technology in particular country is not good then the people of the product
can not buy certain goods.
Social If certain goods are banned by the society of the country then they people will oppose
those products.
M3 Critically evaluate how marketers influence each stage of decision making process at Coca
Cola.
All the above said stage of customer decision making are influenced by marketer as they
assist the customer in deciding and purchasing the product. As marketer are the person who are
involved in the marketing process which help Coca Cola to grow and develop in the market.
Marketer is responsible to build and maintain the relationship between customer and company
they are the link between this relationship (Badgaiyan and Verma, 2014). Marketer are directly
in touch with the customers of Coca Cola they are the one who do market research and then
distribute the product of Coca Cola throughout the market. Eventually they influence each stage
of decision making process at Coca Cola. They help customer in gathering the information about
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the product, evaluating from the alternatives available and the then making the final purchase of
the product.
D1 Critically evaluating theories, concept and models influencing and impact upon decision
making process in Coca Cola.
Decision making is the theory which involve the individual and their behaviour at the
time of risk and uncertainty. Decision making theory are the theory related at the time of buying
the product and services of a certain company. They involve the normative and descriptive
theory of decision making concerned with the best decision to be made, asking a perfect person
who can form the decision or can simply help and that must be fully rational (Gunter and
Furnham, 2014). Whereas, positive or descriptive theory are solicitous with the behaviour of the
decision makers in the process of decision making.
Conclusion: it has been concluded that there are many types of decision making process which
are used to various types of customers like business type and non business types. Culture in the
organisation play important role in forming decision regarding the type of customer. These
influence in different ways in the organisation.
CONCLUSION
In this report, it has been concluded that customer behaviour and decision-making also
affects the sale of enterprises. In present scenario, consumer decision-making process and model
has been covered that provides an understanding about the important of values and perception of
consumers in decision-making. Moreover, it also provides about various view of consumers
which has affected their decision towards purchase of particular product brand Coco cola.
Further, various stages od decision-making process have been covered. While, approaches of
consumer decision-making also provides clear information that organisation will able to achieve
if they will influence their customers by satisfying there demand purchasing the products. It is
being suggested to management of brand to analyse the consumers decision making process and
views in order to increase their customers base and reducing the impact competitors in market.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
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Introduction to Psychographics (Vol. 5). Routledge.
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Rödiger, M. and Hamm, U., 2015. How are organic food prices affecting consumer behaviour?
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Schütte, H. and Ciarlante, D., 2016. Consumer behaviour in Asia. Springer.
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Vohs, K.D., and et.al., 2014. Making choices impairs subsequent self-control: a limited-resource
account of decision making, self-regulation, and active initiative.
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Whitmarsh, D. and Palmieri, M.G., 2011. Consumer behaviour and environmental preferences: a
case study of Scottish salmon aquaculture. Aquaculture Research, 42(s1), pp.142-147.
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Online
Marketing & Buyer Behaviour - the Decision-Making Process, 2017.[Online]. Availabile
through:<https://www.tutor2u.net/business/reference/marketing-buyer-behaviour-the-
decision-making-process> {Accessed on 22 November 2017].
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