It is the duty of the marketer to understand how the consumers actually make their buying decisions. He has to study the consumer buying decision process or model. It involves five stages.

Five stages of consumer buying decision process or model

1.) Need recognition:- consumer buying decision process or model starts with recognizing the need. If a person is thirsty then water is desired, if it is a matter of too hot weather outside than air conditioner or coolers are desirable. So, the marketer must recognize what are the needs and how these needs can be satisfied.

2.) Information search:-the second stage of consumer buying decision process is information search. In most of the cases the consumer searches for the information about the product either from family, friends, neighborhood, advertisements, retailers, dealers, salesman, mass media or by examining or using the product.

3.) Evaluation of alternatives:– after collecting the information the consumer evaluate the alternatives on the basis of utility or it’s features.

4.) Purchase decision:– after the proper evaluation of the alternatives the buyer buys the product. But sometimes he may postpone the purchase decision due to some reasons. In this case it is the duty of the marketer to find out those reasons and try to remove them either by popularizing the product, by providing sufficient information to the consumers or by giving them guarantee regarding the product.

5.) Post purchase behavior:– after buying the product consumer will either be satisfied or dissatisfied. If the product fails to satisfy the consumer in that case he will be disappointed otherwise If the product satisfy the consumer in that case he will be delighted. It is generally said that a satisfy consumer tell about the product to 3 people and a dissatisfy consumer tell about the product to 11 people. Therefore it is the responsibility of the marketer to satisfy the consumer completely.

Thus, these are the five stages of the consumer buying decision process or model. These are summarized in following figure: