Consumer Decision Making is comprised of five basic steps: 1. recognition, 2. information search, 3. evaluation of alternatives, 4. purchase, and 5. post-purchase behavior.
When it comes to food, I’m the pickiest person ever in my family. And I generally stick to my comfort zone food, which is Indian food. But other than Indian I do also enjoy Italian cuisines. To find an Italian restaurant, these were the CDM steps that I took:
1. The “need recognition” was already decided to be Italian food but was particularly Pasta or spaghetti. When choosing a restaurant, I looked for fine dining at a reasonable price.
2. “information search” in which I sought Italian restaurants in Salt Lake City. When I’m looking for new restaurants, I typically go by reviews and ratings, and throughout my search, I focused on restaurants with 4.5+ ratings. Valter’s Osteria and Caffe Molise were two places that piqued my interest.
3+4. The “evaluation of alternatives” and “purchase”. I had two choices. Valter’s Osteria was the first, while Caffe Molise was the second. Both had good reviews and what I was looking for to eat. However, Caffe Molise was the place that I decided on since, unlike Valter’s Osteria, they showed pricing on their menu and their desserts looked delicious. As a result, I would make my purchase at the Caffe Molise restaurant.
Overall, this procedure as a consumer unfamiliar with Salt Lake City was identical to the things I decide in life regularly, such as which café to visit or which cosmetic items to purchase. My preferences are what other customers desire because they are the fundamentals of what consumers opt for. To conclude, we employ Consumer Decision Making regularly without even realizing it. It also leads to satisfactory decision-making results.
Hi Rechal,
I fully agree with your concluding sentence. Most of us don’t even realize that we apply CDM at every product or service purchase, since we purchase the same item or service so many times, and we are so familiar with search engines that an order can take literally minutes. I think this is not only because of being familiar with technologies but because of the good experiences that we encountered during the consumption.
Was nice to read your paper.
Hey Rechal,
I also checked out Valter’s Osteria. I saw that you commented on the fact that their menus had no prices. In my experience menus that have no price on them are at the restaurants that are highly priced. It was also confirmed in the reviews that someone paid a hefty price.