Passage 1
What causes a person to choose one store or one product over another? We know that a person weighs both positive and negative benefits of a product offer, but what elements are being evaluated? Let us look at a typical consumer situation. This story emphasized the necessity for viewing product offers broadly. It also serves as an introduction to packaging, branding, and customer service as product elements.
Chuck Peterson went out to his car one cold day and found that the battery was dead. Chuck went back to his house and began immediately to search for a good place to buy a new battery (it was Saturday, so he had time). Chuck remembered seeing battery ads in the sports section of the newspaper, and so he took out his old papers and went through the ads. He found that several stores were having sales and was pleased, because one of his concerns was getting a good price.
Since Chuck’s car was inoperative, he did not feel like going too far to get a new battery (although his neighbor offered to drive him wherever he wanted to go). Another concern, therefore, was finding a convenient store.
Many different batteries were advertised in the paper at widely ranging prices. Chuck decided to stick to brand names with which he was familiar because he felt he would be able to get better service on a brand name item. Chuck decided to go to the local Sears store and get a battery that was on sale. He asked his neighbor to help him get his car started with booster cables and drove down to the Sears store nearest him. On the way he passed several gas stations and other stores that sold batteries.
What can we learn from this example? First, notice that Chuck did not go to the nearest convenient place to buy batteries (local gas stations). Why not? Somehow Chuck had gotten the impression that gas stations had higher prices for their batteries. He also was not sure what brands the local stations carried. From Chuck’s case, we learn that people will often pass up one store to get the same or similar items at other stores if the closer stores do not advertise what brands they carry, do not create an image of good value, or do not seem interested in the buyer’s business.
45.Since Chuck’s car wasn’t working, his neighbor voluntarily offered to drive him to the Sears store nearest his house.