Q: How can you explain Information Processing?

Ans:

A customer can acquire information from several sources:

• Personal sources- friends, family, neighbours etc
• Commercial sources- salespeople, advertising, retailers, dealers, packaging, point-of-sale displays
• Public sources- radio, television, newspapers, consumer organisations and specialist magazines
• Experiential sources- examining, handling, using the product

The usefulness as well as influence of these sources of information will vary by product and by customer. Research suggests that customer value and respect personal sources in excess of commercial sources (the influence of 'word of mouth'). The confront for the marketing team is to identify which information sources are mainly influential in their target markets.