Having a depth of knowledge and understanding of the buyer decision process is crucial for a retailer like Zara, in order to effectively tailor their marketing strategies and reach their target customers. To start, the buyer decision process is comprised of five crucial steps:
- Need Recognition
- Information Search
- Evaluation
- Purchase
- Post-Purchase Evaluation
Using Zara as an example, we’re able to take a look at the prioritization of different steps according to the goals and target market of the brand.
Zara is considered to be a more affordable retail option that specializes in the most current and trendy pieces, giving them a stable and well-known, global presence in the fast-fashion market. Given that their business model focuses on the ability to quickly identify trends and then produce those items at a rapid pace, as cheap as possible, Zara is able to capitalize on the need recognition stage first. (https://buildd.co/marketing/zara-marketing-strategy) This model includes an efficient supply chain that enables the brand to move from the design stage to the retail floor relatively quickly, ensuring that their customers can give into every impulse or desire to be constantly on trend.
While Zara takes a minimal approach to advertising, the reliance on optimal store locations in major areas for convenient customer browsing and their strong presence on social media allows them to facilitate the information search stage of the process. Additionally, Zara maintains the evaluation of alternatives stage in-house for customers by offering a wide variety of styles for customers to choose from. (https://www.brandvm.com/post/zaras-marketing-news)
Not only does the availability of choice provide an opportunity for in-house evaluation of alternatives from customers, it also streamlines the actual step of making a purchase, all in one place with Zara as the host. Lastly, with a continual focus on listening to customer feedback and rapid inventory turnover, Zara hopes to address the post-purchase evaluation stage by fostering a relationship with customers and encouraging repeated visits to the store.
Buy thoroughly understanding the buyer decision process, Zara can align their strategies to effectively meet the needs of their target customers and exceed expectations. This will bring the popular retailer sustainable success in the ever-changing and highly competitive fashion industry.
To better understand their target customers’ path through the purchase decision process, a brand should consider performing marketing research. To learn more about the value of marketing research click the following link:
