Stages of Customer Decision Making - PDF

Consumer Behaviour and
Insight

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This report has shown a different stages of customer decision making by diving the process
in five steps such as Need recognisance, Information, Alternative, Purchase decision and Post
purchase decision. Further this report explains the Importance of Consumer decision making by
explain the model. Further this report explains the difference in Decision making of B2B and
B2C organisation on the basis of stage, requirement, purpose and target. Further this report
explains the market research method in decision making ans in the explains the factor
influencing decision making by the way of looking at Perception, Personality and Motivation.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.............................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
Section 1...........................................................................................................................................4
Q1 Different stages of Consumer decision-making...............................................................4
Q2 Model of consumer behaviour and its influence on marketing decision and importance 5
Q3 Consumer decision-making regarding the google one product........................................7
SECTION 2......................................................................................................................................9
Q4 Similarities and differentiation of decision-making process in context of both B2B and
B2C.........................................................................................................................................9
Q5 Evaluate the market research method to understand the decision-making process........10
Q6 Explains about the factor which influence the decision-making process and Market
research influencing consumer decision...............................................................................12
SECTION 3....................................................................................................................................12
Q1 Explain factors which can affect Decision making process...........................................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15

INTRODUCTION
Consumer behaviour is the study about the individual how they used to buy or consume the
product to satisfy their own need. Google LLC is an American multinational technology
company founded by the founder Larry Page and Sergey Brin in the year 1998. This report
highlights the different stages of consumer decision making regarding the company’s product
and services. Further these reports explain the importance for the marketer to understand the path
to purchase and understand the consumer decision making. These reports also explain the
similarities and differences in the decision-making process of both B2C and B2B and also shown
suitable example. Report also explains about the different market research source through which
the decision-making process of both B2B and B2C can be understand. In the end, this report
explains about the factors which influence the decision-making process.
COMAPANY BACKGROUND
Google is American multinational technology company that is well-known for internet
services. Google was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin in the year 1998, Headquartered
based in California, US. 9871 employees are employed by the google at the end of the previous
year. An Internet search engine. Some famous google product are Web email, news aggregator,
Calendar software, A suite of productivity applications, including spreadsheet, word-processing,
and photo-editing software, Cloud storage for consumers and business.
Section 1
Q1 Different stages of Consumer decision-making
Consumer Decision making is the process in which consumer goes through several of
stages before making a decision, there are mainly 5 stages through which customer goes through
which are as follows:
Need recognition: It is the first and primary stage where customer recognise about the
need and requirement of the organisation. In these stages, customer feel that they are missing
anything and after getting that customer can have a good life. In the case of the Google services
these stage generally occurs when the customer feels the need of privacy and security of the data
which they possess and feels to keep the data as a backup in a well secured drive. Google need to
always look at these types of customer as these type of customer as these type of customer can be
find in the business and also can be find in the developing country as in that country people like
to use new services which are available (De Mooij, 2019).

Information Search: It is the second stage in the consumer decision making process in
which customer used to search for the alternative in the market to solve the problem or need
which was found in the primary or at initial stage. In the case of the Google, company requires to
adequately advertise their services through different marketing platform as it will promote the
need of the company’s product in the eye of the customer and will also help in showing the
service of the company which is provided by the company to the customer. Different
promotional platform can be Commercial, personal, Public, Experiential Sources.
Evaluation of Alternative: It is the stage where customer used to evaluate all the
information which was gathered in the second stage and try to find out the best. In the case of the
Google company has to keep in mind the convenience level of the employee as there are much
local software which provides the service and as goodwill of the company is so good that it will
attract the customer toward the company but need to be secure with the service and convenience
level.
Purchase decision: This is the stage where customer decides to buy the product after
going through all the above stage, these decisions making includes all the solution of the need
and requirement which was uncertain beforehand. In the case of Google company cannot do
anything in these decisions but company should provide a good and friendly services and
explanation about the services so that customer feel good about the company (Zhang and
Benyoucef, 2016).
Post Purchase Behaviour: These is the stage where customer feels after the purchase of
the product that whether the product is able to satisfy all the expectation which was desired by
the customer. Google need to provide the service by guiding all the instruction and also
providing after sell services which will help the company to prevail the customer as customer
can be proved as a good promotional tool and also can help the company to overbuild the
goodwill in developing countries as well.
Q2 Model of consumer behaviour and its influence on marketing decision and importance
Nicosia Model of Consumer Behaviour
This is the model which looks at the relationship between firm and its consumer. This
model suggests that the message which is pass on by the organization in the way of
advertisement influence the buyer toward the organization. But the attraction of the consumer is
heavily depending upon the situation and attitude of the consumer.

