As the Introductory Video suggested, consumer buying behavior is complex and unpredictable. E-tailers like CanGo work hard to build their technology around that behavior, adapting it to the informational and emotional needs of consumers as they make their purchase decisions. However, as Andrew and his team realized, even the most up-to-date e-tailing technology can't always keep up with the shifts in consumer behavior. Marketers must continually revisit the consumer buying process, refresh their understanding of it, and use their ever-evolving insights to craft messages that appeal to consumers' developing needs.

Recall that the consumer buying process consists of five basic stages:

• Problem or need recognition, during which consumers realize they have a need that they might fill with some product. Their sense of need motivates them to begin searching for the appropriate product.
   
• Information search, during which consumers gather information about products that might fill their needs. Initially they might do no more than pay closer attention to ads and other kinds of product information. As their interest in particular products develops, their search may grow more active as they seek out more detailed information. In general, the more expensive or complicated the product, the more intensively the consumer will search for information.
   
• Alternative evaluation, during which consumers compare the options available to them, assessing their relative advantages and disadvantages. This stage can be more or less involved, depending on the complexity and expense of the product.
   
• Purchase, also known as product choice, at which consumers choose from the alternatives and buy a product.
   
• Postpurchase evaluation (or purchase outcome), during which consumers assess their purchases. Often, consumers experience cognitive dissonance or misgivings about their purchases, particularly when the product was expensive. How thoroughly consumers overcome this dissonance depends on how effectively the product satisfies them and how well marketers are able to reassure them about the correctness of their choice.

How lengthy and elaborate this process is depends on the individual consumer and/or product. Further, marketers try to advance the process through messages that address the consumer's needs at each stage. For example, to stimulate the problem recognition stage, marketers send messages, such as advertisements, that tell consumers about products they don't have but might want. Similarly, at the postpurchase evaluation stage, marketers reduce cognitive dissonance in a number of ways, such as following up with customers to make sure they are happy with their purchase. The most successful marketers are those who know their consumers well enough to guide them through this process as effectively as possible. As they do so, such marketers cultivate a base of satisfied customers who buy from them over and over again.

Now turn to the exercises through which you'll help the CanGo team sharpen their understanding of the consumer buying process.

 
 
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