Purchase Decision Process: Psychological and Sociological Factors

Groupon
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Purchase Decision Process
There are five fundamental stages of the Groupon users’ purchasing processes and each of the stage is crucial to the success of the company. The first stage of the purchasing process is the problem recognition. Ideally the customers are lead to recognize the need to satisfy. This means that, customers would have to recognize that they have a need that they can satisfy given the right chance and for the right price among other conveniences. This relates to the internal stimuli, where the customers recognize their psychological attachment or attraction to a certain element. When they are sent emails, this acts as an external stimuli. Exposure to an advert for a sky diving lesson arouses a need that is social; or simply something that they have always wanted to do but never got the chance to do it. The second stage is related to the search which comes after the client has identified the need. The search stage for the customers is associated with looking for information on how to solve their problem. Where the client is not sure about the merchant, they may look for information regarding the past experiences that other customers have had on the specific deals of interest. The customers are also likely to check up on the competition to see if there is are better deals out there, which they can capitalize on. In light of the social media influence, most customers at this stage will also tend to discuss the deals with their friends and partners on social media to find out if they can get better information on the needs and the companies offering the same. The third stage involves the evaluation of the deals that they have found on the Groupon offers. Groupon helps the customers to narrow down the search and thus the evaluation stage, by bringing the customers nearby deals relevant to their needs and location. The customer at this stage selects the deal that best amplifies what he or she wants to satisfy their need. The fourth stage of the purchase process followed by the Groupon customers, involves the customers responding to their choice. Customers will put their money on the line as they wait for the deals to tip. In the fifth stage involves the customers comparing the experience of buying from Groupon and what they had expected, to determine their level of satisfaction.
Psychological and Sociological Factors
There are psychological and sociological factors that influence the Groupon customers on their purchase behavior. The recent recession for example led to customers reigning in their personal values such as thriftiness. This meant that the website was able to attract customers from other websites relative to the good deals offered on Groupon compared to the competition. Given that most of the customers are of the age of 18 and 34 with an average income of $70,000 annually; this is a customer group that is avid on the social media and internet use. As such, this group also tends to favor Groupon as a one-stop company that offers all the deals that they may need in one place and with assurance in quality and efficiency. This is also a group that is young and thus entertainment activities and shopping for ...