The act of purchase is a process and not an action: It begins when the consumer chooses where to satisfy their needs, continues at the selected point of sale and ends with the post-purchase process, where they must work on the 4 R's of Retail: relevance, reward, cost reduction and customer relationship.
Upon understanding that the Distribution variable is an important factor in image formation and brand prestige, the sector began to experience changes.
Given that a product "does not exist" without a location available for consumption, distribution companies play a fundamental role by owning the physical exhibition space and are renewed to achieve " mass customization ".
Most buyers today cannot find an offer that meets all of their needs. They do not want to choose, they want exactly what they want, and variety is not the same as the correct satisfaction of all needs.
The appropriate response would be mass customization, that is, producing based on the wishes of the buyers. This means doing what buyers want, when they want. Therefore, companies try to allocate resources to develop products and technologies taking into account the input of customers, be more receptive to consumers and incorporate their contributions when designing commercial proposals.
Extended Purchase Process
Today the goods are commoditized. When the desire for a product is born, the act of buying begins, because the buyer must decide whether to purchase it by phone, online, in a nearby store, looking for it at a more distant business, etc. At this point, the important thing is to select where to buy and not what, because it “feels” that all the products sold by all the suppliers within reach are the same.
Here the functional variables of the retail value function become important : geographic coverage, level of services, purchasing environment, quality and variety, and price perception. But the choice has a psychic cost; for example, proximity is appreciated, but the level of service that another store further away would have is neglected.
During the purchase in the store, the buyer will evaluate if he finds the brand he was looking for, if the perceived price and what was found meet his expectations. However, the act of buying continues. After the buyer has chosen, it is necessary for the supplier to take into account the emotional values of his offer to build a long-term bond. The act of buying continues even when the buyer leaves the store.
Every buyer needs to find in the supplier:
Relevance: feeling considered a fundamental element for the profitability and growth of businesses.
Relationships: feeling that the supplier wants to establish long-term relationships and get them to return.
Reward: to be rewarded for choosing the provider among all the offers.
Reduction of expenses: not only the monetary one, but also the investment of effort and energy "spent" in each act of purchase.
The act of purchase ends when the consumer must again choose a supplier to buy the same product / service again. If the psychic cost in that new opportunity is less than what you had to "pay" previously, the " Shopping Experience " you went through was valuable.
The Shopping Experience is carefully orchestrated to meet the needs of the buyer. It does not occur only at the point of sale, but occurs before and after the purchase of an offer from a certain supplier. Maximizing the Total Experience creates value and generates customer preference.
