A Research Study on User Purchase Decision Modeling in Traditional E-commerce Platforms. What theory and what model are used

Broadly speaking, consumer purchase decision refers to the process of analyzing, evaluating, selecting, and implementing the best purchase plan, as well as post-purchase evaluation of the activities of consumers in order to satisfy a certain need, under the domination of a certain purchase motivation, and in the choice of two or more purchase plans. It is a systematic decision-making process, including the determination of needs, the formation of purchase motives, the choice and implementation of the purchase program, post-purchase evaluation and other links.　　The Need to Summarize the Characteristics Many scholars have different descriptions of the process of consumer purchase decision-making, in order to guide readers to have a better understanding of the consumer purchase decision-making model, the authors of this paper summarize some of the characteristics of consumer purchase decision-making through reviewing the literature, to provide an evaluation reference system and theoretical basis for the analysis and construction of consumer purchase decision-making model.　　(1) Purposefulness of consumer purchase decision. Consumers make decisions to promote the realization of one or several consumption goals, which itself carries a purpose. In the decision-making process, to plan, select and arrange around the goal is to realize the purposefulness of the activity.　　(2) The process of consumer purchase decision-making. Consumer purchasing decision-making refers to the consumer in the internal and external factors stimulate, generate demand, the formation of purchase motives, choice and implementation of the purchase program, after the purchase of the experience will be fed back to influence the next consumer purchasing decision-making, thus forming a complete cycle of the process.　　(3) The demand personality of the main body of consumer purchasing decision. As the purchase of goods behavior is the subjective needs of consumers, the external embodiment of the will, subject to the influence of many objective factors. In addition to collective consumption, the individual consumer's purchase decision is generally made by the individual consumer alone. With the increase in the level of consumer payment, the independent decision-making characteristics of purchasing behavior will become more and more obvious.　　(4) The complexity of consumer purchasing decisions. Mental activity and the complexity of the purchase decision-making process. Decision-making is the product of complex thinking activities of the human brain. Consumers in making decisions not only to carry out sensory, perceptual, attention, memory and a series of psychological activities, but also must be analyzed, reasoning, judgment and a series of thinking activities, and to calculate the cost of expenditure and may bring a variety of benefits. Therefore, the consumer's purchase decision-making process is generally more complex.　　The complexity of the content of the decision. Consumers through the analysis, to determine when, where, in what way, at what price to buy what brand of goods and a series of complex purchase decision content.　　The complexity of factors influencing the purchase decision. Consumers' purchase decisions are influenced and constrained by various factors, including consumers' personalities, temperament, interests, habits and income levels and other relevant factors; the spatial environment, social and cultural environment and economic environment, such as the stimulus factors, such as the product's own attributes, price, enterprise reputation and service level, as well as a variety of promotional forms, and so on. There is a complex interaction between these factors, and they will have an uncertain impact on the content, mode and results of consumer decision-making.　　(5) The situational nature of consumer purchasing decisions. Because the various factors affecting decision-making is not static, but with the time, place, environment changes constantly changing. Therefore, for the same consumer's consumer decision-making has obvious situational, its specific decision-making mode due to the different scenarios. Due to the variability of different consumers' income levels, purchasing traditions, consumption psychology, family environment and other influencing factors, therefore, there may be differences in the purchasing decisions of different consumers for the same commodity.　　2 Purchase type? The complexity of the purchase decision-making process of different consumers is different, the reason for this is affected by many factors, the most important of which is the degree of participation and the size of brand differences. The greater the difference between different brands of the same product, the more expensive the product, the more consumers lack of product knowledge and buying experience, the greater the perceived risk, the more complex the buying process. For example, toothpaste, matches and computers, cars between the purchase of complexity is obviously different. Assael distinguishes four types of purchases based on the degree of buyer involvement and the degree of product brand difference. Complex purchasing behavior if the consumer belongs to a high degree of participation, and understand the existing brands, varieties and specifications have significant differences between the complex purchasing behavior. Complex buying behavior refers to the various stages that consumers need to go through such as extensive information gathering, thorough product evaluation, deliberate purchase decision and careful post-purchase evaluation. For example, home computers are expensive, and there is a big difference between different brands. A person wants to buy a home computer, but he does not know what hard disk, memory, motherboard, CPU, resolution, Windows, etc., and he can't judge the performance, quality, price, etc. of different brands, and it is very risky to buy it at his own risk. Therefore, he has to collect a lot of information and ask a lot of questions to gradually build up his beliefs about the product, which will then be transformed into attitudes, and finally he will make a prudent purchasing decision. For complex purchasing behavior, marketers should develop strategies to help buyers master product knowledge, use print media, airwave media and sales staff to publicize the advantages of the brand, mobilize store sales staff and buyers' friends and relatives to influence the final purchase decision and simplify the purchasing