Business Lecture - Buyer behaviour and Business issues

We started the lecture by looking at buyer behaviour and the steps that are taken before a purchase. This starts buy the customer recognising they need something and then searching for something that meets the criteria of what they are looking for. They will then carry out a pre-purchase evaluation which is when they compare a product to another product that they already have experience with. The next stage is the purchase. You would think that after the purchase, this would be the end of the process, however the next step is consumption where they will have either a good or bad experience. Finally a post-purchase evaluation can be carried out where they will decide if the product was good, okay, try and justify the purchase and would buy again, or in bad instances, bad or vile.  

Understanding communication and promotion:

If you have a good understanding of who you are talking to, you can design based on what they would like. 

Maslows Hierarchy of Needs:

5. Self-Actualisation - Inflict personal values on others... 
4. Esteem and Status - A form of respect, power and worth
3. Beloningness - Trying to get a relationship, friends, a 'home', sex...
2. Safety - Gain shelter and defence.
1. Physiological - Need food and water.

It is important to think where people are situated on this hierarchy in order to design. You would always need stages 1 and 2 if you wanted to achieve stage 3 and 3 to achieve 4 etc. 

Pareto principle:

This is a principle that olds am 80:20 rule. This means that only 20% of people want the stress of making decisions. This results in 20% of people owning 80% of wealth and 80% of people owning 20% of wealth.

This is shown through the diagram. A small number of businesses all own multiple smaller ones. Even though this is not plain to see usually, it is happening. And the 80:20 principle is evidenced.

Communication Issues.

Sender > Message > Encode > Transmit > Decode > Receive

We spoke about messages being encoded and how this can effect how someone interprets the message we are sending. When sending a message there is often some disruption half way through which is referred to as noise or interference. In order to make sure the message is perceived clearly, a good thing to do is send it in multiple different forms therefore if one encryption does not make it past the interference, then another might and the message will be understood. If the message is received and understood, it will be accepted or rejected. 

Growing up - mental and physical alterations:

We looked at how as we grow up, the way we think changes. And this is down to society and how we get used to the social norms and conventions of the world we live in. As a baby through to 14, we learn through experimentation. However as we get older, 14-30, our social independence increases. This social independence increases the most we we become old as the physical decay that we suffer makes us rely on society in order for us to have the first 2 stages of Maslow's hierarchy of needs and in good cases, stage 3. 

Light and dark colour perception:

Peter went on to talk bout light and dark colour perception. This made me think about the way in which i design, and how i should always think about what environment the design will be situated and when people will see it. For example, if the design is going to be seen at night, it is important to think about the lighting, as the colours can be lost to the naked eye when no light is reflecting off them. The digram is an excellent indicator of this.