Consumer Behaviour Assignment: Personal Experience on Purchase of Cashmere Bouquet Soap

Question

Task: Individually, prepare a 1200-word written analysis report on consumer behaviour assignment, in which you must critically analyse your recent purchase of a product or service based on the 5-step Consumer Decision-Making Process.

Answer

Introduction
As stated in the consumer behaviour assignment, the main goal of consumer psychology is to find out how consumers make decisions in buying any product. Consumer psychology as a field of study is conducted on the basis of this realization of why people make decisions (Géciet al., 2017). Consumer Psychology also seeks to see how consumers gain knowledge about the product and try to implement marketing strategies (Cherubinoet al., 2019). Based on my personal experience of buying a Cashmere Bouquet Soap I have used the 5 steps of consumer behaviour and marketing psychology. The study tries to see what features of a product attracted me to buy a product based on which it can be understood from the perspective of other customers. It needs to be mentioned here that consumer psychology is involved in 5 steps of consumer behaviour based on which consumers choose a particular product from within a competing brand and how consumers are most influenced by environmental factors. Also, what are the factors of a product that attract customers and how customers behave while shopping is also considered in the process. It can help companies become more innovative and efficient (Stankevich, 2017). Consumer psychology shows that environmental factors influence consumer behaviour (Voramontri&Klieb, 2019). Therefore, companies always attach importance to these environmental factors in their marketing strategies.

5 Steps of Consumer Behaviour and Marketing psychology
Need recognition
Soaps are needed for daily shower and cleansing of body and hand. I have a habit of cleaning my hand and body properly. I wash my hands frequently and like to maintain proper hygiene for which I choose my product accordingly which suits my purpose. Since my skin is sensitive to chemical products I always use products made of natural materials and clean myself so that skin rash does not come out in my skin. Most soaps are a mixture of oil, water, an alkali, and basic salt which does not suit me at all. Soap is of great importance as part of a healthy and clean life for me. Till now the soaps or shower gels I have used do not clean the body well. When I scrub my hands, shower gels create foam a lot but do not fulfil the purpose. I need soap to wash my hand after every work I do like before and after eating, doing my housework or job-related work. After each activity, I wash my hand to maintain hygiene. I take shower twice a day to stay clean throughout the day. So, when it comes to marketing, I focus on soaps that have a quality to clean my hands and body and along with that maintain hygiene.

Information Search
I was searching for a product that would meet my needs. In general, in this case, I took the help of my friends for suggesting the better quality soap and also searchedonline and visited various shops and supermarkets. The various brands of soaps that I previously used included Olieve&Olie, Desert Shadow and Corrynne’s Natural Skincare. This all brands either had good fragrance or have fewer chemical compound. None of the brands had both the qualities that I am searching for. Even in my friend’s house, they used The Girl &The Olive which I tried once as it had a good fragrance but it didn’t suit my skin. One day I went to the Woolworths supermarket where I found the advertisement for the cashmere soap which attracted me to find more information about the soap and also the price and offer given was attractive. So I searched online about this product and searched for ingredients that are used to make the soap. Every time I find a new soap product I search online or ask a friend for review who uses that product. I also asked one of my friend about the cashmere soap who said that it is a very good product and it will suit my demand. I decided to buy the cashmere soap and try once to see its effectiveness.

Evaluation
I evaluated the product thoroughly before buying soap. I wanted to see if the product I liked was right for me. In this case, I compared cashmere soap with the products of other competing companies in the market and the products that I used like Olieve&Olie, Desert Shadow and Corrynne’s Natural Skincare and The Girl & The Olive.These products were part of my evaluation as this product in their advertisement conveyed that the soaps are of great cleaning capability and has no toxic element and have great fragrance. For which I chose these brands to compare with cashmere soap. The most important feature that attracted me to choose cashmere soap is its unique fragrance which I didn’t find in any other brand. Secondly, the pricing is very cheap and the compounds used in the soap is natural. These factors evoked me to choose this soap over the other brand. Cashmere soap is very famous for its distinctive cold-fashioned scent. Cashmere soap, a soap made from a mixture of animal fat and lye. Many people also use it as a shaving soap as well. Cashmere soap is very famous for its distinctive cold-fashioned scent. Many people also use it as a shaving soap. In general, any customer tries to choose a product that has been able to maintain a good reputation in the market for a long time. So, I decided to buy cashmere soap.

