Consumer Decision-Making Journey Analysis for Athenian Grocery

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of consumer behavior and decision-making processes within the context of Athenian Grocery, a UK-based grocery store. The report explores the various stages of the consumer decision-making journey, focusing on the purchase of olive oil, and highli...Read More

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
AND INSIGHTS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Analyse different stages of consumer decision-making journey for a specific service or
product....................................................................................................................................1
P2 Mention why it is necessary for marketers to map a purchase path and understanding about
consumer decision-making.....................................................................................................2
M1 Identify how marketers responds towards decision making processes by using relevant
models and concepts...............................................................................................................3
D1 Critical evaluation of theories and models which influences decision-making procedures..4
TASK 2 ...........................................................................................................................................4
P3 Comparison of the differences in decision-making procedures of B2B and B2C along with
specific instances....................................................................................................................4
P4 Analyse different approaches to market research and methods of research to understand
decision-making process in B2B and B2C.............................................................................5
M2 Evaluate how various factors impacts buying behaviour and decision-making, along with
particular examples.................................................................................................................6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................7
P5 Evaluate the manner in which marketers impacts various stages of decision-making
processes of B2C and B2B.....................................................................................................7
M3 Critical evaluate how the marketers impact each stage of decision-making by referring
relevant model or method.......................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Consumer behaviour is referred to the study of how individuals takes decisions about the
services or products which they wish to buy. Understanding consumer behaviour benefits a
business firm in acknowledging the reaction of customers for a specific service and products
(Bian and et. al., 2016). This assignment is carried out on the basis of Athenian Grocery which is
a UK based grocery store offering daily use products to their customers. This store is situated in
London, England. This report will include about stages of consumer decision making journey for
a specific product or service. Importance of marketers to map a path to purchase is discussed.
Differences in decision-making of B2B and B2C is discussed. Also, different approach to market
research is mentioned along with how marketers impact various stages of decision-making
processes in B2B and B2C is identified.
TASK 1
P1 Analyse different stages of consumer decision-making journey for a specific service or
product.
Decision-making is referred as a process to make choices about the purchase of a service
or product. Athenian Grocery is a small grocery store in London, UK which specialises in
offering wide range of foods from Cyprus and Greece along with pomegranate molasses, mastic
chewing gums, olives, olive oil, vine leaves etc. Other than this, daily use grocery is also
available at their store (Christopher and Senthilkumar, 2018). There are different products that
are available at Athenian Grocery but decision-making journey of customers will be identified by
choosing olive oil as their specific product. Elements associated with consumer decision making
journey are mentioned beneath:
Need/Problem recognition: This is the first stage of customer's decision-making journey
in which individuals or customers identify their requirements and needs. Buying behaviour of
customers depends on the fact that if they need a specific product or not. For example, customers
will buy olive oil from Athenian Grocery if they need that product either for food or massage.
They are not going to buy olive oil just because other people are buying it.
Information search: In this stage, consumers will perform different activities to gain
information about the olive oil which is sold by Athenian Grocery. In this context, customers can
interact which those people which have used this product before or they can search about it via
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internet. For example, To assure themselves about the merits of the product, people can visit
various sites where same product is sold by other brands. This will help the customers in
comparing olive oil of concerned grocery with other brands. This will assists the customers to
take right decision if they will buy the product or not.
Evaluation of alternatives: It is the third stage where consumers properly evaluate the
alternate choices of product available in market. Here decision-making is carried out on the basis
of price, features and quality of product. If alternative products are cheaper and of good quality,
customers prefers to purchase it. For instance, customers will buy alternative products if they
will find the quality of olive oil given by Athenian grocery is low (East and et. al., 2016).
Selection and trial: Under this step, customers selects a sample of product and try if it
satisfy their needs or not. To assure themselves that they are purchasing right product, people
buy a product for trial basis and their experience during the trial benefits them in deciding if
they wants to purchase that specific product or not.
Purchase decision: In this level, consumers makes the final decision if they are going to
buy a specific product or not. This purchase decision is made after measuring the satisfaction
gained by specific product. For instance, after assuring about the price, quantity, quality of olive
oil available at Athenian Grocery, customers will buy product. If they have any complaint with
the product, they will not buy it.
Post-purchase evaluation: It is the last stage where consumers evaluate the experience
after purchasing a service or product. These evaluations will help people in giving right feedback
to Athenian Grocery about the olive oil which is provided by them. It will help the manager in
Athenian Grocery to carry out modifications either in price or quantity of olive oil as per the
expectations of customers.
P2 Mention why it is necessary for marketers to map a purchase path and understanding about
consumer decision-making
Mapping a purchase path is a journey that is carried out by a customer while taking a
buying decision. Purchasing path includes different stages that begins from the research of a
specific product and ends with the buying of that product. For instance, Customers are needed to
prepare a map when they plan to purchase a product either that products is a mobile, oil, watch or
any other material (Gargiulo, Natale and Russo, 2015). This map involves some factors such as
need of a specific product, evaluation of first and second alternatives or other aspects linked with
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a product. After analysing all these aspects, a customer is able to identify the merits and demerits
of the product. This allow them to decide if they wishes to purchase product or they will select
some other alternative. Below are mentioned some benefits of mapping a path during product
purchase. These merits are listed below:
 Purchase Path mapping benefits the people to generate a tailored experience about a
product and service. This helps in developing high satisfaction about product in minds of
consumers.
