Consumer Buying Behavior - Types of Consumer Purchase Decisions

Consumers are faced with purchase decisions nearly every day. But not all decisions are treated the same. Some decisions are more complex than others and thus require more effort by the consumer. Other decisions are failry routine and require little effort. In general, consumers face four types of purchase decisions:


Minor New Purchases – these purchases represent something new to a consumer but in the customer’s mind is not a very important purchase in terms of need, money or other reason (e.g., status within a group).


Minor Re-Purchases – these are the most routine of all purchases and often the consumer returns to purchase the same product without giving much thought to other product options (i.e., consumer is brand loyalty).


Major New Purchases – these purchases are the most difficult of all purchases because these are important to the consumer but the consumer has little or no previous experience making the purchase AND is important. This type of decision often (but not always) requires the consumer to engage in an extensive decision-making process.


Major Re-Purchase - these purchase decisions are also important to the customer but the customer feels more confident in making the decision since they have experienced purchasing the product in the past.


For marketers it is important to understand how consumers treat the purchase decisions they face. If a company is targeting customers who feel a purchase decision is difficult (i.e., Major New Purchase), their marketing strategy may vary greatly from a company targeting customers who view the purchase decision as routine. In fact, the same company may face both situations at the same time; for some the product is new, while other customers see the purchase as routine. The implication of buying behavior for marketers is that different buying situations require different marketing efforts.

Courtesy http://www.knowthis.com

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Why Market To Women And How Should You Do It?



Even if the decision to buy appears to rest elsewhere, women frequently have a major influence on whether or not the sale is made. It’s easy to consider the car industry as predominantly male-driven. The majority of salespersons, journalists and mechanics are male, and published statistics of new car sales are weighted toward men.For example, in 2002, almost 850,000 new cars were sold in Australia, according to the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries. It is estimated that sole female car purchases represent between 20 and 48 percent of this figure, but female influence on those same purchases is around 70-80 percent.

This takes us back to the basic marketing concept of remembering that the decision-maker is not always the person who pays the bill, a rule frequently forgotten by administrators of hotel loyalty cards who do not allow points to be collected by guests if the bill is being sent back to the company.

Another area often considered to be a male dominion is that of technology. Looking at DVD sales, for instance, we find that in 2002, only a third of women claimed to be their family’s primary DVD purchaser but by 2004 that figure had increased by more than half.

What is interesting here is not so much the size of the market, but the speed of its increase. Therefore, companies that have traditionally geared their marketing to men and continue to do so because the male market has always been their main source of custom may be guilty of backward thinking.

Another aspect flagged up by the speed of change is how challenging it can be for companies to stay ahead of the game when marketing to women. Factors that affect women’s desires and purchasing power such as levels of education, income and independence are all increasing at a more rapid rate than those of men.


What women want that’s different to what men want

The lives of the majority of women today are infinitely more complicated than the lives of their male counterparts. It is the woman in the relationship who will generally be looked to when it comes to the multi-faceted operation of the home. The woman is likely to be the one who keeps the environment clean and organized, ensures the family or partner is clothed and fed, shops, irons, recycles, handles the help, ferries the kids and keeps tabs on everyone’s social diaries. On top of this, she’s very likely to be holding down one of more jobs or developing a business or career.

So the entire running of the household is likely to have the female as the lynch-pin. This often includes the handling of the household finances and yet the majority of financial products, along with cars and technology, are still considered male-gender specific.


How women make the decision to buy

Frequently, when seeking solutions to problems, women will have conducted research online and be extremely well-prepared prior to placing themselves in line for a sales pitch. Any company that does not acknowledge this and insists on wasting a woman’s increasingly valuable time is likely to trigger a negative response as she can feel patronized by a “step-by-step, start from the beginning”, approach that may be unnecessary.



With such complicated lives, women seek simplified solutions. When looking at your product, consider how your marketing can also be simplified to avoid adding to an already stressful life. Is it possible for your entire product and its benefits to be presented in such a way that it solves problems for over-stressed women? Does your marketing show how your product will support her busy lifestyle?

It is not even as simple as the traditional method of asking questions and identifying what she wants because she will make purchasing decisions based, not only on her own needs, but also on the needs of her family. The first consideration should always be an acknowledgement of the complications in her life.

So she needs to know that you understand the problems she faces. Can your sales force show that they identify with her?

Women are three times as likely to learn about a new product from another woman. It is likely that women purchasers assume that another woman can more easily understand her challenges than a man. If a woman is presenting your product and is able to show how your product or service makes sense in the world they both occupy, the purchase is a natural progression.

When the sale is made in this manner, your female purchaser feels valued and acknowledged and knows that she has been offered a solution, rather than having been pushed into a sale which she will inevitably cancel.


Written by Maria Davies
Courtesy http://www.pink-marketing.com/?p=7#more-7

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4 Steps to Online Business Success


Why do most online small businesses fail? Because they fail to recognize and act upon the profound difference between offline and online commerce. Offline, it's all about "location, location, location."

Put your business where people crowd by and you're all set. Get your cash register ready! Online, small businesses fail to act on the fundamental reality of how people use the Web. No one "passes by." They search for "information, information, information."

Any business takes hard work, but learning to build a successful ebusiness may be simpler than you think. Provide in-demand information about something you know or are passionate about. From that point on, everything else should flow effortlessly. Use the following 4-step process to build your Internet business the intelligent way.


Step 1) Content

Web users search for information and solutions. They are not looking for you. They don't even know you exist. They want the information that you hold though. So give it to them. Convert your knowledge into in-demand content. To succeed online, start where your customers start - at the search engines.


Step 2) Traffic

Your content ranks high at search engines like Google, Yahoo! and MSN. Your high ranking content is attracting free, targeted, open-to-buy visitors. These future customers meet you and your products or services at your site. When you provide excellent content, the search engines provide you with free customers! You need visitors and the search engines need to provide excellent search results. It's a win-win situation for everyone involved.


Step 3) Pre-sell

Complete strangers begin to develop trust and confidence in you. They do this because you pre-sell them by over delivering what they were looking for- relevant, original, information that solves their problem or answers their question. Building an online relationship is the most effective way to create raving fans! Word-of-mouth spreads and you receive even more visitors for free.


Step 4) Monetize

Convert warm, pre-sold raving fans into income. This is called monetizing. Believe it or not this is the easy part. You have already created content, received free visitors, and developed a trusting relationship with them.

Monetizing cannot happen if you fail to first execute the content-traffic-presell process. This is where 99% of small e-businesses fail.

Succeeding in any small business is the result of hard work. Learning how to conquer the Internet is simpler than many imagine it to be. Choose the right tools and build your e-empire with ease.

Written by Lynn VanDyke
Courtesy http://www.teawithedge.com

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