Consumer Behaviour Individual Case Analysis Report

Learning Outcomes

a) Explain the meaning of consumer behaviour and its role in marketing strategy development.

b) Apply the concept of the consumer decision-making model to provide insights into consumer buying processes.

c) Categorise the needs and wants of consumers and their underlying motivations

d) Analyse the psychological processes affecting consumer behaviour.

e) Identify social and cultural influences on consumer behaviour.

Context:

This assessment is a case analysis of your own personal consumer behaviour. It aims to develop an understanding of key principles of consumer behaviour by applying subject topics and theories to your own thoughts and actions as a consumer. It allows for a valuable reflection on complex theoretical concepts as well as insight into the role of marketing strategy in influencing decision-making.

Instructions:

You are required to keep a reflective diary of selected consumer activities ideally from Module 1 of semester. This can take the form of field notes on a word/text document, notes on your mobile phone or even audio recordings. During this time you are to log and detail the process behind purchasing three (3) medium to high involvement items. These items must be irregular purchases and involve complex buyer behaviour. Regular purchases of food, drinks, or other habitual low involvement day-to-day consumption products are excluded from the log. These field notes /recordings will then be used as the basis of compiling Part 1 of the report.

Part 1 - Consumer Decision Making Process

Analyse each of your purchases using the consumer decision-making process model presented in Module 1. You should use a sequential flow of information for each purchase. Some suggestions are offered in terms of topics you may like to consider when completing Part 1.

Need Recognition

What is the perceived problem?

What need is this purchase satisfying?

What is your actual state and what is your desired state?

Is this a ritual purchase or something you have never bought before?

If it's a new product how does this affect your decision making process?

Pre-purchase search / Information sources

What internal or external sources were considered and sought out when making the decision?

Evaluation process

What were the alternatives /what products/services were included in your evoked set?

What was excluded? Why?

What evaluative criteria did you use in this purchase?

How did you determine which criteria were important?

Purchase

Were you influenced by physical, social or temporal surroundings?

Describe any other external influences at the point of purchase.

Post-purchase behaviour

On reflection of the purchase what were your post-purchase evaluations?

Were you satisfied /dissatisfied with your purchases? Why?

Did you suffer post purchase cognitive dissonance? If so how did you deal with this post purchase anxiety?

Did the company have any strategies in the post-purchase phase that influenced your decision?

How has the purchase affected your loyalty to the brand purchased?

Part 2: Reflection and Analysis of internal and external influences

In this section try and provide a rationale to your behaviour and consumption experience using relevant consumer behaviour terminology.

Internal Influences

What was your motivation for the purchase? (Think conscious and unconscious needs and use relevant motivational theories to justify). What were the other internal influences at play in your decision making process for each product. Apply other relevant consumer behaviour theory in terms of: Perception, Learning, Attitudes, and Personality topics.

External Influences

Were there any relevant external influences that may have affected your decision (such as social and cultural influences).

It is critical in answering the above criteria that you apply relevant consumer behavior theory in your assignment. You can either analyse each purchase individually or you could compare or contrast each purchase as you develop the report. You could also choose to integrate the discussion of Part 1 and Part 2 as another approach to complete the report.

You are also encouraged to include any additional consumer behaviour research that has been conducted in the chosen product categories.

If you need clarification on any of the above please speak to your learning facilitator.