Purchasing Process:

Many people do not know the reason why they buy a product, to get to this point there was a previous process of which we consumers are not aware of what is happening. To know the reason why we consume and make the decision of a product, this article is divided into two parts.

First we will know the buying process we are involved in, they are very simple steps, but we all do them in an automatic way that the day you have to choose a product between two brands, you will remember this.

1. Recognize the problem

2. Search for information

3. Evaluate the alternatives

4. Decision making

5. Post-Purchase Behavior

According to theory (books) and practice these are the five steps to make a purchase, but I like to divide them by stages along with the processes and it is as follows:

1. Previous Stage

• Stimuli, messages and information in digital and traditional media about the benefits of your product.

• Recognition of the problem, consumers detect a shortage or need for something.

• Search for information, the consumer looks for different possibilities of brands and products that can meet the need that he needs to complete, this can be done in the easiest way as it is on the internet.

• Evaluation of Alternatives, after obtaining the information of the brands and products, the consumer has a battery of questions to examine which brand has better benefits, evaluate the price and which is more convenient.

2. Stage of the purchase process

• Decision making,

• Consumption of the product, if the product was effective this fulfills a cycle of purchase - use - repurchase, at the moment he has to cover the need again, he will go straight for the brand without looking for evaluations.

3. Post-purchase stage

• If there was satisfaction with the product, it will follow the repurchase process.

• If there was no satisfaction with the product, you will automatically look for other alternatives to replace that product and meet your expectations.

We are going to put the steps into practice by means of an example:

We will perform a simulation with toothpaste, which is a daily product that we all use. Everyone uses different brands for whatever reason, but on a daily basis we receive information from all brands of toothpaste (stimuli).

After receiving all this normal information, one night you realize that you are running low on toothpaste and need to buy (problem recognition). So you go to the supermarket for your new toothpaste, and you find three different brands, you start to remember the ads you saw and even research on the internet the benefits of each one (information search and evaluation of alternatives).

You then proceed to choose one of the brands of toothpaste that you considered after evaluation (decision making). The following month the need is repeated, since the product met your expectations, you proceed to go directly to the supermarket and take the brand you used without evaluating the alternatives (post-purchase behavior).

And this is how the purchasing process unfolds.