process. Habitual purchasing behavior is easiest for consumers of inexpensive, frequently purchased goods. In this type of goods, the difference between the brands is very small, consumers are also very familiar with this, do not need to spend time to choose, generally with the purchase of the pick up on the line. This is the case, for example, with oil and salt. This simple purchasing behavior does not go through the complex process of collecting information, evaluating product characteristics, and finally making a major decision. Marketing strategy of habitual buying behavior of the main marketing strategy is: 1. Use of price and sales promotion to attract consumers to try. As the product itself and other brands in the same category compared with the difficulty of identifying unique advantages to arouse customer interest, we can only rely on reasonable prices and discounts, exhibitions, demonstrations, gifts, prizes and other sales promotion means to attract customers to try. Once the customer understands and is familiar with a product, it is possible to buy often to form a habit of buying. 2. Carry out a large number of repetitive advertisements to deepen the impression of consumers. In the low degree of participation and crystal brand differences in the case of small, consumers do not take the initiative to collect brand information, and do not evaluate the crystal brand, but only passive acceptance of a variety of ways to disseminate information, including advertising, according to the information caused by the degree of familiarity with different brands to choose. Consumers do not necessarily buy a certain crystal brand because they are impressed by the advertisements or have a loyal attitude towards the brand, but are just familiar with it. They don't even evaluate it after purchase because they don't mind it. The buying process is: passive learning to form brand beliefs, followed by purchasing behavior, which may or may not be followed by an evaluation process. Therefore, it is important for companies to create brand familiarity through extensive advertising so that customers are passive recipients of the advertising message. To be effective, advertising messages should be short, powerful and repetitive, emphasizing only a few important points and highlighting visual symbols and images. According to classical control theory, by repeating the symbols that represent a product, buyers will be able to recognize the product from a large number of similar products. 3. Increase purchase involvement and brand differentiation. In habitual purchasing behavior, consumers only buy their own familiar brands and less consider brand switching, if competitors through technological advances and product updates will be low participation in the conversion of products to a high level of participation and expand the gap with similar products, will prompt consumers to change the original habitual purchasing behavior, seeking new brands. The main way to increase participation is to add more important functions and uses to less important products and to widen the gap with similar products in terms of price and grade. For example, if the shampoo only has the role of removing hair stains, it is a low degree of participation in the product, and there is no difference between similar products, can only compete at a low price; if you increase the removal of dandruff, the degree of participation in the increase in price can attract the purchase of expanding sales; if you increase the nutritional function of the hair, then the degree of participation and brand differences can be further improved. Seek to diversify purchasing behavior Some brands of goods are clearly different from each other, but consumers do not want to spend more time on it, but constantly change the brand of the goods they buy. For example, when buying goods such as snacks, consumers often do not spend a long time to choose and estimate the value of the next time to buy a new pattern. This is often done not because they are dissatisfied with the product, but because they are looking for variety. For example, when purchasing cookies, their last purchase was a chocolate sandwich and their second fine purchase was a cream sandwich. This change in variety is not due to dissatisfaction with the last cookie purchased, but rather a desire for a change of flavor. The marketing strategies of the market leader and the challenger are different for variety-seeking buying behavior. The market leader seeks to encourage consumers to form habitual buying behaviors by taking possession of the shelves, avoiding off-sale, and advertisements that remind them to buy. The challenger, on the other hand, encourages consumers to change their original habitual buying behavior with lower prices, discounts, coupons, free samples, and advertisements that emphasize trying new brands. Resolving incongruent buying behavior Some purchases, where there is little difference between brands and consumers do not buy them often, are risky to purchase. For this kind of goods, consumers usually first turn a few stores to see what goods, to make some comparisons, and then, it does not take long to buy back, this is because there is no obvious difference between the various brands. Generally if the price is reasonable, easy to buy, the opportunity is right, consumers will decide to buy. Such as the purchase of sofas, although it is also necessary to look at its style, color, but generally the difference is not too big, there is a suitable will buy back. After the purchase, the consumer may feel some incongruity or lack of satisfaction, perhaps a certain place of the commodity is not satisfactory enough, or hear others praise other kinds of goods. During the period of use, the consumer learns more about the situation and seeks reasons to mitigate and dissolve this incongruity in order to justify his or her purchase decision. For this kind of purchasing behavior, marketers should provide perfect after-sales service, and often provide information that is beneficial to the company and its products through various channels, so that customers can believe that their purchasing decision is correct.3 Purchasing Problem Cognition Consumers recognize that they have a certain kind of need, which is the beginning of the decision-making process, and this kind of need may be caused by the internal physiological activities, or it may also be caused by some kind of stimulation from the outside. The need may be caused by internal physiological activities or by some external stimuli. For example, see others wearing trendy clothing, they