Introduction
A consumer diary is important for the following reasons. One, It is used to capture frequent and small purchased items that a consumer uses. The diary is meant to capture all the expenses on food and beverages that a consumer uses nonprescription drug and supplies, tobacco and personal care products. A consumer diary is self-managed within a specified period of time. The diary is used to show the amount of expenditure a consumer uses on products that they use. It can also be employed in analyzing the consumers’ loyalty towards the items and also checking consumer behavior (Maclaran, et al., 2007). An example of consumer behavior is purchasing a particular brand of personal care product.
Answer1
Every morning after we wake up there are a lot of decisions that we make pertaining what we use in what we do. There are most essential items that an individual must use when he or she wakes up. Most people do use the brands that they trust and to which they are loyal. For example, after waking up, I take breakfast, brush my teeth take shower then brush my shoes and prepare for the day’s activities. In all these activities, there are many products that I use. There are many items that do make a wholesome breakfast, bread. I also use different body care products when taking a shower and a tooth paste.
People make decisions use a particular product based on how well the item will cater to their needs. The price of the product compared to the alternative items is also a factor that I consider when choosing a product. Availability of a product on the stores and its social attributes are also factors used to come up with a decision. Social attributes include the brand reputation, how popular the brand is with family and friends the status that the brand carries and its image.
Loyalty to a product is brought out by how dependable the product is to me. I am very loyal to some of products such as the body care products the reason is that it is tough to experiment other alternative product on your body such as soaps and lotions. There are products that I have used for very many years, and I don’t intend to switch to other products. However, there are products that switch brand from time to time like food and beverage items. Products that I use to make breakfast in the morning are regularly changed depending on quality, taste and how well they satisfy me.
I feel positive about the products that I use particularly on the body care products. Most people use the product that has no side effect on them or has a positive effect on them. When choosing body care products, people usually don’t go with the most popular brand. They prefer the product that has a positive effect on their body Positive effects for me include smoothening skin among other positive effects. Loyalty is less on items that I use for breakfast because like any other person we love to try out new products. Some people who are involved in the consumption process like roommates consumption may change significantly. This is because the item bought depends on the discretion of the buyer hence we end up using the item that another person prefers. Consumption is reduced for the product in view of the fact that the product is only preferred by one person.
Answer 2
Low involvement products are not very essential to users; the quest for information on alternative products is not done thoroughly. It takes a short time to make a decision when purchasing these types of products. Comparison is done on the brand when the product is on the shelf with other alternative products, and the consumer makes an instant decision. Consumers make decisions on a low level involvement product based on the knowledge that they might be previously having on the product. They may also make a decision based on the brand and its image on the society. For a low involvement product such as a newspaper, cereals or a bar of chocolate, the risk involved when switching to an alternative brand is very low because they are not costly.
The first step in making the purchase of a low involvement product is problem identification which is the need to buy a product. A consumer who wants to read the news will buy a newspaper. The decision he takes on which brand to choose from is informed by how much he is willing to spend on that newspaper and his perception on other brands. Therefore, it will only take a short time to make a decision to buy the newspaper that he wants. High involvement products are those that a consumer takes time to make a decision on the best product to buy. Compared to low involvement products these products are pricier. The risk involved in switching to another brand is often very high. Hence a consumer will take time to search for information concerning the item that they want to buy and their alternatives.
Information on, how well the products features will suit the needs of the user is sought for by the buyer to avoid buying products that will not cater to their needs. Subsequently the consumer will take their time to research on how well a product like the smartphone will serve him. Opportunity cost on the time taken to enquire on the product often prevents the buyer from conducting an extensive research. In addition, there is also psychological cost involved in researching on the product where you meet rude sales people, frustrating search on the internet and many other problems. For service purchase, a consumer will rely on more personal sources to make decisions. Even when there are other sources, the consumer will make their decision based on their experiences and also the people that are close to them like opinion from friends.
Answer 3
Last Christmas I bought my brother a watch because he always desired to own one. One of the trends that have come up in the recent past is putting on a nice watch. The factors that motivated me to buy him the watch were three. The first one was the need he really needed the watch for timekeeping hence I was persuaded that a watch was that he really needed. Advertisement was another factor that influenced my decision on what to buy him for Christmas. An advert that was superbly done by the company that makes that brand of watches made me feel like it’s the best present that one can give or receive. Companies do make adverts for boosting the sales by showing all the wonderful features that a product has. The way that the features of the watch were described in that advertisement made me love that watch, and I decided to buy it as a present for my brother.
Quality is what a consumer considers before buying any product. For me, it was one of the major reasons that I bought the watch for him. Compared to other watches it was far of better on quality. As a present, I received a pair of shoes from a caring friend. What motivated person who gave me the present was the desire that they saw in me to have that particular pair of shoes. Another motivation for them was the attributes that the shoes had which was quality. They were made of pure leather, and the pricing was fair.
Answer 4
One of the best done TV advertisements is done by Samsung www.samsung.com/galaxys3. This advertisement was made to introduce a new phone into the market. The phone is the Samsung galaxy S3 which has very many amazing features .message Being relayed in this advertisement is the phones ability to cater for all the consumer needs. The advertisement should connect effectively with the consumer in terms of how the consumers’ needs will be met by the phone. Samsung has not targeted any age group because the phone can be used by all people. However, the advert places more emphasis on young people who are more into technological gadgets like phones.
A good ad is supposed to be easily recalled and memorable so that the consumer buys the products easily without the need to be convinced further. How information is relayed is also very important, it should provide information briefly and in a very quick manner. A good ad should also avoid confusing the viewer and should not make the target audience seek for other pertinent information on the product. The Samsung advert has taken into account all these aspects.
Question 5
The website that I chose for evaluation is www.unilever.com Which provides information on all the products, the management and board of the company, financial reports and other information regarding human resource the website contains information relating to all the products that the company produces. It also contains prices of the products and how effective they are to the users. The website gives information on the varieties in a particular line of products as well as their prices. This website uses blue color in the background which is eye catching to the consumer and bright colors are used in marketing the products which makes their adverting very clear.
It’s easy to navigate through the website because it has segments for the information contained. With only a click of a button, one is able to find information regarding a particular product. Therefore, less time is needed to access the information on a particular product. The company target middle aged segment of society. These are the people who mostly use their products. Unilever website is effective and serves its marketing purpose very well. One can access any information about the company and its products very easily hence it’s very effective on how it’s used to market the company’s products. Improvements and upgrade are important for any company’s website so Unilever should put a little bit more work on simplifying their website. The overall goal of a company’s website is to relay information about it and also to increase awareness of the company’s products and Unilever website are living up to its purpose.
Reference
Maclaran, P., Saren, M. & Gouldin, C., 2007. Critical Marketing. Burlington, MA: Elsevier Ltd.