This model is divided into four major fields:
 Firms and consumer attitude: This field includes the firm marketing environment and
communication to affect consumer attitude and the consumer characteristic like
experience, personality which affects firm product attitude.
 Search and evaluation: The Phase in which consumer used to search for the other firm
brand and compare the same. Company generally in this case motivate consumer to
purchase their brand.
 Act of Purchase: Motivation to the consumer will result in sell of the product to the
consumer, as they were convinced of the benefits.
 Feedback of sales result: This model analyses the feedback of both the seller and buyer
after the purchasing of the product.
Black Box Model
Black box model of a consumer is the model which looks at stimuli as a primary basis for
the buyer behaviour. Stimuli stands for the advertisement and other form of promotion which is
done by the organization to promote the awareness of the product in the market. Black box
model is having two component buyer characteristic and buyer decision process.
Figure 1: Black Box model of consumer behaviour
(Source: Mandel and et.al., 2017)
Buyer characteristic can be defined as an internal aptitude of the buyer which includes the
personal, Social, cultural and Psychological. Marketer generally does not expect that the stimuli
will be able to change this prospect of the consumer. Buyer decision-making process includes the

need recognition, Information search, Evaluation of the Alternative, Purchase decision and Post
Purchase decision. This model specifies that it is not easy to understand consumer mind.
Consumer decision-making and path to purchase both are very important for the business
point of view as they affect the sales of the business in both positive and negative aspect. Some
importance of these models are as follows:
Understanding the Market: Both the above models help the marketer to understand the
group of the customer in the market which is in need of the product of the company, so by the
help of that information company can effectively contact the customer in that market by
educating them about the services which is needed or required by the customer to full fill there
need in the reality.
Understanding the customer: These two theories helps the business in understanding
the customer very efficiently as the need is known by the marketer in advance which helps the
business to offer the correct product to the customer which reduces the time effort of both
customer and business and which certainly makes the customer feel happy about the company
which increases the goodwill of the company (Mandel and et.al., 2017).
Designing marketing mix: It helps the business in developing the marketing mix
according to the need of the customer as developing the marketing mix is the tough task for the
business as it include both financial and operational decision and opting for the wrong
marketing mix always affects the business in the negative way but by the help of these two
model marketer is able to develop the marketing mix which is more focus on satisfying the need
of the customer as it help in promoting the awareness of the product very nicely to the customer
who are in real need.
Q3 Consumer decision-making regarding the google one product
Google most famous product nowadays is Google pay, software which allow sending
money from one account to another. Consumer decision-making process is as follows for the
selected product:
 Need recognizance: There was a need in the people that there should be fast system to
transfer the money from one account to another as NEFT used to take time.
 Information search: Google than promote the dame on many websites which help
consumer to get knowledge about it.

 Evaluation Alternative: On the basis of that consumer has chosen google pay as in
between the number of app available. Google's goodwill has helped them.
 Purchase decision: After that consumer started to use google pay.
 Post purchase decision: Google pay has given a good service and offers to the
consumer; it has made people happy about the Google pay.

Empathy Map demonstrating consumer decision making
Importance of consumer decision map:
 Help in boosting the collaboration with the consumer
 Help in building good emotional intelligence of the company.
 Proves as a guideline for the innovation
 Helps organization in knowing the area where company is lagging behind.
SECTION 2
Q4 Similarities and differentiation of decision-making process in context of both B2B and B2C
Basis B2B B2C
Stages include in Decision
Making
In the context of B2B
organisation there are six
different types of stages
included in the decision
making which includes the
Awareness, Commitment to
change, Considering options,
Commitment to the solution,
In the context of the B2C there
are mainly five stages included
in the decision making which
includes the recognized, search
process, comparison, product
or service selection, and
evaluation of decision.
User for
Google
Map
 Does
 List all advantage and disadvantage
 Research
 Compare the software of another
competitor
 website checking from customer side
Customer has variety of option as there are few
competitors who offer the same so the features
can be compared.
Feels
 Confused
 Excited
 Over-whelmed
Confused about what is the best app which can
secure the data and can give an accuracy of result
Says
 Consumer was expecting something fast and
unique.
 Will customer will be comfortable?
 Will they feel secure?
 Will customer will find competitor benefit?
Customer says that they are having the problem about
the transfer of money from one account to another as
NEFT takes the time.
Think
 What difficulty customer is facing
 It will attract customer or not
 How to Promote the awareness of product
 What was best for customer's
Customer thinks that they should have a fast and quick
money transfer software which can transfer the money at
immediately basis.

