Strategies to be used by marketeers in each stage

Stage 1: Problem Recognition

The buying process starts when the buyer recognizes a problem or need. This need can be
triggered by internal stimuli (such as feeling hunger or thirst) or external stim- uli (such as seeing
an ad) that then becomes a drive.

By gathering information from a number of consumers, marketers can identify the most frequent
stimuli that spark interest in a product category. They can then develop marketing strategies that
trigger consumer interest and lead to the second stage in the buying process.

Stage 2: Information Search

A company must strategize to get its brand into the prospect’s awareness set, consideration set,
and choice set. The company must also identify the other brands in the consumer’s choice set so
that it can plan competitive appeals. In addition, the company should identify the consumer’s
information sources and evaluate their relative importance so it can prepare a range of effective
communications for the target market.

Stage 3: Evaluation of Alternatives

In seeking certain benefits from the product solution, the consumer sees each product as a bundle
of attributes with varying abilities of delivering the benefits to satisfy this need .
A buyer considers several attributes in her purchase decision, and gives each a particular weight
Calculating the scores for all of the possible alternatives the buyer is evaluating which one has
the highest perceived value.
This is critical, because a manufacturer who knows how buyers evaluate alternatives and form
preferences can take steps to influence buyer decisions. In the case of computers, a manufacturer
might redesign the computer (a technique called real repositioning), alter consumer beliefs about
the brand (psychological repositioning), alter consumer beliefs about competitors’ brands
(competitive depositioning), alter the importance weights (to persuade buyers to attach more
importance to the attributes in which the brand excels), call attention to neglected attributes (such
as styling), shift the buyer’s ideals (to persuade buyers to change ideal levels on one or more
attributes).

Stage 4: Purchase Decision

A consumer’s decision to modify, postpone, or avoid a purchase decision is heavily influenced
by perceived risk. Smart marketers study the factors that provoke a feeling of risk in consumers
and then provide information and support to reduce the perceived risk.

Stage 5: Postpurchase Behavior

The marketer’s job does not end when the product is bought. In particular, marketers must
monitor post-purchase satisfaction, post-purchase actions, and post-purchase product uses.
Marketers can use postpurchase communications to buyers as a way to reduce product returns
and order cancellations. Computer companies, for example, might take a number of actions,
including sending e-mail messages to new buyers congratulating them on having selected a fine
computer, placing ads showing satisfied brand owners, soliciting customer suggestions for
improvements, and providing channels for speedy resolution of customer complaints.

Marketers should also monitor how buyers use and dispose of the product after purchase.
Consumers sometimes find new uses for a product, as Avon discovered when its customers
talked about Skin-So-Soft bath oil and moisturizer as an insect repellant. This prompted Avon to
seek and receive Environmental Protection Agency approval so it could officially tout Skin-So-
Soft as a triple-action product that provides insect repellent, waterproof sunscreen, and
moisturizers.39