Comsumer Buying Process and the Book Industry
Comsumer Buying Process and the Book Industry
“Describe the major stages in the consumer buying decision process, and discuss their importance for purchasing a book. What might be the impact of the Internet on the purchase?”
The consumer buying decision process can be explained through six different steps. The different steps overlap frequently and are not isolated. Two or more steps in the process may also take place at the same time. The process of buying a book is what we call a routine purchase or in other words a low-involvement process.
Need Recognition
The first and most important step in the buying decision process of a book is the recognition of need. These needs are recognized whenever consumers get aware that there exists a disparity between their current situation and some desired goals. The problem recognition motivates the individual to achieve the desired state of affairs. The disparity arises from several different reasons. A book may serve as tool to make a journey “faster” and more pleasant by entertaining you, it may be essential for your current academic situation or it can serve as a supplementary with another product or service. The need for special knowledge in order to satisfy certain needs may recognize the need for a book. This can for example be a book for traveling, food, DIY and other purposes. Internal or personal influences are the unique needs, perceptions, motives, values or characteristics consumers have. External or interpersonal factors that often have a great influence are friends, business associates and magazines. As we will see later when all the steps are individually explained, many of the steps in the “book” buying decision process can take place at the same time.
The Search Process
Search is the second step in our process. This is the step in which the consumer gathers information related to the product or service that was found needed in our first step. As purchase of a book is a low-involvement purchase, the search step is not as extensive compared to high-involvement purchase decisions. But say someone was about to invest in a dictionary series; this would be a high-involvement decision process. Due to large differences in quality and price, the search process would be much more extensive compared to the purchase of single book. But some form of search will in most cases take place. Before buying a book, one usually ask friends or read book critics in...