Page 183 - Foundations of Marketing

150 Part 3 | Customer Behavior and E-Marketing

Low-Involvement Products
Soft drinks are low-involvement
products because they are
inexpensive and purchased
frequently. When buying soft
drinks, consumers usually
employ routinized response
behavior.

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brand preference, but will be satisfi ed with several brands in the product class. Typically,
low-involvement products are bought through routinized response behavior—that is, almost
automatically. For example, most buyers spend very little time or effort selecting soft drinks
or chips.
Buyers engage in limited decision making when they purchase products occasionally
or from unfamiliar brands in a familiar product category. This type of decision making
requires slightly more time for information gathering and deliberation. For instance, if
Procter & Gamble introduces an improved Pantene shampoo, interested buyers will seek
additional information about the product, perhaps by asking a friend who has used it,
watching a commercial about it, or visiting the company’s website, before making a trial
purchase.
limited decision making The most complex type of decision making, extended decision making , occurs with
A consumer problem-solving high-involvement, unfamiliar, expensive, or infrequently purchased items—for instance, a
process used when purchas- car, home, or college education. The buyer uses many criteria to evaluate alternative brands
ing products occasionally or or choices and spends much time seeking information and deciding before making the
needing information about an purchase.
unfamiliar brand in a familiar
product category Purchase of a specific product does not elicit the same type of decision-making pro-
cess every time. We may engage in extended decision making the first time we buy a
extended decision making
A consumer problem-solving product, but find that limited decision making suffices when we buy it again. If a rou-
process employed when pur- tinely purchased brand is discontinued or no longer satisfies us, we may use limited or
chasing unfamiliar, expensive, extended decision making to switch to a new brand. Thus, if we notice that the brand of
or infrequently bought products pain reliever we normally buy is no longer working well, we may seek out a different
brand through limited decision making. Most consumers occasionally make purchases
impulse buying An unplanned
buying behavior resulting solely on impulse and not on the basis of any of these three decision-making processes.
from a powerful urge to buy Impulse buying involves no conscious planning and stems from a powerful urge to buy
something immediately something immediately.

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