Ch. 6 - Consumer Decision Making

What does a hot summer day, a sporting event, and an upscale restaurant all have in common?
     That Coca-Cola is enjoyed by millions of people a day in all of these venues.

     This is no coincidence. The marketers of Coca-Cola work very hard to ensure that consumers don't think much about purchasing the beverage. In fact, 70% of the companies sales are impulse purchases.

     There are two main reasons why people purchase Coke; thirst and happiness. Coca-Cola advertisements will usually show people having fun, hanging out with friends, or spending time with loved ones. Coke's goal is to paint a picture in your head, that your ideal self is a person who is fun, outgoing, and popular, and that you self-actualize by drinking Coke beverages. So it's no surprise that buying a can of Coke makes sense when your feeling sad, stressed out, or lonely.


     The information search that usually occurs when we are thirsty occurs in a retail environment. Since buying a beverage is generally a routine purchase, very little time will be spent researching alternatives. We might scan the rest of the isle in the store, internally search for our prior experiences with the soft drink, or remember what our friends said about certain soft drinks.

     After purchasing Coke, people usually are happy and experience very little cognitive dissonance. Some people will regret buying it, due to it's unhealthy contents, or to the loss of the money that they spent on it. But most people think very little of the purchase, and can relax and enjoy the beverage, and feel satisfied with their purchase, and are likely to purchase it again. These people that repeatedly buy Coke selectively retain the negative information that they hear about the product. Since buying Coke usually involves little foresight, all consumers care about is that the drink will taste good.