Perception and the Decision Making Process

This week we looked at perception yet again but we also looked at the decision making process, the decision making process is a step by step process in which the customers buys the product. The first activity of the lecture involved drawing a picture of a typical over 50 year old, but we didn’t draw it with lines and colours, we used words! We basically wrote down what we thought was the typical characteristics of and over 50 year old such as false teeth, glasses and Werthers Originals and so on. Looking at everyone else’s diagrams we had more or less the same criteria for an over 50, however we found out that the oldest person living in the UK was 108, so from the age of 50 to 108 there was a difference of 58 years! This is important as in most surveys or questionnaires there is a category for over 50 but there is another potential 50 years in which the results for that category may change drastically. After that we looked at Kotler’s Buying Decision Process this step by process involves the customer recognising the product, they then search for the information about the product, then they look at other cheaper products that are available to them or look at the same product but for example rather than in-store they look online. The product is then purchased by the customer and they use the product accordingly! However when customers buy confectionary such a chewing gum or a drink they may miss out some of the stages in the buyer decision process.
We also looked at the Harvard risk assessment business model; it states that an individual’s subjective perception of the risk inherent in buying a product, furthermore the tolerance of risk may vary depending on certain people.
Definition of Gestalt Psychology - a theory of psychology that emphasizes the importance of configurational properties

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