Decision time and Final
selection
Requirement and need Requirement of Google
decision making process is at
that point when any
organisation decides to
purchase the services of the
Google to use their data base
or to show the advertisement
on the search engine. Google
also purchases the other
organisation to display their
add on their website.
Requirement of B2C decision
making process is also started
with the occurrence of
customer is in need to have
something to improve current
scenario.
Purpose The main purpose for the
Google to do a B2B transaction
is to get a service of the other
business entity to help in
marketing of google product or
to get help in improving
experience of the customer.
In the context of B2C
transaction consumer used to
take a decision to buy a service
of the Google. The main
purpose of these decision is to
full fill the need of the
customer.
End Target The end target of the Google is
to buy the services of other
business to improve the
performance of the business
with the use of other company
resources. For example:
In the context of the B2C
transaction the end target of
the Customer is to purchase the
product or service of the
business. In this transaction
customer enter into the
transaction with the company
to use the services of the
organisation.
Example of B2B

 Google is using the services of Cricbuzz to promote their Google pay application in
India.
 Google uses the services of all the banks to help in money transfer from one bank to
another.
 Hyundai uses the service of google to promote the own product.
Example of B2C
When customer is need to have a software, which can save their important data they purchase the
subscription of the google.
Many customers use the services of google to send money to other user.
Q5 Evaluate the market research method to understand the decision-making process
There are mainly two sources which are used by the marketer to research the market.
Primary source: Primary source of researching the market involves the direct connection
with the consumer as these research involves the tool like Survey, Questionnaires and interview
which helps the marketer in knowing the need or any issue which is faced by the customer as
need and problem are the only two factors which influence the customer to make a decision,
Through understanding the need and issue marketer is able to understand the B2C decision as the
decision taken is always the solution of the need and issue. This method is generally applied by
the B2C organization.
Questionnaires: Is the set of questions which are targeted toward the customer to known
about the product and the recommendation which is required as per the customer. Google
generally asks the question on their search engine about the services which helps them to
understand what is required by the customer and this also helps the Google to understand the
required purchase decision to overcome the customer need. For example, google ask the question
on the advertisement which is shown on their search engine. This method is applied by the B2C
organisation.
Survey: Survey helps the business to have a brief idea of the customer need as this help the
business in gaining more personal information as compare to the Questionnaire. In these
approaches there is man to man interaction between the surveyor and customer which helps the
business in knowing the feeling and emotion of the customer as well. Which help the business to
understand need very firmly. Google also conduct the survey on the businesses which help them

in taking B2B decision (Juster, 2015). This are the approach which is applied by both B2B and
B2C organisation.
Secondary source: Secondary source is the one of the main tool to have a marketing
research of the organisation as it provides the variety of information to the marketer about the
current situation of the market as the information source in the secondary source are the
newspaper, magazine, trade publication and pamphlets as through it company is able to known
the growing need or trend in the market. As many companies advertise or issue the pamphlet to
aware the customer in the market by going through all the information marketer can easily
identify the changes which is required to take in the organisation product to attract the new
customer toward the company, if possible company can implement the change by their own
resources to understand the decision of the B2C but in the case company is not able to do that
than marketer has to find the other business entity to provide their services to implement the
change in the product of the organisation in that case the market research help the marketer in
understanding the B2B decision making also For example By seeing the pamphlet of competitor
firm company marketer is able to get information that competitor is offering eco friendly raw
material which is the reason of improving the sale of the completion, so the market has taken
decision to merge with other company which can do these for the organisation. Secondary source
also includes the library and the educational institution books which helps the marketer in
understanding the theory and models of different business activities which help the marketer to
understand the market need and requirement in advance and by the help of all the knowledge
which was gain through books' marketer can understand and make the decision in both B2C and
B2B context to cope up with the change (Mandel and et.al., 2017). This method is generally used
by the B2B organization but sometime B2C organisation also use it.
Q6 Explains about the factor which influence the decision-making process and Market research
influencing consumer decision.
Market research is the process of gathering information from the market such as consumer
preference, needs and requirement. Market research plays a good role in influencing the
decision-making of the consumer at different stages (Tindale and Winget, 2019).
 Need Recognizance: It is the stage where consumer recognizes the need of the product
but by the help of the market company has a beforehand idea of it which helps them to
offer the product to the consumer at first which eventually attract the customer.