 This helps the clients to determine important touchpoints for a product or service.
 Mapping to purchase path guides and directs the people to buy right products that are
able to fulfil their needs in efficient way (Hofacker, Malthouse and Sultan, 2016).
In decision-making process of consumers, a people identify their requirements, gather
essential information, consider alternatives and then decided if they really needs to purchase the
product or not. Different internal and external factors like social, economical, legal or cultural
aspect influence the purchasing aspect of a person. Manager in Athenian Grocery is required to
identify the expectations of their clients. This will assists the concerned company to study
purchasing pattern of consumers. Value for Athenian Grocery to acknowledge opinion of clients
is given below:
 It will helps in understanding the thought process and decision making strategy of
customers so that high profits and market shares can be earned.
 This will assists the workforce of Athenian Grocery to deal with their customers without
any inefficiency. By this, grocery will be able to create a positive image in minds of
customers.
M1 Identify how marketers responds towards decision making processes by using relevant
models and concepts
Decision-making process involves different stages like information collection, evaluating
the efficiency of decisions along with alternate choices if the taken decision fails. There are
different stages which are passed by a customers before purchasing a service or product (Horner
and Swarbrooke, 2016). These stages benefits individuals to identify if buying a specific product
serves their needs or not. Response of marketer to decision taking process is mentioned below:
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 Identifying problem: Marketer is needed to identify the problem related with service or
product. Solving these issues will benefits the marketer in earning high profits and
revenues.
 Weighting the criteria: Out of all the identified issue, marketer is required to resolve
those issues first which impacts decision-making capabilities of customers in high
manner. This will help the marketer to have stabilised sales of product.
 Considering and analysing alternatives: At this stage, the marketer considers all option
available to resolve the problem and selects that method which is cost and time efficient
so that more profits can be enjoyed (Mawoli, 2015).
 Acknowledging efficiency of decision: In this stage, the marketer will analyse and
evaluate if selected option is able to solve the issue in products and service or not. If issue
is not resolved, marketer again select other alternative and continue process till victory is
gained.
D1 Critical evaluation of theories and models which influences decision-making procedures
Cognitive Model: This is the best model that helps an individual to purchase in
accordance with their demands and needs. According to this model, marketing activities do not
have much impact on buying behaviour of people. For example, a customer will purchase olive
oil of Athenian Grocery only if it is needed. If manager of company will advertise about olive
oil, people will not buy it until they need it.
Economic Model: It is another model which depicts about decision-making of a person.
This model is not realistic in practical world and states that customers are very rational when
they purchase a service or product. This model states that consumers will buy a product or
service to satisfy their desire and show off their standard rather than considering if that product is
capable to fulfil their needs or not. For example, some people will buy olive oil for Athenian
Grocery just because their friends and neighbour has bought it irrespective of the fact that they
don't need it (Parsons, Maclaran and Chatzidakis, 2017).
TASK 2
P3 Comparison of the differences in decision-making procedures of B2B and B2C along with
specific instances
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Main aim of a company is to sell their products to earn high profits and revenues. In B2C
sales, services or products are offered to customers whereas in B2B, offerings are given to
another business organisations. There are various differences in B2B and B2C selling which are
stated below:
Basis B2B B2C
Buying decision Here, buying and selling of a
product or service is based on
commercial purposes. In B2B,
buying decision is logical and
planned.
In this marketing, selling of
products is based on desires and
emotions of clients. Under B2C,
purchasing decision is impulsive
and less rational in nature.
Marketing strategy
decision
In case of B2B marketing, mass
and social media is not required.
Good contact among sales
persons of different firm is
required (Rana, and Paul,
2017).
Here, use of social and mass
media are fundamental
marketing strategies so that
maximum number of people can
be targeted for each product.
Focus Main Emphasis is on creating a
strong relation with the buyers
and sellers.
In this marketing, major focus is
to offer high quality product to
customers in economic pricing.
P4 Analyse different approaches to market research and methods of research to understand
decision-making process in B2B and B2C
B2B is known as business to business selling in which services and products are offered
to other business organisations. Here, purchasing decisions are emotion free and serves
commercial purposes. In case of B2C selling i.e. business to customer marketing, services and
products are given to customers. Main aim of this selling is to satisfy the desires and needs of
customers so that maximum sales can be gained. Market research for B2C and B2B approaches
is quite different that is explained below:
B2B Market Research
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Within this market research, a business firm gathers important data and information by
using methods like sample representation, surveys, observations, focus groups etc. This market
research will benefits Athenian Grocery in sustaining strong relations with other companies due
to the transaction of products and services. B2B market research will benefits the business firms
in defining their market and measuring the needs of clients. Manager of Athenian grocery can
prepare qualitative questions that can be asked to the officials of other organisations. This will
helps them in taking right decisions so that high competitive advantage can be gained. This kind
of research is necessary because this will tell Athenian Grocery about their competitors,
customer insights, new opportunities, current market trends etc. This will benefits the concerned
company in eliminating those aspects which do not add value to the robust interrelationship
among different firms. By this, overall productivity of company will increase (Rangaswamy,
2015).
