“THE CONSUMER'S PURCHASE DECISION PROCESS-A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK” Sadaf Siddiqui1, Dr Kirti Agarwal2 1Research Scholar, Sri Venkateshwara University, Gajraula (India) 2Supervisor, Director, ITERC College, GZB, NCR (India) ABSTRACT The study of consumer behaviour is concerned with all aspects of purchasing behaviour - from pre-purchase activities through to post-purchase consumption and evaluation activities. It is also concerned with all persons involved, either directly or indirectly, in purchasing decisions and consumption activities including brand-influencers and opinion leaders. Research has shown that consumer behaviour is difficult to predict, even for experts in the field. However, new research methods such as ethnography and consumer neuroscience are shedding new light on how consumers make decisions. I. INTRODUCTION Consumer behaviour is the study of individuals, groups, or organizations and the processes they use to select, secure, use, and dispose of products, services, experiences, or ideas to satisfy their needs and wants. It is also concerned with the social and economic impacts that purchasing and consumption behaviour has on both the individual consumer and on broader society. Consumer behaviour blends elements from psychology, sociology, social anthropology, marketing and economics, especially behavioural economics. It examines how emotions, attitudes and preferences affect buying behaviour. Characteristics of individual consumers such as demographics, personality lifestyles and behavioural variables such as usage rates, usage occasion, loyalty, brand advocacy, willingness to provide referrals, in an attempt to understand people's wants and consumption are all investigated in formal studies of consumer behaviour. The study of consumer behaviour also investigates the influences, on the consumer, from groups such as family, friends, sports, reference groups, and society in general. The study of consumer behaviour is concerned with all aspects of purchasing behaviour - from pre-purchase activities through to post-purchase consumption and evaluation activities. It is also concerned with all persons involved, either directly or indirectly, in purchasing decisions and consumption activities including brand-influencers and opinion leaders. Research has shown that consumer behaviour is difficult to predict, even for experts in the field. However, new research methods such as ethnography and consumer neuroscience are shedding new light on how consumers make decisions. Customer relationship management (CRM) databases have become an asset for the analysis of customer behaviour. The voluminous data produced by these databases enables detailed examination of behavioural factors that contribute to customer re-purchase intentions, consumer retention, loyalty and other behavioural intentions such as the willingness to provide positive referrals, become brand advocates or engage in customer citizenship activities. 361 | Page Databases also assist in market segmentation, especially behavioural segmentation such as developing loyalty segments, which can be used to develop tightly targeted, customized marketing strategies on a one-to-one basis. II. STATEMENT OF PROBLEM Purchase decision process begins with problem recognition (also known as category need or need arousal). This is when the consumer identifies a need, typically defined as the difference between the consumer's current state and their desired or ideal state. A simpler way of thinking about problem recognition is that it is where the consumer decides that he or she is 'in the market' for a product or service to satisfy some need or want. The strength of the underlying need drives the entire decision process. III. OBJECTIVBES OF THE STUDY To know the framework of models of purchasing decision process To know the elements which affects on consumer behavior purchasing decision. IV. REVIEW LITERATURE The essence of this approach is critical for organizational success, so that they can have a better understanding of their customer behaviors (Solomon et al., 2006). The physical action or behavior of consumer and their buying decision every day can be measured directly by marketers (Papanastassiu and Rouhani, 2006). For that reason many organizations these days are spending lot of their resources to research how consumer makes their buying decision, what they buy, how much they buy, when they buy, and where they buy (Kotler, Amstrong, 2001). To get a well coherent result, organizations normally looked at these behavior base their analysis on difference conceptions; whether customers buying behavior were measured from different perspectives, such as product quality and better service, lower price structured etc (Papanastassiu and Rouhani, 2006) Different theories and researchers have claimed that when organization fully meet all aspects of its customer needs, the result enhances their profitability (Chaudhuri, 2006), and also enable them to develop a better tackling strategies for consumer (As seal, 1998). Possibly, the most challenging concept in marketing deals with the understanding why buyers do what they do and what method or philosophy are they using to evaluate the product after the transactions and what might be the effect on future transaction (Schiff man, 2004). The reason why marketer chooses to learning about consumers” buying behavior is, from a business perspective; to be able to be more effectively reach consumers and increase the chances for success (Sergeant & West, 2001). Therefore the field of consumer behavior has taken a tremendous turn in the commercial world and became the fundamental concepts of achieving company goal (Schiff man and Kanuk, 2007). More recently, different researchers and author have given their definition and meaning of consumer behavior. For Michael R. Solomon (2001) consumer behaviors typically analyze the processes of group selected or individual purchases/dispose of product, service, concept or experiences to satisfy their need and desires. Additionally, Kotler (1996) suggested that consumer behaviors have a huge impact in a firm marketing decision making process every year. There is a risk that what a consumer does will inflict on his or her behavior and generate consequences. (Snoj, Pisnik Koda & Mumel, 2004). The user and the purchaser can be different person, in some cases; another person may be an 362 | Page influencer providing recommendations for or against certain products without actually buying or using them (Solomon 1999; Solomon et al. 1999). In this case, most of the large consumer electronics retailers tend to gathered more information about customers motivating factors and what influences their buying behaviors Solomon & Stuart (2000). V. THE PURCHASING DECISION MODEL For most purchase decisions, each of the decision roles must be performed, but not always by the same individual. For example, in the case of family making a decision about a dining-out venue, the father or mother may initiate the process by intimating that he/she is too tired to cook, the children are important influencers in the overall purchase decision, but both parents may act as joint deciders performing a gate-keeping role by vetoing unacceptable alternatives and encouraging more acceptable alternatives. The importance of children as influencers in a wide range of purchase contexts should never be underestimated and the phenomenon is known as pester power. 363 | Page To understand the mental processes used in purchasing decisions, some authors employ the concept of the "black box"; a figurative term used to describe the cognitive and affective processes used by a consumer during a purchase decision. The decision model situates the black box in a broader environment which shows the interaction of external and internal stimuli (e.g.consumer characteristics, situational factors, marketing influences and environmental factors) as well as consumer responses. The black box model is related to the black box theory of behaviourism, where the focus extends beyond processes occurring inside the consumer, and also includes the relation between the stimuli and the consumer's response. Consumers evaluate alternatives in terms of the functional and psycho-social benefits offered. Functional benefits are the tangible outcomes that can be experienced by the consumer such as taste or appearance. Psycho-social benefits are the more abstract outcomes such as the social currency that might accrue from wearing an expensive suit, designer label or driving a 'hot' car. Brand image is an important psycho-social attribute. Consumers have both positive and negative beliefs about a given brand. Consumer beliefs may differ depending on the consumer's prior experience and the effects of selective perception, distortion and retention. The marketing organization needs a deep understanding of the benefits most valued by consumers and therefore which attributes are most important in terms of the consumer's purchase decision. It also needs to monitor other brands in the customer’s consideration set to optimise planning for its own brand. VI. INFORMATION SEARCH AND EVALUATION OF ALTERNATIVES During the evaluation of alternatives, the consumer ranks or assesses the relative merits of different options available. No universal evaluation process is used by consumers across all-buying situations. Instead, consumers generate different evaluation criteria depending on each unique buying situation. Thus the relevant evaluation attributes vary according to across different types