Decision making: Making decision is the process that we need to go through even though we want or not for which

sometimes we make the extensive information search and some decision are made spontaneously. Now a days decision making is being complicated as we are loaded with lots of alternatives as a result there is consumer hyper choice i.e. a condition where the large number available options forces us to make repeated choices that may drain psychological energy while it saps our abilities to make smart decisions for e.g. chocolate is frequently buying product, its habitual but also we need some involvement as there are lots of alternatives available. Perspective on Decision making Even though different consumer purchase same product, they have different perspective while making purchase decision. Rational perspective, decisions are made based on the economics of information i.e. we make the information search as much as we can which align with the information we have about the product. In such case marketers need to understand how consumer obtain information, form belief and criteria they uses to make decision. Cognitive processing style, consumer differs in their cognitive state as some may tend to have rational i.e. analyse the information sequentially using logic but some may rely on the experiential system i.e. process the information more holistically and in parallel. Behavioural influence perspective, decisions need low involvement and consumers learn to response to environmental cues and take the impulsive decision. So here marketer should try to identify the environmental cues like packaging, colour selection and other external attributes which are eye catchy. Experiential perspectives stress the Gestalt or the totality of the product and services. To satisfy the consumer under these perspective marketers should access the

consumers affective response to product and service and make the offering that creates the positive emotional response. Types of consumer Decision Extended Problem Solving, decision involving this needs the careful and extensive search of the information (both internal and external) which is related with our self-concept. Generally consumers make this type of decision when product is expensive, infrequently purchased, unfamiliar product class and brand and where high involvement is required. In this type marketers need to focus on the attributes of the products. Limited Problem solving, it is more straight forward and simple which have low risk and involvement. Consumers dont have strong belief about certain brand, they make little information search and have limited shopping time. So in this case marketers need should try to develop affirmative relation with consumer. Habitual Decision making, decisions are made with very little or no conscious effort. Generally they are low cost product, purchased frequently and product and brand are familiar to consumer so they dont need the high involvement. Steps In Consumer Decision Making A typical decision process involves several steps. The first step is how consumers recognize the problem (problem recognition). Realization that a problem exists may be prompted in a variety of ways, ranging from actual malfunction of a current purchase to a desire for new things based on exposure to different circumstances or advertising that provides a glimpse into what is needed to live the good life. Shifts in the actual or ideal state are at the heart of problem recognition. A problem can occur in two ways. a) The quality of the consumers actual state (running out of gas, for example) can move downward (need recognition).

b) The consumers ideal state (e.g., desiring a newer flashy car) can move upward (opportunity recognition). c) Either way, a gulf occurs between the actual state and the ideal state. The second step is information search. This may range from simply scanning memory to determining what has been done to resolve the problem in the past to undertaking extensive fieldwork where the consumer consults a variety of sources to amass as much information as possible from a variety of sources. In many cases, people engage in surprisingly little search. Instead, they rely upon various mental shortcuts, such as brand names or price, or they simply imitate others. In the third stage the consumer performs an evaluation of alternatives that were developed in the search stage. The product alternatives that are considered comprise the individuals evoked set. Members of the evoked set usually share some characteristics (i.e., they are categorized similarly). The way products are mentally grouped influences which alternatives will be considered, and some brands are more strongly associated with these categories than are others (i.e., they are more prototypical). Very often, evaluative criteria (dimensions used to judge the merits of competing options) and heuristics (mental rules of thumb) are used to simplify decision making. In particular, people may develop many market beliefs over time. One of the most common beliefs is that price is positively related to quality. Other heuristics rely on well-known brand names or a products country of origin as signals of product quality. When a brand is consistently purchased over time, this pattern may be due to true brand loyalty or simply to inertia because its the easiest thing to do.

When the consumer eventually must make a product choice from among alternatives, a number of decision rules may be used. Noncompensatory decision rules eliminate alternatives that are deficient on any of the criteria the consumer has chosen to use. Compensatory decision rules, which are more likely to be applied in high-involvement situations, allow the decision maker to consider each alternatives good and bad points more carefully to arrive at the overall best choice. For Marketers: In order for a marketer to effectively recommend a new decision criterion, it should convey three pieces of information: 1) It should point out that there are significant differences among the brands on the attribute. 2) It should supply the consumer with a decision-making rule. 3) It should convey a rule that is consistent with how the person made the decision in the past. Neuromarketing: Neuromarketing uses functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a brain scanning device that tracks blood flow as we perform mental tasks. Scientist know that specific regions of the brain light up in these scans to show increase blood flow when a person recognizes a face, hears a song, makes a decision, or senses deception. Now they are tying to harness this technology to measure consumers reactions to marketing information.

Cybermediaries The availability of information today quite conveniently via the web today can easily overload anyone. This information overload can confuse a consumer regarding the choice of products. Cybermediary is thus an intermediary that helps to filter and organise online market information so that customers can identify and evaluate alternatives more efficiently. Cybermediaries thus aid in narrowing down the alternatives and help in consumers in making their decision. Different forms of cybermediaries are: Directories and portals help consumers find producers by categorizing Web sites and providing structured menus to facilitate navigationi. They function like a telephone directory by providing links to resources. Forums, fan clubs, and user groups are involved in product-related discussions and provide feedback. Web site evaluators evaluate the sites and direct the consumers to a producers site. This helps to reduce some risk to the consumers. Sometimes the evaluations are based on frequency of access, while other times they are an explicit review of the sites. In an electronic commerce environment, these financial intermediaries may extract per transaction fees in order to absorb some of the risk associated with money flows. Intelligent agents are often discussed as the answer to user problems with navigation in the chaos of the Internet. Agents are software programs that begin with some preliminary search criteria from users, but that also learn from past user behavior to help optimize searches. They may appear as a new intermediary service that buyers "hire" when in need of a particular good or service. (Sarkar, Butler, & Steinfield)

Heuristics It is not possible for anyone to continuously make decisions rationally after giving much of a thought. Therefore, consumers usually bring biases from their prior beliefs or experiences into a certain situation and take the decision i.e. they use rules of thumb of heuristics. Therefore, if a product/service is able to set up a positive experience in the mind of a consumer or consumers then there are greater chances that they will come back the next time.

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