2nd Midterm Marketing Strategy

Need recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, the purchase decision, and postpurchase evaluation.

Illustrates that customer needs and wants are not the same.  An understanding of consumer wants is essential for market segmentation and development of the marketing program.  Marketers must create the appropriate stimuli to foster need recognition.

Consumers trust internal and personal sources of information more than external sources. The amount of time effort, and expense dedicated to the search for information depends on (1) the degree of risk involved in the purchase, (2) the amount of experience the consumer has with the product category, and (3) the actual cost of the search in terms of time and money.  Consumers narrow their potential choices to an evoked set of suitable alternatives that may meet their needs.

Consumers translate their needs into wants for specific products or brands.  Consumers evaluate products as bundles of attributes that have varying abilities to satisfy their needs. Marketers must ensure that their product is in the evoked set of potential alternatives. Marketers must take steps to understand consumers' choice criteria and the importance they place on specific product attributes.

A consumer's purchase intention and the actual act of buying are distinct concepts. Several factors may prevent the actual purchase from taking place. Marketers must ensure that their product is available and offer solutions that increase possession utility.

Postpurchase evaluation is the connection between the buying process and the development of long-term customer relationships. Marketers must closely follow consumers' responses (delight, satisfaction, dissatisfaction, cognitive dissonance) to monitor the product's performance and its ability to meet customers' expectations.

It's also known as Postpurchase doubt.  The buyer is unsure of the product's performance relative to his or her expectations.