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Basics of Marketing - Kotler Philip

Evaluation of options

We already know that the consumer uses the information in order to compose a set of brands from which the final choice is made . The question is how the choice is made among several alternative brands, how the consumer evaluates the information.

To shed some light on the assessment options will help us a few basic concepts. First, there is an understanding of the properties of the goods. We believe that each consumer considers any given product as a specific set of properties. Here are some properties that interest customers in a number of products of well-known classes:

• Cameras: sharpness of received photos, range of exposure, size, price.

• Hotels: location, cleanliness, atmosphere, cost.

• Dental elixir: color, effectiveness, price, taste and aroma.

• Brassieres: comfort, fit on the figure, durability, price, style.

• Lipstick: color, type of packaging, fat content, prestige, taste and aroma.

• Tires: safety, durability of the tread, smooth ride, price.

The above properties are usually of interest to everyone, but different consumers consider different properties relevant to themselves. A person pays most attention to properties that are relevant to his need.

Secondly, the consumer is inclined to attach different weight indicators of significance to properties that he considers relevant to himself. It is possible to distinguish between the importance of a property and its specificity, i.e. Visibility 20. Characteristic properties are those that first come to mind the consumer when he is asked to think about the qualities of the product. A market operator should in no way consider that these properties are necessarily the most important. Some of them may turn out to be characteristic because the consumer has just been exposed to commercial treatment, where they were mentioned, or encountered a problem in connection with them, as a result of which these properties came to his mind "foreground". Moreover, the product may have more important properties, but the consumer simply forgets to mention them.

Third, the consumer tends to create a set of beliefs about brands, when each individual brand is characterized by the degree of presence of each individual property in it. A set of beliefs about a particular branded product is known as the brand image. Consumer beliefs can fluctuate from the knowledge of genuine properties from one's own experience to knowledge that results from selective perception, selective distortion and selective memorization.

Fourthly, it is considered that the consumer assigns a utility function to each property . The utility function describes the degree of expected satisfaction with each separate property. For example, Betty Smith can expect that the degree of satisfaction with the camera will increase as the lens speed increases. And the greatest satisfaction is delivered not too light and not too heavy camera, preferably a format of 35 mm, and not 135 mm. A combination of levels of properties with the highest utility and will give a "portrait" of the ideal camera, from the point of view of Betty. In addition, the preference for this brand will depend on its availability on the market and affordability.

Fifthly, the attitude to vintage alternatives is formed by the consumer as a result of his assessment . And consumers are choosing brands differently21.