Download Nick deAnda MDSE 3750 Personal Buying Journal The first product

Nick deAnda
MDSE 3750
Personal Buying Journal
The first product I purchased was actually multiple products, they where multiple
clothing items from Cotton on. I purchased 4 different shirts, two basic graphic tees, two
raglan three quarter sleeve shirts, a light hoodie, a duffel bag and pair of chino pants.
While I would normally take way more time to consider the brand and its alternatives this
purchase wound up being a little more simplified in the fact I would be receiving a large
discount on the products. I was able to get a 50% discount on my purchase that day so I
planned to only shop at this location, despite the fact that it was located in a mall with
multiple other locations. I realized I needed these new clothes when the weather began to
change a bit and I looked through my closet for pants and outfits for cooler days. I did
have clothing that would keep me warm during the winter that would have satisfied my
need for safety and protection however, it was a more self-esteem and self-perception
oriented purchase since I would be using the new clothes to identify my ideal self. I have
liked the Cotton On brand from previous attention I have given the brand, however the
added discount made sure and solidified my purchase
with this specific brand, despite knowing the brand I
was shopping in I still took a few hours to really
decide on the things I needed. The fit and feel of the
pieces I purchased where the largest attributes I took
into consideration because an ill fitting piece of
clothing is never flattering so the fit and feel of the
piece was so important to me because I wanted to not
only look good but feel good in the outfit again
relating to how I planned on being perceived by
others. I would say this concern for others opinion
would be derivative of my inclusion of an informal
group, the gay community, in this informal group
clothing and appearance is of the utmost importance
because when it comes to social self one must
compare themselves to directly to their gender so it is
easier to nit pick at minor details of appearance. The feel of the fabric and its softness
made me relate back to the much cooler months and weather coming up, for some reason
I associate softness with cold weather. I have a subconscious desire for softer clothing in
the winter because it feels warmer in my mind if the fabric is softer which could be
defined as an unconditioned response to the cold weather. How true that association is I
am not sure, but it is the association I make with clothing as well I believe mood
transference came into play with this, as this was the store my boyfriend of the time was
working at so I was in a good mood being around him so I was more easily compensating
product attributes to make purchases. I will not buy the specific garment pieces as I did
this shopping trip but I do feel I will purchase clothing within this brand again, regardless
of the discount because I have very much enjoyed the look and fit of the clothing as well
it has made me feel attractive and fulfilled the wants I originally had. I experienced
positive disconfirmation from this purchase with this brand and clothing despite the fact
that I am no longer dating the person who worked at Cotton On nor does he even work
there anymore I was satisfied with the product attributes I evaluated at the time of
purchase and the Mood-congruent theory seems to have come into play as well
surrounding the brand and purchase.
Nick deAnda
MDSE 3750
Personal Buying Journal
The second purchase I made was a large order from Herbalife including my starter
investment to sell the product. This was a more partially planned purchase as I had
discussed the concept of selling Herbalife with a friend before, however it has taken me
some time to decide on this purchase since I have much larger commitments to school
and work. Social influence played a large role in making this purchase since I was being
pushed by a friend to begin the process as well my informal group membership played a
role as well since again the gay community does place a large emphasis on body and how
you look. So I did contemplate and plan the
purchase for the future, I did not have any other
consideration sets or options to chose from even
though there are a few other options that are very
similar to Herbalife. I chose Herbalife this way
because I had a direct emotional relationship with
the product since my friend was my direct face-toface contact with the product. I have for the most
part experienced positive disconfirmation with the
product with the exception of having to make an
additional purchase to ensure the product had the
effect I needed on my body. I do feel I have
gotten the value of the initial and added purchase
however as I have turned my body fat content from 22% to about 11% so I have been
able to fulfill the results I wanted. However now based off of sex-roles in the
microculture I am related to I am now making repeat purchases and more purchases with
this brand to achieve the body appearance that my informal group in my opinion finds
attractive and match the sex role expected of me in my culture as far as body type. I find
this ironic in that my body ideal self is almost in direct contradiction to my first clothing
ideal self, as my clothing choices are not always purely masculine but my body I feel
should be. I credit this to my private self-image and how I feel the two things can balance
each other out to make myself become more inclusive and attractive in my informal
group. The purchase has developed from a purely utilitarian to a more hedonic aspect as
it has actually made me feel good physically but also in knowing that I am treating my
body healthier I feel happy about the purchase. I was unaware until this point of the
product purchase process that a purchase can transform from a utilitarian need for safety
and nourishment to a hedonic purchase of self-esteem building and self-concept
enhancing.
