Consumer Decision Making process considering food items

2. Research suggests that customers go through a
five-stage decision-making process in any
purchase.
However, in more routine purchases like in the
case of food items, customers often skip or
reverse some of the stages.

3. Need Recognition and
Problem Awareness
Information Search
Evaluation of Alternatives
Purchase
Post-Purchase Evaluation

4. Need Recognition and
Problem Awareness

5. The recognition and awareness of need can be
by both internally and externally.
By Internally we mean when a person by itself
recognizes the need for a product. In the case
of food items this would refer to feeling hungry.
And, by Externally we mean responding to
market stimulus. In case of food items this would
refer to being attracted towards food by
looking at advertisements.

6. Cadbury has been very successful in providing
this external stimulus through television media
and posters.

7. Information Search

8. An “aroused” customer then needs to decide
how much information (if any) is required.
If the need for food is strong and there is a
ready edible food that is close to hand, then a
purchase decision is likely to be made there
and then.
In such cases people are even willing to pay a
higher price to satisfy their hunger or even eat
slightly inferior quality food than they would
have otherwise.
If the need is not very strong, then the process
of information search and product evaluation
begins.

9. Where to get the information from ?
A customer can obtain information about the
product from several sources:
• Personal sources: family, friends, neighbors' etc
• Commercial sources: advertising; salespeople;
retailers; dealers; packaging; point-of-sale displays
• Public sources: newspapers, radio, television,
consumer organizations; specialist magazines
• Experiential sources: handling, examining, using
the product
The usefulness and influence of these sources of
information will vary by product and by customer.

10. How does the consumer use the acquired
information in the product evaluation ?
In case of a single product (no alternatives), the
consumer will evaluate the extent to which he/she
is “involved” (in monetary terms) in the product.
Usually all food items have “low involvement”.
However like in majority of cases in respect to food
items, the consumers learns more about the
product category so that they can better compare
and evaluate several brands in the category.
As a result, consumers can select a brand based on
their own criteria provided by advertising in this
stage.

11. Evaluation of
Alternatives

12. The basis on which a consumer can prefer one
food product over the other is the following:-
• Price :- The low priced food products are always
preferred by consumers especially when all the
product qualities are almost the same. Example :-
Coke and Pepsi.
Also consumers prefer cheapest when
they buy those food products which are to be
consumed on a regular basis. Example :- While
buying vegetables or fruits we prefer to buy from
only those vendors which are offering the lowest
price.

13. • Quality :- The quality of a food
product is a very important
consideration. This is because the
intake of low/bad quality food
products have a direct impact on
the health of the consumer.
In some cases, the
quality plays a more important
factor than price. A marketer
needs to identify those cases are
design and plan the marketing
campaigns accordingly.
Brand image plays an
important role in such cases. A
good brand image leads to brand
loyalty.

14. • Availability:- A consumer will switch to an
alternative product if it is not available easily.
Example, While travelling long
distances, a Chinese-food lover will dine in any
highway restaurant or stop even if it is not
Chinese.

15. Purchase

16. After need recognition and problem awareness,
information search and Evaluation of
alternatives, the consumer decides to purchase
a product.
While purchasing food items the consumer
checks whether it has expired or not and
whether the package is good enough to protect
the product.
Any form of tampering with the package or an
expired product may lead to the consumer
switching over to a substitute due to lack in faith
over the brand.

17. Post-Purchase Evaluation

18. It is common for customers to experience
concerns after making a purchase decision. This
arises from a concept that is known as
“cognitive dissonance”.
The customer, having bought a product, may
feel that an alternative would have been
preferable. In these circumstances that
customer will not repurchase immediately, but is
likely to switch brands next time.
It is the job of the marketing team to encourage
the customer that he or she has made the right
decision.