5-Step Consumer Decision Making Process

The choice of a product or service is quite a hard decision to make. Consumers typically go
through a journey to decide on purchasing an item or service. The journey or series of stages that
a consumer will go through will eventually decide what purchases or services they use. This is
especially true for big purchases that are costly or important. Most people are careful about how
they spend, and no one wants to spend on the wrong things intentionally. For the smaller and
routine purchases of products and services, the consumer could choose without thinking since the
process is recurring in their daily activities. My choice of a product of purchase was the Derrimut
gym 24/7, and here is how I settled for the product. 

1. Problem Recognition

I realized I needed a gym membership subscription since my last one had expired. I realized I
am quite obese since my body mass index read 29, which way far beyond the recommended 25
for most persons. Being a student meant I was predisposed to eat junk food, and because I was
not involved in any kind of sports, it did not come as a surprise to me that I grew obese.
According to Maslow’s Motivation-need theory, needs will be met in order of importance,
starting with physiological ones (Do Paco, Shiel & Alves 2019, 998-1006). At this time, a gym
membership could be considered a second need after the basic needs have been met. By this
time, having a gym membership that works for one is crucial as there are many gym options
around that are not helping people. Finding a gym that transforms one so that they can feel good
about themselves is beneficial to one. 

5-Step Consumer Decision Making Process 3

2. Information Search

To settle down on the best product for my needs, I had to conduct an information search for
the most suitable gym memberships in the market for my needs. The first sources of information
I used in making my decision were external. This included browsing the internet to see what is
on offer and talking to sales agents to hear their take. On the internet, there were many offers
available on offer. It was tough to decide based on this information alone as much of it also
tended to be conflicting. According to Hawkins, Stern Impulse Buying marketers will always put
their best features of a product on clear display to lure people into making irrational purchases
(Block et al. 2019, 292-304). Not all the reviews for the gym services seemed so fitting to match.
This can be attributed to consumer’s different tastes and preferences. The sales agents could not
just settle on one thing and mostly narrowed it down to the best alternatives. 
Another source of information utilized in my search was internal. I engaged family and
friends on their opinion on a good gym membership to cover my needs. Word of mouth is an
excellent source to consider since brands can twist words or blatantly lie about service features
just to get people to purchase it (Gatautis & Kazakevičiūtė 2012, 157-163). Besides, some of the
friends had used some of the gym memberships on offer and therefore had a first-hand
experience of the service features. I, therefore, took the information collected from my internal
sources with the seriousness it deserved. 

3. Evaluation of Alternatives

I analyzed close to ten gym memberships for a set budget but was left with four, which I
figured out to be close enough to what I was looking for. The list of available options was made
from my online sources, as well as recommendations from friends. Elimination of what I had
perceived to be a good suit happened until I was left with gym memberships with reasonably

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good reviews. Top of the list was Goodlife, followed by Derrimut gym 24/7 11, Anytime Fitness,
and F45 Training. All the gym memberships had the promise to transform me into the best body
shape that I wanted. Anytime Fitness and Goodlife had reasonably good reviews, and on visiting
them, the equipment was meticulously clean. They, however, had quite heavy traffic during my
peak work hours. F45 Training had the best emergency plan and equipment but was quite out of
my price range. In evaluating my alternatives, the two main concerns were accessibility and
training mastery. 

4. Purchase decision

To finally make the buy decision, I consulted all the information I had gathered on the gym
memberships I wanted and finally settled on subscribing to the Derrimut gym 24/7 11. There was
too much compelling advice to subscribe to the Derrimut gym 24/7 membership from my
internal sources, making the decision relatively easy for me. The Derrimut gym 24/7 11 is
nearest to where I stay, and their gym instructor was excellent on his job. Given that it had a
promotional offer of $299 upfront 12-month membership if you signed up with a friend, I had to
pick it. My friend was also up to a gym membership, and we went in together. 
 The purchase method available was either cash or via credit card, and had it had a
promotional offer to it as the store was celebrating its silver jubilee at around the same time. The
offer was attractive, and given the point that my decision had already leaned towards purchasing
the Derrimut gym 24/7 11, I doubt I would have changed my mind. According to consumer

ALL BRANDS

Snap Fitness, Goodlife, Anytime Fitness, F45
Training, Healthy Fit, Derrimut Gym 247,

EVOKED SET

Goodlife, Anytime Fitness, Derrimut Gym

24/7, F45 Training

INEPT SET
Snap Fitness, Healthy Fit

ACCEPTED BRANDS
Goodlife, Derrimut Gym 24/7

PURCHASED BRAND
Derrimut Gym 24/7

5-Step Consumer Decision Making Process 5
behavior theory, offers and discounts can play a huge role in consumer decision-making
(Spangenberg & Lorek 2019, 1070-10179). The pro points for the Derrimut gym 24/7 11 had so
much weight on the buying decision that it was hard to change my mind about it. 

5. Post- Purchase Evaluation

I have gone through all the needs I needed to be met in my post-purchase evaluation, and the
Derrimut gym 24/7 11 managed to meet them effectively. I was delighted that I took the
initiative and effort to research the crucial features required for a gym membership. I went ahead
to give it a good rating and recommend others with similar requirements to feel safe purchasing
it. The Derrimut gym 24/7 11 even managed to exceed my expectation in terms of performance.
The transformational change in my body was faster than expected, and I ended up feeling much
more energetic than before. I also made new friends in the gym with whom we link up and train
together. The whole experience was fulfilling.

Conclusion

Very often, consumers make mistakes in making their day-to-day purchases. Using the 5-step
consumer decision-making process, there is a high likelihood of improving their purchase
decisions. The model manages to evaluate a consumer need, look at the alternatives available,
and provide insight into a good selection of a product or service. Products and services vary in
terms of quality, making it essential to understand one’s needs to satisfy them. One right way of
doing this is by using the model above.

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References and Bibliography

Block, L.G., Keller, P.A., Vallen, B., Williamson, S., Birau, M.M., Grinstein, A., Haws, K.L.,
LaBarge, M.C., Lamberton, C., Moore, E.S. and Moscato, E.M., 2016. The squander
sequence: understanding food waste at each stage of the consumer decision-making
process. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 35(2), pp.292-304.
Derrimut 24:7., 2020. Retrieved December 13, 2020, from https://www.derrimut247.com.au/
Do Paco, A., Shiel, C. and Alves, H., 2019. A new model for testing green consumer
behaviour. Journal of cleaner production, 207, pp.998-1006.

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Gatautis, R. and Kazakevičiūtė, A., 2012. Consumer behavior in online social networks: review
and future research directions. Economics and management, 17(4), pp.157-163.
Spangenberg, J.H. and Lorek, S., 2019. Sufficiency and consumer behaviour: From theory to