Consumer Behavior Homework Exercise

1a.
Problem Recognition: Occurs whenever a consumer sees a significant difference between his or her current state of affairs and some desired or ideal state. e.g. My dad notices his TV is getting old and outdated, some pixels are dying and the image is no longer very clear and bright.
Information Search: Step of the decision-making process in which the consumer checks his memory and surveys the environment to identify what options are out there to solve his problem. e.g He does some market research through google and looks for TV’s on websites that sell electronics. He reads customer reviews on the products and checks for the best price on the market to see which ones are worth it. He also visits the closest electronic retail store to check for product quality and features and ask questions to the sellers.
Evaluation of Alternatives: e.g After conducting extensive market research he is able to narrow his choices down to three to four televisions. He is now comparing them and carefully analyzing the good and bad features of each.
Product choice: e.g He chooses one TV because he really likes the price and all the features that comes with it. He selects the one that is affordable, has good image and size and is durable.
Post-purchase Evaluation: e.g He finally watches his favorite TV shows and movies on the television and is very happy with his choice.

1b.
Situational: Situational Influences include two factors which is the physical environment and time. My dad lives in Sao Paulo, which is the biggest city in Brazil. It has many shopping malls and many electronic stores such as FAST, which is a store similar to best buy in the US. My dad would be influenced by the flashy signs and TV displays out in the stores for testing. Additionally, time would also play a big part on his decision. He is the owner of a small business in Brazil, and he does not have much time to go to shopping malls, therefore online shopping would be the best option for him. For me, as a college student, the college campus is a big factor and also time to look and search for college.
Psychological: My father enjoys mountain biking and hiking, he likes to watch Korean TV shows, he does not have any political opinion, and he is a christian. These are some of his AIOs (Activities, Interests and Opinions) and based on them I concluded that he does not need a very expensive television, because he is active and likes sports and is always busy. However he does occasionally watch TV shows, therefore he would be influenced to purchase a affordable but big TV. For me, when choosing a college, I research about activities that the university offered and things that I could take advantage of during my college years beside academics.
Personal: As mentioned above, my dad does not spend much time watching TV. So personally for him, he would not spend too much money on a new 50 inch HDTV. Based on his personality and behaviors, he would choose a cheaper TV.
Social: My father is the owner of a small business in the biggest city of Brazil. His social status gives him more options on which televisions to buy. He does not care much about status and showing off his properties so he would not want to buy the biggest and shiniest television.
Cultural Influences: Even though my parents live in Brazil, they are originally from South Korea. They come from a poor family background so they did not have televisions growing up. So, TV’s were not a big part of their lives and of their culture so the need for one is not very big. In Universities I would look at cultural diversity on campus.

The determinant decision criteria from a value point of view would be the price. The first thing that my dad looks in a product is the price and then he looks at features and compares both by doing the cost-benefit analysis. The factors that would most influence my father in purchasing a TV would be social and psychological because he has the power to purchase a TV’s and even though he does not always watch it, he feels there is a need to own one due to his personal activities and interests.
Purchasing a television and choosing which college to attend are very different because the decisions that a buyer goes through when purchasing a TV is characterized as Habitual Decision Making (depending on social class), and the decision that a student goes through when choosing a college is characterized as Extended Problem Solving. The level of involvement in purchasing a TV is much lower compared to enrolling in a 4 year university. The decision in choosing the right college is much more important than buying a television. Also, there is a much lower perceived risk in buying a TV because the cost is much lower. The information processing is also different, because a student will do extensive research on different colleges and see which one is the best fit for them, whereas when purchasing a TV, one might respond to environmental cues such as displays or AD’s. Moreover, the learning model in buying a TV is Behavioral, whereas in choosing a College is Cognitive.
For the Television, I would focus more on the Problem Recognition and Evaluation of Alternatives stage because when people watch a commercial showing all the excitement of owning a brand new TV, they will immediately see that the existing state does not equal desired state. Also, I would conduct research and analyze my competition, and see which features I would need to add and what type of advertising I would need to create. For choosing which college to attend I would focus on information search and product choice because college students usually do extensive research about the colleges before making the decision and it is very important to know when and where consumers are likely to search. Also, the product choice is an important stage because the university’s history and program play a big part in a student’s final decision. For example, Northeastern has a long history, as it was founded in 1898. This demonstrates that this school is reliable and many students are getting degrees from this place and getting jobs after graduating. Additionally, they have one of the best co-op programs in the nation, which is also one of the reasons I chose this college over all the other ones.