Since her boyfriend had lost his MP3 player a month before his birthday the choice for the perfect gift for his birthday was clear.i.e.MP3 player so Ashley has decided to buy the MP3 player with an assumption that her boyfriend Kade will like it. The biggest dilemma of Ashley was to find a right kind of MP3 player for which Kade will perceive a good value. The ultimate objective is not the features but the value realisation by his boyfriend. So the dilemma is:
1.She is not tech savvy, she is not aware about exact usage of MP3 player by his boyfriend
2.She has never bought a MP3 player for her boyfriend so she has no experience whatsoever.
3.She is not tech savvy and doesn’t understand the features and the functions of a MP3 player
Having all these constraints how to decide on best buy. This buying decision should match with the taste & preference of ultimate user ie Kade.
What steps are required Ashley, leading up to her final decision? How does Ashley prioritize which information is more important and relevant to her purchase? What are her alternatives?
Problem Recognition - As we can see clearly that Problem recognition/need recognition in the case is clear- •How to match gift with the preference of her boyfriend- Taking right decision on selection of MP3 player. •Price range has already been decided ($40 to $60).
Information Search - She has done enough information search on MP3 product range but in very limited time. She has started this from internet and after that she decides to get some help from Kade’s best friend who she figured would have an idea of his taste and preferences. She also tried to seek the advice from the store salesman who had knowledge about the players leaving her with the option of opting for either of the two.
But there are some steps she should take in information search that is getting into few more Electronic Stores and Brand Showrooms for Product Information where she could really validate that which model is not available in the market, which model is receiving service issue or which model has got technical failure.
To validate on Service issue she can contact to customer support numbers also on each model. Evaluation - In this case customer is dependent of External sources for Information so as on evaluation. she needs to evaluate the two alternatives suitably. The two alternatives are:
-Creative Zen Stone Plus which costs $59.99 and is recommended by her boyfriend’s best friend.
The Rio Carbon 5 costing $49.99 suggested by the store salesman.
The next step is to examine these alternatives. The Creative Zen player is more aesthetically pleasing to her. It has color options which include Kade’s favourite colour blue. It is within her price range. And has a past record of customer satisfaction. But the salesman mentioned few performance problems with the product. And more over Rio has more features and is a cheaper option.
Buying Decision - Before getting into final decision of Purchase what to buy & where to buy, she has to evaluate the Information sources and Products both. There can be priority with following rank: 1.Advice of Kade’s best friend- could me most important , reliable, unbiased and trustworthy source of information because of his intimacy with the end user of product 2.Internet opinions can be considered second important source of Information 3.Third could be the advice of Sale Person but before following it she should explore some more show rooms and should chat with few more show room sales persons.
Case is the reflection of dilemma of a buyer who is struggling for best buy due to scarcity of information- Information about usage and liking of real user and information of Product and its features & technical aspects of product. In our opinion even the buyer Ashley does not know much about product and features but she can know how & what are the usage of MP3 player for his Boyfriend. This information will give him ease to take right decision. As far as concern about Trustworthy source of information she should go for unbiased information.
