This week in Marketing 100 we discussed the importance and the different steps of “Consumer decision making. The different steps include identifying a need, searching for options, evaluating alternatives, deciding on what to purchase, and often we reflect on our purchase and decide whether or not we will stick this place or item.

Being in a new State, I need to find my boyfriend and I a fancy Italian restaurant in Salt Lake City Utah. Whenever we are visiting a new State, we love to go out every night and try new places although we had not seen targeted ads around our hotel. I am searching for a place with a nice ambience, good music and price does not matter. I would like for the place we choose to have a nice variety of drinks.

After I established my needs and wants for tonight’s dinner, I decided to run to google, Instagram, and yelp to do some searching. Google gave so many options. I narrowed the options down to 4, by checking how many stars they had. The first being Caffe Molise (4 ½ stars), Stanza Italian Bistro (4 ½ stars), Valter’s Osteria (4.6 stars), and lastly Italian Graffiti (4 stars).

After picking 4 restaurants that stood out to me, I began evaluating what these restaurants had to offer to my boyfriend and I. Caffe Molise offers live Jazz with the John Flanders’s on Friday nights. Caffee Molise is also reasonably priced. Stanza Italian Bistro offered a five course, prix-fixe dinner for &120 per person. Valter’s Osteria gave a very homely feel from the website and also mentioned that “Valter’s old favorites honed from his mother’s cooking to inventive new dishes highlighting seasonal specialties await you.”. The last restaurant to research was Italian Graffiti, Italian Graffiti was highlighted for their outdoor seating, romantic vibe, fine dining, and for their locally sourced ingredients. Pictures of the restaurant and food were very appealing.

That Night for dinner we decided to go with Italian Graffiti. From the pictures on Instagram and google, the ambiance was magnificent. The place was a little pricey but worth it. Their cocktails were amazing, my favorite was the Italian Ice Cocktail.

While doing this assignment I realize we use this process way more then we think. I am interested in purchasing a new Louis Vuitton bag and I can honestly say I have been doing the first 3 steps almost every other day, because I want the perfect bag. It is likely that my preferences may be the same as other consumers when looking for a good restaurant, or a new bag.