Maximum of two pages describing the purchase decisions. Please single-space your submission. Use headings to help readability and other conventions of professional writing. Think "business communication," not college essay. Must be original, no copy and paste.
Step 1 Contemplate your decision process and find out more about someone else's.First, think about your own purchasing decision process:
- Picture yourself sitting in a chair with a cup of coffee (or tea, or whatever you fancy).
- You are feeling smug and happy because you just bought a product that you have wanted for a long time.
- Consider the decision process by which you came to make your purchase.
- Consider factors such as when you first became aware of the product, what about the product interests you, how you compared the product to competing products, how they made your final decision, etc.
Next, interview a classmate, a friend, family member, or colleague about a recent purchase that they made.
- You are encouraged to "buddy" up with someone in the class and find sometime when you can collaborate, either using online tools (e.g., Canvas Conferences, Skype) or phone. You might seek out a classmate in your introductory forums.
- Instead of a classmate, you may choose a member of your family, a friend or coworker. In which case, you should choose someone who has different tastes than you and who recently purchased a different product, preferably one in which you are not interested.
- Ask them about how they became aware of the product, what about the product interests them, how they compared the product to competing products, how they made their final decision, etc.
Step 2 Write the assignment
Clearly and succinctly describe your consumer decision process, identifying & discussing each step of the process. Do the same for the person you interviewed. If you some steps of the process were omitted or skipped, discuss why that might be so.
Even though the outcome may be different in terms of what was purchased, try to identify similarities in the overall decision making processes. Specifically, consider how different internal or external factors affected the process, such as culture, subculture, age, personality, or attitude. Apply the relevant consumer characteristics to the decision.