This blog is an experiment to test and reveal the intricacies of why (American) consumers do the things we do. Students of Consumer Behavior will blog about real life situations wherein they reflect upon common consumption patterns and phenomena. Students will explore questions such as:
- What products can I just not stop buying? Why?
- What items could I just not live without? Are there any?
- What possessions would I never sell - at any price?
- What's the last thing I bought that I truly regret? Why did I do it? Will I do it again?
- What did that gift I bought or received really say about me?
Consumers are motivated in different ways make decisions every day - to buy or not to buy. This process involves gathering information for ourselves and from others that we believe will help us solve some identified problem that leads us to making a purchase decision. And when we do buy, there are other things to consider. How much do we buy? How much are we willing to pay? How often will we repeat the purchase? When? Where? Why? Once we acquire our products and services (including ideas and activities), we make decisions about how we will use them and, eventually, how we will dispose of them.
Consumer behavior is a dynamic, never-ending process. Welcome to the fascinating psycyhology of marketing...
Last night I went to Wal-Mart to pick up some body soap and some other things I needed. As I walked into the soap isle I was bombarded with all the options i had. I looked at the different bottles, brands that i knew, and lastly smelled a few that looked good to choose.
ReplyDeleteVisual Affect: I narrowed down my options by bottle design and color, looking for both a strong masculine scent and a subtle lingering smell.
Brand Recognition: I narrowed down further to brands that i knew or had used before (brand trust)
*One bottle made it past this stage that i had never used before. Its bottle was gray and had a swooping look to it that attracted my eye.
Product Evaluation: I took the last few and smelled their contents. i chose from the one that smelled the best or that gave off the effect that i wanted.
What I learned?
To make the best decision possible, I should have smelled all of the soaps individually and made my decision based from that. Instead, a time factor was initiated and I knew I had to limit my options by narrowing them down. To do this, I looked first at the bottles that caught my eye. Then I looked at the brands that I recognized and lessened it down further. With a smaller group to work with, the final decision was based on scent alone. The scent that was chosen satisfied both my wants and needs for my personal smell and the aroma I wanted to project to others.