 Information search: It is the stage where customer used to search the information about
to solve the need, by the help of market research company used to target the selected
customer which helps the customer in getting good information (Joshi and Rahman,
2015).
 Evaluation of alternative: It is the stage where customer used to select the best
alternative out of all available to them, as market research helps the organization in
launching the product first it helps the organisation in earning good goodwill which
influence the customer decision-making.
 Purchase decision: It is the stage in which consumer used to buy the product, by the help
of marketing research company is able to know the customer to be targeted which helps
the business to attract the selected customer to the company store (Slovic, Kunreuther and
White, 2016.).
SECTION 3
1 Explain factors which can affect Decision making process
Perception- There is always a close relation between the buyers and the sellers in
business. Every business's ultimate target is to increase sales of its products and services and
enhance the number of customers. There are various factors that affect the buyer's behaviour like
values, beliefs, ethics, knowledge, income level, gender, perceptions, etc. So, it mainly depicts
the consumer mind set for purchasing any product. Satisfying Model is the model relates to this
factor that decision taken is not guaranteed that the individual is satisfied as they may have a
different perception. Perception forces the customer to buy something irrespective of the need
but if the customer is not having the good perception than customer always feel uncomfortable to
buy the product irrespective of the offer or the need of the same.
Personality- Consumers personality as well. When the need of any product is felt by the
consumer, the question of decision-making arises like whether to buy the product or not. It is
very much necessary as the producer to have the knowledge about the problems faced by the
consumers. Because this will help them to produce goods in accordance with the demand. As for
increasing the sales the buyer's behaviour needs to be examined. Before taking decision of
buying any product the consumer tries to research about the product through various sources like
advertisements, visiting directly to various sellers, by taking reference from other known people
(Zhang and Benyoucef, 2016). So, for attracting more consumers it’s important to promote the

product through various promotional tactics. Price and the substitutes' availability of the product
also plays an important role in the decision-making process. Garbage-Can Model specify that the
manager is not sure about the decision, and in the personality factor also customer are not sure
about the need. Personality always plays a crucial role in the decision-making process of the
individual as the individual always try to purchase the product which can enhance the self quality
and the personality is the combination of characteristic and quality.
Motivation- It is also one of the main factors that drives consumer’s decision-making
process. Company should also offer the product which has the competitive advantage in the
market as at the time of the evaluation of all the information it helps the firm as customer always
look to buy an economical and efficient product available to them, so company should always try
to bring a product with competitive advantage. At the time of the buying stage of the consumer
decision-making company cannot do much with that decision but company can offer a good
selling service or attractive service to change the decision. At the last stage of the customer
decision-making the customer used to see the evaluation of the product or services which has
been purchased company can provide after sell service and guidelines to make customer happy
toward the company. Incremental Model is the model which relates to the factor of Motivation.
Motivation also plays a crucial role in the decision-making of the individual as the employee try
to purchase the product which can motivate the employee to expand further in their growth, but
sometime it also hurts individual sometime as aspiring for something which is not in the
customer arc.
CONCLUSION
After going through above report, it has been summarized that there are 5 stages of the
customer decision-making process toward the company product and it is very important for the
business to understand the process as it helps the business in improving the performance of the
business. These reports also summarized that there are many differences and similarities in
between B2B and B2C decision-making and market research models helps the marketer in
understanding the decision more efficiently and also there are a factor which can influence the
decision-making process of the customer.
REFERENCES
Books and Journals

De Mooij, M., 2019. Consumer behavior and culture: Consequences for global marketing and
advertising. SAGE Publications Limited.
Zhang, K. Z. and Benyoucef, M., 2016. Consumer behavior in social commerce: A literature
review. Decision Support Systems, 86, pp.95-108.
Mandel, N. and et.al., 2017. The compensatory consumer behavior model: How self-
discrepancies drive consumer behavior. Journal of Consumer Psychology. 27(1).pp.133-
146.
Stephen, A. T., 2016. The role of digital and social media marketing in consumer
behavior. Current Opinion in Psychology.10. pp.17-21.
Murphy, M. C. and Dweck, C. S., 2016. Mindsets shape consumer behavior. Journal of
Consumer Psychology.26(1). pp.127-136.
Juster, F. T., 2015. Anticipations and purchases: An analysis of consumer behavior. Princeton
University Press.
Tindale and Winget, 2019. Group decision-making. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of
Psychology.
Joshi and Rahman, 2015. Factors affecting green purchase behaviour and future research
directions International Strategic management review. 3(1-2). pp.128-143.
Slovic, Kunreuther and White, 2016. Decision processes, rationality and adjustment to natural
hazards. In The perception of risk (pp. 39-69). Routledge.
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