CONSUMER DECISION MAKING UNIT
According to Jobber(2007) the following are roles of members of a typical consumer decision making unit:
- GATE-KEEPER- This person accesses and controls the flow of information about the product or service to the others. For example In a home when a father is watching television and comes across an advert showing Zambia Sugar ‘s rich dark Brown sugar, he will inform the rest of the family about it. In the case of industrial buyers such as UTH, this could be the PR manager.
- INITIATOR-This is the one whose suggests the idea of buying it. This could be the housewife in case of individual buyers and in the case of industrial buyers such as UTH it could doctors on call.
- INFLUENCER- This person stimulates , informs or persuades at any stage of the buying process. This could be the child in the family who has had experience of the product after visiting friends, or in the case of industrial buyers it could be the staff in the kitchen or cafeteria.
- DECIDER- These make the decision that the product should be bought. In this case the mother can decide to try the new sugar or in the case of industrial buyers it could be the Finance Department.
- BUYER- These implement the purchase decision by ordering or purchasing the product or service. The mother will then start using in order to see its benefits, and for the industrial buyer the purchasing department will raise the order..
- USER- These are the people all members of a household or the in patients at the University Teaching Hospital..
THE BUYING DECISION PROCESS FOR INDIVIDUALS
According to kotler and keller [2006 p 191] the consumer buying decision process has five stages model as shown below.
- Problems recognition
- Information search
- Evaluation
- Purchase decision
- Post purchase behaviour
APPLYING THE MODEL TO THE INDIVIDUAL SUGAR PURCHASER
- PROBLEMS RECOGNITION
For an individual customer the decision to buy dark sugar will start when he recognizes a problem or need. The need can be internal or external stimuli for example he may be the need to avoid sugar disease as a way of living a healthy lifestyle. The decision to start using dark sugar could be influenced by an external stimuli such television footage showing explaining the benefits of dark brown sugar. The individual will then perceive the need to use the new product.
Promotional technique – mass advertising on radio TV and newpapers
2 INFORMATION SEARCH
An aroused customer will be inclined to seek more information. The individual may actively search for more information about sugar varieties, say on the internet or nutritionists.
Promotional technique – sponsorship of health benefits of dark brown sugar on radio and TV talk shows.
3EVALUATION
The individual will get more information about which types of sugar have health benefits. He will for example identify Zambia Sugar’s brand as a highly credible brand that that provides value for money.
Promotional Technique – Celebrity advertising and endorsement from the Medical Council of Zambia.
THE DECISION TO BUY
The next stage would be for the individual to actually buy the dark brown sugar. This corresponds to the purchase decision [phase in the buying process. For a person to buy the dark brown sugar. Zambia sugar must provide sufficient information on its website on the benefits of dark brown sugar.
Promotional technique-Sales promotional such as”buy one get one free”
4POST PURCHASE EVALUATION
At this stage the individual buyer will ask himself “have I made the right decision to use dark brown sugar”. This will be influenced by the health benefits that the product provides to the buyer.
Promotional technique- Celebrity advertising showing how important celebrities have become much more healthier after using dark brown sugar on TV, Newspapers and Radio
3 BUYER BEHAVIOUR FOR AN ARGANISATIONA PURCHASER
PROBLEM RECOGNITION
An organizational buyer such as University Teaching Hospital (UTH) will identify a Zambia Sugar’s rich dark Brown Sugar as a healthy product.Management will decide how much to buy from Zambia Sugar every week.
INFORMATION SEARCH
Management of UTH will need to ask employees which sugar they prefer between that of Zambia Sugar and that of Zambia Sugar. By going through the sugar companies’ website and other promotional literature UTH may be identified Zambia Sugar’s rich dark brown sugar as the best on the market. Publicity materials will be prepared and sent over to industrial buyers so that they can get more detailed information on the benefits of dark brown sugar.
EVALUATION OF ALTERNATIVE.
Obviously other employee may come up with other alternatives but by phoning Zambia Sugar and consulting nutritionists within UTH more information can be gathered about THE BENEFITS OF Zambia Sugar’s rich dark brown sugar. Presenting information in workshops and meetings specifically arranged with institutional buyers such as public and private hospitals
POST PURCHASE BEHAVIOUR
Zambia Sugar may write to thank UTH management and assure them that the new product they have purchased will help change the attitude consumers who come to the hospital .They will have a favourable attitude towards the rich dark brown sugar.After sales service can reassure the organizational buyer to stock up more of dark brown sugar.
Finally to win customers relationship marketing is important in developing beneficial longer term relationships through frequent contact and dialogue with organizational buyers [CIM, 2010].To ensure successful relationship marketing there needs to be an appreciation of marketing and everyone in Zambia Sugar must be concerned with generating customer satisfaction.
KEY INFLUENCES ON THE CONSUMER BUYER BEHAVIOUR
There are a number of factors that may have an influence on the consumer buyingprocess and for simplicity these can be divided into four groups (ABE,2007).
Individual influences. There are a number of aspects that will affect anindividual’s perception and handling of the decision-making process. Theseinclude personality, perception, learning, motivation and the impact of attitudes. Individuals are complex and are bombarded with
literally thousands of messages every day. Zambia Sugar Marketers need to understand howindividuals think and why they respond in particular ways if they are going to cutthrough their defence mechanisms and create loyal customers.
5. 3.2 Group influences. Individuals are influenced by the social and cultural climatein which they live. Individuals have membership of many social groups and thesemay include family groups, reference groups, membership groups and aspirantgroups. Friends and family will certainly influence the purchase od dark brown sugar.
Situational influences. Decision-making is highly influenced by the environment.
Sociocultural, technological, economic, competitive, political and regulatoryinfluences all have influences on what we buy. The influence the credit crunch on consumer demand is a good example.
Marketing influences. The marketing mix will also influence customer buying behaviour. The Dar Brown Sugar , its price, its availability, how it is promoted, service levels,the processes and the people involved will all have an influence on whether or notwe enter into a buying decision.
ATTITUDES- According to Mullins(1999) an attutide is a readiness to act in a certain way. Attitude may lead a favourable or unfavourable evaluation of a new product.. Understanding of consumer
attitudes will help Zambia to come up with promotional decision to help get the buyers accept the new product. When a product is launched consumer’s attitudes will be seen from the sales and reaction of consumers through word of mouth promotion. Consumer’s react differently to new products and services and they portray different attitudes towards the product, this is why consumer’s attitudes have an important role in the consumer’s buyer behavior.
PERCEIVED RISK- There are many risks when it comes to purchasing a new product principally because consumers do not know whether the product will work to their satisfaction. Consumers will first look at the benefit of Zambia Sugar’s rich Dark brown sugar.