Problem Recognition and Information Search - External Search: Searching for Information from the Environment

5 important questions on Problem Recognition and Information Search - External Search: Searching for Information from the Environment

When there is missing information,  consumers engage in external search. There are two types of external search. What are these?

1. Prepurchase search: occurs in response to the activation of problem recognition.
2. Ongoing search: occurs on a regular and continual basis, even when problem recognition has not been activated (eg consistently reading magazines).

There are a lot of different factors influencing a consumers buying decision in external search. What are some important insights from research regarding internet en social media sources?

  1. A company's website must be carefully designed in terms of 4 key dimensions: 1. Informativeness, 2. Entertainment, 3. Social presence and 4. Sensory appeal. But the importance of each dimension differs per nature of brand.
  2. Cross-device shopping aids purchase rates.
  3. Increased activity on social-media is positively linked with shopping activity.

Consumers are buying online more frequently, but online marketers tend to be less successful still when shoppers cannot judge the quality of a product. How can marketers solve this problem?

  1. By facilitating extended searches (even for inexpensive items like books this boosts sales)
  2. Taking into account that many consumers look for information online, and finish the purchase in person when we talk about large purchases.
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The extent and nature of external search differs per type of good. What are the main differences?

1. Experience goods: detailed search, spend some time on each web page.
2. Search goods: cast the net wider, but spending less time on each web page.

MAO also plays a role in the extent of external search. What are the eight factors that increase motivation?

  1. Involvement and perceived risk
  2. Perceived costs and benefits: consumers tend to continue searching until they perceive that the costs (can be time, effort, money etc) outweigh the benefits.
  3. Consideration set: if it's large, then motivation is higher.
  4. Relative brand uncertainty
  5. Type of product: hedonic products are searched more, because preferences for hedonic products are more unique to the consumer.
  6. Attitudes toward search
  7. Discrepancy of information
  8. Presence of others: people dont like to be observed when they are shopping

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