Consumer Decision Making Process - Marketing Principles

Consumer Decision Making Process

As stated in Kelloggs.com (2016), Kelloggs provides a range of healthy breakfast cereals which are used daily by all the citizens of the country. Though Kelloggs gains over the maximum market share value in Australia, there are many competitor companies that aim for the lead. Thus ensures that the company concerned must improvise their marketing strategy. Of the basic steps of marketing strategy is to understand the steps of consumer decision making. It makes it easier for the marketer to understand the complicated process.

According to Hanna, Wozniak and Hanna (2013) Consumer decision making is completed in five steps.

1. Need recognition – It is the most crucial step of decision making for a consumer. The lag between the consumer’s actual situation and the desired one helps the consumer to recognize their needs. Nowadays, everyone maintains a busy schedule. A day started in haste leads to skipping of breakfast. It then results in weakness and lack of nutrition in life (Adam 2016)
2. Information search – The next step leads to the information to be gathered to overcome the need. Consumers start gathering information on the various ways in which the lack of healthy breakfast nutrition can be overcome. They will choose the product based on their previous experiences, advertisements, or information poured by their friends or families. So an efficient advertisement network of Kelloggs helps the company to be selected by the consumer to overcome their basic needs.
3. Alternative Evaluation – Once the information is collected, the consumer then focuses on the various alternatives that could be offered (Hanna, Wozniak and Hanna 2013). He chooses the most suitable option depending upon the objective and subjective characteristics of the products. Kelloggs is chosen by many, as it produces healthy breakfast cereals, since many years.
4. Purchase decision – This decision is that step which would affect the producer of the good. Here the consumer chooses the product and buys that depending upon the overall analysis that has been done. Kelloggs is a brand that is widely placed in the minds of the buyer, amidst all the other product. It is globally famous, with its variety of flavor ranges, it fits all the moods of the consumer from different ages.
5. Post purchase behavior – Post purchase behavior is one of the necessary steps of consumer decision making because it deals with the decision of the consumer whether to continue consuming the product in future or not. Till now, Kelloggs has been the most proclaimed brand for breakfast cereals, which has very few instances of disappointing its consumers. Hence, people prefer this product over others.

Factors Affecting Consumer Decision Making

There are four factors that consumer decision making- cultural, social, individual and psychological.

1.Cultural Factors – As per Loy and Weiss (2013)A consumers choice making, is always influenced by his cultural surroundings. The values that are taught by the cultural environment evokes a direct relation to the choices made by the consumer. For a brand, it is important to understand the cultural value of the customers to whom the products are being sold.

Kelloggs is an old brand that has continued being the best breakfast cereals for many years. The flavors are same and in fact, new developments are made that helps the people to make their choices easily. It is made of grains and consumed with milk; nutritional food one can consume or the start the day with.

2. Social factors – The consumption of a particular good depends on highly upon the social circumstance of the consumer. The social circle of a person consists of the homogeneous natured group, who influence and initiate the urge of buying a product.

Kelloggs is one of the oldest consumer products which was rooted back in 1906 (Kelloggs.com 2016). Hence, it had been serving many families since then. It provides the consumer with the power of grains. This nutritional value of the product makes it famous among various social classes. Hence, it affects the factors that are socially responsible to stir the demand of buying the product.

3. Individual factors- According to (Beneke, Brito and Garvey 2015)The individual factors that matter the consumer decision making are age, purchasing power, lifestyle, and personality .

Kellogg's breakfast cereals are healthy nutritional food products that can be served to people of all age. It is easily available in the markets, and the price rates of the product make it possible to be bought even by the lower-middle income group families. The busy schedule of people does not allow them to invest hours in preparing a healthy breakfast(Kelloggs.com 2016). Hence consumptions of the breakfast cereals seem to be perfect for the current lifestyle.

4. Psychological factors –Motivation from people to achieve a healthy and fruitful life helps Kelloggs to be chosen widely as early morning breakfast. Perception of consumer that Kelloggs has the power of grains and the nutritional value of milk helps to raise its demand (Adam 2016). Learning and beliefs of people by consuming the product for the past many years help them to develop a positive notion regarding the product.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow has stated that people get motivated to achieve certain needs. When ones need is fulfilled, another one arises. Maslow's of the hierarchy of needs has five motivational needs, which are depicted as five levels (Schmoldt et al. 2013).

The five level of needs is biological and physiological needs, safety needs, love and belongingness needs, esteem needs and self-actualization needs. 

Kelloggs is a food product. It is as a breakfast meal by many households. It satisfies various needs that can be explained with the help of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

• It provides a well-nourished food, which enables people to consume it as a healthy breakfast. Hence, the first need, biological and physiological need is fulfilled.
• It protects the consumer and its family from skipping breakfast and enables them to start their day in a better way. Hence it provides stability in health and safety from being undernourished. So the second need of safety is fulfilled.
• Kelloggs provides the consumer with a sense of independence, as they do not have to depend on anyone to prepare their food. It is ready to use a healthy diet. It maintains the need of nourishment and therefore fulfills the fourth need, esteem needs.
• People realize their need for a healthy early morning breakfast. By consuming the ranges of breakfast cereals provided by Kelloggs they attain a sense of self-actualization.

Out of five hierarchy levels of need, Kelloggs’ products fulfills four of them.

References

Adam, A., 2016. Nudging consumer behaviour in retail stores: a case study on breakfast cereals.

Beneke, J., Brito, A. and Garvey, K.A., 2015. Propensity to buy private label merchandise: the contributory effects of store image, price, risk, quality and value in the cognitive stream. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 43(1), pp.43-62.

Hanna, N., Wozniak, R. and Hanna, M., 2013. Consumer behavior: An applied approach. Kendall Hunt Publishing Company.

Kelloggs.com. (2016). Kellogg's Official Website | Breakfast, Snacks, Recipes, Cereal. [online] Available at: https://www.kelloggs.com/en_US/home.html [Accessed 23 Aug. 2016].

Loy, D.B.J.P. and Weiss, C., 2013. State Dependence and Preference Heterogeneity: The Hand of the Past on Breakfast Cereal Consumption.

Maslow, A., 2012. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs [online] available from< https://www. abraham-maslow. com/m_motivation. Hierarchy_of_Needs. asp&gt.

Schmoldt, D., Kangas, J., Mendoza, G.A. and Pesonen, M. eds., 2013. The analytic hierarchy process in natural resource and environmental decision making (Vol. 3). Springer Science & Business Media.

Solomon, M.R., 2014. Consumer behavior: Buying, having, and being. Engelwood Cliffs, NJ: prentice Hall.