An Account of the Purchase of a Television Set in Singapore

CASE 5 : AN ACCOUNT OF THE PURCHASE OF A TELEVISION SET IN SINGAPORE Question 1 : What are the different stages in the buying process for a television set? What critical stimuli or events drive each stage? The buying decision process is a basic psychological process. This process plays an important role in understanding how customers make their buying decision. In this case, the consumer are planning to purchase a bigger television set, which can be placed in their living room, while the current television will be moved to their bedroom.Referring to the case, there are five different stages in the buying process for a television sets which are problem recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision and post purchase behavior. STAGE MODEL| DESCRIPTION| a) Problem recognition| * The buying process is start with problem recognition. A need can be activated through internal and external stimuli. * As a consumer, they have to recognize a problem occurred and the needs of the new television set.In this, the external problem occurred when her parent in law decided to move in with them. The purpose of buying new television is to give more appropriate environment and to avoid conflicts with her parent in choosing the television programs. Besides that, it is to give a better perception to the relative. While the internal stimuli derived when * Their budget for the new television set is RM 1300 only. | b) Information Search| * After problem recognition, the consumer tries to solve it and gathers the sources and information about the television set.There are four consumer information sources which is : i) Personal sources ( family, relatives, friends, neighbors etc) ii) Commercial sources (advertisement, salesman, dealers) iii) Public sources (mass media, consumer rating organizations) iv) Experiential sources (handling, examining, using the products) * In this case, they have started browsing a newspapers and magazines, browsing an internet and website to compare the different models available in market. In order to get more information, they also get a recommendation from their friends and colleagues.Besides that, they also make a visit to the household shop to learn about the product specifically. | c) Evaluation of alternative| * After collected the information, the consumer have to clarify and evaluates the alternatives that they find out. First, they have to clarify a need of a new television set. * In this case, they plan to have a new television set when their parents decided to move in to their house. This is to avoid conflicts with their parents in choosing the television programs and to give a better perception to their family. Besides that, they have to look at the benefit from the product selected. As a consumer, they have to choose which television will give more benefit to them and can satisfy their needs. | d) Purchase decision| * Evaluation behavior leads the consumer to form a ranked set of preferences . In making buying decision, they will consider a few factors which is a) Attitude of others such as husband, family, relatives, friend. b) Anticipated situational such as expected family income, expected total cost of the product and the expected benefits from the product. ) Unanticipated situational as look or manner of the salesman * In executing a purchase intention, the consumer have to make up five sub decision : a) Brands, b) Dealer c) Quantity d) Timinge) Payment method (cash or credit card) * At this stage, the consumer has to choose either JVC 29† flat screen or Panasonic 29†. * For JVC 29† flat screen, the television set was came with four years warranty, special discounts of 15% and will get a free gift; JVC VCD worth of S$180. The model also has a futuristic look and matched with their furniture. However, the price was slightly higher than their estimated budget. While for Panasonic 29†, the television set was come with one year warranty, no free gift and the price was lower from their budget. * Finally, after evaluate and considering all the factors and recommendations, they have decided to purchase the JVC 29† flat screen model although the price exceeded their budget. | e) Post purchase behavior| * After buying and trying the product, the consumer will feel some level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction and the level of satisfaction depends very much on the expectation and the product’s perceived performance. In this case, the consumer is very satisfied and happy with the television set because it matches up to her expectations. | Question 2 : What are the social and psychological factors influencing the buying process for a television set? In the buying process of a television set, there are social and psychological factors that will influence the consumer. The social factors influences customer buying decision includes culture, subculture, social class, reference group and family. Culture is the set of beli ef, attitudes and behavior patterns shared by members of the society and transmitted form one generation to the next.For example, most of the Singaporeans will spend much of their free time at home watching television. So the television set is an important household appliance for every family. Reference group includes a variety of groups that effect consumer behaviors through normative compliance. In this case, reference group that influencing them in buying process are referring to family consist of husband, wife, parents and relatives. While the psychological factors influencing the buying process of a television set are motivation, perception, learning and memory.Motivation will drive a person to act in achieving their needs. In this case, the consumer has many needs such as privacy, esteem, belongings and discomfort. In achieving their needs, the consumer will collect all the information and evaluate the alternative that they find out in choosing the best television set. Questio n 3 : What lesson can be learnt for the marketing of television sets from understanding the consumer buying process and influences? Perception is the process when the consumer select, organize and interprets information.In this scenario, the consumer has been influenced by the salesman about the quality and performance of the television set after he explained the features and functions of the different models. The features of the message and the way it is communicated was influenced the consumer perceptions. Learning involves the changes in an individual’s behavior arising from the experience. In this case, the consumer has learned from the salesman/salesgirl behavior, such as when they went to the Courts, no salesperson entertain them and at the Electric City & Best Connection, the sales person failed to give the best services to her customer.These bad experiences have change the interest of the consumer to buy television set with them. Memory is all about the information an d experiences that have been encounter as they go through their life. In the stages of the buying television set, the consumer will influence with the famous and high quality brand of television in Singapore. In the marketing of television sets, understanding the consumer buying process is very important. As the marketer, they must identify needs, wants and demands of the consumers. They also have to consider all the buying process factors and try to provoke the feeling of risk in the consumer perception.