also want to buy; or both internal and external factors **** the same role in the results. Therefore, marketers should pay attention to take appropriate measures without losing time to arouse and strengthen the needs of consumers. Searching for information There are four main sources of information: personal sources, such as family, relatives, friends, neighbors, co-workers, etc.; commercial sources, such as advertisements, salesmen, distributors, etc.; public **** sources, such as mass communication media, consumer organizations, etc.; and empirical sources, such as experience in operating, experimenting and using the product. Evaluation of alternatives Consumers are provided with a variety of relevant information that may be duplicated or even contradictory, and therefore have to be analyzed, evaluated and selected, which is a decisive part of the decision-making process. In the consumer's evaluation of the selection process, there are the following points worth the attention of marketers: 1) product performance is the primary issue considered by the buyer; 2) different consumers give different degrees of importance to the various properties of the product, or different evaluation criteria; 3) the selection process of the majority of consumers is to compare the actual product with their own ideal product. Decision-making consumers have formed the intention to buy after comparing and selecting the product information, however, from the intention to buy to the decision to buy, but also subject to the influence of two factors: 1) the attitudes of others, the stronger the attitude of opposition, or the closer the relationship between those who hold an opposing attitude and the buyer, the greater the likelihood of modification of the intention to buy; 2) unforeseen circumstances, if an unforeseen situation occurs -2) Unforeseen circumstances, if there are unexpected circumstances such as unemployment, unexpected urgent needs, price increase, etc., then it is likely to change the purchase intention. Evaluation consists of 1) post-purchase satisfaction and 2) post-purchase activities. Post-purchase consumer satisfaction depends on the comparison between the consumer's expected performance of the product and the actual performance of the product in use. Post-purchase satisfaction determines consumers' post-purchase activities, determines whether consumers repeat the purchase of the product, determines the attitude of consumers towards the brand, and also affects other consumers, forming a chain effect.4 Decision-making model review The study of consumer purchasing decision-making model is of great significance to better meet the needs of consumers and to improve the effectiveness of enterprise marketing work. Many scholars and experts at home and abroad have carried out a lot of research on consumer purchasing decision-making mode, and put forward some representative typical patterns. The general pattern of human behavior is the S-O-R pattern, that is, "stimulus - individual physiological, psychological - response". (S-stimulus stimulus, O-Organism organism, R-Response reaction) The model shows that the consumer's purchasing behavior is caused by the stimulus, the stimulus comes from both the consumer's internal physiological and psychological factors and the external environment. Consumers in a variety of factors under the stimulus, generate motivation, driven by motivation, to make decisions to buy goods, the implementation of the purchase behavior, after the purchase will also make the purchase of goods and their related channels and manufacturers to make an evaluation, so as to complete a complete purchase decision-making process. Kotler's Behavioral Choice Model Philip Kotler proposed a simple model of consumer behavior that emphasizes both social aspects. The model suggests that consumers' responses to purchasing behavior are influenced not only by marketing, but also by external factors. And the process of different characteristics of consumers will produce different psychological activities, through the decision-making process of consumers, led to a certain purchase decision, and ultimately the formation of the consumer's choice of products, brands, dealers, timing of purchase, and the number of purchases. Nicosia's Model Nicosia proposed this decision-making model in 1966 in his book The Consumer Decision Process. The model has four major components: the first part, from the source of information to consumer attitudes, including both business and consumer attitudes; the second part, the consumer investigation and evaluation of goods, and the formation of the output of the purchase motive; the third part, the consumer to take effective decision-making behavior; the fourth part, the results of the consumer's purchasing actions are remembered by the brain, stored for the consumer's future purchasing reference or feedback to the enterprise. Engel Model This model, also known as the EBK model, was proposed by Engel, Cottera and Claybwell in 1968. It focuses on analyzing the buying decision process. The whole model is divided into 4 parts: ① central control system, i.e. consumer's mental activity process; ② information processing; ③ decision-making process; ④ environment. Engel model that the role of external information in tangible and intangible factors, input central control system, that is, the brain caused by the brain, discovery, attention, understanding, memory and brain storage of personal experience, evaluation criteria, attitudes, personality, etc. filtering and processing, constituting the information processing program, and the internal research and evaluation of choice, external exploration that is, the choice of assessment, resulting in decision-making program. Throughout the decision making research assessment selection process, the same is influenced by environmental factors such as income, culture, family, social class, etc. Finally the buying process is generated and the consumer experience of the purchased goods is carried out and a conclusion of satisfaction or dissatisfaction is drawn. This conclusion enters the central control system again through feedback, forming information and experiences that influence future purchasing behavior. Howard-Sheth Model This model was developed by Howard in collaboration with Sheth in the late 1960s in the book Theory of Buying Behavior. Its focus is to consider consumer buying behavior in terms of four major factors. (i) stimulus or input factors (input variables); (ii) extrinsic factors; (iii) intrinsic factors (internal processes); and (iv) reflection or output