How was the need for this product identified?
The two products that are going to be described are bottled water and a piece of jewelry (a Cartier bracelet). The need in Chapter 6 includes both needs and wants. The need for the first one is identified spontaneously when the internal stimulus of thirst rises. With jewelry, in this case, if there was an external stimulus, I did not realize my reaction to it. I think the only stimulus was my desire to get a bracelet.
Who else was involved in the process and what roles did they take on?
Personal sources are the people we trust to advise us concerning a purchase.
I don’t involve anyone in the process of buying drinking water, but I involved my mother as a personal source of information in the process of buying the bracelet. Apart from that, her attitude had some influence on me. In particular, she had excellent experiences connected to Cartier.
How important was it to make the right choice? What affected your level of involvement?
The level of involvement shows how actively a customer participates in the purchasing process. The “rightness” of the choice depends on risks involved.
I did not actively seek the best water brand; I think they are replaceable. The only risk I recognize in this respect is the functional risk (bad quality for the money), but even that one is very slight.
For jewelry, financial risk (not worth the money) is the one that makes me take precautions.
Explain how you went about the search for information to make the purchase decision. Did you have enough information from your internal search or did you have to collect information from external sources?
List the external sources of information and decide which source was most reliable and most valuable to you in the decision process.
The second stage of buying process is the “search for information” one. It can be done on one’s own or with the help of various external sources. For water, no additional sources are needed.
For jewelry, the process of making the decision was three weeks; the stages of searching for information, evaluation, and deciding were repeated several times. The experiences of my family defined the consideration set of brands; together, we visited the official sites of Cartier (2015) and Van Cleef & Arpels (2015) brands and evaluated the options according to my criteria; the commercial sources provided all the reliable information I needed. Public sources were irrelevant in this case since jewelry is a rather personal purchase.
What criteria did you use to help you evaluate the alternative products?
Criteria demonstrate the features of a product that are important to the customer concerning this product. Water should be clean and have a reasonable cost; I do not care for a brand, but I may get an advertized one when I see it.
For jewelry, the key features I am interested in are reliability (ensured by a brand), a reasonable price, wearability (my style). For me, the most important factor is the impression a piece makes; it can make the price less significant.
Were there any other factors that you considered at the purchase stage?
The stage of purchase comes after the buying decision. I tend to be drawn to other products during the purchase process; in fact, I may choose a couple of other products while shopping for only one (particularly in the water case), but it did not happen with the bracelet.
After you had made the purchase, were you satisfied with the product? Did it satisfy the criteria you used when evaluating the alternatives?
Satisfaction means that a product satisfies a customer’s need. Unless the water I buy is “dysfunctional”, I am unlikely to reflect on my purchase decision at all.
With jewelry, I took an informed decision, buying what I wanted for a price I was ready to pay, so I am satisfied with the purchase.
Explain and apply Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory (page 163 in your text) to identify the need the product satisfies, please justify your answer. (Does the product satisfy safety need or social need or… and why??)
Within the Maslow’s hierarchy that includes five levels of needs, which drive us depending on our level of satisfaction, the need for water is among physiological needs, the primary ones (Kotler & Keller, 2012, p. 161). As for jewelry, I believe it could be an esteem need (fourth level) since, in my opinion, it demonstrates a person’s status. Therefore, the need for water is more urgent than that for jewelry; as a result, the process of choosing the jewelry is longer, the customer is pickier.
Define the “brand personality” of your recent purchase (page 159-160 in your text), please justify.
Brand personality is “the specific mix of human traits that we can attribute to a particular brand” (Kotler & Keller, 2012, p. 157). Water brands attempt to project competence; this kind of brand personality attracts me more than the excitement type of cola-like products. As for Cartier bracelet, it is positioned as a sophisticated brand, which is natural for a jewelry trademark: you expect sophistication and elegance from this kind of product, and it attracts you.
References
Cartier (2015). Bracelets. Web.
Kotler, P., & Keller, K. (2012). Marketing management. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall.
Van Cleef & Arpels (2015). Bracelets. Web.