Purchase Decision
I chose cashmere bouquet soap as a shower soap for everyday use. I bought this soap last week 7th April from Woolworths store. This Woolworth's soap is located in the northland shopping centre on the surface. I bought this cashmere bouquet soap because of its lavender fragrance. The lavender fragrance of cashmere soap creates a pleasant feeling in my mind, which makes me much more energetic. Moreover, it was much cheaper than other shower gels. The purchase decision is the fourth step in consumer behaviour and marketing psychology. In this step after I have done all the searching and comparing all of the soap brands, I will choose the soap brand that I will purchase. I have gone through various stores and supermarkets to select the correct soap for my daily purpose.

Previously, I purchased shower gels and soaps of different brands and quality. Some had better fragrance butnotof better quality or vice-versa. But in Woolworths supermarket, the Cashmere Bouquet soap is of better quality and fragrance of my choice which attracted me a lot to make the purchase. Even the price given in the supermarket is of reasonable price as compared to that of the other supermarket or another brand of soaps. The soap has a unique lavender fragrance which attracts me and it is hygienic as well since the chemical compounds used in the soap is of very little quantity and most of the natural ingredients are being used. As my skin is sensitive to chemical-based products which generate rashes when I use that kind of product. So, since the product is based on a natural compound I decided to purchase the product. I have paid instantly with my shopping card as I have a membership card in the supermarket. I used the card to buy the soap and came back quickly to my home to try the soap and it was pretty good which maintained nourishment in my skin and cleaned my body properly and the good smell of lavender after shower refreshed my mind.

Post-Purchase
The soap after being purchased I am very happy with the quality of the soap. It makes my skin clean and helps in maintaining the hygiene of my skin. As my skin is sensitive to chemicals previously I used to face skin rashes due to the use of chemical-based shower gels. After the shower I used to face irritation in my skin then I have to take extra medication to cure the rashes. Even the soap was not good in cleaning the body or the fragrance was not long-lasting after taking the bath. But the Cashmere Bouquet soap after I bought it is worth using since the fragrance lasts long even after showers. It also keeps my skin healthy and fully nourished without any side effects. Even before and after eating I wash my hand with that soap which helps me to maintain proper hygiene. Especially the lavender fragrance is so sweet that it brings extra comfort to my mind which makes me feel refreshed throughout the day. The soap can be used as a hand wash as well since it consists of natural ingredients which sanitize the hand before eating properly.

Conclusion
Consumer marketing psychology depends on the preferences of the consumer. Before purchasing of product a consumer goes through all the five steps of product purchase that reason of buying a product evaluation, comparing the products, evaluation, searching, and then purchasing. In my case also in purchasing the soap named Cashmere Bouquet I utilized the theory and this helped in selecting the correct product. I have searched all the related products of different brands and checked out their chemical components used in the soap and searched all the products present in the Woolworths supermarket. After doing all the analysis I found the product I need and check that the product is pocket friendly as well. Based on the need I purchase the product from the Woolworths supermarket.

References
Cherubino, P., Martinez-Levy, A. C., Caratù, M., Cartocci, G., Di Flumeri, G., Modica, E., ...&Trettel, A. (2019). Consumer Behaviour through the Eyes of Neurophysiological Measures: State-of-the-Art and Future Trends. Computational intelligence and neuroscience.

Géci, A., Nagyová, ?., &Rybanská, J. (2017).Impact of sensory marketing on consumer´ s buying behaviour. Consumer behaviour assignment Potravinarstvo Slovak Journal of Food Sciences, 11(1), 709-117.

Stankevich, A. (2017). Explaining the consumer decision-making process: Critical literature review. Journal of International Business Research and Marketing, 2(6).

Voramontri, D., &Klieb, L. (2019).Impact of social media on consumer behaviour. International Journal of Information and Decision Sciences, 11(3), 209-233.