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View video at kerin.tv/13e/v5-4 How has an understanding of consumer behavior he

ID: 1145493 • Letter: V

Question

View video at kerin.tv/13e/v5-4

How has an understanding of consumer behavior helped Groupon grow from 400 subscribers in Chicago in 2008 to 200 million subscribers in 40 countries today?

What is the Groupon Promise? How does the Groupon Promise affect a consumer’s perceived risk and cognitive dissonance?

Describe the five-stage purchase decision process for a typical Groupon user.

What are possible psychological and sociological influences on the Groupon consumer purchase decision process?

What challenges does Groupon face in the future? What actions would you recommend related to each challenge?

Explanation / Answer

1. Understanding consumer behavior, Groupon provides value to its consumers. It satisfies and influences the needs and wants of consumers at every stage of the buying process by making full use of the consumer’s psychological, personal, social and group factors.

The first stage of the decision purchase process consists of problem recognition, Groupon perceives a personal and psychological need that people desire to try new things. They are motivated to purchase goods and services if the prices are cheap. Therefore, Groupon presents itself as a website that provides its consumers with savings. Also, serving as a platform to remind people of their desires and wants such as to trigger them to satisfy them and discover what to do, eat, see and buy around the places where they live and work.

2 Groupon caters to consumers - It provides real time offers and daily deals via emails to their subscribers where discounted offers for goods and services are based on location and personal preferences. Consequently, it simplifies the information search process for customers. In addition, given the big discounts on the goods and services provided, consumers may now regard online purchase as low involvement since the prices are lower and hence less time is needed to research before purchase of an item.

3. Groupon Now!, a real-time deals service that offers deals which are unique to an individual’s current location. The purchase decision is simplified since the buying value of the deal is customised according to the need of the customer at that point and place in time