Page 187 - DMGT506_CONSUMER_BEHAVIOUR

Consumer Behaviour

Notes There is generally low-involvement with most low-priced and frequently purchased products,
which are consumed on an ongoing basis and involve nominal decision making. A problem is
recognised, consumer’s internal search from long-term memory comes up with a single preferred
solution, the preferred brand is purchased and no brand evaluation occurs unless the brand fails
to perform as expected. Some of these decisions are so nominal that the consumer does not even
think of purchasing an alternative brand. For example, a consumer notices that she/he is nearly
out of Aquafresh toothpaste. When at the store, the consumer simply picks it up from the shelf
or asks for it without any consideration of alternative brands, its price, or other relevant factors .
Nominal decision making is generally the outcome of continued satisfaction with a brand
which was initially chosen after an extended decision making process, or the consumer does not
attach much importance to the product category or purchase. The consumer buys Aquafresh
toothpaste without further consideration because it meets her/his overall needs, even though
using the best available toothpaste is important to her/him. In the second situation, consumers
may not attach much importance to salt or sugar they buy for household consumption. Having
tried Tata Salt and found it satisfactory, they now repeat purchase it without any thought when
needed. In this category sales promotions can lead to considerable brand switching.
Joseph W Alba and J Wesley Hutchinson note that such choices characterised by automatic
behaviour are made with minimal effort and without conscious control. To some, such
thoughtless behaviour may seem stupid, but it is actually quite efficient in most cases of routine
purchases. The development of such routinised, habitual, or repetitive behaviour helps consumers
to minimise the time and effort devoted to mundane purchase decisions.

Box 13.1: Continuum of Consumer Decision-making

Nominal decision making Limited decision making Extended decision making
Low-cost products More expensive products
Frequent purchases Infrequent purchases
Low-involvement High-involvement

Familiar product/brand Unfamiliar product/brand
Little thought, search or Extended thought, search
time given to purchase and time given to purchase

13.3.2 Limited Decision-making

Limited decision making is usually more straightforward and simple. It involves internal (long-
term memory) and limited external search, consideration of just few alternatives, simple decision
rules on a few attributes and little post purchase evaluation. As pointed out earlier, it covers the
middle ground between nominal and extended decision making. Buyers are not as motivated to
search for information, or evaluate each attribute enthusiastically, but actually use cognitive
shortcuts. According to Wayne D Hoyer, when the level of consumer involvement is lowest,
limited decision making may not be much different than nominal decision making. For example,
while in a store, the consumer notices a point-of-purchase display of Nescafe and picks up one
pack based on her/his memory that its aroma and taste is good. If the consumer’s decision rule
is to buy the cheapest brand of instant coffee available, she/he looks at different brands of coffee
for prices and buys the least priced brand. Sometimes emotional factors may influence limited
decision making. For instance, a consumer may buy Colgate Total toothpaste instead of her/his
regular brand just because she/he desires a change and not because of dissatisfaction with
earlier brand. Such a decision may involve just reading of what is written on the carton and
noticing that it has some different flavour than the brand she/he had been using.

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