Understanding consumer behavior is fundamental to marketing. For this reason, a lot of research is underway to develop a wider understanding of the customer decision-making process in an increasingly complex market context (Lye, Shao, et al. 2005).

VW Golf

Buying a car is an extended problem-solving decision because it is a high-involvement purchase and requires a substantial amount of effort, extensive research and a meaningful evaluation of alternatives (Solomon, Bamossy and Askegaard 2006).
According to Kotler (2009), the consumer decision-making process involves five steps that consumers move through when purchasing goods or a service.
Firstly, when a problem recognition advances, the consumer becomes aware of his desires since he compares his actual condition with the ideal one. This process is the core aspect in motivating to purchase (Solomon, Bamossy and Askegaard 2006).
Secondly, consumer behaviour is influenced by both internal and external stimuli such as social, cultural, personal and psychological which includes gender, income, urban location, education, children or other characteristics. The potential buyer might have been realised that the vehicle he owns is not meeting his needs anymore because it is old; it does not reflect his new lifestyle, or there is a recent and better model on the market (Prieto and Caemmerer 2013). So his particular unfulfilled need is a compact family car, fuel-efficient, safe, comfortable, spacious and with a price range between £17.000-£23.000 (CarBuyer 2015).
After the need has been developed, the consumer starts to search information about different alternatives available in an attempt to reduce the perceived risk of the purchase (Solomon, Bamossy and Askegaard 2006). This process will be both internal, which is from memory and past experiences with the brand, and external, which includes family,