#2 Analyzing my own purchase

A few weeks ago, my old laptop was a victim of a fatal accident. Once I had determined that it was dead forever, I knew I needed to quickly purchase a new one, and recognizing this need was the first step of my decision process as a consumer.

Next, I embarked on a diligent search for information, primarily through Internet research. I committed myself to spending a significant time researching the purchase due to several factors: for one, there was a high performance risk that the laptop would not be as fast as I wanted it to be, as well as a high financial risk, since a laptop is a significant purchase and could also result in further expenses if it needed repairs in the future.

While evaluating the alternatives, psychological factors relating to my needs and lifestyle played a large part. As a student, I primarily needed my laptop for school and other work, and I also wanted something easy to carry around. Thus, performance and weight were two major criteria, while I skipped over parts of reviews I read that talked about graphics cards or other aspects that I didn’t feel were relevant to me. In regards to choosing a brand, I was influenced by my somewhat negative experience with my previous Dell. And, although 99% of Sauder seems to own a Mac, this direct reference group did not have a large impact on me since I still prefer PCs in terms of value and practicality (I guess that makes me part of the 1%…but maybe not in a good way). Thus, both Dell and Apple were part of my retrieval set but not my evoked set. Meanwhile, the social factor of family influence was also significant, as my preference for brands was shaped partially by my dad, who likes Toshiba. Relative to other buying decisions, elements of the marketing mix didn’t affect me much, as many of my options were in the same price range, I knew I was going to purchase online, and I relied on my own research much more than any ads I had seen. In the end, I did decide on a Toshiba, and although I’ve only had it for a few days, I’m a reasonably satisfied customer as it’s met most of my expectations. Although my new laptop makes for good blogging material, hopefully it lasts longer than my previous laptop so that I don’t have to go through this extensive decision process again anytime soon.