Consumer Decision Making (Purchasing A New Car)

Option #1: The Consumer Decision-Making Process

Whether you realize it or not, you’ve been a consumer all your life. The types and costs of your purchases have changed over time, but you’ve learned from watching others and experiencing the sensation of choosing an item and making the purchase. What you may not realize is that you’ve likely followed a consumer-purchase process.

For this assignment, you will do a three-part deep dive into the consumer decision-making process.

Part One. Complete the following:

• Identify and discuss the process, taking care to explain each step. Walk your reader through each step of the consumer purchase process, defining each step.
• Choose a major purchase that you plan to make in the future (e.g., a vacation, a car, a smartphone, a computer, a Hermes handbag, a horse, etc.).
• Apply each step to your purchase (e.g., identify why you find yourself making this purchase, perform an information search, evaluate alternatives using a table, make a choice and justify it, and so forth.).

You are not expected to actually make the purchase, so you may predict the outcome, as opposed to actually describing it.

Part Two. In this section, you will identify and analyze the factors that have influenced your actions and decisions throughout the process.  These include:

• Personal factors that affect your perspective (e.g., faith, age, lifestyle, location)
• Pricing and personal accounting
• The type of purchase—functional versus hedonistic
• Family influence
• Ethical considerations
• Image
• Ease and place of purchase

Part Three. For this final section, synthesize your findings and analysis from Parts One and Two. Consider the following questions: What factors are strongest and least likely to change your purchase decisions? What factors are more variable? How can marketers use these insights to attract new customers and deepen relations with existing ones?

Your paper should meet the following requirements:

• Be 10-12 pages in length.
• Be formatted according to CSU-Global Guide to Writing & APA (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site..
• Include at least four outside sources, preferably peer-reviewed journal articles, in addition to the case study. The CSU-Global Library is a good place to find these sources.