Ch. 6 Consumer Decision Making

 Ch. 6 Consumer Decision Making

 

Understanding consumer behavior and the decision-making process is vital for marketers and their companies to understand. Understanding how consumers make decisions helps shape the marketing environment for a product and helps products compete in the marketplace.

So what drives a consumer to purchase beer over wine or spirits?

What guides them in their choice of a light beer, specifically Bud Light?

Beer consumption is primarily reserved for social and leisure activities, and 80% of beer drinkers are men. Bud Light is a product readily available. It is sold in supermarkets, drugstores, mass-market retailers, convenient stores, and military commissaries, just to name a few. The availability of Bud Light adds a level of convenience for shoppers. They can find it for purchase without have to make an additional trip to a liquor or specialty store, where wines and spirits are sold.

 

The price point of Bud Light also makes the purchase of it a routine response behavior, a product that requires low-involvement. The national median for a case of 30 beers is $15.99 and a 6-pack is only $7.99. Research has shown that consumers round the price down, so their thought process is that they are only spending $7.00 for a 6-pack of beer, a price point that is approachable for most household incomes. 

The choice of light beer introduces another variable into the decision making process. Bud Light sales topped $5.9 million for 2013, making it the number one selling beer in America, but why choose Bud Light? The obvious fact is that Bud Light has 35 fewer calories, 4g fewer carbohydrates, and is 0.8% less in alcohol content than Budweiser. Going back to the history of Bud Light also helps to answer the question of why consumers choose Bud Light. Bud Light only came to fruition as a response to the popular Miller Lite, which was formed under the guile's of a “diet beer”. Miller Lite had already become a top seller, but do to Bud Lights heavy advertising and recognizable name, it took only two years to overtake Miller Lite. Once light beer was introduced into the American market there was no going back. Americans continue to seek out low-calorie, “diet” options in their everyday lives and beer is no exception.