BUS106 Marketing: Consumer Decision-Making Process for Toyota Prius

This report analyzes the consumer decision-making process involved in purchasing a Toyota Prius, following the five key steps: need recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision, and post-purchase evaluation. The initial need is identified as both convenience and environmental concern, aligning with Maslow's hierarchy of needs. The information search includes internal experiences with Toyota and external sources like friends, relatives, and online reviews. Alternatives such as Chevrolet Bolt and Nissan Leaf are considered based on environmental friendliness, market value, and pricing. The final purchase decision favors the Toyota Prius due to its market value, practicality, and service center availability. Post-purchase evaluation confirms the Prius as a reliable and environmentally friendly vehicle. The report recommends Toyota to emphasize the sporty aspect of Prius to reduce cognitive dissonance. The evoked set, inept, inert and avoided set of alternatives are constructed to narrow down the attributes of the product that satisfies the need and want.

Running head: MARKETING PRINCIPLE
Marketing principle
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

1MARKETING PRINCIPLE
There are mainly five steps involved in the consumer decision making process. The
product chosen for analyzing the consumer decision making process is Toyota Prius.
Need recognition
The first step involved in consumer decision making process is need recognition. In the
case of buying Toyota Prius, the primary need is to have a car for convenience and the secondary
need is having a car with less environmental impact (Lysonski and Durvasula 2013). According
to Maslow need theory need for the car is of Esteem need and safety need (Niemela and Kim
2014).
Information search
In this step, internal search is initiated by remembering the past experience with Toyota.
Past usage of Toyota cars helped in internal search (Maity, Dass and Malhotra 2014). External
search is initiated by collecting information from the friends and relatives. Online sources are
also used.
Evaluation of alternatives
Alternatives shortlisted are Chevrolet Bolt, Nissan Leaf and Toyota Prius. All these
products are environment friendly vehicles with having good market value. Moreover, all these
cars are having good distance coverage from single charge. In terms of pricing, all the three
products are in the same price level (Shende 2014).

2MARKETING PRINCIPLE
Purchase decision
In this step, Toyota Prius is selected for final purchase over the other two. This is due to
the reason that Prius is having more market value over the two. Also, Prius is more practical for
daily use over others with having more service centers.
Post purchase evaluation
Toyota prius is a good and reliable vehicle with having minimal impact on the nature.
Service availability is also not an issue due to extensive coverage of Toyota in the Australian
region (Eusebio and Vieira 2013). It is recommended that Toyota should position Prius as a
sporty alternative over their conventional competitors in order to reduce the cognitive dissonance
that hybrid vehicles cannot be sporty.

3MARKETING PRINCIPLE
Need for a car to commute
and with having less
emission
Information search for
gathering as much data
about the car as possible
Internal search of using
Toyota cars previously
Online car reviews and
information from the
peers
Evoked set: Inept, Inert
and avoided set of
alternatives
Toyota Prius, Chevrolet
Bolt, Tesla model S and
Nissan Leaf
Toyota Prius,
Chevrolet Bolt,
and Nissan Leaf
Toyota Prius,
Chevrolet Bolt,
Tesla model S and
Nissan Leaf
Toyota
Prius,
Nissan
Leaf
Chevrolet
Bolt
Tesla
Model S
Personal income and car
loans
Increasing the sportiness of
the car

4MARKETING PRINCIPLE
Reference
Eusébio, C. and Vieira, A.L., 2013. Destination attributes' evaluation, satisfaction and
behavioural intentions: A structural modelling approach. International Journal of Tourism
Research, 15(1), pp.66-80.
Lysonski, S. and Durvasula, S., 2013. Consumer decision making styles in retailing: evolution of
mindsets and psychological impacts. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 30(1), pp.75-87.
Maity, M., Dass, M. and Malhotra, N.K., 2014. The antecedents and moderators of offline
information search: A meta-analysis. Journal of Retailing, 90(2), pp.233-254.
Niemela, P. and Kim, S., 2014. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Encyclopedia of Quality of Life
and Well-Being Research, pp.3843-3846.
Shende, V., 2014. Analysis of research in consumer behavior of automobile passenger car
customer. International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, 4(2), p.1.