Wednesday the 10th, I decided to make purchases for upcoming Halloween parties I had
planned attending months in advance. I did not do much brand research or much
intentional learning for the exact brands of items I needed. I did however do a lot of
intentional learning when it came to what items I did need to create the looks and
costumes that I wanted to make. So I set out to purchase the different items for my
costume that I had researched and I definitely exhibited a much more extended decision
making process and weighed a lot more options before coming down to my final
consideration set of items to buy. I planned on being Me”dude,”sa, or Medusa, for the
party on the 27th so I sought out a set of nails to make claws, I actually searched youtube
videos for different types of ways to create the effect I had built in my head and when I
chose Sally's to find the nails since the store location was convenient and through
Nick deAnda
MDSE 3750
Personal Buying Journal
spreading activation I related cosmetic purchases such as nails to my long term memory
and interaction with the company previously. After considering the two different colors
available which I had not previously thought about I
then began to compare price, as these nails where of
minimal use to me after this Halloween season I felt a
lower priced set would give me the value I would
need from the product and I experienced positive
disconfirmation by making this decision since the
nails accomplished the look they where supposed to
but did not offset my budget much. I then picked out
nail glue that I did not have any discretion of brand or
quality expectations with and that purchase was
complete. The purchase was purely hedonic as they
where designed to make me feel good in my costume
and again play into my ideal public self, I do plan on
making a repeat purchase with Sally’s since I appear
to have a mild amount of brand loyalty since they
have provided me with what I need in the past
enough to be my top of mind presence for cosmetic
purchases.
I made multiple food and drink purchases the weekend of the Halloween party and I had
planned to do so since I was not going to be at home for the entire weekend. I did have a
brand loyalty per say in that I went to the same places I always do when out in Dallas, I
did not consider any other places to attend or spend my money at and on almost every
Dallas trip I do the same with out making any plans to go to any other bars, or
restaurants. This brand loyalty to these bars is in a very large part due to my membership
of my informal group, since most of the gay community plan to attend this event and
frequent the same places. I did not need to do any kind of intentional learning or research
on where I should go I based all of my food and drink ventures solely on my memory. I
used almost all aspects of memory when it came to choosing the places I attended,
sensory memory came into play because I pulled information about the food and drinks at
locations based off of my sense of taste since food is obviously a sensory experiences. I
used my workbench memory for recall of my most recent experiences I have had at each
location to decide which place would be better to attend at each given time and point of
the weekend, and my long-term memory I used for the matter of what I could expect to
experience in food selection and drink selection since those mostly do not change often.
That evaluation of my memory usage thus brings me to realize that I was using normative
expectations when it came to addressing which places to attend, I had past judgments that
I employed that weekend to map out my purchases.
Through analyzing the purchases I have made over this semester I realized the
marketing implications I respond the most to were the self-concept theory and my social
self. Throughout all of my purchases and decision-making processes a lot of the final
decisions revolved around how I would be perceived by my informal group and who was
influencing me at the time, while I do consider myself an independent individual and one
who can make their own decisions, my private self and social self I realize are very
similar and depend a lot on my informal group’s opinions. While I do lend attention to
Nick deAnda
MDSE 3750
Personal Buying Journal
social stimuli in making product purchases I generally finalize my decision on how my
private self feels about the product. I also realized that my purchasing behavior is a little
more predictable than I expected that when making purchases I use a lot of normative
expectations to guide me through what I select when buying and have a somewhat
smaller evoked set than I expected. One large way these evoked set of brands and
companies could reach and retain me better is to play off of that social self concept, if
there where ever a marketing ploy by Sally’s, Herbalife, Cotton On that was related to
my informal group I would be much more highly prone to make purchases through them
since I base so much of my decisions and attitudes towards products off of social self
perception. If the company’s I shopped at created a campaign that spoke to my informal
group I would be able to develop a much deeper emotional relationship with their brand
and product because my social self is much more similar to my private self than most. By
creating a stronger emotional relationship with myself as a consumer I would begin to
develop the same brand loyalty with these company’s as I would my frequent restaurants
and bars. This change in emotional response would develop a conditioned response to
these brands, and I as a consumer would relate them back to my initial unconditioned
response to the original brand exposure. I would actually leave all other considerations
sets out when it came to buying the products I described before and even more for that
matter because the company would appear to “care,” about me as a specific individual.