Amazon and the Consumer Decision-Making Process

Consumer Behaviour

Amazon and The Consumer Decision-Making Process

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1. Find/describe MAO, values, perceptions, attitudes behind these images

Image 1:

The apple brand offers its customers a global semiotic and axiological system, seeing the acquisition, possession and ostentatious use of its products in a symbolic operation, providing sensory pleasure as well as narcissistic gratification, self-esteem and sense of belonging. To join Apple is to access the community of the « chosen ones », or at least to the community of the awakened, gathered by its technological elitism, by its shared love of the product and by their cool attitude relying on a very assertive technophile evangelism. The logo itself is simple, sleek and straightforward, like an evidence.

Image 2:

When the consumer buys the latest high-tech product, what he actually buys is the feeling that this product gives him; A sense of ownership, belonging, valorisation or, in other words, a feeling closely or closely related to power. Over time, the object will remain more or less the same but the feeling related to the object will decrease. When the object no longer provides this feeling, because it is obsolete or for other reasons, the consumerist consumer will feel the need to upgrade his product to preserve the feeling. The object here – smart watch -  will then constitute a means by which he "exchanges" a feeling. In this case, the sense of reality lays in the  eeling itself rather than in the tangible object that is this smart watch, which will only constitute a means of transporting (or procuring) feeling. Thus a phenomenon of addiction to consumption will be created where the individual will have to increase the doses in order to maintain a certain level of satisfaction, or more vulgar, a certain level of happiness. This image represents a new « ultra connected » lifestyle, where technology rhymes with activity, efficiency but mostly, effectiveness. The last technological upgrade, the « must-have » to a healthier way of life, submerged with data.

Image 3:

This third image is the most confusing and vague one in my opinion. It evokes such words as:

• Delightful
• Entertaining
• Absurdity
• Cheer
• Nonsense
• Playfulness
• …

The attitude it exudes is carefreeness and glee.

1. A technique to explore psychological factors for consumer behaviour

Data Collection

The data needed to make marketing decisions can come from two main sources. They can be generated internally within the company or acquired from external sources (government agencies, research organizations, etc.). Primary data and secondary data are also distinguished. Secondary data is data that has been collected for purposes other than the company's marketing decision-making. These include census data. Primary data is collected specifically to answer a given question at a specific time. When making a marketing decision, it is wise to evaluate the secondary data available since it can provide useful information quickly and inexpensively.

Primary data

Primary data can be harvested through quantitative or qualitative approaches. The choice of the approach to be favored will be made according to the research question, i.e. the type of information that we need.

Qualitative research mainly uses :

• Interviews of a consumer or a consumer group. They provide rich information on consumers' motivations, consumption practices, and their interpretation of the marketing offer.
• Observations (or ethnographic research). This is the observation of consumers in a particular context. They provide information on consumption practices that consumers would be unable or unwilling to disclose in an interview.

Quantitative research mainly uses:

• Surveys: a technique frequently used to measure the knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, ... of consumers. This is an effective and efficient way of obtaining descriptive information about a specific item. For example, surveys are used to assess the level of client satisfaction.
• Behavioral data: this is a form of quantitative observation of how consumers behave. Consumers sometimes act differently from what they report in an interview or survey. We use to collect this data loyalty cards, optical drives, client databases, ...
• Experimentation which is a rigorous approach that establishes a cause-effect relationship between variables.

A concrete example of research technique would be the Delphi Method.

Originally, the Delphi method is, like the focus group, a search tool. It aims to obtain a consensual view on future events through a structured process of communication organizing the production, aggregation and modification of the opinions of an independent panel of experts. The Delphi Method has long been used by companies (and more generally large organizations). They use it to mobilize internal actors around possible and desirable future scenarios. Delphi is therefore a tool for building consensus, a common organizational culture. In practical terms, the Delphi method involves at least three rounds of opinions and sometimes more, as long as it takes to reach a maximum of consensus within the group. Each participant gives his / her opinion (1), is informed of the opinions expressed by the others and reactions to his / her own opinion (2) to allow him / her to react by trying to get closer to the consensual response. The communication is not done face to face but by interviews or by questionnaires (possibly electronic) whose anonymity is guaranteed for the members of the group. This minimizes the risk of taking power by certain individuals or subgroups of physically gathered individuals (round tables, seminars, etc.). It is difficult to prevent a certain weariness in the group if the towers multiply, resulting in a consensus of facade on a very complex and / or controversial problem. Another risk: a group biased as a result of "selective" drop-outs. Experience shows that the Delphi used as a tool of participation gains - in terms of participant satisfaction - to end with an additional stage where participants meet face to face to discuss the results.