B2C market research
This type of research helps in identifying the opinions of customers towards a certain
service or product. Under this research, employees of company ask varied questions to the
customers about the services or products of company. This allows the concerned organisation in
acknowledging if customers are satisfied with their offerings or not. To conduct this research,
manager in concerned company can use online surveys. Online surveys will allow the manager
in Athenian grocery to gather essential facts about consumers in a systematic way. Along with it,
this research will help the concerned grocery to identify about latest trends of market,
requirements of customers and their basic needs. By this, customers of company can be retained
for maximum time and high profits can be attained.
M2 Evaluate how various factors impacts buying behaviour and decision-making, along with
particular examples
There are different factors which impacts the decision taking capabilities of customers.
Due to these factors, a business can gain wide success or fail at marketplace. Some of these
factors are listed below:
 Personal factors: This factor is concerned with occupation, lifestyle, age and gender of
people. These factors have strong influence on purchasing behaviour of consumers. For
example, old age people will prefer simple food whereas young people prefers to buy
junk food and carbonated drinks more rather than healthy food.
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 Purchasing power: It is dependent on the spending capabilities of people. If a person has
high purchasing power, they will purchase products for improving their life style without
considering if they actually needs them or not. But if a person do not have high income,
their purchasing decision will be based on the fact if a specific product is able to satisfy
their demands or not (Sasmita and Mohd Suki, 2015).
 Cultural factors: These factor impact buying behaviour of clients on the basis of values,
traditions, ethics, religions and customs. For example, Various customers have vegetarian
culture due to which they do not prefer to buy pork or chicken available at Athenian
Grocery.
TASK 3
P5 Evaluate the manner in which marketers impacts various stages of decision-making processes
of B2C and B2B
By mapping decision-making procedures of customers, a business firm is able to offer
more relevant product to the client. In B2B psychology impacts buying pattern of users. They
only prefer a service or product if it beneficial. In B2C, customer buy products on the basis of
emotions rather than need. Main focus of a company for B2C is to attain maximised profits.
There exist various considerations for a marketer while evaluation stage. Marketer needs to have
efficient marketing tactics so that customers can be acknowledged about new services or
products in detailed manner. In this context, the marketers also initiate a marketing program that
is able to change the buying decision of customers (Schütte and Ciarlante, 2016).
When a client purchase a commodity from Athenian Grocery, manager of store is needed
to assure that customer do not face any complexity while shopping. Because if customer will
face difficulty, their perception for company will be negative. This will harm the revenues of
company in considerable manner. To avoid such situation, special offers and discounts must be
provided to customers while their purchasing. To gain the attention of customers, eye catching
banners and advertisements about Athenian grocery must be carried out by business owner.
Different factors such as price, location and layout of the products impacts the buying pattern
of people in considerable manner. This can be explained better with the help of Behavioural
theory that is mentioned below:
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Behavioural theory: This theory depicts the manner in which behaviour of an individual
changes when they purchase a service or product. Other than this, it also tells the changes than
can take place while decision-making process. This theory emphasize on the behavioural as well
as personal features of a person. Hence, the marketer in Athenian Grocery is needed to
emphasize on purchasing decision of people so that their buying behaviour can be
acknowledged. This will help the marketer of concerned grocery to offer products and their
quality as per the expectations of customers. This will allow them to retain customer for
maximum time period so that high revenues can be earned.
M3 Critical evaluate how the marketers impact each stage of decision-making by referring
relevant model or method
Processes of decision-making are impacted by the behaviour of both marketers and
customers. With the help of decision-making, a person can identify the advantages and
disadvantages of a product before buying it. This helps the marketer in eliminating disadvantages
so that maximum sales can be earned. Influence of marketers on each stage of decision making
can be explained on the basis of classical model of consumer behaviour (Wang and et. al., 2016).
Classical model helps in knowing the decision-making process of customers due to which it is
easier for marketers to identify which products of company will be wide success in market. This
model states that issues and problems with a product are clear and objectives are robust.
Customers already knows alternative products but by offering them complimentary service like
discount or offers, marketer can influence customers. Hence, each stage of decision-making is
influenced by the marketers.
CONCLUSION
In accordance with above summarised report, it has been concluded that consumer
decision-making is important for a company to identify if their products are able to satisfy the
urge of customers or not. Identifying the needs of clients is important for an organisation to
influence their buying pattern. Also, there are two ways to sell a service or product i.e. B2B and
B2C in which products are offered to other businesses and customers respectively. Decision
making in both approaches is different and a company require different market research for these
approaches.
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REFERENCES
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Online
Difference Between B2B and B2C. 2019. [Online]. Available Through:
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