MKT8001 Buyer Behaviour
Assignment 1: Consumer Analysis
Due Date: Check assessments tab
Length: 1500-2000 words (approximately)
For this assignment you will be required to critically analyse your own purchase behaviour.
You need to select one significant purchase that you have made in the last 12 months. It might be significant due to the importance of the product, or the expense involved or the time it took to make the purchase decision. In other words, the decision to purchase the product or service should represent a high involvement decision for you and could be anything from a car, to a piece of clothing, a holiday or a phone.
Once you have identified the significant purchase you will focus on, you are required to use consumer behaviour theory to critically analyse some of the internal influences on your decision process in relation to the purchase. The factors to consider might include things like culture, ethics, perceptions, learning and memory, motives and values, self concept, personality, and lifestyle.
Your analysis should relate the factors above to three general stages of the purchase and consumption process:
? Prepurchase
? Purchase
? Postpurchase
Please note that not all of these factors will influence every stage of the process. In your analysis, you should focus on two issues. The first is how that set of factors influenced your prepurchase, purchase and postpurchase processes. Second you should try to identify examples where marketers have attempted to target these factors with their marketing strategy and influence your purchase decision. Remember to discuss not only those issues related to what you purchased but specifically why that brand, from that place etc. In this assignment you are expected to reflect on your own purchase behaviour and relate your thoughts and actions to the relevant consumer behaviour theory.
If you would prefer to use an organisational buying example from your workplace (instead of an individual example) please read chapter 9 of your textbook. While all the processes and factors that impact on individual consumer behaviour apply equally to individuals involved in group purchase decisions, there are some additional important factors that distinguish group behaviour and their purchase decision making processes. So, if you choose an organisational buying example you will need to refer to those additional factors.
Assignment format
This assignment is not a formal report, or an essay, and therefore does not require an introduction or conclusion. You should include the following items and sections in your assignment:
• Title page (including your name, student number and title of the assignment)
• Purchase decision description (Name the product, service or experience and explain why it was a significant purchase decision)
• Prepurchase stage (Outline how any/all/some of the internal factors (perceptions, learning and memory, motives and values, self concept, personality, and lifestyle) impacted on all the activities leading up to the purchase decision)
• Purchase stage (Outline how any/all/some of the internal factors (perceptions, learning and memory, motives and values, self concept, personality, and lifestyle) impacted on all of the actual purchase processes (this may include where your purchased and how you paid or who went with your etc.)
• Postpurchase stage (Outline how any/all/some of the internal factors (perceptions, learning and memory, motives and values, self concept, personality, and lifestyle) impacted on any processes, experiences, evaluations etc. that you went through after you purchased the product)
• List of references?(Your assignment should contain at least five academic references (textbooks and or journal articles, or high quality online sources) to theoretically support your analysis.
NOTE: Please use Harvard referencing (for your list of references AND your in text referencing)
If you do not know how to reference correctly please take a look at this USQ page about referencing. http://www.usq.edu.au/library/referencing/harvard-agps-referencing-guide
Information on that USQ page includes:
• How to set out a list of references
• How to cite references within the text of the assignment
• How to cite USQ course materials