factors. The Howard-Sheth model considers input factors and external factors as stimuli for purchasing, which influence the buyer's mental activity (intrinsic factors) by arousing and forming motivation and providing information about various options. Consumers are influenced by stimuli and previous purchasing experience, begin to receive information and generate a variety of motives, produce a series of responses to the optional products, the formation of a series of intermediary factors of the purchase decision, such as the choice of evaluation criteria, intention, etc., in the interaction of motivation, purchasing program and intermediary factors, a certain tendency and attitude will be generated. This tendency or attitude is then combined with other factors, such as constraints on buying behavior, to produce a purchase outcome. The information about the feelings formed by the purchase outcome is also fed back to the consumer, influencing the consumer's psychology and the next purchase behavior.5 Perspectives on Economic AspectsIn economic theory, consumers are usually portrayed as being able to make rational decisions. This theoretical model of the "economic man" has been criticized by consumer researchers for many reasons. To behave rationally, as economics suggests, consumers should: (1) be aware of all available product choices; (2) be able to correctly rank each choice according to its advantages and disadvantages; and (3) be able to identify the best choice. In reality, however, consumers seldom have all the information or sufficiently accurate information, or the desire and motivation to participate enough to make this so-called "perfect" decision. At the same time, consumer psychology research suggests that the classical economic model of the perfectly rational consumer is unrealistic for the following reasons: (1) people are constrained by their pre-existing skills, habits, and responsiveness; (2) people are constrained by their pre-existing values and goals; and (3) people are constrained by the scope of their knowledge. Consumers often make decisions in a not entirely ideal world where they are not based on economic considerations such as price-quantity relationships, marginal utility, and other issues. In fact, consumers are often reluctant to make extensive decisions and are more likely to make a "satisfactory" or "good enough" decision. For example, recent research has found that consumers' initial motivation for bargaining is not to get a better price (i.e., to buy at a better price), as we have long believed, but rather is related to the need for fulfillment, belonging, and dominance. This point has important implications for the study of advertising and marketing planning. Passive Aspect Contrary to the rational economic view of the consumer, the passive view describes the consumer as always being influenced by his own self-interests and the promotional activities of marketers. According to the passive view, the consumer is seen as an impulsive and irrational buyer, always subject to the ends and means of the marketer. At least to some extent, the passive model of the consumer is endorsed by the old-fashioned super-salespeople who do their best to promote, and are trained to see consumers as objects to be controlled. The main limitation of the passive model is that it fails to recognize that the consumer is in at least an equal, if not dominant, position in many purchasing situations-sometimes he searches for information about product alternatives and chooses the one that appears to offer the greatest satisfaction, and sometimes he impulsively chooses a product that satisfies his prevailing state of mind or emotion. However, more theories suggest that the consumer is a difficult target for marketers to control in today's marketplace. Cognitive Aspects The cognitive view of the model portrays the consumer as a thinking problem solver. Within this framework, consumers are often portrayed as either accepting or actively searching for products and services that fulfill their needs and enrich their lives. Cognitive modeling focuses on the process by which consumers search for and evaluate information about certain brands and retail channels. In the cognitive modeling framework, consumers are often viewed as processors of information. The processing of information leads to the formation of preferences and ultimately the intention to purchase. The cognitive perspective also recognizes that consumers cannot try to get all possible information about each choice. Instead, consumers stop searching for information when they realize that they already have sufficient information about those choices to make a "satisfactory" decision. As this view of information processing suggests, consumers often utilize shortcut decision rules (also called heuristics or temptations) to speed up the decision-making process. They also apply decision rules to cope with situations where there is too much information (e.g., information overload). The cognitive or problem-solving view describes the consumer as being in the middle of the extremes described by the economic view and the reactive view, who does not (or cannot) have all the knowledge about the available product choices and so cannot make a perfect decision, but who still actively searches for information and tries his best to make a satisfactory decision. Emotional Aspects Although marketers have long understood the emotional or impulsive model of consumer decision making, they still prefer to think of consumers according to an economic or passive view. In fact, however, each of us may associate strong feelings or emotions, such as happiness, fear, love, hope, sexuality, fantasy, or even a little "glamor" with a particular purchase or item. These feelings or emotions may be so highly involved that when a consumer makes an essentially emotional purchase decision, he or she pays less attention to the pre-purchase search for information and more attention to the current state of mind and feelings. The influence of a consumer's state of mind on the purchase decision is important. "State of mind" is an emotional state, a pre-existing mental state that exists before the consumer "experiences" an advertisement, a retail environment, a brand or a product. In general, individuals in a positive state of mind recall more information about a product than those in a negative state of mind. However, research has also shown that positive states of mind induced at the time of the purchase decision do not have much effect on the purchase decision unless there is a prior evaluation of the brand.